Blake had to admit that this week was going pretty great so far. Yang had taken her on two dates over the last two days, one a pizza date at a place that Yang frequented at least once a week during high school and the other a nice picnic in a grassy clearing in the woods not far from her house. They'd both been cute, but rather standard, as far as dates went. That wasn't to say that Blake didn't like them, if anything she enjoyed the simplicity of this break.

Now it was Wednesday and Blake was sitting with Yang in her car outside of Patch High School, waiting for Ruby to get out of class. It was a half day for Ruby and she was supposed to be let out at about noon. However, much to Blake's dismay, Yang had insisted that they get there at 11:30 a.m, at the latest. Of course, once Blake saw how ridiculously long the lines of parents coming to pick up their kids were on this half day, Blake understood why Yang had insisted on getting there so early.

"Do you see that window, on the top floor, two to the left from the right edge?" Yang asked, pulling Blake out of her thoughts.

Blake scanned the top row of windows on the building. "The one with the turkey stickers in the window?"

"Yep! That was my 10th grade English classroom. I led a revolution in there when we did a dramatic reading of Romeo and Juliet, because the teacher wouldn't let me play Romeo."

Blake smirked. "How exactly did that go down?"

"It was the honors class and the honors English classes didn't have many boys in them," Yang said with a shrug. "There was only one boy and he didn't want to be Romeo, so I volunteered for it. Old homophobic pig of a teacher wouldn't let me at first, but I started arguing with him and before I knew it, the whole class was on my side. The kid who he assigned Romeo refused to read and I read every time instead. I got detention every day for a week, but the teacher eventually gave up." Yang smiled fondly at the memory. "Totally worth it."

"Detention, huh? How often did you land yourself in there?"

Yang went quiet for a moment. "Probably far too often for my own good."

"I can see why your father has concerns about the company you keep," Blake said with a smirk.

"Hey! I was a good kid!"

"Key word being was."

"Blakeeee," Yang groaned, leaning her head dramatically over towards Blake.

"I'm kidding," Blake responded, planting a kiss on the top of Yang's head. "Of course you're still a good person."

Yang sat back up straight before continuing, "I just liked to have fun and make people laugh from time to time. Unfortunately, the teachers usually weren't the ones laughing. They all knew I wasn't a bad kid though. A little odd, but not bad. Plus, I still did get into Beacon after all."

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some bribery involved on your part there."

Yang huffed, crossing her arms. "I did no such thing!"

"Kidding, Yang. I'm kidding."

"I know," she laughed. "I like to tease back sometimes too. Otherwise, where's the fun in that?"

Blake smirked deviously. "Oh yeah, you are pretty fun to tease."

Yang's face flushed bright red. "Not like that!"

"Oh, exactly like that."

"We won't be alone again until Sunday."

"Oh I know."

"You are the worst, Blake Belladonna."

"No, I'm not."

"No, you aren't."

"Good," Blake said with a smile, leaning across the gap and giving Yang a short kiss. "Can't be doing that for too long, your sister will be coming out soon."

Yang slumped back in her seat, feeling a bit defeated. "You're so getting it when we get back to Beacon."

"I get to have plenty of fun before that, don't you worry."

Yang groaned, dropping her head against the top of the wheel and leaving a rather devious looking Blake smirking in her passenger seat. She wasn't wrong. Yang knew Blake was going to have the time of her life teasing the hell out of her over the next couple days and Yang might just actually die before this week was over.

When the last bell of the day finally rang, Ruby was out of her seat in under a second, heading for the door to the classroom. She'd always been told she was fast, but it was usually in the context of sports or actual sprinting. People tended not to realize how quick she was in her everyday movements unless they spent a ton of time around her and paid attention to her.

That list was a whole two people long: Yang and Penny. Some days the fact that the list was so short upset Ruby, but most days, it was okay. Even if one of those people was her sister and the other her partner, she knew that they were both the greatest friends Ruby could ever ask for.

Ruby burst out the front doors of the school, one of the first kids to leave the building. Her eyes scanned the lines of cars, looking for her sister's car. Once she spotted it, she made a direct beeline towards it, hoping to get out of here fast enough to avoid all the other students and their parents.

Yang saw her approaching and waved, pressing a button in the door to unlock the backseat. Ruby opened the rear passenger side door, tossing in her backpack before climbing into the seat behind Blake.

"Hi," Ruby said, buckling her seatbelt. "Let's get out of here before the parents start getting crazy."

Yang knew well enough to get going as quickly as possible, moving out of the line of parked cars. "So, how was school?" she asked her younger sister as she drove towards the exit of the high school campus.

"Boring," Ruby groaned. "Typical half day and all that. Penny wasn't there, so I didn't have anyone to talk to all day. At least I got to text them for most of the day without any of the teachers caring about me having my phone out."

"That was the best part of half days," Yang said as she looked into the rear view mirror, allowing Ruby to catch the twinkle in her eye, "being able to be on your phone all day and getting away with it."

"Especially before a holiday," Blake agreed. She earned a look from both of the sisters. "What? High schoolers are the same everywhere, regardless of if the school is urban or rural."

Yang shrugged. "Yeah, guess I didn't really think of it like that."

"I'm just glad today's over and it's finally Thanksgiving break!" Ruby exclaimed, slumping into her seat.

"Just wait till next year and you'll be getting a full week off," Yang responded with a smirk.

"Oh, I can't wait! It'll be weird not being in Patch, though."

"You'll get used to it, leaving where you grew up for the first time," Blake said with a shrug. "It's scary, but you learn to find your comfort zone in a new place."

"You moved from the capital, right?" Ruby asked.

Blake nodded. "I moved around a lot in the capital, but only once or twice did I ever end up outside of the city until college. Took me a couple weeks, but I found where I was comfortable." Blake glanced over at Yang, her thoughts briefly lingering on the role Yang had played in helping her get to that point.

"I sure hope the same will go for me too," Ruby said with a sigh that drew Blake back out of her thoughts.

"Sure it will, Rubes," Yang assured her. "Beacon is way different from Patch, in terms of the people. You'll find your friend group, don't worry. That's something for much later, though. Right now, it's time to be happy! It's the long weekend and we're headed to the Oak!"

Ruby smiled from ear to ear. "Yeah we are!"

"The Oak?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's the nickname of the diner I told you about," Yang explained. "Its full name is the Oakland Family Diner, but everyone just calls it the Oak."

"Ah, okay. How far away is it?"

Yang held up a single finger, waiting for a light to turn green. Once she was allowed to, she turned the corner and moved her finger to point at the plaza up the street they were headed down. "Right there!"

"Thank goodness, I'm starving!" Ruby exclaimed, her stomach letting out a huge growl to emphasize her point. Both Blake and Yang laughed at the extended sound of Ruby's stomach, which Ruby took in stride. "See, even my stomach agrees! It's time for the Xiao Long-Rose tradition of the pre-Thanksgiving meal!"

The Oakland Family Diner was a quaint place in one of the few plazas in downtown Patch. It was a staple of Patch culture, Yang thought, especially for high schoolers. Most sports teams had meals at the Oak after important games and there were always huge crowds after school concerts and plays. There was also the typical crowds on the last day of school and on the day before winter break.

For whatever reason, however, the Oak did not draw the crowds of high school students on the day before Thanksgiving. Yang had never fully been able to figure out why, but she was certainly okay with it. Less people on that day meant that Yang could keep up the pre-Thanksgiving tradition that she'd established with Ruby all those years ago.

Yang could only wonder what they were going to do next year, when they all lived closer to Beacon. She would gladly drive Ruby down to Patch on the day before Thanksgiving just to go to the Oak if they couldn't find a suitable replacement near Beacon. She was pretty sure they'd manage to find something good, though.

"So," Blake said, pulling Yang out of her thoughts, "Ruby. I've been dying to ask this since I got to Patch."

Ruby placed down her glass of chocolate milk, suspiciously raising an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Yang could see the flash of fear in her sister's eyes, as if Blake might know something that no one had fully addressed. She didn't think Blake would mention anything without talking to Yang first, but her heart was racing a little bit all the same.

"Do you have any embarrassing stories about Yang growing up?" Blake asked with a mischievous, giddy smile.

Ruby burst out laughing, a look of relief on her face. "Oh, you can bet on that. I have so many stories about Yang."

Yang extended her leg under the table, giving her younger sister a gentle kick. "I swear, Ruby..."

"No, no, I want to hear them!" Blake exclaimed, smirking. "Do tell, Ruby."

"Well," Ruby began with another giggle, trying to avoid the daggers Yang was glaring at her, "one time, when we were little, Yang tried to bring Zwei to school."

Yang let out a low laugh. "Okay, that one's a good one."

"You brought a dog to school?" Blake asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yep! Nearly got away with it too. I didn't get caught until last period."

"Last period? How old were you?"

Yang thought for a moment before smiling sheepishly. "I, uh, plead the fifth?"

"Thirteen," Ruby said with a smirk.

"Thirteen? You brought a dog to school when you were thirteen?" Blake asked, half amused, half shocked.

Yang crossed her arms and pouted. "Ruby was having a hard time adjusting to middle school, okay? I snuck Zwei into my backpack so he could pop out on the bus and make her happy. I was in 8th grade and dumb and I didn't exactly think it through beyond that. I had to hide a dog all day."

"I'm a little amazed you nearly made it the whole day, honestly." Blake shook her head and sighed. "I can imagine you doing something like that even now, honestly."

"Oh, for sure," Ruby laughed. "Yang hasn't changed that much, especially the dumb part."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Ruby said as she held her hands up in defense. "Yang's a little less dumb now, maybe just stupid."

"Ruby!" Yang tried to kick her sister under the table, but all her foot connected with was the bottom of the booth, as Ruby was now sitting cross-legged. "Oww," Yang groaned.

Ruby stuck out her tongue. "Point proven."

Blake placed a hand on Yang's shoulder. "I asked your sister for embarrassing stories about you, not for you to make new ones in the middle of the diner."

Yang smirked and rolled her eyes, rubbing her foot with one hand. "Yeah, yeah. Keep 'em coming, Rubes, I see no escape here."

"We were homeschooled for a couple years, before our Mom died," Ruby began again, "and we used to go on these like, field trips, with a bunch of other kids who were also homeschooled in the area. Now, Blake, I want you to imagine the most annoying, spoiled kid on the planet."

"Okay, yeah. I'm imagining them."

"Well, that kid always happened to join us on our field trips and Yang and I hated him," Ruby hissed. "Even though we complained to our parents about him, they still made us go. Socialization with other children and all that. However, Yang came up with this little game to put this kid back in his place."

Blake rose an eyebrow at Yang, who was innocently sipping her drink, avoiding eye contact with her girlfriend and her sister.

"What did you do?" She ended up asking, looking back and forth between the two sisters.

"I told him that only the best kids were allowed to touch the really expensive stuff," explained Yang and Blake let out a small groan. "So we took turns touching paintings, delicate tapestries, mummy remains, and all that jazz without being caught by our parents."

"Which was all fun and games," Ruby added, before wincing at the memory. "Until the time Yang did get caught and got us all kicked out of the science museum because she licked the rock exhibit."

"That bratty little shit was doing it too!" Yang threw her hands up in defence.

Blake burst into a fit of giggles. "Dork," she chided affectionately.

"Oh and then there was the time in high school when she got two weeks worth of detention for rollerblading through the hallways in a chicken costume."

"Yang, why?" Blake asked flatly.

"You want the real reason or what I told the principal?"

Blake's eyes narrowed. "The real reason."

"Well," Yang began, giving Ruby a quick glance, "you know how at high schools, whenever there's drama, it's all people talk about until there's new drama?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, Ruby was the center of attention for some rather negative drama and I decided that the best way to get the attention off her was to do something really stupid and get the whole school talking about that instead."

"I mean," Ruby shrugged, "it worked for a bit. It at least drew the negative part of the attention away. No one's really forgotten, people just don't say anything about it anymore. Or to me in general, really."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Blake said softly. "I was an outcast for most of high school too. You have Penny at least, right?"

Ruby nodded. "And some of the kids at the GSA will talk to me sometimes. It's high school. It sucks. But there's life after that, you know?"

"A girl wise beyond her years," Yang said before she slurped down the last bits of her near empty drink.

"Yang, we're in public," Ruby groaned.

"What? I wanted all of my drink."

Blake rolled her eyes and smirked. "You know, most of these so-called 'embarrassing' stories seem to mostly revolve around Yang trying to be a good sister."

Ruby thought for a moment. "Huh, I guess you're right. I never really put that together."

Yang smirked, leaning back into her seat. "Yep, that's me! Older sister Yang, to the rescue!"

"You never put that together either, did you?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yang's gaze dropped. "No."

"That's what I thought."

"Ladies," the waitress interrupted, plates of food in hand. "I have a garbage burger?"

Yang raised her hand. "Right here."

"Tuna melt?"

"Over here," Blake called out.

"And lastly, the Oakland Burger."

Ruby nodded as the waitress put the last plate down in front of her.

"Enjoy!" she said as she whisked away Yang's empty glass and moved to another table.

"I still can't believe you got something called the garbage burger," Blake said with a sigh as she looked at Yang's huge, messy burger.

"It's just a name! It just has everything on it! Like, everything you could ever want on a burger."

Blake shook her head. "I know, I know. Still doesn't make the concept any less gross."

"Listen, I gotta get some good burgers in before we go back to Beacon. You know how gross those blended burgers are!"

"What are blended burgers?" Ruby asked.

"Devil spawn," Yang grumbled, before biting into her burger.

Blake rolled her eyes. "They're these burgers that are like, 40% beef, 60% mushroom."

"What," Ruby said, deadpan.

Yang quickly swallowed her bite. "I told you! Devil spawn!"

"They save money and water and are better for the environment," Blake said with a shrug.

Yang put a hand up over her mouth, blocking Blake from seeing her lips, and whispered very loudly, "Blake doesn't really like red meat."

Ruby gasped, dramatically putting a hand over her heart in feigned offense. "Yang, you must break up with her immediately."

"Ha ha." Blake shook her head with a smile.

"Those aren't even burgers at that point! Just mushroom monstrosities!" Ruby exclaimed, exasperated, as she looked at her own burger in shock.

"Better stock up while you still can," Yang said, raising her burger back up to her mouth.

"You know it!" Ruby picked up her own burger, taking a large bite out of it.

The table turned silent as the three girls ate, with only occasional bursts of bickering from the two sisters. Blake joined in once or twice, taking Ruby's side and teasing Yang.

She had to admit, it was incredibly easy for her to fit into Yang's family dynamic. Blake had been exposed to plenty of different dynamics over the years and had never quite found her place in families with other kids her age. Yang, of course, had made things different. Yang made sure she felt welcome and accommodated and that whatever needs she had were met.

Yang had made sure that Tai knew Blake liked tuna. Yang had made sure Blake got invited to the annual tradition of pre-Thanksgiving meal at the Oak. Yang had planned the last two days to be filled with adorable dates and family bonding time as well. Yang had made sure Blake was comfortable on the occasions that she was exposed to Zwei, which she was getting a lot better at.

Yang was doing everything perfectly, and Blake was very happy.