Velvet Scarlatina softly sighed, kicking her feet back and forth as she sat on a branch in her favorite tree on campus. It was a large maple tree and when she scratched at the bark and pressed her nose to the pale wood underneath, it smelled of sweet syrup. Leaves were plucked from the branches as breezes rolled over campus, occasionally dropping one or two into her hair that she would often allow to perch there until the next breeze took them along their way. She sighed softly, her mind wandering over the day's events.
She'd waited with Fox for hours until Coco and Yatsuhashi were finally dismissed from the infirmary after their loss to Mercury and Emerald. As much as she wanted to help her two teammates, she and Fox had only spent a few minutes in their shared dorm before realizing that the two wanted time alone. The bruises on their bodies were quick to heal, but the ones on their pride were injuries neither Aura nor medicine could soothe. She and Fox had decided to get lunch together and had made it halfway to the cafeteria before Reese and Arslan had asked for his help in the gym.
"It's okay, I'll work on my photography," she promised Fox as the two exchange students hauled her teammate away with them. She was positive Fox and Arslan had developed a mutual crush for each other, and smiled proudly as he went with them. That'd only been an hour ago, and so far she'd managed to enjoy her imposed solitude. Alone with her camera, she snapped photo after photo of whatever happened to catch her eye. Komorebi painting the ground with dynamic patterns as the midday sunlight streamed through the large maple leaves. Various pebbles recently overturned by the hasty footfalls of students late for class. The small stream that ran only a few meters away, rushing downhill as it raced to empty into the small lake on the west side of campus. Her perch in the maple tree was by far her favorite, and she was familiar with nearly every branch and twig that grew from it. Seeing an unfamiliar yellow, fuzzy branch in her most recent picture startled her and she quickly looked up, only to be greeted by a smiling face and bright blond hair.
"Oh! Sun," she gasped, nearly falling over as she recoiled. Sun quickly extended a hand, catching her by her shoulder before she leaned back far enough to fall from her seat.
"You scared me," she laughed shakily, her fingertips tightly clutching her camera. Her heart hammered against her chest, her cheeks flushed as she tried to regain her composure. The monkey Faunus was the last person she was expecting to run into at the moment.
"My bad, I didn't mean to sneak up on you… Hey, you're, um… Scarlatina, right?" Sun hung from a branch above Velvet with one hand, softly swinging at eye level. Velvet watched as his muscles flexed as they bared his weight, his white shirt hardly hanging onto his broad shoulders as a gentle breeze caught the fabric.
"You- you can call me Velvet," she stammered quickly, tearing her eyes away from Sun's shoulders to meet his steel gray gaze. She quickly decided that this wasn't much of an improvement.
"Velvet! Yeah. Sorry about your teammates, I watched their fight. I'm sure you guys'll do better next Vytal Tournament." Sun watched as the girl seemed to shrink at his every word. He was perceptive enough to understand when he was making people uncomfortable.
"No more making friends in trees," he promised himself.
"Well, um, sorry to bug you. I'll leave you to your pics-"
"No, wait," Velvet quickly looked back up to meet his gaze, cursing herself for letting her desperation slip into her voice.
"I mean, you don't have to leave right now." She chose her words more carefully this time, trying her hardest to get him to stay without seeming too desperate. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself during her very first interaction with the boy.
"You're not bugging me," she finally added, her voice much more measured since her previous outburst.
"Okay, cool. I thought I was totally pissing you off," Sun laughed, swinging his body forward to land seated on the branch beside the girl. The motion was smooth and practiced, various muscle groups flexing and shifting as he brought his body closer to hers. Velvet tried her hardest not to get caught as she watched.
"No, no. You're fine. Super fine. I'm fine, I… haha," she let the words fall away with a laugh that hardly left her throat.
"What are you doing, Velvet, you're making a fool out of yourself," her internal voice always adopted Coco's brusque manner whenever she ran the risk of embarrassing herself.
"I'm trying my best," she answered back. While truthful, she knew the Coco in her mind wasn't exactly wrong herself.
"Try and be a little more like me. You've seen me flirt, come on. Trust me." Velvet imagined the confident smirk her team leader would have, the air of assertiveness and charisma that seemed to pour from her just as much as the smell of chocolate.
"Velvet?" Sun's voice cut through her stupor.
"Yes!" Wide, brown eyes snapped up to meet Sun's gaze as she came back to the real world. She hadn't even realized he'd been talking.
"I said what are you taking pictures of," the blond boy asked again. He was trying his hardest to build some kind of friendship with her- something he was usually particularly good at. He knew she was probably feeling upset after her teammate's crushing loss during the tournament, but she seemed awkwardly distant. Even his talent for dealing with introverts like Blake didn't seem to be enough to form any kind of relationship with Velvet.
"Oh! Oh, um… just landscapes and nature… nothing special," she replied softly, looking down into the digital screen of her camera. Her thumb moved towards the button that would bring her pictures on display, eager to show him the products of her favorite hobby.
"Bun, tell him you want to take pictures of him! Get pictures of his abs, you can't lose," Coco screamed from inside her skull.
"B- but! I, um… I've been trying to find a male model for some anatomy photographs! I would ask my teammates but… awkward, you know?" She turned to Sun and smiled, hoping that he'd catch her unspoken request.
"No problem. Detective Wukong always helps those in need," he answered, a wide smile on his face. Sun was no stranger to having his picture taken, and genuinely enjoyed being in front of a camera. If this helped Velvet out of whatever slump she was in, it was a win-win scenario.
"Thank you, Coco," she whispered under her breath, glad that the boy's Faunus trait didn't grant him more sensitive hearing like her bunny ears.
"Thank you, Sun. I really appreciate you helping me." Her words were heavy with gratitude, but her mind was racing with ideas. Most of them were ones she quickly tried to bury as she imagined passionate kisses and desperate moans while her camera recorded the scene.
"Where do you want to do this," he asked her curiously. Sun wasn't exactly shy, however taking pictures for 'anatomy' in a public space didn't sound like a particularly intelligent idea.
"Um…"
"Think of something, think of something, quick! An empty classroom maybe or-"
"My teammates are out celebrating, so my room can be empty for as long as we need," he offered. He thought of Neptune, Sage and Scarlet enjoying giant bowls of their favorite ramen- they'd be gone for at least a couple more hours.
"Sounds perfect," Velvet let out a measured breath, the closest she could get to a sigh of relief.
"Want to do it now," Sun asked, his voice deep and husky to her sensitive ears.
Velvet froze, blush burning her cheeks and her pulse hammering in her ears. Her mind raced a dozen miles per second and time seemed to slow as she was caught on the unintended double entendre of Sun's proposal.
"Photography! Yes, let's do that now… Lead the way," she nodded quickly, her Faunus ears bouncing on her head as she quickly tried to divert the boy's attention from the redness of her cheeks. Sun kicked his feet and pitched forward, landing on a branch a few feet below. Shifting his weight he rolled off his new perch and fell the last few feet to the earth below, landing on his feet. Velvet watched him the whole time, admiring his every movement. She'd been infatuated with him for a long while- she prided herself on having known about Sun long before most of his fans.
"You coming," he called up to her curiously.
"One sec," she called back, seizing the opportunity to snap a quick picture of him. Light streamed through the leaves above him, painting intricate designs on his face and chest. She couldn't let the chance slip passed her. Her finger deftly pressed the capture button, and she made sure to take several pictures of the boy before tucking the camera back into the case strapped to her hip. Scanning the ground she carefully picked out an area to land. Unlike Sun she wasn't too adept at swinging through branches, however with a quick hop, she landed on the balls of her feet, he strong legs coiling to kill her momentum. She might not be able to swing, but she sure knew how to bounce.
"Ready," she nodded excitedly.