Blake couldn't deny it anymore. She was extremely in love with Yang Xiao Long. From the way she smiled to show her straight, white teeth, to the lilac eyes that made Blake feel infinitely smaller and bigger than she ever could be.

So it was tough, to say the least, that she was Blake's roommate. It was tough when Blake woke up in the morning and saw her exiting her room at the same time, wearing nothing but a tank top that rode up just so when she stretched, and a pair of very fitting shorts. It was tough when she laughed so easily with Blake in whatever they did. It was especially tough when she chose to saunter around after her shower wearing that towel and nothing else.

But then again, Blake Belladonna's life was built on tough. She could handle this. Blake peeked over her book to look at the front door, the ears hidden in her bow twitching as footsteps approached. There was silence before the person on the other side of the door cursed, and a deliberate 'thump' against the door was heard.

Blake couldn't help but smile. Another 'thump', before the voice called out.

"Blaaaaaakkkeeeeeeee," Yang groaned, exasperated. Blake dog-eared the page she was on and walked towards the door.

"You know, you should forget your keys less often," she opened the door, revealing the tall blonde, who was smiling in spite of her annoyance. "It'd save us both some headaches." She looked at the red spot on her forehead where she had banged her head against the door. Yang grinned at her.

"Yeah, well. It's worth it when you get to be the first thing I see after a long day," she said, smooth as ever. Blake rolled her eyes as Yang walked into the loft, depositing(violently throwing) her duffel bag into her room before going to the kitchen.

"Had fun then?"

Yang took a swig from her bottle of water before answering. "Yeah! Yeah. The kids were great. I had a good time teaching them."

Recently, Yang had been hired by her favoured gym to teach gymnastics to kids. She was initially hesitant when Mr. Willems, the owner of the gym had asked, nervous at the thought of having to take care of children. But the first day had shown she had nothing to worry about. Blake had to even accompany her there to calm her nerves.

Blake smiled at her from the couch. "I told you you had nothing to worry about."

"Well, lesson learned. Blake is very smart and pretty."

Blake nodded in agreement.

"Hey, where's Ruby and Weiss?" Their other two roommates. Blake scrunched her nose, looking at the cat shaped clock above the TV.

"Ruby's probably almost done with classes. Weiss went grocery shopping."

Yang cocked a hip, looking at the tacky little cat clock.

"We have to throw that stupid thing out."

Blake furrowed her brows at the blonde.

"Cat Clocksworth stays."

Yang laughed at that, so of course Blake smiled too. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew just how much trouble she was in. But with Yang in the front of her mind, laughing the way she did, Blake didn't seem to care too much.

"Fine. It's a cute name for a tacky clock. It stays." Yang shook her head, even as she smiled.

"Thank you", Blake said, returning to her book. Yang headed over to the shared bathroom, and the loft was left in silence for a while, the only sounds being the sounds of pages turning, the sounds of the shower running, and Yang's little song she was singing. With her heightened hearing, Blake could hear the tiny tune being sung by the resident blonde. She could also hear what a good singer she was. Another addition to the list of reasons she was head over heels for her. Blake began mentally preparing as she heard the shower stop, knowing that Yang-

"Hey Blake, you feeling hungry yet?"

Walked around with a slightly too small towel wrapped around her body, barely covering what it needed to, with her legs smooth and still shining from the damp and the juncture where her legs met her lower back hello-

Blake cleared her mind, blinking several times, making sure her mouth was properly shut, and clearing her throat. Focus. Yang asked if she was hungry.

"I," Blake scratched at her cheek, looking over to Cat Clocksworth for help, and getting nothing. Good for nothing, chrono-cat. She cleared her throat again. "I might have worked up an appetite."

Yang flashed a brilliant smile.

"Alright, as soon as Weiss gets back, lets go pick up Ruby and have us all a nice dinner!"

Blake deliberately and almost too forcefully shoved herself back inside her book, forcing her eyes back onto the lines telling her of the secret to immortality being kept in a bookstore. Just anywhere but the sight of... rapture.

Mercifully, the door opened at that moment, and Weiss Schnee entered, two bags of groceries balanced in her hands as she maneuvered to unlock the door. Yang, seeing the young Schnee struggling, walked over to help.

Weiss looked at her and sighed.

"Yang, put your clothes on!"

Yang stopped halfway to Weiss, crossing her arms and frowning.

"I try to be helpful..." she muttered, rolling her eyes. Weiss expertly ignored her, making her way to the kitchen to set the bags down.

"Loft rules. Put your clothes on!"

Yang put her hands on her hips now.

"I just got out of the shower!"

Weiss stopped unpacking the groceries to look at her blonde room-mate, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yang. Go. Put. Your. Clothes. On."

Yang finally huffed and relented, going into her room and shutting the door. Weiss gave Blake a look, and mouthed 'you're welcome'. Blake feigned ignorance, returning once more to her book. Weiss always did have the uncanny ability to see right through her. It was mildly irritating.

Fifteen minutes passed as the sounds of a hairdryer buzzed from Yang's room before she came out, her hair no longer damp and more importantly, fully clothed.

"There, clothes. Are you happy now, Schnee?"

Ruby sat awkwardly on the curb, intently focused on her 3DS, playing Pokemon. Yang had said that she was going to pick them up to go to dinner shortly after she left class, so she was waiting for her sister and roommates by the side of the road. People passing by gave weird looks at the teenage girl with her hood up playing Pokemon on the side of the road, but she paid them no mind. At least, until somebody took it upon themselves to sit beside her.

"Hel-lo!" said the orange haired girl sitting beside her. "My name is Penny!" She was bright as day, with freckles smattering the bridge of her nose and gathering near her cheeks. Ruby startled at her presence.

"Are you alright?" Penny continued. "What is your name?"

Ruby quirked a brow at her, pausing her game.

"Uh- hi. I-I'm Ruby?"

The girl had a weird way of speaking. Chipper and very excited, almost mechanically so. It was like the voice an adult more responsible than Ruby would use to talk to a child.

"Hel-lo Ruby!" she smiled bright. "Are you alright?" Penny asked again.

The Kindergarten Teacher voice. The nice demeanor. Asking if Ruby was alright, twice now. It suddenly clicked, then. Penny thought she was some sort of lost kid, or maybe even a runaway. Ruby frowned.

"I'm fine!" she said, a defensive tone colouring the edges of her voice. "I'm just waiting for my sister to come pick me up, and I was playing my-" she stopped herself from rambling too much. She was still sort of offended that Penny thought she was a kid. Okay, so maybe she did get bumped up a few grades when she was in middle school, making her younger than most of her school mates here in Beacon. That was probably attributing to this whole lost puppydog act. But the age gap was just a year or two! Ruby decided to show this girl up a bit.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat. "We're going to dinner, and I just got done with classes." She jerked a thumb to the campus building behind her.

"Class was pretty okay. The work isn't too hard," she smirked, putting on a bit of a haughty air about her. "Professor's kind of a stick in the mud, though," Ruby chuckled, as pretentious as she could.

"Yeah, Professor Ironwood. Ol' Jimmy I call him. Hah!" she rolled her eyes, smirking as smugly as she could. "College jokes. Y'know. For college kids. Which I am. A college kid, that is. Yeah."

Penny's smile dimmed a bit as she raised one ginger eyebrow. "Yes... I know. We are in the same class, after all?"

Ruby froze, stylus in her hand.

"Uh... what?"

Penny tilted her head, looking at Ruby curiously. "Yes. You're the child prodigy who got into college a little early. I sit in front of you. Father wants to make sure I can hear him loud and clear."

At that moment, Ruby wished for nothing more than a meteor to hit her. Or perhaps hit the whole world, vapourizing this whole moment from existence. She was still frozen, a mortified expression on her face.

Penny took the expression to be a reaction to her previous statement. "Oh, it's not like that. Father is very sweet. He just wants to make sure I don't miss anything important, in case he stutters or doesn't speak clearly enough."

Ruby rested her head in the heel of her palms. She was such an idiot...

Okay, so this girl was actually being nice to her and didn't think she was some dumb idiot kid, and Ruby went and made fun of her dad, not to mention she totally didn't know who she was, even though she'd sat in front of her not 15 minutes ago. How could she have missed that bright orange hair?

"Um... I didn't mean the thing about Professor Ironwood-" Crap. Crap. Crap. "He's actually- Oh gosh..."

The sound of the car approaching might as well have been a choir of angels. 'Ruby you awkward idiot, here's your get out of jail free card', they sang, in a key of something like b minor. The car honked it's horn, and the windows rolled down, and Yang appeared, sticking her head out.

"Ruby!"

Thanking whoever had decided to bless her with this, Ruby pocketed her 3DS and stood up. She looked at Penny briefly (not directly at her face of course. Somewhere less awkward, like the top of her head).

"Uh- Igottagonowbye!" she fired out, running over to the car, violently opening the door, practically diving in before slamming it shut.

"Ruby, what is going on?" Weiss exclaimed, disgruntled at the lump of Ruby Rose that landed on her when she jumped in. Ruby disentangled herself from the Schnee, leaning forward to Yang.

"That was awkward as fluff! Drive, drive!" she repeatedly smacked the back of her seat.

Yang chuckled, but complied, mercifully pulling away from the spot where Penny now stood.

Weiss had already decided long ago that Yang and Ruby were children. Yang was 21, and Ruby was 17, and here they were having a spitball match while waiting for their food to arrive.

It was irritating, to say the least. Not to mention unsanitary. Weiss folded her arms, glaring at the both of them as the two siblings chewed up napkins and spit at each other across the table. She could only pray that her patience would hold until the food got here.

A wet ball of napkin smacked into the wall beside Weiss' ponytail, and suddenly all her prayers were dashed.

"Alright, that's enough!" Weiss threw her arms up before snatching the straws from each sister. They both gave identical groans of disappointment.

"Weiss!" they both cried.

Weiss glared at the pair, icy fury in her eyes. Ruby conceded, sinking away. Yang furrowed her brows, resting her chin on her palm.

"You're no fun today," she pouted.

Blake was, as usual, buried in a book, paying no mind to her roommates. At least she wasn't getting on Weiss' last nerve. The two siblings sat in blissful silence until the drinks arrived, with Weiss shooting icy daggers and any one of them who dared to try anything funny. The waiter laid the drinks out. A fruity alcoholic beverage for Yang, a slightly less flamboyant one for Blake, a martini for Weiss, and of course a soda that came with a crazy straw for Ruby.

"Aw, sweet!" she exclaimed, immediately taking a drink from the straw and taking delight in the way the drink sped along up. Weiss rolled her eyes, smiling. Ruby would be Ruby. At least her child-like way of being was harmless this time.

"I propose a toast!" Yang exclaimed, holding up her hot pink beverage. Her roommates did the same with their drinks.

"To our friendship, and to me surviving my first day at work!"

Well, one couldn't argue that was indeed a cause for celebration. Especially in Yang's case. The four of them clinked their glasses together and took a drink.

The rest of dinner went smoothly, as all the tenants of the loft ate and talked, enjoying each other's company.

Blake worked at a bookstore (naturally). It was, of course, perfect for her. She got to sit and read books until somebody came in, which wasn't all too often. So basically she got to sit and read books in a quiet place. Perfect.

And then Sun Wukong was hired. She didn't mind it too much. When Velvet had quit for her new job offer as a model, Blake had pretty much expected a new hire to soon fill the spot she had left. As long as they didn't bother her too much when she was reading, Blake really didn't mind. Velvet had understood the value of reading in peace and quiet, for which she was very grateful.

Sun wasn't quite the opposite of what she wanted.

Okay, honestly he was the exact opposite of what she wanted. He was rambunctious and hyper. He was a monkey Faunus, so he climbed all about the bookshelves, hanging on the balcony. He liked talking. A lot. And he apparently liked talking to Blake. A lot.

But the thing was, Blake didn't find herself minding too much. She minded at first, but she grew to warm up to the messy haired blonde. He was funny and very observant. He was bright and happy. He was fun to be around. Blake had grown to like him very much as a friend and co-worker. Eventually he would grow to respect Blake's quiet reading time, compromising by finding a balance between talking to her and arranging books in the back.

Sun Wukong was a good friend to Blake Belladonna. It was a rainy morning when he asked her an unexpected question.

"Hey, Blake, you wanna go out sometime?"

Blake quirked an eyebrow at him, peering over her novel. Sun was leaning, resting his arms on the counter opposite her, looking at her intently.

"What?"

"Do you want to go out sometime?" he asked again. "On like, a date type thing," he further clarified, adjusting his collar and glancing off outside the window.

Oh.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

Oh.

Blake hadn't expected this. She put the book down, gathering her thoughts.

Her first instinct was to say no. Just based on the simple fact that he was very much not Yang Xiao Long.

He wasn't bad looking. In fact, he was attractive. He was fun to be around. Blake valued him as a friend. Blake enjoyed spending time with him. He was charming in his own way.

But he wasn't Yang. And for that alone, Blake couldn't accept him.

"I... no. I'm sorry."

He looked down to the floor, his face downcast. The pair sat in silence for a short while. Sun then looked up.

"Oh. Well. That's okay. I just find you really fun to be with and..." he smiled then, shrugging. "Okay. Standing offer. I wouldn't want you to miss out on my magnificence."

Blake smiled too, and then everything was back to normal.

It was the same rainy morning that Ruby met Penny again. She'd just gotten off the bus, standing in the shelter of the bus stop as she zipped her jacket up and slipped on the hood, getting ready to dash to campus. In hindsight, she should have noticed how dark the sky was when she was going out and brought an umbrella. She shrugged. Hindsight was 20/20 after all. Or 1, if you would just simplify that fraction. She never did understand that phrase.

"Sal-u-tations, friend!" came a very chipper voice from behind her. Who else could it be but Penny, in a green raincoat and a closed umbrella. Ruby jumped a bit at her unexpected entrance.

"Penny!" she brushed her fringe nervously, remember their last awkward altercation. "What- uh. What are you doing here?" Ruby cleared her throat.

"I was walking to class when I saw you here," Penny replied brightly.

"Oh. Uh... cool."

The pair sat in silence for a while, with Ruby looking around awkwardly while Penny continued smiling.

Ruby brushed off some imaginary dust from her jacket, clearing her throat.

"Would you like to share this umbrella?" Penny finally said. Ruby cocked her head to the left.

"Really?"

"Of course," sunshine and innocence seemed to radiate from Penny. Was this just how she was naturally? It was... nice. Unexpectedly so, she was beginning to endear herself to the hooded girl. "You're my friend, why wouldn't I?"

Ruby smiled then. "Yeah. We are friends."

And so the pair walked to class together underneath a cream coloured umbrella, talking all the way.

Blake saw it as she waited for the streetlight to change. Underneath her trench coat and umbrella, she doubted Yang would have seen her. But she doubted Yang would have noticed anyway, being all preoccupied as she was in the arms of a tall, dark haired man, kissing in the rain just right outside their building.

Blake stopped, freezing still as she felt something like an icy sting in her guts. Something like a punch to the chest. Something like her heart had gone all twisty-turny in her ribcage. She gripped the handle of the umbrella tighter, standing still even as the light to cross turned green and everyone was moving. To her, it seemed like the world didn't exist anymore.

Blake turned around, and walked. She walked with no destination in mind other than to get the hell away. Anywhere would be better than here.

Later, as she slid into a coffee shop, taking a little plastic bag for her umbrella and getting in line to order, she thought about giving Sun a call.

Blake decided to leave that for later, when the wound was not quite as fresh. She sat at an empty booth, pulling out her book and sipping on the piping hot coffee, not quite feeling the scald on her tongue. Not quite feeling anything.

She read her book in peace and quiet, and she left only when the shop closed. When she got home, everybody was in their rooms, so she quietly did the same, sparing a glance at the room opposite, thinking of the blonde that resided within. She still felt hollow, so she locked her door and pulled her curtains shut and laid on her bed.

Blake didn't sleep much that night. And if anybody noticed her pillow was damp, she would claim it was her drool.

Blake Belladonna's life was built on tough. She could handle this.

Well, she could try.

It's 3.37 am as of now. Tonight has been filled with a lot of really crappy heartbreak, but it's not her fault. Unrequited love is just a really special type of hell. I just felt the need to tell somebody that.

But hey, I'll write. It's all I can do. And I'm doing it. Enjoy!