"Home sweet temporary home…" Yang sighed as soon as she spotted the sleek, white mansion sitting behind tall iron gates. Here, at the edge of Vale, the population had never been high and was now considerably lower. Massive estates stood few and far in between, with each sectioned off from one another as if rich people really didn't like having neighbors.
The exclusivity worked in their favor, especially as they hopped from Schnee-mansion to Schnee-mansion for shelter. Solar-powered, in-ground wells, fully-fenced with hurricane shutters on every window - the goliath buildings were the perfect zombie hideouts. Plus, the beds were comfortable as hell, with sheets as soft as baby's blankets. In a previous life, Yang would call each house a supreme waste of money; these days, they seemed to be awfully good investments.
While speeding towards the front gate, she spun the volume dial until heavy metal music gave way to the engine. "I think my ears are bleeding…" Weiss muttered from the backseat. As usual, finding something to complain about.
"Watch it," Blake warned, pointing out a single Z near the gate. The poor guy paced back and forth without purpose, stuck in a loop he'd only come out of if food arrived. Or if vengeance rained from above…
"Dibs!" Ruby called out.
Chuckling at the enthusiasm, Yang stopped the truck a good distance away and watched Ruby slide open the roof-access to the crow's nest. Ruby then hoisted herself up through the small, square opening, leaving them to wait as she pieced together her sniper rifle and lined up the perfect shot. A crack rang through the air a few moments later, and the zombie collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Nice!" As soon as Ruby dropped back into the cabin, Yang gave her a high-five.
"Think I can try it while you're driving?" Ruby asked while Yang put the truck in gear and continued towards the gate.
"Definitely! That sounds awesome."
"And unnecessary."
"Ruby, talk to your woman, please," Yang joked before stopping in front of the gate separating them from safety. "I can get it -" she began to offer, but Blake was already hopping outside.
"Maybe next time."
With a wink, Blake closed the door and jogged over to a series of padlocks securing the metal gate in place. Once those were unlocked, she unraveled a thick metal chain and shoved the gate inward. As soon as there was enough room, Yang drove through and stopped just on the other side, but kept her eyes peeled for trouble while Blake redid the locks. Only when Blake hopped back into the vehicle did Yang stop holding her breath.
"Think we can get those keypads working again?" she asked while navigating up the long driveway.
"Eventually," Ruby replied. "It'll just take some time."
"Why?" Blake asked, sending Yang a knowing smile. "Worried about me?"
"I mean...it just seems like that'd be way safer! What if we had a horde chasing us?"
"Then we'd keep driving," Weiss said while Yang parked in front of the house.
"Miss Know-It-All…" she grumbled under her breath as her companions jumped out and started unloading the supplies they'd gathered throughout the day. Finally turning off the engine, she hopped out and stretched her back, which made several satisfying cracks. "I love this truck." After closing the door, she lovingly patted the metal. "He's been so good to us."
"Get a room," Weiss teased.
"I would get a room with Xander! Although, technically I don't have to because I can just sleep inside, if you know what I mean."
When Yang winked, Weiss rolled her eyes and grabbed a duffel bag from the trunk. While everyone else unloaded bags stuffed with all kinds of goodies, Yang walked around her precious vehicle and searched for any damage.
Xander had held up extremely well so far. It didn't matter if they plowed through waves of undead, went off-roading, or climbed over parked cars - this truck did it all.
But he wasn't a typical truck, like a pickup truck or something small and puny like that. No, Xander was a cross between a truck and a small semi, but fortified for the apocalypse. A metal plow had been welded to the front (although Zs still somehow managed to get stuck in the grill), thick metal mesh covered the windows, floodlights sat on top, and the cab in the back was big enough to sleep all four of them. They used that space to carry the essentials - enough food, ammo, weapons, and medical supplies to live on the road if they needed to.
Yang had no idea where Weiss bought him, but as soon as she laid eyes on him...she knew she had to have him.
"Not bad," she muttered after doing a full walkaround. "Could probably use another bath though…"
"Please don't say you're going to wash the truck again."
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked while Weiss shoved a heavy bag of ammunition into her arms.
"It's pointless. Why wash something you use to run over zombies?"
"It might be the apocalypse, Weiss, but I still need to look good. Who do you think I am - a direct-to-tv type of hero?"
"I don't think you're any type of hero," Weiss replied, giving Yang a disdainful look that would include a set of haughtily crossed arms if her arms weren't full.
"Of course you don't - because you're my rival."
Giggling at the term, Ruby hopped between them, kissed Weiss' cheek, and raced to the front door. The tiny display of affection immediately ended the spat, as Weiss instantly lost her annoyed expression and Yang smiled while following them inside.
Jobs didn't exist anymore, but they still found plenty to do. Even though the safehouses came stocked with enough supplies to last several years, they spent their days picking up any useful items they found. It was a thief's dream, plus a healthy amount of death and destruction.
"Are we cataloging more stuff?" Ruby asked as she ran into the mansion's foyer.
"Of course."
With far more patience than she'd exhibited just moments prior, Weiss waved Yang and Blake inside before locking the door behind them. After the fancy exterior door was deadbolted several times over, an interior metal door fit over it, serving as an additional barrier to any enterprising rogues thinking they might slip inside. If someone managed to get through those reinforcements, well...that's what the killer robots were for. (They didn't actually have killer robots, but there was no harm in making people think they did.)
After walking into the massive living room, Yang dropped her bag near Ruby, who was busy pulling out the random odds and ends they'd picked up over the course of the day. "More ammo…" Ruby muttered while pushing the bag aside and setting several boxes of bullets on top of it. "And some cool knife things…"
"I'll take those." Blake picked up the set of throwing knives before looking around the room. "Unless someone else wants them?"
"All yours," Yang answered when Weiss pursed her lips and shook her head. Knowing Weiss, she was thinking how impractical throwing knives were for killing zombies. Yang shared that view until she watched Blake wreak havoc with a spatula; no way was she doubting the lethality of throwing knives in Blake's capable hands.
"More important-lookin' papers..." Ruby added, setting several binders and loose sheets of paper on the coffee table. Weiss leaned over to read the top page while Ruby continued sorting.
Ruby and Weiss loved cataloging things, but Yang had yet to figure out why. All she knew was that both of them were serious collectors. Somehow, a bottomless supply of ammo wasn't enough for them - they needed to know how many bullets they had, and how many guns, and how many CDs, and how many cans of food, etc., etc., etc.
If this was a video game, their inventories were stuffed to the brim and meticulously organized by importance. After Xander's storage space had been filled, they created chests and drawers in each safehouse dedicated to certain categories of items. And god forbid someone put something in the wrong drawer...
"Don't we have like a million of these?" Yang picked up a can opener, but Weiss snatched it from her hands.
"Now we have a million and one."
Yang scoffed at the curt response and turned to Blake for sympathy, but Blake just shrugged while twirling a knife in one hand and emptying her bag with the other. Three boxes of Ruby's favorite cookies, several cans of soup, another can opener, and a jumble of prescription bottles.
"Looks like you're starting a pharmacy," Yang joked while reaching for one of the bottles. Of course, Weiss snatched it away before she touched it.
"You never know what medical care we'll need, and we can't exactly create these at the drop of the hat."
"Exactly!" Yang agreed with a big smile just to freak Weiss out. It worked - Weiss looked up from the pile of medicine and stared at Yang for several seconds before shaking her head.
While Weiss and Ruby worked through the bags one-by-one, Yang twiddled her thumbs and debated trying to touch something else just to see how fast Weiss reacted. Ultimately, laziness won out.
"Guessing you don't want our help..."
"For once, you're correct."
Rolling her eyes at the snappy remark, Yang patted her knees, stood up, and gestured for Blake to follow. "We'll leave you to it then!" she called out while leaving the two hoarders behind. "You'd think they could sell that stuff for gold or something..." she muttered to Blake as they returned to the entryway.
"Maybe not gold, but they're definitely saving for something…" For a second, Blake narrowed her eyes and watched the pair look over a new handgun they'd picked up (it was sitting on top of a trash can!). While they figured out where to put it, Blake shook her head and smiled. "At least we don't have to do it."
"You got that right." While chuckling at the idea of her and Blake doing inventory, Yang stuck her hand in her front pocket and found Xander's key. After pulling it out and tugging her necklace from beneath her shirt, she fastened the key on the chain for safekeeping. Blake watched the action with an intent gaze - the type of gaze that compelled Yang to speak again. "If you ever want to drive, I'll let you," she said while holding up the key.
"That's quite an offer considering you won't even let Weiss touch the key."
"Of course not. Xander's way too much power for her to handle."
"Oh?" One of Blake's brows rose as she stepped closer. "And you think I can handle it?"
"I-I mean, yeah - I think so. Don't you?"
Blake's responding smirk said much more than met the eye. One, she was happy that Yang trusted her with such a weighty responsibility. And two, she was extremely pleased that the hint of something suggestive reduced Yang to sputters.
"I think I'll pass," Blake added as that smirk transformed into an amused smile. "For now. I like being your copilot."
Yang grinned at the answer for two reasons - because she loved having such a great (and hot) copilot, and because she really loved driving. "Happy to have you!" she added. "Every hero needs a side-" As soon as Blake's brow rose, she backpedaled. "A side hero," she corrected. "Every hero needs a side hero! You know, like, another hero who's just as good as the main hero, if not better?"
Soft laughter told her it was time to stop making a fool of herself, so she snapped her jaw shut and tried to ignore the growing heat in her cheeks.
"Can't say I've ever considered myself a hero," Blake said, casually sliding a hand from Yang's shoulder down to her elbow. "I'm curious though…" Blake continued while trailing her fingers along Yang's forearm, eliciting goosebumps in the process. "This story you're living...does it include a love interest?"
Yang's eyes widened at the forward question, and her heart raced faster when Blake's fingers intertwined with hers before squeezing her hand and letting go.
"I'm -"
'Looking at her' was what Yang wanted to say, but she was too tongue-tied to use words. Instead, several responses were attempted and aborted before she settled on shaking her head. Blake expected the lack of response, as she smirked and walked away with a sexy, impossible-to-ignore saunter. Did she walk like that so Yang would check her out? Or did she walk like that because she knew Yang checked her out? Either way, Yang stared at Blake's royally-working backside while the girl headed upstairs for the night.
What did she have to do to move their relationship forward? Besides the obvious - shameless flirting, casual affection, and borderline inappropriate quips - what else was there? Because clearly she was missing something.
Sighing at the situation, she turned around and jumped when someone appeared by her side.
"You should go for it!"
With her heart in her throat, and her sister suddenly standing beside her, Yang somehow managed to scoff. "Don't worry, Ruby; it'll happen. I just have to wait until about halfway through the story, save her life, collect my kiss of gratitude, and then we can become an item."
"That could be forever from now though." Briefly pouting at the timeline, Ruby cheered up as soon as an idea popped into her head. "Oh! How 'bout I help you?"
"How would you help?"
"I can put you in dangerous situations! Like, I can forget to close doors, accidentally blow stuff up, be super clumsy - then you'll have to save her from situations I 'accidentally' created."
The idea wasn't too shabby, but Yang threw on a stoic expression while setting both hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Ruby, I don't know how to tell you this, but..." Ducking her head, she looked into Ruby's eyes and smiled. "You're probably going to do that anyway."
When the two of them burst into giggles, Weiss walked out of the living room. "What're you doing?" she asked, sparing a real smile for Ruby before sending Yang a smug one. "Still pining?"
"Always pining, Weiss. You know that."
As usual, the joke did nothing to untighten Weiss' clench. Instead, she shook her head.
"It's the apocalypse, and you're thinking about romance."
"Says the girl trying to sleep with my sister as much as possible," Yang retorted and watched Weiss scoff while reaching for Ruby's hand.
"Well, you never know what day will be our last."
"Exactly! We could be zombie chow any day now; I can't let that happen without getting to be with Blake at least once."
Shaking her head, Weiss gave up the argument with a sarcastic, "Good luck…"
"I don't need luck," Yang replied before squaring her shoulders and puffing out her chest. "I'm the hero, remember?"
"I don't know why you think you're the hero. Ruby's the one who saved you."
"Oh yeah!" Lightly swinging Weiss' hand, Ruby smiled at the memory. "Cuz I saw that zombie jump that guy while I was out running!"
"Pretty sure I could've survived five more minutes on my own." When Ruby and Weiss responded with dubious expressions, Yang shook her head and waved her hands in front of her. "Well, whatever. It happened the way it happened. If anything, I get to be the hero because I called it."
Ruby nodded, fully understanding the power of dibs, but Weiss scoffed.
"Come on, Ruby. Let's look through the papers we found."
"Ok!" Always willing to agree with Weiss, Ruby nearly walked away before turning back around. "And Yang, you should consider my offer!"
"Yeah, yeah." After waving Ruby off to enjoy a riveting night of reading random papers, Yang headed upstairs to her temporary room.
Plenty of apocalypse stories included a love interest. Those people usually got killed in horrible accidents, turned into zombies, eaten by zombies, or otherwise removed from the story, but this story wouldn't be like that. There could be a love interest and a happily-ever-after. It was just uncommon for both of those to happen when paired with flesh-eating monsters...
Before passing Blake's room, Yang paused and decided to see what the girl was up to. After knocking on the open door, she poked her head inside and spotted Blake standing by the dresser.
"Hey," she said with an awkward wave that successfully drew Blake's attention her way.
"Hey."
Reading the smile as permission to hang out, Yang walked over and sat on the edge of Blake's bed. "Wanna do something tonight?" she asked while Blake set several handguns on the dresser, then removed an impressive array of hidden blades.
"Something?"
Blake's smirk made Yang blush in a heartbeat. She hoped that meant what she thought that meant, but after being wrong so many times in a row...she really didn't know anymore.
"Like watch a movie?" Blake added, smirk still in place as she set one last knife on the cabinet and sauntered over.
Letting out a breath that was partially disappointment, Yang put her hands on the bed behind her and leaned backward. "Think Weiss'll let us?" she asked casually, though it grew harder to keep her cool when Blake stood between her legs. From there, Blake leaned over, set one hand on Yang's thigh to steady herself, and practically purred in Yang's ear, "She will if she doesn't know about it."
Heart pounding now, and tiny jolts of electricity racing from Blake's palm upward, Yang cleared her throat and said, "I...like the way you think."
That must have been the right response because Blake pulled herself up onto the bed in one fluid motion, her knees now straddling Yang as she lowered herself onto Yang's lap. She then ran a hand through Yang's hair, curling and uncurling her fingers in the most ludicrously arousing way. "Do you?" she asked at the same time, her voice hardly above a whisper.
"U-uh…" Yang scrambled to figure out what to do while her mind stuck on how sexy Blake was right now. Her fingers lightly tugging and pulling. Her legs spread across Yang's lap. Her intent, hungry eyes. "Right?" Yang asked, unsure what she was even answering anymore. Instead, she took a deep breath and set her hands on Blake's thighs, and Blake's brow rose.
"I bet you'd love what I'm thinking about right now…" Blake replied while walking her other hand up Yang's shirt and undoing the top button with two fingers. Then her hand slid to the second button and undid it just as easily, and Yang's mind sped into overdrive.
Every sign said that the moment was rushing towards them at a breakneck pace Yang couldn't help but agree with, as evidenced by the desire pouring through her veins. Screw the story and being a hero - if Blake wanted to do this now, then they were doing it now.
Staring into eager amber eyes, Yang gripped Blake's thighs before running her hands up Blake's sides, then to Blake's shoulders and pulled her closer - all while Blake trailed a finger down her chest, heading towards the third button. While prepared to undo the last bit of clothing separating them, Blake leaned closer -
"Blake!"
Blake pulled away at the sound of her name, and Ruby careened into the room a second later.
"Oh, and Yang. You guys gotta see this!"
While Blake calmly separated from her, Yang sighed and silently cursed Ruby's timing. "What's up?" she asked while Weiss walked into the room. Weiss only needed one glance to read the room and smirk, fully understanding the sizable buzzkill Ruby just pummeled them with.
"We found something interesting," Ruby explained before holding out a piece of paper. "It was in the truck - take a look!"
Resigned to her new fate, Yang took the crumpled piece of paper and flipped it around. Blake moved close to read it over Yang's shoulder, making it exceptionally difficult to focus as soft, warm breaths sent shivers of longing down her spine.
"'Davis Lab,'" she read aloud. "'Testing three possible cures - some progress made - need more patients to fine tune results.'" Reaching the bottom, she turned the page over and found the back empty. "Is this saying what I think it's saying?" she asked, looking at Blake for confirmation.
"It sounds like this lab is working on several cures," Blake replied, her brow furrowed in thought.
"If they are, we should see if they have anything, right?"
"Exactly what we thought!" Ruby broke in while grabbing the paper from Yang's hands. "If they're working on something, we can see if they've made progress."
"Potentially, we could get a copy of their research and add it to our collection," Weiss added.
Sensing that a plan had been formed before the two girls even ventured upstairs, Yang decided to step on their toes.
"Alright! Tomorrow morning we head to Davis Lab and see if anyone's there. If they're working on something, we offer help. If no one's there, we grab all the info we can carry." Looking at her companions in turn - from Blake's amused smile to Ruby's nod to Weiss' annoyed scowl - Yang nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." After clapping once and standing, she turned to Blake. "I'll...see you tomorrow?" she asked, silently hoping Blake asked her to stay. She really wanted to pick up where they left off, but - after a long look and no discernible permission from Blake - she buried a sigh and smiled instead. "Have a good night," she added with a half-wave before leaving the room with Ruby and Weiss.
"And now you can take a cold shower," Weiss said as soon as they were out of earshot.
Breaking out of her Blake-induced haze, Yang turned to Weiss and threw on a smile. "Hey, I'm totally fine."
"No, I mean you have to take a cold shower," Weiss elaborated with a smug grin.
"The water heater broke again," Ruby explained. "I'm sure I can fix it - probably just needs a reset - but I'll do that later. You know, when it's light out."
Sighing at her luck, Yang shook her head and waved goodnight to the two girls before traipsing off to her room. After locking the door behind her, she sighed again and started her end-of-day routine.
One cold shower later, she was in bed for the night. Of course, her mind was still stuck on that moment with Blake, which had been tantalizingly close to finally breaking through the barrier between them. Unfortunately, that wasn't even the closest they'd come to...making it. There was also the moment before that, and the moment before that, and every single moment they'd shared so far.
It was bound to happen, but some invisible force stood in their way. Yang was positive she just needed to complete a task first - some grand, heroic gesture - before she and Blake could reach the far more pleasurable stage of their relationship. Until then, she was destined for more cold showers and unfulfilled desires.
"Sucks to be the hero sometimes..." she muttered before rolling over, turning off the lights, and trying to catch some sleep.