Author's Note: This is a Bumblebee and Renora chapter because I just love them all so much and felt I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to tell their story. Sorry if that's not your thing! Maybe just skip this chapter :) We'll be back to more wholesome White Rose next :3
"Strawberry Sunrise…" Yang took the glass from the bartender and spun on the stool to hand it to Blake, who was sitting next to her. With a wink she added, "Non virgin this time."
Blake took the drink from her and smiled while rolling her eyes faintly, remembering an early exchange back at Beacon involving Yang's favorite drink.
Flynt, Neon, Kobalt, and Ivory had already finished their drinks and hit the dance floor. They kept catching glimpses of Neon, who seemed to just love being the center of attention at the club, zooming around from partner to partner. They were not at all surprised, and Yang kept giving her cheers and thumbs up from the bar, from one party animal to another. Ivory and Kobalt were even dancing, over toward the corner of the room, bouncing to the music and throwing their hands in the air.
"Looks like they're having fun," Yang commented to Blake with a smirk, taking another sip without looking away.
Blake looked over to the dance floor to see Neon in the middle, grabbing a young blond haired girl by the waist with her tail and spinning around her with a wide smile. "They really know how to party," she mused. She admired how, just like Yang, Team FNKI could be so free. Blake was never big on the club scene. She didn't ever really have much of a chance for fun outings growing up, not to mention she was best at blending in with the shadows and the silence, not in the middle of large groups of noisy people. Although, she did immediately note how easy it was to be invisible here, and it comforted her.
They drank mostly in silence for a few more minutes, just observing the scene around them. Then Yang sat her drink down and propped her elbow on the table, leaning her head against her hand, as she stared at Blake. After a few seconds, Blake noticed and turned her head to stare back.
Yang blushed suddenly, as she always did when she got caught staring at her partner, then quickly gave her a goofy smile and waved at her. Like an idiot. Blake's eyes fell to the table, slightly embarrassed herself now. "What are you thinking about?" she asked, raising her voice louder than usual in order to be heard here, but still smooth and soft.
Yang answered immediately, "Just wondering if you're having fun. I know this isn't really… your 'scene'… But I'm really glad you came!"
Blake responded in a reassuring voice, "No, I'm having a great time! I… missed out on all this…" she trailed off, "It's nice getting to see your world," she finished with a smile at Yang.
"So when do I get to see yours?" Yang asked playfully, putting the straw from her drink into her mouth with two fingers, and taking another sip casually.
Blake scoffed jokingly, "I think you'd be so bored with my world that you'd tear the walls down just for entertainment."
Yang laughed whole-heartedly, which made Blake smile and blush. Her laugh was so adorable…
Now they looked back to the dance floor and saw Flynt and Neon in the center of the crowd this time, busting some serious moves, in perfect synch with each other as they let the music move them, the crowd cheering them on. It was impressive. And yet it looked like nothing, as they laughed and high fived and Neon disappeared into the crowd again. Flynt turned to a lady who'd approached him from the audience and tipped his hat, took her hand, and wandered into the crowd with her.
Yang turned to Blake again, a smile growing on her face, "Wanna dance?" she asked, sitting her drink down and standing up, holding her hand out to Blake. Blake stared at her hand for a second, the metal reflecting the colorful lights, and looked up at Yang's happy, smiling face. Blake smiled back, finished her drink, and placed her hand on Yang's. Yang all but ran off into the crowd, dragging Blake behind her.
As they danced, Yang clearly took the lead. Blake watched her closely the whole night and did her best to follow her example. Yang noticed Blake's eyes on her nearly every second of the night, and couldn't help but blush. The alcohol probably didn't help. She knew she had the moves, and she loved dancing, why did Blake watching her make her feel so self conscious all the sudden?
Definitely the alcohol. Yeah, she blamed the alcohol.
Yang could move her body to any rhythm, and do it with such smoothness and vibrant… passion. The only thing that matched it was when she was fighting, Blake noted. Her eyes kept glazing over as she watched her partner throughout the night, mystified by how free she was. That was Blake's biggest problem. She lacked the free spirit that made Yang such a natural.
After several minutes of clumsily matching Yang's movements as Yang giggled—all but drown out by the loud music—but slowed down here and there and shouted occasional instructions to teach her partner, Blake began to feel a bit more comfortable. The alcohol helped. She was getting the hang of some moves. "There you go!" Yang shouted over the music, wearing her wide toothy smile. She laughed again, this time just a joyful laugh. It was so nice to be doing something she loved that reminded her of a simpler time, but with someone she actually cared so much about. This used to be pretty much every weekend for her, dancing with random guys she'd pick up at the bar (or who'd picked her up rather—she rarely had to do anything at all).
Blake smiled at the pride in Yang's voice and felt confidence rising in herself. She began to sway back and forth more confidently, her feet surer as they stepped forward and back. She even pumped her fists into the air and jumped with Yang when she did, the both of them sharing the same goofy smile with each other.
Blake suddenly closed some of the (already small) space between them. Their bodies were almost pressed together now, like most of the other pairs in the club. She held Yang's eye contact—the blonde's eyes grew slightly wider at Blake suddenly being so close—and then placed her hands on Yang's hips, feeling the strong core muscles even through her clothes as she moved. Yang raised an eyebrow and leaned her head in even closer so her lips were almost touching Blake's cat ear, "Hey there kitty." The fluffy ear twitched and flattened to her head.
It was quieter than the voice she'd been using to yell over the music, but she was so close now… Blake's fingers gripped Yang's sides tighter at Yang's sultry voice—the same one she used to call her "feisty" or to call Blake's name when she was being flirty—it always made her smile despite herself, but right now it made her shiver.
The more time passed, the foggier she felt her head becoming. She also became more and more aware of Blake's curves every time she bent over or leaned down, though she didn't catch it for a while. Did her eyes always linger on Yang's… very large… chest…? Or the gap in her outfit on her thigh now…? And she suddenly became very aware of how the lights of the club reflected off her incredibly smooth skin… Her heart began racing. She thought Yang was pretty before, but this is where Yang seemed to be at her most confident, at her sexiest.
"I… I need another drink," Blake finished her sentence with a lie. What she needed was some fresh air, or some water to sober her up, or to leave before she did anything stupid, but she didn't want Yang to worry. Yang was having such a good time. And seeing her like this, well besides making Blake hot as hell, made her so happy. Yang deserved this. It was way back at Beacon since she'd seen Yang this bright and carefree.
She pulled away suddenly and began shuffling through the people to the bar. She sat down for just a moment, her head between her hands.
"You okay?" she heard a voice suddenly ask. She looked up to see the bartender, his eyes a mixture of concerned and amused. Blake nodded, "Yes, thank you." He smiled at her, "Another drink then?" he asked, once he was convinced she was fine. Blake hesitated, but then the young man took a shot glass out from under the bar and sat it on the table in front of her.
"On the house," he winked, and began pouring vodka into the glass. "Oh… thank you," Blake answered awkwardly, rubbing her arm. She took the glass and turned around in her seat, looking back at the dance floor. "Wrong tree…" she sighed to herself as she took the shot.
As she lowered the glass, swallowing down the liquor with a hard gulp, she caught the bright flash of Neon again on the dance floor. She had suddenly appeared by Yang's side and was circling around her backwards, the tip of her tail kept brushing against Yang lightly. Yang had not stopped dancing, and Blake could barely make out what appeared to be a smirk on Neon's face as she danced with the tall blonde, although it seemed Yang was mostly ignoring her.
Blake had no control over what happened next.
She slammed the glass down on the bar and stood, then she seemed to almost just disappear and reappear by Yang's side in an instant, shoving herself right in between Neon and Yang without a word to the other Faunus, her ass touching Yang's hips as she stared Neon down. Neon was nearly knocked off balance by Blake's sudden forcefulness and slid a few feet away, speechless for a moment.
When Blake leaned down and began grinding against Yang's hips flawlessly to the rhythm of the loud music, Neon smiled with pride. "You DO have some moves after all, kitty!" she threw her head back and laughed, then as she got the message, she said in a suggestive voice, "Sorry, didn't mean to steal your partner," with a wink to them as she skated away.
Yang was now standing speechlessly as Blake danced literally on her. Their hips rubbed together, the friction leaving Yang with feelings she'd never had before… feelings she couldn't quite identify, maybe for how cloudy her head was… She just stared down at Blake, who had turned her head around to look at Yang as she grinded against her. The expression on her face was so serious, her eyes intense, but her cheeks were red. Yang felt the warmth in her stomach turn into a fire, now burning up her body. This Blake… was so fucking hot. Her assertiveness had blown Yang away, and now she was grinding against her body with an intensity she had never seen. And gods Blake's ass. Yang knew that Blake had a nice ass but from this angle…
After she could finally think again, she wasted no time in grinding back against her, with the same intensity. A wide smile grew on her face as she grabbed a hold of Blake's hips and pulled them somewhat forcefully to her, not thinking about what she was doing. For the rest of the time, she held her as tightly against her as she could as they rubbed their bodies together to the rhythm of the music.
And then the sirens began. Blake heard them before Yang, her ears perking up. As she stood up straight, Yang's smiled faded into a concerned look. "What is it?" she asked seriously, reading Blake's expression well as always.
"The sirens," she shouted. They looked at each other for a moment, both thinking the exact same thing. That Yang's little sister wouldn't be able to stay out of the fold, even on their mandatory night off.
"Let's go," came Yang's voice, as she raised her hands to prepare for a fight. She turned and began to walk away but as she looked back behind her she noticed Blake frowning, looking down at the ground, her cat ears drooping.
Yang quickly closed the space between them again, "Hey," she said in a sweet but firm voice, "We'll do it again sometime, okay?" She tilted her head and as Blake looked up at her she added, "Promise," as she wrapped a hand around Blake to grab her ass lightly and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Blake looked down and blushed furiously as Yang hopped backwards a few steps and began to run toward the door, blushing herself now. It was just such a nice ass.
Later that night, after both Team RWBY and Team JNPR had met to discuss the night's events, Nora laid in her bed, on the top bunk, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. It had been such a horrible night… Well. It was great. She and Ren had finally kissed, and though they had said no words, the way he wrapped his arms tightly around her and pulled her into him said everything she needed him to say.
She had come to the realization that their relationship was different in the last few months. It had still taken so long for her to realize though. They were just such constants in each others' lives and it was easy to just take their relationship for granted. And she knew that Ren was even slower, and that he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about romance, for how much time he spent in his own head. So she was not surprised that he was so shocked when she pulled him to her and shoved her lips, rather aggressively, to his. It was exactly what she expected of him. Why did she even bother waiting so long for him to figure it out? When he understood the minute her lips touched his.
And understood he did. He knew he felt small tinges of something new, something different, than he had when they were little, but he ignored it, thinking it was perhaps all a part of growing up. After all, they'd been through so many changes together. Perhaps this was just another? But now, the way she slammed their lips together, he understood it all. His commitment to do anything for her suddenly and immediately turned into a need to do everything for her.
And that terrified him.
"I should've seen him… I should've known…" He was the most perceptive one of the group, they all knew that, "If I hadn't been… so distracted…" he had muttered under his breath at the other members of Team JNPR and RWBY.
Nora narrowed her eyes, "What does THAT mean?" she demanded. When Ren didn't answer, everyone else in the room could tell it was another lover's quarrel, and they all stood speechless, looking from Ren to Nora. Nora finally sighed softly, "Ren, we were all there—me, Ruby, Penny, Marrow, AND Robyn's guards. This isn't just on you," she had insisted with a pleading expression. She knew how he could internalize problems, especially guilt, and let them eat him alive.
Nora sighed, and then she did what she had always done when she couldn't sleep. Back at Beacon, she and Ren had all but pushed their beds together so that they could be even closer at night when Nora was too restless to sleep, a habit they'd picked up from when they were little kids, and Ren would hold Nora to sleep when she had nightmares, back before she was a fearless warrior.
She snuck quietly down the ladder of the bunk beds, so as not to disturb the sleeping Oscar or Jaune, and then placed her hand on Ren's shoulder, her usual signal.
Ren opened his eyes slightly, saw that it was Nora, and paused. Nora's heart sunk. He had always immediately made room for her when he felt her hand on his shoulder. After a few seconds though, he did adjust to give her space to lie down on the bed with him. She lied down with a couple of inches of space between them, though she faced him. His eyes were barely open, but hers were wide, searching his.
After a moment though, she closed her eyes and nuzzled into his chest. She usually curled her hands up by her side or under her head, but this time, she let them slowly slide up his side to wrap around his back. She felt his heart beat faster and smiled.
She lifted her head to bring it closer to his face, as one hand moved up his neck to rest on his cheek as she pulled his face in to kiss him softly.
"Mmm," Ren groaned, turning his head away. Nora smiled, "Don't worry about Oscar and Jaune—do you hear how loud they're snoring?" she whispered. Then she leaned into him again, this time he allowed her to touch her lips to his, but quickly pulled away.
"No. Nora." His voice was firm, which was very unusual for him. He looked into her eyes with a very serious expression, and Nora immediately stood and began to climb back up to her bed, a silent tear running down her face.
"Wait..." his head yelled at his mouth to open. But it didn't. He was silent. As usual. He realized too late that as much as the guilt and shame he wrestled with hurt when she tried to kiss him, it was nothing compared to the pain of seeing her walk away like that, knowing he'd caused it. But he couldn't help but think it was a good thing. Maybe it would end here now.
The rest of the night he stared at the top of his bed, and listened to the faint muffled sounds of Nora sniffling back tears. He could not calm the turmoil inside him, the voices telling him that now not only could he not save Mantel—hell all of Remnant—but that he couldn't make his partner and best friend happy either.