This was a prompt from otp prompts on tumblr, who I hadn't even been following at the time but appeared on my dash and sucked me in!
Just a little Bumblebee one shot that was quite enjoyable to write and hopefully just as enjoyable to read!
The elegant mansion towering over her was quiet at this time of night; its inhabitants long since retired for the evening. The outside was well lit by the light of multiple small, exquisite lanterns hidden among sprawling ivy, but no lights could be seen coming from inside the house.
Blake had no problem making her way across the perfectly manicured front lawn thanks to the bright moon shining overhead. She made sure to keep to the shadows near a line of hedges on the very edge of the property - not wanting to risk making an appearance until absolutely necessary.
That moment came when she had nearly reached the far right corner of the building, directly in front of the bottom story window which would serve as her point of entry.
She had been scoping out the house for nearly a week now - searching for any weakness in the state-of-the-art security system's armor. Her patience had finally paid off with a bit of luck - and thankfully so since she really hadn't wanted to try to disarm the security system on her own.
Someone had forgotten to close this particular window tonight, leaving it open just enough so that the security system wouldn't engage in this section of the house. Blake had nearly missed it in her first pass through - it was that close to being firmly latched.
It was the perfect way to slip in undetected.
Stepping out of the shadows, she quickly crossed a small section of moonlight before making it safely to the ground right in front of the window. After double checking to make sure that the room was empty, she gently pushed the window open a little further - just enough to fit her small frame - before making her way inside.
She allowed her eyes several seconds to adjust to the darkness of the building while crouching immediately in front of the window. Moonlight was drifting through the windows, but it wasn't nearly as bright in here as it had been outside. She would have to proceed slowly and carefully so as not to accidentally bump into anything and alert the homeowners to her presence.
Since this was a private residence, the floorplan of the mansion hadn't been obtainable. She was going to have to do this the hard way - by searching each and every room. Deciding that she should begin her search on the second story, since that would likely be where the master bedroom was located, she began looking for a way upstairs.
She managed to find a staircase easily enough in the hallway right outside of the room she had used to enter the home. This wasn't the main staircase from its more normal size, but had been placed in this end of the house so that the second floor could be reached without walking all the way to the center of the house - where the main staircase was likely located.
On the second floor, she discovered an open floor plan with dozens of doorways lining the perimeter. Quietly approaching the door nearest to her, she silently turned the handle and pushed it open a fraction of an inch. Peering inside, her senses told her that she found nothing besides an empty bedroom. After re-closing the door to eliminate any suspicion that she had been there, she moved onto the next door.
The first few rooms she searched were filled with expensive furniture, but void of inhabitants, leading her back into the what must be considered an upstairs living room (why anyone needed a living room on the second story was beyond her). Her work was quick but methodical - she was in a hurry, but not at the expense of being discovered.
Walking back into the living room area after another unsuccessful search, she was just about to check the next door when she noticed something was wrong.
The door nearest to the staircase, the one she had checked first, was now slightly ajar.
Instinctively crouching down, she wracked her memory from the last few minutes. She was sure that she had pulled the door completely shut - absolutely positive.
Which meant that someone had gone inside just recently. How they had managed to hide their presence from her was just the beginning of her alarm. If whoever it was caught her in here, she might be forced to take drastic measures in order to escape.
But, this could also be the person she was looking for.
Backing slowly away, she kept her eyes trained upon the door while watching for any signs of movement from inside. If she could make it to the other side of the room, she would be able to hide behind an ornate sofa and wait for the mysterious figure to appear. Once that happened, she would be able to reanalyze the situation and formulate a new plan.
Making it to the midpoint of the room, she unexpectedly bumped into something soft - something that let out a soft squeak of astonishment the second she touched it. Her heart burst into rapid fire beats when she realized what she had bumped into - her knives flying into her hands as she spun to face her attacker.
But instead of a gun pointed towards her head or a knife hurtling towards her neck, she found herself face-to-face with a tall, blonde girl with sparkling eyes and a mischievous smile. The girl was grinning at her - not scared or alarmed at all by Blake's aggressive posture.
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" the blonde asked, seeming almost thrilled to have stumbled upon company in the quiet mansion.
"I was just...looking around…"
Her answer wouldn't have fooled even a toddler, but Blake was too busy trying to size the girl up to answer more convincingly.
Was she another assassin? Had the contract been double booked? If that had happened, then the blonde could be exceptionally dangerous - there were many tales of assassins killing each other in an attempt to be the first to end the target's life and, thus, be the only one getting paid.
A quiet laugh brought her back to the present moment, finding the blonde to be in good spirits. Hopefully, she was friendly...
"Well you see...there's been something in this house that I've wanted for a really long time...so I think I'm just going to take it…"
Feeling relief pour through her system, Blake was finally able to exhale.
A thief.
Not a threat at all - Blake had no interest in the items here. So if they could agree that they were after different things, they could both just go their separate ways…
"But what are you doing here?"
Or they could continue to have a conversation in the middle of the dark living room.
"I'm here for the owner."
Her response was short, but the blonde immediately understood, nodding her head rapidly.
"Ah...an assassin! Haven't met one of you recently…" the girl trailed off, seemingly deep in thought, before another smile appeared - this one nearly blinding Blake with its radiance.
"Yang Xiao Long's the name," she said, thrusting her hand forward for a handshake. The unexpected movement startled Blake, making her jump backwards several feet in surprise.
She felt her cheeks begin burning when she heard soft giggles coming from the blonde.
"Scaredy cat, aren't ya?"
Scowling at the joke, she strode forward purposefully, putting away one of her knives and taking the outstretched hand in her own for a firm shake.
"Blake," she said, foregoing her last name in an effort to maintain some anonymity. Murder carried a much steeper penalty than theft, after all.
When she tried to withdraw her hand, Yang's grip tightened dramatically - refusing to let her go. Instead, the blonde drew herself closer to Blake - the motion nonthreatening but still unsettling to the skittish assassin.
"Blake…" the blonde said her name soft and low - as if testing out the word and seeing how it felt in her mouth. "Has anyone ever told you that you are absolutely gorgeous?"
Her cheeks began burning as she forcibly pulled her hand from Yang's grasp, the blonde loosening her grip at the same moment in favor of dissolving into more giggles.
"Why would anyone be telling me that?" Blake muttered to herself, unsure as to why the comment was affecting her heart rate so greatly.
"Because you areeeee," Yang replied in a sing song voice, clearly tickled by the affect she was having on the assassin. "And I knew it...assassins are sexy!"
Blake stared at the blonde for several seconds, trying to decide what was happening while her face reached record shades of deep red.
"Are you...hitting on me?"
The question sounded even more ludicrous when spoken out loud than it had in her head.
"If I was, is it working?"
Blake scoffed, feeling a slight hint of annoyance mix in with her still fluttering heart.
"I don't have time for this - you go steal your silly item and leave me to my business. And...try not to make too much noise."
She didn't know why the brief glimpse of hurt in the blonde's eyes bothered her so much, but she carried on as if she hadn't noticed it. It disappeared in an instant anyway when a grin found its way back onto Yang's lips.
"Might you need my assistance in your task?" the blonde offered, earning herself another scoff - this one pure indignation.
"Why would I need help from a thief?"
"Well, because you're not ninja like I am -"
"I'm plenty 'ninja.'"
"Oh really? Then why didn't you notice me sneaking up on you?"
"You didn't sneak up - wait...you didn't know I was here either!" she finally exclaimed, making Yang break down into more quiet laughter for having flustered Blake once again.
She felt a small smile tug at the edges of her mouth, feeling slightly amused at this rather strange turn of events and the moderately enjoyable company. But...she still had a job to do - and dallying here was not getting her any closer to completing it.
But of course, she couldn't just leave without getting in the last word.
"Listen, I'll give you a headstart to steal whatever it is you're here for - that way you won't still be in here if the cops show up."
"Please..." the girl responded with a crooked grin, "I could steal everything in this house before you can even find the right room."
"Highly doubtful," Blake retorted with a shake of her head, feeling her competitive nature kick into high gear. "But you can certainly try."
"And try I might! But...please tell me how you're going to finish your job without this?"
Blake felt her eyes from widen in surprise when she saw the small cellphone Yang held up in front of her. The blonde was wearing a smirk bigger than the room they were currently standing in as she wiggled the device in front of Blake's face before examining it more closely.
"Gee...I wonder how such a lowly thief managed to lift this off of someone as fearsome as an assassin?" Yang asked facetiously, giving Blake a wink that, instead of irritating her, only created butterflies in her stomach.
"How did you...give that back," she ordered, trying to keep her voice low and forceful. She needed that phone in order to call the client and let them know that the job had been completed - she had no other means to contact him.
"Hmm...why don't we see if you can make me?"
Blake raised her eyebrows at the taunt, but raised her hands a little higher - noticing that she still had one knife clutched within her left hand.
"Without killing me," Yang replied with a soft laugh, not frightened in the slightest by the threatening gesture Blake had accidentally just made.
Blake paused for a second to listen. Once satisfied that the house was still quiet, she stared Yang down with a smirk.
"When I take that back from you, will you finally let me finish my job in peace?"
Yang grinned at the question.
"If you can get it back from me, then yes - you can continue your mission and I'll stay out of your way," the blonde affirmed, before giving Blake another wink before sticking the phone down her top.
Blake rolled her eyes at the action while placing her knife carefully back into its sheath. Crouching down, she readied herself to take on the blonde haired thief. Should be easy - Blake was a professional assassin with years and years of hand-to-hand combat, after all.
Yang assumed a boxer's stance and waved Blake towards her. Blake didn't waste a second in shooting forward, rapidly closing the distance between the two. At the last possible second, she spun to the right just as Yang's punch flew past her head. With lightning fast reflexes, she grabbed ahold of Yang's outstretched arm near the girl's shoulder and used both of their momentums to twist Yang around and flip the girl over onto her back.
At least, that was what was supposed to happen. She was beyond surprised when Yang didn't smash down on her back, but instead managed to complete a full rotation and land firmly back onto her feet. What was worse, the blonde had managed to wrap her own hand around Blake's - and was refusing to let go.
Trapped within an iron grip, she was forced to fight against the blonde from a proximity of only a foot or so. She tried to attack with her left hand, only to have her blows easily dodged or deflected. Aiming one jab towards the Yang's nose, Blake internally groaned when the blonde's free hand shot up at the very last second and locked down onto her left hand - sealing both of Blake's arms within iron grips.
Before she had time to react, Yang had swiped one of her legs underneath Blake's - throwing her off balance just long enough for the blonde to push forward and send them both crashing to the floor.
She hit the ground flat on her back with the blonde landing right on top of her, their hands still locked together. A loud thud echoed from the walls, the reverberations shaking the crystals in the chandelier overhead. Holding her breath, she listened for any sound of footsteps running towards them or voices sounding in alarm.
When she heard nothing, she let out a breath in relief...until she realized that Yang's face was now mere inches from her own. With the blonde's body pressing down upon her, she was effectively pinned to the floor - although not altogether uncomfortable in this position. From this proximity, she could see the flecks of gold sprinkled amongst lilac, the faint outline of a few rogue freckles that were trying to make their presence known, and the soft red of the girl's lips, even though she didn't seem to be wearing any lipstick.
She cursed her heart when she felt it begin beating uncontrollably, knowing that Yang could probably feel her pulse pounding through their joined hands. But the blonde seemed interested in nothing other than staring into Blake's own eyes - at the same time disarming and exhilarating.
Blake recognized the look of desire in Yang's eyes as warm air from their jagged breaths collided in the thin strip of space that separated their lips - the same look was likely mirrored within her own eyes. When the girl began to lean closer, Blake's eyes fluttered shut, eager to lose herself in the warmth that was blanketing her.
The sound of a soft click had hardly registered in Blake's mind before the room was flooded in bright light. Both she and Yang instantly shot to their feet as their moment was shattered in favor of reality.
Squinting slightly from the sudden onset of light, Blake turned to find two girls standing in one of the doorways dressed in their robes - one holding a baseball bat while the other held what looked like a very, very menacing knife.
She felt her instinct to run kick in, but something kept her glued to the spot for just a second too long. And now that they had already seen her face, they would be able to identify her to police. She hadn't done anything wrong yet...she could get out of this with a simple breaking and entering charge - all she had to do was stay calm and play as if she were a mere thief too.
"Yang? What are you doing here?"
The brunette's question flipped any thoughts Blake had been having completely out of her head. She turned slowly towards the blonde, who now looked extraordinarily embarrassed.
"I was just...you know...checking out your new furniture? I thought maybe it would better at night."
"Oh for god's sake...just take the damn thing. I've tried to give it to you at least a dozen times already!" the girl with white hair said, voice flirting on the edge of pure annoyance.
"But what fun is that? Getting expensive things for free...that takes all the joy out of stealing," Yang replied, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.
"It should take all the joy out of stealing because you don't need to steal anymore!" the annoyed girl spat, raising the bat in her hand as if she would like nothing more than to throttle the blonde with it.
"Give her a break, Weiss…" the brunette piped in. "At least she's just stealing from us and not from other people…that we know of…"
Blake's eyes locked onto the girl with white hair - Weiss, the brunette had called her. That was her target, the girl she had been hired to kill. But there were too many people around now...too many innocent lives. Plus, from the way the brunette was holding that knife, it looked like she was more than adept at using it.
"Uh...but who are you?"
The brunette had finally singled her out, gazing at her curiously while Weiss narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
She opened her mouth to respond with a cleverly crafted lie, but was cut off by a voice from her right.
"She's here to kill you, Weiss."
She spun on the blonde in pure shock at the words she had just heard.
"So much for honor amongst thieves!" she directed towards Yang.
"I thought you were too good to be a mere thief taking 'silly items,'" the blonde responded with a smirk.
"Well, if you think about it, I steal lives...so, technically I'm a thief too."
As she trailed off, she directed her attention back to the two at the door, preparing herself to turn and flee or to defend herself based upon their reactions. But Weiss merely sighed, seemingly much more exhausted by the news than terrified by it.
"Another one, I see…" she said while the brunette took a small step forward in order to shield her from Blake's path - as if Blake would be foolish enough to try to attack when it was now three against one.
"Do you know who placed the contract?" the girl suddenly asked, directing her clear blue eyes directly towards Blake - showing no fear whatsoever.
"I don't...but I can find out."
She rarely tried to discover the identity of those that hired her - both for their safety and for her own. Plus, that took away some of the mystery behind the hit. In this case, she had imagined the man who had hired her just wanted to skip a few rungs of the corporate ladder or knock off a competitor.
"I'll pay you quadruple to take care of them for me instead."
Her jaw hit the floor at the proposal. Quadruple? That was...it was...well, she could retire several times over with that amount of money.
"I'll take your stunned silence as acceptance," the girl replied with a terse nod. "Now if you'll excuse us, we're going back to sleep. Yang, could you please show our guest out? Preferably through a doorway and not through a window this time...Also, I don't think it counts as successfully stealing something if you have to leave a window unlatched when you leave our house from dinner."
Blake stared in dumbfounded silence when the two girls made their way back out of the room, with the brunette turning back to wave at Yang before flipping the light switch back to 'off.'
"See ya, sis!" Blake heard called back down the hallway before more silence enveloped them.
Giving Blake an embarrassed grin, Yang motioned for Blake to follow her. She obligingly did so, still in a state of numb shock that prevented her from seeing any other option at this point. But after passing calmly through the dark hallways towards the front door - following a path that Yang clearly knew by heart - she had to ask the question burning at the tip of her tongue.
"WHY were you breaking into your own sister's house?"
Yang let out an embarrassed laugh before answering.
"Well you see...before Ruby went and got herself hitched to the richest girl in the entire world, we had to fight to scrape by. One of the ways we got things was by...taking them. I became quite good at it and actually miss it sometimes - the thrill of taking something that doesn't belong to you. Kind of an addiction, you see."
"And Weiss might say that she hates it, but she keeps buying all of these expensive things and placing them in 'impenetrable' safes that she makes me drool over. So I still try to pick up a few things here and there...just to keep my skills sharp. And if I take the from Weiss and Ruby, no one seems to get mad."
Blake was surprised at the blonde's candor in answering the question - freely admitting her faults.
After descending the massive master staircase, they stepped into the entryway, two stories tall with the giant front doorway greeting them at the opposite end. Crossing it with little more sound than the soft tapping of their shoes against the granite floor, they soon found themselves at their destination.
Yang reached out one hand to the door handle, but paused with her hand laying lightly upon the polished brass.
"So, why do you do...what you do?"
The girl seemed almost hesitant to ask, as if Blake might respond that she actually had an addiction to murder, too.
"I...it's the only thing I know...it's what I was trained for since I was very young and the only way I know to survive."
Answering the question honestly made her feel increasingly vulnerable, but, for some reason that she couldn't explain right now, she knew that she could trust the information with Yang.
"And will Weiss' money help you...survive?"
"With that amount of money, I'll be done for good."
The answer brought a huge smile to the blonde's face - which brought a smile to her face as well.
"So when you're done taking care of that...maybe you'd want to come back here...and see me sometime?"
Letting out a small huff, Blake could feel her heart beginning to speed up at the prospect of seeing the blonde again. She would love to be indignant and aloof, but the idea was far more thrilling to her than anything she had ever felt before.
"Sure - after all, someone's got to help you case this place quietly," she managed to respond coolly, keeping her eagerness in check for the time being.
Yang grinned at her answer before unexpectedly reaching forward and wrapping Blake in a strong hug. After initially stiffening at the gesture, the feeling of Yang's warm arms encircling her shoulders began to comfortably loosen her muscles, spreading contentment through her veins.
When Yang pulled away, Blake couldn't help a tiny frown from forming on her face - thinking that the contact had ended far too soon.
"Then I'll see you really soon!" the blonde responded with a goofy smile that nearly made Blake laugh out loud. "I'll make sure to leave the window open for you again."
For the first time ever, Blake made her way out of a target's house through the front door. And, even though she could have instantly disappeared into the shadows and removed herself from Yang's vision, she didn't. She stuck to the moonlight as long as possible - feeling the lilac gaze following her into the distance.
It wasn't until she was nearly a block from the house did she realize that her coat pocket felt a little heavier than usual. Quickly digging through the pocket, she smiled to herself when she pulled out the cellphone Yang had taken from her earlier.
The girl must have somehow managed to slip the device back into her pocket without her even noticing - quite a skillful feat, in Blake's eyes.
As she stared at the small device with a foolish grin frozen in place, she realized that the thief had stolen something else from her - something far more valuable and well-guarded than a simple disposable cellphone.
Something she had kept under lock and key for as long as she could remember.
Her heart.