It's almost time to wrap up this AU. Enjoy the final few chapters!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.


Chapter 9.

Upon waking up the next morning, Yang was convinced everything had been a dream.

None of it felt real, and she knew her mind easily could have been playing tricks on her.

A glance at the alarm clock told her she'd slept in a little today, and she felt a bit groggier than usual. Probably because she'd found difficulty in falling asleep last night, but not for bad reasons; her mind had simply been too preoccupied with thoughts of Weiss.

Even now, when she closed her eyes against the intrusively bright Sunday morning sunlight, Yang replayed yesterday's events.

She imagined Weiss in her arms, returning her embraces and her kisses.

There was no kickboxing class today, therefore Yang was content to laze about in bed and daydream as much as her heart desired.

Random thoughts of Weiss drifted through her mind, everything from her feverish coughing when she'd been sick, to her brightest smile when she'd gotten better.

As she let her mind wander, Yang realized a few other things as well. She hadn't really taken much note of them at the time, but now that she was alone and had all the time in the world to reflect, she could consciously appreciate them.

The biggest one was the change in Weiss' attitude toward her immediately after they'd kissed. She'd made quick work of then referring to Yang as an "oaf" or an "idiot" and would scold her and snap at her gently. Nothing like the polite, kind salesgirl Weiss had been to her for the past two weeks, although there had been a few instances even then when her true colors had slipped through.

But Yang wasn't put-off by Weiss' behavior, as she understood the reasons behind it. Weiss had only been curt with her because she'd been worried for Yang. After all, who wouldn't be after their first kiss had left her collapsed on the floor?

But while Yang might've shown her concern through fretting and things like that, the somewhat harsher words were Weiss' own method of dealing with worry.

Rather than be upset by the behavior, Yang was actually rather flattered; discovering this side of Weiss was a privilege for her, and it meant she'd gotten much closer to her within the past twenty-four hours.

Yang was already smiling to herself at the mere thought of having worked her way into Weiss' corner this much within such a short amount of time.

She would've been content to laze around in bed all day just thinking about Weiss, but movement from the bunk above alerted her to the time once again. It was just before 10AM, and Yang recalled she'd told Weiss she would visit early today.

With a loud sigh, she stretched her arms out across her pillow and released a yawn that almost unhinged her jaw.

Ruby slipped down off the top bunk with a thud and sniffled a bit.

"Mornin', Yang."

"Mornin', Ruby."

Unlike Yang, Ruby still had her ceramic lessons today as per usual. So the two sisters went about their usual routine of selecting outfits and taking turns in the bathroom to change and freshen up.

Perhaps being a bit full of herself, Yang decided to wear a dress again today, intent on looking good for Weiss. It was a simple, pale yellow sundress that reached her knees, and Yang pulled on a small brown jacket to cover her arms. She even went so far as to put on a necklace along with that extra spritz of perfume.

Ruby realized how plain she herself looked next to Yang when she was simply wearing a mini skirt and leggings with a t-shirt. But only when the two sisters were finally out of the house did the brunette start asking questions.

"Soooo~" she hummed. "Why're you coming out today, Yang? There's no kickboxing, so why aren't you sleeping in like usual?"

Yang shrugged and tried to act casual as they walked.

"Just gonna pick up the bread Mom asked for."

"Oh, really?" Ruby mumbled.

A few minutes later, they encountered Blake, whose content morning wave was abruptly stopped when she noticed the older sister.

"Whoa, Yang," she said, impressed. "You're coming with us today? And what's with the get-up?"

Before the blonde could scramble for an answer, Ruby cut in first.

"She won't tell meeee!" she whined. "Blake, make her talk!"

"Whoa, hold on now-" Yang tried to defend herself, but the others were too curious to ignore the obvious.

"Come on, Yang," Blake said, nudging her friend's ribs with her elbow as they all started to walk again. "We all know you've been crushing on the bakery girl for over a week now. I've never seen you wear a dress more than once in a month before. You can't just leave us in the dark about this. What happened?"

Yang bit her lip and looked to her other side, but found herself met with Ruby's eager silver gaze. Yang stopped walking as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Ugh, fine. You got me. I'll talk alright? Where do I start...?"

They didn't need to know everything that had happened between Weiss and herself. Surely just cutting to the chase and telling the biggest news would be enough to satisfy these two vultures.

Yang could already feel the blush creeping across her cheeks as she began.

"Yesterday... I-"

"Oh, right!" Ruby promptly cut it. "You said that yesterday you were gonna tell her!"

"Ruby-!"

"What?" Blake cried. "You confessed to her?"

"Hold on-"

"What did she say?" Ruby blurted. "Actually, you didn't seem very upset yesterday when we were walking home~ You were smiling so much your face probably hurt~"

"Do you guys wanna hear what happened or not?" Yang grumbled.

The other two pursed their lips into knowing smiles as they listened to her begin the story. She told of how she'd bought Weiss the daisy, how Weiss had told her the meaning of that flower.

"And then she brought you up," Yang said, tapping her knuckles atop Ruby's head in a chiding manner. "She actually remembered that time you went in and blurted out that I liked her. And then she..." Yang paused and swallowed. "Well... I asked if I could... kiss her. And she kinda... leaned over the counter and well..." Yang trailed off and suddenly found great interest in the sidewalk below.

Blake and Ruby stood dumbfounded and disbelieving.

"No way..." Blake mumbled.

"You guys kissed?!" Ruby shrieked.

"Well, don't go tellin' the whole freakin' neighborhood!" Yang hissed, covering her little sister's mouth. "But yeah, we... did that and..." She knew the truth would come out sooner or later, and Yang figured the sooner the better, and she wanted them to hear it directly from her. "And I uh... kinda got so excited that I kinda... passed out..."

The ensuing silence was a lot of things: confused, shocked, a little concerned, but majorly indecisive of what to make of this information.

With her jaw already agape, Ruby was the first one to recover.

"You what?!"

Blake recovered shortly afterward, but instead of being appalled like Ruby, she was holding back a laugh.

"Yang!" Blake put a hand to her mouth and chuckled. "I don't believe you. And yet, I'm not surprised..."

Despite the teasing words, Blake stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her friend to prove she was also a little worried at the idea of Yang fainting. Ruby followed suit and quickly hugged her sister from behind. Yang groaned and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, tease me all you want. But of the four times we kissed yesterday, I only blacked out once, and considering how gorgeous Weiss is and how crazily excited I was each time, it's an accomplishment that I stayed conscious the other three times."

By then, Blake had recovered from her bout of laughter, and she pulled away slightly.

"Sorry..." she smiled. "But I've never heard of someone passing out during a kiss before. Not in real life, anyway. It would be you, Yang. But are you okay? Did you get hurt or anything?"

"Nah. Luckily I didn't hit my head or nothin'. And when I woke up, Weiss was taking care of me."

"Of course she was," Blake hummed. "So I take it the feelings were mutual, then?"

"Well, I just said we kissed three more times, so what do you think?"

"Whoa!" At last, Ruby released her grip around Yang's back and quickly skirted around to her front. "So, Yang! This means she's your girlfriend now, right?"

"My wha-"

She hadn't considered that word until now. All last night and this morning, she'd merely been thinking of seeing Weiss and getting to kiss her again, but she hadn't considered the labels that came with their newly-established relationship.

The blonde put a hand to her mouth and bit her knuckle a bit in a failed effort to hide and fend off her blush.

Blake's chuckle returned.

"She's right, you know. It sounds like you and Weiss are girlfriends now."

"Holy shit..." Yang mumbled. "We... kind of are, aren't we?"

"Not 'kind of', Yang!" Ruby giggled. "You are!"

"And-" Blake cut in once again. "It has just occurred to me that we're intruding on your precious time together with your new girlfriend this morning." She grabbed Ruby's arm and tugged the girl to her side. "So the two of us can be on our merry way to ceramics while you go show off your dress to Weiss. How does that sound?"

"Just don't kiss her when she's working!" Ruby cautioned.

Yang's face had already turned beat red.

"Oh my god, you two-" she moaned. "Just go!"

"Tell us all the details later~!" Ruby sang.

"In your dreams, ya little scamp."

At that point, Blake led Ruby away. Yang knew they would undoubtedly be gossiping about her and teasing her behind her back all day.

But Yang found she didn't mind, because now she could finally focus on Weiss.

Her girlfriend.

With the bakery in sight now, she threw one last wave to Ruby and Blake as they headed off down another street. Yang set her course straight ahead.

As she passed the flower shop, the old woman greeted her and stopped her for a moment.

"How did it go, deary?" she wondered. "With the daisy, I mean."

Yang's lips split into a wide, toothy grin.

"Granny, 'cause of you and that flower, I got myself a girlfriend!"

"Oh, my! Well congratulations."

"Thanks!"

After that brief conversation, Yang continued on her way, following her nose as she caught the first whiff of warm bread.

The doors were open, but she didn't see anyone outside of the bakery. Sundays tended to be slower for business, as most people liked to sleep in or go to church.

But before she could enter the empty shop, Yang stopped herself when she heard something.

It was the music coming from the shop's radio, but it wasn't just that. There was an angelic voice singing along to it, one she recognized instantly as Weiss'.

Keeping still outside the shop as not to disturb the secret aria inside, Yang closed her eyes and listened.

A piano tinkled in the background along with a slow beat. From what she gathered, most of the song consisted of quieter, speaking type roles with the singer's voice being more prominent than the music. But when the chorus came, both Weiss' voice and the music got louder:

"Shine with all the untold.
Hold the life given unto you.
Find a love to unfold
in this broken world we chose..."

Just from hearing those few lines alone, carried out on such a lovely, heartwarming voice, Yang felt her eyes watering. She sniffled and ducked her face into her elbow to regain her composure, listening to the fading notes of the piano as the song came to an end.

It took her a moment to finally straighten up and put on her usual smile before sauntering into the shop.

She found Weiss with her back turned to the door, humming the instrumental notes of the next song. Yang held back on calling out to her as not to startle her.

But the second the white-haired girl turned around with her breath ready and voice prepared to sing again, only to find she was no longer alone in the shop, Weiss stumbled a bit.

"Y-Yang?!" Weiss' face was pink as she caught herself on the counter, bracing her palms on the hard surface. With a nervous chuckle, Yang hurried forward to reach out and steady the girl's wrists.

"The one and only!" she beamed. "You, okay? Don't be embarrassed, Weiss. God, that was beautiful."

"You... You heard that?"

"A bit," Yang admitted. "I never knew you had such a pretty singing voice. Sorry for eavesdropping, but I was mesmerized and I didn't wanna interrupt you."

"You... You didn't text me this morning," Weiss mumbled, her hands still comfortably cushioned in Yang's. "I thought you were still asleep. I didn't expect you to be here so soon... and dressed like that." Her blue eyes traveled down to Yang's attire, appreciating every inch of it.

The blonde girl blushed, squeezing Weiss' hands a little.

"You... You like it?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Weiss huffed. "Of course I like it! You can easily make anything look good, but that... that's prettier on you than most things." Her heart was already thumping quickly, both due to Yang's gorgeous appearance and due to being caught in the middle of her private concert.

Yang could feel the girl's pulse flitting beneath her fingertips, and she smiled, lowering her voice a little bit.

"So... do you always sing like that?" she wondered.

Weiss huffed and flicked her gaze to the side.

"Not often. Usually just when I know for certain there's no one else around, and only if a good song comes on."

"Really? I think you should sing more often! You could easily go pro with a voice like that!" Yang grinned. "This is the first time I've heard you sing. You have the prettiest voice I've ever heard, Weiss."

"Flatterer..."

"Am I not allowed to flatter my very own girlfriend?" Trying out the word for the first time was more exciting than she'd thought it would be.

The consequential blush it drew from Weiss' cheeks likely matched the one on Yang's own.

Clearly, Weiss hadn't considered the word either until now. The bakery girl had no response other than another small huff of breath.

Yang stole a quick glance behind her shoulder to make sure they were alone before directing her attention back to Weiss. It was customary for people like them to share a greeting kiss or two, right?

Yang leaned in quietly and pecked Weiss' cheek, nuzzling her nose softly.

Weiss gave in swiftly and leaned in closer over the counter. She closed her eyes, enjoying the soft contact before initiating a fuller kiss to the lips. She felt Yang smile as they deepened the contact, now more or less used to how this worked.

They'd figured it all out yesterday, the best way to tilt their chins and angle their faces so they may make the most of these short-lived moments.

Weiss only pulled away when she started to feel a bit anxious, as though someone might walk in on them. Reluctantly, Yang released her wrists and took a step back.

Weiss sighed and fixed her mussed ponytail.

"It wasn't easy explaining to my father where that daisy came from, you know. I told him it was from you and that you'd given it to me in hopes I wasn't sick anymore. He believes it for now, but it won't be long before he wises up, I'm sure."

Yang frowned.

"Is that a bad thing? I mean, would he be... not okay with... us?" she wondered.

"Oh, not at all." Weiss quickly waved her hand dismissively. "He wouldn't mind, and my sister would probably thrilled. It's just a bit difficult for me because... we'll I've never dated anyone before. I never wanted to until..." She flashed Yang a coy glance.

The kick-boxer nodded and rolled her shoulders.

"Yeah, I haven't told my folks yet either, but it'll only be a matter of time. My big-mouth sister knows now."

"That sounds troublesome," Weiss mused. "But I'm sure we'll get through it."

"Yeah!"

"So..." Weiss straightened up. "Would you like anything today?"

"Mm, not just yet. There's no kickboxing so I was kinda hoping I could just... well, hang around here for today. With you. If it's a slow day, I figured we'd get to have a bit more time together. Of course, I get it if you'd rather not-"

"Don't make assumptions on my part," Weiss snapped, and Yang had to hold back a little chuckle; there it was again, Weiss' seemingly-shortened fuse. Weiss was only being curt because she didn't want Yang to assume she'd rather spend the day any other way than together inside their beloved bakery.

Weiss went on with her cheeks pouting slightly. "Of course I don't mind your staying here today. I could use a bit of company. Particularly from you, considering the fact that we're-"

"Girlfriends~!"

"Yes, that."

"Great!" Yang said with a clap. "So now I can sit out here and not feel creepy about watching you work! Cause I really love just being in the same room as you. And I love watching you work because you get this little sparkle in your eyes-"

"A-Alright, that's enough! Go sit down. Someone's coming in."

Yang did as she'd been told and went to have a seat at one of the little tables. She reached into her jacket's pocket and extracted a small handheld game to help pass the time as Weiss greeted her customers.

Yang stole occasional glances up just to see that sparkle in those blue eyes for herself as Weiss tended to the people with expert words and skilled hands. Weiss truly loved her work, and that only made Yang fall for her even harder.

A few minutes later when the shop was quiet again, Yang put her game away and sauntered up to the counter.

"Oh, Miss?" she said. "I could use a bit of help with something~"

Weiss gave her a skeptical look as she quirked an eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

"Mm, just a lil' something~" Yang leaned forward and pecked the girl's nose without warning.

"Hey!" Weiss pawed her away playfully before grabbing Yang's wrist. "Fine. My turn."

She retaliated by pulling Yang in and kissing her cheek.

They battled back and forth over the counter, stealing kisses in turn. Weiss had to keep an eye on the door to stay on lookout for customers, and whenever she spotted potential ones, she'd grunt to Yang and motion for her to sit down.

They made it a routine before long, how Yang would casually sit aside and mind her own business when there were other people present. But the second it was just the two of them, she'd get up and steal those over-the-counter kisses with Weiss.

Hours passed in this manner, and the two girls engaged in several conversations about various things, such as Weiss' college work and Yang's plans for her summer vacation. Sometimes, when there was little else to say, Weiss would sing for her, and Yang would sit in quiet mesmerization.

About an hour after noon, the lunchtime crowd had just died away and left the two girls alone for a good ten minutes. Weiss took a breather to have her lunch, and Yang decided to close her eyes and nap for a few minutes.

The bakery closed early on Sunday. It wasn't long before the bakers in back stepped out of the hidden kitchen, to take their leave, and Yang made sure to promptly pull herself off of Weiss' lips and lean casually against the counter as they did so.

It was only a few stolen kisses afterward when Weiss removed her apron and stepped out from behind the counter to close the door and flip over the CLOSED sign.

That was the first time all day Yang could really appreciate her girlfriend's cute outfit.

Weiss was also wearing a dress, ice-blue in color, but with the counter shielding her from the waist down and the apron previously covering most of the top of it, Yang had merely assumed it to be a shirt.

And they were finally alone together.

Yang sauntered over to her girlfriend, who now stood at her usual height that barely surmounted the former's chin.

"Y'know," Yang chuckled. "'Cause of that step behind the counter, I forget you're actually shorter than me."

"Is that a problem, you tower?"

"'Course not~"

Reaching out, Yang wrapped her arms around the white-haired girl's waist and pulled her up into another kiss. Weiss' arms slipped around the blonde's shoulders to guide her downward a bit.

They knew this would be the parting kiss, so they had it last a bit longer, allowed it to be a bit more passionate than the others had been. Yang's hands lightly rubbed up and down the girl's back, as Weiss' fingers toyed with her golden locks.

When they finally parted for breath, Weiss huffed a little dejectedly.

"Today went by too quickly. Make sure you text me when you're home."

"You got it," Yang promised. "And don't worry! We'll have plenty of time together tomorrow and the next day and every day after that!"

"Yes..." Weiss mumbled. "But I'll miss you tonight."

Yang smiled and kissed her temple softly.

"Me, too. But it'll make it all the more worth it when we're together again tomorrow."

Weiss sighed but nodded, willing to accept that deal.

They shared one last quick kiss before heading to the doors.

Weiss turned off the lights and radio, and then locked up the shop as they stepped outside.

The two girls hugged one last time before heading off in opposite directions toward their respective homes.

And again, they discovered that tomorrow couldn't come quickly enough.


A/N: This chapter was mainly to show how they'd behave while Weiss was working. When I was discussing the ideas for this AU with a friend, the over-the-counter kisses came up and I just had to put them in here. Next is the finale!

Oh, and the song Weiss sang is "Shine" by Vienna Teng.

Ch10 preview: "I hope this won't interfere with your kickboxing," Weiss fretted. "I'd like to come by and watch you in the following weeks, and then we can get to our dates afterward. But at least for today, I... I wanted us to have some time together."

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