Chapter 9

Processing


Weiss

What the fuck did I just do?

I have been tossing and turning in bed for the last five hours, trying to wrap my head around what had happened. I kissed Yang! Why did I do that? Why couldn't I control myself? Was it her looks? That crazy, beautiful blonde hair? Was it the twinkle in her eye as she talked about her legacy? Or her kind, caring demeanor? How ironically similar we are? How she hangs on every word I say, and then has a thoughtful response to each one? And then I realized, Blake was wrong. I didn't have a crush.

I had fallen in love with Yang Xiao Long.

I groggily woke up and checked the time. 11 AM. Last time I saw was 6 AM. I guess five hours is better than nothing. Not wanting to waste any more of my Saturday, I forced myself out of bed to go get some breakfast. I heard voices coming from the breakfast bar as I made my way to the refrigerator, I didn't even register that they were from Ruby and Blake.

"So do you want to have Weiss sing that line or have Yang scream it?" Blake asked.

"Well what if Yang sang it?" Ruby replied.

"I don't think that would work, Yang's cleans aren't melodic enough, but the screams make the line sound aggressive."

"I don't know, it's your call, babe," Ruby replied. "Morning Weiss! You're up late."

"Mmh," was all I could get out as I started digging through the freezer. Waffles? No. Breakfast sandwiches? No. How about some- wait what was that? "BABE?" Ruby and Blake flinched at my sudden outburst.

"What?" Ruby asked, scared a little.

"Did you just call her babe?!" I asked, trying to make heads-or-tails of the situation in my groggy state.

"Huh?" Ruby asked again, still confused, before it clicked. "Oh! Right, you don't know yet! Blake and I are dating now!" she explained as she grabbed Blake's hand.

"When the hell did this happen?" I asked, a bit shocked by the sudden news.

"Last night, while you and Yang were at the concert," Blake explained.

"What about me?" Yang said sleepily as she walked in. She must've been up all night, too. "And what's with all the shouting?"

"Those two are a thing now!" I said, pointing at the new couple.

"Really? See Blake? What'd I tell ya?" Yang said, grinning a bit.

"That reminds me!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and running to hug her sister. "Thanks for helping, sis!"

"Ruby, what's the rule?" Yang said, a little annoyed.

"Not until you've had your waffles?"

"Not until I've had my waffles," Yang confirmed, Ruby letting her go. Yang then smiled warmly and ruffled Ruby's hair. "And you're welcome!" I felt my heart skip a beat at seeing Yang's smile. Just how smitten am I?

"So how was the concert?" Blake asked, smirking at me. I glared at her, then looked to Yang, who was already looking at me questioningly. I motioned toward Blake with my eyes, praying that Yang would get the message. I absolutely did not want to talk about last night's events in front of Ruby and Blake. Thankfully, Yang understood.

"It was a lot of fun!" Yang answered.

"Setlist could've been a bit better…" I chimed in.

"Weiss, it was one song that you wanted to hear. It's not like it ruined the concert!" Yang answered, smirking at me.

"They were really good," I agreed.

"Who did you guys see, again?" Ruby asked.

"State Champs," Yang answered.

"WHAT?" Ruby wailed. "You guys went and saw State Champs without me!?"

"I only had two tickets!" Yang defended. "Besides, Blake had plans for you, and that seem to work more in your favor anyway!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ruby relented, realizing that what she got was better than a concert.

"C'mon Ruby," Blake said, standing up. "We gotta get to the studio soon, and the sooner we go, the sooner we can finish mastering."

"Yeah, you're right, we'll see you guys later!" Ruby said as she followed Blake out. That just left me and Yang for the rest of the day. Great.

"Soooo…" Yang said, breaking the silence after the door closed.

"We have to talk about last night, don't we?" I sighed.

"We don't right now if you don't want to, but we should at some point." Always so nice. She knows that I'd be uncomfortable, so she's giving me an out. She deserves better than me.

"There's no point sitting on it, I guess." Yang sat down at the breakfast bar, and motioned for me to sit across from her.

"So, what exactly was that?" she asked as I sat down.

"I don't know," I admitted, deflating a bit. "I just lost control of myself, I guess. You were talking about your emblem and, my body just did it."

"I see," Yang said, thinking about it.

"It wasn't stupid, by the way," I admitted.

"Huh?" she asked, confused?

"Before I interrupted you, you were saying that I probably thought that your emblem was stupid. It's not, In fact, I really like the idea."

"Oh, I thought you meant the kiss at first," Yang chuckled.

"Well, that wasn't bad either," I teased.

"Is there something here, Weiss?" Yang asked, getting serious again. "Between you and me?"

"Well, I like you a lot, Yang," I admitted, there was no point in lying to myself anymore. "I think I have since the day we met, but I became cold after your first impression. I never wanted that. I was so excited when we made up last week."

"Me too," Yang replied. "I may have had a crush on you for a while now…" she admitted, blushing. How does she get cuter every time I talk to her?

"Really?" was all I could manage to say, as I was trying to process everything that was happening.

"Yeah," she confirmed, eyes glued to the table. "So, where do we go from here?"

I thought about it for a little bit. There is definitely a mutual attraction here, we both said as much. But would Yang and I work out? She's fiery and free-spirited, and I'm cold and judgemental. I know people say that opposites attract, but Yang and I just seem incompatible. I'd just hold her back, I wouldn't be any good for her. But, then again, this is all conjecture. I really can't know if it will work out if I don't try.

"Do you want to try dating?" I asked Yang.

"Yes," Yang answered, almost immediately. She caught herself and blushed more. I couldn't help but laugh, which only caused her to blush more.

"Well, then that's settled, isn't it?" I said, composing myself. "We're dating?" I asked, extending my hand, mimicking Yang from when we made up. Yang caught on, and took my hand.

"Dating," she confirmed with a massive grin. I smiled back at her, but then we descended into silence. "Sooooo, what now?"

Giggling at her sudden awkwardness, which was eerily similar to her sister's, I stood up and stretched. "I don't know about you, but I'm due for a shower. We can figure out what to do after, okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Yang said, her Xiao Long smirk returning. I kissed the top of her head as I walked past, for good measure. I then headed down to my bathroom, still trying to process everything that had just transpired.


Yang

I don't think I've ever been this happy. I mean, generally I'm a happy person, but I've never felt so elated! Less than a week ago, the girl that I had a crush on couldn't stand me. And today, I not only find out that she had a crush on me, too, but we're dating now! I finished brushing my hair and headed downstairs, to find Weiss on the couch, browsing on her phone.

"Oh hey, so, I've been thinking," she said.

"What's up?" I asked as I plopped on the couch next to her.

"I think we should keep quiet about this, for a while at least," Weiss explained.

"Why do you think that?" I asked, a little worried.

"A few reasons. For one, Ruby is gonna flip her shit. And two, Blake already sort of suspects us, and the last thing I want is to see her 'I told you so' face for God knows how long. And three, I could see your dad being weird about it."

"Why would Dad be weird about it?"

"Because we live together. I know your dad is really cool and laid-back, but you're still his daughter. If he's not uncomfortable about it, it'll be endless jokes."

"Yeah, it would," I said. I always forget how long Weiss has been around Ruby and Dad, she probably knows them as well as I do.

"The fourth reason is that I just don't want all of the attention right now. I don't want people to make a big deal out of it, and then we end up breaking up a week later," Weiss explained. As much as I hated thinking about the possibility of breaking up this early, she was right.

"Alright, Princess, I'll keep quiet for a while," I conceded.

"Princess, huh?" Weiss asked. "We're doing pet names already?"

"If you can call that a pet name," I said, stretching my arms above my head. "Believe me, I've heard some bad pet names." I put my arms down, my left one draping on the back of the couch around Weiss. She noticed and broke into a smirk.

"Did you really just do the 'reach-around?'" she teased. It took me a moment to process what I did.

"Oh shit! Guess I did," I said, laughing. Weiss giggled at me, before leaning into my shoulder.

"Brute," she mumbled, smiling. Remember how I said before that I had never been happier? I'm even happier now than when I said that. Having Weiss lean on me like this was the most comforting thing I had ever experienced. In that moment, everything was perfect, the world could have ended and I wouldn't care.

"So, what do you want to do?" Weiss asked, as she looked up at me.

"Well, want to go get some food or something? We could do some brunch," I suggested.

"No, I'm too tired to go out," she sighed.

"Shouldn't we go out on a date if we're dating?" I teased. Weiss thought about it for a moment.

"Want to just count the concert as our first date?" she asked. "It was our first time exclusively spent with each other, and it led to this."

"True," I agreed. "Well, you got any ideas? Cuddling is great, but it's not really an all-day activity." Weiss thought for a moment, before a mischievous grin broke out on her face.

'Who's better at Mario Kart?" she asked. "You or Ruby?"

"Me, by far," I answered. "I'm the one that taught Ruby."

"I bet I can beat you," she challenged.

"Okay, what's the bet?" I say, smirking.

"Loser pays for the next date?"

"You're on!" I accept. Weiss got up and headed down to her room, with me in tow. She tossed me a controller and turned on her Wii U.

"Why am I not surprised that you'd pick Princess Peach?" Weiss asked as we picked our characters.

"Hey, we blondes gotta stick together!" I answered. "Why are you picking Toad?"

"Are you kidding? He's adorable!"

"Right, someone who constantly yells I'M TOAD is adorable," I teased, causing Weiss to laugh at my impression. I actually love Toad, I just felt like teasing.

"You can pick the track," she offered.

"I can? In that case, we're going where shit gets settled!" I said as I selected Rainbow Road.

"You're on!" Weiss shouted. Man, she's competitive.

The track loaded, with Peach and Toad on the starting line. The countdown started, and we both began revving our engines. When the light turned green , the two character took off, Weiss and I both nailing the starting boost. Weiss pulled ahead, sticking tight to the corners and drifting for boosts. The first item boxes came up, both of us grabbing one.

Yes! A red shell! I threw my shell, and it began homing in on Weiss. She was smart though, dropping a banana behind her to cancel out the shell. Weiss kept her lead on me through the first lap, with me coming right up on her. We grabbed the item boxes again, and I got a mushroom. Alright, now i just need to get up behind her and-

It seems that Weiss got three green shells, as one flew back toward me, hitting me and making me spin out, while two more orbited around her. I used my mushroom to get going again, boosting up behind her. Weiss threw the other two shells at me. I dodged the first one without a problem, but dodging the second one threw me off of the track. That dude with the cloud dropped me back on the track, and I got going. Weiss was now half-a-lap ahead of me. I grabbed an item block, and got a blue shell.

I need to save this, this'll be my trump card. I stuck close to the corners and drifted whenever possible, I needed every boost I could get. Halfway through the third lap, I got Weiss back into my view. Okay, now I just need to wait until she gets close to the finish line, then I'll hit her with a blue surprise. Another few seconds trailing behind her, the finish line came in sight Now!

I threw the blue shell, which then shot toward Weiss. She slammed on her breaks, stopping her kart. I couldn't register what happened, and kept driving toward Weiss. The blue shell connected with Weiss, and since I drove so close, I also got caught in the explosion. Since we both spun out, we got going at the same time, with Weiss still ahead of me. That was it. I was out of weapons, weiss was already ahead of me, and I couldn't boost. Weiss crossed the finish line, claiming her victory.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, jumping up in excitement. "I can't wait to tell Ruby that I beat you!" I wanted to be upset that I lost, but seeing her this excited was too cute to be mad at. She sat down next to me and nudged me. "Looks like you're paying for the next date."

"Yeah yeah, I got it," I said nudging her back. She then tilted my chin toward her and kissed me. I was surprised, since I still wasn't used to it.

"That was fun though," she said. "I think Ruby might have gotten better than you though, I still have trouble beating her."

"Really?" I asked. "Well then, I'll have to see who's better when she gets back then!"

"Guess I'm not the only competitive one," Weiss said as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Any movies you haven't seen yet?" I asked, trying to figure out what to do next.

"There's a few, want to browse for a bit?"

"Sure!" We spent the rest of the day watching movies in Weiss's room, with no small amount of cuddling. It was bliss. Weiss was honestly a very pleasant person to just be around, when she didn't act so cold. I honestly wish I could've just fallen asleep with her there, but I got a phone call that night. And I couldn't have been more excited to see who it was.


Who was phone, Yang? Thank you guys so much for reading, I know it took a while to get this one out, but I had another idea for a fic and just had to get it started. It's called Simpler Times, and follows Team STRQ's adventures during their time at Beacon. If you like the idea (or me, either works :) ) you should go check it out! See you next time!