RE: Uncertain
JustClem
Summary: Yang finds herself in an odd predicament after she miscalculated and gave Blake too many catnips.
...
There was no moon shining above them, but there were stars greeting them, gentle and shy. Yang smiled, and didn't look at them long. Her eyes fell to Blake, who sat in front of her and looked dashing in that enigmatic way of hers.
"So, how are you enjoying the date so far?" Yang asked, bringing the wine glass near her mouth. There wasn't wine in it—it was grape juice—or any alcohol, for that matter. She got the feeling Blake wouldn't like it if she got too drunk, especially on their first date.
"Oh? Is this a date?"
Yang gave her a grin and a raise of the eyebrow. "I mean, I hope so." She tilted her head. Her blonde locks swayed to the side as they followed the motion. "All of this effort—" she gestured around them—"and you think this is just us gals being pals? I'm wounded."
She was only half-joking. Yang had put in effort for this one night. She'd secured an empty balcony at one of the higher levels of Beacon's towers, a place away from prying eyes, and called in a favor to help her set up the flowers, candles, a small roundtable and two comfy chairs, and these wide variants of meal before them.
She'd even picked the flowers herself. They weren't your typical roses or lilies, but she was proud of herself for it.
"Those flowers," Blake said, and Yang realised Blake must've followed her line of sight. Yang smiled at Blake's furrowed eyebrows. "Are they intentional?"
Yang's eyes widened. "Whatever do you mean, Blakey?" Her voice was higher and more pronounced than normal. She inched closer to Blake and blinked, languid. Her mouth formed an 'o' shape. "Are you referring to the fact that I chose those nightshade flowers, also known as the belladonnas, on purpose?" Her lips twitched and threatened to break her composure. Blake looked aghast. "For what reason?"
Their noses touched, and they breathed the same air. Yang swallowed, and wondered if, perhaps, she'd pushed this too far. This was only the first date. Plus, it had taken her weeks of prodding to get Blake to even agree to it.
Then Blake pushed her with pressing her index finger to her forehead whilst she deadpanned, and Yang knew all was well and swell.
Yang could see Blake in a hard fight with herself to keep her face neutral. "Forget I asked."
She snickered, and toned down her snickering. She rested her elbows on the red-clothed table, and balanced her chin above her fingers. They'd not dressed themselves for this occasion and wore their combat outfits, but that didn't mean Blake looked any less beautiful.
It wasn't her gold and cat-like eyes that made you feel like prey, or her sharp, porcelain features, or her silky hair, or her graceful build, or any physical attributes that made Yang fall in love with her. Sure, that played an attribute, but there was more to it, a certain quality to it that defined Blake as who she was more than any adjectives or clever comparisons.
A certain 'Blake-ness', if you would.
Yang tried to ignore the way her chest buzzed with happiness and nervousness, and she pulled a cheeky grin. "I mean, did you expect anything less? I wanted this date to be special."
Blake didn't roll her eyes at her cheesiness. She responded in an equal forwardness, one ear flicking. "It is special, Yang. Thank you."
Yang blinked. Ignoring how cute that ear-flick was, she asked, "For what?"
Blake's smile widened, yet she never gave an answer, digging into her meal. Not knowing what else to do, Yang did the same.
She'd really outdone herself with the meal. Sure, she hadn't cooked it or helped cook it, but she'd made calls after calls in hopes of finding the best. Looks like all those calls weren't for naught.
"Is it me, or does this sandwich taste weird?" Yang heard her own chuckle - low and guttural. It sounded akin to a supervillain's chuckle, and a smile tugged itself at her lips and creased the edges of her eyes. "Yang, what did you do?"
Oh, what didn't she do? "Relax, Blake." Yang unclenched the fork and knife so she could raise her hands up. Those yellow eyebrows were back in motion again, waggling and suggesting like there was no tomorrow. "I just slipped in a little bit of kitty weed in your meal."
Blake looked like she'd told her magic existed in Remnant, and so did Gods. "You what?"
"I swear I didn't put in that much. Only, like, a couple of 'em." So there probably was a small possibility that maybe it was a little more than a couple, but so what? Not like it would make a difference. Blake needed to chillax. And this was the best way to do so. "It's just that you've been looking kinda stressed recently, and, well, you deserve to have a break every once in a while."
The honesty slipped out of her mouth without consent, and Yang thought her Aura was activated, because it was hot, only to realize, whilst touching her cheek, this had nothing to do with Auras, and more to do with her blushing.
She cleared her throat. My, my. The badass Yang Xiao-Long? Blushing? Tsk. What a preposterous idea! Almost as ridiculous as there being Gods in Remnant.
If Ruby and her dad were watching her, the teasing wouldn't end even after she'd gotten wrinkles from old age.
Yang didn't realise the unusual silence until the crickets chirped and the gust of wind waved.
Just as she looked up, Blake jumped out of her seat and into the table, smashing the leftovers of their dinner aside. Yang had no time to react to because Blake leaned in until their noses touched, her eyes shimmering with a kind of glossiness Yang hadn't seen before.
"Blake?" Her voice was so squeaky and high she sounded like Ruby.
Blake leaned closer, and forced Yang to lean back and place her hands on the edges of her seat to balance herself. Yang tried - scrambled, really - to find words would be of use. She found none.
"Yang," Blake said, voice husky in a way that melted Yang, "you're so… bright."
"Huh?" Bright? What?
Maybe this wasn't leading to where she'd thought it was leading.
(After all. Blake's hands hadn't tried to roam around her. They stayed politely afar.)
Blake's head tilted to the side, and a wide smile formed. "You're the opposite of the stars, and the moon, and me."
Yang's fluster disappeared. A scowl creased in its place. "Of course I'm not the moon. I'm a freaking person. Blake-" her eyes trailed to the wasted food on the floor "-did you really destroy our dinner just so…"
That was when she saw it:
Pupils, too dilated to be normal.
And that was when she knew.
And all she could think of was:
Oooooh, boy.
Blake giggled, and put her hands over her mouth, which didn't help subdue her giggles. "Has anyone ever told you that you're beautiful?"
No. People always called her a bombshell, an absolute hottie, a cutie, a pretty blonde bitch, but never beautiful.
Yang gulped, and grabbed Blake's shoulders with hesitant hands. "Um, yeah. Maybe you should lie down for a bit, yeah, Blakey?"
Blake didn't comply on the first nor second tug, but she relented after a couple of "please"s and fewer "do it for me?"s.
Yang cringed and tip-toed around the mess of food. She coaxed Blake to do the same. It wasn't that bad, but her heart broke either way. All of those calls, that effort, only for Blake to push it away like how a cat with a flat face would push a valuable diamond down from a table with naught a glance.
"Just so you know," Yang said, "I expected you to be tipsy, not high off your ass."
Blake snorted and stumbled. Yang's hands lowered until they held Blake's wrists. Blake, dizzy, leaned into Yang's chest, her breath tickling Yang's collarbone, like feathers. "Did you really expect those precious kitty weed of yours to work the same way as human alcohol?"
Yang's skin was in a fluster, yet she found herself shuddering.
Weiss paced around her room. Her worry wasn't evident in her face. Rather, it was evident in the unusually uncontrolled steps; the way her fingers fidgeted with each other; and, most notably, the way she glanced at the clock on the wall every so often.
Ruby couldn't blame her. She, who sat on her bed with her headphones down on her neck and her weapons magazine abandoned, too was worried. She wouldn't have been if it were only Yang who wasn't returning her calls and hadn't returned hours after curfew, but both she and Blake?
However, she wasn't about to let Weiss implode out of anxiousness. "Calm down, Weiss." She smiled in faux cheer. "I'm sure they'll be back any minute now."
Her cheerful smile was of no use. Weiss refused to look at her and acknowledge it. She paced, and turned, and paced again. Round and round she went. "They've never been this late before. Yang told us it was a study session. Why did I believe that? She's a buffoon - she never studies!"
Ruby wanted to counter to that argument, and say that Yang wasn't that dumb, but well…
That would be lying.
"I'm sure nothing happened. They must've lost track of time." And even if they were to find themselves in some sort of trouble - or, more likely, Yang were to cause trouble and Blake got roped into it - they were not only adults, but huntresses. They were more than capable of self-protection.
Though, it was cute to see Weiss act this way. It showed that she cared about them as much as they cared about her.
Weiss sucked in a breath, and faced up at her. "Oh, no. I'm not worried for them. Not at all. I'm worried about me."
"You?"
"If the school staff found out they're still out after curfew, then they'd be in trouble, which means the whole team will be in trouble, which means I'll-" she tapped her chest "-be in trouble!"
… Ah. Nevermind, then.
Ruby jumped down and landed perfectly on her feet. The motion seemed to surprise Weiss because she shrieked and took a step back.
"Be careful!"
Ruby pretended she hadn't heard her. "Do you really think Yang and Blake are out on a study session?" And not a more plausible reason as to why hormonal teenagers who'd given each other googly eyes for months would be out this late.
Weiss looked perplexed. She eyed Ruby with a twinge of curiosity. "What are you-"
And that was when the door opened, revealing a flustered, irritated, exhausted Yang, half-carrying a giggly, dopey Blake.
"Can I get some help, please?"
Blake couldn't hear much of anything. She didn't want to, too. All she wanted to hear was Yang's honey-sweet voice, animated and full of emotions and convictions.
Speaking of, where was she? She was by Blake's side a moment ago, so she couldn't be that far off, could she? And why was she on a bed? She wasn't tired. It was the opposite, actually. She felt electric. She needed to move, to do something, try something new, do anything, try everything.
It was hard to follow most of the team's conversation. At one point, Yang defended that she didn't know catnips were cat drugs, and Weiss commented that of course it was cat drugs, how could she not know? And even if she didn't know, it still wasn't a good idea to try and slip them in without Blake knowing.
"It's okay, girls," Blake said, or at least tried to. She didn't know if the words from her tongue traveled out of her mouth. She propped herself up with her elbows and stared at where she thought her friends were. "I'm not that drunk."
"Blake, you can't even stand on your own," Yang said.
Blake frowned as she heard Ruby's giggle. She too could stand on her own. Yang was being ridiculous. To prove herself, Blake pushed herself off of the bed, only for the ground to slide and sway. She dropped back to the bed and ignored their stares.
Okay, so maybe she was a little drunk.
Blake gave up and let her head loll back to the embrace of the pillow. "Is it weird that I want to adopt a kitten?" she asked, and thought the question over. "Not really a kitten, more like, I don't know, crocodiles. I mean, they're basically the same as kittens, but still."
Why was it that she disliked to speak? People called her monotone, a mistress of a few words, and they linked that with her enigmatic past, shrouded in darkness and little details.
It had nothing to do with who she once was, and more to do with her not knowing what to say. Yet now, words invaded her mind, like music notes, chaotic and too much to comprehend yet fun to listen, wonderful to ponder, and Blake wished everyone else could hear it.
She opened her mouth, yet her tongue froze when she heard the clicking sound of the closing door.
The room quieted.
The world quieted.
An epiphany pulled her into a lighter, brighter world. It pulled her to her lighter, brighter self. Eureka - was that what this was?
Blake smiled, happier than ever. She and Yang were alone at last.
Yang gulped, knowing that it was irrational of her to be worried. It was logical of Ruby and Weiss to fend off to try and get any medicine they could find in hopes of bettering Blake's state. Plus, the Ice Queen ironically needed to cool off, and Ruby was good at calming her down.
Still, though. They'd left her alone with Blake. And while Yang normally wouldn't have a problem with this - she'd be delighted, in fact - Blake's state and the way she'd been acting towards Yang had dampened any bit of excitement.
It wasn't that she had any problems with Blake, per se. Blake was a cool gal! She was witty, fun in that quiet way of hers, attentive, and would crack the most hilarious of jokes when you least expected it.
It was just that, well…
"Finally," a voice said, similar to a lioness' purr, too close to her ear for it not to cause shivering. "Alone at last."
… Blake was acting kind of weird. And not the fun kind.
Blake's fingers ghosted over her neck, and Yang's exposed skin burned. Yang bit her lip, and she had to remind herself that this wasn't really Blake moving, touching her, and talking to her. This was a mistake.
Yang grasped at Blake's hands in hopes of stopping her, her touch gentle. She tugged, to no avail. She tried to laugh off the tension brewing in the room. "C'mon, now, Blakey. We have school tomorrow."
She prayed Blake was too incoherent to notice that-
"Tomorrow's Saturday, Yang."
-... well, nevermind, then.
"S-still." She coughed, and turned to face Blake, only for the heat in her cheeks to intensify at how adorable Blake looked. All thoughts in her head ceased, and all she wanted was to press her lips against Blake. Blake's smile told her she knew this as well.
"What's the matter?"
You, she thought. You is the matter. "I'm just tired."
"Really? You? Tired? At, what, eight?" Actually, it was nearing midnight. "My, my. Has the wild and rambunctious Yang Xiao Long gone soft?"
The prideful, more instinctual part of Yang wanted to grab her by the arms, pin her to the nearest wall, lean in, and say, "Me? Soft? Never," with a voice more akin to a growl, and watch as Blake melt under her.
But all it took for her to shove those thoughts down in the 'No-No' bin was how dilated Blake's pupils were.
Yang stepped away in means of keeping a distance from her out of respect. "I'm gonna get you some water."
Blake frowned and opened her mouth, but Yang excused herself before one word could be said.
"Let us be quick, Ruby," said Weiss, her voice drowned out by the sharp clicking sounds of her heels, echoing in the great halls of the academy. "The pharmacy closes at midnight, as far as I recall."
She checked the time at her scroll, and found that they had an hour or so to make the trip to the pharmacy, get the essential medicines needed, before returning to Beacon - all without letting anyone, especially not Beacon's staff, knowing they'd ever left in the first place.
She looked at Ruby, trailing not too far behind, out of curiosity. Ruby had been quiet, which was unusual.
"Is something to matter?" Weiss asked, taking a moment to look around and confirm that, yes, no one saw us, before opening the door. She was assaulted by the breezy night air.
She heard Ruby sucking in a breath in surprise, and exhaling in a clipped manner. "Um, no. It's just that, well, I, uh, I'm just wondering how you can, like, walk in those high heels this late at night." Ruby frowned in contemplation. "Now that I think about it, you even fight in those heels! And I never saw you trip, not even once!" Ruby's eyes found hers and she broke into a chuckle, the pink in her cheeks brightening. "I don't know, I guess I'm just kinda awestruck by how amazing you are."
Weiss was glad Ruby wasn't a faunus. It wasn't that she had a sort of prejudice against them - not anymore, not since she realised how stupid and wrong the notion was - it was that faunus had night visions, and if Ruby were a faunus, that would mean she'd be able to see how flushed Weiss was.
She wanted to respond with something witty, something facetious, but no words came out of her mouth, and all she did was keep staring at Ruby, who stared back with that clumsy smile of hers, until she didn't stare anymore.
Ruby shivered, and shivered again. She tried to huddle her cloak closer to her, yet shivered anyway.
On her seventh shiver, Weiss had enough. "Ruby."
"Yeah?"
Weiss took off her jacket, and extended it to Ruby, who stared at her with wide eyes, as though she'd seen magic. "If you aren't going to take it, I'm leaving you alone."
Ruby blinked, blinked again, and took the jacket, taking a moment to look at it, trail her fingers over it. The notion stirred something in Weiss. Something she was unused to. Something warm.
Then Ruby started, looking back at her, eyes wide. "Wait, aren't you cold?"
"The summers in Atlas are colder than the winters in this pigsty." It didn't matter if Weiss had started to adapt to the climate of Vale, and therefore had a lower tolerance to cold than before. Not in the slightest.
Weiss walked away before Ruby could think, and, with a prompted "wait, hold up!", Ruby followed.
They arrived shortly after.
Weiss chose the pills carefully.
"Do we really need all these medicines?" Ruby asked, kneeling down to better look at the basket equipped with pills slung over Weiss' arm.
"I do not believe so, no, but it's better for us not to take chances. Blake is our teammate, and she deserves to be given the best treatment."
"I mean, she's not even that sick, right? She's just drunk." A pause. "Does that even count as being sick? I'm pretty sure it doesn't. Otherwise Yang would need to go to the hospital 'cuz of how often she gets sick."
Perhaps not, although- "She is unwell."
Weiss expected Ruby to agree with her, or laugh and say something she considered to be witty but was actually stupid, but all she received was silence.
Something in Weiss told her not to look. Something like instinct. But instincts were for animals, and Weiss was no animal, so she turned, and she looked, and she regretted not listening to her animalistic instinct.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"Yes?"
"Can I say something sort of crazy?"
"May, Ruby."
"May I say that I kiss you?"
Why are they taking so long?
Yang downed her third glass of cold water in too little gulps, and glanced down at her Scroll. It had only been three minutes, but that was too long of a time for anyone to prepare a glass of water.
She would never admit it, but she was hiding. Hiding from Blake. Hiding from that look on her face, unrestrained, unfiltered. There was something in her, something raw and deeper than Yang's airheaded mind could understand, and Yang didn't want to touch it, didn't want to understand it. She was too afraid.
But she knew she couldn't stay here for long. It would be suspicious for her to do so, and she was certain Blake would try to do something unbecoming of her.
Yang blinked, brought the glass to her lips again, only to find it empty. She looked down, frowned, and glanced at her Scroll again. Only a minute had passed. She swallowed, and told herself it was about time she stopped stalling, and returned to their room—
—only to find Blake standing on one foot, at the edge of the window, tilting, leaning down purposefully and with a sway.
"Blake!"
Blake giggled as Yang put her arms around her waist and pulled, and whoa, it was a cute giggle, but damn it, now wasn't the time! Yang landed flat on her ass, with Blake on top of her, her back pressing against Yang's chest.
"Yaaang." Blake was pouting. Pouting! "Why'd you do that?"
"Why would I– Blake, pardon my language, but what the fuck?"
"I had my wings ready." Blake sighed, and turned to face Yang, grabbing her shoulders as balance. "And now they're gone again."
"Blake, you're not a bird faunus."
A pause. "Oh, right. I knew that."
Despite or maybe because of it, Yang snorted, leaning forward, tightening her grip on Blake's waist. She could sense Blake's eyes looking down at her, confused and amused, and chuckled. Her chuckle turned into a full-blown laughter, and it was muffled by Blake's stomach.
Blake laughed alongside her.
Something about the room, and the world, changed. It had to do with the moon brightening, the clouds seizing away, and the breeze causing the window to slowly shut itself.
Yang believed it might have something to do with she and Blake themselves.
"Alright, alright," Yang said, pushing away a strand of hair from her face, and pulling Blake closer. "You've had a long night, Blakey. Time to go to bed."
Blake seemed to gain some of her sobriety, as she had little trouble standing up and getting to bed. She still needed Yang's guidance, but it was still leagues better than when they'd arrived in their room.
It's either that, Yang thought, or she's so used to being drunk she relearns how to walk in her state, which, honestly, would be pretty impressive. A more rational person would call it stupid, but not Yang "Never Not Irrational" Xiao Long.
Yang awkwardly tried to pull the covers over Blake, only for Blake to say that she was an ex-terrorist, and she did not need to be tucked in like a child, then hiccuped and sneezed, and admitted that perhaps it might be in everyone's best interest if she were to be covered in sheets. Maybe.
Yang did as told, and tried to pull herself back and away from Blake so she could get some shut-eye herself, only for something to grab her wrist, its claws clutching it and keeping her at bay.
Yang looked back.
Blake didn't look at all lucid.
Yet she looked more open than she'd ever looked.
"Yang?"
Something about the way she said it held back Yang's attempt to brush Blake off-handedly, say that she was really tired, and it'd be in everyone's best interest if they hit the lights. "Yeah?"
"Do you love me?"
Badump, said Yang's heart, feeble and craving for a yes, for a definitely, for a do you feel the same way?
Badump, said Yang's heart, confused, thrilled, scared, and joyous. Celebrating while stepping in No Man's Land.
Badump.
And Blake pulled Yang, so Yang was leaning over Blake, her legs on both side of Blake's thigh, skin against skin, hot breath against a cool one.
Badump.
And one hand hovered from Yang's scalp, down to her cheek, then jawline, airy and smooth, while the other traced numbing, hypnotizing circular patterns on her bicep.
Badump.
And Blake tried to coax her into the most magical kiss.
Badump.
But Yang stayed where she was.
Badump.
"Why won't you kiss me, Yang?"
Badump.
The air was humid. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was she that was humid, and the air was perfectly dry, and boringly stale.
Yang licked her lips and swallowed her throat, which was drier than before she'd downed three glasses of water.
Kiss her! Kiss her, damn it!
And perhaps it would be a more exciting night were she to grab Blake's head and force her lips against Yang's own, letting her instinct take over and giving Blake an enjoyable right for the night. It would be fun to command Blake to make all sorts of noises, and make all sorts of moves. Yang would love to figure out what makes her tick, and exploit that tick, exploit it to the best of it, the very edge of it, until there was nothing left to exploit.
Perhaps, in a more fantastical, whimsical world, that would be the reality of the situation, and those would be the actions she'd take.
But not here. Not now. Not in this reality.
And not with Blake the way she was.
Badump.
"I do love you, it's true. And maybe… Maybe I should've done something sooner, not be a coward." Yang pulled herself away, slow in her movements, cautious in her words. Her eyes never left Blake's. "As flattered as I may be, Blake, I can't accept your confession, even if they are the truth. Not with the way you are, right now."
"Sleepy?"
Yang chuckled, rueful. "High as a kite."
"Oh." Blake blinked. "Alright."
And that was that.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"It's my idea, Ruby. Of course it's a good idea."
Ruby didn't think so, but didn't want to argue with Weiss. She planted her back to the brick wall of the dormitory entrance. Her head tilted as she looked around. She needed to make sure it was empty before they could proceed their sneaky journey back to their room.
Her body stopped moving when the sound of footsteps made itself known. With her hand, she motioned Weiss, who was behind her, to do so as well.
Weiss mouthed a question of who it was, and Ruby shrugged. Ruby waited until the footsteps were gone, and waited an extra 7 seconds afterwards before proceeding.
"I just don't think it's that believable."
"What do you mean it's not believable? We went out to get bananas because of important, personal reasons, and we forgot about the curfew, so we decided to try and find more bananas because of precautionary reasons."
"... But why bananas, though?"
"Because they ran out of avocados. Duh."
Right. Yeah. Okay. Makes sense.
They encountered no problems. And while what they encountered when they opened the door to their room wasn't a problem, it was also a not not problem.
Unlike Weiss, Yang's worry was plain in her face as she paced around the room. It's in the way her eyebrows dance up and down. In the way her mouth mutters words nonsensical to anyone other than her. In how tight her jaw is. In how often her eyes dart around.
In short: Yang paced around the room, worry evident in her face.
She didn't even realise Ruby and Weiss had unceremoniously slammed the door open. She kept pacing in round circles with so much anxiety in her those footsteps of hers would leave burn marks on the carpet.
Ruby looked at Weiss, silently asking, "Um, what is going on?" with wide eyes that gestured between Yang and Weiss.
Weiss gave her a glare that said, "Don't look at me! She's your sister!" in return, yet was the first to address Yang by clearing her throat. "Yang, may I ask why you're pacing?"
Ruby gave her The Look. Pacing? Who even uses that word anymore?
Yang didn't seem to listen, so Ruby forced herself to chuckle. "Yeah, Yang. Why're you so heated?" This time, it was Weiss who gave her The Look. Yang's steps didn't falter. She made no indication that she'd listened, or cared about that pun. And that meant a lot, considering how madly in love Yang was with puns. "Yo, Yang. Is everything okay?" To better make sure Yang noticed her, Ruby stepped in front of her, only for Yang to crash right into her. "Whoa, hey, easy there," she said as she pushed Yang off.
Yang was blinking down at her, her eyes baggy and wide. "Ruby? When did you—" She shook her head and bent her knees to be eye-level with Ruby, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Rubes! You gotta help me out here! It's code rainbow, dude! Code! Rainbow!"
Behind her, Ruby heard Weiss uttering a low code rainbow? in such an intense bewilderment.
Ruby gazed back at Weiss, before Yang started to push and pull at her, and she had to concede. "Okay, okay! I get it!"
"Do you?" Yang squinted down at her.
"Yes," said Weiss, deadpan in her voice. "Do you, Ruby Rose?"
Ruby's cheeks burned. She shrugged out of Yang's grasp and planted herself in the middle of the room so she could look at Yang and Weiss levelly. "Can everyone please just calm down?"
"No!" Yang and Weiss said, simultaneously. Oddly enough, after they screamed that, they looked at each other and began to visibly calm down.
Okay. Okay, she got this. She was team leader, after all. She had to have control over herself and her team members.
It didn't matter at all that one was her older sister, and the other was her potential girlfriend.
"Yang." Ruby pointed at her direction. "Tell me everything."
So, Yang did.
And when she ended telling them everything, Ruby and Weiss were both on Weiss' bed, sitting down, gaping up at her, while Yang hadn't moved an inch, too nervous to do so, and for good reasons.
"Wow."
Yang glared at Ruby. "Is that all you can say?"
Yeah. Pretty much. Luckily, Weiss was there to rescue her. "It's certainly a story, Yang. I admire you for holding back."
Yang blinked at Weiss. "Huh?"
"It's clear that you have feelings for her." Yang's blush proved the accuracy of Weiss' statement. Weiss raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, looking at Yang up and down. "I'm impressed. Some people would just kiss her right then and there."
Yang's shoulders stiffened, and her arms raised in no particular motion. "Wha–? No! No way! She wasn't– It wasn't– I'd never do that to her!"
"I know." Weiss smiled, and looked at Ruby. Ruby looked at Weiss, and the way she was smiling, then at Yang.
Ruby didn't get it, not until Weiss subtly nudged her and Ruby realized how red Yang's cheeks were. No, scratch that! Her entire face was blushing!
This means…
Ruby's smile was a reflection of Weiss'.
"Don't worry, Yang!" Ruby grinned. "We know what to do!"
Yang seemed apprehensive. She was probably weirded out by their smiles. She squinted her eyes. "Really?"
"Correct," said Weiss whilst nodding. "We know exactly how to fix your problem."
Too lost and distressed to do anything else, Yang accepted, and leaned in as Ruby and Weiss spoke in a whisper, mindful of Blake, who never stirred in her bed.
Blake stirred with heavy eyes, drool on her mouth, and warmth of comfort surrounding her body in the form of a blanket.
Blake halted in her stir.
She never once slept with a blanket. She found it impractical if someone were to break into their room at night and she had to fight that person. She knew it was paranoia, but she couldn't help herself—with her being an ex-terrorist, and all.
Blake also had a good rest.
It had been a long time since she had a good rest.
She'd forgotten what a nice feeling it was.
Blake smiled to herself, and let her eyelids droop back down and sleep take her.
The second time Blake woke up, she was as rejuvenated as before, only, she knew she wouldn't go back to bed again. All her sleepiness had been robbed.
Blake stretched, and sighed wistfully at the small pops her stretches caused. She rolled her hands, arms, knees, and didn't stop until she was loose and nimble.
The pads of her feet touched the floor. As Blake started to get up, she saw something on the desk. It was a glass of water. Along with pills, served on a tissue. And a note.
Blake grabbed the note.
In case you have a headache.
– Y
Why would I have a headache?
Blake blinked.
Come to think of it, what happened last night?
Fear gnawed at her deeper the longer she tried to remember and the more she realized she didn't remember at all.
I went with Yang to dine. And it was lovely.
Then, why the note?
Without taking the pills, Blake gulped the water down. She wiped her mouth, and stood up. The room was empty, which shouldn't be strange, but was. Something was up.
Blake brushed her teeth and washed her face to freshen herself. She reread the note and jogged her memory, but all she remembered was warmth against her temple. Blake got outside, intending to search for any of her teammates—
—to find Yang sitting down on the floor, hugging her knees.
Yang met Blake's eyes, and snapped to her feet in a rush. "Blake."
"Yang, what… were you doing?" Blake eyed the spot on the floor where Yang once had been.
"Waiting for you." A pause. A shuffle of a foot. "Look, I want to take you somewhere."
A blink. "Right now?"
Another shuffle. A rubbing of two hands. "Yeah. Is that cool?"
Another blink. A deflate of two shoulders. A tilt of a head. "I guess?"
"Cool."
Blake's heartbeat was in overdrive the whole walk. It was as though she was in combat, only she didn't know who or what she was combating. She was blinded, and she didn't know the terrain that surrounded her and the weapons she was using. All she knew was that she had to fight against something.
Or rather, she and Yang had to fight against something, and it was hard considering Yang had her own battles to fight.
They were separated, and in combat, and Blake struggled to put coherent words together in her mouth and blurt them out.
Once they stopped, however, Blake had to say something. "Yang, what is…?"
That was as far as her lips could go.
It shouldn't work—candle lights at noon—but it did.
The emptiness of the cafe should give an eerie feel her instincts would tell her to avoid, but the red curtains draped over the window gave the aura a warmer, cozier feel instead.
The rose petals on the floor leading from the entrance to the only table in the room should look messy, but they were inviting.
"Ruby, obviously, helped with the roses." A pause. "And Weiss helped with telling everyone to screw off."
Blake would snort if this were any other circumstances. Instead, she turned to look at Yang, who looked back with hesitance in her eyes, and red in her cheeks. "Yang…"
Yang bit the inside of her cheek. She flicked her eyes back and forth between the table and Blake, and smiled, dazed. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
At that, Blake glowered.
At that, Yang chuckled.
This wasn't dissimilar with last night. There was no moon shining above them, but there was a sun glaring them down through the layers of the building, the curtains muting and softening it. Technically, the sun was a star, no?
The dish served were three strips of bacon and orange juice for Yang, and a cup of tea for Blake. It was breakfast, and Blake didn't like to eat much for breakfast, unlike Yang, who, like a vacuum cleaner, could inhale anything at any moment.
Blake took a sip of her tea. Yang gargled through her strip of bacon.
"Do you even know the meaning of the word chew?"
Yang's eyes squinted. "Huh, chew," she said, pronouncing chew like Sue. "What is that? A new kind of bacon?"
Blake snorted. Yang grinned.
It was comfortable. Until it wasn't. Until Blake had to ask, "What is this, Yang?"
The sunlight shone in such an eccentric way that, for a moment, Blake saw an angel with light gold skin and fiery white hair.
Yang was beautiful, and not only in that 'bombshell' way of hers. Blake forgot, sometimes, due to her nature, that the woman in front of her was one who selflessly gave up her childhood to ensure her sister's childhood. This was someone who was loyal, and stood by her beliefs even when it crashed with others', and feared nothing.
"I guess," Yang said, lowering her fork and knife. "I guess I wanted this to sort of be me apologising to you thing, but I also wanted this to be another thing."
Blake blinked, and set aside her mug, letting it slide to the center of the table. "What other thing?"
Yang muttered something along the lines of her needing to get started, stood up, and pulled a deck of cards from her pocket. Her eyes squinted as she pulled the cards closer. Blake assumed there was writing on those cards, because Yang's lips feebly mouth words that never made themselves audible.
Blake's ears and shoulders perked up when Yang stomped her foot and threw the cards away, uttering a desperate damn it! as though an Ursa had stung her.
"Look, this was supposed to be the part where I asked you out."
If Yang were looking at her, and not down to the absence of anything important on the ground, she would see Blake's gobsmacked expression, similar to that of Ruby's face when someone told her cookies were overrated.
Nonetheless, Yang continued on, struggling not to pace. "I'd tell you that we've been best friends for so long, and no one knows us better than us, and– hey, why not? You are cool, and I'm, well, hot."
A laugh forced itself out of Yang's mouth. With an inhale, her body slumped. "But… I don't know…" Her voice quietened. There was no hint of the usual boisterousness and cockiness that perfected Yang's infamous persona. With an exhale, Yang met Blake's eyes. "I don't wanna spring all of that to you. If you wanna do it, then let's go do it, but I don't wanna ruin what we have already. You're special to me, Blake. Like, really special."
Roar, screamed the engine of a monstrous motorcycle, its volume comparable to that of Bumblebee's.
It broke the spell Yang was entranced by, and the tension between them.
"So, uh, yeah," Yang said, swinging one arm lamely.
Another vehicle, quieter than the motorcycle from before, passed, blocking the cafe from meeting the sun's ray. Darkness bathed them. That darkness highlighted the gold of Yang's hair, the bronze of her skin, and the amethyst of her eyes.
"Yang."
The tone of her voice demanded Yang not to stray from Blake's searching gaze.
"Yeah?"
"Do you love me?"
Blake's heart beat roaringly in her chest, and Blake wondered if Yang's was doing the same. Wouldn't it be swell if their heart beat at the same uncontrolled rhythm?
Something rested in Yang. Something quite like frustration, but more mellow. It was questioning, but more. It was that feeling of facing two directions, and not knowing which to take.
The word rested in the tip of Blake's tongue, tethering out of reach. Blake had no chance of grasping that word, because Yang, with a nod, and the squaring of her shoulders, said, "Yeah. I do."
That was all Blake needed to hear.
Blake stood. Her confident strut towered over Yang's shrinking.
Yang fought to meet Blake's eyes, biting her lip.
"Then I only have one question," Blake said, planting herself in Yang's thigh, hooking her arms around Yang's neck.
"What—" Yang's voice stuttered as sharp nails dug into skin, trailing up to grasp and claw and tug her hair. "What is it?"
Blake didn't speak. Not at first. She let herself enjoy Yang's presence. Blake's hands trail down to grab Yang's hands, which had remain pliant and gentlemanly, never straying away to take advantage of the situation.
Yeah, this could work. This could either develop into something real, something deep, deeper than the L word. They could grow closer than they would, find safety in each other. Safety and something else. Home. That's the word. They could be each other's home.
Or they could try this out, and find out love wasn't enough for them to be a couple. They could find no spark, no long-lasting attraction, and they could go on their separate ways, not as strangers but as who they once had been—close friends.
There was only one way to find out.
"Yang Xiao Long, will you be my girlfriend?"
...
Author's Note
I wondered about whether I should rewrite my first fan fiction as a way to show my improvement or as a form of goodbye, then I thought, "Why not both?"
This was the hardest story for me to write. It took me 5 months to complete it—from October 4 2019, and 10:25 AM, to be exact.
I've run out of things to say, at this point. What's there to say?