Chapter Text
Sky pulled out his earring and set it on his dresser. He walked over to the mirror to survey his outfit. He wasn’t sure if the blatant piercing was going to reflect badly in the interview or not. He really needed this job, and he refused to do anything that might jeopardise himself.
He glanced up and down at his outfit again. Dress shoes? Check. New kakis? Check. Favorite cardigan? Check. Hair combed? Check.
Did it look weird without the earring?
He walked back to the dresser and stuck it back in. He placed his hand vertically in front of his face and tried to decide which half looked more ‘I’ll make a great addition to the establishment’ while ignoring the way his nose didn’t sit straight.
Sky let out a groan. “Heck if I know.” He resisted running a hand through his hair in his frustration. He did not want to ruin the one thing going for him.
“Fuck this!” Sky grabbed the mirror from the wall and threw it on the ground with an animalistic scream. The shards were scattered across the room and all over the discarded clothes he had tossed on the floor in search of a presentable outfit.
Sky sank to the heels of his feet in an uncomfortable crouch among the broken glass. His therapist had said the pills might make him more emotional and likely to have outbursts, something he’d struggled with long before taking prescription medicine.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck.” He whispered as he stopped trying to look presentable and started running a hand through his hair. He tried to take deep breaths, but he feared it would lead to hyperventilation, so instead, he held his breath.
After about a minute, he started to see black spots infiltrate his vision. That proceeded to make him more mad. He used to be able to hold his breath for at least 5.
Why do I have to mess everything up?
And then he passed out.
—-------
When he came back around to consciousness, he was looking at Sun. Shoot. She must have gotten out of work by now.
“Hey, Sky.” Sun was sitting in his bed, reading a book while running her fingers through his hair. It really did soothe him, no matter how much he wanted to hate the habit.
Sky shot straight up. “The interview!”
Sun shook her head at him as she placed her book on the side table. “Sky.” She looked very unimpressed.
“No, Sun, you don’t understand this interview-” He cut him off before he started saying something he would regret. Before he could say something, he wouldn’t be able to take back. Before he could ruin another relationship.
“No, Sky, you don’t understand.”
“No no no no no. This job was my last resort!”
“Sky-”
“I-I-I- I need this.”
“Sky-”
“No, I-”
“Skylar!” Sun grabbed his face and held it in her hands. “Deep breaths, baby. You know the doctor said not to overexert your lungs or overly stress yourself.” She looked at him with empathy. “You’re doing both, Sky.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. I’m going to tell you 5 things I’m grateful for today, and then you’re going to tell me 5 things you’re grateful for, okay? So be thinking about it.”
As much as he loved his girlfriend, maybe the counselling degree wouldn’t be the best thing for him, with all her ’healthy coping mechanisms’ or whatever they were.
They eased their bodies onto the bed so that they lay opposite and looked eye to eye. Sun’s golden bangs leaned sideways, favoring the side of the pillow, while Sky was sure he looked like a mess. He would never understand how someone like her could give a passing glance to him, let alone date him.
“First,” Sun was amazing. “I’m grateful Groose came straight home after work instead of grocery shopping like he said he was going to, because he is the only reason you’re in a bed right now and not on the floor.”
That meant Groose had found him first, probably passed out on the floor on top of a pile of glass, and called Sun. Groose. Once a bully, a nightmare for Sky, was now his best friend and someone to split rent with. Once someone who would go out of their way to ridicule him with an unoriginal insult was now someone he made dinners with. Groose, the closest thing he had to family other than his perfect girlfriend.
“Second, I’m grateful that Groose is out there making dinner right now for the three of us because it means that you and I can talk for as long as we need, and I don’t have to cook. So that’s a plus.” She reached over to Sky and rubbed her hand over his cheek with a light smile playing off her lips as she spoke.
Sky loved Sun, but the thought of trying to explain what was fundamentally wrong with him to his girlfriend was never going to happen. As much as Sun tried and tried and tried to get him to talk about his feelings, he would never be able to fully express his rage.
“Third, I am sooo thankful for my scholarship money that allows me to get an education.”
Why was it that everybody seemed to get a job or find a passion, except for him? It wasn’t that Sky wished Sun and Groose didn’t get to succeed. That was truly the last thing he would ever wish for. He loved seeing them happy. Sometimes it was a bit much, though.
“Fourthly, I’m so glad that I found my lost sweater behind the washing machine. I’m not sure how it got there, but I’m happy to have it back regardless.”
Sky would never be able to stop marvelling at the way Sun could turn any situation into a positive interaction. It was almost as if she were an angel. No, an angel wouldn’t even be good enough to shine a candle in her light. Sun had to be a Goddess incarnate of something with the way she shone. Sky knew he would gladly worship her.
“Fifthly, I’m overjoyed that- Oh, and I saved the best for last, mind you- That I have you.” Sun smiled and moved closer to him in the bed until she was wrapping her arms around him and holding him. “I don’t know where I would be without you, Sky. One day we’ll look back on this and remember how far we’ve come, okay?”
Sky nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. He felt hot and trapped in his cardigan under the blankets, but was too ashamed to take it off. He deserved to suffer after everything. After everything he’d done and everyone he pushed away, he shouldn’t even be mad the Goddesses wouldn’t allow him anything good. He didn’t deserve it. Not after-
He was spiralling. This was not what Zelda had asked for when agreeing to be with him. She wanted happy Sky. She wanted carefree Sky. She wanted silly sleepyhead Sky. She wanted funny Sky. Not shattered glass Sky. Not emotionally unstable Sky. Not unemployed Sky. Not mental breakdown Sky. Not depressed so badly he tried to kill himself and got sent to the therapist because he was turned away from the one thing he had ever wanted to do in life because of his sucky lungs but his best fired got to be a pilot and not him and he was worthless becasue he was always late and now he had no purpose in his life and everything was his fault Sky.
It was unfair to her.
Sun was still talking. “-Until that day I’ll be here for you, and Groose will be here for you, and everything will turn out good. I love you so much. I love you so much that-” She didn’t even try to explain how lost and heartbroken she would be if he were gone. “I love you so much, okay? Just remember that. Please.”
Sky felt Sun move her hands behind his back to wipe tears off her face. “But none of that,” She said while letting out a little exasperated laugh, “What 5 things are you grateful for?”
Sky took a deep breath and made a decision. It was now or never. Be the man he was supposed to be, or be weak again. He was fairly certain the episode he’d had was nowhere near over, but the least he could do was improve his acting.
He needed to keep his red emotions hidden and project the glow of a cozy fire during a snowstorm. He was going to try his hardest. Hylia, Damn it, he would do it- for Sun.
“You, you, you, you, and, hmmm, let me think about this one… Oh, you.” He squeezed Sun and pulled away before turning to get off the bed. “Now let’s go see what Groose is cooking up.”
He swung his feet over the bed and noticed his mirror was missing. I forgot about that…
Sun noticed him staring at the empty space on his wall while she climbed off his bed. “You must have knocked it down when you passed out. The shards were everywhere. Groose and I picked up most of it, but I’d recommend you vacuum and wear shoes in here for a while, just in case we missed any.”
“Thank you so much, Sun.” He didn’t have the heart to tell her he had another outburst. He was just happy no one had been here to see what had really transpired.
“Anything for you, love.” Her devotion was beautiful.
There was a light tapping at the door. Groose cracked it open and peeked in. His wildly red hair was cut to military standard, the hardest part about joining the Royal Army to become a pilot, he claimed, and he was holding a wooden spoon in one hand. “You two done being love birds and making me feel like a single pringle yet?”
All three laughed. When Groose had stopped making derogatory jokes and started being witty, he was actually funny.
Sometimes.
Groose dished up the meal with much thanks from Sun and Sky. Sometimes he couldn’t believe that once he had wanted Sun so badly, he was willing to break Sky’s nose to get to her. He let out a chuckle as he sat to eat his dinner.
“What’s so funny, Groose?” Asked Sun in between bites of her dinner.
“Nothing. I was just thinking about that time Sophomore year when Sky kicked my ass.”
Sky threw his hands up. “I thought we’ve been through this! I did not beat your ass. I simply got a few hits that you didn’t recover from for weeks, but let’s not forget you’re the one who broke my nose.”
Sky shovelled a bite of food into his mouth. “And I’ll add it’s still crooked to this day.”
“You were literally attacking me, Sky! What did you want me to do about it?” Groose laughed. It had been too long since he’d enjoyed time with Sky and Sun together, and even if reminiscing about what a terrible person he’d been wasn’t his favorite topic, he’d laugh along just to hear the magic of Sky’s laugh, too. It really was the least he could do. Especially considering how hard everything had been on Sky in the last few years.
It really was ironic. Sky had gotten the girl of Groose’s dreams, and Groose had gotten the job of Sky’s dreams. It was stupid how much alike, yet so different, they were. Look though, I learned not only to live without Sun, but how to cope with seeing her happy with my best friend, and I’m a better person for it. Now if only Sky could realize the same thing…
Dinner quickly became a highlight reel of all the stupid things they’d done at Castle Town Public School, from throwing paper airplanes on the light fixtures until they accidentally started a fire and forced the entire school to evacuate, to the time when Sky fell asleep on a field trip and got left behind for hours but wasn’t even aware.
They talked on for hours into the night, but like all good things, the night had to end. Sun kissed Sky goodbye and promptly left with a promise to call him tomorrow and check to see if any new jobs had become available on campus.
Sky, still holding fast in his conviction to never burden his friends again, walked into his bedroom. He looked around the room. Everything was still the same, save for all of his clothes being placed in his laundry basket and the missing mirror. But as he moved closer to his bed, he realized that Sun had left the book she had been reading while he was asleep. He picked it up off the beadstand and tried to move it onto his dresser so he could return it to her tomorrow, when a paper fell out.
Sky bent down and picked it up off the floor. It was an application.
A job application.
Sun must have left it for him on purpose. “Ha.” Sky didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. He walked out into the kitchen, where Groose was washing the dishes from their meal. The job had been every other day between the two friends while they waited for their landlord to fix their dishwasher.
“Hey, Groose. Sun left an application.”
“For a job?”
“Yeah.”
“She probably feels bad about you missing your interview.” Groose placed a bowl in the strainer.
Sky hummed in agreement. “Yeah, probably.”
Groose kept washing dishes.
“Where’s the job?”
“You’ll never guess.”
Groose turned away from the sink to look at the sheet of paper Sky was holding out.
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Castle Town Public School.”