The instant that Yang left, Ruby began panicking again. The little bit of confidence she had built up evaporated as her mind raced with doubt. Yang really must have gotten her head knocked loopy because this little scheme of hers was completely mental. There was no way she could honestly think this would work. All she'd end up doing is make a fool of herself and make things all weird and ruin everything.
"Now wait one second here," a voice in Ruby's head told her. "Are you really freaking out this bad over telling someone how you feel about them? You've jumped out airships, faced off with Grimm and giant mechs and swarms of goons and even worn heels. You did all those things and never even considered being afraid. But this is too much? This is your breaking point? Pull yourself together Rose. Blake is one of the coolest people ever and she'd never try to hurt you. Get over there and tell Blake everything."
Ruby clenched her fists together and grit her teeth. She could do this. This wasn't some giant battle where she could get hurt or killed, this was just telling someone how cool and sweet and amazing and cute they were. Adrenaline began pumping through Ruby's blood as she psyched herself up. "You've got this," the voice told her one last time and she knew it was right.
Taking one final deep breath to steel her nerves, Ruby gingerly disconnected herself from the various heart monitors and IV drips so she could slide out of her bed and scoot over to Blake. Her heart sank when she saw Blake's gaunt, exhausted face which was scrunched up as she slept, possibly in the throes of a nightmare. Ruby tentatively reached her hand out and brushed away the hairs that had matted themselves to Blake's forehead. Blake twitched slightly at the touch and looked to relax a bit, letting out a deep sigh. Feeling bold, Ruby leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Blake's forehead. Blake stirred again and her eyes slowly opened. Gold met silver for the first time in weeks as Ruby smiled at her.
"Hey," whispered Ruby softly. "I'm back."
"R-Ruby?" Blake asked, still unsure if she was awake or still dreaming. Ruby closed her eyes and nodded a silent confirmation to her. Blake reached her hand out and brushed her fingers down Ruby's cheek, causing goosebumps to erupt down the younger girl's back.
Without warning, Blake sprang up and wrapped Ruby up in a humongous hug that wasn't quite as crushing as one of Yang's specialties but was still excruciating to her damaged abdomen. Ruby let out a yelp of pain and Blake instantly released her, realizing what she'd done. Ruby massaged her aching ribs as Blake watched with a mortified look on her face.
"Oh, damn it, I'm so sorry Ruby. I wasn't thinking and was just so happy to see you awake. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ruby winced as the pain slowly started to ebb. She glanced at Blake and when she saw how scared Blake looked, her ache in her heart overpowered the one from her wounds. "Way to go Rose," she thought to herself, "you just got done telling Yang how much you hated worrying Blake and now look what happened."
To try and make things right, Ruby climbed onto the couch with her back against the armrest and pulled Blake down to lie against her. Ruby slowly stroked Blake's scalp and Faunus ears to try and soothe her. Soon enough, Blake's tension melted away as she snuggled into Ruby's chest, listening to the accelerated beating of her heart. The two sat on silence for several minutes, just enjoying the feeling of being together again.
"Ruby," Blake finally murmured softly, "I'm so sorry for what happened. It's all my fault you got hurt."
"No, no, don't say that Blake. It was my fault. I charged in like an idiot against someone way more powerful than me. I should have let someone more experienced handle him but I wanted to be the hero so bad that it cost me. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for making you worry all this time."
"I appreciate that Ruby. But it's just so hard for me not to worry about you."
"Why?" Ruby asked before a thought crossed her mind that caused her to freeze up. She then whimpered, "Do you not think I'm good enough?"
Blake's eyes shot open and she craned her head up to see Ruby with tears in her eyes. She scrambled up out of Ruby's embrace and took her face in her hands. "Oh, no no no, it's not that at all Ruby. You're one of the most skilled fighters and leaders I've seen. No, it's something far more different than that."
"Well, what then?" Ruby sniffled.
Blake closed her eyes and took Ruby's hands in hers. "I worry that someday you may end up like me."
"But why?" Ruby asked, puzzled at Blake's confession. "You're one of the best people I know Blake. You're so smart and loyal and protective. You're someone I'd love to be more like."
"No, trust me Ruby, I'm not." Blake pushed herself back up into a seated position and kept her hold on Ruby's hands, staring at them the entire time she talked. "When I was younger, I was a lot like you. I wanted nothing more than to make the world a perfect place like it was in the fairy tales. I believed in things like honor and justice and heroes but then I had to see what the world really is like. I had to see and do terrible things and it killed my spirit and my dream. There is a lot of darkness out there Ruby and lots of bad people who want nothing more than to spread it as much as they can. And I don't want you to have to experience those bad things. I don't want you to lose your dream like I did. Because you deserve to have all your dreams come true."
Ruby's stared at Blake in awe after she'd finished talking. She knew Blake cared about her but Ruby had no idea just how much it really was. Yang told her stuff like that a lot but Ruby never really believed it that much since Yang was her sister and felt like it was more of an obligation than honesty. But Ruby could feel every bit of how much Blake meant what she said. It was the nicest thing someone had ever told Ruby in her life.
"Wow, Blake" Ruby said breathlessly, "that's so sweet of you to say. Do you really mean that? You really want all of my dreams to come true?"
"I do Ruby." Blake looked up at her and gazed into her silver eyes. "Every last one of them."
Ruby bit her bottom lip at those words. She did say that she wanted all of them to come true. Hopefully this wouldn't make Blake too mad but she just couldn't help herself. Ruby reached out with one hand and laid it gently on Blake's cheek while the other one rested on Blake's shoulder. Ruby then slowly leaned forward, her eyes going half-lidded as she advanced closer and closer towards her target. Blake's eyes got wider and wider in surprise with every inch closer that Ruby got.
Finally, Ruby closed the rest of the distance between them and her lips met Blake's. Ruby really hoped Blake wouldn't hate her too much for doing this but right now she felt too amazing to care. Meanwhile, Blake's brain was going haywire as she tried to make sense of this. Was she still dreaming or was Ruby really kissing her? But then her brain melted and she just went with it, grabbing onto the back of Ruby's head with her healthy hand and pulling her in closer.
Ruby lightly gasped in surprise that Blake was suddenly kissing her back. Blake buried her hand into Ruby's black and red hair and gently caressed her scalp. Her tongue slowly poked out and ran across the length of Ruby's bottom lip, seeking entrance. Ruby obliged and Blake's tongue slid into her mouth, drawing soft moans from both girls. Ruby's heart felt like it was going to pound right through her chest as her entire body began heating up. Every hair on Blake's body was standing up as her skin tingled from how incredible this felt. Both girls didn't want this moment to ever end.
But unfortunately it did have to once both girls had spent all of their breath. Reluctantly, Blake pulled back from Ruby and took an enormous breath of air in. She felt like she'd sprinted across the kingdom with no slowing down. Ruby also panted loudly for breath as she collapsed backwards against the armrest, gently pulling Blake down with her. She pressed her forehead against Blake's as she held on tightly to Blake's shirt, afraid to let her go for anything.
"Well," Ruby finally managed to gasp out, "there's one of my dreams that's come true.
"Oh wow," Blake panted, her chest heaving against Ruby's as she gulped down breath after breath of oxygen. "You have no idea how long I've been wanting you to do that."
"I think I have some idea," Ruby chuckled softly. Then her brain fully registered what Blake had just said. "Wait, you've been wanting to kiss me?"
"For months now," Blake purred out, opening her eyes to gaze at Ruby's beautifully serene face. "How long have you been wanting to kiss me?"
"Pretty much since the moment we got here. I started falling for you right after you came and stood up for me with Weiss. That meant so much to me that you would do that without even knowing who I was. You just did it because you knew how much it sucks to be picked on. That has always stayed with me that you helped me out when I was alone and scared. And I always wanted to thank you and show you how much it meant."
"I think you've done a pretty great job so far," sniffled Blake, unable to hold back a tear. It dripped down off the edge of her nose and plopped right onto Ruby's, making her face scrunch up. Blake laughed at how cute Ruby was as she wriggled her nose and kissed it right where the tear had landed. "And if you really want to show me, you can keep on kissing me like you did just now."
"It's a deal." Ruby then began peppering Blake's face with soft, tender kisses that made Blake go limp and sigh contently with every kiss. "So," Ruby asked, punctuating every word with another kiss, "how…long…have…you…liked…me?" Ruby finished with a kiss on Blake's lips before stoping so she could hear the tale.
Blake whined a bit due to Ruby ceasing her kisses and rolled over onto her side so that she and Ruby were curled up side-by-side. "I guess when I first really felt something for you was that night at the docks after Torchwick ran away. That was when I knew I could really trust you. Because you didn't see me as a Faunus, you saw me as Blake. It didn't matter to you what I was or what I'd done; all you wanted was to make sure I was safe. And since then, you've done nothing but show how good you really are. I've already seen the worst that Remnant has to offer but in you, I see the absolute best."
Once again, Ruby found herself mesmerized by Blake's kind words. She always had thought Blake was wonderful but hearing just how highly Blake thought of her just made Ruby fall for her even more. Ruby snaked her arms around Blake's torso and hugged herself against the older girl's body. Blake returned the embrace and snuggled her face into Ruby's hair.
After a long while in silence, Ruby heard the sound of Blake softly snoring. She glanced up to see Blake fast asleep, a peaceful smile plastered on her face. Ruby deduced that Blake must still be exhausted and had passed back out since she hadn't been sleeping for very long. For a brief moment, Ruby felt guilty that she had caused Blake to lose sleep but she had a feeling that Yang was right and that what had happened was all worth it for her. But even though Blake had fallen asleep, Ruby wasn't going to just leave her now so she grabbed onto Blake's blanket and pulled it up over the two of them. She then rested her head against Blake's chest, letting her heartbeat relax her to sleep as well.
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has read, favorited and reviewed my little story! I'm marking this as the end for now, but I may revisit this someday with more ideas. But for now, thank you again for reading this and hopefully I'll see you again for the next one.
