Disclaimer: as always, none of RWBY's characters belong to me, and this story is made with the only goal of having fun

So... I was really trying to write chapter 2 of Masterpiece (shameless advertising, if you like Bees you might want to check it out ;D) when pictures from the Prom update from amity arena came to my Tumblr dashboard...aaaand I couldn't comcentrate because I just really wanted to write this xD

Sooo... At least I have the New Year's Bees I wanted to give to you ;) something small but I think I like It, I hope is the same for you guys!

I'll protect you

They had passed the whole day making plans and checking out the city for everything that could be useful in their crazy idea. She probably knew it better than anyone there, stealing Atlas property was not simple or light task, and she had made sure they were all aware of that. But at the end of the day they were doing it. They had a plan, they had a list of things to prepare that night. They even had a list of the night patrols inside the base thanks to a little help from Terra. Convincing her probably had been the hardest step of their plan actually.

Now, all that remained to be done was getting supplies and packing things up, trying to get a good night to sleep, and going over the plan again next day before putting it into action at twilight.

And that had taken her exactly where she was standing now. Team RWBY had volunteered to buy the needed things, and while looking around, a small shop had catched her attention.

"You three go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a minute."

Three pairs of eyes looked a her with a mix of confusion and concern, but she just smiled and made a gesture towards the street ahead of them.

"It's nothing guys, I just want to look at something for myself and don't want to hold you back. We need to get everything ready."

"Are you sure Blake?" Ruby made sure again, and the faunus just nodded with a reasuring smile. "Okay, then. We'll be just around the corner, I think."

"It's fine, I'll call you from my scroll if I can't find you," Blake shrugged.

The other three girls finally turned around and walked off, and the faunus girl waited until they were reaching said corner before going back on her steps.

A small bell sang announcing her entry to the empty shop. It was pretty small and kind of cramped, full of long cloth rolls of diverse colors and patterns, shelves all the way to the roof with buttons, colorful threads, needle boxes and other dressmaking supplies. And near the front window, the things that had catched her eye before; many ribbon exhibitors lined up by color and size.

"But the kingdom of Atlas won't be responsable for her friends of... Questionable character."

Blake sighed, fighting the urge to curl up on herself again at the memory. She had passed way too much time in Menagerie. And even before that, too much time surrounded by her wonderful team and friends. She had grown so used to being accepted for who she was that she had forgotten how did it feel to be rejected for what she was. In a way, that woman had made her a favor, reminding her that humanity was far from what she wished for, that she was still being too optimistic for reality.

"Can I help you?"

She looked over her shoulder at the female shopkeeper that had came into the room through a backdoor. She had greyish hair tied up in a bun and wore a green apron. It didn't go unnoticed by Blake how her lilac eyes traveled to her cat ears for a second before going back to her face.

"Do you need something?" She repeated after not having an answer the first time.

"Y-yeah," one of Blake's hands went to hold her arm awkwardly, as she turned again towards the exhibitors and pointed at a thick black ribbon, not different from the one she had worn during her time at Beacon. "I need thirty five inches of this one, please."

The woman nodded and went around the counter without saying anything else. The faunus girl stepped aside to let her pass and measure the ribbon with quick hands, while she searched in her pockets for her wallet.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't even had to turn towards the voice to know who it belonged to, she knew that voice a little too well. She still turned, slowly, staring at Yang without knowing what to say.

"I..."

"It would be one hundred lien miss," the shopkeeper called, extending a small plastic bag towards her.

"Oh, yeah," she blinked a couple times and put out her wallet, giving the woman a lien card before taking the bag. "Thanks..." Unsure, she turned again to face Yang, who kept an inquisitive brow raised towards her. "C'mon, let's go find the others."

She didn't wait before walking to the door, not stopping to look back until she had left the two small steps at the entry behind and heard the door closing. She was holding the small bag tightly, still not sure what to say to her partner.

"C'mon, Ruby and Weiss shouldn't be too far ahead from us" The blonde said with a shrug, passing her and making a gesture for her to also keep walking.

"Right," Blake adjusted her pace to hers, keeping her eyes on the street and feeling relieved for not being interrogated.

They walked in silence for a little while before her own curiosity started itching —, why did Yang had returned to look out for her? Why had she looked so confused back at the shop? Why hadn't she asked any more questions so far? —, and her head turned towards her blonde partner, feeling her cheeks grow hotter when she found her lilac eyes fixed on her. They looked concerned, and filled with things to say to the point of bursting.

"What's wrong?" She found herself asking first, her free hand holding to her arm again.

Yang doubted, aparently trying to find the right words as her eyes looked ahead for a long moment. Finally, she let out an almost imperceptible sigh before speaking.

"You know? I think I never came around to tell you, but I really loved seeing you without the bow, back at heaven," she murmured, putting her hands in her pockets. "I... Didn't noticed at first, everything was in chaos and we needed to do so many things. And I was still trying to convince myself that you were actually there, that it was not just my mind playing games again..." She shook her head, like she was trying to get those thoughts out of her brain. "But when I came back from the vault and I saw you there smiling at me... You looked so proud and happy, and your ears made it clear. It made me happy too, seeing that you felt comfortable enough to keep them on plain view."

Blake could feel herself blushing, no words finding their way to her mouth not matter how hard she searched for them. The only thing she could do was stare at the blonde beauty by her side, trying to decipher what else hid behind her sweet half smile and her eyes that kept staring ahead of them.

"Yang, I-"

"I can't say that I know how it is to be discriminated, or that I know what faunus go through," the brawler cut her, locking her eyes with Blake's amber ones. "And I'm not gonna force anything on you. If you really feel like you need that bow again," she nodded towards the bag," then It's cool. But l just... I wanted to make sure you know the bow is not the only way for you to feel safe."

"I-I know, Yang. It's just..." Again, her words were stolen right from her, this time by the warmer hand that had closed around her smaller one. She stared with wide eyes at the point where their limbs connected, reacting just when she felt Yang lightly squeeze her hand.

"You told me... Back at that barn you told me that you'd protect me," she continued, waiting for the faunus to look at her face again. "Back in that moment I didn't understand why would you say that. You know I can look after myself," she paused, slight doubt still clear in her lilac eyes, waiting to be erased.

"I know that, Yang" Blake nodded after a moment, realization about that moment washing over her. "That was not why I said it."

The blonde smiled, calm and beautiful. "I know now," she let her thumb rub the back of her hand, trying to reasure her. "I know because... Even if I know that you're the bravest person that I've ever met, and I know that you could take care of any more racist bastards we may find in Atlas. I wanna let you know that if anybody tries to look down on you like that old midget again. I'll be there with you, Blake... And I'll protect you."

The bookworm didn't even notice she her face had started mirroring her blonde partner, until she saw her robotic arm raising to caress her check, a cold thumb tracing the smile that had formed on her lips. She didn't even found it in herself to deny her being 'brave'. She knew it wasn't true, but she felt too blissful to complain.

"That's better," Yang murmured, and Blake noted her eyes still screamed lots of things that she hadn't put in words. And she wanted to ask, but... "So, what should we do about this?" The brawler said, turning her gaze to the ribbon's bag and distracting her attention.

Blake looked down too, and after a moment of pondering, she smiled again.

"There you are! Seriously when Yang went back to look out for you I should have expected it would only take you even more time to get here," reclaimed Weiss just as the other pair entered her vision range.

"Oh, c'mon Weiss, we barely finished shopping around three minutes ago," Ruby shrugged it off, smiling wide as she turned towards their just-arrived teammates.

It took no more than a second before silver and blue eyes fell on their still linked hands, and Blake felt her face reddening at the way one of Weiss' brows arqued with polite curiosity, and Ruby's smile took an overly excited tint. And then it was just another second before both expressions merged into confusion.

Blake knew pretty well the reason for that. Embarrassed, she put a lock of black hair behind her human ear, looking sideways to her partner.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Yang joked, relaxed.

"Well, not really on your face," Weiss rolled her eyes at her friend's obviously fake cluelessness.

"Yeah, what's that?" Ruby ended up being the first to point at the black bow that now decorated her golden locks.

Yang's eyes followed her sister's finger, still fakening not knowing what they were talking about. "Oh, that. Blake got it for me back there, she's always so thoughtful am I right?" She said happily, putting an arm around de faunus' shoulders and hugging her tightly.

Blake's blush probably got worse with that, but a tiny, shy smile still lighted up her features as she studied the other pair's expressions. They knew, understandin was visible in plain sight on their faces. But just like Yang had done before, they had chosen not to say anything.

"It looks really good," Weiss shrugged. "But it doesn't justify you two taking so long."

"Whatever you say, Ice Queen," mocked the blonde, earning herself a cold stare from the Schnee.

"I said it was just like five minutes," it was Ruby's turn to roll her eyes, taking two of the bags they had left at their feet before following her partner.

"C'mon, maybe if we carry this she'll forgive us by dinner," Yang winked at Blake, letting go of her hand to adjust the black bow a little before picking up with ease most of the bags that were left.

Her hand had left warm around Blake's fingers, and as she took the other three bags before following her team, the faunus was sure for the first time since she had come back that things were really looking up between Yang and herself. Sure, there were still things to talk, but they had taket the first steps right, finally.

"I'm right beside you," she smiled, and Yang smiled back at her.

Yeah, you can see that I really, really wanted 'Yang wearing Blake's bow' in canon, it's just too good to let it pass

Not much to say here, happy new year everybody~ let's hope for a 2019 full of soft and happy Bees!