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: And we're back with the newest chapter, this one I think is the longest yet. As always, loving all the feedback, thanks for being such awesome, engaged readers, it makes this whole thing so much more fun. Speaking of fun, this chapter was a blast to write so hop you all like it!

Chapter 36: Finding Dates

The second Weiss gets out of her final class she lets out an enormous sigh of relief.

After what had happened at the diner yesterday, where she'd gone outside and found Blake in a weeping, shivering mess, the past twenty four hours or so had gone by in a bit of a blur, so much so that she hadn't even remembered that today was meant to be the day that she'd be asking Ruby to Winter ball. In fact she might have forgotten about it entirely if it wasn't for the reminder text she'd gotten from the bakery halfway through the day.

And really this had made her day even more ridiculous, as she had to deal with her ever growing nerves on top of the serious tension whenever Blake happened to catch a glimpse of Yang in the hallways. She briefly considered changing her plans, maybe even rescheduling with Ruby for another day to get dinner with Blake instead, but the second the girl had caught wind of the idea she'd shot it down immediately, all but forcing her to leave her best friend in her seemingly never ending spiral of depression.

She'd never been one of those people that counted down the minutes until school was over, but today had been such a special kind of torture that there's definitely a part of her that's grateful for the simple fact that she won't have to continue bearing witness to Blake torturing herself in much the same way that Yang had done just a few weeks ago.

But of course that only brings her back to feeling nervous.

The plan was to go to this dessert shop downtown that Ruby likes where Weiss had custom ordered a ridiculously large cookie with the words "Winter Ball" written in frosting.

But when she reaches up to dial in her locker combination she finds her hands shaking so violently that she can't even get it open.

Why on earth is she feeling so nervous? It's not like she'd be asking some random girl where there would be a chance of being rejected. This is Ruby she's talking about, her girlfriend. She can pretty much say for certain that Ruby is going to say yes.

In the end she decides that it's probably best not to think about it too much.

If only she could get her stupid hand to stop shaking.

And it only gets worse when someone suddenly slams into the locker next to her, causing her to let out a startled shriek that draws a few concerned glances from the others in the hallway.

"Sorry," Pyrrha says, her reply coming in the form of an exhausted sigh, "didn't mean to scare you."

Weiss presses a hand to her chest, letting out a deep sigh in an attempt to calm herself down. She's really got to get a grip.

"It's okay," she mumbles weakly, "so, how's she doing?"

"Well, if her words are to be believed then perfectly fine, but truthfully I'm not really sure."

"She did seem pretty normal during our tutoring session today. And that's even considering that finals are only like a week away."

"Yeah but this is Yang we're talking about." Pyrrha replies, leaning back to let her head thump against the locker with a quiet thud, "I have a really hard time believing that she's really fine after apparently deciding to just end her friendship with Blake. I mean a month ago she was so head over heels it was like Blake was all she could talk about."

"Well I suppose that means Blake's reaction is the more reasonable one."

The redhead looks to her feet, wearing a conflicted expression on her face that she knows is out of regret for her harsh reaction at the diner yesterday.

"Is she going to be okay?" Pyrrha mumbles.

"I don't know." Weiss answers truthfully, "I mean I offered to keep her company today but she just kept insisting that it was more important that I make my date with Ruby."

"Well it is important…"

"Yeah but…"

"But nothing." Pyrrha cuts in, "Blake's right, there's nothing else either of us can do to help them at this point, they just need time. And besides, we can't just keep dropping everything because those two are having trouble again."

"We?" Weiss raises an eyebrow. "Wait, were you planning on asking Jaune today?"

The girl presses her lips into a thin line. "Well… yeah. I mean with all the planning we've been doing for the dance and the fact that we're actually going dress shopping this weekend, I thought I should do it quickly."

"But?"

Pyrrha lets out a sigh. "But then I tried to text him to hang out today and I just…" the redhead trails off, hanging her head in defeat and reaching into her pocket to hand her phone over to Weiss.

With a furrowed eyebrow she takes it from her, quickly reading through the text messages.

"What happened? Why didn't you say anything else?"

"I don't know! When I went to type out the message I just couldn't for some reason. And then I got a text from Ruby asking about Yang and it just… never happened."

"But wouldn't you have had plenty of time to say something today? I mean you two have Biology together don't you?"

"Yeah…" Pyrrha answers, "I tried to say something this morning but I guess I was just too caught up in everything going on."

Once again, all she offers in response is a raised eyebrow.

"Okay fine." The redhead huffs, "I was nervous."

"Well that makes two of us." Weiss sighs, falling back to lean up against the locker.

She sees Pyrrha furrowing her eyebrows. "What do you even have to be worried about? It's not like Ruby's going to say no or something."

"I know! It's so stupid! But then all day today it was like people were getting asked every five minutes with all these choirs and dance numbers and giant banners falling from the ceiling and I just…"

"Just what?" The redhead asks gently.

Weiss turns away self consciously, nervously crossing her arms against her chest. "Just… got worried that my idea isn't… good enough."

"Hey…" Pyrrha says, sympathetically reaching a hand out to Weiss's arm. "Don't say that, I think the giant cookie is a great idea. It's absolutely perfect for Ruby."

"Are you sure? I mean right now, the more I think about it the more childish and boring and…"

"Weiss." Pyrrha interrupts, "she's going to love it."

The sincerity in the girl's bright emerald eyes is enough to melt away all of her anxiety and she lets out a deep, calming sigh.

"You're right." She says, "thanks Pyrrha. So what about you? I'm sure he's still here if you really want to do it today."

A wave of nervousness washes over Pyrrha's face as she timidly fusses with the end of her ponytail. "I… I don't know Weiss, I mean I don't even know how I'm going to do it."

"I thought you were just going to keep it simple."

"Yeah, but that doesn't exactly mean I have a plan."

"A plan for what?"

The two of them turn, surprised to see the bright orange hair of Nora bouncing up to join them.

"Hello Nora." Pyrrha says

"What are you guys up to?" The girl chirps.

She thinks about deflecting, mostly out of embarrassment for how ridiculous she's been all day, and the first thing that comes to mind is to say something about Blake and Yang, but then she sees the ear to ear grin on Nora's face and decides that at least one of them deserves a reprieve from all of their friends' drama, especially with all the help Nora had given her with Blake after yesterday's incident at the diner.

"Pyrrha was just about to chicken out of asking Jaune to the dance." She says quickly.

"What? No I wasn't! I was just… unsure of how to go about it."

Weiss rolls her eyes as Nora bites down on her lip, apparently deep in thought.

"Hmm… I think I saw him talking to Neptune by the library a few minutes ago."

"Really?" Pyrrha says.

"Yeah! I bet they're still there now. Come on, I'll distract Neptune so you two can have a moment alone."

Without another word, Nora lunges forward and latches onto the taller redhead's arm, turning towards the back exit and dragging her along with surprising ease.

"Wha- Nora!" Pyrrha shrieks.

Weiss can only watch in amusement as the two of them stumble down the hall to the sound of Pyrrha's incoherent protesting, amazed at how much her friends had done to ease the worries that had been plaguing her all day.

…

But of course, by the time Weiss and Ruby actually pull up to the dessert shop, she's back to nervously biting her lip and fussing with the tail of her coat.

Which, unsurprisingly, was noticed by her girlfriend the instant they'd gotten into the car.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ruby hesitantly asks as she slides out of the car.

"I… I already told you. I'm fine."

"Okay okay. I was just… nevermind." The brunette trails off, "so, what's the occasion Weiss?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ohhh you know… taking me out for dessert… on a school night…"

Weiss's eyes go wide. "W-well… maybe I just wanted to treat you." She sputters, pulling the door open for Ruby.

"Uh huh…" her girlfriend says suspiciously, pulling her hood off as they walk into the comforting warmth of the bakery.

Weiss follows her in and immediately makes eye contact with the boy standing behind the counter, exchanging a meaningful nod as they walk up to the register.

They place their orders quickly despite the ridiculous amount of sweets that Ruby orders and make their way over to their favorite spot, a cozy little booth near the front window with a great view of the park across the street. But unfortunately Weiss doesn't get to enjoy it much with the way her eyes are anxiously darting back to the kitchen every few minutes.

"Weiss?"

She snaps her head back over to Ruby. "Yes! Sorry did you say something?"

"Um, no." Her girlfriend answers, silver eyes narrowing in concern, "but… you're tapping your foot a lot and your eye keeps twitching."

She feels her eyes go wide as she realizes how transparent her emotions have been. She definitely needs to get a grip.

"Weiss?"

"Uh…"

She's saved from having to come up with a response when the waiter walks over, gingerly setting down a tray piled high with white cardboard boxes and Ruby lets out a delighted shriek as she starts unloading various cookies, brownies, and cupcakes onto the table.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Weiss thinks to herself she should probably help but all she can really manage to do is stare at the extra large box at the bottom.

"What's this one?" Ruby says, tilting her head in that adorable way she does, "Weiss, did you get a cake or something?"

She can feel her heart practically pounding out of her chest as the waiter flashes her an encouraging smile on the way back to the kitchen.

"Um… no, not exactly."

"Well I guess I should take it back then."

"No!" Weiss exclaims, practically leaping to her feet and causing Ruby to jump in surprise. "I… got it for you actually, it just isn't a cake."

Her breath catches in her chest as she studies her girlfriend, frozen to the spot with the box in her hands as she blinks twice in confusion, slowly moving to sit back down.

"Okay…" Ruby says slowly, "what is it?"

She swallows heavily. This is it, the moment of truth. By now her heart is beating so hard that she can actually hear it in her ears and the innocent curiosity in Ruby's silver eyes only makes it worse.

"Well," Weiss says, fighting to keep her voice steady, "I… I guess you'll just have to open it and see."

…

Pyrrha peeks around the corner for a second before jerking her head back and anxiously whispering, "Nora, I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"What are you talking about?" The girl asks loudly, "the plan is flawless. Now come on!"

"Wait but…"

She's suddenly cut off by Nora grabbing her hand and dragging her forward, eliciting a startled yelp from the tall redhead.

"Hey guys!" Nora shouts.

Jaune turns to them with that charming, boyish smile that only makes the pounding in Pyrrha's chest even worse than it already was. She barely registers the casual greeting from Neptune because she's too busy admiring the way Jaune's shirt shows off his slim but toned build.

"What are you guys up to?"

"Neptune was just telling me that he got asked to the dance."

"Really?" Nora says with an ear to ear grin, "who's the lucky girl?"

"Octavia." Neptune responds, flashing a confident smirk of his own.

Pyrrha feels her heart sink slightly even as a smile spreads on her face. With everything going on the past couple days she hadn't really been able to fulfill her promise to the girl about talking to Neptune for her, and Octavia was far too polite to bring it up a third time. So as happy as she feels that it had all ended up working out, she still can't help feeling a small tinge of guilt.

She'll just have to slip in an apology when she congratulates her later.

"Octavia Ember?" Nora asks, "she's really pretty. Isn't she on the track team with you Pyrrha?"

"She is," Pyrrha answers, "she's actually one of our best best sprinters. She's really nice too, I actually wanted to make her my vice-captain this year because she's always so good with helping the Freshmen."

"Wow," Nora whistles, "sounds like quite the girl. So what's she doing with someone like you?"

Neptune gives a casual shrug, marking a sharp contrast to the cocky grin that spreads on his face. "Oh you know, she and I had a couple classes together over the years… guess she couldn't resist the old Neptune charm."

Pyrrha can't help rolling her eyes as Nora lets out a quiet giggle.

"So… what?" The shorter girl asks, "this really pretty girl asked you and you decided to come and brag about it to Jaune?"

"Well actually," Neptune replies, "her friend Nebula was looking for a date and she asked me to see if I could find someone for her."

Pyrrha feels her eyes go wide as they dart from Jaune and Neptune over to Nora, finding the orange haired girl sporting an equally panicked look on her face.

"W-well…" Pyrrha sputters, "did… are you…"

"Oh!" Nora shouts suddenly, "you know what? I think Sun still needs a date! Come on, let's go find him!"

Without warning, Nora lunges forward, latching onto Neptune's arm and dragging him down the hall. She hears some faint, confused protests from the boy but can't help the relieved sigh that escapes her lips.

She really owes Nora big time.

"That was really nice of Nora." Jaune remarks.

Pyrrha snaps her head over in surprise. "Uh, what… what do you mean?"

"Well I think Nebula's liked Sun for a while now. They both come from Vacuo and when she first transferred here I guess he was the one who showed her around."

"Oh." She replies, "wow I didn't know Sun did all that. I guess that's probably why Octavia asked Neptune to help."

Jaune nods his head, gazing off down the hallway as Neptune's confused protests fade away in the distance. "Yeah you're probably right." He says before turning back to her, "so what's up with you Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha can feel her heart start to pound again. She's at a decision point. If she really wanted to she could take the easy out and escape, mumble something about coming to the library to study or something. But then Nora's words echo through her mind and she remembers how awful it had felt when she'd chickened out the first time.

"Actually…" she says slowly, fighting desperately to keep her voice steady, "I came here to find you."

"Really? What's up?"

This is it, no going back. She's so nervous that she can't even come close to meeting Jaune's gaze, instead opting to hang her head and study the scuff marks on the carpet in front of her

"I um… I just wanted to ask you…"

"Pyrrha? Is everything okay?"

"Yes!" She squeaks embarrassingly. She takes in a deep, calming breath as she musters up all the courage she has and finally, slowly raises her head to meet his bright blue eyes. "Yes, everything's fine." She says more calmly. "I came to ask if… maybe... you would want to go to the dance with me?"

…

Weiss bites down on her lip so hard it's amazing that she doesn't draw blood. She doesn't miss a second as Ruby lifts the cover of the box, her mind racing through all the things that could go wrong. She'd told the store owner over the phone that she wanted a cake sized chocolate chip cookie with the words 'Winter Ball?' written in white frosting but she hadn't actually gotten a chance to check it first.

She feels her breath quickening as she starts to panic. The cookie could've warped in the oven, the frosting could have melted from the heat, or they could have messed up the order entirely and given them a sugar cookie or something. Why hadn't she figured out a way to check on it beforehand?

But then she sees a wave of recognition wash over Ruby's face, the girl's silver eyes slowly lighting up and a small smile spreading across her lips.

"Oh Weiss…"

"So…" she says nervously, looking up at her girlfriend from behind her bangs, "will you go with me?"

Without warning Ruby swings her legs around the table and leaps over to her side, throwing her arms around Weiss's shoulders and burying her face in the heiress's neck.

"Of course I will, silly! Did you really think I was going to say no?"

She feels her cheeks light up in embarrassment. "I don't know!" Weiss says, "everything was fine until this morning when I just started freaking out and I just… do you like it?"

"Of course I do!" Ruby chirps, reaching over to drag the box towards them.

Weiss lets out a final sigh of relief as she sees the cookie for the first time, every last detail just as perfect as she'd imagined it.

Without a word Ruby breaks off a piece and holds it between her lips, turning towards her with a cheeky smile and a shamelessly raised eyebrow.

Weiss rolls her eyes at her girlfriend's childish antics. But she has to admit that this side of her is partially what she'd found so endearing in the first place.

So she ignores the blush spreading on her face as she leans forward and takes a bite, letting out a small squeak as Ruby firmly grabs the back of her head and crashes their lips together.

For a second she thinks about pulling away, something about public displays of affection always makes her uncomfortable, but then she breathes in deeply, relishing in the comforting, familiar scent of roses mixed with the sugary sweet aroma of the bakery and all of a sudden, she finds herself completely melting into the kiss.

…

Yang nearly jumps out of her skin when her bedroom door flies open and slams into the rubber door stop on the wall behind. She barely snaps her head up in time to catch a glimpse of the red blur that slams into her, tackling Yang right back into the mattress.

"Wha- Pyrrha? What the hell?"

The redhead doesn't respond immediately, instead wrapping her arms tightly around Yang's waist and letting out a high pitched squeal into the blonde's chest.

"Pyrrha!" Yang laughs, scooting further back on the bed, "Pyrrha, what's going on?"

Her answer comes slowly, barely audible as the words are whispered quietly into her hoodie. "I… I asked him."

She feels her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "You asked him?" she asks, not fully sure if she'd heard correctly, "Who? Asked him what?"

Pyrrha pulls back, leveling a deadpan stare at her despite the thousand watt smile on her lips.

"Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Yang says defensively, "what's up with you? I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."

The redhead bites down on her lip, failing horribly at her attempt to keep the sheer elation out of her shining emerald eyes. "I asked Jaune!" she blurts out finally.

Yang feels her eyebrows shoot up. "Jaune? Wait… Winter Ball?"

She watches closely as Pyrrha hesitates, timidly holding the gaze before answering with a slow, deliberate nod. And no matter how hard she tries to resist, she finds herself pausing, mind flying back to how just a month ago she had been entertaining the idea of possibly asking Blake to the dance.

Maybe if things had gone differently, she might be just as excited as Pyrrha, wrapping her friend in a hug as they celebrate their mutual success.

Where they are now feels like a sick joke in comparison.

She's brought out of her thoughts by Pyrrha reaching forward to gently take hold of her hand.

"Yang?"

And when she looks up, she finds a pair of emerald green eyes that seem to be boring into her very soul, and somehow it's just enough for Yang to wake up and see exactly how terrible of a friend she'd been. Here was Pyrrha, her best friend, coming straight to her after taking the step that both of them have struggled with since Freshman year, and instead of sharing in her excitement she'd fallen back into this stupid, self-pitying mess.

When did she become the kind of person that did… this?

She gives her head a quick shake, running a hand through her hair for good measure and forces a small smile onto her face.

"Sorry," Yang says quickly, "that's awesome! I'm so freaking proud of you!"

She throws in this light squeal at the end, accompanied by a light slap to the girl's arm, but it's completely lacking the kind of energy that would make it anywhere close to convincing.

And she sees the concern bleeding into Pyrrha's eyes, once again flicking over her body with an air of uncertainty that Yang can't help feeling guilty about.

"Yang," the girl repeats quietly, "are you…"

"I'm fine." Yang cuts in, "I'm sorry I was just, kind of shocked. I mean this is you and Jaune! It's… almost hard to believe, I didn't think you would ever make a move."

And there's a slight flare in Pyrrha's eyes, betraying the fact that even despite what misconceptions she might have, despite her having just spit out such a horribly unconvincing lie, she's still not completely immune to Yang's teasing.

"When did you do it?" Yang continues asking, "do you have a dress already?"

"Um no," the redhead answers hesitantly, "actually we were planning to go dress shopping this weekend, you have Saturday off right?"

"Yeah? Yeah I think so." She stops for a second, searching her mind to make sure she's actually free when she stops suddenly, remembering why she hadn't given them a straight answer when this had been brought up earlier in the week.

"Um, if you're worried about Blake being there," Pyrrha says, "I don't actually know if she's even going to the dance at all. Weiss has been trying to talk to her and stuff but if you want…"

She snaps her eyes back up, shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear out the cobwebs. "No it's fine! She can do… whatever she wants. I'm fine with whatever."

Pyrrha furrows her eyebrows, leaning in a little closer with concern written all over her face. "Yang… are you…"

"I promise I'm fine. I'm still getting used to… all of this. But you know what? Let's just forget about that for now."

"Yang…"

"No, you came here all excited to tell me about how you asked Jaune and I want to hear it. Okay? I'm done letting my issues ruin everything, now spill."

Pyrrha gives her a skeptical look, hesitantly narrowing her eyes as she takes in the look on her best friend's face. It's not totally convincing, in fact there's a part of her that's sure Yang isn't being completely honest with her, but she also knows her well enough to know that pressing her probably won't get her very far, and maybe the best thing she can do is take her mind off it for a bit.

And if it just so happens that she gets to gush a bit about Jaune in the process, then all the better.

So she takes in one last breath, eyes almost instinctively giving Yang one final look to check for any hint that she shouldn't be letting this go, before finally letting the smile spread back over her face.

"Well, I found him outside the library after school…"

Author's Note: What would we do without Nora? Probably fall into stagnation where nobody can ever confess their feelings for anyone. Anyways, finally got to write the WhiteRose bit that I've been waiting to for months now and could this maybe be a sign that Yang is making progress? Who knows. Well, that was the chapter, hope you all liked it and thanks for reading!