Something was wrong, very wrong.
Without even opening his eyes Flash could sense that something was off. No, he could physically feel that something was amiss.
One thing was very clear though, someone was on top of him.
Mustering up some courage he opened his eyes and was treated to a peculiar sight. Sleeping peacefully under the bed covers on top of him was Sonata. Her head rested a little above his chest with her blue hair brushing under his chin. A trickle of drool flowed from her mouth onto him as she lightly snored.
From the little light that managed to seep in from his window Flash quickly registered that it was morning. While he wasn’t entirely uncomfortable with the girl sleeping on top of him he thought it would be best to get her up and off of him.
“Sonata, wake up.” He peacefully urged.
No luck. His bedmate continued to sleep soundly. That only left nudging her awake. It was then that Flash realized where his hands were. Both were firmly placed on his bedmate’s behind.
It was in the next moment that both him and her fell off of the mattress in a tangle of bed sheets as the former panicked like a mad man.
***
It seemed only appropriate that a weird morning would follow a weird night.
At least that was what the young man shoving spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth kept telling himself. When he really thought about it he doubted that he had a normal morning in the past two weeks. None however had been as weird as that morning.
There had been times that had come close for sure. Aria bursting into the bathroom and kicking Flash out while he had been taking a shower was one that came to mind.
A loud crunching sound coming from the other side of the kitchen table brought Flash’s attention back to the present. Looking up from his cereal bowl he saw Sonata was munching away at her microwavable mini fish taco breakfast. Like him, she too was still wearing her sleeping attire.
“Hey um...Sonata?”
Finishing off the last of her hard shell breakfast, Sonata wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before answering. “Yeah?”
“Look, sorry for...you know...throwing you off of the bed when I woke up this morning.” Flash apologized nervously.
“Oh, that! Don’t worry about it, Flashy! It didn’t even hurt all that much since you broke my fall!” She beamed a warm smile back at him.
Flash was still raking his mind over just how that had happened. It stood to reason that if anything Sonata should have been the one to break his fall. Just another weird thing to add to the morning’s weirdness.
In the blink of an eye a frown replaced the smile that had graced Sonata’s face up until then. “I’m the one who should be sorry,” she began, “I made you share your bed with me and then I slept on top of you. You must have been, like, really uncomfortable!”
Having a girl sleep on top of him? He’d be lying if he said it'd been the worst feeling in the world. “It wasn’t that bad. It just...took me by surprise, that’s all.” He showed a goofy smile to try and help ease the girl’s worries. “Besides, you managed to fall asleep.”
As soon as those words left his mouth Sonata turned to look away. “Yeah, I guess I did.” Her eyes slowly drifted towards the floor. “Sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to cry in front of you.”
“Hey, I already told you that it doesn’t really bother me. You don’t have to worry about me kicking you three out of the house for it. You don’t have to be sad.”
“No, it’s not that. I kinda already knew you wouldn’t really kick us out of the house for crying. Me, Dagi, and Aria have been here for a really long time and you’re the nicest human who we’ve ever met, Flashy.”
While he appreciated the compliment, it brought up another question. “So what’s bothering you then?”
The former siren quickly shook her head. “Nothing! Really! I’m just sorry that I bothered you last night.” With eyes closed she showed him a smile.
Fake forced smiles, Flash knew them all too well.
The teenage boy would have pressed her further but was stopped when he was visually reminded that he had other housemates. Without saying a word Aria Blaze walked past the two sitting at the kitchen table and made her way to the refrigerator.
“Morning, Aria.” Flash said more out of habit than anything else.
As usual he was given the cold shoulder as the girl pulled a box of frozen fish sticks out of the freezer. Pulling a plate out of a kitchen cabinet, Aria dumped her breakfast on it and shoved it in the microwave.
Like her sister, Aria’s hair ran straight down her back like most mornings. Flash had noticed that she usually didn’t bother to tie it into her signature pigtails until later on in the day as a way to alleviate boredom. Unlike her sister however, she wore jet black pajama pants and a greyish long sleeved shirt.
With the ding of the microwave Aria grabbed her plate and unceremoniously took a seat at the table in between Flash and Sonata, the latter of whom greeted her as she sat down. “Good morning, Aria.”
Stuffing a fish stick into her mouth, Aria shot her sister a glance out of the corner of her eye. “So, you gonna apologize to me?”
“Apologize?” Sonata asked with a baffled look on her face. “For what?”
“Oh, I dunno. Maybe for waking me up in the middle of the night for a stupid reason.” Aria retorted, her annoyance apparent in her tone. “You had another nightmare, so what?”
The two sisters stared at each other as if Flash wasn’t in the room with them.
“It was worse than all the other times!” Sonata argued.
Turning to face her sister, Aria rolled her eyes. “Yeah and that’s what you said all the other times too.”
The peeved off girl didn’t give her sister a chance to defend herself. “Seriously, Sonata. I knew you were weak but this is just pathetic. You’re honestly lucky that we weren’t separated when we were banished to this lousy world. I bet you probably wouldn't have lasted three days.”
“I would have…”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
Having heard enough, Flash believed that it was time to make his presence known again. “Hey, can you stop it already?”
“Keep out of this.” Aria responded without taking her eyes off her sister.
Refusing to be ignored, Flash put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Hey! I said…”
In the blink of an eye Aria spun around and grabbed his wrist in her hand. “I said...keep out of this. Touch me again and I’ll break your hand off!”
Not one to be intimidated, Flash stared right back at her. “Leave her alone, she’s had a bad night.”
“Typical human, don’t know how to mind your own business.”
“It’s my business when you’re bullying her in my house.”
Not backing down, Aria directed her annoyance at Flash. “Wow, I knew you were an idiot but I didn’t know you were a blind idiot. This is obviously her own fault.”
“Really? How is it Sonata’s fault that she’s having nightmares?”
“You know how stupid you look when you answer your own question? It’s her fault for having the stupid nightmares in the first place! All she needs to do is stop having them!”
“Is that how you get rid of your own nightmares?” Flash rebutted.
“I don’t get nightmares because I’m not weak like her.” With her free hand, Aria pointed an accusing finger at her sister. “I’m nothing like her.”
Against better judgment, Flash showed her a smirk. “You’re not weak? Then how come you don’t want to talk about what happened at the Battle of the Bands?”
Shoving his hand into his chest, Aria glared at the teenage boy as if she was ready to rip his tongue out. “I said never talk about that!”
The pain in Flash’s wrist was growing to be unbearable. Despite his discomfort he kept his composure. “Leave her alone.” He restated.
“Or what?” Aria challenged as she tightened her grip.
Not a second passed before her challenge was accepted. The sound of a chair being pushed back caused both Flash and Aria to switch their attention to the other side of the table. Sonata was standing with her body posed as if she was about to spear her sister.
“Let him go, Aria.” Sonata warned.
A few moments passed by in silence before the disgruntled sister let go of Flash’s hand. Sitting back down she gave her attention back to her breakfast. The anger in her face was replaced by her usual bored expression. “Lucky I haven’t eaten yet.” Aria mumbled before she stuck another piece of fish into her mouth.
Rubbing his wrist, Flash took his own seat again and a moment later Sonata did the same. Looking across the table at his bedmate, he could tell that something was still off about her that morning. He wanted to ask again what was wrong but reasoned that with Aria in the room it wouldn’t be the best idea. Flash would have to figure out another way to bring the topic back up.
“By the way, we’re out of fish sticks.” Aria blurted out.
“Okay, I’ll just get some more tomorrow on my way home from school.” Flash answered, still sorely rubbing his wrist.
That seemed to bother the former siren. “How about before lunch?”
“You know, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to eat the whole box in one sitting.”
Naturally the girl had her own response to that. “Yeah? Well I’m pretty sure a teenage boy isn’t supposed to live alone with three teenage girls. Why do you care about how much I eat? What are you, my dietician? Stick to worrying about your girlfriend.”
The teenage boy’s response died in his throat when he felt someone’s fingers run through his hair.
“Good moooooooooooooooooooorning.”
Out of the corner of his eye Flash spotted the third sister slowly walk backwards into his full view. For a moment he was thankful that Adagio was clothed until he realized what she was wearing.
“Adagio?”
“Yes?”
“How did you get my mom’s bathrobe?”
A sly smile formed on Adagio’s lips. “I found it laying around the house. I would’ve returned it to where it belongs but seeing as how you locked your parent’s bedroom I decided to hold onto it for safe keeping.” Wrapping her arms around her torso she released an oddly drawn out content sigh. “Hmm...your mother has such fine taste. Humans make the most comfortable things I’ve ever had the pleasure of wearing.”
The odd stare that Flash was giving her was shared by the others sitting at the table. All eyes were focused on the mass of bed hair known as Adagio Dazzle. “Don’t you think it looks good on me, Flash?”
“I think you should take it off and put it back where you found it.” He responded with arms crossed. It was when the girl gave him an impish smile that Flash realized his mistake.
“Gladly.” Adagio more than happily replied.
As she began to slowly disrobe, Flash stood up and turned to look away. “Actually, just keep it on for now.”
“Are you sure that’s what you really want?”
“Yes!” Flash practically shouted. “I’m sure that’s what I want, Adagio.”
Pulling the bathrobe back over her body, Adagio made her way over to the kitchen pantry. “You can sit back down now. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything that would make our generous host feel uncomfortable in his own home.” Cautiously, Flash turned to look back and saw the former siren taking her seat at the kitchen table with a box of her favorite snack in hand.
Stuffing a handful of goldfish crackers into her mouth, Adagio gave her attention to her sisters. “I hope you two managed to sleep well.”
“Ehh, would of slept better if the dweeb sitting next to me hadn’t woken me up in the middle of the freaking night.” Aria groaned. “She won’t even apologize for doing it. Talk about rude.”
Sonata again stood up and brought her face only a few inches from her sister’s. “Hey! It’s not fair that you can call me rude when you didn’t give me back my pillow!”
Without a moment of hesitation Aria raised her hand and flicked a lock of her sister’s hair which caused her to stumble back. “Maybe if you would have apologized I might have given you your pillow. Since you’re not sorry I guess I’ll just keep it for another night.”
Patting her hair back into place, Sonata would have continued to argue if Adagio hadn’t cut her intentions short. “Sonata,” Adagio began, “Tell me you were able to fall back asleep last night after we talked.”
Rubbing the back of her head, Sonata took a few moments to answer. “Kinda…”
“Care to elaborate a little further, sweet sister?”
“Well...after you and Aria went back to sleep I sorta left the room and went to go talk to Flashy.”
“Oh?” Adagio cocked an eyebrow. “Were you able to fall back asleep after you talked to him?”
It took a moment but Flash realized what Sonata was about to say next and who she was about to say it to. It was too late prevent it and the boy braced himself for what was sure to come. He briefly considered jumping out of his chair and placing a hand over Sonata’s mouth but ultimately never got the opportunity to decide.
“He kinda did...I fell asleep after he let me sleep with him.”
For a few seconds Flash just stared down into his bowl of soggy cereal. The room was eerily quiet as he contemplated what the best course of action was. Never in his whole life had a bowl of cereal looked so interesting. Taking a deep breath he forced himself to look up from his breakfast. Unsurprisingly, the first thing he noticed was that Adagio was staring at him with what was perhaps the biggest grin he had ever seen in his life.
“Adagio,” Flash began only to be cut off.
The former siren waved a hand in the air nonchalantly. “There’s no need to explain yourself, Flash. I realized it was only a matter of time before your hormones finally got the better of you.” Adagio was taking it pretty much exactly like the teenage boy thought she would.
“Look,” Aria started, “I tend to punch and kick in my sleep. Do yourself a favor and stick with those two if you know what’s good for your health.”
The poor boy couldn’t even get a word out to defend himself as both girls went to town over what Sonata had implied.
“Now,” Adagio said bringing his attention towards her, “About our sleeping arrangements, I’m sure it would all be more comfortable if we had a larger bed. How big is the one in your parents' room?”
“Actually,” Aria said almost immediately after her sister, “You seem weird enough to be one of those guys who get off from getting their ass whipped.”
“The couch is also extremely comfortable. Granted it’d be a little cramped.”
“I’m not wearing any leather.”
“You only have to ask and I gladly will!”
There was a point where they should have stopped but the two sisters passed that and continued to go even further.
It quickly reached a boiling point. “I didn’t sleep with Sonata!” Flash finally shouted out. He didn’t need a mirror to tell that his face was burning red. Whether it was from anger, embarrassment, or something else entirely he couldn't tell. What he did know was that all the speculation had to stop.
Adagio and Aria both gave him a strange look as if he had just spoken some sort of blasphemy. “I didn’t sleep with Sonata last night.” Flash reiterated in a calmer tone.
“Now Flash, are you calling my sweet sister a liar?” Getting up from her seat at the table, Adagio moved to stand behind the girl in question. Placing one hand on Sonata’s shoulder she used her other hand to direct the girl’s glance at Flash. “Does this look like a face that would lie about such a thing?”
Sonata staring directly into the boy’s eyes added to the uneasiness of the whole situation. All eyes, including Aria’s, were on him. He opened his mouth but whatever words he would have said said never made it out.
“I didn’t have sex with him.”
In the instant that followed all eyes turned their attention to Sonata. A slight frown appeared on Adagio’s face but was quickly replaced by a smile. “Sonata dear, you yourself said that our generous host slept with you last night.”
Taking her sister’s hand off her shoulder, Sonata turned to face Adagio. “I started crying last night while I was talking to Flashy. I told him that I had a really bad nightmare and couldn’t go to sleep. He said it would be alright if I slept in his bed with him if it made me feel more comfortable.”
“So...all you and Flash did last night was sleep?” A quick nod of Sonata’s head gave Adagio her answer. Unsatisfied, the former siren turned her attention away from her sister and towards Flash. “You two didn’t do anything other than sleep?”
“All we did was sleep. As soon as she got in my bed I dozed off.” Flash explained as clearly as possible.
A defeated sigh escaped from Adagio as she walked back over to her seat at the table with a bothered look on her face. For as long as Flash had been living with the three girls he had only seen Adagio annoyed less than a handful of times. Looking at the girl furiously stuffing goldfish crackers into her mouth he could tell it was definitely one of those times.
“Are you seriously surprised?” Aria exclaimed from her own seat at the table. “After living with this guy I would have been surprised if he’d actually done anything with the dweeb. You’d probably need to coach the two from start to finish.”
Despite having developed an immunity of sorts to Aria’s critiques, Flash still felt his masculinity take a small hit. He was tempted to say something but thought better against it.
“Regardless,” Adagio rebutted, “Here I thought we had finally reached a solution to our housing dilemma. Pity.” Taking another handful of crackers out of the box her glance shifted between the two bedmates. Her lips slowly curled into a smile. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Sonata.”
Her sweet sister looked around the table expectantly. “Hand me what?”
“Oh...just a little admiration. I never would have imagined that you’d be the first of us to make it into our host’s bed.”
Despite suffering through her teasing every other morning for the past few weeks Flash still couldn’t help but get a bit annoyed and flustered at Adagio’s antics. Done with his soggy breakfast he picked up his bowl and made his way to the sink.
Adagio on the other hand was not finished with her fun. “To tell you the truth I’m actually quite jealous, dear sister.”
“Um...jealous of me sleeping in his bed?” Sonata answered gingerly.
“Well that and I’m jealous because it means you’re Flash’s favorite.”
If Flash had been drinking anything he was positive that he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from doing a spit take.
Sonata? His favorite?
“Don’t worry, I don’t really blame you or him. We’ve been in this world long enough for me to realize what catches the eyes of men. You dear sister certainly have something that I don’t.” Adagio finished her explanation with her eyes drifting down to Sonata’s chest. “Though I’ve heard that size doesn’t matter.”
Just like that, Adagio had taken her teasing to a whole other level.
“I bet you’ve probably heard that before, h’uh Flash?”
Also just like that, Aria had taken teasing the teenage boy to a whole other level.
It was all so much that Flash’s mind seemingly switched to autopilot. Without saying anything he placed his plate in the kitchen sink, left the three girls, and made his way back up to his room. It was only once he was in his room that the boy again became attentive of his surroundings.
The first thing that he became aware of was that there was shouting coming from the kitchen. His house guests were arguing amongst themselves again so it looked like his morning was returning to the normal that he had become accustomed to from the past couple of weeks. Scratching his head he knew that he still had the rest of that Sunday ahead of him. Still though, certain thoughts concerning Sonata plagued his mind.
A blinking blue light coming from his cell phone caught his attention. Grabbing it off the nightstand, Flash put in his password and found an email from his father waiting for him. After swiftly reading through the message an idea popped into his head.
Quickly getting dressed, Flash stuffed his car keys into his pocket and made his way back downstairs to the kitchen. Adagio and Aria had taken their argument to another room leaving Sonata alone at the table apparently cleaning up after her sisters. The situation was perfect. “Hey, Sonata?”
Stacking her plate on top of Aria’s, Sonata looked up. “Yeah?”
“I was wondering if maybe you could help me with something today.”
Already the girl seemed a bit skeptical. “Help? Help you with what?”
“I just got an email from my dad saying that he put some money aside for me to take out of the bank. You know, to get the oven and fire alarm looked at and maybe fixed.”
The mentioning of Sonata’s cooking attempt from the previous day seemed to slightly bum the girl out. “Oh, sorry...again.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Nothing bad happened, right? They’re probably not even broken. I just want to have them looked at to be sure.” He offered her a smile in an attempt to comfort her.
The gesture went unnoticed with Sonata’s gaze having drifted towards her feet a few seconds before. “Anyway,” Flash continued, “Like I was saying, I was wondering if you’d want to go to the bank with me? Keep me company and stuff like that.”
That seemed to catch his house guest’s attention. “You want me to go with you? Outside of the house?” The mere mentioning of going outside seemed to slightly put her off. “I dunno...I kinda don’t really feel good about it. People from the school might see me.”
There was the conflict.
Flash quickly thought up of ways to reassure her. “I wouldn't worry about it. We’ll take my car so you’ll be able to move without almost anybody noticing. Besides, Canterlot is a pretty big city. The chances of anybody from the school seeing you are super slim.”
Still Sonata seemed against the idea of leaving her safe zone. “I...I...maybe...umm…” As more seconds passed Flash realized he was losing the best chance of finding out what was bothering her. “Maybe...next time?” With that said she moved from the table, walked past the teenage boy, and began to make her way out of the kitchen without saying anything else.
If she walked away Flash realized that there might not be a next time. “Sonata.”
The girl in question stopped short of stepping out into the hall. Hesitantly, she slowly turned around to face him and said nothing.
It was a do or die moment. “I promise you that nothing bad is going to happen if you leave the house with me. Can you trust me on this?”
Flash’s promise caused a reaction that he hadn’t been expecting. Sonata slightly blushed and started fidgeting with her hair. The girl seemed even more conflicted than she had been before. Seconds passed as her eyes darted around the room. For a moment Flash thought he had made a mistake as it looked like she was about to burst into tears.
He was about to change his mind and tell her to forget about what he had said. The teenage boy began to convince himself that another opportunity would probably come up later on. In another heartbeat he would have called off his plan. What she said next almost stopped his heart.
“Okay.” Sonata quietly replied almost as if she was hoping that he wouldn’t hear her.
Flash had heard her though and jumped on the opportunity. “Great! I’ll meet you in the garage then after you get changed.” Sonata hesitantly nodded her head and made her way upstairs.
Confident in his plan, the teenage boy made his way to the garage. He stopped for a moment in front of a mirror in the hallway and gave himself a look over. He wore his usual clothes, jeans along with his favorite t-shirt and jacket. It was what was on his face however that puzzled him.
It was a smile.
Smiles weren’t anything uncommon for Flash. He was genuinely known around his friends and family for putting on a goofy smile during the day. No, it was the reason why the smile graced his face that left him perplexed.
For the life of him he didn’t know why he was smiling.