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: Gotta say this one was actually surprisingly fun, it's a lot of fluff and just the gang hanging out but somehow that just ends up being really satisfying. Maybe I'm just going nuts in quarantine but whatever. Anyways hope you all like it! Read/Review and all those things.
Chapter 10: Cooking
The next few days at school somehow seem to go by even slower than usual. Classes feel longer and at work the clock even seems to be ticking backwards. But for once Yang might actually be thankful for it. She's spent the majority of the week trying to come up with a menu for their upcoming Thanksgiving dinner and it's been a struggle to say the least.
Weiss and Ruby have spent a fair amount of time teasing her for trying too hard to impress Blake but she's been pretty successful at ignoring them, even if what they're saying might be true. She can't exactly help it if she wants the food to be something extra special this time around.
The trouble is that she's not exactly well versed at cooking fish. None of the members of her family had ever really been big on seafood so it's become something of a hole in her cooking skills. Which of course leads her to spending most of her days Googling recipes and watching Youtube tutorials. But overall it doesn't do much to ease her anxiety.
She's at the restaurant now, sitting at her usual spot at the counter considering whether or not it's worth asking one of the cooks if they have any tips on preparing tuna or something.
"Everything okay blondie?"
The voice catches her so off guard that she jumps in her seat and immediately feels herself start to fall off. Before she can react beyond flailing her arms trying to grab onto the counter, she's caught from behind and a pair of arms wrap protectively around her waist.
She turns her head slowly to the side and comes face to face with Neo, the girl's eyes wide in concern.
"Yang are you okay?" Neo asks.
"Yeah, sorry you just… surprised me."
She looks just past Neo's shoulder and locks eyes with Sun who's leaning casually up against the counter with a raised eyebrow and she's suddenly aware that Neo is still essentially hugging her from behind.
Yang quickly scoots back onto the stool, instinctively running a hand through her hair in a feeble attempt to hide her embarrassment.
"Is everything okay?" Neo repeats.
"Yeah… I was just worrying about what I'm supposed to make for Thanksgiving." Yang answers.
"Oh are you having a big family dinner?"
Yang shakes her head slightly, "actually we're just having friends over this year. What about you?"
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Sun waving his arms, very clearly trying to get her to drop the subject. But the words have already left her mouth and she can immediately see Neo's smile start to fade.
"Oh." The brunette answers shakily, "I usually spend the holidays with my brother but he's… busy this year."
Yang feels her eyebrows furrow in concern. This side of Neo is one that she hadn't ever seen before. The girl had always been so confident and relaxed, even at her very worst she'd be a little quiet but she can see that her sudden shift in mood is affecting Sun just as much by his uncomfortable fidgeting in the back.
"Well…" she begins unsteadily, "why don't you have dinner with us?"
"Oh." Neo says, surprise written all over her face, "that's… really sweet of you Yang but I have… other family that I'm supposed to visit... but I really appreciate the offer."
With that the bell at the front door rings and the girl rushes off without hesitation, leaving the two of them bewildered watching her leave.
"What was that about?" Yang says, "is she okay?"
Sun sheepishly scratches the back of his head. "It's kind of a long story, I'll tell you later. So, you still freaking out about cooking for Blake?"
Yang lets out a groan and crumbles forward onto the counter. "I've just never really made fish before."
Sun scoffs and scoots over to the stool beside hers. "Yang I'm pretty sure Blake's going to eat up anything you make her. Besides, can't you just Google some recipes or something?"
"I have, I just can't ever find one that works."
"Why not?"
"Well… all the simpler ones are too boring and all the cool, exciting ones are too complicated for me to make."
"I mean you've got like a week, can't you just practice for the next couple days?"
Yang lets out another sigh. "I want to, but fish is kind of expensive. Plus I don't really like seafood that much so I'm not even sure if I'd know what 'good' would taste like."
"Luckily," a new voice cuts in, "you know someone that can help you with both."
Yang spins her stool around and is surprised to see Weiss standing just behind her, wearing an elegant white peacoat accompanied by her typical smug grin that has somehow actually become almost comforting to see over the years.
"Weiss? What are you doing here?"
"Oh we thought we'd pay you a visit and get some food on the way."
"We?" She asks, leading Weiss to gesture over her shoulder to where Ruby is chatting cheerfully with Neo by the front door.
Without a word Sun hops off his stool to head behind the bar and start up some drinks. By this point basically everyone in the diner knows that when Ruby and Weiss walk in they'll be ordering black coffee and a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.
Weiss gives him a grateful smile as she slides onto the vacant seat and slips the coat off her shoulders.
"So." Weiss says, "what's got you so anxious about cooking fish? Besides the obvious of course."
Yang responds by slamming her head onto the counter. "I know you already heard."
"Is that all?"
"What do you mean 'is that all'?" Yang shouts, "what am I supposed to do here?"
"You could start by lowering your voice." Weiss replies with a roll of her eyes, "are you really this dense or does this only happen to you when Blake is involved?"
"What do you mean?"
The heiress gives her another dramatic eye roll. "It's like you don't remember how rich my family is." When Yang only responds with a blank stare, Weiss lets out a small huff, brushing her hair back behind her ear before turning back to face the blonde. "I'm saying I'll take care of it. I'll buy some fresh fish from the market and Ruby and I can taste them for you. And you know that I at least have refined enough taste to tell you what Blake will like."
Yang lets the idea stew in her head for a second before she lets out a squeal and throws her arms around Weiss, ignoring the heiress' protests as the two of them nearly fall to the floor.
...
"Oooh this one's really good!"
"Ruby, you've said that about every dish so far."
"That's because they're all just so delicious!"
Yang gives her sister a playful roll of her eyes. She should've known that any feedback from Ruby would've been too nice to be of any real value. So she turns over to the rest of them.
While they had originally planned on just having Weiss and Ruby doing taste tests for her, the night had somehow devolved into including Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren as well, who had been dragged along by his girlfriend who had declared that they would need a 'food expert'.
"I agree with Ruby." Nora mumbles through a mouthful of food, "this one's also really good."
Going down the line she looks over to Pyrrha who delicately dabs at her lips with a napkin before answering. "I think my favorite is still the third one… which one was that again?"
"The smoked salmon." Nora chimes in between bites.
"Yeah that one."
"Mmm… that one was good but I still like the tuna one with the vegetables most." Nora answers.
"Ooh that one was good too!"
Yang shakes her head and turns over to the two real food critics at the end of the table.
Ren shares a brief look with Weiss before turning back to Yang. "This one has just a bit too much citrus."
Weiss quickly nods in agreement. "Blake isn't a huge fan of that. I think you were better off with the spicier dishes like the grilled tuna or maybe the scallops?"
"The tuna did have the most delicate balance of flavors." Ren says, "but the texture on the scallops is pretty hard to beat."
Yang gently chews her bottom lip as she considers her friends' feedback. Most of the dishes she'd made today had turned out pretty well, she still just wasn't feeling entirely confident about any of them.
She's brought out of her thoughts by Pyrrha gently tapping her on the arm, the redhead having nearly bumped into her while bringing a load of plates to the sink.
"Hey." Pyrrha says quietly, "you've made some really delicious food here. Besides, Blake's going to love it no matter what."
She lets out a sigh and tries to relax. Because of course Pyrrha's right, Blake had never been a particularly picky eater. Plus she had cooked for Weiss plenty of times in the past and hadn't ever gotten so much as a whisper of complaint.
"Ok…" Yang says finally, "so maybe I'll just do both the grilled tuna and the scallops."
"Sounds great!" Ruby chirps.
"What else will you be making?" Ren asks, leaning slightly to the side to make way for Nora shoveling more food onto her plate.
"Well…" Yang answers slowly, "we've got the tuna and the scallops, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, Turkey of course, stuffing, roasted vegetables, kale salad, and I think we decided on clam chowder?"
"That's a lot of food." Nora remarks.
"You're forgetting the pies!" Ruby chirps.
"Right, peach and apple right?" Yang asks, earning an enthusiastic nod from her sister.
"You also said you wanted to make that wild rice dish." Weiss adds. "Oh and we're getting dinner rolls from the store."
"It all sounds amazing Yang," Pyrrha says, "but are you sure you'll be able to make all that in one day?"
"Well I'll definitely have to do a lot of prep the night before and day of… I'll have Ruby helping at least."
"Do you want any help with that?" Ren asks, "I'm sure I could slip away for a couple hours."
Yang smiles at the soft spoken boy, "that's really sweet Ren but you all should be with your families. Besides, I've done Thanksgiving dinner every year up till now and nothing's gone wrong so far."
She does her best to be convincing but inwardly she's a little worried. While it's true that she had always been the one to make dinner for the family she definitely had never made this much in one day before. Not to mention how much she needs every dish to be absolutely perfect.
At least she doesn't have to worry about actually buying any of the ingredients.
...
After they're done tasting all of Yang's dishes they end up piling onto the couch watching movies on Netflix.
The one currently playing is some cheesy action movie that Weiss usually wouldn't be caught dead watching. But they've always been some of Ruby's favorites and the way she's currently pressed up into Weiss's side, wrapped completely around her arm, makes it more than worth it. Even considering the way she's jammed into the side of the couch.
On the other side of the sofa Pyrrha seems to be dealing with a similar situation with Yang's head cradled comfortably in her lap, the blonde having passed out early into the first movie, understandably exhausted from cooking for an entire afternoon.
That leaves Nora and Ren, sitting on the ground in front of the couch in a similar position to her and Ruby, with Nora occasionally reaching over to munch at the plate of leftovers on the table.
It's kind of unbelievable how good it feels to relax like this. It isn't exactly something she gets to experience often with all of her responsibilities, and she plans to cherish every moment of it.
So of course it's her phone that ends up going off and interrupting the movie.
She gets up slowly, trying not to disturb the others on the couch too much. Unfortunately it's pretty much unavoidable with Ruby cuddled up against her and she can hear a quiet whine from Yang as well and she quickly rushes into the kitchen.
"Hello?" She whispers into the phone.
A familiar soothing voice comes over the line. Smooth as silk and instantly recognizable, greeting her with a calm "Hello sister."
"Winter?" She answers in surprise. "How are you? Are your midterms done?"
"I'm doing well... My last exam only just finished this morning. But... this isn't really why I called."
"Oh?" Weiss can immediately detect a slight wavering in her sister's voice and can't help the pang of concern that stabs through her chest.
"I… I'm going to be coming home for Thanksgiving break this year."
"What? I thought you were spending it with your girlfriend again."
Winter is silent on the line for a few seconds and all Weiss can do is hold her breath while she waits for her sister's shaky response. "Um… we actually broke up."
"Oh Winter I'm so sorry. What happened?"
"It's… nothing, look I'll tell you sometime I promise just… not now okay?"
"Okay I understand. I'll be here if you need me."
"Thanks Weiss. It'll be nice to get to spend Thanksgiving with you for a change, even if we have to suffer through father's dull friends."
"Oh um…" Weiss answers hesitantly, "actually this year we were going to do Thanksgiving dinner at Yang and Ruby's house."
"Oh really?" Winter says, a little life returning to her voice, "holiday dinner with the girlfriend's family? That's a big step."
"It's not like that! Their dad is out of town so we're just doing dinner with some friends. In fact… you should come! You know how good of a cook Yang is and she's making a ton of food."
"I don't know Weiss…"
"Oh what? You're going to spend Thanksgiving alone with our father? Just come to dinner, it'll be fun."
She hears Winter hesitate for a moment and Weiss is worried that her sister will just clam up in that way that she usually does until she hears a drawn out sigh.
"Does Yang even want me there? I mean we haven't really talked much since…"
"Winter." She interrupts, "all that stuff happened years ago. Even Yang's moved on at this point. And if you're really worried just ask her. I know you have her number."
There's another brief moment of silence and Weiss shakes her head in disbelief. This was supposed to be her dignified older sister, the girl had just started up her second year in business school and here she was over analyzing a simple conversation with a girl two years her junior.
"What should I say?" Winter asks finally and Weiss has to fight the urge to smack herself on the head.
"Do you need me to do it for you?" She says sarcastically.
"No. Ok. You're right. I'll… figure it out."
They spend a few more minutes discussing details of Winter's flight home before they say goodbye and hang up. She's just about to head back into the living room to rejoin everyone watching the movie when she spots a plate of tuna on the kitchen counter and she freezes on the spot, hit with the sudden realization that in inviting her sister she had forgotten completely about the fact that the entire dinner had basically been planned around Blake and her heart sinks into her stomach.
She spends the rest of the night debating with herself over whether or not she'd just set up their Thanksgiving dinner for disaster.
Author's Note: Couldn't resist ending on a more dramatic note but there's a lot of other stuff I like about this one. First off Sun being the chill bartender type, Ren just being awesome and nice with Nora just being the awesome disaster that she is. Got to throw in a little casual Renora fluff finally but it's always hard with them since they're unfortunately a bit in the background as well as being much further along in their relationship. Also if you can't tell cooking is one of my hobbies so it kind of got projected onto Yang. Oh well. Anyways, hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading!
