Sun awoke with a start, sitting up in bed and totally unsure of what time it was, or where he was. His hair was drenched with sweat, and his neck and chest were similarly coated despite the temperature in the bedroom being rather cold. Sun could feel his heart hammering without explanation, and his breathing was rapid and shallow. A terrible, rhythmic pounding in his head rounded out the awful feeling of dread that gripped his entire body. The only reassurance Sun received was when he looked down and to his right to find Blake sleeping on her side beneath the covers, her dark hair splayed out atop her pillow and the sheets.
"Shit…" Sun said quietly as he brought a hand up to his forehead and drew it back.
Even in the relative darkness of the bedroom, he could see the surface of his skin glistening with sweat. Sun cast a wary look at Blake before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and slowly standing, taking great care not to disturb his girlfriend. Somehow, despite his shakiness, he managed to get off the bed without causing any great disturbance. After standing for a moment and taking several deep breaths, Sun managed to somewhat stabilize himself. With one final, deep exhale, he marched for the attached bathroom and headed inside before closing the door.
A flick of the light switch exacerbated his headache and caused him to squint against the harshly glowing row of bulbs above the mirror. Sun brought a hand up to briefly shield his eyes from the assault, and then slowly brought it down to look himself over in the glass. There he stood in only a pair of tartan boxers, still actively dripping sweat and looking miserable. While his physique had maintained itself throughout his time in Solitas, Sun couldn't help but notice that he had acquired more small scars to accompany the large one on his side. In short, he looked like hell… and noticed immediately that he needed to shave again as soon as possible. The ragged stubble along his chin and jaw was doing nothing to help with the exhausted and aged look that came as a result of the bags under his eyes, and he couldn't help but wonder how Blake still found him attractive at all.
"Damn it…" Sun said quietly to himself as another painful pulse swam through his head.
Suddenly, the boy had an idea. An idea he wasn't sure he wanted to act upon.
With another deep breath, Sun closed his eyes and began to focus. He had called forth his Semblance hundreds of times before without issue, and he had gotten at least some sleep since the fight with Salem. By all logic, it should've been easy. He should've opened his eyes to find a golden image of himself standing to his right in the reflection of the mirror. Instead, there was nothing.
"…oh, come on," Sun seethed quietly as he watched a bead of sweat roll from his hairline down and around his cheek. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
The lights above the mirror flickered briefly as if to answer, and Sun instinctively looked up at them. After a moment, they shone just as brightly as before, as though nothing had happened at all. With a roll of his eyes, Sun grabbed a towel off the rack on the opposite wall and tousled his hair to get rid of the dampness. Once he finished, he rubbed the cloth all around his body to try to clean up a bit and used a hand to smooth out his hair. By the time he put the towel back on the rack and used his hands to make his hair lay back down a bit, he looked at least somewhat more put together. With a sigh, Sun reached into his boxers and pulled up the toilet seat before relieving himself and trying to think of something to do while sleep evaded him… and what to say to Harriet in the morning.
There was no way he would be ready to travel.
After flushing the toilet using his foot and hitting the lights, Sun carefully and quietly went back into the bedroom, his bare feet noiseless on the plush carpeting. He spared another look at Blake, who hadn't moved since he'd entered the bathroom, and allowed himself a small smile. At least she was managing to get some rest.
Sun was careful to open and close the bedroom door as slowly as he could before beginning to walk down the hall. The hardwood floors were much colder on his bare feet, and for a moment, he considered going back and getting his shoes… as well as his shorts, in case someone else was still awake at whatever hour. After standing for a moment and simply twisting his tail in indecision, Sun shrugged and continued onward. Nearly everyone in the house had seen him just as undressed on some other occasion, and he didn't plan to linger. Nor did he care who thought what about him, especially in his flustered and exhausted state.
The trek to the living room of the house was quick and lonely, though Sun soon found himself in more company than he anticipated. Upon seeing a figure sitting on the sofa, Sun paused. Neopolitan was alone with a blanket over her body as she leaned back into the cushions, her eyes glued to her scroll. Light from the device lit up her face and made it all the more obvious that her eyes flicked to Sun the moment he entered the room. Suddenly, he really wished he had gone back for his clothing.
"Uh… hi…" Sun said uncertainly as he made his way into the kitchen to stand behind the breakfast bar, effectively hiding his state of relative undress. "Talking to Roman?"
Neopolitan offered Sun a quick nod before holding up her scroll with one hand and then pointing at Sun with the other while tilting her head. The faunus sucked in a breath as he realized that he had left his own in the bedroom… and that meant she would likely have to get closer to him to communicate at all.
"I don't… have mine with me," Sun said as he scratched at his scalp. "Left it in my other pants."
Neopolitan rolled her eyes and removed the blanket draped over her. Fortunately for Sun, the girl hadn't yet changed, and was still in her usual attire as she stood up and stretched. It only took a moment for the girl to wander over to the other side of the bar and hold up her scroll, a message displayed on screen.
"Those don't look like pants to me. They do look good on you, though."
"Heh… thanks," Sun said with a nervous grin. "I really should've gotten dressed, but I just… I'm so tired. I was hoping I could get away with it. My bad."
Neopolitan began typing once again, looking rather exhausted herself as she turned the scroll back toward Sun.
"Secret's safe with me. Feeling any better since we landed?"
"Worse," Sun said truthfully. "I'm just… out here looking for a distraction, you know? I'm not gonna be able to get any sleep with everything on my mind and this headache. Figured I might as well get some water, or… something. Maybe I'm just dehydrated."
Neopolitan nodded, beginning to type something once again as Sun turned around and walked toward the kitchen cabinets. He reached up and opened one of the small wooden doors in search of a cup and found a wide selection of wine glasses instead. Closing the first door, he moved over about a foot and tried another, failing to notice the footsteps approaching behind him.
He certainly noticed as Neopolitan pressed into him from behind and slipped a hand into the waistband of his boxers to caress the base of his penis.
Sun immediately gasped at the sensation, quite nearly dropping the cup he had found as he shivered at the sudden touch. Neopolitan's hand snaked further downward to cradle his length as Sun froze up, though he quickly returned to his senses as she began to gently rub. Sun quickly slammed the cup down on the countertop and intercepted Neopolitan's hand with his own, wrenching it from within his boxers before backing up to put some distance between them. With his heart pounding from sheer adrenaline and his breath caught in his throat, he stared at Neopolitan with a mixture of shock and anger… and was surprised to find that she looked ashamed.
"I-I'm with Blake!" Sun said immediately, not even bothering to keep his voice low despite the late hour. "I'm not… you're… what are you thinking!?"
Neopolitan was quick with her scroll, transcribing a short message before thrusting it out toward the faunus.
"You said you wanted a distraction. I didn't know."
"You didn't…" Sun considered, trying to regain control of his breathing as he racked his brain to figure out whether or not such a thing was plausible.
Sun's mouth was dry and his mind raced. He was fairly certain that he had said 'I love you' to Blake at least once while talking via scroll in the plane. Perhaps they had even kissed while on the ground? In the end, it didn't matter as he watched Neopolitan present him with a new message, her face full of guilt.
"Alright, I knew. I guess I was just hoping you were a shitty enough person to just go with it. Like me."
Sun took a moment to just breathe, reading the message over and over again. Finally, he moved past Neopolitan to grab his cup and fill it with water before taking a long, steady drink while facing away from her. He didn't stop until the cup was drained.
"…I don't believe that," Sun said in a low voice as he set the cup down again, much more gently. "I don't think you're a shitty person- otherwise, you wouldn't be fighting alongside us. You'd be going straight back to Roman no matter what he told you to do and looking to save your own skin. Instead, you're risking it all with a group of people that seems to hate you and still contributing as best you can. So… why don't you tell me what you were really thinking? I don't think it's that simple."
Neopolitan focused on her scroll once again, though she seemed to be having a bit of trouble. Her face betrayed a myriad of emotions as she typed, paused, erased whatever she had written, and began again. The process repeated twice before Sun chimed in once again, his tone much calmer.
"…be honest," Sun warned as he finally turned to face her. "I'm… I'm not mad at you Neo, even though I probably should be. I really just want to know why."
Neopolitan gave Sun her full attention as he spoke and cleared her message a final time before simply handing him the scroll rather than turning it to face him. Sun took the gadget and stared down at the screen, unsure how to feel about what he saw.
"Because I'm lonely, I'm scared, I'm furious, and I feel safe with you. You're the only one in this entire crew that doesn't make me feel like shit. I decided to take the shot, since it feels like things can't get any worse."
"…well…" Sun began, trying to improvise a response at the speed of his thoughts. "We… we can't. Blake is everything to me, and I'm sorry that it has to be this way. I've liked having you around so far no matter what the others think, but… you have to understand, and as far as what you wrote… yeah. I think we're all feeling that way. I'd hug you right now, but I just… I don't think I can. Not without worrying about what you might do."
Neopolitan nodded solemnly as her scroll was handed back.
"I don't know how to deal with everything I'm feeling, and I fucked up. I'm sorry, Sun. It won't happen again. I promise."
Sun let out a small noise of frustration before he stepped forward and gently lowered Neopolitan's scroll and her arm along with it. Finding that he just couldn't resist his own feelings of guilt, he gently pulled the girl into a tight hug that she didn't return.
"…I get it," Sun said quietly. "And I'm sorry, too. If things were different… then yeah, maybe… maybe this would've gone differently. But I'm here for you and everyone else, no matter how tough it gets. I need some time alone right now, but maybe tomorrow… let's talk, okay? Sort through everything going on in your head. I'm willing to listen, and just… start over from where we were before I came out here tonight."
Neopolitan exhaled a sigh and finally wrapped her arms around Sun in a tight squeeze. She broke the contact rather quickly and offered the faunus a quick nod.
"Try to get some sleep?" Sun suggested, still feeling a bit uneasy. "See you in the morning. Or maybe the afternoon, if I can actually manage to pass out."
Neopolitan offered a small wave as Sun walked past her and back into the hallway. The moment he returned to his bedroom, she let out a sigh and shook her head, knowing that neither of them would be getting any sleep.
Author's Note:
Early update for the coming week. Next time- Rose.
-RD