I'm late, I didn't forget! I'll explain more on bottom AN… Today was "Meet me on the battlefield" mentioning because it truly goes with this fic.
Everything had started because of this text. Eight little words numerically printed on her phone, that had changed so much in her life, in such little time… Driving toward the club, Blake resisted the urge to check the message again, to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. It was probably just a drunken text, or someone else fooling around with Yang's phone… But she couldn't get out of her head this "I think I've fallen in love with you…"
She was worried. For someone as social as Yang, admitting these kinds of things could be crushing. Especially in a world where homosexuality was a bump in society, a world where the leaders wanted everything to be smoothed out. A damned world where each kid was told very young that anything else than heterosexuality was a disease, a sin, something shameful. A world that could bring a sober Yang to tears, and a drunk Yang to extreme reactions.
She parked in front of the nightclub, in the middle of empty bottles and party remaining, worried that she would be to late. It was a quarter past three, she had been awake by blind luck, having to write a chapter for tomorrow absolutely… Such luck was unusual, and she was anxiously thinking about when her luck would abandon her.
Entering the building, she felt assaulted by the loud drumming music and by the numerous glare that lingered on her, either surprised to see her enter in a casual dressing or drunken hungry. This was definitely not her world, and she fastened her pace toward the bar as she supposed the barman would probably know where Yang was. After all, she was known to drink a lot and party more, and every barman in this part of the city knew better than to let her get out of sight.
"Sir?" she tried, not wanting to spend a single second more than needed in this place.
"Sir? Well you're definitely not a regular!" the barman laughed, mixing in a shaker from an expert hand. "What can I do for you miss?"
"I'm searching for someone. Yang Xiao Long, tall, muscular, a golden mane and lavender eyes. Do you happen to know where she is?"
"I do know where she is, but I'm not sure now is the best moment to talk to her."
Blake's eyes widened, and her heart started racing as her overthinking mind immediately thought about the worst.
"She's completely down…" the barman added with a slight movement of his head toward another part of the counter.
"That's why I'm here" Blake answered, feeling her heart break when she saw the mess of blonde hair slumped on the countertop… And break a little more when she saw her back raise and lower erratically. She was crying.
She approached her friend and placed a hand on her back, for now just wanting to comfort her. Yang raised her head, probably surprised by the sudden contact, and lowered it immediately in shame, not even able to look at Blake in this state. Seeing her usually boisterous and proud friend in such broken, ashamed state was a hard time for Blake.
"Yang? How about we get out of here?" she suggested, regretting that she couldn't whisper because of that damn music
Not saying anything, Yang nodded and got up to start wobble toward the entrance door. At least now Blake would have a chance to reason and help her… When they passed the barman, Blake gave him a thankful nod before focusing on helping Yang walk as straight as possible to the exit. Now under a less gaudy light, Yang seemed even more broken. Helping her toward her car, Blake couldn't retain a tear from falling of her own eyes… She was looking at the terrible portrait of a broken giant, the delicate lighting of the moon highlighting her reddened eyes and tear-strained cheeks, her drunken walk tripping over what could have been the remains of her obliterated pride.
The ride back to Yang's place was awfully silent, Blake searching her words to comfort the blondie while said dragon was simply crying, face in her hand and elbow on the armrest in a sobbing Leaning Tower of Pisa. Blake helped her once again, out of the car and into her small apartment. Collapsing at the foot of her bed, Yang spoke for the first time of the night.
"Do… do you hate me?" she said with a croaky, broken voice. As broken as her owner probably was right now.
Crouching in front of her, Blake delicately wiped out a tear on her cheek with a sad smile.
"I'll never hate you, Yang. Even less because you love me."
It was a long run ahead of them, trying to get Yang to accept her feelings as normal, and nothing told them that she would still remember tomorrow when she would be sober… But still, Blake wanted to try. Seeing that her crying had stopped, she got up again, ready to leave and restart that conversation later, but Yang's pleading voice stopped her.
"Could… could you stay?" her voice was frail, almost child-like, and she raised pleading eyes on Blake. "I'm afraid that… That I'd do something stupid if I stay alone…"
"Of course," Blake answered, feeling a rush of care and sympathy for this lost woman.
She helped Yang slip under the cover, before recovering a striped plaid and making herself comfortable on the sofa. A few seconds before slipping into unconsciousness, she muttered a soft "We'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?" that was answered only by a peaceful silence. She fell asleep with a smile, knowing that Yang had finally stopped crying.
Yeah, I know… I actually forgot to write yesterday. I was working on a project with my beta-reader, something manga/comics about a Yuri metal group manager that has to take care of 4 young idols… At a quarter past 3 in the morning, I had barely finished drawing the first page and I went to sleep without even checking the day's theme. (yeah, that 'quarter pas three' thing in the fanfiction was deliberate)
Sorry… But don't worry, today's theme will be written too! So I won't see you tomorrow, but in a while !