Disclaimer: I swear, one of these days, I'm going to get my shit together. (I keep saying this, hoping it'll come true, haha.) Anyway! Here's a bunch of Freezerburn one-shots/prompts. All are unrelated unless noted otherwise and most have already been posted to my tumblr. These will mostly be cleaned up and/or extended versions of those. I'll make a note if I add in or change anything significant. For this first one, I saw a prompt about those noise canceling headphones and ran with it. Enjoy!
Weiss entered the dorm room with slight trepidation. She couldn't pinpoint exactly when walking into her own dorm room felt like striding in front of a firing line but, for the past few weeks, there was a specter of anxiety that blanketed her anytime she entered, for fear she would be alone in the room with a particular teammate.
Ruby, her energetic partner, wasn't a problem. Even if she didn't particularly care for the young woman's hyperactive routine, the dolt was well meaning and remarkably studious as of late, so no complaints there. Blake, on the other hand, was always quietly reading and she didn't particularly care which subject matter had the Faunus' attention. Sure, things were still a bit… awkward between them, what with the docks incident only being a month behind them, but they were respectful and even- dare she think it- closer than before the whole debacle.
It was Yang- the cheerful, bouncing blonde with shining lilac eyes and a laugh that could lift even the foulest mood- and the very thought of being alone with the other woman that made her heart beat a little faster every time she opened the door. How she'd developed a crush on the pun loving oaf was beyond her, but here she was, actually afraid of being one-on-one with the blonde in any circumstance. At least when their partners were around, there was someone to offer a distraction- Ruby trying to swipe some cookies, Blake's dry wit, something- but, if they were alone and the talkative woman wanted to actually speak to her, if she didn't have the constant pressure of people watching to help keep her mouth shut, she wasn't quite sure what would happen.
It was that uncertainty that nearly drove her to leave the room once she realized that her fear was realized.
There, lying on her bed with her feet hanging off the edge, was Yang, wearing her tanktop and shorts, blonde hair spread out over the sheets, with her sister's headphones firmly in place and eyes closed. She might be sleeping for all the heiress knew and she instantly felt a horde of butterflies take up residence in her stomach as she briefly debated leaving the room. It would be the coward's way out but at least she wouldn't have to deal with the fact that her gorgeous teammate was on her bed, chest rising and falling gently.
No, this was ridiculous; she was a Schnee. She wasn't about to run from her room all because of some juvenile crush.
Weiss swallowed, steeling herself and marching into the room. "Yang, what do you think you're doing?" No response. "I'm being serious, you oaf- what's the meaning of this?" Still nothing. "YANG!"
Frustrated at being ignored, the heiress finally resorted to drastic measures, slapping the blonde's knee. She immediately jerked, lilac eyes flying open as she scrambled to sit up.
"Whoa, Weiss, when did you get here?" Her voice was loud- well, more than usual, at any rate- and she pulled the headphones away, letting them rest around her neck. "Ah, sorry, I forget Rubes' got the good ones; I didn't hear you come in."
"And why are you on my bed?"
"Only open outlet." She gestured towards her charging scroll at her side, which had two wires coming from it: one going to the wall while the other went to the headphones. She hit the pause button to stop the song, which was some high tempo rock number from the faint sounds of it. "Blake's got something in my slot and I didn't want to unplug it, so I thought I'd chill over here. But I can move."
"No, it's… it's fine." Weiss sighed, sitting down more than half a foot away and pulling out a book at random from her bag. The heiress was nothing if not perceptive to when an opportunity presented itself and she wasn't about to pass this one up. "Just stay there and listen to your music. But I expect to have my bed back once it's fully charged!"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Yang settled the headphones into their proper place again and laid back.
Weiss waited a moment, mulling over if this was truly a good idea or not. She'd read more than a handful of accounts where someone felt lighter after admitting a secret, able to move past whatever had held them back. Something about saying the words aloud freeing the heart or some such nonsense. There was a chance it wouldn't work, of course… but there was nothing to lose, seeing as the blonde couldn't hear her anyway.
And really… she had the feeling it would be nice to get it off her chest.
"Yang," she said, pausing for just a moment to see if there was a reaction but the woman didn't move, still laying back with her hands linked behind her head. "I realize how foolish this is going to sound but… I think I've developed a crush on you." To the point, that was always the easiest way, and as she cracked open the textbook- Grimm Studies, of course, she shouldn't be surprised- Weiss found the words coming easier even as she pretended to pour over the pages. "It's not surprising, perhaps- you're beautiful, and friendly, and cheerful, and everything I'm… well, you're certainly more approachable and admirable. A bright spot in even the darkest night. But you're not without your faults." She turned the page. "Yet, somehow, you make every blemish look like a work of art. Your jokes are terrible but I'm always struggling not to laugh. You spend far too much time goofing off or lazing about instead of studying but I like seeing you laughing or resting." She reached for her notebook to keep up the charade, no longer paying conscious mind to the words as they continued to tumble. "I know you don't like me much. You never forgave me for being rude to Ruby that first day and I don't blame you. Of my regrets, that's certainly near the top of the list." She blinked, surprised by how wet her eyes were. "Truly, I wish I could be your friend, at the very least, because I…" Weiss stopped, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "You're the bright spot everyone wants to lie in on a beautiful sunny day and I'm just the Ice Queen. Maybe it's knowing I never have a chance that makes this hurt so badly."
The heiress fell silent then, staring blankly at the textbook, shoulders slumped. The confession didn't make her happy, per se, but admitting her attraction and its futility did give her some peace of mind. It just wouldn't work out between them- she'd just proven as much, they were too different- but at least she had the courage to acknowledge all of her feelings for what they were.
Well, almost all of them.
"I… I think I love you, Yang Xiao Long, and I wish that meant something."
Then, silence descended and some of her self-inflicted anguish slid away. Maybe now she could… get over it or something, move on to something else or just focus on her studies.
Oh, who was she kidding? She'd throw herself into her schoolwork to drown everything else out, like she'd tried to do the past several weeks. It was no-
Weiss stiffened as the blonde moved, sitting up slowly and pulling the headphones down. Except, unlike before, there was no music playing faintly from them, and the heiress belatedly realized that, when the woman had laid back, she hadn't hit the pause button on her scroll.
Shit.
"Ruby told me you apologized about that first day, ya know, so I ain't mad about that," the blonde said softly. "I really thought you knew all this time- I've thought of you as a friend for a while now, almost as long as we've been teammates, and… I've thought about us being something more, too. You're rough around the edges, sure, but you're a good person beneath it all, Weiss. I know that." Tentatively, she moved one arm, waiting for any sign of refusal before sliding it around the heiress' shoulders and scooting closer. "And, ya know, I've always admired how smart you are, and organized, and you're not afraid to speak your mind." Her lips curled into a small smile. "Even when you're being a brat."
Weiss could feel a rare flush rising in her cheeks. "I… didn't think you could hear me."
That was a brilliant addition to the conversation.
"Obviously." Yang chuckled, leaning in slowly. "But I did hear you, so now I'm gonna say: all you had to do was ask, Ice Queen."
Her eyes widened and whatever objection she might've had flew from her mind as the blonde pressed close, their lips connecting in a chaste kiss. The heiress thought about pushing away for all of two seconds before her eyes slid close and she returned the gentle pressure the blonde was exerting.
When they parted, Yang tenderly cupped her cheek, brushing a thumb just beneath her scar. "I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I, well, love you yet, 'cause that's a pretty heavy word, ya know?" The blonde blushed ever so slightly, her voice earnest and soft despite the words themselves making Weiss' heart clench a little. Yet, there was enough shine in those lilac eyes to keep her hoping and hanging on every word. "But, if we could go out sometime… I'd like to give us a shot, see where things go."
Some part of her refused to believe it. The blonde was a joker above all else, always making a pun or being cheesy purely to get a smile or laugh out of her chosen target. They usually weren't cruel in nature- and leading her on certainly would be cruel- but there was no hint of insincerity in Yang's expression. "You… you're being serious."
"Yeah, I am." The blonde nodded once. "But it's your choice, Weiss. If you want to lie in this bright spot, I won't mind the company."
The heiress sighed, shaking her head. "You just had to make a horrible joke out of it, didn't you?"
"Hey, be honest." That smile that always lifted her spirits appeared on the woman's lips, reaching all the way to lilac eyes. "Would you want me any other way?"
"No," she replied, and a bit too quickly, preemptively smacking the blonde's shoulder before she could make a comment about it. "So, now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself and somehow gotten a date out of it-" the heiress pointedly ignored the strange sensation of her stomach doing a backflip at those words "-I suppose we should return to what we were doing."
"Yeah, guess we could." Yang pulled away a little, then stopped, a sly smile coming to her lips. "Hey, how about you use my shelf to prop up your book?" Weiss looked at her teammate quizzically before glancing over to the other side of the room. That… wasn't exactly an improvement over their current situation. "Not that one- here, let me show you." The blonde gingerly pulled her Grimm Studies textbook from her weakened grip, then moved back on the bed and turned so she lay on it properly. With her head on the pillow, Yang set the book on her chest and smiled, obviously proud of herself. "See?"
"You oaf, that's not a shelf!"
"Well, I can't call it a kickstand-"
"Would you- how am I even supposed to read it when it's on your…" She was not about to say the words, the angle created by Yang's generous bosom more than enough to make her point.
"Easy. C'mere."
After a little coaxing and a few sputtered, halfhearted objections, Weiss found herself resting between the blonde's legs, every deep breath pressing her admittedly smaller chest against Yang's stomach as she supported herself on her elbows. While it did allow her to see the pages quite easily, the heiress couldn't help but voice one last objection.
"If Ruby or Blake come in here and see us-"
"Ruby went with Jaune and Pyrrha to that Weapon Expo downtown and Blake just got the new Ninjas of Love book in the mail and disappeared somewhere. Trust me, neither of them will be back around for hours, at least." Yang chuckled, and it felt so strange to both hear and feel her amusement. "Relax, Princess. You'll finish that chapter in forty-five minutes tops, then we can, I dunno, go down to the cafeteria and grab a bite. Or maybe into town? There's a killer hamburger joint down by the docks."
Well… she did have to finish the chapter, and if their partners weren't due back for some time, she might as well.
Without another word of complaint, the heiress actually began reading the assignment, hardly noticing when Yang slid the earphones back into place and returned to her music. Despite how distracting it was to feel the blonde's every breath, Weiss managed to finish the chapter in only thirty minutes, shifting slightly whenever the pressure on her elbows made her shoulders twinge. However, she continued flipping the pages every minute or so, deciding she'd rather spend the allotted forty-five minutes resting against the other woman than give off any sign that she'd already completed her task. The assignment wasn't even due until the end of next week, so she was more than well enough ahead to simply indulge in Yang's warmth for a while longer.
"Hey, you still reading?"
Blue eyes snapped up, meeting curious lilac. Drat, she'd been found out. "No."
The blonde couldn't hear her, of course, but she was apparently adept at reading lips, pulling off the headphones and setting them aside. "Good." Her textbook followed suit and she was once again coaxed into moving, up far enough so they could see each other much easier, the heiress holding herself up over the other woman for only a moment before she was pulled down, their bodies flush. "You said I'm the warm spot everyone wants to lie in, right? Well, how's it feel?"
Arms wrapped around her, Weiss could feel her heartbeat spike as the first thought that came to mind immediately left her lips. "Warm."
Yang raised a brow. "So, good or…?"
"Good." She nodded, slowly relaxing into the embrace, tucking her head beneath the blonde's chin. "It's… good."
"Heh. Alright." A hand traveled up and down her back, the motion comforting and beckoning her to sleep. "You know… you might be an Ice Queen, but I think I can get you to melt a little."
"I knew that joke was coming," she said, noting how the words were a little slurred as they left her lips, her eyelids becoming heavy.
"Yeah, but here's the kicker: I'm glad you're around to cool me off."
Weiss felt a smile curl her lips as she shuffled a little, burrowing into the other woman's warmth. Maybe this wouldn't last, maybe it would, but at least there was a chance, and it was with that happy thought that she drifted off into a shallow sleep, wrapped up in warmth.
Author's Note: I regret nothing.
