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: Hello everyone! The last few chapters have more or less been about Yang struggling with Blake's absence, so here we get the first insight into Blake's thoughts in a really long time. Anyways hope you like it!
Chapter 22: Revelations
When Blake makes it back to her hotel room, she immediately drops her bag and flops clumsily onto the absurdly large king sized bed. Being on the road for almost a full week might be the most draining thing she's ever done and at the moment, there was nothing that she craved more than a long nap to recharge her batteries. But of course that apparently just isn't meant to be with the sudden, jarring sound of her door being opened.
She groggily sits back up in time to see her mother walking in, apparently deciding that 30 seconds was enough rest after they'd spent the entire day walking back and forth across the campus of Atlas University.
"Blake dear, are you hungry at all? Your father and I were thinking we could all go out for dinner, see what Atlas cuisine is all about."
"Um…" Blake says, "I don't know mom… I'm pretty exhausted."
Her mother scrunches her eyebrows for a second before reaching forward and gently pressing the back of her hand to Blake's forehead.
"Are you feeling alright?" Kali asks, "you've seemed kind of down these past few days."
Blake turns away almost instinctively, "I'm fine mom, just really tired."
Her mother pulls back, not challenging her but still running her eyes over her body in that way that parents do.
"Ok," Kali says, heading back towards the door, "if you change your mind while we're gone feel free to order room service."
"Thanks." Blake calls out right as the door is closing.
Once again left in a peaceful silence, Blake flops back onto the bed, relishing the wonderful softness of the fluffy grey comforter. She wonders to herself whether or not she should change into some actual sleepwear so her clothes don't get wrinkled, or at the very least actually get under the sheets, but decides that she doesn't have nearly enough energy to handle something so strenuous.
But as she lets her eyelids flutter to a close, she finds that her mind doesn't fall to the level of soothing emptiness she's looking for and her eyes shoot open again in frustration.
Probably the main reason that she's so tired is the fact that every time she closes her eyes her head is filled with memories of the dramatic scene at the airport. It had gotten so bad that the first night they'd spent in Vacuo, Blake literally wasn't able to fall asleep for the entire night.
And of course, today is no different. The second she closes her eyes she's greeted with the heartbreaking sight of Yang's beautiful lilac eyes, stretched wide in shock and watching helplessly until Blake can't take it anymore and literally has to rip her eyes away. For the most part she had done a decent job of hiding her tears from her parents, only letting herself lose control once they had all checked into their hotel rooms for the night.
She lets out a frustrated huff before jumping back to her feet and walking over to the bathroom, hoping that splashing some water on her face will somehow make everything better. But of course it doesn't, the sudden cold only really serves to wake her up more and that doesn't even begin to cover the turmoil she's feeling inside.
Having to relive seeing that pained look on Yang's face and knowing that she was the one that caused it… Just the thought of it is enough for tears to start welling up again.
She quickly blinks away the stinging in her eyes and heads back to her bed to flick on the TV, wishing desperately that she could have had the time to go back for her phone after her fight with Weiss.
And of course that only sends her down another spiralling path of worrying about what's going to become of her friendship with Weiss with all of this happening. The girl was her best friend, and the last time she'd seen her they'd broken down to a full on screaming match.
All of it is enough to make her question her decisions entirely. Because contrary to what she may choose to convey, all the things she'd heard from Weiss and Pyrrha over the past few weeks had been really wearing down on her resolve.
What if Yang really did love her? As hard as it was to believe, if it were true then everything she'd done recently… all the decisions she'd made that were supposed to be for Yang's benefit…
She doesn't want to think about it any further and luckily, she doesn't get much of a chance to continue her relentless spiralling when the phone on her bedside table starts going off. Ignoring the growing confusion, Blake scoots quickly across the bed to answer it, if only to put an end to the incessant ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hello. Is this Blake?"
"Um… yes." She answers, the voice on the line sounding incredibly familiar.
"This is Winter, Weiss's sister? We met at Thanksgiving."
"Oh right, uh… how did you even get this number?"
"Well... " Winter answers hesitantly, "I'm actually at the front desk and they patched me through."
Blake's not sure at all how to respond to something like that. The girl had seemed nice enough when they'd first met at Yang and Ruby's house, but even then they had barely talked to each other, and now she was showing up without notice at her hotel.
"I… kind of need to talk to you." The older girl says. "Would you want to get a bite to eat? Or maybe just coffee or something?"
"Uh… I guess some dinner would be good," Blake stammers, "just… give me a minute or two? I'll meet you out in the lobby."
…
Winter decides to take her to this cute little family owned restaurant a couple blocks away from the hotel. The entire trip in the car ends up being fairly awkward, with the older girl carrying most of the conversation with harmless questions about college applications. But it's not as if it's anyone's fault that they don't have anything to talk about. Once again, the two of them barely know each other and it's only made worse by the fact that Blake is almost hopeless at socializing.
It had definitely improved over the years, spending time with Yang typically meant that she would end up in conversations with random strangers more times than she would have liked, but even then Yang would still be the one doing the lion's share of the talking. Trying to make conversation with someone that she had only made passing small talk with over Thanksgiving dinner is… daunting.
And she doesn't even want to unpack how intimidated she is by how stunningly beautiful Winter is. It's this calm stoicism that's present even in the tiniest things, like the way she brushes her hair back behind her ear, or the reserved yet confident way that she talks with the waitress. She had been stunned when they had first met at Thanksgiving but now… Blake finds herself absolutely tongue tied.
"So…" Winter says finally, "you're probably wondering why I hunted you down like this…"
Blake nods lightly, "how did you even find me?"
"I… know some people in the admissions department that told me that this was the main hotel that all the tours were coming from so I took a bit of a leap."
"That's… a lot of effort."
"Well," the older girl responds, "Weiss was rather insistent that I talk to you, she said you don't have your phone with you?"
"Oh… right." Blake says, self consciously biting on her bottom lip, "yeah, we may have fought a bit before I left for the airport."
Winter nods. "She mentioned that. She said she isn't mad by the way."
Blake does let out a slight breath of relief. Knowing that Weiss wasn't holding a grudge was good but it's still not enough to completely ease the tension boiling over inside. "I'm… guessing she told you some stuff."
"She did." Winter confirms, finally looking up and boring into her with those piercing sapphire eyes, "she said you're running away."
Her breath catches in her chest at the pointed words that are almost… accusational.
"I…" Blake stammers, "I don't know what else I can do at this point."
Winter lets out a quick huff before leaning forward, resting her elbows on the table and bringing their faces much closer than before.
"Blake… would you mind telling me why you think this is your only option?"
She lets out a deep sigh. Where is she even supposed to begin with a question like that?
"Well… Yang and I are… very close… I'm sure Weiss would have mentioned that I have feelings for her…"
"She did."
"Well… I just… I don't really think I can keep up this… charade."
"What do you mean?" Winter asks gently.
Blake scrunches her eyebrows, trying to figure out how to put her conflicting feelings into words. "Well… just having to go every day pretending that I'm ok with us just being friends. And with everything going on with me, I can't be just the supportive friend that Yang needs. There's this tension between us now and it feels like all I can do at this point is hurt her, and she deserves so much more than that. She… she's better off without me."
Winter lets out a contemplative hum, gently tapping her fingers on the table as she takes in Blake's words.
"Ok…" the silver haired girl finally says, "I suppose I can't really fault you for thinking this way. Yang does indeed deserve to be happy and if you can't give her what she wants then I suppose you leaving for college would mean that both of you would have an opportunity to move on."
Blake breathes out a shaky breath and she can feel her eyes starting to water slightly. She knows it's irrational, but having her fears actually confirmed like this by someone else is almost too much for her to handle.
She's just starting to think up a reason to excuse herself to somewhere she can break down in private when she's abruptly cut off.
"There's only one problem." Winter says. "All of this is based on the assumption that Yang doesn't reciprocate your feelings."
"What?" That definitely was not something she had expected to hear.
"Do you know anything about my relationship with Yang?" Winter asks hesitantly.
"Um… I may have heard some rumors that you were her first real crush, and that she asked you out at one point."
"That's all true, what you may not have known is that I actually... had feelings for Yang too."
"What?"
"Yes," Winter replies, "Like you, I also refused to acknowledge the possibility that Yang may have reciprocated. And by the time Yang had confessed to me, I was already in a relationship. But, when I came back for Thanksgiving having so recently broken up with my girlfriend… a lot of those feelings resurfaced."
Blake narrows her eyes, feeling a sudden, unreasonable amount of jealousy bubbling up within her. "Why are you telling me this?" she asks.
"Because," Winter answers, "I want to make my stance in this whole situation clear to you. When I came back to Vale… I'll admit I was feeling a little lonely and I went to find her at the diner. I'm not totally sure what I was hoping for but we ended up having a pretty long heart to heart."
"Okay…" Blake says, still not sure she likes where this conversation was heading.
"Blake. She told me about you."
"Me?"
"Yes. I'm ashamed to say that at first I was a little jealous. The way she talked about you, like you were her entire world. How every single day when she wakes up, the thing that gets her out of bed is the thought of seeing you again, how desperately she searches for you the second she gets to school, how just one look into your eyes can lift her spirits on her absolute worst days."
Blake can feel her mouth drying out and jaw hanging open in shock. Her heart is beating so hard that she can hear the pounding in her ears.
"Blake." Winter continues, the determination in her icy blue eyes intense enough to light a fire, "I want you to listen to me. I have… nothing to lose and everything to gain from you and Yang growing apart, but there's no way I could ever do that to her. She loves you Blake. Weiss says that she's been absolutely despondent this past week without you."
And suddenly, the heavy thumping in her chest is cut off, leaving nothing behind but deafening silence.
"You… you're lying." Blake breathes. "There's… no way she… it's not possible."
"Blake." Winter says gently, reaching into her coat pocket, "she showed me this."
The girl sets a piece of paper down on the table in front of her and Blake's eyes go wide as she slowly recognizes the familiar color of the thick forest of pine trees, the extravagant mountain cabin in the background, and finally, Yang's shining blonde hair pressed so intimately up against her own gleaming onyx. It's the photo of her and Yang by the lake. It's been folded a couple times and the edges are even more worn than when she'd seen it last, but it's there, clear as day.
"Why… did she…" Blake says shakily.
"Yang must have dropped it… I found it in my car yesterday. But the point is, she's been lost Blake, ever since you announced that you'd be leaving. Weiss said that she's been staring at it almost every minute she can."
Blake can feel her breaths quickening with every second, her eyes darting wildly between the picture on the table and the fierce determination on Winter's face. Could it really be true? Yang actually reciprocated her feelings? No. If she really did then surely Blake would have noticed. Right? I mean all these years of watching her so closely, pining after her so desperately, there's no way she could have missed even the slightest hint of love in those violet eyes.
But what if she had? She wasn't arrogant enough to think that she was infallible. And she had to consider the idea that Yang had been keeping a secret this whole time. Blake certainly felt that she had done a pretty convincing job of hiding her feelings over the years, and if she had done it... couldn't Yang have managed the same thing?
Author's Note: We finally have hope! Before, it was Yang that was ready to reveal her feelings at the airport but Blake not believing it could be possible. Now, we finally have Blake's eyes opened and by Winter of all people. And, it turns out that Winter's had the photo this whole time. So yay! Anyways hope you all liked it and thanks for reading!
