Just Tell Me To Stay

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: First chapter with actual school in this high school story. Hope you all like it!


Chapter 6: Gratitude

Coming back to school after a weekend is always difficult. Adding on the fact that she had been sick the whole time and barely got any homework done only makes it worse.

Of course it isn't exactly the first time Yang's had a problem like this. Working part time during school usually resulted in playing catch up on the work for every class. Most often this would mean doing the homework for one class during the class right before but fortunately she always had a number of friends willing to help her out.

So the second Yang walks into her homeroom, she's rushing to her seat to scribble down answers for her history class next period. But by the time she gets to the second problem she's already stumped because she obviously didn't do the reading and it's way too obscure to be common knowledge.

Just when she's about to whip out her phone to look up the answers, a stack of papers is clumsily dropped on the desk in front of her.

Looking up in confusion, she's met with the light blue eyes and bright orange hair that can only belong to one person.

"Hey Nora." She says, thankful that her throat is feeling so much better, "what's all this?"

Nora flashes her a sly grin. "Blake asked me to give it to you."

Yang slowly picks up the stack and her eyes go wide when she realizes what she's holding.

"Well technically we all helped but it was Blake's idea. She said that you were way too sick to get any of your homework done so she asked us all to make copies of ours for you to well… copy! We've got History from Neptune, Chemistry from Ren, Math from Sun, and English from me!"

Yang blinks at the pile of papers in her hands, dumbstruck by the heartwarming gesture from her friends.

"Wow Nora you're a lifesaver I…"

"Uh uh uh," Nora interrupts, waving a finger in her face, "don't thank me, thank Blake. Like I said, her idea. Heck she probably would've just given you all of her homework if she wasn't in all those smart people classes."

She feels her mouth spreading into a goofy grin that she has to hope Nora doesn't notice. The energetic redhead never hesitates to tease people for stuff like that.

"So…" Nora continues, "how are things with Blake? I take it you guys are talking again."

"Um yeah… things are a little better."

"What were you two fighting about anyway?"

Yang lets out a sigh, "I… was being stupid and got upset that she might be going to college in Mistral."

"Well have you guys at least hung out since then?"

"I uh…" She says, immediately feeling the blood start to rush to her cheeks.

Nora raises an eyebrow in response. "Have you?"

"Well… she kind of... took care of me while I was sick this weekend."

"Oh really?"

"Um yeah, Ruby had a date with Weiss so I guess she asked Blake and… yeah…"

She trails off, suddenly feeling embarrassed at the memory of falling asleep in Blake's arms.

"Wow," Nora answers, "nursing you back to health all weekend and going out of her way to get everyone's homework for you? Sounds like you owe her a pretty big thank you."

Yang freezes suddenly in her seat. Nora's absolutely right. Blake had gone above and beyond these past few days and after all the time she had spent the previous week having a childish meltdown over Blake's choice of university. Doing something for Blake would definitely be in order. But what?

"Oh my god Nora what do I do? It's not like I can afford to get her anything fancy."

Nora hits her with a deadpan stare. "I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want some diamond necklace or something. Maybe if you were getting something for Weiss, but this is Blake we're talking about. You know her better than any of us, I'm sure you'll think of something."

Yang is left dumbfounded by Nora's surprisingly insightful words. It's true that Blake wouldn't want her to get anything extravagant, but how is she supposed to make it special enough without a large price tag? The thought consumes her for the rest of the period. It's only thanks to Nora turning around and tapping on the stack of papers that she remembers to get back to copying down her homework.

…..

"A book?"

"Yes. A book."

The look on Weiss's face is completely unreadable and it's absolutely infuriating. The two of them are standing by Weiss's locker having just finished their fourth class of the day and about to head to lunch.

"Yang if you want to get her a gift you could consider getting her something nice. Like a necklace or a ring or…"

"First of all," Yang interrupts, "you know I can't afford anything like that and second, don't even try any of your funny little ideas. I'm not getting her a ring okay? This is not a proposal."

"Hey I didn't say anything about proposing. You were the one who brought it up."

Yang lets out a groan. "Weiss just help me! I don't know what I should get her."

"Ok," Weiss replies, shutting her locker and turning to face her. "The book idea isn't terrible, but how do you plan on getting one she hasn't read already?"

With that Yang slams her head into the locker. "You see? I have nothing!"

Waiting a minute for the blonde to calm down, Weiss follows up with a frustrated huff. "Yang. You're being ridiculous, just take her out to a movie or dinner or something. Somewhere nice but not overly expensive."

She stares blankly at the cold metal door pressed against her forehead.

"Are you seriously telling me you couldn't think of something this basic?"

Yang's only response is to slam her head into the locker again.

"So you have thought of it." Weiss remarks, "care to tell me why this wasn't your first choice?"

Yang lets out a sigh and turns around, leaning back and crossing her arms self consciously across her chest. "It was pretty much my first idea, I just…"

"You're too scared to ask Blake on a date."

She looks at Weiss in surprise but is only met with her friend's raised eyebrow.

"It… it's not a date!"

"Then what is there to be worried about?" Weiss counters without missing a beat, "if it's not a date you can ask her without any problems right?"

"Right…" Yang answers quietly.

Weiss has got her trapped and they both know it. Of course taking Blake out for a nice dinner had been her first choice. It was basically all she had thought about throughout her morning classes. But then in the middle of Math she was hit with the terrifying thought of whether or not dinner would qualify as a date and her mind hadn't stopped racing since.

"Ok good." Weiss says, "then you can ask her now, and look, she's standing right over there. I'll go get her."

"Wait!" Yang shouts, lunging forward and grabbing her friend's arm. "Dude I can't ask her now, there's so much to figure out! I don't even know where to take her. You've got to help me!"

The disdainful look Weiss gives her has Yang concerned for a bit but then the heiress breathes out a defeated sigh and she feels the grin start to return to her face.

…..

She and Weiss end up texting for basically the rest of the day, throwing ideas back and forth to the point of almost getting her phone confiscated by her history teacher. Only a couple hours after lunch they rope in Pyrrha and even Nora, and the resulting group text devolves into endless spamming of dating tip websites that has Yang almost tearing her hair out.

But somewhere along the way they arrive at some actual good ideas, which brings her here, leaning up against Blake's locker, impatiently tapping her foot the second the last bell rings.

She knows it's pointless to try and find Blake in the mass crowd of students, but with how nervous she's feeling she ends up craning her neck every few seconds anyway.

"Looking for someone?"

Yang nearly jumps out of her skin and spins around to come face to face with the same beautiful amber eyes she had been searching for this whole time, squinted slightly as Blake giggles at the shocked look that must be on her face.

"Sorry." Yang answers finally, shaking the cobwebs out of her brain, "I uh... was actually looking for you."

"Oh?" Blake says, raising an eyebrow while dialing in her locker combination. "And why's that?"

The nerves hit her again, stopping the words just before they can make it past her lips. It's honestly unbelievable how hard it is to voice her thoughts once Blake is actually in front of her. And it certainly doesn't help that the girl's outfit is so distracting. Dark blue skinny jeans with a form fitting gray and white checkered flannel, sleeves rolled up just past her elbows and shirt tail flaring out at her hips. It somehow shows off Blake's figure perfectly without really revealing any skin. It's an outfit that's so elegant, and cute, and so… Blake.

"Yang?" Blake says, snapping her out of her daze, face starting to show hints of concern.

"Sorry, I just… I wanted to thank you for everything."

"Oh," Blake answers, going back to filling her backpack with the books she needs to take home, "well you don't have to thank me for anything, I'm happy to help."

Yang shakes her head, "no I really do. You really went out of your way to take care of me over the weekend and then today, getting everyone to help me with my homework. It was… really sweet of you."

Blake turns to face her and flashes this gorgeous, gentle smile that has her feeling faint.

"So," she continues, "I wanted to thank you properly."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Yang says, chewing on her lip for a second to summon up all her remaining courage, "Weiss told me about this new restaurant that opened up in Downtown Vale that is supposed to have really good seafood and I thought I'd... take you out to dinner this weekend."

Time seems to slow down as she studies Blake's reaction. From the second the words leave her mouth it feels like she's never seen her friend's amber eyes opened so wide. The surprise on her face is enough to send Yang's heart into overdrive, mind racing through all the possible ways she could be rejected even though she's distinctly not asking her out.

It only gets worse when Blake's eyebrows furrow in an unmistakably skeptical look. "Yang you really don't have to do this with…"

"I know!" Yang cuts in before continuing more quietly, "I know I don't have to. I… I want to. And it's so much more than these past few days, you've always been there for me and I just… wanted to show my appreciation."

Her breath catches in her chest as she watches for any sign of a reaction, heart racing wildly, not missing a single moment as Blake's face slowly lights up in a sly grin.

"Well… when you put it like that…"

Yang doesn't wait for her to finish and throws an arm over Blake's shoulders, pulling her in for their usual side hug. They're so comfortable with it by this point that the second her hand makes contact, Blake almost automatically rests her head against Yang's shoulder.

"So is that a yes?" She asks, not bothering to hide her ear to ear grin.

As usual Blake rolls her eyes at the over the top antics but Yang makes note of the fact that the smile doesn't leave her lips.


Author's Note: Finally getting to build up some Bumbleby! Just love exploring the dynamics between different characters, especially the way everyone supports Yang when she's struggling. Had a lot of fun writing this and the next chapter will be even more fluff. Anyways hope you all liked it, leave favorites and reviews and things. Thanks for reading!