Chapter Text
"I knew you looked better without the bow."
Blake turns around slowly, ignoring the kick in her chest and the cry of her brain telling her to run. And she's glad she kept her feet planted to the ground in the end, but in this moment, she had never wanted to dissapear more in her life.
But before any decision could be made in her mind, the boy was already walking towards her, hands swinging losely at his sides.
"How did you know?" Blake asks softly, looking down at the ribbon in her hand and uncurling her fingers.
He swishes his golden tail, approaching her in the middle of the school campus couryard, where anyone at all could see them, see her, see her ears...
"I have a sense for these kind of things." He winks, and Blake feels a cloud of frustration bubble in her head. She reaches up to tie the bow back, and then the boy's expression flickers like a light switch. "No wait, don't hide them back!" He holds his hands up.
Blake pauses, her gaze burning a hole into the ground as he relaxes a bit. "...May I ask why you-"
"No."
"Oh."
They stand like this for several seconds. Blake doesn't move, but she can sense the curiosity in Sun's posture and movements as he switches his weight back and forth. When she still doesn't move, he inches closer. "What's your name?"
Her eyes travel from the ground to his dark gray ones, matching his gaze evenly. It takes her a minute, but when she decides it's okay to do so, she quietly says, "Blake."
The boy smiles, the end of his tail perking up a bit. "Blake. I like it. I'm Sun Wukong, nice to meet you." He holds his hand out to shake. She stares at him for several seconds before moving her hands up to tie the bow back over her feline ears. Her expression remains even, but Sun frowns and lowers his hand, as if personally hurt by the action.
And then she looks away, eyes still watery and full of weariness. "Hey..." Sun's voice is strangely soft, and he's stepping towards her. He starts to say something but stops abruptly, and Blake wonders what he was going to say. But then he's taking another step towards her, his hands holding his elbows. "It's pretty cold to be out this late, may I escort you back to your dormroom?"
The very idea of going back to her team's room sounded like a terrible idea, and the expression on her face must have shown it too, for Sun is suddenly frowning and looking at her with a curious gaze. "Or- or not. Nevermind. That's fine." He looks away and scratches his neck again.
Blake knows that he's, literally, itching to ask her what's wrong. But... he doesn't. Instead, he turns back to her and looks at her with a strangely serious gaze. She didn't think this guy could be serious. "Do you not have a place to sleep tonight?"
She shrugs.
He catches her eyes and offers a warm smile. "Hey, I've got three extra beds in my room right now, you want to stay with me?"
One of her ears flickers beneath the bow, and her eyebrow bends upwards. Dozens of questions came to mind, but the first one she voiced was: "How do you have three extra beds?"
He smirks, looking smug. "I beat my entire team to Vale. We're transfering from Vacuo and I decided to take a shortcut."
"You mean you stowed away on a boat." Blake corrected, finding herself begin to follow him as he started walking.
"Yeah, yeah, tomato, tamato." He strolls evenly, his shoulders laid back and his posture relaxed. "Do I get a last name too, or is it just Blake?"
Blake smiles for the first time that night, a soft little smirk in the darkness under the faint campus lights. "Belladonna. Blake Belladonna."
"Pleasure's all mine, Blake Belladonna. Now, concerning your sleeping arrangements, you may choose any of the three empty beds, or you could choose the fourth option, which might involve a little cuddling." He winks in her direction, and her expression is far from impressed. Laughing quietly, he waves his hand absentmindedly and turns his gaze in the direction their walking. "Ah, I'm just kidding. Tomorrow let's go out for some tea, yeah? I found this really nice place, but I'm sure you know every store and restraunt around here like the back of your hand..."
Blake says nothing as he rambles on, but the weight in her chest lifts ever so slightly, and she finds that she can relax her tense shoulders. She refuses to think about her team right now, and instead, she zones out to the sound of Sun's rambling voice. Somehow it makes her feel better, and she needs the distraction right now.
He was the second person to ever tell her to keep her bow off.