@nvvrrmorr -- au.
Yang couldn’t sleep.
It had only been an hour since she’d managed to get Ruby to knock out, and Yang was contenting herself watching her little sister rest. Ruby was curled so tightly in a ball with the blankets pulled so close to her chin she looked like a cinnamon roll, only three times as sweet. The sound of her breathing soothed the tension in Yang’s heart, and her fingers teased through Ruby’s hair in rhythm, but none of it could chase away the weight behind her eyes.
Yang hadn’t grieved, yet.
With dad distraught and mom occupied with juggling him and all the arrangements that came with the news of Summer’s passing, the sisters had sort of been left to their own devices. Yang didn’t mind. Some books, shadow puppets and a makeover session from which her hair still bore war wounds was all it had taken to keep Ruby distracted, even through the difficult questions and the excited giggles of show that one to mom when she gets back! after Yang made a dragon on the wall using only her thumbs and pinkie fingers.
Her throat seized like she was trying to swallow a bowling ball, eyes beginning to water. She didn’t want to start in case she couldn’t make it stop, but this time Yang had no choice. Within moments silent tears were spilling, caught in her hand and sniffles muffled by her palm. The last thing she needed right now was Ruby waking up, and having to answer the one question she had no answer to. The second last thing she needed came with a soft knock at the door. The crack in the door was dark, but Yang didn’t need to see to know who it was.
“M-mom?” She said, shifting as suddenly as she could without risking waking Ruby up. Her bare feet touched the floor and sent shivers up her spine as she ground the heels of her hands into her eyes, desperately trying to hide the tears and blend the streaks they’d left behind with the tired red marks left by her fists. But she couldn’t look over in Raven’s direction, not yet. She pulled her hands from her face, staring at the floor and gripping the edge of Ruby’s bed, thumbing the sheets as though they’d done her a personal grievance.
“Is- is dad okay? I- I got Ruby to sleep, eventually.”
