3:34pm

Hey cutie, what's the plan tonight?

3:34pm

Cutie? Sun, I'm sitting right next to my dad. Cut it out.

3:35pm

Who cares? Make yourself available. I've got an idea.

3:37pm

Ok, but you're acting weird. Since when am I "cutie"?

3:37pm

Since I saw how good your legs look in that nightie. I've been thinking about how they'll feel in my hands all afternoon.

3:37pm

OMG you need to stop right now. I'm serious.

3:38pm

You want me.

3:49pm

What is wrong with you? I am not ok with this & you need to come to my room right now so we can talk face to face. I have boundaries & you just crossed a lot of them. This isn't cool & you're going way too far. I don't care how close we are as friends, you don't get to just drop this on me out of nowhere, especially when you know I'm around my parents.

3:49pm

Come on, sex kitten. Why so shy? You owe me. I'll pop in soon, and we can do more than talk. Hope your jaw's flexible.

3:49pm

WTF Sun stop right now or I'm kicking you out. There better be a good explanation for this or we're done permanently. I'm turning off my scroll you fucking perv.

3:50pm

And you're turning me on. Maybe we can invite your mom and have some fun tonight. I've got more than enough to share.

Sun stared at the display in utter disbelief. Instead of the familiar hot blush that he often had in situations involving anything remotely intimate with Blake, his entire body instead felt like ice. He looked at 'his' supposed words with utter revulsion and found that he couldn't even blink, let alone tear his gaze from the screen. His mouth opened to form words, but all he could bring up was silence as his insides twisted and turned in an uncomfortable rhythm.

After nearly a full minute, Blake lowered the scroll to her side, and Sun's eyes instinctively traveled to her face. Instead of the furious pools of gold that he expected, he instead was met with a view of the top of her head, cat ears matted down into her hair as she stared at the floor. Her shoulders trembled as she remained in place, the hand free of the scroll balled into a tight fist. Blake was the first to speak.

"…I don't know what… signals you think I've been sending you, but you've got them all wrong. I'm not the kind of girl to just get swept off her feet and then become some object for a guy. What gave you this idea? Why do you think you can just send me this out of the blue, and everything will be fine afterward?"

Blake raised her head to stare up at Sun, and her expression shook him to his core. The feline faunus had locked her eyes to his face in a glare full of sheer hatred, with fresh tear trails working their way down her cheeks in an uneven race to her chin. She sniffled as she kept up her glower, and Sun did the only thing he could think to do in his paralyzed, wordless state. He stepped forward, and made an attempt to reach for her hand.

"Blake…"

"No!"

Sun felt the impact before he saw it. A surprising, stinging pain coursed through his abdomen and dispersed up through his chest as Blake's fist crashed into his stomach with surprising force and speed. Sun crumpled and took a few steps backward as he wrapped an arm around his abs, the wind knocked completely out of him from the blow.

"Don't you dare touch me right now! I want nothing to do with you, Sun! You're disgusting! I thought you weren't like most other guys, and that you might actually…" Blake trailed off with another sniffle, before she clenched her teeth. Her ears stood straight up as she began to stomp toward Sun, rapidly closing the distance as she readied her fist.

"Wait! Blake, stop! It wasn't me!" Sun cried desperately, while holding out his other hand in an open palm.

Blake came to a stop inches from his hand, and hesitated. She breathed in heavily through her nose, her furious expression unchanging as she spat her next words. "Start talking."

Sun curled the fingers on his outstretched hand, leaving only the pointer up as he gestured to her to give him a moment. He took a few painful breaths, and began to wonder if she had managed to crack a rib as he straightened his posture with a painful hiss.

"I lost my scroll, at the market. Whoever sent you all of that, it wasn't me. I would never send something like that! I swear to gods, Blake, not just to you, but to anyone… does that sound like me?" Sun pleaded as he leaned back into the wall by her bedroom door.

Blake's face twisted from a mask of uncontrolled rage into a grotesque mixture of anger, sadness, and disgust. Sun watched as she wrestled internally with her emotions, and more tears began to slip down her cheeks. He wanted so badly to reach out and dry her eyes with a finger before pulling her close, but he knew to do so would be a death sentence for their friendship.

"You know the answer to that. But… this wouldn't be the first time that a guy I knew started to change, or started to push for something I didn't want." Blake paused, and folded her arms beneath her chest as she looked off to the side, away from Sun. "I want to believe you. I really do, but… how did you lose your scroll? I need details."

Sun offered her a slow nod of understanding. "I think someone stole it, while I was checking out the stalls. You can ask your mom, and she'll back me up. What time is it right now?"

Blake turned over her hand to look at the display of her scroll. "4:05," she replied. "I'm going to go talk to Mom, right now. Stay here."

"Wait," Sun interjected with a small cough. "If you go downstairs looking like this, it's going to cause her to panic. Want me to go get her, and bring her up here with us? It'll give you a chance to get cleaned up quick, and I'm… okay with her being involved in this situation. That's gotta count for something, right? Whoever did this mentioned her in the text…"

"Never mention that again," Blake cut in with a shake of her head. She mulled over the suggestion, before looking back over to him- most of the anger in her features had dissipated, and she instead began to look very sick. "Go get Mom."

Sun nodded and turned to head for the door. As he put a foot across the threshold, the soft sound of a vibrating device buzzed behind him.

"Wait!" Blake cried out. Sun whirled immediately, and gave her a worried glance.

"What is it?"

"It's you," she replied. "You just texted me again."

Sun stood still, and watched as her eyes traced over his hands. One arm was still around his stomach, while the other hung limply at his side.

"Tail," she said. Sun caught her meaning immediately, and snaked his tail around to the front of his body, showing that it held nothing. He then reached into his front pockets and turned them out for good measure, producing only his wallet, before turning around and keeping his hands and tail up to show off the back of his shorts. Both back pockets were flat, and devoid of a bulge that would suggest a scroll.

The pair stood in silence for a few moments, before Blake moved her thumb and held it on the power button of her scroll. She took a long, drawn-out breath before speaking, her voice shaky.

"Get inside."

Sun obliged, and lowered his hands as he turned and walked back into the room. Blake slipped past him and closed her bedroom door, before double locking both the knob and deadbolt. As she turned back to face Sun, she tossed her scroll onto her bed with an angry flick, and folded her arms once again as she leaned her back into the black wooden door.

"Blake… what did it say?" Sun dared to ask, keeping his voice low as he watched her movements with curiosity.

"It doesn't matter." Blake raised her head to meet his eyes, and a wash of guilt trickled over her features. "…I'm sorry, Sun. I just…"

"Hey, no," he began. Sun took a slow, gentle step toward Blake, and watched her reaction carefully. She didn't protest or move, though her ears twitched slightly. He risked one more step to put them at arm's length, and stopped his advance.

"Don't apologize. Anyone who sends you something like that deserves to be punched in the gut, and then some. The evidence was pretty convincing, and I don't blame you. Things have been… tense, lately," he finished with a defeated tone, knowing that the excuse was a bit lame.

"…do you have feelings for me, Sun? Romantic feelings?" Blake asked. The pair of them both froze, and neither dared to blink. Blake was tense enough to spontaneously explode, and Sun suddenly began to feel lightheaded as one of his worst fears came to life. He once again opened his mouth and found that his words were caught in his throat. He stammered an odd, unattractive sort of croak, before he managed to muster a few simple words.

"I… I think so. Yeah," Sun let out the last word with a heavy breath. He looked off to the side as his shoulders grew knotted, and he waited for some sort of reply from Blake. None came. He sighed, and decided to look back to her and face the situation instead of trying to avoid it.

"So, I've never dated anyone before, or really… 'done much', I guess? A girl or two has caught my eye before, but it was always just some shallow, passing… uh, thing," Sun said, as he lifted his free hand and began to rub the back of his neck. "It's different, with you. I feel more connected. It's not a crush, and it's not just… any one thing, like your looks, or your voice, or... anything else. It's… you. That's the only way I can explain it. I'm happier around you, and I want you to find that same happiness. That's why I stick around. You're worth all of the trouble that's gone on, and honestly… even if you don't feel the same way, I'm fine with that. I want to see your smile. I want to hear your laugh. I don't know if… 'feelings' is the right word. Or 'love'. Or… anything else that people tend to throw around. I really want you in my life, and I want you to be comfortable with wherever it is you fit in," he finished with a long exhale. All of what he said was true, and he simply hoped that none of it would cause her to leave.

Blake listened intently to his words, and Sun watched as her gaze transitioned from his face back down to the floorboards, midway through his confession. She chewed at her bottom lip as he finished, and Sun took note that somewhere into his monologue, tiny wet spots had begun to appear on the wooden floorboards beneath her. His heart sank at the sight, and he feared for the worst as she pushed herself off the wall with her upper back.

"…I'm not ready, Sun. I don't know if I ever will be," she stated with a strained voice. With slow, purposeful steps, Blake closed the distance between herself and Sun, and opened her arms to wrap them around his waist. Sun held his own arms aloft, before gently laying them upon her back with a light squeeze as Blake rested her head into his upper chest.

"That's… okay," Sun said, as he began to trace his right hand along the upper part of her back. His bare chest began to feel cold from the sensation of her icy, stained cheek against his flesh, but he pushed the discomfort to the back of his mind. "Really, it's cool. 'Dating' or whatever isn't important. I'm here to help you, okay?"

"…okay," Blake replied in a voice that was barely audible to him. Blake sniffed, and tightened her grip around Sun's waist as she began to speak again. "I… had a mentor, in the White Fang. Adam. Adam Taurus. We got close. Things were… fiery. Passionate. I was still just a kid, and he was an older boy in the middle of his teens, when we started… we became 'a thing', Sun. He drew me in with his talk of revolution, and his commitment to the cause. There was nothing I wouldn't do for him, and that included… things I wasn't ready for." Blake choked out the last few words, and Sun felt the cold streams making their way down to his stomach intensifying. He tightened his own grip upon her, and interrupted.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. We can do this over however long you need to be comfortable telling me, if you even want to. Okay?" Sun slipped his right hand down and around her side, and brought it up to lift her chin with his forefinger and thumb. With a miserable, self-loathing look, Blake gave him a small nod.

"…he… became abusive, over time. Mentally. Physically. He broke me."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as Sun mulled over the implications. He returned his hand to her upper back, and rekindled the tight squeeze.

"No, he didn't break you, Blake. Maybe temporarily, b-"

"Don't say it, Sun," Blake interrupted with a sudden venom in her tone. The anger and vitriol had returned to her voice with sudden sharpness, and her soft, vulnerable expression had once again morphed into a hateful glare. "Don't say I'm strong. Don't say I bounced back. I'm not who I was, and I probably never will be again. Do you think I like being cold? Do you think I like being guarded and standoffish all the time? I used to be so different, Sun. I used to be fun to be around, and not just to you. To everyone. I was just a little girl, and he stole that from me. He ruined me. You could never understand what it feels like to have everything you love about yourself stripped away for someone else's sick pleasure," Blake finished, before resting her head back into his chest. Countless thoughts swirled in Sun's mind, but the first among them was a newfound hatred for a man he had never met.

Everything he thought to say struck him as a bad idea. He knew that if he said he liked who she was now, she would reply that she didn't. If he suggested revenge, she would tell him that she wasn't ready, or she would rather avoid him. Sun ran his hand in loose circles around her shoulder blades, as he remembered that he was often most successful when he stopped thinking entirely and just followed his instinct.

"I love you, Blake. I don't know what that means yet, but I know it's true. I've always kinda figured there were different types of love, and they're all special, but… I think this might be one of them. That means that I want to help you figure out how to love yourself again, no matter how long that takes. I won't leave you, and if I ever upset you, I want you to tell me. I'm okay with just being friends, or whatever that does or doesn't turn into in the future. I'll be right here to help you out, however you need me to."

Blake shifted uncomfortably, and took her time to reply. "…I'm sorry, Sun. I have more baggage than you could imagine, even as 'just a friend'. I-"

Blake slipped out of Sun's grasp as a series of loud, heavy knocks came at the door. Ghira's voice echoed through the wood shortly afterward, and both of the teens eyed each other in panic.

"Blake? Open the door, I need to talk to you."

Blake's mouth fell open as she looked to Sun for an answer, and the boy steeled himself as he nodded his head toward her personal bathroom. "Go. I'll talk to him," Sun said with a newfound resolve that surprised even himself. Blake asked no questions, and made her way to the bathroom before closing the door. The sound of running water followed shortly afterward.

"Blake! Really, I want to make sure you're alright. You left so suddenly th-"

It was Sun's turn to interrupt as he unbolted and unlocked the door before flinging it open to face Ghira, clad in his usual purple robe. The massive man stared down at Sun with narrowed eyes, and regarded his tear-stained chest and the growing bruise just above his waist with disgust and suspicion.

"What did I tell you about open doors, Mister Wukong?" he began.

"Mr. B, with all due respect… can we talk about this in the hall? I know what you said, and I'm sorry, but it's really important. Please? For Blake's sake."

Ghira regarded him with mild surprise, taken aback by the boy's brashness. He stepped back, and allowed Sun to slip through the door and stand beside him. The door clicked closed as Sun got into position, and let his arms hang down at his sides.

"Sorry about the door thing. Blake locked it when we started talking. I know that's not a good excuse, but it's the truth. I know you're probably really upset with me, and worried about Blake, but please just hear me out? Nothing… 'untoward', was it? Nothing like that is going on. I swear," Sun finished while folding his arms. Ghira looked ready to put him through the wall, but he inhaled deeply through his nose as he folded his own arms, each nearly the size of Sun's torso.

"I'm listening."

"Blake's dealing with some things from her past that she isn't proud of, right now. It's a big deal, and she's not taking it well. She got a message on her scroll that brought up some painful memories, and she wanted to talk to me about it. That's all that's going on in there, and maybe she'll fill you in on the details later, but right now… she needs me. There are just some things you can't talk to parents about… or, I mean, I'd assume so?" Sun tilted his head, and Ghira offered no response.

"I never really… had that kind of experience, so I guess I wouldn't know, but I can't talk to certain people about certain things either, and… yeah, I have a feeling you really don't care." Sun paused, and Ghira remained still and silent.

"I guess I'm just trying to say that this is something that I'm probably a better fit to deal with, just because it's something that someone in her friend circle might understand better than a parent. I'll ask her to speak to you about it, but for now… can you please just trust me with this? I know that's asking a lot, but we both want what's best for Blake, and you and I can talk this out later. Please?" Sun finished his request, and gave Ghira his most sincere look. The elder male breathed in again, and kept his tone even and dangerous.

"…you and I will speak about this later, tonight. Go back inside and do what you need to do to help her, but know that I won't be far from the door. Keep it closed, so that you two can speak and have some privacy. Blake spent the majority of this morning and afternoon trying to convince me that you have some worth. That is the only reason that I am not ejecting you from my property right now." Ghira used his left hand to open the door again, before leaning against the wall right next to it.

"Thanks, Mr. B." Sun offered with as much honesty as he could. "Sorry it has to be like this, but I'll do what I can for her."

Without so much as another glance at Ghira, Sun turned and made his way back into the bedroom. Blake was still in the attached bathroom, and so Sun elected to take a seat upon the bed and look around. The room was mostly bare due to Blake's long absence from her parents' home, though a few purple tapestries with the Belladonna emblem hung from the ceiling around the door to the balcony and nearby window.

The bed itself was larger than the one Sun had been given in the guest bedroom, though it was just as soft. Sun flopped backward into the pillowy mattress with a sigh, and folded his hands behind his head as he kept his feet upon the floor. The sound of a creaking bathroom door drew his eyes over to where Blake had disappeared. There she stood in the doorway once again, though her white overcoat had disappeared, as had her tear trails. She took soft steps toward him, and spoke with a weary voice.

"Well. You're not dead. That's a good first step."

"Not yet, no. Not sure how I pulled it off, but your dad is cool with us just… hanging out, for a bit." Sun moved to sit up, only to find Blake's frigid hand pushing into the center of his chest and pinning him to the bed. "Blake…?"

Blake didn't reply as she lowered herself onto the bed, and climbed atop his chest. With a smooth motion, she slipped down to cuddle into his side, clinging tightly to his shoulder and waist with her arms as Sun slowly trailed his left arm to cradle the small of her back.

"…this is a big step for me, Sun. For a long time, I wouldn't let anyone touch me," Blake said in a hushed voice.

"Then it's a step you should be proud of," he replied. "You're still growing. You can still become who you want to be."

"I need to experience more, for that to happen. I don't know what I need to experience, but… I think it has something to do with you," Blake said as she squeezed at his bicep. She scooted in closer to rest her chin upon Sun's shoulder, and he had half a mind to trace his hand to her ears. He decided against it.

"We'll take it at your pace. Whatever 'it' is." Sun closed his eyes and inhaled, focusing upon her perfume.

"I'm going to… try to begin looking at you… at us in a… from a more 'romantic' angle, Sun. I'm not sure how, and I don't know what that 'means', like you said. It's not going to be tonight, or tomorrow. Maybe not even this year, when we… 'move forward', if you want to call it that, but I'm going to try. I want to get to know you, more… and I need to get to know myself, again."

Sun's heart fluttered as he savored her words, and he turned his thoughts off to offer a natural response.

"Cool," he managed.

Blake rolled her eyes, and couldn't help but offer a smile that he didn't see. "…right. Cool. Can we just… stay like this, for a while? You're warm, and I feel like garbage."

Sun opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her, though too late to catch her toothy grin. Instead, he received a pleading, vulnerable look, and the sight drove him to let instinct take over. Slowly, he leaned his head downward and planted a gentle kiss onto the top of her head. The action earned him a frenzied blush, but no form of protest.

"I'll stay with you for as long as you'll have me."

Author's Note:

So, at 20,000 words in, I would say this story has now 'started'. Most of the major players and the beginnings of the central conflicts are now in place. I'll try to keep the three-day update schedule going, as it seems to be working out thus far in terms of work, life, and not getting burnt out on this story. If I had to guess, this is likely going to run somewhere around 30 chapters, and will remain my main focus for the foreseeable future. Let the rocky romance begin.

-RD