“It’s official now.”

Starlight didn’t answer and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her gaze was downcast, legs crossed by the ankles and bare feet dangling over the pier, a soft breeze came in and ruffled her hair and clothes slightly. Sunburst sighed, the heavy lump in his throat making it hard to breathe.

“I think…” Sunburst trailed off, running a shaky hand through his red hair, his eyes staring vacantly ahead at the sun over the water. “I think we should tell them about us.”

Her head snapped up, her blue eyes blazing, and he was kind of glad for that. She had been so eerily quiet and stoic for the past hour that it worried him. He expected her to scream at him, loud and shrill, in a way that would match the fire in her eyes, but when she spoke her voice was soft, defeated.

“And tell them what? That we were secretly dating before they decided to get married and that they should call off the wedding because of it?” She snorted loudly, disdain rolling from her in waves. “I can’t—I haven’t seen him this happy since my mom died. Your mom makes him happy, Sunburst. I can’t do that to him. We’re going to be brother and sister now; we might as well get used to it.”

He wanted to argue, let his bitterness and sarcasm taint his every word, but he couldn’t find his voice at the moment. As much as he hated to admit it, Starlight was right. His mother was genuinely happy and, despite them being at odds more often than not, he couldn’t ruin her joy by admitting that he had the hots for his stepsister. He was the “good son” after all, at least compared to his hardheaded (blood-related) sister, Sunset Shimmer. He couldn’t hurt his mother in this way.

“What should we do then?”

It was a stupid question; he knew the answer even before she spoke up. But he wanted to delay the inevitable for a little longer, hold on to their shaky relationship even though there was nothing they could do to salvage it. He held on this long, what was a few seconds more?

She tensed up, her breath hissing sharply in between clenched teeth. “What do you think? We break up.”

Her answer hurt him more than he was willing to admit. He hated to feel this way, so helpless and crushed, would it had hurt less if she had minced her words somehow? Probably, but Starlight wasn’t that kind of girl, she had always been direct and truthful to him, it was one of the reasons he…He took a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut, his shoulders slumping dejectedly. “Okay, then.”

He stood up. There was nothing more to say, and he feared that if he stayed longer, he would burst into tears or do something equally embarrassing. He pushed his glasses up his nose and without looking back, said. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around,” he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweater, fists clenched tightly, nails digging into the skin of his palms. “Later.”

“Wait!”

He made the mistake of listening to her. He made the mistake of turning around and meeting her teary eyes. He groaned. What did she want him to do? Hold her and comfort her like he had when her mother died a few years ago? It would break him. It was going to be hell seeing her every day and pretend that he doesn’t love her with every fiber of his being, that nothing had happened between them, tossing the most important and meaningful relationship he ever had like it was trash.

“What do you want?”

He didn’t mean for his words to come out as harshly as it did, and he regretted it when she flinched at his tone. He felt like a monster, for he forgot that this took a toll on her as well. Maybe things would have been different if they had told their parents what was going on much sooner, but it didn’t matter; it was too late to dwell on it now.

She was shaking as she spoke; he wasn’t sure if it was from the chill afternoon air or something else. “Maybe one last kiss?”

He should say no, kissing her would make this goodbye even more difficult. That was what he told himself, but he was no match to her big, blue, beautiful, teary eyes.

He relented, gathering her in his arms and pouring everything he had into this last kiss. One of her hands took off his glasses and while the other fisted his hair, making him groan and deepen the kiss. They were being careless, someone could see them, and maybe that was why he prolonged the kiss. Deep down he hoped someone saw them, so he could push the responsibility of bringing their relationship to the light on someone else, he was selfish like that.

In the end, when they parted with one last hug and said their goodbyes, they went their separate ways. They both knew that their respite would be brief, for in the coming days they wouldn’t be able to escape each other, that they would soon be forced to live together and ignore their shared history.

Everyone was stressed with the wedding, his mother especially, being the bride and all. She had to make sure that everything was perfect, according to her plan, anything less was unacceptable; ironically her eye for details had overlooked just how especially miserable her son had looked during rehearsals or at home. She didn’t ask and Sunburst didn’t bother to tell her, too busy picking up the pieces of his shattered heart that would only crumble whenever he saw Starlight.

He barely held it together during the reception, since his mother had forced them to stick together to greet and thank the guests. Starlight looked much better than he did, she had a talent for looking happy when she wasn’t—at least to an outsider. Sunburst knew her well enough to read her like a book. Her smile was definitely fake, not reaching her dull and blank eyes. Whenever she smiled truly, her eyes would shine, and his heart would flutter because her smile would enrapture him.

He grimaced. He sounded like a lovesick idiot…then again, whether he liked to admit it or not, he was a lovesick idiot, probably the biggest one of them all. Next to him, his sister elbowed him sharply on his side, a pleasant smile plastered on her face as always.

“What the hell, Sunset?” Sunburst said, trying to jab her back.

“Would you quit it? At least pretend to look happy for mom.”

“Huh?”

“You look like someone ran over your cat.”

Sunburst grumbled under his breath about stupid nosy sisters and stupid weddings and stupid stepfathers, which only earned him a smack on the back of his head and a disapproving scowl.

“Behave, little brother,” she said, her scowl transforming into a charming smile when another wave of guests passed them by. “Look, I know that our parent's divorce was a long and messy one, it’s probably difficult seeing mom with someone else so soon.”

Her tone was so harsh that Sunburst looked at her but chose not to comment on it, though he did feel a sting of guilt at her words. He hadn’t spared a thought for anyone else but himself, too busy moping over his break up like the teenager he was. It never occurred to him how his mother’s sudden remarriage would affect others, maybe he should ask Sunset how she was feeling about this, maybe call his dad once this was over and see how he was doing, he should try to be a little less selfish—

“But at least try to be happy for her, okay? Mom deserves this,” Sunset cut him off before he could say something. “And before you start, you are going to dance with mom and our new sister.”

His spine stiffened but he nodded. Making a scene would do him no good, and he tried to think of himself and Starlight as part of a bigger picture. It wasn’t like this was the end of the world, he could date other girls; he was still young and had a whole life ahead of him and—

One glance at Starlight dancing clumsily with her dad made his thoughts crumble and fall like sandcastles. Their eyes met for a moment and the prospect of dating other people was no more. He hung his head and downed a glass of wine in three gulps, much to the disgust of his older relatives, and nearly spit it out when Sunset elbowed him again and yelled at him for drinking when he was still underage.

The evening dragged on to the point he thought he was in some kind of purgatory. He did what he was told and danced with Starlight, but only once, for he couldn’t handle her proximity, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual, for she made sure to avoid him for the rest of the evening.

His stepfather was a nice man and unlike his dad, was very open with his emotions and compliments. It made him happy that he seemed genuinely interested in his passion for history, not many people were, and it certainly helped that Firelight was a historian and avid collector of books and antiques. It looked like he cared for the people around him and was not afraid to show it. At least, that was the first impression he got. The more he talked with Firelight, the more Sunburst felt that he was being judged; there was a calculating glint in his eyes, and he swore he was sizing him up without even showing it. His dad was a very blunt person, never one for passive-aggressiveness, always speaking his mind in that cool, detached way of his.

Sunburst couldn’t shake the feeling that his stepfather was a ticking bomb—a dormant volcano, that would explode at any moment without warning and cover everything in its path with ash and lava.

It was only a matter of time.

With Sunset back in college and their parents—no, not their parents, but his mother and her father—off to their honeymoon, leaving them alone in the large house, it was as if fate had ordained for this to happen.

Maybe he shouldn’t have joined her at the pool, not when she was wearing that skimpy green bikini. Well, her bikini wasn’t skimpier than the usual bikinis sold at stores, but either way, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. His libido was at an all-time high and he noticed almost immediately that she had already been on a swim, the green garment clinging to her breasts in the most distracting manner.

He cleared his throat, looking at the clear sky. “Have you started on your presentation yet?”

Starlight looked up from her phone, clearly surprised that he was talking to her. He was too, part of him expecting their time together to pass in eternal silence. She shrugged and tossed her damp hair over her shoulder.

“Nah, I still got time.”

“I’m not letting you copy my work this time around.”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, I’ll get it done eventually.”

He snorted. “I bet you’re going to start on the day before it’s due.”

“And I bet I’ll get a higher grade than you either way,” she grinned lazily, fixing him with a mocking look.

He glanced away with a roll of his eyes, and he felt his cheeks grow warm in a way that had nothing to do with the sun. He could feel her stare and tried very hard not to turn and face her. He failed and snuck a look from the corner of his eyes, but could you blame him? Starlight had a really hot body. Though she was lacking in the cleavage department compared to other girls at school, she made up for it with a pair of long legs that always made his blood boil, her flat stomach, her strong arms, her tiny waist, the curve of her hips, her elegant neck which he loved to nip or kiss playfully…

Gah! Bad Sunburst! If he kept this up, he was going to end up with a boner. He sighed, letting his head hang in defeat. If just being next to her made him this wild, it was probably for the best if he avoided her altogether for the next fourteen days. He should start by going inside and lock himself in his room…but since he was already here maybe he should go for a swim instead; the cold water would clear his mind from his dirty thoughts.

With a running leap, he jumped into the pool, and the shock of the cold water definitely made any unwanted boners impossible. He emerged with a gasp and pushed his wet hair away from his forehead and eyes. His gaze settled on Starlight again, only to find her pushing a pair of sunglasses hastily over her eyes, staring intently at her smartphone.

He couldn’t stop the smirk when he noticed the hint of pink on her cheeks, but he dove underwater not a moment later and opened his eyes, the sting of chlorine unpleasant but expected. He swam a few laps before he grew tired of it, thoughts of sex being the last thing on his mind.

But then he heard a splash and damned it, Starlight was next to him in the water, her phone and sunglasses forgotten in the chair she had been occupying before.

“You up for a race?” She grinned cheekily.

He should say no, he knew that something was bound to happen the longer they stayed together like this, alone and with so little clothing. He should definitely say no.

“Bring it on.”

He was a dumbass.

Their race had lasted longer than he had expected and they only stopped when they ended up arguing if it was a tie or not, only to realize how close they were standing to each other. He froze, his brain screamed at him to retreat—to leave the pool and avoid her until his mother and his stepfather returned from their honeymoon—but his body wasn’t listening and he stayed where he was, standing in the shallow water as he gazed down at her.

He could feel the warmth of her body, he found himself mesmerized by the rise and fall of her chest and the way her breast pushed against the wet, clingy fabric of her bikini with each intake of breath. He watched as the water trailed down her hair and her face and neck and fuck, she was beautiful and he was the biggest dumbass for thinking he could keep his hands to himself for the rest of his days.

He wanted her. He wanted her so much that he couldn’t think straight. He hated his mom for marrying her dad, hated how something out of their control broke them apart, hated his dad for going through the divorce, hated the disease that took Starlight’s mother away from them.

He gulped, his mind a jumbled mess, desperation running in his veins, throat tight with a searing ache that rendered him mute. He raised his hand and ran it down her bare arm, licking his lips as the goosebumps followed the trail of his fingers. Her breath hitched, her eyes wide and impossibly blue and lovely. She was so beautiful, so fucking beautiful that he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Sunburst?”

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t talk even if he tried, words didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling and all he could do was aim a pathetic, stricken look at her, and tighten his hold on her elbow.

“Sunburst, no, we can’t…”

“I don’t care.”

And he could tell that she didn’t care either, could see the longing in her eyes, and that she had probably thought about it too, of them, together, not giving a flying fuck for their parents’ marriage.

“Two weeks,” he found himself saying, pressing himself against her and shuddering in a way that had nothing to do with the cold. “They’re gone for two weeks. Nobody will be in the house but us.”

He dropped his hands and kept them to himself like the gentleman he was, let her ponder over this, and waited for her decision like the good little lapdog he was. For a moment, he thought she was going to push him away, her eyes clouded with indecision; but even if that were the case, he would take it like a man and accept her choice because as much as he wanted her, craved her touch, her voice, her presence, her everything, he wanted her to be happy above all else. If she didn’t want this, for whatever reason, then he would respect that, even if his heart would be torn to shreds in the process.

She met his eyes and, ever so slowly, she nodded. He thought his heart might as well melted out of his chest cavity, for his breath caught when she unfastened the strings of her bikini top and threw it away. She looked at him with glazed eyes, an expression so familiar that he recalled every intimate moment they shared together with vivid detail.

“Two weeks,” she said, her voice soft as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her wet, naked chest against his. She nuzzled his nose, their lips barely apart as she mumbled. “Two weeks and then…”

They had done this before, twice, perhaps more depending on the technicalities.

They weren’t an official couple when they began to fool around—kiss, make out, gone to third base, etc.—and sure, it had been a little strange at first, but they knew each other for so long that such a small thing like oral sex didn’t disrupt the balance of their bond. They hadn’t been concerned about putting a label on their relationship until many months later, and even then, it took them another month before they agreed to go all the way.

Their first time hadn’t been as awkward as he feared it would be, maybe all the heavy petting and skipping around from base to base had helped in that regard. It took place in his house, in the living room, on the soft rug next to the fireplace. His parents (still married, but their marriage clearly on the rocks) left for a charity event that weekend, and Starlight told her grandmother that she’d be staying over at Trixie’s

It hadn’t been his intention to tick off every romantic movie cliché when he prepared for their evening together. He cleaned the room from top to bottom, carefully selected the music that would play through the night, even decorated the living room with as many decorative candles he could fit without causing a fire hazard. It hadn’t even crossed his mind how sappy and uncool he was being and only stopped short of surprising her with a bouquet of roses. But at the time he couldn't care less, for he wanted the night to be perfect, to show her how much he loved her, to prove to her how serious he was about them, and if doing all that labeled him whipped or simp or whatever then so be it. He had grown as the skinny, anemic kid with vitiligo and glasses, he could deal with a little name-calling.

And it all had been worth it in the end, and not just for the sex, but by the way her face had lighted up, her radiant smile and her laugh as she gently teased him for being such a sap. He even played the piano for her; played the song he composed just for her.

Yeah, he’d really ticked off every romantic cliché that night.

Their first time had been sweet, gentle, and slow, and he made sure that she felt good. There was no sweetness or gentleness this time, but there sure was a hell of a lot of passion.

He pulled his swimming trunks to his knees, doing the same to her bikini bottoms as he thrust into her from behind with little warning. He clutched her hips close to him and Starlight could barely hold on to the edges of the chaise longue, moaning his name, screaming, and begging for more and he made damn sure that she got it.

His pace was quick and unrelenting, and his ego soared when her climax came fast and hard. He wasn’t done yet and turned her around to appreciate her dazed face, the blush that went from her cheeks to her chest, and the need in her eyes before he entered her again. Her sinful legs wound around his hips tightly, making him groan as she pressed herself tightly against him. His muscles clenched and he could barely move, but there was no need as Starlight did all the moving. The sinewy grinding of her hips brought his arousal to a whole new level, and when her hand went down to rub her clit, he felt his brain short circuit for a moment before he decided that this wasn’t fair. He was supposed to make her feel good. In the end, he let her touched herself because it was amazingly hot to watch, but he was the one doing all the grinding.

He let out a sharp breath through his clenched teeth and buried his face against her neck, licking the sweat he found there, nipping at her skin, and smiled when she trembled underneath him. He asked if it felt good, and she let out a whimper as her second orgasm tore through her. Her nails dug into his shoulder blades and she hid her face in his shoulder, moaning as Sunburst kept rocking into her over-sensitive body. His pace had slowed and though his thrusts weren’t any less intense, he knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer, not with the way she was whispering for him to let go and to give to her and that she loved him and—

He called out her name with a raspy cry as he came, closing his eyes so tightly that white stars exploded in his vision, his back arching with pleasure as he pushed his hips against hers until he could go no further. He barely caught himself on his elbows when the pleasure ebbed away, not wanting to crush her small body or hurt her in any way. His blood burned for her, his heart racing as they remained tangled in each other. He kissed her forehead, her nose, her cheek, her lips; whispered that he loved her and other sappy words that he meant from the bottom of his heart. She giggled and told him he was heavy, and laughed out loud when he refused to move, she huffed playfully and simply shoved him aside, flipping their positions so she was the one lying on top of him.

Their heartbeats slowed and their breathing even and for a brief moment they forgot that this togetherness was only a stolen moment of happiness, short-lived but no less sweet. Starlight raised her head and looked at him imploringly before she sighed. “Two weeks, Sunburst. Two weeks and then we…”

She let her words trail off like before, and Sunburst kissed her, knowing that she had no intention of finishing that fatalistic sentence. They could afford to put reality on hold for fourteen days before they had to face the fact that they were brother and sister by law. They only had a short amount of time to enjoy each other, and he wasn’t going to waste it on moping.

The light in Sunburst’s room was dim, the warm glow of his night lamp accentuating the curve of Starlight’s hip. Her soft fingers lazily traced the edges of the patches on his arms caused by his vitiligo.

“They’re coming back tomorrow,” she mumbled and the hand on her waist tightened. Her heart clenched at the gesture, but she knew it would be for the best. She knew for a fact that she shouldn’t have given into his touches and kisses, though it had been a moment of weakness from her part, she couldn’t bring herself to regret it.

After all, how could she have ignored him when he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and dripping wet, his strong chest bared to her eyes? She bit her lip, feeling her body heating up at the memory, and she released it with a shaky sigh. She was selfish by nature and had done her fair share of stupid teenage things, but even she feared what would happen if her father ever found out about them.

She gently traced his left collarbone and smiled when he quivered and his breath hitch by such a small touch. She admired the way the shadows played on his chest, bringing out the shape of his light muscles. How was she supposed to live in the same house with him and go on without touching him? And wasn’t even about the sex; she wouldn’t be able to hold his hand or have his arm wrapped around her shoulders or cuddle as they watched movies and make fun of the cheesy dialogue.

What they were doing wasn’t technically wrong, they weren’t blood-related, they weren’t raised together, and they had been a couple of way before her dad decided to marry Sunburst’s mom, but she knew that her dad and her stepmom would have a fit if she admitted that she was in a relationship with her stepbrother. Stellar Flare was a well-known architect and constantly rubbed elbows with higher society, her reputation would be shattered if word got out that her brilliant son had been seduced by her unruly stepdaughter, she would hate them for making people more interested in the gossip than her designs.

Her dad…well, he was a wild card. He was usually very lenient with her, sometimes borderline unconcerned for what she did, but he wouldn’t be able to ignore this. His temper rarely erupted, but when it did…

She closed her eyes when she felt him shift a little. He brought a hand to her cheek and ran his long, beautiful fingers through her ruffled hair. The small smile he gave her caught her off guard, and she felt her heart breaking just a little more. She kissed him back gently when his mouth slanted over hers.

“I love you.” He mumbled against her lips.

And what little resolution she had to stay away from him after this shattered.

Author's Note

I hoped you enjoy this chapter! It's been a while since I wrote anything about the Equestria Girls universe or humans in general. This story is not going to be too long, just two more chapters and it's done, but I hope it'll be an entertaining one.