6 Weeks that time, I think? Hope you enjoy.
Yang:
Two Weeks Later:
It was yet another beautiful day at the main Beacon campus. The weekend sun shined bright, illuminating the white pavement with a piercing glow. Team RWBY marched alongside team JNPR as the octet returned from a filling breakfast in the cafeteria. Everyone was eager to enjoy some well-earned, quality rest and relaxation, except for Weiss of course, who was equally eager to point out the major task still at hand.
"Alright now," Weiss groaned, "We all have food in our stomachs. We're all substantially awake now that it is well past noon. We have no more excuses. It is time to build the grimm trap for Professor Port's class."
"Relax, Weiss," Yang reassured, "The assignment isn't due until this Friday."
"I will relax just as soon as my grades aren't threatened by you irresponsible teammates."
"What design did you all decide on, anyway?" Pyrrha inquired, "I don't believe Ruby mentioned that when we helped gather supplies at the store."
"We're building a cage!" Ruby beamed.
"A cage?" Nora wondered, "How will that trap them? Will they lock themselves in?"
"Ruby means," Weiss interjected, "we're building a motion sensing chamber, armed with disabling lightning dust charges."
"The cage will taze and trap a grimm when it walks inside. We're using red sap from Forever Fall as bait," Yang translated.
"Wicked!" Nora maniacally grinned.
"Sounds impressive," Pyrrha added, "Well, we'll let you get to it. We on the other hand, have plenty of combat training to do."
Jaune's shoulders sunk with the reminder.
"Alright," Ruby waved, "Catch you all later."
Team JNPR splintered off towards the sparring hall as Team RWBY returned to the dormitory.
Yesterday, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ruby had visited a nearby hardware store and brought a bunch of building supplies back to campus. They'd left the supplies in a common shed behind their dorm, planning to build the cage outdoors to avoid transporting it through doorways. The courtyard also had a number of scattered tables and chairs – the perfect outside workstation for a warm afternoon.
The team unlocked the storage shed and began stacking their building materials on a table. The pile of metal beams and electrical equipment resembled the beginnings of a mad scientist's evil contraption.
After taking a seat, Yang casually placed her hand over Blake's on the table. The faunus shook her head with a poorly hidden smile.
"Alright," Weiss announced as she unrolled the schematics on the table, "We need to start with the primary framing before dealing with any of the electrical components. We also need to attach the wheels at some point, and we should test the dust dispenser separately before tying it to the motion sensors…"
"Just tell us what to do, princess," Yang chuckled.
Weiss lifted her rapier – Myrtenaster, along with a cartridge of fire dust.
"To start with, I will cut the beams to the correct length while the rest of you … oh no ..." Weiss' voice trailed away.
The rest of the team turned their heads to spot the disturbance. To seemingly halt all productivity, Neptune and Sun were approaching the group. Yang felt Blake swipe her hand away and scoot over several inches.
'Blake, no!' Yang mentally cried.
"Hello, team RWBY!" Neptune jokingly mimicked, with Sun adding, "Hey, what are you guys up to?"
"Oh, we're just working on an assignment for Professor Port's class," Weiss appeared to be subconsciously and frantically fixing her hair.
"That's cool," Neptune gave a thumbs up.
"It's been a while," Sun noted, "How uh have you all been?"
'Oh crap,' Yang realized to herself, 'Sun probably still thinks I'm having a mental breakdown and Blake's asexual.'
Yang noticed Blake awkwardly glance to the ground.
"I think we've all been doing fine," Yang tried to smile, "Just trying to survive our classes."
She nudged Blake to pitch in, but the faunus stayed silent.
Sun nodded slowly, "Well that's … good."
"Hey," Ruby beamed, "congrats, by the way, on making it to the finals of the Vytal Festival! I can't believe it's all already over!"
"Oh yeah, thanks," Sun chuckled. "I wish we'd sent Sage instead of me. That Atlesian huntsman knocked me off the platform so dang quickly."
"Don't even sweat it, dude," Neptune patted his shoulder, "Reaching the finals was a victory in itself. You all wouldn't believe the amount of attention we've gotten. Team SSSN is known around Remnant. Our careers as huntsmen are basically set in stone now…"
Chuckling awkwardly, Neptune added, "I'm sorry, that was kind of uncool to say. It's not that big of a deal. I'm sure you all will still-"
"Don't worry about it, Neptune," Weiss sighed, "I'm sure our team will qualify for the next competition."
"Oh absolutely," Neptune chimed.
"Speaking of the festival," Sun added, "Did you guys hear about those students from Mystral? Sender and Mercenary, I think?"
"Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald?" Ruby suggested.
"Yeah that team! Apparently, they were caught hacking into the colosseum during the festival, trying to cheat. They also attacked some guards before finally getting arrested.
"What? But … what?" Ruby stammered.
"Yeah crazy stuff," Sun chuckled, "They're probably getting sent back to Mystral once Atlas has finished investigating."
"Jeez, to think we've hung out with them," Yang glumly recalled.
"To think our academy would let such people in," Weiss scoffed.
"I guess you really have to be careful who you trust," Neptune shook his head.
Blake sunk in her seat as the group fell into silence.
"Well," Weiss finally snapped, "I – uh we uh -" Weiss cleared her throat, "It was nice seeing you, Neptune and Sun, but we really need to work on our project."
"Of course," Sun chuckled, "Good luck!"
"Yeah, catch you all later," Neptune winked, "See you when you're done, Weiss."
The heiress turned to hide her reddening face as she waved behind her. The two boys walked off.
Yang glanced back to Blake, yet again. The faunus was still staring downward.
'Oh dear,' Yang thought, 'Blake what's-'
"Now then," Weiss resumed with recovered composure, "As stated, I will cut the framing beams and hand them off. One of you can then drill appropriate holes at the ends while another… wait a second!"
The heiress glared at the dust packages sprawled on the table.
"Ruby, what on Remnant are these?"
"Uh," Ruby blinked, "Those are the packages of lightning dust. Did we need more than that or-"
"These are packages of extremely high voltage lightning dust," Weiss scowled, "It seems you've completely forgotten that we're trying to capture a grimm - not utterly vaporize it!"
"Uh … I don't-"
"I asked you to obtain low voltage dust, you dolt! We need to incapacitate and immobilize the grimm! That's the point of the entire project! How relentlessly dense can you-"
"Hey, hey, hey, Weiss," Yang interjected as she stood up between the two shorter girls, "We can go back to Vale and get the right type of dust. It's not the end of the world or your grade."
Weiss groaned, "Of course we can! We can waste even more time not working on a major assignment for the semester! It's not like it's due-"
"If our time crunch was really so critical, then you wouldn't have spent time flirting with your boyfriend, Weiss," Yang pointed out.
The ice queen groaned again, but finally decided to cease her rant.
'This might actually be a good thing,' Yang thought to herself, 'I think Blake and I need to talk.'
"Now then," Yang diplomatically continued, "Blake and I will quickly run into the city. We'll be back with the supplies before you'd even believe it. Okay, Weiss?"
"What do you need Blake for?" Weiss scoffed.
"Aside from literally everything," Yang winked, "I need more hands to carry the dust back if I'm going on foot."
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Fine, just hurry up already."
The blonde offered a beaming thumbs up, "Sure thing, princess. Let's go, Blakey. See you, sis."
"Later" Ruby sighed as she began configuring the drill.
Blake reluctantly rose and followed Yang, bounding back to Vale yet again.
After a few moments of silent travel, Blake coyly muttered, "You don't need me for everything. Don't be so dramatic."
"I literally need you to fall asleep at night," Yang shrugged, "Sorry, babe."
Blake chuckled, "Ah, is that why I'm being dragged along with you? Cause you definitely don't need help carrying anything. You could lug back ten times the dust we need without breaking a sweat. What's really happening?"
Yang playfully gasped, "I'm hurt, Blake. Is accompanying me to the store really just that terrible?"
"Yang" Blake insisted, "Seriously, what's going on?"
"Alright. Alright. I was going to ask you the same thing."
"What do you mean?"
"You were really reserved when Sun and Neptune came by just now – like more than usual. You seemed a little freaked out about seemingly nothing. What's going on between those ears of yours?"
The faunus crossed her arms as they passed through the campus gates.
"I guess I still feel bad about lying to Sun … I told him I was asexual back on that movie date. He clearly had some level of interest in me, and it feels messed up not to have been honest with him…"
Yang intently nodded, "But…"
Blake gloomily chuckled, "But I can't tell him the truth of the whole situation. Word would spread about us and I … I just couldn't deal with that. He probably even already suspects something, so I'm nervous to say anything to him. I mean we never offered any real explanation as to why you were so apparently worried about me and my specific sexuality…"
The blonde chuckled at the absurdity of her past plan.
"He may suspect something maybe…" Yang agreed. "Although, you know we told Weiss and she hasn't-"
"Are you really going to compare Weiss to Sun?" Blake dryly shook her head, "The guy gossips about everything. He's a major loose end."
"Alright yeah – word would probably spread if we told him…" Yang fidgeted with her golden bracelets, "but would that really be that bad?"
Blake immediately stopped walking.
'Oh, fuck,' Yang mentally punched herself.
"What exactly are you suggesting, Yang?"
"I was just thinking … I …" The blonde sighed, turning to face her partner. "I'm not going to tell him, alright? I'm not going to tell him or anyone else about our relationship. I know how much you're worried about the oppression and the hatred. I understand why you want things this way, but it's still a strain for me."
Blake remained silent.
"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to guilt trip you. I just don't think it would be that terrible if we went public… It'd be nice just holding your hand for longer than a second, and I'd beat the shit out of anyone who bothers us about it… It just feels weird having to still hide my feelings for you…"
The faunus began to tear up slightly. Yang would've immediately pulled her into a hug if they weren't on a public sidewalk.
"I'm sorry too," Blake sniffed, "Maybe someday we can … but I – I cannot even fully fathom how potentially paranoid and stressed and-"
"That's why we're not telling Sun or anyone else, alright?" Yang stepped closer with a soothing tone, "Don't feel bad, please? Please don't worry … I'm just trying to share my thoughts. It's fine to lie a bit to Sun, but I don't want to lie to you."
Blake nodded as she hastily wiped her eyes.
"T-thanks for being so understanding, Yang."
"Hey, of course. Don't even worry about it," Yang insisted. She really wanted to hug and comfort the poor thing, but she figured remaining platonic here would likely better solidify her promise.
"However, we should worry about getting scolded by Weiss. C'mon. The store isn't that much further."
…
So yeah. It has bothered me when other fics skip months or entire school years, but 2 weeks felt reasonable. I mean, I have to skip a little bit as I can't have everything occur within the early phase of their relationship and can't realistically write an interesting tale for every single day of their lives…
Anyways, I am so excited for the next chapter - The final fluff chapter. Not that there won't be fluff afterwards per say, but well … I'm sure I've laid the groundwork by now for some speculation on an approaching conflict. But enough about the uncertain future, let's talk about where we're at so far.
I'm glad we're finally seeing their school project take form. This was a planned pit stop for a long time now after they started with gathering red sap in Forever Fall. I'm also glad we got more angry Weiss. Writing her dialogue is always too amazing.
If anyone was wondering my process for dialogue – I literally read each line using the characters' voices to help tailor their phrasing and thought processes.
Also, I'm realizing that this whole thing would probably best be read all at once due to my frequent callbacks to past events like Forever Fall and the date with Sun… but oh well. Our foundation is worth referring to even if its years old now.
ALSO in response to one review - I probably did have the characters swear too much earlier on, but I'm going to have them swear where I see appropriate. The fic is rated M and they're human beings.
I think that's enough rambling.
Thank you all again for all the lovely support. Please leave a review with any critiques - it really motivates me to hear the feedback. I also hope you're all excited for Volume 7.
See you maybe soon?