A/N: This lil' fic was commissioned by Tatsuyoshi Tsubasa! Thanks so much!
Thunder. Of all things, it had to be thunder.
Blake sat on her bed, their blanket pulled up to her chin and their favorite paperback in hand. Their ears twitched in exasperation at the fact that no matter how snugly they curled her legs under them, no matter what sweater they put on, they kept twitching with every flash of lightning, ever clap of thunder.
"Blakey? Y'okay?"
A pile of blonde hair dropped down from the bunk above theirs, bringing their girlfriend's upside-down face with it.
"I'm fine, Yang. You asked me literally five minutes ago."
The blonde bobbed her head, not quite willing to let it go. She dropped down from her bunk, all muscle and hair, being certain to land quietly as to not wake the others in the room. Blake shuffled over to make room, only to roll with the mattress as Yang's weight depressed her side of the bed. Now tucked securely into her girlfriend's side, they uncurled a little more, their head on Yang's shoulder and their ice-cold feet pressed to her legs, leeching the heat off of her. The faunus' ears rose from where they'd been flat back against their scalp when Yang pressed a kiss to the top of their head, warmth spreading through them from her head to her toe. An arm wrapped around their waist just in time for the next thunderclap, holding them down as she tried to leap out of the bed.
"Woah! S'okay, Blakey, I've gotcha." A second arm joined the first, Yang's palms against their stomach as she scooted over, closer, and noticed the flush on her partner's face, the embarrassment washing over them.
"I… I don't want to be a burden. You don't have to be down here."
The words themselves were harsh, but Yang knew better then to take everything her raven-haired partner said at face value.
"C'mon now, s'okay. You're not a burden. And I think I do hafta' be down here, otherwise there might be a s'piciously Blake-shaped hole in the ceiling from th' way ya' jumped just then."
Ears bent farther down, the red tint growing deeper as the blonde refused to relinquish her hold on Blake's waist.
"Y'know, ya' could just sleep up there w'me if you wanted," Yang chuckled, "all ya' would've had t'do is ask."
Blake shuddered at the idea of being so high up, so close to the roof, right at the top of the window, one good strike and they'd be fried, just like…
"Blakey? Ya' zoned out again."
"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry…"
"S'fine… all I was sayin' was, did somethin' happen? Or d'you just not like thunder?"
"…" Blake sat silent for a moment, thinking, wondering. Should I tell her? It would make me seem weaker than I already do.
But that doesn't matter. The dark-haired faunus shook their head violently, shaking out all these thoughts, cleaning out their synapses. This is Yang. It doesn't matter to her.
"Well, uh… When I was with the White Fang, I had to sleep outside a lot." They started as they felt their girlfriend's hand cover theirs, soft and warm against old scars. "We slept in alleys more often than not, Adam and I. We'd usually flip dumpster lids to make a roof, to hide us from the rain and any searching eyes that might be looking for us. One day, or night, rather, we had just holed up for the night. I was…eight, maybe. It was just clouding over, and we curled up as we always did: touching the dumpster because it had been out in the sun all day and kept us warm. Only this time…someone threw away some of those antique satellite dishes they used to use to get T.V. signals before they had quantum-fibre optics. Big heaps of scrap metal, sitting in an even larger heap of scrap metal. It was about 2:30 in the morning when I woke up. I smelt it before I saw it." The faunus took a deep, shuddering breath, "Have you ever smelled a lightning strike, Yang? It's like the very air is burning. The scent of ozone, everywhere. My eyes were open, but I couldn't see. The flash had burnt my retinas. I stood, in shock, for about five seconds. Then I felt the burns."
Everything was silent for a few seconds, save for the deep breathing (and snores) of Ruby and Weiss in the bunks opposite. A cold draft scurried around the already chilly room, rustling the curtains and flapping the loose corner of Yang's band posters. The owner of said posters tightened her grip on her partner, holding her closer to her as if she could squeeze all the bad memories out of her.
Everyone on the team had seen the blotchy scars covering most of Blake's back, but no one asked.
Blake was snapped out of their reverie when they felt shivers up their spine, the rough pad of Yang's thumb tracing circles over the back of their hand, and squeezed in response. Lips pressed to their hair again and the faunus sighed, sinking back into Yang's large, reassuring warmth for a moment before turning around and wrapping their arms around their girlfriend's waist, tightening their hold as Yang tightened hers, a blonde head resting on a dark one, holding each other.
A flash of lightning lit the room and Blake froze, knowing that in only seconds thunder would shatter the precious silence they had gathered. Yang beat it to the punch. Her hand broke from Blake's waist and caressed her cheek, bringing their eyes up to meet hers, her hand sliding up to brush raven locks out of eyes of pure, molten gold as their lips met.
The fireworks going off in Blake's head drowned out the noise of the thunder, Yang's breath, her heat, her closeness, the thumping of her heart and the feel of rough, calloused skin against hers taking over every corner of her mind. Their fingers found the back of a neck as fingers ran through their hair, a shiver of warmth washing through them as their girlfriend tilted their head back and kissed along her neck, over her jaw, the love lit in lilac eyes and the smile on Yang's lips making her heart throb.
Blake pulled the blonde to her, their fingers smoothing back hair and tracing over cheeks as the pair's eyes devoured each other, smiles bumping into each other as their legs intertwined, fingers laced, warmth flowing from one to the other and back again as Blake leaned in, ghosting lips over their girlfriend's cheek.
"Thanks, Ya-" They were cut off by the loudest clap of thunder either of them had ever heard. A soft scream split the air as Yang blinked, the flash of the lightning still swimming in her vision, and as her eyes cleared, Blake was gone. Purple eyes flickered about the room, and seeing nothing, stood to check their own bed.
Still nothing.
A sneaking suspicion coming over the blonde, she knelt on the ground, peering under the bed. A pair of wide, terrified, and beautifully golden eyes stared back at her.
Lying flat, she shuffled her body until she was under the bed as well, curled on her side, almost stuck.
"Y'wanna get back in th' bed, Blakey?"
The only response was a slow blink and a trembling shake of the head.
"S'okay, me neither." She moved closed, her arm snaking over the smaller person's shoulders and pulling them closer. "I think I'm stuck, anyways."
Blake pulled closer to her, trembling, terrified, pressing their head to her collarbone, seeking out the pulsing, constant rhythm they heard when they fell asleep.
Golden eyes drooped, then closed.
A/N: It took Ruby, Weiss, and Blake to lift the bed enough to get Yang out the next morning :P Also southern accent Yang is best Yang. Anyway, MAN it, 's good to be back. I've certainly missed writing these dorks. Thank all of you for sticking with me enough to read this, I really, really appreciate it. Please review!
UPDATE: So, I've been gettin a lot of comments about the pronouns I used for Blake in this fic, so I figured I'd clear it up here. In this story, Blake is nonbinary, and as such is not referred to by 'he' or 'she,' rather by a gender-neutral pronoun, in this case 'they.' Thanks for reading!