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 of all I'd like to say thank you all so much for all the feedback for the last chapter and I'm so sorry for breaking people's hearts like this. But anyways with Ch. 18 being kind of a mid season finale, we're now starting the next main arc and that's unfortunately going to involve a fair amount of angst so I hope you'll all stick through the tough times to come. Anyways, without further ado, here's the chapter. Hope you all like it!
Chapter 19: Broken
Somehow the dull roar of a classroom full of students is the perfect thing to fill Pyrrha's ears just to the point where she can't pay attention to anything the teacher says. Although the main reason she can't stay focused is obviously the drama that had unfolded at the airport earlier in the week.
She had been the last one to find Yang kneeling on the ground just outside airport security with a hollow look in her teary, violet eyes. Initially she had been confused as to why they weren't trying to get through security themselves, only for Weiss to quietly explain to her that Blake had heard Yang cry out to her and deliberately turned her back.
After that they had driven home in near total silence, save for the occasional sound of Yang's sniffling in the back seat, all of them completely lost as to how to help their friend. At first they had tried to cheer her up a bit, trying to convince her that Blake may have just been really late for her flight or that she was just surprised to see her and didn't know how to react. But none of it really got through.
The next few days at school the blonde remained horribly quiet, only really speaking up when asked a direct question and it had been absolutely heartbreaking to watch.
She's brought out of her thoughts by a gentle poking in her side and on instinct she whips her head around to meet Jaune's concerned face.
"Pyrrha? Are you okay?"
"Yeah…" she sighs, "sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind lately."
"It's okay, we've pretty much finished the lab anyways. You're still worried about Yang?"
She nods her head dejectedly. "I've just never seen her like this before Jaune. I don't even know what to do about it and I'm supposed to be her best friend. God I feel so useless."
With that she slumps forward, thumping her head on the cold, hard lab table.
"You've already done a lot to help her." Jaune offers weakly.
"But I think she might be mad about that too." Pyrrha mumbles, "she wasn't happy when she found out we had been interfering and that was before Blake rejected her."
"Did Yang actually confess in the airport?"
"No, apparently she only had the chance to call out Blake's name before she turned around and left."
"Well then Blake didn't exactly reject her right?"
Pyrrha lets out a deep sigh. "We tried telling her that too but she wouldn't listen. She just kept insisting that we were wrong and Blake doesn't want anything to do with her anymore."
"I mean isn't there still a chance that Blake could stay?" Jaune says optimistically, "these are just campus tours after all."
"I want to believe that," Pyrrha replies, "but just the fact that she's putting in this much effort to find a school so far away…"
Jaune nods his head solemnly. "Guess it's hard to see a world where Yang doesn't react like this."
"Especially after everything that's already happened to her… god I just don't know what to do!"
Jaune runs a hand reassuringly over her back, rubbing a few small circles that are remarkably soothing but still not enough to ease the turmoil inside of her.
"You're a good friend Pyrrha," he says quietly, "I'm sure you'll figure something out."
At that the redhead slumps back into her chair, staring blankly at the desk in front of her. She knows Jaune means well, trying to be reassuring and supporting her through all this. And on some level she feels like she should be touched by the gesture, but somehow she's left unsure whether or not his words only make her feel worse. If she were such a good friend, she would have figured out how to make Yang feel better by now.
…
Leaving her Calculus class where she had been forced to stare at Blake's empty seat for an entire hour fills Weiss with an irrational level of anger that had been building up inside her all week.
She keeps replaying her fight with Blake in her head, constantly thinking to herself that if she had handled it differently, been more… compassionate or understanding, maybe they wouldn't all be in this mess, maybe Yang wouldn't be so heartbroken. But as tempting as it is to shift the blame onto herself, she still can't find a way to justify Blake's ridiculous actions and she can feel her blood starting to boil.
"Weiss?" Pyrrha says, walking along next to her with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you okay?"
Weiss lets out a sigh, noticing how tightly she'd been clenching the strap on her bag. "It's nothing, I'm just worried about…"
"Yang." The redhead finishes, "yeah, me too."
"I just... I can't believe Blake. How could she seriously think that what she's doing is in Yang's best interests?"
"It's not all Blake's fault," Pyrrha replies, "all of this may not have happened if we hadn't…"
"We didn't tell her to leave." Weiss says angrily, "she came up with that idea all on her own, if we hadn't gotten involved it would have just been prolonged to the end of the school year instead."
"Well, I'm still worried that Yang might be mad at us, she'd normally be walking with us right now but she's clearly found some other path to get to her locker after her Math class. I feel like I haven't seen her in days."
"It's not just us, Ruby said she's barely heard a word out of her all week."
"She's not even talking to Ruby?" Pyrrha says, "I don't think I've ever seen her this bad. But you've known her longer, has this ever happened before?"
Weiss shakes her head, "she didn't even get this depressed after what happened with Winter."
"We have to do something, if she keeps bottling things up like this she's going to explode."
"God, that girl. Do you have any ideas?"
"Well…" Pyrrha begins slowly, "maybe we could go over to their house this weekend, do some movies and pizza or something."
"Are you telling me you'd actually be willing to break your diet?" Weiss asks sarcastically.
She rolls her eyes at the comment but is inwardly glad for the momentary shift in tone. "This is obviously more important."
"No you're right, doing something to at least distract her is a good idea, I'll see if Ruby or Sun know if she's working this weekend."
"You might want to ask Yang herself," Pyrrha says hesitantly, "I'm not sure she would appreciate us making plans behind her back anymore."
She gives a reluctant nod in agreement right as they reach Pyrrha's history class. Truth be told she had been a little scared to talk to Yang, even with the blonde avoiding them for the past few days. Because honestly it's hard not to feel responsible after everything they'd done, just the guilt alone is almost more than she can handle. But she knows Pyrrha's right, keeping more secrets would only make the situation worse, and that's definitely not something they can afford anymore.
So she heads off through the school in search of the blonde. Since the day at the airport, Yang had been conspicuously absent from their usual spot in the library during their shared free period but she'd just been too scared to question where she could be.
When the bell rings signifying the start of fourth period, the halls become significantly emptier which only makes it that much more frustrating that she can't find Yang. The girl was one of the tallest girls in the school and adding on her long mane of bright yellow hair makes her almost as noticeable as Pyrrha in a crowded space.
Of course the library is empty, as is the cafeteria and the student center, but that doesn't really tell her much. Their school had an endless amount of nooks and crannies for people to hide in to pass the time so eliminating spots doesn't exactly help her much. But then she rounds another corner and finally catches a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye in a secluded section of the science hallway.
She takes a deep breath, steeling herself for the upcoming confrontation.
As she slowly closes the last few feet, she finds Yang sitting up against the wall, eyes glued to her phone and not reacting in the slightest as Weiss quietly sits down next to her. She steals a glance at the screen and finds, to her disappointment, that Yang is staring obsessively at a picture of herself and Blake. Weiss recognizes it as the photo she had taken for the two of them at the lakehouse the summer after their freshman year.
They sit there like that for a while, with Weiss totally unsure of what she could possibly say in a situation like this. Not to mention the fact that saying the wrong thing could easily set her off.
"I… can't find my hardcopy." Yang says finally, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
"What?"
"I printed two copies of this picture, gave one to Blake and kept one in my room. It's kind of been keeping me together these past few weeks with everything going on. I thought I'd lost it for good before I remembered that I still had it stored on my phone. It's… the only picture I have of her."
"Well…" Weiss says hesitantly, "she should be back in a couple days, maybe you two could take another one."
"There's no point." Yang replies dejectedly, "She doesn't want anything to do with me anyway."
"Yang…"
She stops suddenly when she sees Yang tap the 'delete' button and a prompt pops up on the screen asking for confirmation. Before the blonde can hit 'ok', Weiss lunges forward and wrestles the phone out of her hand, the little maneuver causing her to end up clumsily sprawled out in Yang's lap.
"Weiss!"
"Save it!" she snaps, "there is no way I'm letting you delete this picture."
Before Yang can do anything else she opens up the messaging app and forwards the picture to herself, not even considering returning the device until she feels her own phone vibrate in her pocket. She's half expecting Yang to shove her out of her lap and storm off, but instead the blonde just lets out a defeated sigh and crumples back into the wall, leaving Weiss to slowly slide back to her own spot, concern growing by the minute at her uncharacteristic behavior.
"You don't have to do this Weiss." Yang says quietly.
"Well I'm going to anyway. I care about you Yang, we all do. And… and I'm sorry that we interfered with your relationship. We just…"
"It's okay Weiss I'm not mad at you, I know you guys just wanted to help. Besides… it's not your fault Blake doesn't want to be in my life anymore."
"Yang that's not true."
"I'm not stupid Weiss." Yang mumbles, "I know what it's like to get abandoned. It's not like it's anything new at this point."
Hearing those words come out of Yang's mouth is officially the last straw and Weiss immediately shifts over so she's looking the blonde in the eye.
"Nobody's abandoning you Yang." She says firmly, "do you hear me? We are all here for you and Blake will be too. I don't know what is going through her head at the moment but if she knew what you were going through right now there is no way she'd be doing this."
Yang's teary eyes meet her own but the look on her face is grateful all the same. Weiss knows that the blonde probably has plenty to say, but decides not to give her the chance and pulls Yang into her arms. They stay there like that for basically the rest of their free period, Yang silently crying into her shoulder and Weiss whispering whatever reassurances she can think of. By the end she can tell that the girl is feeling a little better, at least well enough for them to schedule meeting up for the movie this weekend.
Getting Yang to agree to actually hang out is definitely progress and Weiss is more than happy to see it. But deep down she's still worried that it could only be delaying further heartbreak when Blake returns.
Author's Note: There's huge differences showcased in how each of our main cast handles the events of last chapter and unfortunately for Yang she just has too much trauma at this point and is going to really have to rely on her friends even more. At this point I'd actually be really curious if anyone has predictions for the future so leave a review or send a PM if you've got ideas. There's going to be a fair amount of build up chapters going forward so please bear with me, I promise we'll get there. Anyways, thanks so much for reading!
