"Blake, for the third time, it's fine. It hurt a lot worse before, and I'll get used to it being kinda ugly. I'm more worried about you, right now."
Sun sat upon a stool in the middle of the kitchen, arm outstretched as Blake inspected every inch of his palm. He was shirtless and without his gauntlets, leaving him in only his shorts and necklace. Blake, in contrast, was still wearing her sodden clothes as she sat across from him with a first aid kit on the kitchen island next to her. Her pale skin glistened from the moisture still clinging to it beneath the dim glow of the overhead light, and Sun found himself transfixed by the ethereal glow that it added to her features.
"Me? I'm unscathed. You have a literal scar, and a bunch of small cuts on your arms that are covered in dirt. We're getting you sorted before anything else, and that includes dealing with Ilia's scroll."
"Blake, you're freezing," he emphasized as he watched her shiver yet again. Her weighty mass of hair was still damp around her shoulders, and her clothes had only partially dried on the walk back to the manor.
"It's not that bad," she said rather quickly as she made a second pass over his palm with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball.
Sun frowned, and gave her an adorable little pout as he lowered his voice. "I really don't want to see you get sick…"
"Ugh! Fine!" Blake replied in disgust. She slammed the cotton ball down onto the wooden surface of the island and quickly began to undo the buttons of her shirt. Sun raised a brow and thought to ask what she was doing, but understood almost immediately and reached a hand out to stop her.
"Blake, if your parents wake up and see us down here w-"
"I don't care!" Blake countered as she wriggled out of the dress shirt, and let it drop to the floor behind herself. There she sat, her chest exposed save for a lacy black bra, and Sun found himself unable to speak as he fought the hardest battle of his life to keep his eyes locked on hers. "There, are you happy, now? No more damp shirt. Now shut up, and let me fix you."
"…okay. Just… can you, uh… calm down, a little? You've been weirdly intense, lately. I mean, you're usually pretty intense, but I can tell that you're on edge. It's making me worry, more than a little."
Blake fixed him with an annoyed glare, took a deep breath in through her nose, and finished it with a heavy sigh through her mouth. She kept her tone even and honest as she took Sun's injured hand in both of hers, and lightly began to rub around the wound with the cotton. "…I know. I'm sorry, but I've just assumed that you get it. I know you get me, so I felt like I didn't even have to say anything."
"You didn't, and I do. I just want to understand why this is so important to you, right now," Sun replied. He slowly raised their hands upward and dipped his head to meet them, before planting a soft kiss upon the back of Blake's right hand.
"…because you take care of me literally every second we're together. It's my turn to take care of you, and you're worried that I might get the sniffles instead of just keeping your mouth shut and letting me pamper you," Blake admitted.
"Gotcha. Can I at least get you a towel, so you're… you know, covered, before you check my arms over?" Sun asked with a small cough.
"Does it bother you? The top I had on before I stole your shirt didn't cover that much more," Blake said with a roll of her eyes. Sun considered the point, and allowed himself a quick glance downward at her chest. Despite the truth of her words, the sight still caused his heart to skip a beat, before he looked back up at her.
"It doesn't bother me, it's just… a little awkward. Especially since we're 'a thing', now? I don't know how to thing."
"You don't know how to thing," Blake repeated. "You are a master of linguistics."
"Don't mock the injured man," Sun whined as Blake stood and walked to the sink. She kept her back turned to him as she picked up a washcloth from the counter, and began to run it under the water.
"…so, this may come as a surprise to you, but I also don't know 'how to thing', Sun. Adam was my first relationship, and the only one before you. What I thought was passion and intensity coming from him, I just accepted as normal in a relationship because I didn't know any better. I didn't understand. I was too young, and he was just old enough to manipulate me into believing everything was fine. It wasn't passion, intensity, or fine. It was… it was something else." Blake's voice grew quieter near the end of her train of thought, and Sun stood and walked over to join her side. He rested his left arm around her waist, and pulled her gently into his side.
"…abuse?"
"Abuse," Blake agreed, her voice barely above a whisper. "It started small. Verbal, when he was frustrated. Eventually, it turned physical. That was rare, but it did happen. He choked me, once, for questioning him about something simple while he was already angry. After that first time, I wanted to cut him off and just run, but… I didn't. He has a way with words, and he managed to convince me that somehow, it wasn't his fault. Nothing was ever his fault. It got worse over time, and eventually, the abuse even became..." Blake paused, and rested her palms along the metal rim of the sink as the water continued to run. Her ears flattened, and she shivered once again. "…something worse," she finished quickly.
Sun listened intently, and tried his best to help her along. Eventually, he found the courage to speak.
"…sexual…?"
Blake refused to look at Sun, and only offered him a slow nod in response. "…lean over the sink, and put an arm into the basin. It'll make cleaning it off easier."
Sun did as was asked of him, and leaned down to rest his right forearm against the cold metal. In contrast, his chest had grown heated and tight, and his mind was filled with thoughts of what exactly he wanted to do to Adam when they finally met. "I'm sorry, Blake. Is there… is there anything I can really do, to help? I know I'm not qualified at all, but… anything that would make you feel even a little bit better?"
Blake leaned in and began to run the damp cloth up and around his biceps, kneading the material into the small cuts and scrapes along the flesh. A thin stream of pink water began to pool down near his elbow, and she kept her eyes locked on the trailing liquid, instead of him. "I don't know, other than being patient, and helping me feel… normal."
"…how do you feel about it? So I know where to start," Sun questioned as he followed her gaze.
"…filthy. Ruined. Like he stole something from me, all while managing to convince me it was his to begin with," Blake replied without any hesitation.
Sun remained still as she brought another alcohol-covered cotton ball into the process, and ran it along his wounds. He wracked his brain for an appropriate response, and began to grow frustrated with his lack of experience in the matter. Nothing else mattered but helping her to recover, but how could he manage it if he didn't even understand the implications of what she was going through?
"Honestly, I feel like anything comforting I could say you either already know is true, or it would be something you don't want to hear. So, I guess, all I can really think of is… I'll do what I can. The best I can, every day, and focus on making progress."
Blake offered him a weak, weary smile as she finally dared to look at him once again. She lifted a towel from the counter and rubbed down his arm to dry it with another shiver.
"…other arm. And… thank you, both for that, and for not telling me that my feelings are wrong, or that you don't think I'm 'ruined'. To put it bluntly, it doesn't matter what you think of me, physically. I know how I feel, and I have no idea how to make it go away. That lingering discomfort is here to stay, for now. I'm probably going to react… badly, if and when we get to the point of anything to do with sex. I'm sorry, Sun. You deserve better than that from me."
Sun turned as instructed and lowered his other arm into the sink as he turned to face her. "And I'm probably going to burst into flame or melt into a puddle of goo from sheer embarrassment if we reach that point. So, in other words, it'll be hot," Sun said, with hyperbolic emphasis on the last word.
"So hot," Blake stated while rolling her eyes before getting to work on the other arm. "I'll probably be a traumatized mess, and you'll be too nervous to do anything, if you can even… get it working. I really wouldn't be shocked if our first attempt at anything intimate ends with one of us hiding in the bathroom and throwing up while the other goes for a walk and curses themselves out. We'll get there when we get there," she said with a sense of finality. Sun chewed his lip to buy himself a moment to hesitate, but found that he could no longer resist the burning question that had been at the forefront of his mind for the entire day.
"Blake, can I ask you something? Something about… this topic, before we shelve it for the night? I promise, this is the end of it."
Blake sucked in a breath as she shut off the sink and made a beckoning motion to draw Sun back to the set of stools with her as she ran the towel along his arm again. The pair of them sat down, and Blake set down the towel to begin to wrap his arms in gauze. "…so long as you're careful about it, and the question is reasonable."
Sun visibly tensed as he looked down at the gauze spiraling around his arm as it covered his wounds, and tried to find a way to phrase his query in a way that wouldn't get him smacked upside the head for a second time. "So, I understand being uncomfortable with the idea of sex, and… stuff… given what happened with Adam. But why are you so okay, or maybe even… aggressive about being sexy?"
The gauze stopped moving abruptly as Blake gave him a confused look and deadpan tone. "…I can't help being sexy, Sun, if that's what you think of me."
"No, no, not… naturally. I mean, you are, but…" He reached his free arm up to scratch the back of his head yet again. "I mean, the intentional stuff you do around me that has to do with sex. Like, uh… leaving a thong on the door handle? Or ripping off your shirt in front of me, when there are obvious alternatives to warm up."
"…oh," came the simple reply as Blake continued her work on his arm. "It's… pretty simple, actually. If I initiate, then I have a sense of control over the situation. I do things like that when I'm comfortable doing things like that, and I'm comfortable doing things like that with you. Being shirtless is… honestly pretty much the boundary, right now, but consider it testing the waters."
"Makes sense," Sun offered. "Trust me, Blake, you'll definitely be the one 'initiating' for the foreseeable future. I'm in way over my head right now."
"I know, and it's pretty adorable." Blake switched to wrapping his other arm, across a smaller span of flesh. "Now, moving on, before this gets awkward. Ilia's scroll."
"Ilia's scroll…" Sun repeated. The very thought of the device filled him with unease, especially having a direct line to Adam. He still wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to use it, with or without Blake's knowledge. "What's the plan?"
"What's the plan?" Blake asked incredulously. "The plan is that we snoop through her scroll, take all of the White Fang data we can get, and we use it. There's no other option."
"There's an option, Blake. There are lots of options. Besides, I thought you didn't want to confront the White Fang? I know we kinda have to, now, but we don't have to crusade against them until you're ready. You came home to relax and clear your mind, remember?"
"And my mind has never been clearer, in terms of the White Fang. They need to be stopped, and we need to get the wheels turning to make that happen. They're here in my hometown, and that changes everything. Who knows what they're planning? Ilia attacked us! No one else seems to care enough to make a move, so now, we'll end this on our own." Blake stressed the last word as she tied off the gauze, and Sun hissed.
"Too tight!"
"Sorry!" Blake said as her ears flattened. She untied the knot and redid it, albeit looser. "But the point stands. That information is ours, and we're going to use it. Give me your clothes."
Sun paused for all of a second, before he shrugged and stood from his place atop the stool. He slipped his belt from his cargo shorts and let them drop, before handing the dirty material over to Blake. She took them, and began to mirror his actions with her own pants. It was Sun's turn to shiver, though not due to the temperature.
"…you really are comfortable with us just hanging out in our underwear, aren't you?"
Blake shrugged as she haphazardly folded the clothing and walked to the adjacent laundry room. "I'm going to get changed into my nightie after I shower anyway, so enjoy the view while you can."
"…right. Anyway, I know we've got a huge tactical advantage right now, but is it really worth it? What if we get Ilia in trouble by using her scroll for our gain? Besides, I feel gross looking through her texts and stuff. They're… personal."
Blake returned from her brief stint in the other room, and carried their weaponry with her. "She made her choice. Besides, she sent me a lot of your photos, so I know for a fact that she had no inhibitions about digging into your life. It's usually pretty cute, but you need to stop being such a boy scout, at least about this. She's a stone-cold bitch, now, and this is our chance to flip the tables."
Sun remained still as Blake walked past him and into the large dining hall. He let out a noise of frustration before picking up the scroll from the island and following along. "Is she still sending you stuff from my scroll?"
"Probably. I blocked your number, as soon as you told me you managed to grab hers. The two of you have effectively traded, so why keep it?"
"I guess…" Sun stated, unsure. "Still, I'm not going to stoop to her level. I don't think we should go through anything we don't need to. She's still a person, even if we're on opposite sides. It just doesn't feel right."
"Then I'll do it, and you can keep your integrity intact," Blake spat as she began to ascend the stairs with Sun in tow. "Honestly, I don't see the problem, at all. She's the enemy, Sun."
"She was your friend. From the sound of it, your closest friend, before Beacon. I still think we can fix it. You didn't see her, when we fought. I got through to her, at least a little. Even a tiny seed of doubt is progress, right?"
Sun forced himself to stop short to avoid running into Blake as she stopped abruptly near the top of the stairs, and turned.
"…how do you know?"
Sun shifted his weight upon the step, and crossed his arms as he spoke with confidence. "I had her stuttering and nearly screaming at me, while I dressed down the White Fang for what they did at Beacon. Minutes later, she was in tears. Sure, she was injured, but I think there was a change. Her entire posture shifted, and she went on the defensive to try to get me to shut up. Does that sound like someone entirely devoted, to you? There's still hope! You can't just give up on her! I'm not going to let this one go. Not when I can see how it makes you feel so clearly."
Blake huffed and turned to resume her ascent. As they transitioned into the hallway and made a left to return to the guest room, she shook her head in annoyance. "Fine. Fine, Sun. We let the scroll sit, for tonight, and we don't fish around in her files. But tomorrow… tomorrow, you, me, Mom and Dad are all going to sit down and discuss what we're doing with it, and our next move. We're deciding this as a family. It's too important to just risk it all on Ilia, when she insists on siding against us."
Sun allowed himself a small, victorious smirk as they entered the bedroom together, and his heart fluttered at the thought of being considered 'family'. Blake moved to scoop up her nightie from one of the chairs near the door while depositing Sun's staff in its place, and Sun immediately walked to the bed and flopped upon it with a heavy sigh. "Sure, that's fair. I'm glad you're at least open to talking about this."
"With you? I'm open to talking about just about anything." Blake paused just before the bathroom door, with one hand on the wooden frame. "…I do still care about her. I'm just… frustrated. Very, very frustrated that she's so unwilling to even consider that she's just as much at fault as I was, when I left. I feel like I grew up and started to see the world for what it is, while she outright refuses to reevaluate her worldview and wants to just… be angry for the sake of being angry, instead of thinking things through."
"Yeah, I get that. But maybe she needs you to make that step forward. She just got so used to not having you around anymore that she shut down, but now that you're back… maybe things will work out."
Blake blinked, and paused to let his words sink in. "…just like I needed you." Sun said nothing, but gave her a small smile as he transitioned to sitting up on the bed.
"I'll… be out, soon. I just need to get the salt water off my skin, and sort out my hair." Blake paused and let her eyes drift to the floor, before she looked back to him with an uneasy smile. Her ears dropped to the sides as she spoke. "…I love you, Sun."
Sun was caught off guard by the statement, and chuckled. "Love you too, Blake. Lots."
Blake nodded and slipped into the bathroom with Gambol Shroud and her nightie, before locking the door behind herself. Sun flopped down onto his back, and let out a wistful sigh as he lifted Ilia's scroll and navigated once again to her contact list. He lazily moved his finger downward, looking through the pictures and pausing as he hit a contact listed as 'Cinnamon Shoal'. She was a dark-skinned woman with white dreadlocks and what seemed to be tribal-looking facial tattoos. Something about her features seemed familiar, and yet, Sun couldn't quite place it. He shook his head in disappointment as he scrolled back up to Adam, and squinted to take in what few details he could see in the small digital photo of his masked face.
An odd scraping noise of wood on wood rang out through the room and Sun's entire body jerked as he dropped the scroll onto the bed and rose into a standing position atop the mattress. He balled his fists and prepared for a fight as he watched the balcony door continue to slide open, and suddenly stop. Ilia stood in the small gap between the frame and the door, her face dirty and stained with tear trails. Her right arm looked much like his own, with gauze wrapping the entire length down to her wrist. As she looked up at Sun with a miserable expression, he slowly lowered his hands and walked forward to step off the bed and down onto the floor.
"…Ilia…?"
The chameleon faunus stepped into the room and slid the door closed behind herself, putting only a few feet between them. Though she appeared unarmed and crestfallen, Sun took a step backward out of instinct.
"I need my scroll back, Sun. I'm not leaving without it."
Author's Note:
So, I have some good news, and bad news about this story. The bad news is that I'm terrible at math, and even worse at estimation. The good news is that there is no way in hell this story is going to end within 30 chapters. As I said before, I finally have all of the details hashed out, and I figured it might be a good idea to make a tentative list of what I plan to cover in each chapter. With that list written out, this story is now projected to end at 40. Sorry people, but this story is going to have at least ten more chapters than I thought. Oh, what a shame.
Also, I swear I know how to spell 'weighted'. Again, you people saw nothing.
Next update on Tuesday, the 26th.
-RD