When the Sun Begins to Die

Chapter 16

Josh P.O.V

When I wake up I see that Cadence is not in bed. I figure that he is probably in the kitchen getting some water to take his hormones. I get out of bed and stretch, walking to the bathroom.

I open the door and raise my eyebrows in surprise when I see Cadence. He is asleep, huddled in a ball in the bathtub. It appears as though he has been there for several hours.

I am curious about why he is sleeping in the bathtub, but I choose not to wake him up. He seems to be sound asleep. I carefully pick him up out of the tub, hearing him groan softly.

I take him back to bed and lay him down gently. He hugs his pillow and seems to be asleep still. I sigh softly and exit the room, heading down to the kitchen.

I grab an orange and peel it near the composting bin. The Oasis uses any resources it can get. There is no point in wasting anything.

I eat the orange on my way back up the stairs. It wasn't too large so I've eaten it all by the time I get to the third floor where our apartment is.

When I open the door I am surprised to see that Cadence is awake and getting dressed. I close the door as quietly as possible, hoping he didn't notice.

'I honestly forget that Cadence is transgender sometimes. I don't see him as female. He just isn't. Nothing about him is feminine and he passes very well. I doubt anyone notices. It's just a bit awkward when I get the reminder by walking in on him changing.'

After a few minutes of awkwardly standing outside of the door, I decide that it is safe to go inside. I see that Cadence is sitting on his bed, twiddling his thumbs.

I sit down on the edge of the bed next to him. He glances up at me before looking back down at his fingers. I am afraid that he is becoming a recluse once more. I don't want him to hide away from me and cut me out of his life. I want to be his friend.

I go to put my hand on his shoulder when he suddenly hugs me tight. I am surprised at first before I slowly begin to hug him back. I was confused because normally Cadence would not seem like the type to hug someone out of the blue.

"Are you okay, Cadence?" I ask.

"Yeah, I just had a rough night," he explains softly, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Do you want to go back to sleep? You seem kind of tired."

He shakes his head no and yawns. I can tell that he is tired and needs to sleep some more.

"Mm, you smell like oranges," he says tiredly.

I laugh softly and pull him down. If he isn't willing to sleep on his then I will cuddle him until he does. He smiles and rests his head on my chest, already drifting off to his dream land.