Wow, this fic got the most reviews and favorites of any in a long time with only chapter 1 being posted! Thanks so much, you guys! Happy birthday to Aust!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Chapter 2. First Crush

All for the rest of the afternoon, Blake kept thinking about what had happened at the library.

She couldn't help but think she'd run out on that girl – Ruby – a little too quickly. Had she been rude? Had she remembered to thank her? Her mind was a blur and she didn't know why.

At the time, Blake's only instinct had been to get out of there, but it hadn't been because she'd felt as though she were in danger.

As she sat on her bed and tried to read now, her ears kept twitching as each thought or memory passed through her head.

Again, she was thwarted from her concentration and couldn't read more than a few pages of her book before she was forced to mark it and put it aside. Sighing, she leaned back onto her pillows at the headboard and thought.

Well, she works on the second floor, right? I don't usually go up there, but maybe I should try to find her and apologize again tomorrow? Or... should I just leave it alone...?

She knew which she'd rather do, it was just that she'd never really been the best at conversation. Especially when the other person was a cute girl.

For whatever reason, Blake found talking to cute girls just as – if not more difficult – than talking to strange men.

Of course there was a different feeling to each respective type of conversation, but just because she was talking to a peppy brunette didn't make finding words any easier.

Over-thinking it was getting to her now, and the fuzzy feeling in her stomach that had been present since she'd made eye contact with shining silver only grew now. Blake closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

This is ridiculous. I'm not even talking to her right now. I'm just thinking about it...

Was she just over-reacting? This couldn't really be a crush already, could it? She'd only ever said three words to the girl, and Ruby didn't even know her name!

Blake didn't want to admit it, but Ruby had been on her mind all day, enough to make her lose focus on her reading even more so than her father's loud television did. Blake whimpered and pulled her knees to her chest.

"No way..." She shook her head, not wanting to believe the obvious. "I'm so hopeless..."

She stayed curled in on herself like that for a while until her mother's voice called her down for supper. Blake groaned and smoothed out her clothes a bit as she stood.

Alright, she decided. I'll look for her again tomorrow. And if I see her I'll apologize, say thanks again, and that'll be it.

If only it could've been that easy.

She woke the next morning to find bright sunlight peeking in between the calming maroon curtains draped across her windows.

The rays highlighted the many, many spines of her book collection, all lined up neatly and alphabetically on various shelves about the room.

There was a scent of old parchment and ink about Blake's room that she'd long-since grown accustomed to, but when she woke first thing in the morning, if she concentrated, she could catch the pleasant scent on her first few breaths. It calmed her down a bit, especially this morning when she had a specific agenda.

An agenda to talk to a cute girl.

As she sat herself up and stretched, her stomach started to feeling twisty again. It was in such a way that she couldn't tell if she was crushing on Ruby and her heart was acting up because of that, or if she'd built this situation up so much in her mind that she was making herself too nervous to interact with anyone outside of her immediate family.

She tried to distract herself by selecting her clothes for the day, pawing through her drawers to pull out some black shorts and a checkered purple shirt. It was arguably one of her nicer summer outfits, but she didn't dwell too much on why she'd decided to go with this one.

Blake hurried about her normal morning routine, taking a few minutes in the bathroom to shower, change, and brush her teeth. She went downstairs to make herself some breakfast as she let her hair dry.

Her parents were both at work today, but she found a little post-it note her mother had left for her on the counter as she often did:

Please water the plants in the living room. Love you, Blake!

It always made her smile, and with the turmoil going on inside of her this morning, her mother's message calmed her down a good deal.

As Blake waited for her toast to turn crispy, she grabbed a small watering can from a cupboard in the kitchen and filled it in the sink. Scurrying with it to the living room, she watered each of the potted plants on the window sill before washing her hands and returning to her food. She ate her meal at a somewhat rushed pace, as though she were on a deadline to be at the library by a certain time.

Calm down, Blake. It's only 10AM. The library's open for eleven more hours...

Once she'd finished eating and had washed her dishes, Blake went back upstairs to her bathroom and did something she didn't often do – she blow-dried her wet hair.

Blake rarely ever blow-dried her hair, as the sounds and heat aggravated her ears. But she didn't want to look so scraggly and unkempt if she was going to be talking to Ruby again today.

She only kept the hair-dryer on for a minute before flicking it off and putting it away. Her dark hair was warm now, and the fur of her ears was dryer at the very least.

She retreated to her room where she grabbed her favorite small, brown handbag, which she packed a few books and her wallet into. With one last look in her bathroom mirror, Blake tried out a smile on herself for good measure, but quickly ducked her face and hurried down the stairs.

She locked the front door and stepped out into the warm summer day where the sunlight blessed her damp hair with strokes of warmth. Luckily for her, it was the time of year where the heat was not yet sweltering, which was good for someone like Blake. She had a certain sensitivity to the most extreme temperatures in any form, so right now she welcomed the weather.

She walked down the length of their property, passing by the green lawn her father took such pride in and the colorful garden her mother cherished. Her father had planted a few of those flowers as well, and just thinking about it put Blake a little more at ease.

So as she walked, she tried to focus on the scenery and not what she was going to be doing at the library. She focused on the sapling bushes with their blossoming pink petals, the larger trees with their fuller green leaves, the blueness of the sky, the chirping of the birds, the way the sunlight gave the road a silver sheen-

Silver.

It reminded her of Ruby's eyes.

Blake found herself tossed back into the turmoil of earlier this morning, and her ears flattened in dismay.

Okay, she coached herself. How about this? I won't go looking for her today. I'll just do my usual routine. I won't see her unless she's specifically looking for me, which is highly unlikely. She's working on the second floor, so she'd have no reason to come down and speak to me of all people.

For whatever reason, she tried to tell herself that self-deprecation would make herself feel better about everything.

Blake continued her walk until her feet naturally took her to her favorite sight to behold.

The Vale Public Library appeared to be as calm and quiet as ever. Several humans and Faunus intermingled in the grass beneath a tree having a picnic, while others sat and read on the little benches stationed outside.

Blake's posture naturally straightened a bit as she walked into the familiar environment, her safe haven of three years now. She made her way along the sidewalk, then found herself at the doors.

Here, she paused and took a breath.

Just... act normally.

Resolved, she opened the door and slipped inside.

As soon as she was inside, her favorite sound reached her ears.

Silence.

The scent of books and coffee filled her lungs instantly, and it calmed her all over again. Her entire morning had been a roller coaster of being relaxed and on the edge of panic. She tried to stick to the former as she walked in, her shoes padding softly over the plush carpet.

She dipped her head in greeting to the rabbit-Faunus barista, a good friend of hers named Velvet, then did the same for the woman with deer ears at the front desk.

All of the staff who worked down here smiled up at Blake, the only patron who'd been here every day since the first.

Normally, she would've wandered the aisles a bit, looked at the new releases and rifled through the returns to see if the volume she'd been needing to check out had come back yet.

But today she was feeling a little weak in the knees, so she simply stumbled straight over to her spot beneath the staircase and collapsed into her cushioned chair.

Only once she'd already sat down did she realize she probably should've stopped to get some tea at the cafe to help calm her nerves, but it was too late for that now.

With another sigh, she placed her bag on the little table next to her seat and fished out a book to resume.

She sat there in peace and quiet and read happily and wasn't distracted at all.

That's how it should've been, anyway.

But as was often the case, the reality was nothing at all like Blake's imagined fantasy.

The library was as tranquil as ever, for it seemed the blonde girl – Yang – and her friends were upstairs again if they were here at all.

No one was speaking above a whisper, no one was blasting music out of their headphones.

But still, Blake couldn't focus on her book at all. Her stomach felt odd. She shifted in her seat repeatedly, trying to find a more comfortable position, crossing or un-crossing her ankles or curling one leg beneath her.

But nothing seemed to help. She couldn't make sense of her book at all, and it was almost as bad as yesterday when the rowdy group of teens had been yelling.

Only now it was quiet. She should have been able to do this!

What is wrong with me...?

Ears drooping, Blake brought the book to her face and hit herself lightly.

And then she remembered what was wrong with herself.

Soft footsteps from above had her peeking her eyes above the top of the book just for curiosity's sake.

The person who had just hopped off the staircase was dressed in cute red and black clothes, her brown hair tickling the tops of her shoulders.

Blake's stomach flipped.

"Oh, god..."

She immediately ducked her face back behind her book, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand – as if it would conceal the rest of her.

Why is she down here? I mean, not that she can't be. She works here, after all. But why- Blake's thoughts cut off and her entire body tensed as she heard footsteps coming her way. Oh, no. No way. She can't-

But more than wondering what Ruby was doing down here, Blake needed to ask herself why she was reacting so strongly. But she didn't have much time left to think before-

"Um, excuse me, miss?"

Her voice was so sweet and polite and familiar. Ruby should've just sounded like any other girl, but to Blake her voice was very different in a lot of ways.

There's no way I have a crush on her, right?

"Uh, hello...?"

Nope. Definitely a crush.

Blake forgot how to breathe as she peered up over the top of her book again.

Ruby was standing there a few feet away, a respectable distance, but still too close for Blake's heart to handle. And her eyes were sparkling silver, slightly concerned, her red lips dipping into a small frown.

Blake felt numb, her ears perked tall as her hands fell limply into her lap with the book. She swallowed hard and did her best not to hyperventilate. She had it really bad for this girl.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry. Hello..." She tried to sit up straight and look her in the eye.

Ruby kept her distance and smiled as soon as Blake spoke to her. And that smile sent Blake's heart into overdrive.

But Ruby seemed none the wiser and continued with her joyful tone.

"I'm so glad I found you!" she beamed. "I wanted to apologize again about my sister yesterday. She's a pain sometimes. And, oh! You left your book behind and I wanted to return it to you!"

Blake hadn't realized the girl had been holding the fairytale book under her arm until now. Ruby offered it to her with a smile.

"I made sure to hold onto it for you so no one else would pick it up! And your page is still marked, too! I love your bookmark, by the way! It's a black kitty cat and the ears stick up above the pages to let you know where you left off. That's so cute!"

That's not the only thing, Blake wanted to wheeze.

But for such a well-red girl, she felt illiterate at the moment.

It took every shred of composure in her entire body to accept the book from Ruby with trembling hands. As the book was transferred, Blake felt their fingers brush. Her ears laid flat now as she felt her heart really begin to pound. Blake brought a hand to her chest and gave a thin reply to the girl.

"Th-Thank you..."

Ruby maintained her bright smile.

"No trouble at all, miss!" She clasped her hands together delightedly, then twirled one of her shoes in a bashful little circle. "Actually, I was wondering- oh! I-Is something wrong, miss?" Ruby's smile faded instantly and was replaced by another frown, the concern in her eyes increasing tenfold.

Blake knew how she must have looked to the girl right now, with her ears flat, hand to her chest, and breath shaking. Ruby took a hesitant step closer, wanting to reach out to her, but not knowing what to do.

"Y-You don't look well, miss. Can I get you a bottle of water? Should I make a phone call for you?"

Blake squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously.

"N-No-" she forced out. "That's okay. I'm fine. I just-" She needed to look away from Ruby. "I... actually need to get going." It took everything within her power not to stumble when she stood, packing her books into her back with trembling hands.

"A-Are you sure?" Ruby asked worriedly. "Can I at least call a cab for you, miss? Sorry if I'm intruding, but you don't look well."

"I'm fine. Really," Blake said, more curtly than she'd intended.

"T-Then may I help you to the doors at least?" Ruby requested.

But Blake shook her head without wasting a second.

"No. It's fine."

She didn't even look at the girl again before she rushed out as quickly as she could without full-on running. She struggled to get the door open, then nearly stumbled again once she'd gotten out.

Blake only made it a few steps onto the sidewalk before she felt her legs giving out. She veered off into the grass and collapsed against a tree, leaning back on it heavily.

She was a mess.

And that was putting it nicely.

She couldn't believe she'd blown this. She hadn't accomplished anything, hadn't thanked Ruby for her trouble or apologized for running out yesterday.

If anything, Blake had only added to the list of things she needed to apologize for, now having run off a second time without so much as a glance at the poor girl.

But her face felt far too hot for her to go back in and make amends, and her chest was pounding.

Whimpering softly, Blake pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face as she tried to calm down.

She'd never felt like this before. But not just in terms of how she physically felt and reacted.

She had never experienced such feeling before, such an intense feeling. Her body hadn't been properly prepared for such a powerful emotion, so she'd panicked, shut down, and ran.

It had happened to her plenty of times before, but usually when dealing with negative emotions.

This one... liking someone...

Blake didn't think this should've felt so uncomfortable.

And yet, it wasn't all bad.

It was difficult to describe, but her heart wasn't just pounding from the panic, but also from something else.

It was... almost elating to get to talk to and see Ruby, almost liberating.

Now if only she could learn to do it properly and for longer than four seconds.

Heaving another sigh, Blake finally got control over herself again.

Tomorrow, she swore to herself. Now that I know what I'm dealing with, now that I know just how much I like her, tomorrow for sure.

After another few minutes of calming herself, Blake picked up her bag and managed to stand up.

Then, she headed for home much too early, with a wobble in her step, but resolve in her heart.

A/N: I tend to make Blake an emotional mess in my fics, it seems. In this story, she has two kind of conditions. One was mentioned already - her sensitivity to extreme temperatures (cold or hot), and then just her over-reactions. She gets highly emotional in situations where most people wouldn't be very fazed. Just keep those in mind as you read future chapters!

If you like my work, you can support me on as Kiria Alice!

Please review!