a/n: this was born out of a place of sincerity and personal struggle. everything that she lists is something real about me that i have struggled to accept as part of the whole person i am. just wanted to dedicate this to all my average-faced girls, who aren't quite /ugly/ but aren't quite /beautiful/. it's an interesting limbo to be stuck in- the fine line between two extremes that leave you feeling unremarkable. ur still beautiful even if ur not immediately striking. i love all my average-faced girls. love u.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Hm?"

"Never mind."

Kim's voice was meek and embarrassed. She didn't mean to blurt out her silly insecure-girlfriend thoughts- Jared loved her for her. She knew that.

"No, no." Jared argued, sitting up and propping himself up against Kim's headboard, sheets pooling around his waist as he sat up. His fingertips ran themselves over the hills and valleys of Kim's shoulders. He marvelled absently at the goosebumps that followed his fingertips' trail. "What did you say? I wasn't paying attention."

Kim sighed, her ears and cheeks turning red, and her armpits breaking out in a stressed sweat. She shook her head again and burrowed herself under the sheets, making that familiar I-said-something-that-embarrassed-me groan he thought was just too endearing to not love.

"Tell me." Jared whispered sweetly, running his heavy, hot palm across the sheets where her arm was. She groaned again, this time it was the I-hate-you-because-you're-being-a-good-boyfriend groan that Jared loved a little more than the I-said-something-that-embarrassed-me groan. He chuckled, pulling down the blanket just enough to see Kim's dusky brown eyes peek up at him shyly.

"Come on, sweetheart." Jared smiled, the back of his fingers stroking her forehead softly. "You know you can."

Kim rolled her eyes, but the annoyed gesture lost its bite when they crinkled up the way they did when she smiled.

"It's stupid." she admitted, sitting up and resting herself into the crook of Jared's neck as his arm slung itself over her sloping shoulders.

"So?" Jared shrugged, resting his head on hers. "I wanna hear it anyways."

There was a beat of silence between them as Kim decided what she wanted to do in her mind. The birds whistled softly outside her open window, her curtains billowing softly as a breeze winded its way into her room, and the smell of the summer forest slowly accompanied the breeze as it visited the two kids who were awake at the break of dawn.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" Kim finally said, the pace of heart rising steadily at the simple question.

"Well, of course I do." Jared chuckled a bit at the question. "You're beautiful."

Kim sighed- it was the answer she knew he would give her. For once, it wasn't what she wanted.

"I feel like you see me through rose-colored glasses." she admitted, her hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt that she wore to bed.

"Because of the imprint?" he asked carefully. He knew that there must be some insecurities with the imprint bond- who wouldn't have at least a little doubt in a connection that wasn't voluntary?

Kim hummed in affirmation.

"I just feel like you wouldn't have ever noticed me if it weren't for it." she continued. Jared was silent.

"Why do you say that?" he asked in response. Kim rolled her eyes again.

"We grew up on the same tiny reservation together. Our grade was never more than 10 students, and still you never really talked to me."

"You're not ever gonna cut me slack on that one, are you?" Jared muttered, rubbing Kim's arm methodically and slowly. Up and down. Up and down.

"Be honest with me." Kim wanted to be dramatic- to sit up and grab his face and force him to look her in the eyes. But she was never that bold. She wasn't like Emily, who didn't seem to ever question the integrity of Sam's affections for her. And she was certainly nothing like Rachel, who would have been pursued and loved by someone like Paul even without the interference of ancient spirits. Kim stayed pressed against Jared's frame, not daring to look up at him.

"Do you think you would find me pretty, if you hadn't imprinted on me?" Kim asked quietly. It was a frightening thought that weighed on her mind ever since Jared had fully revealed his canine capabilities to her so long ago. She liked to think that he would have eventually noticed her even without the imprint, but she was always equally certain that it would have never happened.

Jared was silent. He wanted to say yes- to appease both her and himself. The truth of the matter was that he didn't know.

"Why do you think I wouldn't notice you?" Jared decided to ask. Kim shrugged.

"I'm not actually that pretty." Kim's voice was quiet. "I'm an average Quileute girl. There's nothing to my face that makes me stand out from the rest of this reservation at all. I'm not like Rachel- her features somehow melded together into a beautiful, universally attractive face. And Emily is so pretty. I'm not ugly, but I'm certainly not a dime when it comes to my face." Kim ranted, words that she constantly thought of in her mind pouring out of her mouth once her chance came.

"I bite my nails and they're short and childish and always jagged. My legs are unproportionateto the rest of my body. My eyes are small. I have an ugly dark scar on my leg that sticks out like a bruise. I'm so hairy! I have peach fuzz and my arms are probably a little less hairy than yours! Even my knuckles have hair. And I have a baby face! I look like I'm fourteen years old- but I'm eighteen!" Kim sighed. Jared's hand came to grasp hers, and she welcomed the sign of support. "I dunno. I just feel like I'm so average."

Jared sighed. He knew that no amount of words from a boy would ever truly fight off a bout of insecurities. He knew that she was a confident young woman- the things she listed would never get in the way of what she wanted to do, and he was proud of the fact. Insecurities were something he could help fend off, but it was ultimately herself that had to fight them completely.

"You are average." Jared said honestly. He had come to that conclusion, at least. "You don't stick out of a crowd- not like Rachel does, or Emily."

Kim knew that Jared's soft, romantic nature would lead him to a conclusion that wouldn't belittle her, and she appreciated so much that he was being honest, but a part of her couldn't help but bristle a little.

"But you don't have to stick out of a crowd to be worthy of the same admiration that someone like them would get." Jared finished. A silly smile grew on Kim's face as he continued. "I don't care if you have peach fuzz, or if your knuckles are hairy, or about your scar. I love your baby face. I love your legs. I love every part of you, okay?" Jared pressed a hot kiss to her temple, and smiled as she nuzzled her nose into the spot where his collarbones dipped. "You're just one of those faces that get more beautiful when someone takes the time to notice it, and when your personality is presented along with it. There's nothing wrong with that- it's you."

Kim nodded. She breathed in happily. The cracks in her blinds and curtains began to show a paler blue in between them, and more birds began to join the chorus that always sang her to awareness in the morning.

"Thank you." she mumbled into his skin, feeling him chuckle and hug her to his body impossibly closer.

"I dunno," Jared began, a smirk coming to play on his lips. His hands began to wander on her waist, pushing up the shirt of his that she wore and resting on her bare, bronze skin. "Do you need proof that I admire you? I'd be more than happy to show instead of just tell."

His large hands came down to push her up further so that her eyes met his directly. The mischievous glint in his lidded stare made Kim laugh.

"I have my morning class in a few hours, you dog." Kim deadpanned, laughing girlishly at the offended face he made.

"I only need a few minutes to prove my admiration for you!" he exclaimed, his hands cupping the rounded cheeks of her rear and squeezing cheekily. "I like spending hours, but a few minutes is all I really need." he smirked wickedly, ignoring her unconvinced laughs.

Kim cupped his face brushed away the dark tendrils that hung over his forehead. She shook her head with a smile and pressed a hot kiss to his lips that left his toes curling. Their lips danced and her own hands began to wander the expanse of chest unapologetically.

"I think you're the dog." he whispered as they pulled away. Kim scoffed and pushed away his cheek as he began to laugh. "You just violated me!" he exclaimed, teasing her in mock-indignation.

"Says the little boy with a boner and hands still on my rear-end." Kim raised an eyebrow and Jared shivered. He loved when she got smart with him.

"Come on, babyyy." he drawled out the last sounds of the word. "Give me something to tide me over until my college girlfriend comes home from class." Jared pouted, his hands grasping Kim's waist surely.

"You can wait." she said, standing up and pushing his head over into the pillows as she made her way to the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower." she stretched and yawned, scratching her hair and frowning at how tangled it felt.

"Can I watch?" Jared asked cheekily, dodging a hairbrush that flew dangerously close to his forehead.

"No way, you creepy old perv!" Kim laughed, closing the door behind her and starting up the shower. Jared sighed, a laugh bubbling out of his chest as he settled himself back into the white cotton sheets of Kim's bed comfily. He exhaled contentedly, stretching his limbs out across the bed and burying his nose into a pillow that smelled of faint detergent and Kim. A sharp pain was felt on his rib and he grunted as he reached for the source of pain- a bobby pin. He rolled his eyes and chucked the thing across the room. Sharing a bed with a girl was dangerous, he decided.

Jared could hear the glass shower door open and close, and the sound of water hitting skin made him smirk into the pillows. He began to drift off again, and with the sounds of content humming and birds whistling outside the window, he decided that sharing a bed with the average girl of his dreams was more than enough to make the dangers of living with a woman worth every moment.