"So how was your day with Neopolitan?" Coco asked, putting her phone down on the table.
"Not bad. I made her smile." Yang grinned and took a sip of her drink.
"It's like you're in love or something, honestly."
"Shut up!" Yang threw a crumpled up napkin at her, watching as she dodged it perfectly.
"Your aim is getting lousy, love-bird."
"I'm not in love with her!"
"Someone's sounding a little defensive."
"I'm being serious!"
Coco picked up her phone, shooting Yang a look that said she didn't believe her. The blonde girl rolled her eyes and slumped back in her chair, taking another drink as she looked around the cafe.
It was the end of the day, and the place was packed. Students from all the surrounding schools were coming to buy something sweet and hot to warm them up from the December weather, employees from the neighbouring establishments were there for a break, and families were dragging their red-cheeked children into the warm.
Coco and Yang were waiting for Velvet, who was just finishing her shift at the Medical Centre down the road.
"She says she's on her way."
"Cool." Yang replied. "Anyway, what's going on with you and Fox?"
"What does it matter?" Coco snapped back, making Yang hide her smile behind her cup.
"No reason." She watched as Coco typed angrily on her phone, her face obviously trying to hide something. "But seriously."
"Fine. He says he wants to move to Atlas to continue his research." Coco slammed her phone down on the table as Yang gasped.
"What? For how long?"
"At least 12 months. Can you believe that?"
"Crap..."
"Yeah, that's a word for it." Coco said, looking furious as she crossed her arms. "Damn geologists, so self-righteous."
"I'm sure he's just excited, maybe you can calm him down or -"
"I can't!" Coco shouted. She glanced at the cafe apologetically before lowering her voice. "This is such a great opportunity for him. They've discovered a new volcano or something up in Vacuo. His boss hinted at a raise and everything."
"But he can't leave without you." Yang said, watching as Coco sighed and shook her head.
"Yeah, he can, all of his family's there."
"Let me talk to him, maybe I can -"
Yang was interrupted by the sound of Coco's phone vibrating once on the table.
"Is it him?"
Coco picked it up, reading the text. Frowning, she shook her head.
"No, it's Velvet. She says she can't come, they were called out on an emergency call."
"What? Is it bad?" Yang leaned forward, watching worriedly as Coco typed a reply.
"I'm asking her."
They waited in tense silence for her reply. It seemed to stretch on forever before, at long last, Coco's phone vibrated again.
"What is it?"
"She says it's at the care home. Someone was hurt."
Yang's mind flew to Neo and she got up immediately, leaving her stuff on the table as she ran out of the cafe, headed straight for her workplace. She ignored Coco's shouts behind her, focused only on her destination. Worry coursed through her veins. The last time she'd been this worried, something very bad had happened.
The streets and people blurred past her as she rushed through the city, running across roads and shoving through crowds. Boots thumping on the pavement, there was only one thought on her mind: Neo.
At last when she got to the care home she pushed past a paramedic blocking her way, her mind racing at the possibilities. The lights of the ambulance flashed into the reception area, and she ignored Pyrrha shouting her name. Yang burst through the doors of the left wing, her body filling with dread as she saw more paramedics. She noted with distraction that Ren was nowhere to be seen.
Gasping for breath, she reached Neo's room and pushed the door open, her body on red alert, ready for anything but fearing the worst.
Neo looked up at her from the bed, her eyes silver, her body flinching back. She sighed with relief once she saw that it was Yang, her body relaxing and her eyes returning to brown and pink.
"Are you hurt? Is everything okay?" Yang rushed over. She kneeled down before her, taking her shoulders.
Neo nodded quickly. Yang hugged her tightly, her eyes squeezing shut.
"I was so scared." She whispered.
Neo hesitantly raised her arms and placed them around her, her cold fingers warming up. Yang sighed, her breath trembling.
"I thought you were hurt, I thought you had an attack or someone hurt you. I was so scared."
They pulled away and Yang sat back on her heels. Neo took up her notepad and wrote,
'It's okay, I'm fine. It wasn't me today.'
She smiled, a poor attempt at humour, but Yang just blinked at her. Neo continued,
'It was a boy down in Corridor A, Neptune.'
Yang sat up on the bed and read over her shoulder as she scribbled quickly,
'He tried to drown himself when he went to the bathroom. His carer broke down the door and had to resuscitate him.'
"Holy crap, is he okay?"
'Neither of them are. I'm not sure which is in the worst state.'
They looked at each other worriedly, Yang biting her lip as she thought.
"Would you mind if I went to help? I think Pyrrha's gonna kill me if I don't."
Neo shook her head.
"Thanks. I'll be back later, okay?" Yang got up but stopped as if she was going to say something. Neo looked up at her. Then Yang smiled and quickly left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
Sighing, Neo leaned back on her bed, resting her head against the wall as she listened to the noise outside. Learning that Yang was worried about her filled her with a strange sort of comfort.
*
"Hey." Yang said, sitting down next to the man. She noted the shock blanket around his shoulders and the way he had his head in his hands. Clasping her hands together infront of her, she leaned on her knees and looked out across the parking lot.
"Sun, right?"
The guy nodded and she continued.
"What you did today, that was brave. It takes a lot of guts. You did good, okay?"
"It's not enough." Sun said, shaking his head.
"Ofcourse it is, Neptune's alive. That's all that matters, right?"
"You don't get it." He lifted his head, his eyes filled with pain. "I couldn't stop him, I couldn't give him hope. Now he's gonna hate me because I brought him back."
His breath hitched with a sob. Yang put an arm around his shoulders, letting him lean into her as he cried.
"I'm so selfish, I couldn't let him go. Now he's gonna hate me."
"It's okay." She said softly, sending Pyrrha a sad look through the front entrance. She pursed her lips with a pitying look and turned back to the paramedic she was talking to.
"He's gonna hate me." Sun sobbed.
Yang pulled away, pulling the shock blanket closer around him and rubbing his shoulders.
"I'm gonna go talk to him, okay?"
"Tell him I'm sorry." Sun said, sniffing. Yang nodded and began walking to the ambulance, where a group of paramedics were loading up their kit. She spotted Velvet's ears and hurried in her direction.
"Hey, Velvet."
"Hi Yang." Velvet said, her face sad as she looked up at her. "Terrible, isn't it?"
"I know. Look, I was hoping to find Neptune?"
Velvet frowned, looking worried as she pulled Yang away from her co-workers.
"I'm not meant to let people talk to him."
"I need to. Sun's in a really bad shape right now, I was hoping that I could deliver a message for him."
"I don't know..."
"Please, Vee." Yang watched as the other girl sighed and closed her eyes.
"He's in the left wing medical room."
"Thank you."
Yang started jogging, only slowing down when she reached the door of the medical room. It was open, and she saw another carer sitting with a blue-haired boy who was in a really bad shape. Water dripped off the ends of his hair, but his clothes were dry. The carer looked up as she entered.
"You're not meant -"
"I have special permission." Yang said, picking up the ID card hanging around her neck and waving it infront of her. "Can we talk alone?"
The carer left hesitantly, handing Neptune the towel she'd been holding earlier. When Yang heard the door creak closed, she sat down next to him.
"Sun's really worried about you, you know."
Neptune sniffed and turned the towel over in his hands.
"He says he's sorry."
"So am I. I didn't want him to see." Neptune whispered. Yang could tell that it hurt his throat to talk.
" Neptune, I'm not being patronising when I say that I know how you feel. I felt like that at one point." Yang focused on the floor, but she saw Neptune look up at her. "When my little sister died, I thought about it. You know, the big 'it'. But I didn't do it."
"Why not?"
"I thought about my family. It may have been the easiest way out for me, but not for them. And as much as I wanted to, I couldn't leave them behind. I would have hated myself even more."
Neptune look down at his feet.
"Look, I'm not calling you selfish. I swear to God that's the most irritating argument against it that I've heard. But I'm trying to tell you that Sun deeply cares about you. I know it feels like you're alone. But if he didn't care, he wouldn't have did what he did."
Yang stood up, motioning with her head to the door.
"Come on. He needs you as much as you need him."
Yang took him outside, ignoring the protests from the paramedics and the carers. Pyrrha was the only one who didn't say anything.
Sun ran to him, pulling him into a hug straight away. That's when Neptune broke down crying. They all watched as they apologised to each other, more than half of them shedding some tears as the two men had kissed in the falling snow. Sun took the shock blanket from around his shoulders and wrapped it around Neptune, remarking how his hair was dripping wet and he was going to catch a cold standing outside like this.
Yang smiled at the image of them standing like that, their shadows dancing in the ambulance lights. Then she was reminded of Neo, and how it could easily have been them. She swore to herself that she wouldn't let that happen. She wouldn't lose someone else she cared about.
It was only when she went back to Neo's room and found the girl asleep, her fingers curled around her notepad, that Yang realised that she was falling in love.
Smiling, she pressed a kiss to her head and pulled the covers up around her, putting the notepad on the bedside table. She switched off the light and closed the curtains, making sure that Neo wasn't having another nightmare before leaving.
She wouldn't lose her.
*
The Neptune/Sun was a last minute addition. Blame all the cute fanart I keep finding on tumblr.
Thank you for reading! x