Author's Note: This was written for a friend of mine, it is her birthday today and she loves all things Bumblebee. Enjoy!
She was floating in the world between consciousness and unconsciousness. Her senses had not yet returned in full, but something had woken her from her peaceful slumber. Focusing on her sensitive hearing, the faunus member of team RWBY was able to identify a series of stumbling noises coming from one corner of their dorm room.
Blake waited for a few more moments, but the muffled bangs continued, forcing the raven-haired girl to abandon any attempt at returning to dreamland. Taking a deep breath, bright golden orbs fluttered open as she yawned. Blinking the remnants of sleep from her eyes, she sat up to look at who or what was causing such a ruckus on a Saturday morning.
The sight that greeted her was one she had seen many times since enrolling into Beacon, that of her exuberant partner making a mess in her closet. Seemingly on a daily basis, the blonde's belongings would be haphazardly strewn about the room, often with no explanation. Today was no different, but rather than grow annoyed, Blake had become rather fond of her partner over time. The brawler's personality and sunny disposition was a welcome addition to her life, and always kept the team on their toes.
A surprised exclamation brought her back to reality. Amber eyes watched as Yang took a step back from the closet, bouncing on her feet with excitement.
"And what exactly are you getting into this early on a Saturday morning?" Blake asked dryly.
Yang yelped and spun around, her hands concealed behind her back. "Oh, good morning Blake! Sleep well?" Her good cheer was dampened by her nervous appearance, the blonde shifting from foot to foot and eyes dancing around the room.
The dark-haired partner recognized this immediately as the 'I'm-up-to-something' look. Narrowing her gaze suspiciously, she asked, "Yang...what are you hiding?"
"Uh..." The brawler appeared oddly flustered, an expression not often seen on the normally outgoing and supremely confident girl. "Don't worry about it! How about you go back to sleep? I know how much you enjoy your catnaps."
"Right..." Blake replied unconvincingly.
Holding up her hand, she raised one pale finger then another, "First, you know I don't like it when you draw attention to my faunus heritage. Second, I have ways of making you talk, are you going to make me use them?" Her lips curled into a mischievous smile as Yang's eyes widened.
Amber orbs met lilac in an impromptu staring contest, no other sound was heard within the room for a few heartbeats.
Breaking the spell, Yang's gaze dropped to the floor as her hands came out from behind her and held out the secret for Blake to see. Her partner recognized the items as an old pair of boxing gloves, worn from years of use with cracks and holes pockmarking the dull brown leather.
Their appearance forced a deep sigh from the occupant of the bed. Those are the same gloves that Yang insisted on using upon her arrival at Beacon. She used them extensively at Signal and while she was younger to practice her hand to hand techniques, before Ember Celica was built. They were used during training exercises at Beacon which was unusual, typically entry level huntresses would practice bare hand to hand against training dummies. The first day Yang had gone a bit overboard and physically destroyed nine of them. Needless to say Professor Glynda was not happy, and Yang was told never to use them again or risk punishment.
Blake stared quizzically at the gloves, I wonder why these are so important, they were put away before I was able to ask any questions back then.
Lifting her gaze back to her partner, she inquired, "why did you dig them out? You know you can't use them again, not after what happened last time."
Sighing deeply, "I know, but they were a gift from my mom. She used to say, 'when all else fails, your body becomes your weapon.'" She scuffed her toe on the floor, looking like a little girl caught stealing cookies. "I miss training with them," she murmured quietly.
Blake's eyes softened, now understanding why the gloves were so important to her partner.
Not used to seeing her usually brash friend so subdued, the faunus stood up from the bed and crossed the room to Yang. She hesitated briefly before wrapping her in a warm embrace, her smaller frame just barely able to wrap herself around the brawler's muscular physique. Strong arms returned the hug, tucking themselves around her waist and pressing her face to the crook of Blake's neck.
Nimble fingers slowly stroked through the untamed mane, providing unexpected comfort from the normally stoic member of the team. "I'm sorry, I didn't know they meant that much to you," she mumbled into Yang's tank top.
The black and yellow haired residents of the dorm room stayed in their embrace for a couple of minutes, enjoying each others comfort.
Releasing her tight hold, Blake took a step back, keeping her hands on the toned shoulders of her partner. "How about if we head to the training area? It shouldn't be occupied this early on a Saturday."
"Really?!" The smile that split across Yang's face was well worth any repercussions that might come of this.
The Faunus smiled brightly in response, "yeah, let me get dressed then we can head out."
The brawler scrambled into action, searching for her combat gear as Blake slowly made her way to the bathroom to change. This should be fun.
The training room was unsurprisingly empty when they arrived. A fact that excited Yang even more, probably because the likelihood of her getting caught was drastically lowered by the absence of other classmates and professors.
Blake insisted on sitting off to the side with a good book, while her partner boxed to her heart's content. It seemed a beneficial arrangement, the brawler was able to use her gloves and pummel the dummies, but her raven-haired partner made her promise to go easy and not break them this time.
Glancing at her scroll, Blake guessed that they had roughly twenty more minutes before others would begin streaming into the training area. Despite it being the weekend, teams often conducted additional training exercises to hone their skills, a common sight even during the holidays.
Shifting her gaze to the source of the steady thump sounds, she decided to watch the hand to hand master at work.
It truly was a sight to behold. The brawler moving rapidly within a ringed circle of dummies, a setup often used to simulate engaging multiple targets at once. Sharp amber eyes took in the coiled muscles as they lashed out, a combination of fists and kicks impacting the targets with amazing velocity. The normally bright and caring Lilac eyes taking on a serious and focused look, one only ever seen in combat.
Blake watched as Yang spun from one attack fluidly into the next, no movement wasted as she practiced. It was surprising to watch, the confident girl often used training as an excuse to show off, or otherwise create a scene. Perhaps it was the lack of an audience, although she would normally show off for her teammates, or maybe the addition of the treasured gloves, whatever the case she was moving in ways that Blake had never seen before.
Her transfixed gaze noticed the warning signs too late. The punches and kicks began to land harder and harder. The flowing yellow locks started to spark and glow. Lilac eyes shifted to a bright crimson. Before Blake could even attempt to calm the now fiery girl, a massive explosion lit up the training area.
Taking a second for her vision to clear, she looked at the ring of targets that Yang was in the middle of. To one side, three of them were completely destroyed, the others had a series of dents and holes where the blows had landed.
The faunus' ears perked tall as she heard a dejected, "aw crap," originate from the source of the devastation. The slumped posture further conveying that the human firecracker knew she was in a lot of trouble.
While initially shocked by what had just happened, Blake couldn't stop the giggles from rising up her throat, placing her hands over her mouth to try to stifle them. That lasted all of three seconds at which point Yang turned to face the dark-haired girl and Blake got a glimpse of her front, unable to conceal her laughter anymore. The usually bright yellow tank top and jacket now covered with bits and pieces of the dummies, black and white flecks marring the usually flawless skin, and getting tangled in her hair.
Yang was dumbstruck by the outburst from her quiet partner. She had heard Blake laugh before, but never so loud and cheerful. A gloved hand reached up to scratch at the back of her head, a nervous habit occasionally seen when she doesn't know how to respond.
"Uh, not sure what is so funny, I'm in a lot of trouble."
Blake's laughter slowly died down as the pair stood opposite each other. Chuckling to herself, she walked up to Yang, helped her remove the gloves and began brushing the remnants of the dummies off of her clothes and from her hair. "You are something else you know that?"
Beaming down to her partner, the bright lilac eyes sparkling in happiness. "I keep things interesting don't I? You could have missed this if you slept in!"
One corner of her lips tilted up in a slight smirk, as she continued to brush off as much as she could. Feeling satisfied, she glanced up to see bright, caring eyes staring down at her.
Feeling a surge of affection, Blake wrapped her arms around Yang's neck and hugged her tightly. How much her life had changed from the White Fang to now, partnered with a certifiable goofball, but one that brought so much light into her life. She showed her how to loosen up and enjoy life, and never once criticized her for being a faunus.
"Blake? You okay?" Yang asked in alarm.
Taking a deep breath and soaking in the smell of gunpowder and citrus, she replied, "yeah. I'm just really glad we are partners."
"Aw Blakey!" She wrapped the smaller faunus in a soft embrace.
Pulling back from the hug, Blake placed a soft kiss to Yang's cheek. "I mean it, no one else I would rather be with."
Yang fumbled over herself after that, unable to respond with her own words, her cheeks blazing a rosy pink.
Smiling softly, the faunus grabbed the calloused hand of her partner and tugged, "Come on, let's go get cleaned up."
Yang, still flustered, stared at Blake with an expression she had not seen before. "O-okay. Yeah. Shower and all that."
They walked the halls quietly, slowly making their way to the first year showers. Hands still linked together. The golden-haired girl broke the silence first, "hey, Blake?"
The stoic girl hummed in acknowledgment.
"I wonder how much trouble I will get in."
Chuckling quietly, Blake responded, "probably have kitchen duty for a week, Glynda doesn't like to give out detention, remember?"
She received no response other than a soft grumbling to her side.
They stopped as they turned another corner, Yang obviously distressed over the prospect of cleaning the kitchen for a whole week. "How about if we spar after kitchen duty every day? Just you and me, bring the gloves if you want."
Lilac eyes widened comically, "you would do that? Oh you are the best partner ever!"
Dodging the incoming bear hug, Blake laughed as she took off towards the showers, her partner in close pursuit. Yeah, this life isn't so bad after all. A muffled curse followed by a crash had her laughing even harder. Now what should I do to her shampoo...
Author's Note: I also wrote this because of the recent dark turn in Volume 3. Needed some light-hearted moments, ya know? Well, unless you love the dark stuff, to each their own. So...I achieved two objectives with this piece. It is rough, and I will likely edit this further but was on a tight timetable due to the birthday. Read/review please!