Delivery Girl
One shot based off of this AU that I saw by booksandweapons on tumblr, I liked it and had a rough idea of how to do it. Let's get started.
Blake let out another breath as she turned the page in her book. It was another night alone in her apartment, something she was growing more accustomed to since her last roommate moved out. The apartment was small enough to the point where living by herself wasn't a huge burden, in fact living with another person was more difficult in some ways. But that didn't mean that her nights were any less lonely.
Almost all of them, Blake spent the exact same way. She would sit on her couch, dressed in her black pajama pants decorated with white spots and her baggy, black pajama top with a cat's face right in the center of it, and read. That seemed to be how Blake spent almost all of her free time now-a-days, with her nose in a book. That much, Blake did not mind about her life. She loved books more then anything else in the world, they were just a great escape that would always be there for her to sink into.
Now it was approaching that fateful time of night, the time when her hunger began to grow enough to the point where she searched for something to calm it with. Blake calmly marked her page, and walked to the kitchen a room over. She opened up her fridge, and saw a horrible sight staring back at her.
Nothing.
Her fridge had almost nothing left in it. A few stray pieces of uncooked food, along with some cold food that Blake did not feel like eating. She let out a heavy sigh, and pondered her options. She could eat what little she had in the fridge, gut it out for the night, go and get more food, or just call in an order of food.
Within a few moments, Blake had her cellphone open. She briefly dialed in a number that she had grown familiar with over her time at the apartment, and held her phone up to her ear. It rang a few times, before she heard it be answered by a familiar voice.
"Hello," the person on the other end said. "This is Vale's Pizzeria, how may I help you?"
"Yang," Blake said simply. "This is Blake."
"Ah, another night low on food in the fridge?" Yang asked. "I gotcha, one ten inch pizza with sardines, it will be delivered in about 30 minutes to your address."
"Thank you Yang," Blake said.
"Oh, we did get a new delivery girl," Yang said suddenly. "I figured that it'd be a good idea to let you know now, just in case."
"Just in case what?" Blake asked quickly. "Is it-?"
"Nooooope," Yang said. "Gotta go. Enjoy your pizza." The line went dead, and Blake sighed.
Blake knew Yang from attending the same school as her. The blonde was a close friend of Blake's at their shared college, Beacon, and she knew Blake's pizza orders by heart. She also would know what to warn Blake about, causing Blake to get slightly concerned. What was it that would be going over Blake's way?
She walked back to her couch, and sunk back down. She grabbed her book, but found it much harder to pay attention to the text on the pages. There was still a very good chance that Yang was just messing with Blake (as was one of the girl's favorite pastimes), but for some reason Blake felt otherwise.
I swear Xiao Long, I will end you if this turns out to be you getting into my head, she thought angrily.
Very, very slowly the time ticked away. It took Blake ages to finish just one page, with how scattered her thoughts had become. Finally, she heard the buzz of someone showing up at her apartment building, and Blake jogged to the door to let the delivery girl up.
She took the moments after buzzing her in to gather up the money that it would cost to get the pizza, and waited patiently for that knock.
After a short period of time, Blake finally heard a knock just outside her door. Blake opened it up, and looked to see exactly what Yang had been so foreboding about.
She was very surprised to see a girl Blake had never seen before standing there.
The girl was shorter, dressed in the standard Vale's Pizzeria uniform (red button up shirt and brown pants and a white hat with the company logo on it). She had a very young face, leading Blake to believe she was a new worker overall, not just for the Pizzeria. She had a mess of brown hair with red highlights at the ends of her hair, and wide, silver eyes. Blake noticed her name tag, which simply read, Ruby.
"H-h-hi," the girl stuttered. "I h-h-have an order here for a B-B-Blake."
"That would be me," Blake said, trying to make her tone sound very welcoming to ease in this very clearly shy girl.
"One ten inch p-p-pizza with s-s-sardines," she said. "Is that-."
"Correct," Blake said, cutting off the girl before she could properly continue. "Indeed it is."
"Not too many get sardines," Ruby said as she handed over the pizza box. "That's kind of cool." Blake just gave a nod as she took the pizza box, and she set it on the table closest to the door. She started to pull out the money, but almost instantly the girl seemed to notice something.
"Your shirt is so adorable!" Ruby exclaimed happily. Blake paused, caught off guard by the sudden statement, and gave Ruby a strange look. The girl's face grew a deep shade of red. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just... Really like cats."
"Thanks," Blake said. She handed over the money, her thoughts a little confused over what had just happened.
"Enjoy your pizza," Ruby said, clearly embarrassed over what had just happened.
"Have a good night," Blake said before closing the door.
She walked over to her couch, and placed the pizza down on the table in front of it. She opened it up, and looked over her normal order. She grabbed a slice, and took a casual bite.
But her mind took her right back to the new delivery girl, Ruby.
The girl was clearly nervous, but seemed to settle in once the talks got a little less formal and a little more casual. Blake didn't mind small talk with the delivery people, in fact she welcomed it due to the lack of traffic that general occurred in her apartment.
But this was... Different.
Blake felt something different from this encounter.
She looked down at her pizza, and started wondering how long it would take for her to finish the whole thing. Typically it was about two or three days, if she kept up her normal eating habits of slowly having a slice in the afternoon and night (baring on any fluctuation in how many slices she ate). But now she felt the urge to have even more slices to finish it sooner.
It was then that Blake made the final connection she needed.
The delivery girl is really cute, she thought. And I really want to see her again. She quickly ate the first slice, and moved on to the next one.
I still don't know what the hell Yang was talking about, Blake realized. She wiped off her hands, and pulled out her phone again.
'Yang, why were you warning me about the delivery girl?' She texted. 'I was expected Cruella De Vil to show up, not the girl that showed up.'
She set her phone aside, fully anticipating some time before Yang got off her shift and replied, and attacked another slice of pizza.
After two more slices and an admittedly shorter amount of time then Blake expected, she heard her phone buzz.
'Sorry if I scared ya,' Yang replied. 'New girl is my baby sis, wanted to be sure that you didn't get mad at her or anything.'
'You have a younger sister?' Blake texted back. 'I didn't know this.'
'Yeah, we're only half-sisters so I don't get to spend as much time with Ruby as I'd like to, but I still love her to death and I didn't want you getting angry.' There was a long pause where Blake smiled at this new piece of information, until she heard her phone go off again. 'You didn't get angry, right? Ruby would lie for the devil himself.'
'I'm not Cardin,' Blake replied instantly, smiling to herself. 'But no, I didn't get angry, she was really cute and sweet.'
'You give Cardin too much credit if you put him up to that status. I am glad, though. I hope she does well.'
'It seems like she will.' Blake stared at her phone's screen for a few moments, before setting it aside. Without another moment's hesitation, she ate another slice of pizza.
While she felt as though it wasn't the smartest thing to do, all that Blake really knew at that moment was that she had to see Ruby again, as soon as she could.
The Next Night
During the day, Blake had finished the last of her pizza and learned that Ruby and Yang were both indeed working again that night. She felt herself become so excited over the prospect over seeing Ruby again, that it actually disabled her stomach from gaining an appetite. Blake didn't care, one way or another she was going to other a pizza that night.
The time ticked by much slower then it did on even the slowest nights, until finally it hit the time that Ruby and Yang would be right in the middle of their shifts. She picked up her phone, and typed out the number as fast as she could.
"Hello, this is Vale's Pizzeria," Yang said. "How may I help you?"
"Yang," Blake said.
"Oho, what a rare honor. The bookwork is getting pizza a second night in a row. I suppose you'll be getting a standard order?"
"Eight inch," Blake said instantly.
"Whoa, slow down there, I don't know if I'm ready for this kind of change. I'll order up the eight inch for ya."
"Oh, and Yang," Blake said.
"Hm?"
"Could you have Ruby deliver the pizza?"
"Ohohohohoho," Yang said, the smile audible in her voice. "If I told you Ruby was out on another delivery, what would you say?" Blake hesitated, but the answer was in her mind the moment the words left Yang's mouth.
"I'll wait," she mumbled.
"Any special requests?" Yang asked. "Want me to have Ruby add in little hears with your name in them?"
"You're impossible," Blake grumbled.
"Love ya too bestie," Yang said, doing her best to imitate a valley girl voice. "I'll be sure to have Ruby deliver that when we get back, and don't worry lover girl, she won't know about your little crush."
"Who said anything about a crush?" Blake asked, trying to cover a little bit of ground. She could hear Yang laughing on the other end, and sighed. "Bye." Blake hung up the phone, knowing full and well that Yang had already made the necessary connections. Luckily, Blake already knew that Yang would not tell Ruby in respects to Blake.
As promised, it was a long time before the buzz was heard. Blake let Ruby up instantly, and then brushed off her pajamas to look a little more presentable. She opened up the door, and gave a warm smile to the girl.
"Hi again," Ruby said, sounding a little more comfortable to see Blake again.
"Hello," Blake replied, her voice reflecting her smile. Ruby fumbled around for a few moments, and read off the order. Blake gave it quick confirmation.
"Do you like cats?" Blake asked, trying to strike up some small talk with Ruby. "I remember you commenting on my shirt yesterday."
"Oh, I love cats!" Ruby said happily. "Do you have any?"
"Had some when I lived with my parents," Blake said. "They don't allow any in here, sadly. Do you live with Yang?"
"No, she lives with her mom," Ruby said sadly. "I live with our dad. I'm sad that I don't get to see more of Yang... Do you live with anyone?" Blake shook her head. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine," Blake said. "It's kind of my choice to live alone."
I wish it wasn't as lonely as it really is, Blake thought.
"Plus your sister and I spend a fair amount of time together," Blake said. "I'm surprised you haven't come up in any conversations."
"That's Yang," Ruby said with a shrug. Blake realized that she had forgotten to pay Ruby, and quickly grabbed the money.
"I'm sorry," she said. "That was rude of me."
"Nah," Ruby said easily. "It was kind of my fault too." Blake handed over the money, and gave Ruby a generous tip.
"I'm still very sorry," Blake said politely.
"Don't worry about it," Ruby said. "Maybe I'll see you again."
"Maybe."
If I have any power over this, definitely.
"Enjoy your pizza," Ruby said as she left.
"Enjoy your night," Blake replied. She closed the door as the little brunette left, and looked down at that pizza. There was a lot more like this one to come in her future.
Over the course of the next few weeks, things continued like this. Blake would order pizza as frequently as she could, always making sure that she did so on nights that both Yang and Ruby were working (Yang to ensure that Ruby was the girl who would deliver the pizza). Blake and Ruby would chat for a few minutes, and then Blake would anticipate the next time they spoke.
After those first few weeks, Blake finally swapped numbers with Ruby to talk with her more frequently. While the amount of time they talked went up, the times they saw each other in real life was still kept to Blake ordering pizza.
Now it was in the middle of the day. Blake didn't have classes or work (Blake worked for a small literature company, it was a decently paying job that was able to finance her newfound pizza ordering habits), so she was just lying on her couch with her pajamas on. She knew that Ruby and Yang were working for part of the afternoon, making her wonder if maybe she should order a pizza. Instead, her mind drew her to another conclusion.
Vale's Pizzeria
It was a slow afternoon at Vale's Pizzeria. Wednesday afternoons were seldom occupied, and this was no exception. Ruby had nothing to deliver, so she was hanging out by the front cashier with her equally unoccupied sister.
"Don't you just love slow days?" Yang asked. "We're blessed with less things to do, fewer tips, and no one to poke fun at in here."
"They suck," Ruby said boredly. "At least you and me get to talk."
"And I," Yang said with a wicked grin.
"Why do you always do that?"
"Because it always bugs you, kid." After another moment, Ruby's phone (which was only on her because it was that slow) buzzed, and she picked it up. She first saw the name on the screen, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the message.
'Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to maybe hang out at my place after your shift?'
It was from Blake.
"What'd Blake say?" Yang asked boredly.
"W-w-what?" Ruby stuttered. "H-h-how did you k-k-know?"
"Because whenever you get a text from Blake, your face gets really red and your eyes get wide and I'm sure your heart kicks into maximum overdrive."
"T-t-that's not true!" Ruby said. Yang gave Ruby an unamused look, and Ruby sighed. "She wants to know if I want to come over after my shift."
"I could drop you off and pick you up," Yang said. "Sounds like a good plan to me."
"I don't know if I should say yes though," Ruby said shyly. "I'm just really nervous..." Without a moment's hesitation, Yang snatched the phone away from Ruby and held it straight up in the air. "YANG!" Yang kept it just out of the reach of her jumping sister, and tapped out a message. Once she hit send, Yang handed the phone over to Ruby. Ruby read the screen, and was completely mortified.
'Sounds great.! I'll see you then!'
"YANG!" Ruby said again.
"If you said no it would've been because of your crush getting in the way," Yang said easily. "I decided to speed things up."
"Where are you getting this crush from?" Ruby said indignantly.
"Well for starters, your face looks like somebody skinned a tomato and put it's peels on you," Yang said. "Second, you aren't very good at hiding this."
"I don't have a crush on her, that's ridiculous!" Ruby said, her voice going up several pitches from it's already high point.
"Awwwwwe, you're trying to deny your feelings for her," Yang said with a wide smile. "This is just like when you were pretending to be straight."
"You're impossible," Ruby grumbled.
"Look, Ruby," Yang said. "Our shifts are almost up, I'm sure that Blake is eager to see you as well, and you can just say that you have a huuuuuuge crush on her."
"I'm not going to do that!" Ruby whined.
"Then I'll just text her, you know you're not stronger then me." Ruby was silent, and Yang leaned in really close to her. "Oh, and if you want to try and not do it and then lie about it, I'll just ask Blake anyways."
"You're mean," Ruby whined.
"Nah, I'm a big sister," Yang said casually. "Maybe Blake will like you back, who knows? You know who will know? You, if you actually say anything. Because believe me, I know Blake, if you don't say something first she will never speak. That girl missed her real calling of being some kind of a spy." Ruby sighed, and looked up at Yang.
"You're gonna make me do it, aren't you?" Ruby whimpered. Yang finally let out a big sigh, and pulled Ruby into a hug.
"Nope," Yang said. "I'm going to strongly encourage you to do it, and then I'm going to hope you do it, but I won't force you. Alright?" Ruby smiled up at Yang, and hugged her back.
"Thank you," Ruby said. Yang just rubbed Ruby's head, and smiled at her.
"Now c'mon," Yang said. "Let's get you ready for your date."
"Yang!"
Blake's Apartment
Blake paced the front room of her apartment, anxiously awaiting Ruby's arrival. She had changed into a pair of real clothes (a black shirt with white accents and a pair of black leggings) in anticipation of Ruby arriving. She had gotten a text about five minutes ago informing her that Ruby was indeed on the way, making Blake very nervous.
At first she had tried to read, but found that ineffective to calm her nerves. So instead she took to a physical movement, wandering around the room in hopes of having her mind occupied. It didn't really help, but at least it gave her something to do.
She finally heard the buzz that meant Ruby had arrived, and she rushed over to let her in. Blake briefly put her hand through her hair to make sure it looked good, and finally heard the knock on her door.
Blake rushed over to the door, and opened it up.
"Hi Blake!" Ruby said enthusiastically. Apparently, she had changed before coming over, since Ruby was not wearing her normal uniform. She as wearing a red skirt and top, with black spots decorating them.
"Hello Ruby," Blake replied. "Come in." Ruby walked inside the apartment, and looked around her. She took note of the wall of books that Blake had, and looked up fondly at them.
"Wow," she muttered. "I'm never really inside your apartment, so I never saw these. I knew you read, but wow."
"Thank you," Blake said with a smile. "It's taken me a really long time to get this many books."
"I can imagine," Ruby said. "Any good fantasy stuff?"
"A few," Blake said. "They're all categorized by genre and author, so feel free to have a quick look through." Ruby stepped forward, but then backed away from the books.
"It'd take me too long," she admitted. "How about we just talk instead?"
"Of course," Blake added in. "I see that you changed before you came here."
"Oh yeah!" Ruby said happily. "Yang and I always change at VP just in case we want to go out after we work."
"Well you look really cute," Blake said.
"Thanks!" Ruby said happily. "And you look cute too, I just like your pajamas more." Blake and Ruby both let out a laugh, acknowledging that this was the first time either of them had seen each other in another outfit besides Blake's pajamas and Ruby's uniform.
"Change can be so weird," Ruby said suddenly. Blake looked at her strangely, and Ruby's eyes widened. "I meant that cha-." She stopped and grew bright red, and looked at the ground, and mumbled an apology.
"Oh you're fine," Blake said. "It's just kind of a strange thing to say about somebody wearing a new outfit, especially since this is what I normally wear."
"Oh, it's just cause I wasn't really talking about that," Ruby blurted. Her face, somehow, grew even redder, and she looked down at the ground again.
"What were you talking about?" Blake asked, her voice growing worried. "Ruby, is everything alright? Are you okay?"
"I have this really big crush on you and I've had it for a while and Yang said to just come right out and tell you but I kind of don't want to because change is scary and I don't want to lose you because you don't actually like me back and I really just want you to still be there even if you don't like me back because I really really like you so I want to spend a lot of time with you regardless of how I'm spending it," Ruby said, her mouth moving a mile a minute. She took in a deep breath, and Blake stood there, both shocked and slowly processing what was said.
"You... Have a crush... On me?" Blake asked slowly. Ruby mumbled yes under her breath, and looked shyly at Blake.
"I'll go now," she said, hanging her head from embarrassment. Blake just nodded, and Ruby slowly dragged herself towards the door.
"Oh, before you go!" Blake called out. Ruby looked back at Blake, and the girl pulled Ruby into a kiss. Ruby's eyes widened, and her arms flailed for a few moments, but she calmed down and settled into the kiss a little bit more. Blake pulled out of the kiss, and looked Ruby in the eyes.
That does work outside of a book, Blake thought.
"I kind of like you back," Blake muttered. Ruby let out a squeal of happiness, and hugged Blake.
"I'm so happy!" Ruby said, her voice slightly muffled from her face being in Blake's stomach.
"So am I," Blake said silently. "So am I..." The two stood there, hugging for a little while longer, neither entirely positive as to what to do next. All they knew was that both of them were incredibly happy.
And they knew that Yang was going to give them both a lot of crap for this.
End: Well, hope y'all enjoyed that. Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.