A/N: From a Tumblr request.

Request: Can we have black sun with Sun confessing to Blake? And Blake never even expecting it and ignoring it the first time he says it uwu? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Thinking Makes It Seem…

Summary: Blake had a lot on her mind, but Sun was going to do his damnedest to put a smile on her face.

Blake had a lot on her mind.

She was perched on a branch at the edge of the Emerald Forest, ostensibly reading a book, but actually lost in her concerns over the White Fang's involvement in the Breach. The rest of her team appeared to want to put the whole ordeal behind them and focus on classes again, but Blake couldn't just shake it off so easily. She had thought that Yang, at least, would understand, after that big lecture before the school dance, but even her blonde-haired partner seemed content to let the Atlesian Military sweep the matter under the rug.

The leaves of the tree rustled, and Blake tensed, but a familiar scent on the air saw her relax again. Not Grimm. Just the one…friend…that she couldn't shake off as easily as just ignoring him. Sun.

As if thinking his name summoned him, she saw him swing suddenly into her peripheral vision. His arms and legs were folded; clearly he was hanging by his tail from a branch above. She could never get over how that slender tail could possibly support his whole weight, but there it was.

Blake ignored him, still staring at her book.

Why were there so many troops in Vale? It couldn't just be defense for the Festival. The degree of mobilization had undoubtedly made a critical difference during the battle…but in Blake's opinion, the number of troops that Atlas had brought before was more like what she would have expected to arrive after such an attack. Now that the Breach had been closed, the robots were pouring in at a rate she thought frankly excessive. This General Ironwood…Did he know something? Did Ozpin? Was that why he had allowed Blake to take the mission to Quadrant 5 in the Southeast. Mountain Glen had been a complete trainwreck… Blake groaned internally. Yang was rubbing off on her.

Honestly, Blake had been expecting something like this since Ruby's encounter with the intruder in the CCT during the dance, but had been confident they would be able to stop the White Fang during their mission with Doctor Oobleck. They had instead been exhausted, separated, and comprehensively beaten, even before the final crash that let Grimm pour into Vale. That implied planning, even if the enemy's timetable had been forcibly moved up by their presence. Someone was calling the shots and manipulating both the underworld and the White Fang…and whatever the man claimed, she wasn't buying that it was Torchwick.

"Busy?" Sun asked, finally, apparently having cottoned on that she wasn't about to start a conversation.

"Mm," she replied, continuing to ignore him.

None of her teammates showed any inclination to discuss the matter, however, so Blake kept her ponderings to herself, staring blankly at the pages of the books she held in front of her to disguise the fact that her mind was elsewhere. And it was working: there hadn't been another "intervention" by her partner or searching questions from her team leader about the contents of her sketchbooks.

"I love you, you know."

Blake wasn't listening, still staring blindly at the book. It was the same one she had been reading on that first night at Beacon, when Yang and Ruby had introduced themselves. She had tried to ignore them—still often did so, in fact—but the spirited sisters had a way of worming their way into your heart. It had worked on Weiss, and so help her, it had worked on Blake. That was why it hurt so much that they weren't taking the threat of Torchwick and the White Fang seriously. Weiss was brilliant, Ruby intuitive, and Yang far deeper than she let on. Between them, Blake was sure that they could brainstorm some method, some motive…but they didn't seem to care.

"I know you're not really ignoring me, you've just tuned me out. That's okay. I can tell something's bugging you, but if you really wanted to be alone you'd have told me to go away."

Sun's voice was like the hum of a Bullhead's engine—a comforting background to her thoughts.

"It's the same as how you're staring at that book, even though you're not reading it."

So who could it be? Who was on the table? That big White Fang lieutenant with the tattoos and custom mask? Not likely. Odd, too, that Blake didn't immediately recognize him. Who was he, and how had he shot up through the ranks so quickly, if he was indeed a newcomer? But it didn't make sense for him to be the mastermind—Torchwick had mentioned an "employer" at the White Fang Faction Meeting she and Sun had infiltrated, but hadn't acknowledged the lieutenant, who had introduced him, it didn't fit.

"S'the same as how you still wear that bow in private, even though your friends all know you're Faunus. You do things that comfort you and protect you automatically when there's something on your mind. That's okay, too."

As well, if the White Fang was Torchwick's employer, it wouldn't make sense for the criminal to be working for someone who wasn't the leader. The White Fang had plainly changed a lot, but Blake had a hard time imagining him willingly employing a human thief. He had always insisted that what they were doing was for the greater good, and though she disagreed with his methods, she knew he still technically believed in and fought for the Faunus—and only the Faunus.

"You get really intense when you're thinking about something this much, you know that? Your eyes go all distant and you bite your lip…it's actually kinda hot."

That implied a third party. Perhaps that tiny illusionist that Yang had fought on the train? What had Torchwick called her? Neo? That sounded right. But if she was the mastermind, why would she be in the front line at all. And there had been no sign of her giving orders—hell, none of them had ever even heard her speak.

"I've been thinking about you, like, nonstop since we hung out in the city last semester. I think I started falling for you even before we really talked; just walking around with you, I felt…drawn."

Nobody else was springing to mind. Of course, who was to say that the mastermind was even someone they had met already, or even seen? A true chessmaster would keep themselves out of the way, wouldn't they? Whoever it was, she was confident that the likes of Torchwick weren't the strongest piece—more like a sacrificial knight that you sent out to probe the enemy's defenses.

"And that's why it doesn't bother me to say it. Maybe this can be something special, or maybe it's just something that can make us happy right now. 'Cause if that's how it goes, that's okay. You certainly seem like you could use some happiness. All I know is, it's as simple as that: I love you."

"What?" Sun's last words had broken through Blake's reverie, but she was left just as speechless.

"Welcome back to reality," Sun teased her.

"Did you just say you…love me?" Someone else might have let her book tumble to the ground, forgotten, but Blake didn't have it in her to be that careless with the written word. Still, she shut it, staring at Sun with her mouth slightly open.

"Well, yeah," he said, rotating slowly in place as he hung there. "Twice, actually. Neptune made me promise to come tell you how I feel. I knew you weren't listening so I was gonna just say it and leave, but…I got caught up in watching you, like I always do."

Sun's face was a little red, and she didn't think it was just from his time spent hanging upside down. He leaned toward her slightly, glancing anxiously up—well, down, relative to him—into her eyes when she remained frozen. Seeing she made no move to stop him, he kept going, and pressed his lips to hers.

The angle was awkward, with him hanging upside-down, but the kiss itself was long and sweet and full of energy, rather like Sun himself. Blake was more reserved, but found herself kissing him back, raising the hand not holding her book to run through Sun's spiky golden locks.

Eventually, Blake broke the kiss, though she didn't remove her hand. "You swear you're okay with just taking things as they come?" she asked nervously.

Sun's grin was beatific. "Right now, I don't want anything but you. We can deal with tomorrow, tomorrow."

Blake couldn't help it; a tiny smile stole across her face. Sun had evidently spotted it, for his own grin widened so much that his eyes crinkled shut. She was a long way from forgetting about Torchwick and the White Fang, but perhaps her worries could wait a few hours. She leaned forward herself this time and kissed Sun again, so that he didn't have to do all the work, her fingers tightening in his hair. Just for right now…this was okay.

A/N: Title from Journey To The West, "Nothing in this world is difficult, but thinking makes it seem so." This ended up wordier than I expected but that's kinda how I think Blake's mind works. She obsesses over something and chases her tail in circles, not going anywhere. Sun isn't a simpleton by any stretch, but he'd rather take things as they come and try to make sure he finds happiness along the way, for himself and those he cares about.