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: Well I think this has been my longest gap between chapters other than my actual hiatus. I kind of wish it was to build suspense or something but the reality is I got crazy sick for a couple of weeks (not COVID thankfully) and yeah this is actually the earliest I could get it out. But anyways, sorry it was right off the end of a slight cliffhanger, hopefully this one makes up for it a bit.
Chapter 44: Always
Yang tears through the hallways past the grand staircase leading down to the main entrance and doubles over to catch her breath, her heels dangling from one hand while the other clenches tighter and tighter around Blake's confirmation letter as her frustration grows.
She'd spent the past fifteen minutes frantically swinging open doors to balconies and secluded rooms in search of the dark haired girl, more often than not finding the area occupied by excited couples looking for some alone time. And with every door she'd opened, every quiet corner she'd looked through, all she'd done was add to her impatience.
"Yang slow down!" Pyrrha calls out.
She turns around just short of rounding the corner to the main hallway leading to the ballroom and finding some amusement in the way the redhead is struggling to keep up with her pace. Normally with Pyrrha's insane fitness there'd be no chance of outrunning her like this, but the girl hadn't stopped to take off her shoes and that combined with the restrictions of her dress ends up being too much even for her fiery best friend.
Weiss comes up just a step behind, looking slightly frazzled as she takes a second to fix her immaculate hair. "We need an actual plan," the heiress huffs, "we'll never find her by just randomly running through the halls like this."
"Okay okay," she answers reluctantly, "so what do we do?"
"Well, the ballroom is pretty big. So why don't you go through the middle while Pyrrha and I search down the sides and we can meet on the other end by all of our stuff. And if we don't find her by then hopefully someone else knows where she is."
"Sounds good, let's go."
Not willing to wait around another minute, Yang quickly throws her shoes back on, not liking the idea of running barefoot through the crowded dance floor, and runs through the large double doors leading into the main ballroom. But then the second she makes it inside she's left awestruck by just how many people there are.
Sure she sort of had an idea that the ballroom had been kind of crowded while they were dancing earlier, but now that she's actually standing on the edge and trying to find one specific person amongst the vast horde of dancing students, can't help but feel a sense of panic surging inside her chest.
But she tries to push it to the back of mind as she heads straight for the center of the mob, eyes darting back and forth through a sea of sparkly dresses and tuxedos. It's with a hint of anxiety that she realizes how familiar this feels, desperately searching for Blake amongst a seemingly endless horde of people.
Before she knows it, her breathing is starting to quicken again, the memory of Blake turning her back on her at the airport so vivid and painful that it threatens to overwhelm her. And it only seems to get worse when she reaches forward to push past another group of dancing students and notices how hard her hand is shaking.
So she has to stop and take in a deep breath, seizing the opportunity for a longer look at the people around her to try and pick Blake out of the crowd. Only it's immediately obvious that the searchlight approach is hopeless with how densely packed everyone is, so she does her best to put it to the back of her mind and keep pushing forward.
It ends up taking even longer than she'd initially expected crossing the dancefloor over to the opposite wall, and by the time she finally makes it she's feeling as anxious as ever to find Blake.
She finally catches a glimpse of a familiar head of bright orange hair sitting at their table by the door and quickly heads over.
"Hey Yang!" Nora greets with an energetic wave, "people were starting to get worried about you."
She gives a half-hearted wave in response, fixating more on the fact that the only other person here is Ren.
"Where is everyone?" Yang asks anxiously.
"Uh, most of them are still on the dance floor." Ren answers slowly.
Nora nods her agreement with a sly grin. "Except I think Neptune and Octavia ran off for a bit of… alone time."
"Really?" Yang says, unable to help cracking a small smile of her own. "Well I'm happy for them."
"I know right? Who would've thought Neptune had it in him?"
It looks like Nora is about to keep going when Ren gently sets a hand on her leg, a clear signal for her to stop for a second.
"Yang?" He says, clearly noticing how distracted the blonde is at the moment, "is everything okay?"
"Um yeah," she answers, grateful as ever to have a friend as observant as Ren, "actually I was wondering if either of you guys might know where Blake is right now?"
Nora perks up, instinctively snapping her head back and forth to scan the surrounding area. "Blake? Um, I don't know, I think she disappeared around the time that you did. Honestly we… kind of all thought she'd gone to look for you."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah… I even tried to stop Pyrrha and Weiss from interrupting but they were just so determined to find you guys."
"Interrupt?" Yang says in confusion, "what could they possibly be… you know what it doesn't matter. You guys didn't see where she went at all?"
Nora and Ren share a quick look before the boy turns back to face her with an apologetic frown. "Sorry Yang."
With that she lets out a frustrated huff, running a hand through her hair as she tries to think of what she could possibly do next. She vaguely remembers Weiss telling them some details about the building when they'd first arrived, but it's not as if there'd been enough information for her to actually have an idea of the layout. Honestly the only thing that really stuck with her was Weiss going on and on about how ridiculously large the place is, which really only ends up being more disheartening as her mind goes wild thinking of all the places Blake could be hiding right now.
She's brought out of her thoughts by Nora tugging on the skirt of her dress. "Hey look, there's Pyrrha and Weiss, maybe they've seen her."
She turns in the direction that Nora's pointing, thinking about telling the girl that Pyrrha and Weiss have been helping her this whole time when she sees that they aren't alone, with the two of them being followed closely by Neo, Ruby, and Jaune as well as Sun and Nebula just a couple steps behind them.
"What's up with you guys?" Ruby asks, "you're acting so weird."
"It was just way too loud on the dance floor." Weiss answers, "and we thought you guys might know where Blake is."
"Blake?" Ruby says, looking between them in confusion, "uh I'm not sure, she ran off around the time that you guys did, we kind of all thought…"
Yang interrupts with a frustrated groan. "We already know all that, does anyone actually know where she went?"
If it weren't for the music blasting over the speakers she'd be certain that the sound of crickets would be audible as the others awkwardly look between each other, all of them unable to come up with a response as Yang helplessly watches on. Another beat goes by where everyone holds their breath before she lets out a defeated sigh, ready to give up and let everyone go back to the dance when suddenly, the silence is broken by Neo quietly chiming in.
"Um… actually, I think I might know where she is."
All eyes turn towards the girl's voice, needing Sun and Nebula to actually step to the side to reveal where the girl had apparently been hiding behind them.
Yang's heart starts pounding in her chest as her eyes go wide. "You… you do?"
"Yeah…" Neo answers timidly, "I went looking for a bathroom earlier and I think I saw her slip through some kind of barrier?"
With that Weiss lets out a deep gasp, eyes going wide as her hands fly straight to her head.
"Weiss?" Pyrrha says gently, "are you okay?"
"I can't believe I forgot!"
Yang feels her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Forgot what?"
"I cordoned off the balconies on the East wing when we were setting up earlier."
"Why would you do that?" Yang asks.
She sees a wave of trepidation wash over the heiress's face before she lets out a small huff. "Well, you know how at every school dance Blake kind of ends up off on her own in some private corner somewhere?"
"Yeah…"
"Well she only knows where to go because I find the spots for her in advance."
All Yang can manage is a couple blinks in complete shock. "You… you're the one that's been behind that all these years? Why would you even do that?"
"Well it wasn't every year," Weiss clarifies, "I didn't exactly have the authority to just zone off parts of the building until recently. But it was the only thing I could do to get Blake to come to the dances. Otherwise she always insisted that she'd rather just stay home. Then over the years it just… kind of became a tradition."
"Wow…"
She can't exactly help being so stunned with these new revelations, especially with how much those private moments with Blake meant to her, it just shows how much of an effect her friends have had on her life.
Her mind is going wild, keeping her frozen to the spot as she's hit with a flood of memories when it's actually Neo that snaps her out of it.
"Look Yang," the girl says sharply, "none of that is important right now, what's important is that Blake is on one of the East balconies. You have to go find her."
Her eyes go wide as the real gravity of the situation finally dawns on her and she slowly kicks back into action.
"You're right…" she breathes, "I… thank you Neo. I can't tell you how much…"
"Oh, save it." Neo answers with a playful roll of her eyes, "just… go get her blondie."
…
Yang lets out a deep sigh as she clears the final step off the stairs and into yet another extravagantly decorated hallway. When Weiss had said that she'd set the East Wing aside for Blake to hide away in, she'd somehow failed to mention how ridiculously far of a walk it would be. Thankfully she'd taken her heels off again the second she'd gotten back into the hallway, allowing her to once again relish in the relief of the soft plush carpet on her aching feet.
Of course now that she's finally rounding the corner and seeing the long, lavish hallway lined to the end with glass doors, she finds that any discomfort she might be feeling is just about the furthest thing from her mind.
She wants to attribute the pounding in her chest to the full tilt sprint she'd set off in the second she'd left the ballroom, but doing so would only be lying to herself. There's only one person in the world that can get her to feel like this.
And unlike earlier this very night where she'd spent the better part of an hour flinging open every door in search of her, or that fateful day at the airport where she'd chased cold leads halfway across town, this time she finds Blake almost instantly.
At first she actually almost misses it, just catching the slightest glimpse of her beautiful raven hair flowing freely in the gentle breeze. But when it comes to Blake, that's all it really takes to capture her attention completely.
Her breath catches in her chest as she slowly walks up to the door, unable to manage anything more beyond simply marveling at the sight before her. Honestly it's like something out of a painting, the way she's casually leaning up against the railing, wistfully gazing up at the stars as her body is bathed in the gentle glow of the winter moon. With the lights on the balcony turned off, it makes a perfect scene of contrasting black and white, equal parts captivating and perplexing in the way Blake's jet black hair and matching onyx dress somehow shine just as bright as her beautiful alabaster skin.
And then, as if the image isn't breathtaking enough, Blake turns her head slightly to the side, just enough so she can barely make out the brilliant glow of her amber eyes, breaking the two tone motif in the most perfect way imaginable.
She's not even sure how long she spends frozen to the spot like that, so thoroughly captivated by Blake's undeniable beauty that she can barely think. And on some level she finds it a little surprising that even after so many years all it takes is one look to completely take her breath away. But eventually Yang's mind clears enough for her to decide that she can't put this off any longer and slowly reaches forward for the handle of the door.
Her heart is pounding so hard that she's practically dead to the world, only barely able to register the sound of the door handle rattling in her trembling hands. But it isn't missed by Blake. Because honestly nothing ever seems to get past the girl's superhuman senses and she turns around slowly, the golden glow of her eyes growing just that much brighter as her eyebrows raise in a mixture of surprise and recognition.
"Yang?"
It's only then that it occurs to her that she has no idea what she's going to say. Just like last time at the airport, and again on that day in the forest, even earlier in the night as she was tearing through the hallways, Yang had spent the entire time lost in the memories of the extensive history she has with Blake.
"Yang." Blake repeats, slowly pushing herself off of the railing and harshly pulling Yang back to reality, "what are you doing here? I thought you'd…"
"Thought I'd what?" She finally asks as Blake trails off.
"I… kind of thought you'd be dancing with Neo…" The girl answers hesitantly.
Yang blinks in shock, a bit of anger flaring up inside her as she remembers how often she's had to answer this kind of accusation. She tries to keep it from bubbling over, but honestly controlling her anger had never really been one of her strong suits.
"Is that why you've been lying to me all this time?"
Blake responds with a dumbstruck look of her own, jaw hanging open in surprise as Yang's words sink in.
"I… what?" The girl stammers, "what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about this." Yang answers, unclenching her fist and allowing the confirmation letter to slowly unroll.
Almost immediately Blake's eyes go wide, no doubt recognizing the gold seal at the top.
"What… where did you get that?" Blake says, voice tinged with just the slightest hint of fear.
"Weiss found it earlier today when she went to pick you up at your house."
She doesn't get any response, only eliciting a shaky breath from Blake as the girl's lips start trembling.
"So?" Yang continues, "what the hell is this? All that stuff about Mistral, disappearing on those campus tours, making me think that… it was all fake?"
"It wasn't fake!" Blake cries, her voice becoming more and more strained and broken in sheer desperation, "I just…"
"Just what?"
"I didn't know what else to do!"
The sheer power in Blake's voice stuns Yang into silence for a moment, one that seems to last for hours with both of them keeping their eyes locked on the other.
"You… you didn't know what else to do?" Yang finally spits out, the fire within her starting to burn so hot that containment feels impossible. "I'd say not lying to me, to all of us, would be a pretty good start. There are a million things you could've done! You could have come with us to Vale like you said you would, you could have talked to Weiss, you could have…" she trails off, suddenly worried that she might not have the courage to continue. "You could have talked to me." She finishes shakily.
Blake takes a few steps forward before stopping abruptly, almost yanking herself back and falling back into the railing. "Yang I… I wanted to tell you so badly I just… I couldn't."
"So you thought running away would be better?" Yang chokes out, starting to feel tears welling up in her eyes, "do you have any idea what this has been doing to me? Because I thought that you of all people would know that…"
"Of course I know!" Blake wails, "I hate myself more than anything for putting you through all of this! I just… I couldn't take it anymore Yang! I couldn't keep doing this for another four years!"
Yang's breath catches in her chest as the desperation in Blake's voice stuns her into another shocked silence. Up until now their argument had felt familiar, more or less a repeat of everything that they've been struggling with all this time. But this… this was different. New. Something she hadn't heard ever before.
There's something about it that has her heart pounding even harder.
"What… what are you talking about?" She says weakly, suddenly almost unsure if she'd heard the words correctly, "you can't take what anymore?"
Blake's eyes go wide, finally realizing exactly what she'd just let slip. "No, I… I didn't mean…"
"Blake." She breathes firmly, "why did you do all of this?"
It takes forever for the answer to finally come and when it does it's quiet and broken, a shattered whisper that's barely even audible over the gentle breeze in the air.
"Because of you."
The silence that follows is downright maddening and almost instantly her head is filled with a dozen different voices of her friends all telling her the same thing over so many years. But she pushes it to the back of her mind
Because it's a truth she's known all along and just never had the courage to acknowledge. It's the reason she'd never been able to listen to her friends for all of those years. That no matter who's saying it, no matter how compelling the evidence they bring may be, she'll never be able to believe it unless she hears it come from Blake herself.
"Be… because of me?" She says finally.
The dark haired girl bites down on her lip, anxiously fussing with her hair as she brings her amber eyes back up to meet her gaze.
"No, I…" Blake chokes out, hands trembling so violently as she runs a hand through her hair that Yang can't believe she hadn't noticed it earlier. "I didn't… I can't…"
Yang feels herself start to panic. She'd only just gotten this far, there's no way she can afford to let Blake clam up now.
"Blake," she says quietly, "Blake just… you can talk to me. I…" she trails off, the words dying in her throat as her mind immediately jumps to that night in the park all those years ago. It feels a little strange that this is the only thing she seems able to come up with right now, and she briefly wonders to herself whether digging up the past like this would be too much. But no. Right now, it's the only card she can think of playing. "I promise you… no matter what happens, whenever you need me, I'll be here. Always."
There's a part of her that's worried that maybe it's too obscure of a reference, that maybe she's going too far back to a moment that's more significant to her than it is to Blake. But then… the girl's beautiful eyes go wide, allowing the tears to flow freely down her cheeks.
"You… you remembered?" Blake whispers shakily, "I… I thought…"
"That I would forget?" Yang interrupts, finally mustering up the courage to take a single step closer, "Blake that night at the park was one of the most important, cherished memories of my life. I can't even tell you how much your words meant to me."
"Yang I…"
She doesn't let her finish, instead slowly taking another step closer. "That night was the first time I had ever told anyone about my nightmares, the first time I'd felt comfortable enough with someone to not feel like I had to keep pretending to be strong and just… let my true self come out. Blake I… I wouldn't be the same person I am today without that night… without you."
"I… I had no idea that I meant that much to you."
"Are you kidding?" She half sobs, "Blake I… you're my whole world. Whatever it is that you're hiding, that you feel like you can't tell me, Blake I promise you with all my heart that it will never get between us."
With that, the tears start to fall even harder as Blake's body begins to shake. She brings a hand up to cover her mouth, the sheer amount of pain in her eyes betraying the conflict raging inside her head. Seeing it breaks Yang's heart and once again she has to stop herself from rushing forward and pulling Blake into her arms.
"I… I never wanted this to happen." Blake sobs, finally breaking the silence.
"Wanted what to happen?"
"I tried so hard to forget it all, to push it away and hope I could make it disappear. But I just… couldn't! And when I finally realized what had happened… there was just no going back."
The pounding in Yang's chest is going a mile a minute now and her mind is racing even faster. If she had any ability to think logically at the moment she'd easily be able to see the deeper meaning behind Blake's words. But it's so terribly difficult to see reason when it's you yourself that's on the line and somehow all she can think about is all the ways Blake could suddenly deviate down a path that would inevitably lead to heartbreak.
"I… what are you saying?" She asks, voice barely louder than a whisper as she struggles to muster up the strength to take another step forward.
Blake locks eyes with her once again, this time the amber glow softening in a way that she doesn't think she'd ever seen before as the last of Blake's strength seems to drain from her body in total resignation for what's to come.
"I'm saying that… I love you."
In the blink of an eye everything comes to a stop and the world is suddenly engulfed in a deafening silence that threatens to suffocate her.
Her eyes stretch wide as her heart skips a dozen beats. The moisture in her mouth dries in an instant as a fresh set of tears prepares to spill onto her cheeks.
Pyrrha.
Weiss.
Winter.
Neo.
Everything they'd told her... everything they'd said all this time… it was actually true.
She can't even believe it.
Hearing those words come out of Blake's mouth after all these years… it's something she'd been dreaming of since that first day they'd met. And hearing it now for real is better than all of them put together.
She sees Blake's body start to tremble again as the silence starts to become overwhelming and before she knows it her mind is already made up.
Three steps. It's roughly the same distance she'd been slowly inching across for the past few minutes. But this time she closes the remaining space in less than a second, leaving the confirmation letter to slowly drift to the floor. With one smooth motion Yang reaches forward, one hand reaching around Blake's waist and the other gently brushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. Their eyes meet one more time for just a second before she finally tangles her fingers through Blake's soft silky locks... and crashes their lips together.
Just as suddenly as her mind had gone completely blank just a moment earlier, her senses are now flooded with input.
The first thing she really registers is the surprised squeak that Blake gives, followed quickly by a complete tensing of her body pressed so closely against her own. But it only lasts a second before Blake completely melts into the kiss, letting out a quiet moan as Yang feels the girl's arms wrapping around her neck.
They hold the kiss for another deliciously long moment, just enough time for Yang to fully appreciate Blake's lilac scented perfume and the sweet taste of her creamy vanilla lip gloss.
But eventually they pull apart, bodies still pressed close together but just far enough for each of them to take in a light breath as they stare into each other's eyes, neither of them quite sure if they can really believe what had just happened.
It's Blake that's the first to break the silence.
"You… I mean you…"
"I love you too Blake." Yang finishes quietly, "like I said before, you're my whole world, have been since the day we first met."
"R-really?"
She feels a gentle smile spread on her lips as she shakes her head in disbelief. "Of course Blake." She answers quietly, "it's always been you."
But the reaction that she gets isn't quite what she expects, with the last bit of fear and confusion creeping its way back into Blake's eyes as she slowly backs into the railing.
"I… how?" Blake says shakily.
Yang instinctively takes a small step toward her. "How what?"
"How can you do… this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean standing up here and talking with me, saying all these things… kissing me as if I hadn't…"
"I'm not going to stay haunted by what's already in the past." Yang cuts in firmly. "I've done enough of that as it is. I think we both have."
The fire in Blake's eyes falters a bit, melting into something that more closely resembles the soft amber glow that she's used to.
"So… what?" The girl whispers, "do you really think we can just… start over?"
Yang shakes her head as she takes another step forward. "No. No, I don't think I want to start over."
"Then… what?"
"I'm not sure." She answers honestly, "but I know that I'm not going to let what happened ruin what we have together."
"How's that different?" Blake asks.
Yang lets a small smile spread onto her lips as she steps up next to her, letting her arms rest against the cool stone of the balcony railing as she gazes wistfully up at the moon shining down on them.
"Well…" She muses, "I guess it's less about forgetting the past and more like… accepting it."
She can feel Blake's eyes boring into her, heavy with questions that she's too afraid to voice.
"I mean," Yang continues, "sure, the last couple of weeks haven't been the best times in the world… but there have been some pretty good ones too. Like Thanksgiving, or dressing up and going out to dinner, or even that weekend I was sick and you came to take care of me."
"You count that in your list of good memories?"
"Of course!" She chuckles, smile spreading just a bit wider at the humor easing its way back into Blake's voice, "I got to spend an entire weekend with you! What's not to love?"
Blake shakes her head in disbelief, finally joining her in staring up at the stars.
"I guess we also can't forget getting into that fight with Cardin."
"Oh how could I forget that?" Yang shoots her a grin. "It's the first time that I had my very own knight in shining armor coming to my rescue like that."
All she gets in response is a slightly embarrassed chuckle and a playful roll of the eyes.
"The point is," Yang continues, "I don't think I can let all of that go. And sure, maybe there were a couple of days recently where I wished that I could, but now I'm glad that I can't. Because all of those memories are precious to me and I know that you and I will be making a whole lot more in the years to come."
Blake turns to her with an intense and vulnerable look in her eyes as she lets out a shaky breath, allowing the words to truly sink in before her face lights up into a beaming smile before she leans over to catch her lips in another kiss.
And this kiss is completely different from their first. That one had been intense, almost desperate, a release of so many years of heartache and seemingly hopeless pining, whereas this time around it's a lot more gentle, packed with a feeling of hope and adoration that Yang melts into completely.
Author's Note: I don't even know how to describe how great it feels to finally have the big kiss scene that I've been planning for... I don't even know how long. It's been a hell of a ride and I've definitely considered just ending it here, but I think there's still a bit of story left to tell. Anyways, I'll do my best to push out any remaining chapters but my schedule is about to get pretty ridiculous as school starts back up. With that being said, thanks to everyone for sticking with me for this long, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, Thanks for reading!