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: Bit of an aftermath for everything that had happened at Thanksgiving. It's a shorter one but really like how this one turned out, some more tender family moments that I've been struggling to put into the story recently so yeah, hope you all like it!


Chapter 14: Sisters

Yang spends the next few days more or less obsessing over Winter's advice.

Of course it's not like it's the first time she's heard something like this, Pyrrha and Weiss have been talking her ear off for years now with this kind of stuff. But then there was that talk she'd had with Neo at the diner the other day, and now, she has Winter to add to that list.

At this point even Yang has to admit that the evidence is becoming pretty damning.

But could Blake actually reciprocate her feelings?

Just the idea that it could have been right in front of her all this time is… overwhelming.

"Yang? Yang!"

She snaps her head up to come face to face with Ruby, standing just a few inches away from her face with her silver eyes narrowed slightly in concern.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah. Yeah sorry, what were you saying?"

"You… said we were going to watch a movie, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Yang says, noticing the bag of chips and plate of cookies her sister is carrying, "let's do it!"

She scoots to the side so Ruby can plop down next to her on the couch, reaching forward to snatch up a cookie in the process.

"So…" Ruby says, tearing open the bag of chips, "what do you want to watch?"

They end up deciding on some cheesy action movie about cyborg undead cops or something, which is actually perfect for the two of them because they both have the same awful taste in movies. But after just a few minutes she finds that she can't focus at all. The second she lets her guard down her mind immediately starts thinking about all the sarcastic quips Blake makes whenever they drag her into one of these movie nights.

And from there her mind doesn't really stop, constantly jumping between memories they'd shared, and everything people had said to her, and whether or not she'd misinterpreted... all of it. Overanalyzing doesn't even begin to cover it.

Finally she decides that she can't take the silent torture anymore and turns her head to look at Ruby, her sister's eyes still glued to the TV and absentmindedly shoveling chips into her mouth.

"Hey Ruby…" she says hesitantly.

"Hmm?" Ruby answers, turning to face her.

"Can I… ask you something?"

"Of course."

"It's… kind of personal…"

"Well," Ruby answers casually, "I mean what are sisters for?"

She takes a second to gather up her courage, honestly talking to her little sister should really not be this hard.

"Can you tell me how you and Weiss got together?"

Ruby tilts her head in that adorable way that only she can pull off. "Haven't I already told you that story?"

"You have, I just want to hear a little more about it."

"Ok," Ruby says, reaching down for the remote and pausing the movie, "well you know that we liked each other for most of middle school and the first couple years of high school…"

Yang nods, urging her sister to continue.

"Well I guess eventually both of us were really tired of hiding our feelings all the time but neither of us were brave enough to make the first move in case it would ruin our friendship."

She slowly nods her head, remembering exactly how frustrating it had been watching the two of them dance around each other for years without either of them having the guts to do anything about it. Although she supposes that at this point she's probably even worse in that regard.

"What changed?" She asks.

"You don't remember?"

Yang shakes her head.

"It was you, sis." Ruby answers with a light chuckle.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You. You told me that what me and Weiss had was special. And that even though there was a lot at risk, it would be even worse if we never took the chance to be something even more and were left wondering for the rest of our lives. And you were right. It took me a few days but once I made up my mind, I asked her to go out with me."

Yang is left completely dumbfounded. While she does have some vague recollection of having that talk with Ruby she certainly doesn't remember being that insightful about any of it.

"This is about Blake." Ruby states, it's so matter of fact at this point that there isn't even any thought to denying it.

Yang nods slowly in response. "I just don't know what to do. I mean all these years I thought Pyrrha and Weiss were crazy for thinking that I'd have a chance with her but now? Now it seems like they might have been right and I just… I don't even know what to think anymore."

"I mean… aren't you happy that she likes you back?"

"Are you kidding? It's probably the one thing I've wanted every day and every night for the past three years. It's just…" she trails off, suddenly not sure if she has the strength to put a voice to her thoughts.

"Just what?" Ruby says gently.

"Just… still so hard to believe."

"Why?"

"I don't know…" she huffs, "I just… I've never…"

"Yang." Ruby interrupts, catching her off guard with the sincerity in her eyes, "Blake cares about you. A lot. And you care about her. You're so much more than just friends to each other and that's all that matters."

"But what if you're wrong? What if I tell her how I feel and she doesn't like me that way? I could lose her forever."

Ruby gives her a serious look. "Yang. Blake is leaving. You'll lose her if you don't tell her."

Her sister's words are shocking to say the least. Somehow in all this time she had never thought about it like that. Like her back was already against a wall and she truly has nothing to lose. But with just a few simple words from Ruby, it suddenly seems like the most obvious thing in the world.

Without warning she lunges forward and wraps her arms around Ruby's shoulders, pulling her off balance to fall into her chest.

"When did my little sister get to be so wise?" Yang asks.

Ruby giggles and leans back into her. "I was always wise. You just couldn't see it until now."

Weiss takes one last deep breath, gathering up her courage before reaching up to knock on Winter's door. Just two gentle taps on the cold, white surface that echoes painfully painfully down the empty halls of their mansion.

"Come in."

She reaches down to the handle and slowly pushes the door open, revealing Winter sitting at her extravagant mahogany desk, studiously reviewing the pages of a textbook.

Her sister looks up after a second and quickly spins her chair to face her.

"Weiss? Is everything okay?"

"Yes." She answers, "I just wanted to talk. That is, only if you aren't too busy."

"For you I'm never too busy." Winter replies with a smile, motioning for Weiss to take a seat on the bed.

She sits down without a word, instinctively fussing with the bottom of her shirt.

"Are you sure everything's ok?" Winter asks, eyebrows furrowed slightly at the obvious tension in Weiss's body.

"I just… wanted to apologize again." Weiss says, "for jumping to conclusions with you and Yang. There's just been… a lot going on lately and I shouldn't have let it shape my behavior like that."

"Weiss you can relax. I'm not upset. I haven't exactly been in the best place emotionally these past few weeks so I don't think it's too unreasonable for you to have been worried about that."

She lets out a breath of relief that she'd been holding since Thanksgiving and finally feels the tension release from her shoulders.

"Thank you Winter."

"Of course." Her sister replies, "besides, me acting so secretive about that night probably didn't help things much."

"No it didn't," Weiss agrees, "what did happen that night?"

Winter breathes out a light sigh. "Well I guess I can tell you since it's clear you're more in the loop than I am. We mainly just talked. I bought her some food and we just sat in my car catching up on each other's lives."

"And you guys actually ended up talking about Blake?"

"We did," Winter says with a nod, "I could tell almost immediately that something was bothering her. It took a lot more prying than I expected but eventually, she basically poured everything out."

"Wow." Weiss says, "did she say anything that stood out?"

"What is this, an interrogation?" Winter responds with a laugh, "why are you so fixated on Yang's love life?"

Weiss cringes a little and she can feel her face warming up already, knowing that she's been more or less found out.

"We've… kind of been trying to get Blake and Yang together for a few weeks now…"

Judging by the way Winter raises her eyebrow it's clear that she wasn't expecting that particular answer.

"We?" Her sister remarks, "who's we?"

"Um… me, Pyrrha, Ruby… basically all of our close friends are involved at some level."

"Wow… I'm surprised that you'd go to such extremes. Although I suppose I can understand given the circumstances…"

"How much did Yang actually tell you?"

Winter lets out another huff as she thinks back to the conversation from earlier in the week. "Well… she mentioned that Blake was planning to go out of state for college, how she's been in love with her for years now… something about a fancy dinner date… I remember asking why she didn't just ask Blake out and all she kept saying was how it would be 'impossible' for Blake to like her that way."

"Yeah…" Weiss says with a sigh, "I don't even know how many times I've heard that from both of them at this point."

"Yes well…" Winter continues. Weiss can see a sudden hesitation in her sister's eyes and her curiosity is instantly piqued. "After that we kind of started talking about us."

"You mean you and Yang? How did that even happen?"

"I… may have asked her if she'd ever asked anyone out besides me… which led to me more or less telling her the truth about me rejecting her."

That catches her off guard. "You told her you had feelings for her?" She asks.

Winter gives a slow nod in response. "She was surprised to say the least. But not too upset about it. I still spent about an hour apologizing to her though. After that… we ended up talking about how I broke up with my girlfriend."

"You haven't even told me that!" Weiss exclaims incredulously .

Winter lets out another sigh. "There's not that much to tell really. We'd been having trouble for a while but then one day she suggested that we move in together and I didn't really want to. Then we had this huge fight and it pretty much ended right then."

"Wow… Winter I'm…"

"Oh don't worry about it." Winter interrupts with a casual dismissiveness that isn't all that convincing. "I promise you I'm fine. I mean I'll admit that I felt rather lonely that night I went looking for Yang, but I was never going to do anything foolish. Yang… she deserves much better than me seeking comfort in another person's arms."

"You don't sound too sure about that." Weiss points out.

"It's not that." Winter says with an exasperated look, "I really do want the best for Yang, and I definitely wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. It's just…"

"Just what?"

Her sister lets out another huff, nervously fidgeting in her seat as she builds up the courage she needs to open up. "Well… listening to Yang talking about Blake, and then seeing how they were at dinner, it was like their entire world would light up just from being near each other. It just made me realize how much I missed that. That feeling where you're so crazy about someone that they are literally all you can think about."

"They are incredibly cute together." Weiss admits. "Wait… you don't get any of that from me and Ruby?"

"Oh please." Winter replies with a dismissive chuckle, "you two are like an old married couple already."

"What? We are not! We've only been dating for a couple months now."

"Yes but you've known each other for years. That time counts for something. Plus that thing you call her… what was it? Dolt? Everytime you say that it sounds just like an old woman scolding her partner."

"That… that's just…"

"I'm just kidding Weiss." Winter interrupts, laughing at her supreme discomfort. "To be honest I initially had some reservations about Ruby. But you two seem really good for each other."

"You're not the only one who had doubts." Weiss says. "Mustering up the courage to tell Yang that I wanted to date her baby sister was a nightmare of its own."

"Is that why you two waited so long?"

"It… was definitely a contributing factor. Yang is very protective of Ruby."

Winter scoffs lightly and gives her a smirk. "I guess that's just one more thing Yang and I have in common."


Author's Note: Not much to say about this one I think, just glad to finally show off how cute the two pairs of sisters can be. Anyways, hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading!