Summary: Yang and Blake have been in love with each other since the moment they met, but neither could ever reveal their feelings. But now that they're entering their senior year and all the talk is on colleges and plans for the future, their friends aren't sure they can just sit by and watch as they lose each other for good. High School AU. Bumblby, WhiteRose, Arkos

Author's Note: Hello! We're back with the next chapter, feeling pretty good about the two week upload schedule for the foreseeable future as it gives me a lot more freedom to let the chapter sit and make changes as needed. Anyways, not much else to say here, as always thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter and I hope you all enjoy this one!

Chapter 35: An Overdue Confrontation

"So it's cutting it pretty close but with all our tests coming up Weiss said that the best time for all of us to go dress shopping is this Saturday."

When she doesn't hear a response after several seconds, Pyrrha looks up, expecting to see the blonde busy with something behind the counter or maybe just having disappeared back to the kitchen while she wasn't paying attention. But instead, sees Yang still standing in the same spot she'd been a minute ago, gazing off into the distance with a far off look while her hands continue moving on autopilot.

"Yang?" Nora says, chiming in from the stool next to her, "hey I think that cup is clean enough."

The blonde looks up with a start. "What? Oh, sorry. I was just… I don't know, zoning out I guess."

She turns to her side to share a concerned look with Nora. The two of them had come to the diner today to keep Yang company on her closing shift as well as to try and squeeze in some more studying for their upcoming finals, but after spending a couple hours reviewing some notes for their respective classes, it had become clear that there was something on the girl's mind.

It was little things at first, just a couple sloppy errors here and there that were easy to attribute to nervousness over their upcoming exams. But the longer they stayed at the diner, watching the way that even simple interactions with customers seemed to drain all the energy out of Yang's body, the more Pyrrha felt the nagging worry that something more serious was going on.

"Yang?" She says hesitantly, "is everything alright?"

"Yeah yeah, sorry, just kind of tired is all."

She doesn't know a person alive that would be fooled by such an unconvincing lie.

"Well," Nora hums, "Pyrrha was just saying that… we'd all go get dresses this Saturday."

"Dresses?"

"Yeah… you know, for the dance next weekend?"

"Oh." Yang answers absentmindedly, "yeah… right. The dance. Um, sure Saturday sounds good. I don't have work until pretty late so it should be fine."

"Great!" Pyrrha answers, maybe a little too cheerily. "Ruby said she already convinced Neo to come with us."

Nora pauses midway through a sip of coffee. "Really? That's great! Last time Weiss went through the schedule for the dance she wasn't actually sure if Neo was coming."

"Yeah, but looks like Ruby managed to work her magic."

"Well that's a relief. I was getting pretty tired of Weiss spamming the group chat for updates. Speaking of which," Nora continues, a noticeably mischievous glint appearing in her eyes, "if time is really so tight, shouldn't you be asking Jaune to the dance soon?"

That's finally enough to bring a grin to Yang's lips as she leans up against the counter to get into Pyrrha's face.

"Yeah Pyrrha," the blonde says cheekily, "Jaune's kind of a catch. We wouldn't want some other girl swooping in at the last minute."

She knows what they're doing, bring extra annoying just to get a reaction from her, but even still can't stop the panicked reaction that seems almost instinctual at this point.

"That… that would never happen!"

"Why not? Jaune's a good looking guy. He's nice, funny, I mean who wouldn't want him? Hell if you aren't going to do anything maybe I'll just…"

"Stop!" Pyrrha interrupts, face heating up so much that she can barely maintain the glare she's leveling at the blonde. "If I didn't know for a fact that you weren't into guys…"

Nora and Yang break into a fit of giggles.

"She has a point though," Nora chuckles.

"What?"

"I mean, Jaune is pretty attractive. And a lot of girls have been making their moves this week. Who knows, someone might already have their eye on him."

"Oh my god," Pyrrha says, "did someone say something? Is it that girl in his English class? It is, isn't it? I knew it. Oh god, what if she already asked him? If I have to spend the entire dance watching him with some other…"

"Woah, Pyr' calm down." Yang interrupts, not bothering to contain her ear to ear grin, "we were just kidding. No one's going after Jaune. I'm pretty sure half the school knows that you two are off limits anyways."

"What… off limits? Why…"

"Although it doesn't really stop weird guys from asking Pyrrha out every few days." Nora cuts in.

"And girls." Yang adds, "just last week there was that girl from the basketball team right?"

"And that freshman she'd been helping on the track team."

"Please stop." Pyrrha mumbles, head hanging in embarrassment to try and hide the furious blush on her face.

"Oh," Nora continues, seemingly ignoring her feeble protest, "wasn't there also that cheerleader the week before?"

"Um… no." Yang answers sheepishly, "no that was me."

"Oh right. But still I feel like you've been getting a lot of attention lately. Am I going to have to start scaring off all of your suitors too?"

"Oh god, please don't." Pyrrha groans.

"You say that now…" Nora responds, "but Yang will tell you that eventually you run out of excuses to tell these people and when that happens you'll be thanking me for bailing you out."

"She's right about that one." Yang says casually.

"I'm just as familiar as you are with Yang's… suitors." Pyrrha responds, "I just really don't see myself having to deal with the same kind of problems."

She sees Yang furrowing her eyebrows, shooting a confused look at Nora. "What? Pyrrha, you're like literally one of the prettiest girls at Beacon."

"That… I appreciate that you would…"

"I'm not just saying this to make you feel better." The blonde interrupts, "it's the truth."

"Plus," Nora adds on, "you're the captain of the track team, almost certainly making valedictorian…"

"There's no way Weiss isn't…"

"And," the shorter girl continues, deliberately ignoring her weak interruption, "you're absolutely gorgeous. Which reminds me, have you two figured out some ideas for your dresses yet?"

"What? Um, I don't really know." Pyrrha answers, thankful for the sudden shift in the conversation, "I mean it's not like I really understand fashion trends or anything. I usually just end up grabbing whatever looks good at the store."

Nora gives her a deadpan look. "I'm not even going to address the fact that you always find a way to look so incredible despite putting in such little effort, but no matter what, you can't get away with that this year."

"What? Why not?"

"Well this year, you're actually going to have Jaune as your date. And you are going to make this happen. We've all been waiting far too long for you to just chicken out and…"

"I'm not going to chicken out!" Pyrrha interrupts, "and what difference does it make for the dress?"

"Yeah." Yang snorts, "if Pyr' doesn't know what's in style you think Jaune will?"

"Just because he doesn't understand why something looks good doesn't mean he won't be able to recognize it. At the very least we should have an idea on color. Not everything goes together, and you two both have really bright hair."

"She's got a point there."

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha replies, leveling a weak, half-hearted glare, "do you know what kind of dress you'll be getting?"

"I actually do have an idea." The blonde fires back.

"Really?" Nora says. "What've you got?"

"Nothing concrete," Yang admits, "but I was thinking white."

"White? Like… a wedding dress?"

A wave of annoyance washes over Yang's face. "No not a wedding dress! Just a normal white dress. I mean it's clean, simple, and it goes with the whole 'Winter Ball' aesthetic right?"

"Okay…" Nora says with mock skepticism, "but only if I get to be the maid of honor!"

Pyrrha's practically on her feet in less than a second. "What? If anyone besides Ruby is going to be her maid of honor it's going to be me!"

"What? That's ridiculous! I don't see you punching people every other week to scare away all the crazy idiots trying to get in her pants!"

"I am literally her best friend! And when have you ever even thrown a punch at someone?"

"I would have last time with that lacrosse player or whatever if Yang hadn't held me back. And besides, at least I'm willing to get in a fight for her!"

"Who says I'm not?"

"Oh please. You're literally like the model student, perfect grades, perfect posture…"

"Guys you're being ridiculous." Yang cuts in, "I mean I don't even have a…"

The blonde trails off all of a sudden, eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.

She exchanges a brief look with Nora before slowly spinning on their stools, tracing Yang's unflinching gaze until their eyes finally rest on the front door where they see Weiss slipping her coat off her shoulders… and Blake standing just a step or two behind her.

It feels like the entire diner falls into a stunned silence as the two girls slowly make their way up to the counter. Her eyes flick over to meet Nora's, the two of them exchanging another concerned look before she finally looks back up to Yang.

But while she had been worried, maybe even terrified that she would find her best friend sporting another heartbreaking look in her eyes, she's instead faced with a decidedly neutral expression that she doesn't quite understand.

"Um, hey guys."

She looks up quickly. Because despite speaking to her over the phone just a few days ago, there's something that feels so foreign about hearing Blake's voice right now.

"Hi Blake." She answers weakly, "it's… really good to see you."

And she thinks she means it too, at least on some level. Even if she's more than a little wary of how sudden this all is, seeing the way just a tiny bit of the tension seems to release from Blake's shoulders, as if she'd been worried that she and Nora would kick her out at the sight of her, makes the small concession feel just a little better.

"Thanks Pyrrha, it's good to see you too. Um, Yang? Do you think we could talk? In private?"

She sees Yang tense slightly at the mention of her name, but beyond that… there's basically nothing. Positive or negative, there's barely a reaction on the blonde's face. In fact all she does is let out a small huff before setting down the rag she'd been using to dry mugs before wordlessly stepping out from behind the counter.

She finds herself holding her breath as Yang takes the last couple steps up to Blake, a breath that she only half releases as the two finally head to the back in search of a private corner to have what Pyrrha can only hope is a somewhat productive conversation.

And the second the two of them are out of earshot, Pyrrha is whipping her seat around to face Weiss.

"What are you doing?"

"Well I mean," the heiress answers hesitantly, "the two of them need to talk…"

"But springing it on Yang like this? You could've at least given her some kind of warning!"

"Why? So she can run away again?"

"Weiss…"

There's a small fire lighting up in Weiss's icy eyes. "No Pyrrha, they need this. At this point there's literally nothing any of us can do anymore. If they don't talk now, I don't really know what the alternative is."

"Yeah but…"

"She's right Pyrrha," Nora cuts in, "those two need to sort things out, and for the first time… maybe ever, it seems like one of them is actually willing to take the first step."

"I get that." Pyrrha answers, "Believe me okay? I really really do. But just… I don't know, something doesn't feel right about forcing it like this. I mean they haven't even seen each other in weeks, much less actually talked, and cornering Yang like this…"

"It's not the first time in weeks." Weiss interrupts.

"What?"

"They saw each other just a few days ago actually. Yang didn't tell you?"

"What? No. She hasn't said anything. They talked?"

Weiss lets out a deep sigh. "Yeah. In fact… Yang was the one that told Blake's parents about Adam."

Pyrrha's eyes instantly go wide. "What?"

"And you didn't mention that when you told us Adam was still in jail?" Nora shouts, drawing the eyes of what few customers were still eating at their tables.

"I… I'm sorry! There was just a lot going on…"

"Oh my god…" Pyrrha groans, feeling a hint of tears welling up in her eyes, "Yang must have cried her eyes out."

"Actually Ruby said she was kind of… numb to it all afterwards."

"Is that supposed to be better?"

"Well…"

She feels a flicker of anger start to spark in her chest.

"Well what?"

"I kind of thought she reacted well considering…"

She taps her finger a couple times on the counter. "Considering?"

The pain on Weiss's face is clear as she cringes her way through getting the words out. "Considering that Blake kind of kicked her out of the house afterwards…"

Pyrrha's on her feet in a second, the tiny spark erupting in an instant as she brings a hand to slam down on the counter. "What?"

"Why the hell would she do that?" Nora asks angrily.

"She was just trying to protect Yang!" Weiss answers quickly, "she didn't know that Adam's threats were all empty and…"

"And she thought making Yang walk home on her own was a better alternative?"

"Well… she… she obviously wasn't thinking straight… and she said that she tried to get her dad to take her home but..."

"No." Pyrrha says, sliding off the stool with a huff, "I'm putting an end to this before it just explodes in our faces again."

Weiss's eyes stretch wide in panic. "Pyrrha don't!"

"Weiss! I'm not just going to sit here while Blake tears Yang's heart out again! I've done enough of that already!"

"What happened to not interfering?"

"This is different."

"How?" She sees Weiss flinch slightly, the girl's mouth pressed into a thin line as she struggles to muster a response. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go out there and put an end to all of this right now!"

She sees another wave of emotion wash over Weiss's face, a mix of startled indignation that has Pyrrha bracing for the inevitable response, only for it to come from behind her instead.

"Because we have to trust her!"

She turns around slowly, the fire inside her that had been threatening to boil over just a second ago now simmering down slightly from the shock of Nora's outburst.

"What?"

"We have to trust Blake," Nora repeats, "trust both of them really."

Pyrrha blinks, not completely sure if she'd heard correctly. "I… what?" She can feel the anger bubbling up again. "Are you kidding? You want me to trust her? After everything she's…"

"Yes." Nora says firmly.

Once again, she's stunned. Almost to the point of speechlessness. Almost.

"Are… you're serious?"

"Yes. I am."

"Nora. How can you even… I would've thought you'd be even madder than me at this point."

"I am." The girl huffs, "believe me, it's taking a whole lot more restraint than I usually have but… this isn't just some random lowlife that came around and broke Yang's heart. This is Blake. And as much as I want to focus on what's best for Yang, we also can't forget that Blake is our friend too."

At that Pyrrha falls back into her seat. Because there's nothing she can come up with that would even remotely counter the bomb that Nora had just dropped on her.

And a huge part of it is that she knows there's a bit of truth to the words. All this time, the only thing she'd ever considered was how Yang felt about it all. And really, it's probably to be expected to some level, it's what comes with the territory of being a best friend, but in the end, she has to admit that she hadn't been considerate enough of how Blake was feeling about it all, even with everything Weiss had told her about Adam.

And so, despite the strong urge she still feels to run outside and put an end to all of this, she stays in her seat, reaching forward to bring her mug of tea back to her lips as she considers whether or not she can truly manage the kind of trust Nora was talking about.

…

The wind howls through the alley, chilling Yang to the bone for the umpteenth time before she finally lets out a frustrated huff and looks up to the girl nervously wringing her hands in front of her.

"Did… you actually have… something to say?" She shivers, "because if not… maybe we should just head back inside and… not freeze to death."

Blake flinches hard, as if her words had actually stung like a slap to the face.

"No there is," the girl says, "I just… there's so much that I want to… but… I don't even know where to…"

"Right." Yang cuts in, already halfway turning for the door, "well while you're figuring that out I think I'll just…"

"I'm sorry!" Blake blurts out, causing Yang to freeze with one hand on the door handle.

She turns around slowly, suddenly forgetting the subzero temperature that was already way past her upper limit just a second ago.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." Blake repeats. "For… for kicking you out of my house, for being so distant these past few weeks, for… well… everything."

The last few words come out shaky and hollow, painful in a way that Yang knows isn't from the cold.

"I… I know Weiss told you about everything with Adam. And I just… I was so terrified of what could happen, to you or to Weiss… I don't know, I know it's not an excuse but I just…"

"You're right." Yang cuts in, words flying past her lips before she even knows it.

"I… what?" Blake stammers, eyes stretched wide in surprise.

"You're right." She continues, letting the ice creep into every single syllable, "it's not an excuse."

"Yang…"

"We're supposed to be friends Blake. I mean… I thought you and I had something special."

"We do!" Blake's voice breaks, and any other day Yang might feel guilty, might feel anything resembling remorse, but she just doesn't have it in her right now to let go of the anger boiling in her veins.

"Do we?" She says coldly, even surprising herself with how even and emotionless her voice is, "because I've never treated someone I care about like this."

"I… Yang, I know I shouldn't have lied to you, there are so many things that I wish I could take back but… I can't."

And the pleading tone is enough to finally crack at Yang's resolve just a little bit, at least enough for her to feel a slight stinging in her eyes.

"Blake, I'm not asking you to go back in time and fix things, I don't even think I need an apology. I just… I don't know. Maybe I'm just so used to all of this that I don't even know what I should be feeling anymore."

"Used to it?" Blake mumbles, half to herself, "what do you…"

"I mean I really just never thought you would ever do something to hurt me like this."

She looks for a reaction, a response of any kind, but she finds that the shock is fully settled on Blake's delicate features as the words seem to die on the girl's lips.

And all she can do is let out a disappointed sigh, turning back once again to be greeted by the stony cold surface of the door, even if just so she doesn't have to continue bearing witness to the hopeless indecision in Blake's eyes.

"It's okay." She says finally, "you don't have to say anything. If you don't understand what it means to be a friend anymore… then I guess it's a good thing you're leaving."

And with that she reaches down for the handle, whipping the door open with one quick pull and storming back into the kitchen.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she's half expecting herself to be shedding a few tears at a moment like this, maybe even collapsing to the ground in a broken, sobbing mess. And maybe it's just because she'd already reached some kind of acceptance after their last fight at Blake's house, but she finds herself still feeling almost nothing, the only way she can really describe it is empty. Emotionless and hollow in a way that she's never really experienced before, even as the door closes behind her to the quiet yet unmistakable sound of Blake breaking down in tears just on the other side.

Author's Note: What can I say, I love the angst. Jokes aside, it feels like it kind of needs to happen for the story to progress. Anyways, hope you all liked it, and this time the shoe's kind of on the other foot, which based on the comments, seems like a lot of you will appreciate. Anyways, hope you all liked it and thanks for reading!