Luna struggled to gather her nerves as she tied her hair up in front of her bedroom mirror. It wasn't her date that day with Astra that she was worried about- well, not completely- but what she knew she'd have to do beforehand. She'd kept this from her parents for long enough; she figured it was time to let them know exactly why going to Astra's house that day was so significant. She kept Ruby's words in mind; that Yang and Neon didn't really have any issue with each other anymore, and that everything would go smoothly.
After all, it wasn't as if Yang would ever try to stop them from dating…right? Surely not. She just wasn't that kind of parent. She'd be fine with it, she had to be.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to her bedroom and heading downstairs, where Blake and Yang were in the lounge.
"Hey, little bee," Yang greeted her. "You heading out?"
"Uh," Luna rubbed her arm. "Just about." She swallowed and tried to calm herself. "There's something I need to talk to you guys about first."
Blake and Yang exchanged a look, before Blake patted the seat beside her on the couch. "Come and sit down."
Luna obeyed, sinking into the cushion slightly, as her parents looked at her expectantly. She ran her hands over her ponytail, trying to figure out how to start. "Um…so, you know how I'm going to Astra's house today?" She didn't wait for an answer, knowing it was a stupid question. "It's just that…I'm not going there just to hang out."
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Yeah, um…" Luna switched from playing with her hair to her fingers. She took another deep breath and decided to stop beating around the bush. "It's a date. Astra's my girlfriend. She has been for a few months now."
Instead of replying immediately, Yang turned to Blake with a grin. Blake sighed, pulling some lien out from her pocket and handing it to a rather smug Yang.
"I told you she'd tell us before the end of the holidays." Yang boasted.
Blake shook her head affectionately. "Alright, no need to rub it in."
Luna glanced back and forth between them, piecing things together. "Did you guys…already know?" Alarm shot through her. "Wait, you didn't read my texts, did you?"
"Of course not," Blake assured her. "It was obvious from the way you talked about her, not to mention the way you two were acting at Beacon." She chuckled, "You didn't hide it very well."
Luna blushed, feeling stupid. "Oh."
"Why did you tell us sooner?" Yang asked. "You know we would've been fine with it."
It seemed silly to Luna now that she'd thought otherwise. "It's just…I know you and her mother never got along very well. I was worried you'd think the same about her."
Yang got up and went to sit on Luna's other side so that she could place a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Neon could be annoying at the best of times, but I don't have any hard feelings towards her," She gave Luna a smile. "And even if I did, I'd never let that get in the way of your happiness. Astra's a lovely girl, and I'm happy for you."
"We both are," Blake added, grinning. "Even if you made me lose a bet."
Luna sighed heavily and sunk into the couch. "Thank goodness." She'd worried about nothing after all.
"Now, get up," Yang instructed. "You've got a date to get to."
"And don't forget that Sun and Neptune are coming over for dinner," Blake reminded her, "So be back by five. We can work on those upgrades you wanted afterward."
Luna chuckled, standing up again. "I will."
As her parents ushered her out the door, with Blake stopping her briefly to smooth out her hair, Luna's anxiety mostly melted away, now replaced with excitement. Astra hadn't told her anything about what she had in store for the day, so she had no idea what to expect.
After she'd boarded a transport, she double-checked the address Astra had sent her, praying she hadn't mistyped it or anything. She couldn't imagine the horror of knocking on the wrong door. After reading the address several times to make sure she'd gotten it completely right, Luna opened a map on her scroll and set directions as the transport begin to land, not trusting herself to be able to find her way through Vale on her own. Patch was easy; between the different styles of every house and each natural landmark, Luna knew the layout by heart. Vale, on the other hand, was a lot more complicated when most buildings looked the same and she knew of very few recognizable areas outside of those on the main shopping street.
Stepping into the streets, Luna looked up from the map and up at the street signs. Finding the right one, she set off, constantly switching between checking the map and the area around her. After about ten minutes, she found herself at a single-story house, the garden of which was adourned with bright pink and yellow flowers. A welcome sign was hung on the door, featuring a drawing of a cat. This was Astra's house for sure.
After hesitating slightly, she knocked on the door, before taking a step back and listening as quick footsteps became louder.
The door swung open to reveal a woman who could have only been Neon. People certainly weren't wrong when they said the two looked alike, with the same red hair, green eyes, and fluffy tail.
"Ahh, Luna!" To Luna's surprise, Neon pulled her into a warm, tight hug. "I've been wanting to meet you for so long."
Luna didn't know how to respond.
"Oh!" Neon drew back suddenly, looking apologetic. "Sorry about that. We're very outwardly affectionate in this family."
Luna managed an awkward grin. "Yeah, I uh. Noticed."
Neon chuckled. "Of course, you must get enough of that from Astra." She took a step back and looked Luna up and down. "Goodness, you do look a lot like your parents."
Luna tried not to tuck her tail around her legs and make her discomfort clear. "I guess that's...genetics."
"Mooooooommmmmm!"
Luna felt instant relief the moment she heard Astra's voice and craned her head to see her rushing towards the door.
"Leave her alone, you're making her uncomfortable!" Astra complained, stopping by the door and glaring at Neon.
As Neon playfully defended herself, Luna could only find herself smiling at Astra. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail like Luna's and she was wearing a heart-shaped hairpin instead of her usual cat-eared headband. After going a few days without having seen her, it was like experiencing her beauty for the first time all over again.
After bickering with her mother for a moment more, Astra grabbed Luna's hands and pulled her into the house. "Come on!" She urged, her tone much lighter now. "I want to show you something."
"Have fun!" Neon called after them.
Astra's room was exactly how Luna had always pictured it. A window above her bed poured light into the room, sunlight spilling onto pink bedsheets that were covered in cartoon cats, while various posters covered the walls. Most significantly though, all around the room were stuffed animals of every shape and size; some were piled in a corner, others sat on shelves and drawers, and there was an arrangement of them at the foot end of the bed. It was surprisingly clean and tidy, though Luna wouldn't have been surprised if Astra had cleaned up just for this occasion.
"Sorry about my mom" Astra apologized, shutting the door. "She can be like an excited puppy when she meets new people. It's kind of ironic."
"Don't worry about it," Luna assured her. "I know she was just being friendly." She chuckled, "And you weren't that different when we first met."
Astra blushed and looked sheepish, "Yeah, I guess so." She perked up again instantly. "Anyway, take a seat! I've been working on something for you."
Looking around the room and not spotting any chairs, Luna opted to seat herself on Astra's bed. It was as comfortable as it looked, and she sunk into it contentedly, watching Astra as she darted to a corner of the room and grabbed, to Luna's surprise, a guitar, one dotted with stickers.
"I didn't know you played any instruments." She commented curiously.
Astra pulled herself onto the bed and sat with the guitar in her lap. "It's been a while," She replied, "But yeah, I've had this for years." She looked up at Luna with bright eyes. "What about you? Any musical abilities?"
Luna huffed lightly. "No, not really," She answered honestly, "I prefer listening to music rather than playing it."
Astra grinned. "Good," She replied, "Then you'll probably like this." As Luna watched, she settled deeper into the bed and began to play a gentle tune that seemed to fill the whole room. A moment later, she started to sing, with a voice softer than Luna would have imagined from her.
"Night skies and soft lights,
Both of us, together,
Knowing, believing,
You make my life better…"
Luna listened in awe, watching Astra as she concentrated on playing, her face soft and peaceful as she sang. It was hard for Luna to breathe in the fear that she'd ruin the harmony of the song, and she felt herself starting to well up as she listened. Astra's voice was so gentle and sweet, and matched perfectly with the chords of the guitar. And this was all for her.
As Astra finished, plucking the last few strings, she looked up at Luna, and the look on her face changed comically as she seemed to notice the tears running down Luna's face.
"Ah! Are you okay?" She asked, eyes wide with concern.
Luna chuckled, wiping her face with her sleeve. "Of course, that was just…really sweet." She tried to keep the tears from falling again and she smiled softly at Astra. "Nobody's ever done anything like that for me."
"Oh." Astra blushed. "Well, it wasn't really that great…"
"Are you kidding?" Luna laughed. "It was amazing!" She launched forward and wrapped Astra in a hug, even though the guitar got in the way. "Thank you."
Astra was still blushing when Luna released her. "I'm really glad you liked it," She admitted. "I've spent pretty much all of my time working on it since we planned this."
Luna's heart warmed. "Well, it paid off," She assured her. "I loved it." She lay back on the bed with a thump. "So," She asked, "What's on for the rest of the day?"
The rest of the day, as it turned out, was spent being shown just about everything in Astra's room, playing video games, watching cartoons, and eating whatever snacks they could find in the kitchen. Neon had also gladly jumped at the opportunity to tell Luna as many embarrassing stories about Astra as possible, and Luna appreciated it for making her feel more at ease. In those few hours, Luna felt as if she was learning more about Astra than she had for the entity of the past term, like that she'd had a whole phase as a pre-teen of wearing nothing but dresses despite Atlas's cold climate, or that she had names for every single one of her stuffed animals. Each new thing Luna learned endeared her to her girlfriend even more, and brought words to her mind that she wasn't yet ready to say. Hopefully, she could soon.
The time to go came all-too-quickly, and Luna wasn't even exhausted by the end of it. She was still bursting with energy as Astra walked her back to the transport pickup.
"This was really fun," She told Astra as they stood together. "Thanks for inviting me."
Astra grinned. "Hey, thanks for coming!" She replied, "I don't know how I would've entertained myself without seeing you at least once these holidays."
Distant whirring sounded as the transport came into view and drew closer.
"Aw," Astra looked up at it. "Looks like it's time to go."
Luna squeezed her hand gently as the transport landed and a few people climbed off. "hey, don't worry," She assured her. "We'll see each other again soon."
Astra smiled. "Right."
Luna began to draw away to board the transport, before thinking about it, and then darting forward to give Astra a quick kiss on the cheek before her mind could talk her out of it. Then she turned and hurried onto the transport, smiling to herself as she heard Astra's giddy chuckle behind her.
