Blake sighed as she exited the mathematics building. Why her philosophy lecture was hosted in the math building was beyond her, but she tried to ignore the ridiculous ways that the classroom selection for Beacon University worked.
It had been about two weeks since the lunch with Qrow, and Blake was a bit stunned at just how good life was. She spent at least one or more meals a day with Yang, and often hung out with Yang and their neighbors for study sessions. She'd hung out with Sun a few times outside of class too. He seemed pretty cool, in Blake's opinion. He'd moved up to BU from down South, way out of state. He hadn't really fully explained why, since they'd mostly just been talking about their foster care experiences. It was very interesting to Blake, to see the differences between the systems they had experienced.
Aside from her social life, things were going great in Blake's academic life. She enjoyed almost all of her classes, except for philosophy, but it was an easy intro class, so she knew she'd get through it. Cinder, the problem girl from her creative writing class, had calmed down significantly since that first day of class. She'd even apologized to Sun and Blake, and talked to both of them a few times in class since.
Blake couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pride. She'd been through so much in the last few years, in her entire life, and for once, things were, well, stable. She had friends, a schedule, people looking out for her, and felt comfortable with herself for the first time since... ever.
She'd done it. She still had a long way to go with life, but damn, life was good.
Yang's efforts to increase Blake's friendship circle had been working. While Blake still felt like the numbers were really low for a girl her age (which Yang would absolutely agree to), she had acquired about fifteen Facebook friends since creating the account. It consisted of Yang, their neighbors, Sun, some other people from classes, and her last foster host. That was fourteen more friends than she could ever remember having, and well, she wasn't entirely sure that she would have ever considered him to be a friend.
Blake's thoughts were interrupted by a blast of wind. She reached up, hanging onto the hair bow Yang had given her. She now wore it almost every day, even when nature seemed to be against it.
Wind was nothing new for Blake, even though it was only mid-September. She had been told during orientation that Beacon University had been designed by an architect who usually designed schools in the South, where temperatures hit over the 100F mark regularly during the warmer months, so wind tunnels were a necessity. Unfortunately, Beacon University was a school in the Northeast, where it regularly dropped below 0F in the winter. Even though it had been four months ago when Blake learned that fact, Yang reminded her about it on the daily. Yang really hated what the wind did to her hair. Not a single day went past without Blake getting a ranting complaint about the wind messing up Yang's hair.
Blake clung tight to the bow as she pushed her way through the bout of wind. She had almost made it to her destination: the student union. She'd promised Yang she'd come hang out at the Queer Center after classes today, instead of holing up somewhere in the library or back in their dorm. Yang had seemed pretty convinced to get Blake to socialize, although Yang had been doing a pretty good job about letting Blake take it slowly, and at her own pace.
Blake hadn't been to the Queer Center since the open house. She had to admit, she was still pretty embarrassed about the whole ordeal, how she had run out like that. Yang had convinced her that no one would remember that, since open house was a pretty hectic day. Blake just really hoped that Yang was right about that one.
She finally arrived at the student union, her bow nearly completely undone from the wind. She tugged at it, releasing it, and held it in her hand as she approached the elevator. She pressed the button, and readjusted her bow, using the metal doors of the elevator as a mirror.
Much to Blake's horror, the doors opened far before she was expecting, and she found herself face-to-face with someone as she was halfway done adjusting her bow. She blinked and took a step back, apologizing to... Cinder?
"Oh, hey Blake!" Cinder laughed as she stepped off the elevator.
"Hey, Cinder. Sorry about that, I was, uh, well, using the doors for a mirror."
Cinder laughed again. "Don't worry about it! See you in Creative Writing tomorrow!"
"Yeah, see you then." Blake stepped into the elevator, the doors closing as Cinder walked away.
Blake finished adjusting her bow, this time using the actual mirror on the wall of the elevator. She finished just as the soft ding! went off, signifying that Blake had arrived at the top floor. She stepped off, headed down the long hallway towards the Queer Center, hidden away in the corner of the top floor of the union.
As Blake entered the Queer Center, a student worker sitting behind the desk greeted her, and complimented her bow. She smiled, complimenting their hair, which was wildly colored in what looked to Blake to be about three different colors. This time was far more relaxing than the open house, which had been crawling with people. This time, as Blake entered the main room, she only counted one person sitting on a couch, with familiar looking short blonde hair...
"Sun?"
Sun turned around to see Blake. "Oh, hey Blake! Wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"Yeah, me neither. Well, you, not me." Blake's heart was racing. Why did she always have to run into people she knew here? She still wasn't wholly comfortable being out about her sexuality.
He laughed, gesturing to one of the couches near him. "How's your day been, Blake?"
Blake pulled off her bag, placing it down on one of the seats Sun had gestured to, before sitting down. "Pretty average, mostly boring classes without anything really standing out. I'm supposed to be meeting my roommate here after she gets out of class. She's dragging me off to do god knows what this afternoon." She gave a small laugh.
"Oh, fun! I'm waiting for my boyfriend to get out of class too."
Blake made a small mental note. Sun had a boyfriend. Being so open about these types of things was still rather odd to her, but she was trying rather hard to not make a big deal out of it. She thought back to when Yang and her had found out that Ren and Nora were dating. They had talked about how long the couple had been together. Blake decided that would be a normal question to ask.
"How long have you two been together?"
"Just passed three years, right before the semester started."
"Wow, congratulations!"
"Thanks," a new voice said from behind Blake. She turned to see the source of the voice, a tall boy with eccentric blue hair.
Blue hair that she, and anyone else on campus, recognized all too well.
"Neptune!" Sun smiled. "You're out early!"
"Yeah, the professor got through his slides early, which was nice." Neptune dropped his backpack on the seat next to Sun. He leaped over the back of the couch, causing Sun to stick his tongue out at him.
"Show off."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, you gonna introduce me to your friend, Sun?"
Sun shook his head slightly. "Right, sorry! Blake, this is my boyfriend, Neptune. Neptune, this is my friend, Blake, from creative writing."
Neptune offered a large smile, his teeth so white they almost seemed to twinkle. "Nice to meet you, Blake!"
"Same to you, Neptune."
But this wasn't Blake's first time seeing Neptune. In person, sure, but not his picture. It was kind of hard to miss him, considering his picture was plastered everywhere on campus. On the sides of construction, on the sides of the athletic complex, on the banners attached to the light poles, and well, everywhere. It was kind of hard to miss, considering he was a star lacrosse player, and well, Beacon University was pretty much known for their men's lacrosse team. Blake didn't even like sports, but it was impossible to ignore the lacrosse photos everywhere. The team had won seventeen national championships over the years. The administration worshipped them in every way possible.
Neptune was not only arguably the best player on the team currently, his blue hair gave him a sort of signature style. He was a bit of a celebrity on campus, and well, Blake had never really expected to ever meet him, let alone like this, in the Queer Center, with his boyfriend, who was Blake's friend from creative writing class.
"Are you the one from Sun's creative writing class who... has the similar experiences?" Neptune asked, raising an eyebrow.
Blake nodded. "Yeah, that's me. I don't mind mentioning it by name, as long as Sun's okay with it."
"Oh, yeah, absolutely. Being a foster kid isn't exactly up there on my list of big secrets." Sun laughed, to which Neptune smiled.
"Cool! I'm glad Sun made a friend who he can talk to about that kind of stuff."
"Yeah, it's great to have someone who understands these things." Blake could feel the conversation already running dry. God, she hated small talk.
"Well, well, if it ain't Neptune Vasilias, Beacon's sports boy himself," a voice called from the entrance, allowing Blake a small sigh of relief from the awkwardness of the conversation. She wasn't exactly sure that the direct mention of Neptune's fame was exactly the best move either, but she wasn't about to question it.
The trio turned to see Coco and Yang entering the room. Blake was stunned by Coco's outfit. Yang had mentioned that Coco was majoring in fashion and design, but Blake had never expected Coco to be this stunning in her outfit choices. Yang spotted Blake, and gave a small, excited wave, to which Blake returned.
Coco smirked at Neptune, continuing to talk. "Saw your last game, buddy. It certainly was something."
Neptune groaned. "Don't remind me."
"What, Beacon's literal poster boy can't handle a little blood?" Coco crossed her arms, still smirking.
"No, I can't. I'm really not good with blood." Neptune sunk into the couch a bit.
Yang dropped her backpack on the spot next to Blake, walking around the couch. "What happened?"
"Someone got hurt and started bleeding on the field," Sun said, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. "Nep has a bit of a fear of blood, and had to sit out for a bit."
"It's gross!" Neptune called out in response, throwing his hands up in the air.
Sun patted his shoulder. "You're getting better, Nep. You handled my last emergency tampon run much better than you ever have."
"Yeah, well, you're different." Neptune shook his head, settling into his boyfriend's arms. "Besides, what am I going to let you do, bleed all the way to the pharmacy?"
"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to," Sun shrugged.
"Yeah, well, hopefully it's the last."
"Yeah, hopefully."
Coco took a spot next to Yang on the couch. "Did your doctor raise your T dose?"
"Yeah, only took another period to convince her my levels weren't right." Sun rolled his eyes. "I'm probably gonna end up switching to someone up here soon. It's just too much work for the information constantly getting sent back and forth, and well, I'm pretty sure my doctor shouldn't even be practicing medicine at this point, let alone trans healthcare, but that's besides the point."
Blake felt like she was missing out on some important piece of information that she wasn't quite connecting. She looked at Yang, who didn't seem to have a confused look on her face, but more of a curious look.
"The doctors at student health services do HRT," Yang commented, causing all heads to snap to her.
"Are you...?" Sun tilted his head slightly.
Yang shook her head. "I ran the GSA back home, we had college profiles on all the state schools, and the different services they offered for LGBT students. It was kinda my big project the last two years of high school, I did a lot of research."
"Ah," Sun said with a nod. "Yeah, I've heard good things about them. After my last skype appointment with my old doctor, I'm gonna switch."
Blake finally decided to speak up. "I... feel like I'm missing some important piece of information here. I'm really confused."
"Oh!" Sun's eyes lit up. "I never told you! I'm a transgender guy. Kind of need to know that for literally any of this conversation to make sense."
"Ohh, okay! Yeah, everything makes sense now." Blake laughed. "I'm surprised I didn't put that together myself."
"That's my bad, I should have mentioned. I just wasn't exactly sure what you'd say the first time we got coffee, about either the gay thing or the trans thing, ya know?"
Blake nodded. "Completely understandable."
Sun's phone buzzed on his leg. He picked it up, glancing at the screen. Unlocking it swiftly, his eyes scanned the screen, taking in every word. Neptune glanced over Sun's shoulder, his smile growing huge as he read the screen with his boyfriend.
"What are you goofballs smiling at?" Coco asked.
"The surgeon got back to me! I have a consultation for top surgery next week! I can get my surgery three months after that." Sun's smile was as wide and bright as his namesake.
Coco's eyes widened. "That's awesome!"
Neptune gave his boyfriend a huge hug. "I'm so excited for you!"
"Congrats, dude!" Yang gave him a thumbs up.
"Congratulations," Blake said with a small smile.
"What are we congratulating Sun for?" another new voice joined the conversation. Blake couldn't help but wonder how many people were going to show up today.
"Vel!" Coco smiled as she tilted her head back to see the girl standing behind her who had just placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sun got his top surgery consultation!"
"Congrats, Sun!"
Sun smiled, releasing Neptune from the hug. "Thanks, y'all. I can't believe this is happening so soon after getting here."
"No better time," Neptune said.
"You know, Nep, you're going to have to help me with my drains."
"Drains?"
"Blood and excess fluids from the swelling in my chest. I'll probably have them for about a week, but they'll have to be emptied a couple times a day at most."
"Oh." Neptune's face fell slightly.
Coco snorted. "Please count the number of times he faints."
"Coco," Velvet chided, "be nice."
"Being nice to Neptune is no fun, though!"
"Coco."
"Fine," Coco sighed, placing her hand over Velvet's, which was still resting on Coco's shoulder. "You escape this time, Vasilias."
Neptune stuck his tongue out at Coco. "I'll show you I can handle it. I'll have to."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Nep," Sun shook his head. "Let's just enjoy today, shall we?"
"I guess," Neptune said sarcastically, leaning into Sun's shoulder.
Blake looked around at the group. Both couples were so damn cute together, especially with Sun grinning like an idiot about his news he had just gotten. She couldn't help but feel a twinge in her chest, some sense of longing for what she was seeing around her.
She blinked, trying to clear her thoughts. She knew exactly what a relationship would bring, and she couldn't let this get to her head.
Things were just too good right now for thoughts of him to ruin it.
