Yang waved to her other teammates as they took the bus (really it was a bullhead, but bus is what they ended up calling it cause why not?) into town. She was still exuberant with the change to Ruby's disposition, but she was anxious about how this day was going to go for her. I talked about Ruby having a shadow over her; I hope my own shadow didn't show. They'll find out soon enough but today they need to have some fun. I don't want to ruin it if this goes wrong.996Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIwarq6yp8
What could go wrong came in about fifteen minutes later. Smiling and laughing she ran to Sun, grabbing him around his neck and swinging around joyfully. It was a good thing that Sun was used to it or he would have been flung to the ground. "It's only been a month. I mean, this is cool and everything, but we don't want people to talk." He was smiling of course. Everyone was already talking. 'Team abs' was perfectly aware of everyone's amusement, and the nickname.
"Let them talk, I don't care!" she laughed, forgetting what was to come to enjoy what was now. 'Live in the moment and have fun. Let the future figure its own self out' had been her motto and normally it worked well. It was right now, so she wasn't being proven wrong. She kissed Sun all over his face, working her way down the side. She wondered how far Sun would let her go.
He stepped away the second her lips reached his neck. "Okay, okay. I get that you're excited, and," he made quote marks with his fingers, "'lonely.' So should we get it over with in your room, or just make out here and embarrass everyone who walks by?"
Laughing, Yang replied "why can't we just do both; start with making out, finish with the main event?"
"You're going to suck the life out of me one of these days." He somehow didn't sound like he regretted this fate.
And Yang didn't sound contrite for doing it to him. "Ah, but what a wonderful way to go!"
Sun shook his head smiling. "You have a point."
"Good answer. You're going to get an extra special reward. Now let's get going!"
In reality it didn't take long, maybe an hour, before they were ready for something a bit more serious. Well, neither of them was ready for something serious, but it was the best time she was likely to get. "You know this is my last semester." she said with her head on his chest, fingers playing little patterns on it.
"Mmmm-hmmm." He was in his usual out to lunch state after sex. He actually was all there, just too relaxed to give any real thought to anything.
Knowing that, Yang just continued. She needed to let him process this and hopefully this way he'd do it without freaking out. "I'm getting job offers already. Some long term, some short."
"Mmm-hmm"
This was harder for her than she expected. This hesitancy was not like her. "I'm going to go with the short term jobs. It'll give me the ability to go to Vacuo, but still come back to Vale."
"Mmm-hmm"
"And Mistral," she added, her nerve starting to fray knowing what was to come. Damn it, give me something to fight and I'll kick its ass. Give me something that requires tact and I'm fucked.
"You do like to travel." Actual words. He was starting to come out but was still very relaxed. She should hurry up.
Well, let's do it then. "I'm going to Mistral so I can have more time with Neptune as well. Our friendship is evolving, I guess you can say."
"Huh?" that cut through the fog. He was instantly into a sitting position on the bed, looking down in complete surprise.
Yang followed suit, vacating the bed for the nearest chair. It just didn't feel right to be in bed when their relationship was on the line. "Yeah," she said, knowing exactly what she wanted to say. She'd been obsessing on it for the last week. The truth seemed the best route. After all, honesty was what this was all about. "The last time we saw each other me and him ended up making out. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. It didn't go any further than that, and I am sorry that it happened. That wasn't fair to you." Funny thing about open relationships; most thought it got rid of the possibility of cheating. It didn't, and this was a prime example. Well it would be if they actually were in an open relationship which they weren't. She was ashamed of what she'd done, but there was more and Sun deserved all of it. "The problem is I want it to happen again."
Sun came to the obvious conclusion. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"Absolutely not!" she said, a bit of panic showing in her voice, and a lot of panic in her heart. "And I'm hoping you won't break up with me either, but I'll understand if you do."
"So you want to date both of us at the same time?" He asked incredulously. "I'm pretty laid back, but there's limits here."
"I know, I know, but I'm going to be traveling a lot, and what is a girl supposed to do when she's away?" she said playfully, hoping to keep things from degrading, and knowing it wouldn't do a thing.
"Stay faithful, that's what! Check your libido at the door." He was getting heated, and Yang didn't blame him. The playful route wasn't going to work here. It would make things worse if anything. She'd just told him she just wanted more sex, which was far from the truth.
So on to straight facts. "The last hour is proof that's not going to happen, and besides it's about more than sex." She was being completely honest, but she doubted he would believe her. Yang moved on to the sales pitch. "It's freedom to feel without guilt, or without denial. I think I'm starting to fall for Neptune, and I want to be honest with you about that."
Shaking his head trying to deny what he was hearing he said "I'm not sure I can deal with this... I mean, aren't women supposed to be all about the monogamy? The fantasy of their perfect love and all that romantic stuff?"
Yang was giving the impression of calm. This was actually going better than she'd feared. By her best estimation Sun should have already stormed out of the room. Getting upset, crying, yelling, or any other emotional outburst, would only lose her this debate. "First, let's be realistic. There is no such thing as perfect in anything this world has to offer, including love." That seemed to upset Sun, though not nearly as bad as the main topic. Who knew he would be that much of a romantic?
"I knew about this kind of life when I was pretty young. I'm sure you haven't figured it out. Ruby hasn't, and she grew up in the middle of it." Sun nodded slowly, accepting Yang was going somewhere with this. "You know Ruby and I are half sisters, and born eighteen months apart. Let's do the math. Take nine months off of that time to know about when conception happened and you'd only have nine left. Now let's add how long it took my mom to recover from child birth, about 6 weeks, and assume she disappeared the next day. That's now down to seven and a half months. If my father was completely heartless and just moved on to another woman, a woman who just happened to be on the same team as him and Mom, then maybe. But my dad isn't heartless. So add in the time that would have been spent looking for her, and then time for grief. Not to mention it's unlikely that mom went out and disappeared right after I was born."
She'd been looking Sun in the eye throughout explain where it all started trying to gauge if he believed her at all. She believed he did. My thought back then was he had cheated on my mom. I approached my dad on it at the sweet age of twelve. About the age we start to realize our parents aren't perfect. I was angry and ready for a fight."
"That's when he told me. He was 'married' to both women since before I was born. Not legally of course. The law doesn't allow it, but in every other way. I wouldn't have believed it, but Qrow backed up his story when I asked him. When I started dating is when I realized that I was wired the same way."
"But that's nuts!" Sun looked as if his brain was about to pop. Yang knew she should have started this relationship with this conversation. She thought that she could be normal, at least in this regard. But that didn't happen and now she had to clean up the mess; hopefully without ending things with Sun. It wasn't looking good.
My dad would kick my ass if he saw how badly I fucked this up, Yang thought to herself. How often did he tell me to be honest with every aspect of my life with anyone I dated from the very start? That wasn't even advice directed at this lifestyle. He'd told Ruby the same thing.
"That's my family for you. After that I talked to my dad a lot about it. How they did it. The jealousy that cropped up. How hard it could be sometimes, and how rewarding it could be at others. Summer grieved with my dad when my mom disappeared. It's what held him together, and why he fell apart so badly when she died. All of his supports were gone except me and Ruby and that wasn't enough. I know you're supposed to live for your children, but once he knew we were ready to be on our own there was nothing else left for him."
"Okay, okay, hold it for a second. I get you think this is some kind of wonderful thing and that for you it works. That's great." He paused for a second for effect. "For you. It's not for me." And there it was, the reason she hadn't told him before. Most weren't geared for this lifestyle. She hadn't wanted to lose him before she really had him, so she'd tried being something she wasn't. Instead she was probably going to lose him now instead. The heartache was going to be ten times as worse now for both of them.
She had to try to salvage their relationship though, and she certainly wasn't going to lie any longer to either him or herself. She didn't think he'd believe her though. She'd ruined any credibility from the moment they'd started dating and she hid this from him. Pleading now, Yang said, "I know it's not fair, but I am hoping you could be the same. I would like it if you'd find a girl in Vacuo who could make you happy, and enjoy the freedom of never having to choose. I want to know that even when I'm not there another is there to take care of you."
"Pawned off to another woman, that's romantic," he said sourly, obviously hurt.
"No it's not romantic, but it is practical for the lives we live. Any day I could die, or you could die. It's part of the job. I want to know if I die first you'll have someone to help you, like Ruby's mom did for my dad."
Sun got up, starting to get dressed, his face pained. "I guess the thing that is hurting me the most is you had to choose my best friend, of all the people out there, to decide I wasn't enough for you."
"Isn't that to be expected? There's a reason you two get along, I saw the same things." Yang thought it was a bad idea to mention just how hot Neptune was. Being honest had limits.
"I need to think. You just hit me with a heavy load. I want to be angry at you, but I think I understand." Sun shook his head once. "Understanding and accepting are two different things though."
That was more than she had hoped for or dreamed possible. "I know, I expected that. Why do you think I was so eager earlier?" Yang smiled, but her attempt at humor was once again lost to both of them.
Sun left without further word, taking a piece of her heart with it.
"Shit!" She'd completely forgotten. Making a mad grab she got her scroll and called Ruby. She provided the excuse her sister needed to go shopping alone, faking happiness and laughing at Ruby as she answered questions Yang wasn't asking. It was romantic, and Yang was happy for her, and yet... Well, at least one of us is having their relationship go right. Why am I the freak? Am I being greedy?
She went to her bed, wishing she was 'normal' like her sister, then fell face forward into it. Sun's scent was still there and she enjoyed it and hoped she would enjoy it again in the future. No, I'm neither a freak nor greedy, She decided. I'm just different. If Sun can't accept all of me what's the point? I tried denying myself and all it's done is lead to this.
Sun actively avoided Yang for the rest of the day, and Yang gave him that privacy hoping he was thinking on her proposal. Hoping that he was coming to accept it, but as he said he was care-free but there were limits. Did she cross them irrevocably?
The sun was just starting to set when the rest of her team arrived at their room. They had fewer bags than Yang had expected. Granted Weiss wasn't made of money anymore, but they had enough for more.
"So, get the freshmen to carry in the rest?" She joked, her smile large and she hoped infectious because her team looked like they had returned from a funeral, not a shopping trip.
Ruby answered first, seeming to be the one least affected by whatever had happened in town. "No, this is it. We just wanted to get enough for one suit to start, in case Blake truly hates it."
"What? didn't try it on while shopping?"
"We did. She just took it off after we were done." Ruby's voice was nearly emotionless. "We didn't want to get it dirty and Blake really isn't sure about it, though I think she looks great. Weiss did a good job."
The mood was starting to get to Yang, who was already a bit down to start with. "Okay, spill it already. What happened? I'm not spending the rest of the night with half dead zombies."
"We got an education on how deeply the prejudice against faunus is. It wasn't pretty," Ruby smiled despite her mood. "I heard Weiss knocked one out cold. Wish I'd seen it. They deserved worse." Well that was dark for the always optimistic Ruby.
Blake shook her head. "We're lucky she didn't get arrested for that."
"But it must have felt good watching it," Ruby said, her energy level coming back.
That got Weiss going. "It felt good doing it," she said, in that disapproving voice she was so good at. The one she only gave to those she considered idiots, annoying, or just plain jerks.
Seeing some new life in her friends Yang knew the route to take to improve the mood further. She made jokes at the close mindedness of them, and attached it to their own lacks: from intelligence to their manhood. Soon Ruby was helping with her plan even if she didn't know it. After about an hour they were much more like themselves. Ruby was cuddled up with Weiss in a sitting position on their bed, Blake sitting in a chair a couple of feet away. They were making plans on how to best battle the hate they'd discovered. Yang smiled and bowed out going for a walk. Planning wasn't her strength, but give her something to punch and she was happy.
Beneath the happy façade she was worried about Sun. She knew where he would be; the guest quarters made for visiting families. She wasn't sure if she should go there, or leave him there for the night. Nora intercepted her on her walk around the koi pond. "People only walk around in circles for half an hour if they are upset. So spill it, because I'm not leaving till you do. You know I'll talk circles around you until you let it out anyways, so save us some time and just start." That happy voice of hers conveyed not only the euphoric way her brain worked, but also the confidence that no matter the problem she'd figure out how to take care of it. Problem was she was usually right. She'd even realized that hitting it with a hammer wasn't always a solution. She still tried to get it into the mix though.
"Boy problems, okay?"
"Oooooh. Those are always fun to talk about! You know how me and Ren made a go of it? Now there was boy problems! As in, I didn't like boys though I didn't know it yet. It did explain why me and Ren didn't start dating sooner though, now that I think about it. So where's your problem?"
Yang really wanted to avoid this conversation, but once Nora sank her teeth into something she was going to get it out of her anyways. It was an annoying aspect of her friend that had grown more prominent as the years went by, but one she had learned to accept. Nora always had the best of intentions. None the less, she was going to give short answers and hope that Nora would talk herself out. It was an impossibility, but you never knew. "Just a standard love triangle. Don't worry about it, it'll figure itself out."
"You know you all tried to let love go its natural route with Weiss and Ruby, and that made them be apart for two years beyond when they should have been together."
"A natural route you seemed to take advantage of. How much of those two years is because of you getting it on with my sister?" Yang really was angry about that, but it would also serve to distract Nora. She was prone to that with little effort.
Nora smiled unabashed, lacing her fingers together behind her back as her hips swayed. "I don't think it slowed things down at all. After all, it wasn't like Ruby loved me, but she also wasn't even sure about being gay. If I hadn't gotten involved she'd still be trying to figure out why all the hot boys didn't do anything for her. And before you say it, yeah I could have just walked up to her and started talking to her lesbian to lesbian about it. Try picturing how that conversation would go. Lots of blushing and shutting me out. If anything that would have thrown her deeper into the closet. Really, you should be thanking me for that."
"So instead you seduced her? Smooth."
Still showing no shame Nora laughed. "Actually, I think it was more of a mutual seduction. I left a few hints here and there that we could talk about it. Nothing overt of course 'cause I didn't want her going turtle. I didn't really expect what happened, but I probably should have. How many years of frustrated libido did she have built up?" Finally Nora sighed, showing a bit of frustration for the first time. "Then after the first time I was proven right: the only time she would really open up about it was when we were going at it; for the first few weeks at least. She had a real hang up on how she couldn't be gay. I think she thought it was expected for her to be more like you for some reason. Well, after we got past that the relationship just kept going."
Grudgingly Yang had to admit there was some merit. Not enough by her estimation, but it was done and over with. "You know I was about to kick your ass for it, don't you? For someone who talks so much you really didn't let us in on what was going on."
Still smiling, and her voice even happier, she chirped "As they say 'it's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.' If I had tried to clear it with the rest of you I'd have been shut down, and you know it. So by the time you all knew what I was doing it was already too late. I'd planted those little hints and it was all over after that." Was she actually bouncing? No, had to be just an illusion from her happy movements. Maybe. "Now I know you were trying to distract me from your problems, but it didn't really work. A love triangle, huh? Sun is obvious, and I'd bet Neptune would be the other."
Seriously, her accuracy was uncanny sometimes. Most times. "What makes you so certain?"
"Your reaction from my guess, for one," she smiled. "Then there's the fact they are best friends so you two have something in common. And lastly Neptune's hot. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I don't know that. Chemistry happens, and looks help, along with opportunity and you've had all three in abundance. So, you've told Sun already. That's also obvious by the fact he's not out here. Neptune has to know, since you and Sun are such a hot item. The question is will they fight over you?" Nora's eyes suddenly flashed with excitement. "Oh, I hope so! That'd be a great battle to watch, and kinda romantic in a barbaric sort of way."
Yang digested what Nora was saying, surprised at how quickly she'd broken down most of the situation with so little information. She shouldn't have been. Nora just got better at the match making game each year. "There won't be any fighting or I'll kick their asses."
"So who are you going to choose," Nora paused, which was a bit surprising, as she looked at Yang's face closely. "You're Not! Oh, now that's dangerous. You know men and their stupid pride. Challenge their manhood and they instantly get defensive, and both of them ooze testosterone to start with. How are you going to get this fixed, cause it isn't going to fix itself unless breaking up with both is considered fixing it."
Yang stopped dead and looked at her friend. "Nora, anyone ever tell you that you're too perceptive?"
"Nope, they mostly think I'm a bubble head, which is understandable I guess with the way I talk, and how happy I seem. I look like I don't even realize how dangerous a situation is most times, or how upset people are. I never really felt the need to correct that assumption. Ren knows of course, but he's known me forever through bad and good." She was definitely bouncing now. "So, how are you going to fix things?"
"You're the one with all the answers, why don't you tell me?" Yang said bitterly from having all of her troubles forcibly pulled out into the open. She also had to admit that Nora just might have an answer. She seemed to know everything else.
Nora cocked her head to the side, giving the question serious thought. "Well, I wouldn't lay it on Sun all at once. Hints here and there would work better to ease him into it. Make it clear, subtly, you're okay if he had a little something on the side when you weren't around, but I'm betting it's too late for that. You laid it all on his lap all at once I'm sure. So second option is to act like nothing has changed. Be his girl, don't bring it up again until he does. He'll be processing it all, trust me. Probably obsess over it, but he won't talk about it until he's ready. Unless he's past the point of no return, which is possible. Probable really. You really messed up how you handled it, but I guess that's understandable. I doubt you've ever had this problem. If he completely rejects you the best you can hope for is him going back home and falling for another girl, but still loving you. That could get him thinking too, but I wouldn't count on that."
Yang was happy that while both Ruby and Nora could monologue for exceedingly long amounts of time, Nora's was a coherent stream of consciousness where Ruby was about as confusing as possible. It made that last bit possible to follow. "In other words, act like everything's normal and hope for the best?"
"Right," Nora smiled. "Isn't that what I said?"
"I guess you did. Thanks Nora," Yang said with a new appreciation of her friend. Her suggestion was also the right one for another reason: she wouldn't be manipulating Sun or Neptune. They would come to their own decisions and if they were willing she'd be there to talk. And if not she'd have to deal with them not being in her life.
"No problem."996Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt90yw9rzzE
