Can I Tell You A Secret?
"Hey Blake, I know it's like super late…"
"But you need me to come pick her up and bring her home, don't you?"
"Yes please."
"And I'm guessing that you've lost Nora and Yang by now as well?"
"I'm not going to say that they are lost, simply because I haven't even looked for them."
"Uh huh." You know you sound completely unamused as you throw on some clothes and shoes, heading out the door. "Can you text me the address and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thank you so much. And I'm sorry!"
—
Once you get in the car and connect your phone to the GPS, you have to double check that the address Pyrrha sent you is correct.
"This can't be right." Toggling back and forth between the messages app and the map. But it was.
After about ten minutes of driving, you pull into the parking lot of a popular chain restaurant. Honestly, it's just a sports bar… if it could even be called that.
"Blake, thank you thank you. I may have severely underestimated my ability to have a few drinks with my friends."
"Oh no. It's fine. You did the best you could. If I hadn't had to work late I would've been here to help." You scan the room looking for dark hair with red tips but find nothing. "I'm guessing Ruby has already started the hunt for Yang?"
"Yes, she left just a few minutes ago." Pyrrha has a hand on her hip and her other pressed to her forehead. Clearly stressed out.
"Well, if you want to go ahead and see if you can find Nora, I can handle it from here. Shouldn't be too hard to track her down." You pat Pyrrha's shoulder as you walk past her. "Just follow the path of destruction."
"Sure. Okay. Well, she's at the bar. I got the bartender to cut her off about 30 minutes ago. But she doesn't know that."
"Probably for the best. Thanks for keeping an eye on her for me."
Pyrrha waves goodbye and you turn and make your way through the crowd. As soon as you find your intended target, you hop up on the empty stool next to her. Before you have a chance to speak to the woman next to you, the bartender comes up to you.
"Can I get you anything to drink?"
"A water please, if it isn't too much trouble." He nods and walks a few steps away.
"Who comes to a bar and drinks water?" The woman beside you questions, sounding well past inebriated.
"You should probably try it more often." You say as you swivel the stool to face her better.
"Gods almighty Blake, when did you get here?"
"I just got here. I couldn't let you have too much fun without me."
When she turns to face you, she grabs your hands and her eyes go wide with excitement.
"We had so much fun." The smell of the alcohol on her breath is potent. "Nora ordered us these drinks that tasted like sunshine and the beach. They were amazing. And then Yang tried to say that she could drink one faster than me, which wasn't even true. Because I had already had three before that. So she su-suggested that we race."
"And how did that go? Did you win?" Knowing what you know about Yang Xiao Long, you already know how it went.
"Of course. Of course I won." She waves her hand in dismissal.
"Oh I'm sure you did." Keeping a close eye on Weiss as she sways back and forth on her stool, you wave to signal the bartender.
"Why is it so loud in here? My head is starting to hurt." Weiss swivels back to face the bar, propping her head up in her hands.
"Excuse me sir, does she have an open tab?"
"She does. And it's rather hefty." He looks at you apologetically.
"I'll go ahead and close it out then."
Reaching into your wallet, you hand the gentleman your credit card and he walks over to the register nearby. When he brings your card and receipt back, you leave him a substantial tip. You can't say for sure how much of a struggle the three of them put this bartender through, but from the look on his face, this wasn't a typical Thursday evening for him.
"Ready to go home?"
"Might as well, I don't know where everyone went."
"Home, drunk. That's where they went."
"I'm not drunk." She proudly proclaims as she clings to your arm as you pull her out the door and into the night air.
"Okay cool, you can drive then. I'm tired." You pull your keys from your jacket pocket and pretend to hand them to her. Her eyes cross slightly before she can collect herself enough to answer you.
"I'll let you drive this time, because I think I've forgotten how."
"Uh huh." You open the passenger side door and help her get into the car, eventually having to grab her leg and swing it into the car.
"You better watch where you put your hands Belladonna, I'm married!" She almost yells into your ear, causing you to close your eyes for a few seconds before answering.
"How silly of me to forget, I apologize." And you double check that she's completely inside the car before closing the door. "This is gonna be a long night."
By the time you can make your way to the driver's side door and turn the key in the ignition, Weiss has already begun to sing at the top of her lungs. It's so loud that you swear your teeth are shaking. But at least she's not throwing up in your car. So you take the wins where you can get them.
"I'm hungry."
"What would you like to eat?"
It's well past the time for anything to be open so you're really just biding your time until you can figure out if she's really hungry, or just really drunk. Or both.
"Breakfast."
"You want to eat breakfast at midnight?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" You're trying to remember the contents of your kitchen as you pull the car into the garage.
"I know the perfect place for breakfast."
"Well that's just lovely." You let her hold onto your arm as you guide her through the house towards the kitchen. "This is a beautiful house."
"I'm glad you think so, I designed it." Rolling your eyes as you help her settle down into a chair in the kitchen.
As soon as you find Weiss some pain relievers and a glass of water, you begin to cook her something to eat. Eggs and toast seem like a quick and easy midnight breakfast. When you slide the plate of food onto the table in front of her, she immediately starts eating. Maybe she was really hungry.
You take a seat beside her at the table and take a sip from the hot tea you made for yourself. Knowing that you probably only have a few minutes until the true drunken Weiss makes her appearance, you settle in.
"These are the best damn eggs I think I've ever eaten."
"I'm glad you like them." Continuing to monitor her expression closely, you place your mug down on the table.
After a few more moments, her vigorous chewing begins to slow. And you know it's about to start. She places her fork down on the table and looks up at you. The tears are welling in her eyes. And before you know it, she begins to sob uncontrollably.
"Hey." You soften your voice so you don't upset her more. "Weiss, what's wrong?"
"This is all my fault. I am an awful person."
"You aren't awful. There's nothing wrong with going out and having fun with your friends."
"It's not that." She shakes her head, still whimpering as tears fall from her eyes. She looks at her left hand quickly, then clenches her fist and hides her hand under the table.
"I can't help you if you can't tell me what's wrong." Even though you know it's from the drinking, it still breaks your heart when she cries. She wipes the tears from her face and tries to compose herself, sitting up in the chair.
"I need to tell you something. But you have to promise not to say a word to anyone, ever."
"Okay."
"Can I tell you a secret, Blake Belladonna? And you swear to never tell anyone?"
"I promise."
"I'm in love with you." As soon as the words leave her lips, she begins to cry again. "You are just the most amazing person I've ever met. I think about you all the time. I want to spend every single waking second with you. You do things you don't have to for me, like come rescue me when I'm drunk and make me breakfast for dinner. You are always just so lovely. And I'm just so sad because I'm in love with you but I can't love you, because I'm married."
"That is an awful secret to keep." You're trying to look as sympathetic as possible. Weiss looks at the ring on her hand one more time and folds over on the table in defeat. Laying her head down, continuing to cry.
Now that she can't see the look on your face, you let the smile you've been holding in make it's way across your face. Shaking your head, you pick up her empty plate and put it in the sink and start to clean the remaining bits of food from it.
By the time you've cleaned up the kitchen and made your way back over to the table, Weiss has passed completely out. Just as you had hoped. It really makes the rest of this adventure way easier for you.
Carefully scooping her up in your arms, you carry her upstairs, put her in clean pajamas and make sure she's nestled under the covers of the bed.
Before going to sleep yourself, you check your phone one last time, sending a message to match the ones you've received from Pyrrha and Ruby, letting them know that you also made it home safe.
You wake up early for work the next morning, going downstairs to make yourself breakfast and start coffee for Weiss. After about half an hour, you hear the sound of someone walking down the stairs.
"I feel like I've been hit by a bus."
"I can imagine so." You slide a cup of coffee across the breakfast bar towards her. She grabs the mug and intertwines her fingers around the edges. Holding it for warmth.
"How bad was it?"
"Well, you told me your deepest most dark and dirty secret."
"I have a deep, dark and dirty secret?" She quirks an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Oh yes, definitely. Or at least you thought you did last night."
"Are you going to tell me? Or just make me wonder forever? Because I don't remember too much after Nora got in trouble for breaking that chair."
"I guess I can tell you. Even though you made me promise to never tell anyone, ever." She rolls her eyes at you. "You told me that you are madly and deeply in love with me. And that you think about me all the time. That I'm the most amazing person ever." She is still looking at you, deadpan and unamused by your retelling.
"That's it?" She is unimpressed with the story you had to offer.
"Nope. The best part was when you told me how sad you were because you can't love me."
"And why is that?"
"Because you're married." Gesturing to the ring on her finger.
"Yeah, to you!" At this point, you can't hold your laughter in anymore. Weiss grumbles under her breath. "I'm glad you find my drunken distress and hangover so funny!"
"I will admit, it was kind of funny at the time. But you were so sad. It broke my tiny little heart."
"Oh whatever."
"Can I tell you a secret?" She looks up over the edge of her coffee mug, quirking her eyebrows.
"Might as well." She shrugs.
"I love you too."
"That's not a secret." Weiss smiles into her coffee.
"No, no it's not."
