Honeycomb Hearts

In The Dark

Blake's mouth hung ajar. "That's... why haven't I thought of a plotline like that?"

"Because it's super hard to write. Luckily there's not a lot of extra characters to make it even harder, since the main character really only has one friend – an older woman who runs a coffee shop."

"I think I'm going to need to borrow a bit of that plotline for my next story. What's that comic called?"

Yang let out a laugh. "Good question, I have no idea. It's in some form of kanji, since the author lives damn near on the other side of the world, and the translators decided to translate everything but the name for some reason."

"Huh," Blake said, "Well have you tried a translation app?"

"Yup, always come up as an error message."

Blake just blinked at Yang. "That sounds somewhat cursed. I'm going to leave you to your reading and take a shower, is that okay?"

"In the dark?" Yang asked.

"I know the bathroom like the back of my hand," Blake said, "Shower curtain and all."

Blake retreated into the bathroom while Yang started to read her web comic. The two eventually got engrossed in their own individual activities, to the point where most of the day had already passed and the two hadn't spoken much, aside from Blake offering Yang lunch. Yang had been drawing on her phone with a stylus that seemed to come out of nowhere, and Blake brought her laptop into the living room and was typing away, trying to figure out how to make her newly discovered plotline into a story without it being straight-up stolen. Just inspired. Before long, Blake's stomach began to rumble, and she glanced at the clock – 7:39 PM, a good hour past dinner time.

"Hey Yang, you hungry?" Blake asked, setting her laptop aside, "I got too into writing and didn't notice the time."

"Admittedly, yeah, I just didn't want to disturb you." Yang said.

The two got up and walked to the kitchen. Yang was secretly hoping for another show of talent from Blake, but since the power was still out somehow, she knew it wouldn't happen. Blake rummaged through the cupboards and drawers while Yang held the flashlight, both of them searching for something that didn't need to be cooked or microwaved.

"Well we have two cans of tuna and some chocolate covered peanuts – we can make tuna fish sandwiches at the very least." Blake sighed.

"I'm sorry for suddenly coming in and doubling your food intake." Yang said.

"More like tripling." Blake said.

"Hey! So what if I eat a lot? I'm just a hungry person!" Yang scowled, placing her hands on her hips. "What, next are you going to say I need a haircut? That half of my body weight comes from my head?"

Blake burst out laughing and could barely catch herself on the countertop. "No, I – I wouldn't say that," she managed through her laughter, "But I would say you have really, really purple eyes."

"Hm? What's that supposed to mean? You wanna fight?" Yang asked, stepping closer to Blake and standing on her tip-toes. "Wanna fight? What, think my eyes are too purple for you?"

Blake fell to the floor, her arms clutching her stomach. The two girls' laughter filled the room. Blake knew exactly why she was laughing so hard – her father had said the exact same thing about Yang, but in private – Blake couldn't help but remember the conversation, and how her father said that she'd need a windmill for a hair dryer.

"Wow, I didn't even try for that joke. How did that even work?" Yang asked.

"I'll... tell you later..." Blake gasped, "My dad said something similar."

Yang helped Blake to her feet, and the two exchanged a glance – and a chuckle. They made the sandwiches quickly and parked themselves back on the couch, with Yang scarfing hers down so fast that Blake was afraid she'd eat the plate too.

"Hey, Yang, want to watch a movie or something?"

"Isn't the power out?" Yang asked.

"No, on my laptop. I have this streaming software that has virtually everything that Getflix doesn't," Blake said, "And it's surprisingly legal."

"Sounds good to me – let me wash my hands though, I got some tuna under my fingernails."

While Yang went to the sink, taking her flashlight with her, Blake stood up and slapped the table beside the chair once or twice to find her laptop, then dragged it into her lap. With a few clicks she was in, and nearly the entire history of movies was at her disposal. Yang sat back down and pointed out a documentary that interested her, one about the history of Kung-Fu in cowboy culture, while Blake suggested a romance about a florist and her unlikely romantic partner.

The two were at odds for a bit, then decided to settle on a "based on a true story" film called 'The Man with Two Souls.' The movie began and Blake placed the laptop on the coffee table in front of them, and Yang propped her feet up beside the laptop. The movie started with a dreary, rainy night outside of a gas station, and a man was buying milk. Just milk.

For some reason, the fatigue that she had eluded the entire day had finally caught up to Blake. Her eyelids felt heavy and drooped down, giving her a half-lidded expression. She snapped awake and saw that the man was leaving the gas station, but her eyes slowly began to fall again. Her body was heavy – heavier than the rain outside, and she began to waver. Without thinking, she leaned against Yang and rested her head on the blonde's shoulder. A voice in Blake's head was telling her to wake up, that this was awkward and Yang was definitely going to think she was weird.

But there was another voice inside of Blake's head. One that told her her true feelings. She felt warm next to Yang. Her head was comfortably, resting on the bed of blonde hair, and she was happy. Happy and very, very tired. It didn't take long for Blake to drift off to sleep completely, leaving the conscious world with two sources of rainfall and a Yang too confused to move, but happy all the same.