#;seamonkeys

warning there is a racist asshole in this lil drabble please hate him as much as i do.

          there’s nothing in here he can actually buy, aside from a soda too large for a thirteen-year-old to chug down, but chug down they will. he really wanted one of the blue slushie things but they’re more expensive, not to mention brain freeze seemed imminent with one of them...neptune would offer to buy one for him but sun can’t let him. he just pretends he doesn’t want one as they bypass the slushie machine to head for the soda fountain.

           “you!” 

           it’s a sound in the back of his brain, something he doesn’t focus on, instead listening to neptune go on about new battlemon cards he got and wanted to show off at school the next day. it’s not until they reach the soda machine does he actually start to listen.

          “ape! empty your pockets!”

           sun turns on a dime, watching as the old shopkeep shuffles off of his stool behind the counter, short, stubby legs ambling over to them both by the soft-drinks.

           “i didn’t steal nothing.” he chirps, a hint of anger in his tone but he knows better than to make a scene. ma taught him about people like this. he’s dealt with people like this. reluctantly, sun does as he’s told, and turns his pockets inside out. his tail has wrapped around his own waist, a clear sign of distress.

           neptune has finally caught on beside him, for he has turned around to survey the situation. sun doesn’t look at him, but rather keeps grey eyes focused on the old man currently glaring at him as if he offended him personally. 

           “what’s going o-” 

           “maybe not yet, but you will. get out of my store, feral!” 

           “what?! why?” neptune sounds so confused, yet sun still doesn’t look at him. his eyes stay locked on a pair of faded green ones behind half-rimmed spectacles. anger bubbles in the mans face, he can see as red blotches form over pudgy cheeks above a white mustache. 

           “he didn’t do anything wrong! what’s your problem?!” he’s reaching out for neptune’s hand before he thinks too much on it, grabbing the wrist and squeezing once, hopefully an indicator to stop talking.

           “my problem is his kind are all the same. had one come in two days ago, robbed me blind. m’not doing that again. i’m gonna go in the back and get a broom, if you two aren’t gone when i get back, i’m calling the cops!”

           “his kind?! are you...are you ser-”

           “nep, stop. we’ll leave, dude. just chill out.” there was a time and a place to fight. his mother warned him about this when he left vacuo. two thirteen-year-olds fighting an old, racist business owner didn’t seem like the right place, nor the right time. and the simian really didn’t feel like being arrested today. 

           when he finally looks to neptune, the mistrali looks upset enough he might burst. face red, brows furrowed, cheeks puffed. for a second sun thinks he’s going to keep yelling, that he’s going to make it worse, but after a moment the hand he grips tears from his fingers, and he’s stomping off out of the store.

          he leaves just in time to hear the word ‘ape’ again, and see the handle of a broomstick swat from the open door. there is a sign on the window, a silhouette image of a head with ears, and a big red circle drawn over it with a line through it; no faunus. 

          “tch,” how did he not see that?

          neptune is far ahead of him. he keeps walking. stomping, more accurately. sun has to jog to try and catch up.

          “nep...neptune! hey, neptune would you stop,” as soon as he can, sun drops a hand on his best friend’s shoulder to turn him around. it feels like a punch in the gut when he sees the mistrali crying. the exchange in the store must have been less than five minutes, and yet neptune is clearly shaken by the entire thing. 

           angry, stubborn tears fall down his cheeks and he stares at the ground, rubbing furiously at his eyes while he shakes his head, “s’not...s’not fair why would he say that to you? you...you didn’t do anything.” a hiccup follows.

           maybe he shouldn’t be taking this moment of painful realization on his friend’s part to feel incredibly touched, but the simian can’t help it. this...was the first time a human felt this strongly about prejudice toward his kind, or at least the first time the young faunus is seeing it with his own two eyes. apparently, neptune has never seen this kind of thing before, either. he hates that he had to but, then again...it was going to come eventually. it makes him happy to know not all humans were so rotten and judgmental, despite the ugly circumstances.

          he picked a good best friend.

          “you...you didn’t say anything. why didn’t you say anything? you could have...said something i would have...i would have backed you up... i would have.”

           “i know, buddy.” fingers grip the edge of his own shirt, lifting it up to wipe at one of neptune’s cheeks with a sympathetic expression. he ignores the own tightness in his throat to try and sound more reassuring for both their sakes, “but...people like that are always gonna be around. ma said that i have to pick and chose my battles and that guy?” a thumb jerks back toward the store they were just kicked out of, “not worth it, trust me. i know you have my back. but it’s...not the first time, and it won’t be the last. m’gonna need you again, boy.”

           he offers a smile when neptune glances up at him with puffy red eyes, a trembling lip under a snotty nose. there is a gap of noise between them, sun just standing there waiting for him to respond. there were a lot of thoughts speeding around behind those baby blues, sun just wishes he could piece them together. he wishes he could tell him this was the first time, and the last time, but he knows it’s not true. best to be honest with him. neptune seems to be chewing on the realization for a long time...

           and then there are arms around him so tight he thinks neptune might be trying to snap him in half. he sees blue hair out of the corner of his vision, feels the mistrali bury his tear-stained face into the crook of his neck, a sigh of relief splashing against the skin there. it takes a second or two, but eventually, the simian lets his own arms rest around him. 

           neptune’s voice is shaky but oddly firm in his statement, “i’m sorry. you...you don’t deserve this. but i’ll...i’ll be there. i promise, i’m going to be there.”

           there is no doubt in his voice when he responds, “i know you will.”

blake telling sun that her and yang are together and he’s super stoked about it.

blake: aren’t you like...upset or something? 

sun: no?? 

blake: but i thought you...and me...

sun: i can make a pretty mean microwaveable pizza and i can touch your butt