Hello, this one-shot was born out of a reviewer's idea on my other fic, 'A Wicked Game'. He liked how I described Ilia changing color due to her emotions (not that I came up with the idea, that's what both irl chameleon and Ilia did in the show) and mentionned how funny a story where Ilia dated someone who would tease her to provoke color changes would be.
So I took 2 or 3 days to write this. It didn't quite end up like the 'ha ha, Ilia changes color because she's being teased, how funny' that I planned to go for before writing, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It felt much more natural to write this as a short romance/wholesome work than trying to force comedy on it.
Hope you enjoy the 1 965 long one-shot, even if it's a bit on the short side.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the creation of Monty Oum and the legal property of Rooster Teeth. This is merely a fan's work made for fun and not profit.
Credit goes to Kolomte'49 for the idea. This short one-shot wouldn't exist without you.
''Sup' Ilia, I didn't make you wait too long?'' The chameleon Faunus' girlfriend asked, as they met at the pub for another date.
''Oh yeah, you did. I got there two minutes ago, that's like forever.'' Ilia said with the dry humour she had started to develop due to the girl's teasing.
Of course, while she kept her voice flat, her skin betrayed her true feeling, turning neon blue for a moment, with her freckles and hair turning green, at the sight of the blonde girl. A sign of excitement, showing she was happy to see her.
''Aww, you poor girl.'' The busty girl cooed, bending forward with a sly grin, letting Ilia get a look down her cleavage. ''How about I buy you a drink to make up for it?''
''S-sure, I'd love that.'' Ilia gulped, blushing with her freckles turning bright pink.
Gods, her girlfriend could be such a tease when she wanted to be.
Ilia had never been happier since her parent's death.
A few months ago, Blake started dating Adam, leaving Ilia heartbroken. So after a mission close to Vale, she went to a local pub of Patch to drink her sorrow, while her skin kept randomly turning green. She had picked Patch because the people there were know to be less discriminatory toward Faunus than Vale (not that Vale was anywhere near the worst place either, but still), lowering the chances of being bothered when she just wanted to be left alone.
Except she had been bothered, though not in the way she had expected. Instead of some racist bully, the one who came to her and ignored her demands to be left alone was a local huntress-in-training that found the way her skin changed color fascinating, before she decided that she wasn't going to leave Ilia alone in her self-pitying and to befriend her instead.
And this, was how Ilia met the hottest girl on this side of Remnant.
Okay, maybe even the other side, too, but she wasn't going to admit that out loud lest she risked turning Yang's well deserved ego turn into an overinflated one.
After that, they hung out at the pub twice a week, chatting over a drink, or two (yes, Ilia knew they were both 16, too young to legally drink, but so was like, a fourth of the pub's clients.) Although Ilia made a point to avoid mentionning anything about being part of a radical pro-Faunus, vaguely anti-Human terrorist organization. That would have made things… awkward, to say the least.
They had that friendship for barely more than a month. Until one day Ilia, almost completely shit-faced, asked Yang out. It was a spur of the moment, leading to Yang apologetically rejecting her.
Ilia wasn't suprised by Yang's rejection. She already knew that Yang's sexuality pointed toward guys, her gushing about this boys band she was a fan of during one of their talk made that obvious enough. But hey, Ilia was drunk at that moment, so she didn't exactly have her brain working at full capacity.
So Ilia went back to moping, until Yang came back two days later and told her she wanted to take her on a date.
That caught the Faunus girl off guard, before Yang explained that she gave some thought about it and decided that while she generally prefered boys over girls, she kinda really liked Ilia and realized she was less opposed to the idea of dating a girl than she thought she'd be. Well, not a girl per say, just Ilia as the one exception.
Ilia somewhat suspected that part of Yang's 'gave some thought about it' may have partly included something along the lines of 'Eh, why not? YOLO.'. The brawler girl just didn't strike Ilia as someone who had a habit of carefully considering things in thought. Not that Ilia thought Yang was dumb, quite to the contrary. She was much smarter than what some people would expect from the stereotypical party girl. And surprisingly perceptive, too. She was just the type to prefer action when she could take the option.
Either way, this was how she started dating Yang.
For some reason, Ilia felt a disturbance on Patch. As if hundreds of hormonal teenage boys had their horny hopes and wet dreams crushed, and were suddenly cockblocked. She didn't really found it in herself to care.
Their relationship didn't really changes that much since then, though. They'd mostly just continued to chat and share drinks, only with a little flirting that wasn't there before.
''I'll take a strawberry sunrise for me, with a little umbrella.'' Yang said to the barman, before turning to Ilia. ''So, what do you want?''
''Guess I'll take the same thing you did too.'' She never tasted this drink, and Yang seemed to really like it since that was what she choose half the time, so Ilia decided she might as well try it.
''Two strawberry sunrise, then.'' Yang confirmed to the barman, who started preparing the drinks. The blonde girl then smirked. Uh oh, Ilia knew what that smirk meant, teasing incoming. ''Be careful, honey, you know you can't handle your alcohol.''
Alas, Ilia was expecting a flirty tease from Yang, not for playful mocking, so she was caught off guard and her skin turned orange in irritation. ''You know perfectly well I handle alcohol just fine.'' Seriously, her limit was 3 glasses, one wasn't going to affect her that much.
Of course Yang's limit was a glass higher than Ilia, but the main thing that defined how resistant someone was to getting drunk was fats, and Yang had two very big advantage over her on that point. Not that Ilia minded. Oh no, not at all.
And Ilia remembered Yang's reaction last week, when she told the brawler how alcohol resistance actually worked. ''Glad to learn these puppies are useful for something other than getting back pains.'' She had said with a grin, before giving a hug to Ilia that pressed her face into her boobs.
That was the most daring thing Yang had done so far. But at least when the 'hug' ended, Ilia wasn't the only one blushing for once.
Either way, it wasn't Ilia who drank past her limit half the time.
''Eh eh, sorry. It's just that I like seeing you change color, I told you each colors makes you beautiful, right?''
''Yes, but I told you I can control my Faunus trait at will. If you want me to take on a color, you just have to ask.'' Ilia pouted. To prove her point, she turned her skin into the same fair complexion as her girlfriend, changed her hair to the same yellow and her eyes to lilac, imitating Yang's color palette to make her point.
''I know, and you also look pretty when doing it too, but there's something missing.'' Yang's lips formed a genuine smile, before she took the served drinks and handed one to Ilia. ''You're absolutely adorable when your emotions matches your color change.''
Trying to hide her blush, Ilia took a sip of the strawberry sunrise. This didn't work, of course, as when Ilia 'blushed', it wasn't just the freckles on her face that turned pink, but also those on her arms, which were still very visible.
''Uh, this drink is pretty good.'' Ilia said.
''I know, right?'' Yang said, taking a pause for a sip of her own. ''This is a real quality drink, unlike the diluted stuff this place calls a beer. Or whatever uncle Qrow has in his flask.''
''I thought you said your uncle knew his way around alcohol?''
''Oh, he does. I'm pretty sure it's high quality stuff.'' Yang shrugged. ''It's just that with how strong it smells, I'd be ready to bet my arm that it's 100% alcohol.''
Ilia raised an eyebrow. ''Wouldn't that kill him?''
''Pfft, as if!'' Yang laughed. ''Don't underestimate the hardest working liver on Remnant. I wouldn't be surprised if his semblance turned out to be having a super liver or something.''
''Really? Is it that bad?''
''Wouldn't really call it bad. He's the happy kind of drunk, especially when he start being incoherent. At that point he becomes hilarious.''
The more her girlfriend talked about her family, the more Ilia found that they were weirdos… Although, it didn't sound like it was in a bad way.
''Speaking of family, I've been thinking about it for a few days.'' Yang continued. ''I want to introduce you to mine.''
Her words didn't register immediately, but when they did, Ilia got so scared at the idea that her skin became a dull, dark brown.
''Y-your family!? But I'm a Faunus, what if they don't approve?'' Ilia immediately berrated herself for saying that. She let old fears resurfaces, even though Yang had already told her before that nobody in her family had any problems with Faunus.
''Did I not already tell you that they're fine with Faunus?'' Yang echoed her thought.
''Yes, yes. Of course.'' Ilia said, her skin returning to a more normal state, but still a little darker than usual. ''Still, what if they think me changing colors is weird?'' Most Faunus had ears, horns, or tails. Y'know? Normal stuff. A Faunus who's trait was their entire skin and an unusual ability like changing color was extremely rare.
''They won't care. Well, except Ruby, she'll probably think it's cool.''
''Cool?'' Ilia tested the word, the use of it to describe her Faunus trait being foreign to her.
Since a young age, Ilia's parents teached her she had to keep her trait under control. She couldn't let her trait manifest in public, especially not in Atlas. For her own good, it had to be kept secret.
It was a dirty secret. Something to be ashamed of.
That was how she had come to see her Faunus trait, and to a limited extent, herself. It wasn't what her parents meant to teach her, and Ilia doubted they ever realized that it what was she got from that, they merely wanted to keep her safe and give her the best of educations in Atlas. She could never hate or resent them for it, but still…
Cool, fascinating, pretty, cute, beautiful.
Never, even in her wildest dreams, had Ilia associated those words with her chameleon skin.
''You really believe she'll think that?'' She asked, still having some trouble believing it.
''Of course!'' Yang grinned, more than a little confident on that. ''I grew up with her for 14 years, I like to think I know my baby sister by now.''
Deciding Yang had a point, Ilia took a big gulp of her drink, finishing it, before answering. She needed the liquid courage for that little leap of faith. ''Alright, I'll come meet your family.''
''Awesome!'' Yang exclaimed as she threw herself at Ilia for a hug. ''Close your eyes for a moment.'' The blonde whispered in her ear.
Ilia did so, before opening them as she felt Yang's lips on hers.
The chameleon girl blushed so hard that not only did her freckles turned pink, but even her skin became a deep pink. A color she didn't even know her skin could take spontaneously.
''C'mon, why don't we go take the dance floor by storm?'' Yang asked after breaking the kiss, before walking toward said dance floor while rolling her hips, purposefully attracting Ilia's eyes down there.
'Again, my girlfriend is such a tease.' Ilia thought, before joining Yang.
That night, the couple were the center of attention. It wasn't surprising, after all, one of them was the local bombshell, while the other…
The other shone out of sheer happiness, her skin taking a color it hadn't taken since her parents' death.
A bright, neon yellow.
To be honest, I usually don't enjoy LGBT characters in fiction, but I really like Ilia's character. She's my favorite non-straight character and I'm happy I got to write a little more of her given her... limited, shall we say, presence in 'A Wicked Game'.
I think the reason why I usually dislike LGBT characters is because too often, it goes like this: 'Why is this character special?' 'He's gay.' 'What's his personality like?' 'Being gay.' 'What's his goal?' 'G A Y' 'What does he contributes to the plot?' 'Having a gay character.' 'Why is he even in the show?' 'He's a token gay character(with no actual character to him) that's included because we sincerely believe everybody deserves to be represented.' 'What's the real reason?' 'So we can call everybody who criticize our shitty show 'hOmOpHbIc BiGoTs'.' '...'
Ilia's not anything like that, she has an actual personality and motivations of her own. I liked how she priorised what she believed to be right over her crush, and how she struggled to reconcile what she thought she had to do with how she knew it was morally wrong before switching side. She's a great character.
Since this is a one-shot, there won't be an author note at the beginning of next chapter, so if you want an answer to your review, you can include that you're fine with an answer on PM in your review.
I'm gonna go start writing chapter 11 of my actual long time project. See ya all next time.