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: Had fun writing this chapter, it's mostly just mindless fluff which I'm pretty happy to have again after putting Blake and Yang through so much hardship for the last several chapters. As always thanks for all the feedback, don't know what I'd do without all you guys, hope you like it!

Chapter 37: Dress Shopping

Weiss leaves the student council room with a frustrated huff and heads towards the cafeteria. It's honestly unbelievable how infuriating it is trying to make decisions when she has to juggle conflicting ideas being tossed to her from ten different people at once. Not to mention the fact that she'd had to sacrifice half of her lunch period to do it.

Thankfully in the end they were able to more or less arrive at a consensus, marking the last of the decisions that needed to be hammered out for the dance next weekend. Now all she had to worry about would be making sure nothing goes wrong on the actual day.

But she pushes that to the back of her mind. If she goes too far down that path she's pretty sure there'll be no turning back. She quickens her pace a little, hungrily eyeing her lunchbox and the grilled chicken salad that she knows is inside.

She can't deny that there's a bit off a skip to her step as she crosses through the doors of the cafeteria, and even if it feels childish, she can't really help it. This is just kind of how she's felt since her date with Ruby yesterday. She wants to say that it's just been a culmination of all the stress she'd been put under in the past few weeks, but in reality it's probably just that she'd been a lot more nervous than she realized about her first time asking Ruby to anything.

When she gets to their usual table in the back of the cafeteria she finds the group in considerably higher spirits than she'd really been expecting, with Yang in particular seemingly back to some semblance of her old self, this time taking part in a fierce arm wrestling match against Nora.

She has to admit that even she's starting to wonder whether or not the blonde's cheerful and relaxed demeanor is more than an act. After all, the past two days of tutoring her in the library had gone surprisingly well, with Yang being far more receptive than usual and making what she would actually call impressive progress to salvaging her grade during their final exams next week. Of course she'd discussed it a bit with Ruby and Pyrrha, and all of them had expressed a considerable amount of skepticism, but she can tell just by their body language right now that they're also having a hard time doubting Yang's repeated claims of being fine.

She tries to put it to the back of her mind as she slides into the seat that Ruby had saved for her, flashing her girlfriend a beaming smile as she all but tears her lunchbox open.

"How was Student Council?" Ruby asks through a mouthful of pizza.

"Pretty horrible actually," she huffs, "but hopefully this is the last of the changes we'll need to make for the dance. Which reminds me, we still have details that need hammering out for our own group."

"Like what?" Pyrrha asks, leaning over from the other side of Ruby.

"Well I think the limo is more or less sorted, but I still actually need to make the reservation for the restaurant which we haven't picked."

Pyrrha nods her head in agreement. "Speaking of which, you might need to add two to our list."

"Oh yeah? For who?"

"Sun and Neptune have dates now." Ruby answers. "Nebula and Octavia."

"Oh…" She hums, feeling a small grin spread on her face as she looks across the table to see the two aforementioned boys eagerly looking up tuxedo rentals on their phones. "Well good for them, I'll put them on the list."

"And also…" Pyrrha says almost hesitantly, "do we know if Blake is coming?"

And somehow it's only at that moment that she notices that Blake isn't at the table, despite the two of them having a lengthy conversation over the phone just last night about her coming out of her voluntary seclusion, one that she thought had been fairly productive.

"She really didn't come to lunch today either?" She sighs, "I swear…"

"Well, maybe she just needs time." Ruby suggests. "It can't be easy for her to take a step like this after… everything."

"Yeah… and she probably shouldn't be alone or she'll just keep spiralling."

"Do you want me to go find her?" Pyrrha offers. "I could try to convince her to come eat with us."

"No, let me." Weiss says, letting out another deep sigh as she packs her lunch back up, "I actually think I might know where she is right now."

"Want me to come?" Ruby asks.

She gives a quick shake of her head. "Don't worry about it, lunch is almost over anyway but I'll see you tonight to do homework?"

"Yup!"

"Great."

With that, she slides out of her seat, leaning over to give Ruby a quick kiss on the top of her head, which elicits a quiet giggle and a slight blush, before rushing out into the hallway.

…

It takes a couple minutes to get to the classroom that she'd found Blake in the other day, and once again she finds the girl sitting on the floor, a sandwich in one hand and a book in the other.

For a second she debates just turning around and leaving the girl in peace, after all, this was a far cry from the forlorn look that had worked its way into Blake's eyes all morning at the slightest glimpse of Yang in the hallways, but then she thinks to herself that while this level of calm might seem nice now, it wouldn't amount to much in the long run if things didn't improve.

So with that, she kicks off of the doorway to slowly make her way into the room.

She only makes it a couple steps before Blake looks up, eyes going wide for a split second before relaxing in recognition.

"Oh, hey Weiss." The girl says guiltily.

Her expression relaxes a bit as she sits down next to her, flashing Blake a gentle smile in the hopes of relieving some of the girl's tension.

"So." She says simply, "I can't help but notice that this isn't the cafeteria."

"I know…" Blake huffs, "I tried to go, I swear. But… I don't know. The second I got close I just… panicked."

"About what?"

"Well like… what if Yang really just doesn't want to see me? What if she starts yelling or something or…"

"She wouldn't yell."

"You don't know that!" Blake fires back quickly, "and besides…"

The girl trails off, and Weiss waits a beat as she watches the conflicted look grow more defined on the girl's face. "Yes?" She prods gently.

"Well, I kind of had this thought that… after everything I've done, maybe this is what I deserve."

Her response comes before she even realizes it. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it? I mean…"

"No it is." She cuts in, "I haven't agreed with a lot of the choices you've made recently, but that's no reason to keep torturing yourself like this."

"Weiss…"

"Nope. Sorry, you don't get a say in this one. We're doing something after school to cheer you up."

"Don't you have something with Ruby?"

"We were just going to study anyway."

"I'm not going to their house." Blake says bluntly.

"That's now what I was going to suggest. That would be a terrible idea anyway."

"Or the diner."

"Also not what I was going to say."

"Well… then what?"

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

…

Blake narrows her eyes suspiciously, crossing her arms over her chest as she leans back into the shiny leather of Weiss's passenger seat.

"The mall? Wait…"

"You're not getting out of this." Weis cuts in.

"This is your idea of cheering me up?"

The girl's tone is as flat as ever but she can still detect the hint of panic in Blake's voice.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Weiss says, pulling the car into a vacant spot.

"I thought I told you that I'm not going to the dance."

She can feel the agitation starting to bubble up as she throws her car into park and turns to face the dark haired girl next to her.

"Look. I know everything feels really awful right now but this will be your last Winter Ball ever. Do you really want to deprive yourself of the happy memories just because of the drama between you and Yang?"

"Well… I…" Blake stammers. Weiss can see the determination on her face start to show signs of cracking and she feels a grin start to spread on her own.

"Look. You can either keep protesting until I drag you into the store or you can just give up now and we can go inside and have some fun. There isn't even a chance of running into Yang, I know for a fact that they're all going tomorrow."

"Without you?" Blake asks, tilting her head in confusion.

"Well… I was originally planning on going tomorrow as well but I told them that I wasn't going to make it."

A wave of guilt washes over Blake's face. "Weiss…" the girl mumbles, "you didn't have to…"

"No." She interrupts, "none of that. I already told you that I'm not going to let you suffer through this alone. Now are we going to shop or not?"

It takes a few seconds but eventually Blake's stony facade shatters, revealing a relaxed smile on her lips along with a mischievous glint in her eyes that looks much more like the best friend she knows.

"Alright, you win."

…

Nora lets out a delighted shriek that attracts the attention of several people passing by as well as a couple of the employees before eagerly running into the dress shop.

Pyrrha shakes her head a little but inwardly, she has to restrain herself from doing something similar. It feels more than a little unbelievable that this was actually happening. That she had actually worked up the courage to ask Jaune and that he'd actually said yes. Something that, only a few weeks ago, she would have considered nearly impossible.

She watches as Ruby takes Neo's hand and drags her through the door, following Nora over to the back where the smaller dresses are displayed.

At her side, Yang gives a similar shake of the head despite the slight grin on her lips.

"Think she regrets coming?" The blonde chuckles.

"Neo? No it looks like she's having fun. She certainly gets along with Ruby well enough."

"Rubes gets along with everyone." Yang replies casually.

With that the two of them head inside, not going quite as far as the others given how much taller she and Yang are.

"I seem to remember you freaking out about Ruby being able to make friends when she started high school." Pyrrha quips, absentmindedly flipping through the dresses hanging on the rack.

Yang walks along next to her, similarly browsing the opposite rack. "I was just worried." The blonde says defensively, "I mean she's my baby sister! I can't help it."

"You're going to have to stop calling her that eventually." She giggles, "otherwise Weiss is going to keep making innuendos to make you uncomfortable."

Yang lets out a low groan. "God, don't remind me. I swear if she tries to get anything too slu..."

"I don't think you really need to worry about that." Pyrrha interrupts quickly. "Ruby's always been one for more… modest attire."

"Clearly you didn't see her homecoming dress this year."

"I did see it and it wasn't bad at all. Your dress on the other hand…"

"What was wrong with my dress?" Yang asks incredulously.

Pyrrha lets out a light giggle. "Didn't Professor Goodwitch threaten to send you home because your neckline was too low?"

"That's… only because my straps were looser than I expected!" The blonde sputters, "look that's not important. Have you seen anything good yet?"

"No… everything's either been really boring or just completely covered in sequins."

"Well what about this one?"

She turns around to see Yang holding up a shiny red dress with spaghetti straps and a low plunging v-shaped neckline and she raises her eyebrow.

"Are you trying to get me in trouble with Goodwitch too?"

"Oh come on it's not that bad. You've got to at least try it."

Pyrrha eyes the dress skeptically. If she's being honest she's not sure she'd be exactly comfortable wearing something like that. But... then again, she didn't think she'd be comfortable asking Jaune to the dance in the first place.

With one last uncertain glance, she takes it out of Yang's hands, ignoring the triumphant whoop that the blonde lets out and heads towards the changing rooms.

…

Yang breathes out a deep sigh, thankful for the reprieve, however short it may be, from the overwhelming waves of positivity that she'd been getting from the others all day. Of course it's touching that her friends care enough about her to do all of this, but now that they're at their third store of the day, it's starting to feel a little over the top.

Because she knows for a fact that if she doesn't match the energy they're putting out she'll immediately be bombarded by a torrent of worried questions. And to be honest it's more than a little exhausting.

Absentmindedly, she flips through another rack of dresses, at this point she doesn't even know how many she's looked at but no matter what she does she can't seem to find anything that catches her eye. Of course it doesn't exactly help that she's not feeling too confident about going to the dance to begin with.

It's not like it's anywhere close to a rare thing for her to go to a dance without a date. In fact for almost every single formal they'd had so far she had turned down all of the people who asked her.

And it's not exactly that she would pathetically hold on to the hope that Blake would ask her, it was just… she never had quite as much fun when she went with a date.

Going with someone usually meant that she had to spend the entire night swatting at their hands when they got too touchy or god forbid dealing with a tear filled confession the second the slow dance started.

But the main problem was that having a date usually meant that she felt obligated to spend all of her time with them. When the only thing she really wanted to do was hang out with Blake. Over the years she'd more or less learned what Blake did at formal dances. At the beginning of the night there'd be a lot of awkward fidgeting with her dress even though she would always look drop dead gorgeous, finding any excuse possible to avoid actually participating in the dancing. At the height of the dance Blake would usually be found somewhere along the edge of the crowd, making sarcastic comments about how stupid everyone looked trying to impress the people they'd come with.

But it's really the end of the night that Yang always looked forward to with Blake. The girl had a special talent for finding the perfect spot to hide in no matter what kind of venue they were in. Secluded and quiet but still close enough to the main areas to stay in tune with the overall dance. Sometimes they'd just spend the rest of the night staring at stars or something, other nights would be spent sipping punch and having deep conversations about the future. And honestly, no matter what they ended up doing, it was in these private little oases that made up some of Yang's most fond and intimate memories with Blake.

Only this year everything would be different.

So it's not too surprising that she can't find the energy to be excited for the dance. But she doesn't want to say any of that now. Especially with Pyrrha being so pumped about her big chance with Jaune, not to mention the generally over-energetic nature of Nora and Ruby.

She's brought out of her thoughts by Neo wading through a wall of fabric, letting out an exasperated huff as she straightens her hair.

"You doing okay?" Yang asks with an amused smile.

The petite girl answers with a casual shrug. "I guess. Nora keeps insisting that I shouldn't even consider anything that goes more than a quarter of the way to my knees. And apparently that I have the perfect figure for strapless dresses?"

"Yeah," she says, letting out a chuckle, "Nora's never been too shy about showing skin. I can tell her to chill out if you want."

"That's okay, it's actually really sweet of her to be so helpful. I'm just… kind of lost with all of this."

"Do you not usually go to the dances?"

"Not really," Neo says, cringing slightly in embarrassment. "I guess I never really saw much of a point since I never had a date."

"You can still have plenty of fun without one."

Neo gives her a playful roll of the eyes. "Easy for you to say. I bet you've already had half the school ask you."

"It… it's nowhere near that many." Yang mumbles, feelling her cheeks start to heat up.

She sees Neo raise an eyebrow. "Have you ever said yes to anyone who asked you?"

Yang's eyes go wide, not expecting this sudden line of questioning. "Um, yeah. Once or twice. It just usually feels like they don't really know me and are asking me out because they think I'm hot or whatever. But yeah, I've gone with a couple people who I actually considered to be good enough friends to at least give it a shot."

"And how did that go?"

"Well," Yang answers slowly, taking a second to think about her reply, "not too great I guess. They kind of always want something more and I've just never been able to reciprocate."

"Because of…"

Neo trails off but she doesn't have to finish the thought for Yang to catch on to her meaning.

"Yeah…" she says, her voice coming out far more wistful and distant than she intended, "every time we'd go to one of these things I would kind of end up spending most of the night with her."

"Yang," Neo says slowly, "are you sure you're okay?"

She finds herself suppressing a sigh. She's probably been asked some variation of that question over a thousand times in just the past few days and by this point, she's not even sure what the real answer is herself. Things had been complicated to say the least, she'd say it's a far cry from the sobbing, sentimental mess that she'd been in the days that followed her chasing Blake to the airport, and at the very least she hasn't felt like breaking down in tears at the mere sight of the girl in the past few days. But in its place she finds herself with nothing more than a strange sense of numbness that hadn't really gone away since that day at the diner.

But it's not like she's ever been able to put all of that to words, so her answer comes out almost as a reflex, lightning quick and rehearsed to perfection.

"Yeah of course."

"Yang."

"What?"

Neo continues to level her deadpan stare. "Come on Yang, even I know you well enough to see that you don't really mean that."

She lets out a huff, trying to find the energy to deny it, throw on another beaming smile and find some way to divert the conversation, but she comes up short.

"Okay fine," she says, "maybe these past few days have been a little weird."

"Weird how?" Neo asks gently, "I mean, are you even still mad at her?"

"Wouldn't you be?"

"Well yeah probably, I mean I think anyone would. I think that's kind of why nobody is really fighting you on what you said at the diner. But… that's not really answering my question."

Yang feels her eyes go wide, surprised at how thoroughly Neo had seen through her.

"Well I mean," she stammers, "I should be, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Neo replies, "but the question still stands, are you mad at her still?"

"She lied to me." Yang says quickly, but even then she finds that her words are lacking the kind of fire that she'd expect, instead coming out tired and probably far too weak to convince anyone. "She says she was just trying to protect me but I just… I don't know."

Neo gives a slight shrug, looking up at her with a meaningful look that she can't quite read. "If you don't know, then I think you might have your answer."

…

Yang steps through the front door with an exhausted sigh, leaning back against the cool surface as comes to a shut against the doorframe.

She can't believe the amount of time that they'd managed to spend at the mall, and usually she has better stamina for stuff like this, but somehow today she just couldn't seem to muster an ounce of energy after visiting the fifth store.

Of course this was a problem that the others didn't have, particularly Ruby and Nora who's excitement never seemed to run out and even now, are dragging Neo into the kitchen to bake cookies.

She'll have to ask them some day what they're putting in their coffee that's so different from her order.

"Are you doing okay?"

She looks up slowly, unsurprisingly finding Pyrrha standing just in front of her with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah," she answers with a sigh, "just feeling seriously tired."

"We did have a long day today, and it looks like tomorrow is going to be more of the same."

"God don't remind me. Can't I just order a dress off the internet or something?"

The redhead gives her an amused smirk. "You were the one who was talking everyone else out of that with all that talk of 'scammy websites' and 'spending money on dresses that would never fit you'. Has all that skepticism just disappeared?"

"No." Yang huffs. "But I mean, we just spent like the whole day at the mall and I didn't see a single dress that looked even remotely interesting."

"Well," Pyrrha laughs, "I'm sure we'll find something tomorrow. Weiss always said that the shops in Vale are a lot better than the ones in our tiny little mall."

"Yeah but that's only because the Ice Queen can actually afford all of those designer brands."

"Is that all that's been on your mind today? Because you rejected a lot of perfectly affordable dresses today."

With that Yang lets her head fall back into the door with a thump. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that Pyrrha was able to see through her so thoroughly, even considering all her efforts to maintain a cheerful appearance the entire day, but even still she finds herself slightly disappointed that her little act hadn't paid off.

"Not exactly." She answers gloomily.

"Then what is it?"

"Um, Neo came up and talked to me when we were at that one shop with all the wedding dresses."

"Oh my god, did she ask you to the dance?"

Yang finds herself furrowing her eyebrows almost on instinct. "What? No. Why are you guys still on that?"

"Sorry it was just the first thing that came to mind." Pyrrha replies sheepishly.

"Dude I've said like a thousand times that she doesn't…"

"Just because you say she doesn't like you." The redhead interrupts, "doesn't mean it's true. Turning a blind eye to people's feelings for you has become something of a habit of yours."

"That…"

Pyrrha cuts her off with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Look, we can talk about that later. What did she say this time that has you so wound up?"

At that Yang lets out a quiet sigh. "She… asked me if I was actually mad at Blake."

"What? What did you say?"

Yang raises an eyebrow. "You don't sound all that surprised."

"Well I mean," Pyrrha mumbles, "it's just kind of… noticeable when you're mad at someone."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that… well I mean you've never really been that great at hiding your emotions. And when you're mad at someone there's usually a lot of glaring and clenching your jaw, honestly it usually looks like you're on the verge of bursting into flames or something."

"Yeah well, it's not like I can really control that or anything…"

"But I haven't actually seen that in you at all lately."

That catches her off guard, and she snaps her head up with her eyes narrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"Well," Pyrrha says hesitantly, "like even that day Blake came to the diner for example, I was honestly kind of expecting you to throw her out immediately. But you didn't. In fact you were kind of… strangely calm the whole time, even after you came back in."

"You…" Yang stammers, mind struggling to keep up with her friend's words, "you're seriously trying to tell me that I wasn't mad at Blake? I mean that day literally ended in us fighting outside in the alley."

"But Yang, have you ever considered that maybe the reason you picked a fight with Blake wasn't because you were angry about everything that's happened recently?"

"Well then why would I…"

"Because you're hurt?" Pyrrha says quickly, "because Blake means a lot to you and you don't want her to leave? Or maybe… maybe because you're starting to regret not telling her how you felt when you still had the time to spend with her, and now that she's leaving, it feels like you missed out on the chance of a lifetime."

And with those last few words something unlocks inside her, and she doesn't know if she wants to laugh, cry, sink to the ground, or take off running. Her head is numb, her heart aches, but overall she just feels… confused.

"I…" she stammers, "I don't understand."

"And that's okay." Pyrrha answers gently, "these things are hard."

"It's just… what do I do?"

"Well, I guess there's a lot of things, but mainly I think you have to ask yourself…"

Pyrrha trails off, uncertainty etched all over her delicate features as she bites down on her lip.

"What?" Yang asks impatiently.

And when the girl looks back up, the intensity in her emerald eyes threatening to bore through her, she feels like she already has an idea of what's coming, but even then the question still ends up shocking her into a stunned silence.

"Do you still love her?"

Author's Note: Threw in a bit of drama at the end there because I wanted to show this idea that sometimes you need someone else to tear open your feelings for you and that there's a pretty fine line between anger and hurt but that difference can be pretty impactful. Anyways, that was the chapter, I'll see you guys in two weeks, hope you all liked it and thanks for reading!