"OKAY PEOPLE LET'S GET OUR GAME FACES ON! THIS RIGHT HERE IS THE MAIN EVENT, THE CULMINATION OF LITERAL MONTHS OF WORK!"
"Ruby, it's 6:30 in the morning can you PLEASE take it down like 10 notches?" Jaune and his eye circles were entirely unamused by Ruby's excitement.
"No can do Jaune, my bud!" Ruby replied, looking almost illegally chipper considering the sun had risen a mere 15 minutes earlier. "We've got a lot to do before the gala, and everybody's gotta be on their A game, got it?" Jaune sighed heavily and put his head on Pyrrha's shoulder, who giggled quietly.
"We're ready and at your service Ruby," she answered, giving a mock salute.
"Excellent! Now, first order of business: Blake, where the heck is my sister?" Three faces turned towards Blake in unison. Blake scoffed.
"I find it interesting how you immediately assume that I—"
"Seriously, where is she?" Ruby interrupted.
"Okay fine, I turned off her alarm last night," Blake admitted. "She's still recovering from that cold if you all remember. She needs rest." Jaune raised his eyebrows.
"Sooo did you break in to do that or were you…sleeping over?" He grinned at her. Blake sputtered at him indignantly.
"N-no! I was just checking on her I—We aren't—of course I didn't break in!"
Jaune laughed somewhat uncontrollably until Pyrrha smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't tease," she said sternly, though the smile on her face gave her away. Blake fumed silently at the pair.
"Anyhoo~" Ruby pushed on, though she was smiling widely as well. "As a reminder, the gala will begin at 1500 hours and run until the SSSN concert concludes at 2200. The band will be arriving at 1300 hours and should be given a very warm welcome by the full staff. Any questions?"
Blake raised a hand and an eyebrow. "Why exactly are we using military time here?"
"Because we need to be classy! And-and FANCY. We need a certain…Dennis says kwa!"
There was silence for a moment as everyone tried to process what exactly the girl had said.
"What?" Jaune asked finally.
"It's French Jaune, look it up." She waved her hand dismissively.
"I'm sorry Ruby, but I don't think it is.." Pyrrha stated cautiously. Ruby paused for a second, clearly deep in thought.
"Nah, of course it is!" She waved her hand again. "Now come with me and Jaune to the fairground, Yang's friends will be there in 30 minutes with the tents to help us set up." Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged a glance but stood up anyway to follow the fearless leader.
"And Blake, you're in charge of getting my sister, okay? Meet us there as soon as you can!" Ruby called over her shoulder as she zipped out of the room.
"Try not to get distracted," Jaune added, smirking a little. Blake scowled at him as Pyrrha dragged him out before he could say anything else.
The teasing from all of them had been getting worse lately. But Jaune in particular had become a major nuisance. Blake glowered over it during the whole drive over to Yang's place. Just because she had been spending more time with her, didn't mean anything was "happening." And why was it any of his business anyway?
Blake gripped the steering wheel tighter. Plus, she had no confirmation that Yang wasn't straight. Maybe it was all just a big joke to them. And it's not like they knew about her own bisexuality. Blake never bothered coming out to people anymore. It was too much of a hassle.
Of course, all of it was useless anyway. She didn't like Yang that way, and Yang obviously wouldn't be interested in her either. "Definitely not," Blake mumbled out loud, pulling over to park. They were clearly 100% professional and platonic. Just friends.
She approached Yang's door and knocked firmly. Predictably, there was no response from the other side. Yang was an extremely heavy sleeper.
"Probably wouldn't wake up if the house was burning down," Blake muttered to herself as she fished out the spare key that Yang had given her from her bag.
"She gave you a key?" Jaune had commented, incredulous. Blake had just rolled her eyes at him, and pointedly ignored the knowing glances that Ruby and Pyrrha exchanged. It was completely normal for an employer to give a house key to their personal assistant.
Frowning a little at the memory, she let herself into the simple but neat apartment. Blake had initially expected a mess to suit Yang's explosive personality, but had been pleasantly surprised to find the place to be nearly as clean as her own home.
Blake knocked loudly on the bedroom door. "YANG?" she practically screamed, knowing that a gentle awakening would be impossible. She was met with incoherent mumbling.
"Yang, we need your help with gala preparations," she continued, in a less deafening tone. There was more mumbling from behind the door which sounded suspiciously like cursing. Clattering noises ensued as Yang lumbered across the room. The door was abruptly yanked open a minute later.
"Who the hell turned off my alarm?" Yang grumbled.
"Well, that may have been—oh, wow." Blake stared at Yang in a mixture of shock and awe.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"Um…your hair is a little…" Blake cut herself off, unable to find words to describe the disarray on top of Yang's head.
"Oh c'mon, it can't be that bad," Yang laughed, trotting to the bathroom to look in the mirror. She immediately grimaced at the sight. "Okay, maybe it is that bad," she amended. "I'll have to wash it. What time is it?" Blake walked up behind her, checking her watch.
"7:27."
"Goddammit Blake, why'd you have to turn off my alarm?" Yang complained.
"So you knew it was me."
"Well, duh. Who else would sneak in here like a ninja and sabotage me on such an important day?"
"Seriously? I selflessly provide you with an extra two hours of sleep and this is the thanks I get." Blake shook her head in mock disappointment.
"Okay fine. You're a hero, happy?" Yang demanded. Blake smiled a little and nodded. Yang grinned right back.
"Alright, I'm gonna go fix this mess." She gestured broadly at her hair. "And by the way~" Yang's eyes lit up in a way that only meant one thing. "Thanks for coming by to Blake me up!"
Blake groaned and slammed the bathroom door shut, only partially drowning out Yang's raucous laughter at her own "joke."
She made her way to the living room and settled down, grabbing a book from the bookshelf. Another pleasant surprise had been Yang's love of reading. Apparently she had read to Ruby every night after their mom died, and so both sisters had grown to love stories. Blake grabbed Slaughterhouse-Five, one of her favorites. Yang had pretty good taste.
She took a seat and managed to read a grand total of two pages before she was interrupted.
"Blaaaaake!"
Blake sighed heavily but immediately stood up to see what the problem was.
"What is it? Do you need my help in there?" she asked with a slight smirk.
"Yeeees!" Yang yelled back. Blake stopped in her tracks just outside the bathroom. "Can you get my shampoo? It's on the counter!"
Blake let out a sigh of relief. "You don't keep your shampoo in the bathroom?" she griped, going back to the kitchen to collect it. Yang hollered something unintelligible after her. Blake figured it out for herself a moment later when she found the bottle next to a shopping bag, clearly new and unopened. She made her way back to the bathroom and then hovered next to the door for a moment.
"Um, Yang? I have it," Blake said hesitantly.
"THANK YOU!" Yang replied. "DOOR'S UNLOCKED JUST COME IN AND I'LL GRAB IT"
Blake winced at her unbelievably loud voice. She reached for the door handle, her hand shaking a little at the idea of Yang Xiao Long. In the shower. Presumably without any clothes. Oh man. Blake steeled her nerves, wondering how exactly she had gotten into this situation. She carefully opened the door a crack and thrust her arm in, bottle in hand.
"Um, Blakey..You're gonna have to step inside, y'know," Yang said, clearly amused by the whole situation.
"Of course I know that!" Blake snapped. She awkwardly shimmied her way into the bathroom, taking care to remain turned 180 degrees from the source of the water. She stuck her arm out, backing up slowly.
There was eerie silence as she inched backward. The sound of the water running began to seem deafening, and Blake was acutely aware of every small droplet that landed on her outstretched arm. Suddenly, a wet hand latched onto her wrist and Blake yelped, tensing immediately and yanking her hand away as quickly as possible. The shampoo bottle clattered onto the floor, but the noise was barely audible over the sound of Yang's laughter.
"Screw you," Blake grumbled once her breathing had slowed back down.
"Aw, Blake, I'm sorry!" Yang apologized, struggling to contain her chuckles. "I didn't mean for it to scare you that much."
"Whatever, Yang." She rolled her eyes.
"Hey, don't you roll your eyes at me kiddo!"
Blake chose to ignore the fact that Yang somehow picked up on the eye roll even though Blake wasn't facing her.
"Enjoy your shower," she said in a monotone. "Also, I'm six months older than you, 'kiddo'."
"Wait, what? Six months, that means…Blake, when's your—"
Blake shut the door forcefully behind her, muffling Yang's question. She exhaled through her nose. "Stupid Xiao Long," she said to herself, extremely thankful to be out of that bathroom situation. She returned to her book eagerly, curling up on Yang's comfy couch.
This time, she made it almost 20 minutes before being interrupted. She was contentedly reading about the life of Billy Pilgrim when her phone started blaring some alternative rock song at her. Blake nearly dropped the book as she fumbled to stop the noise.
"Ruby? What did you set your ringtone to?" Blake demanded as she answered the call.
"O-kay, good try Blake, but usually 'hello' is a better start for a phone call," Ruby said. Blake could almost see her innocent grin though the phone.
"Hey hey, don't roll your eyes at me Blake! That's rude."
"How are you people DOING THAT?!"
"You roll your eyes maaaaaybe 5 million times a day?" Ruby answered. "It's a pretty safe guess." Blake glared pointedly at the lamp on Yang's coffee table.
"So is there a reason you called me or..?"
"I was just wondering how it's going with Yang," Ruby explained in a more serious tone. "Set-up here is going pretty smoothly, but we really need her as soon as possible."
"Understood." Blake stood up to pace around. "She's taking a shower right now, but we should be there within the next hour."
"A shower?" Ruby sounded incredulous. "Oh god, we're doomed. Yang can't take a shower in less than half an hour to save her life. And then there's the hair drying, that takes another 30 minutes, and then—"
"Wow, what did she do to you?" Blake cut in.
"We shared a bathroom growing up," Ruby said with a shudder. "Anyway, just get here as soon as you can."
"Alright," Blake replied.
"Oh, and it's Fall Out Boy."
"What?"
"The ringtone. I thought you'd like it! It seems like your type of music," Ruby laughed. Blake raised an eyebrow.
"…Okay?"
"Geez, you know you're allowed to say more than one word at a time," Ruby said with a fake sigh.
"It's a good song?" Blake offered. Ruby squealed a little.
"Yesssss, I knew it! You're totally 2000s emo."
"I..have no idea what that means," Blake admitted.
"Oh shit."
"Is it really that bad?"
"What? Nah we just have a sliiiight problem over here," Ruby explained, her voice raising in pitch. "It sorta kinda started raining a tiny bit?"
"Oh. Shit." Blake paced a little faster.
"It's fine," Ruby stated, sounding decidedly not fine. "Hopefully it'll stop soon? God, this was NOT in the forecast. Okay, I gotta go!"
"Ruby, it'll be okay. We'll see you soon, alright?" Blake said. Ruby took a deep breath.
"Thanks Blake, see you soon. Ooh, and bring cookies!" Blake could tell that she was smiling again. She smiled too.
"Sure thing." She hung up and returned to her couch spot, glancing out the window. It was still clear in Yang's neighborhood, though she could see some very ominous looking clouds on the horizon. Blake bit her lip a little. Rain was one of the worst possible things that could happen to the gala. If it didn't stop soon, they'd have to reschedule it. But that would be a pretty big financial hit. Plus, they'd lose the band which was the main draw of the event anyway. Blake unconsciously ground her teeth as she attempted to do the financial analysis in her head.
"Ooh, Slaughterhouse-Five? I love that book!" Blake jolted a little at the sudden sound of Yang's voice.
"Don't sneak up on me like that," she said, turning around. "That was surprisingly fast though. At least according to your sister."
Yang grinned at her, flipping her perfectly styled hair in triumph. "Don't listen to her, I can be fast if I need to! But I mean I also have amazing endurance if ya catch my drift," she said, her eyes sparkling almost aggressively. Blake gave her a Look.
"Are you done?"
"Aw, are you still mad at me for scaring you earlier?" Yang asked. She looked genuinely concerned. "Seriously, I'm sorry." Blake laughed a little at that.
"Yang, it's fine," she said, smiling softly. "It's not that big a deal."
"Ah, well." Yang cleared her throat. "Just checking, y'know? But hey does this mean you'll admit that it was funny?"
"Absolutely not." Blake rolled her eyes.
"There you go again! Another one for the Belladonna eye roll count!" Yang laughed, ignoring Blake's pointed glare.
"Okay, if you're finished, Ruby would like us to get to the fairgrounds as soon as possible."
"Right, right," Yang said, getting marginally more serious. "Lemme just grab some stuff real quick." She scurried off, and Blake took the opportunity to sit back down and read some more. She was just getting re-invested in the story when Yang appeared in front of her. Blake glanced up. She was looking amazing in her charcoal suit and her favorite orange dress shirt, which Blake had also come to appreciate. The daylight from the window illuminated the back of her head, and her hair almost seemed to be glowing…
"Purple?" Blake blinked a couple times to see if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
"Yes Blakey, that's a color."
"No, your hair.." Blake trailed off, staring at it in confusion. Yang's normally blonde hair had somehow been tinted with a very light purple tone.
"What?" Yang frowned in confusion.
"Hmm, go outside," Blake suggested. "I think it's only visible in natural light?"
"What the hell are you talking about Blake? Whatever it is sounds like science." Yang gave her a suspicious look.
"Just trust me," Blake responded. Yang's eyes narrowed another two notches.
It took another minute for Blake to force her outside into the bright light of the street in front of the apartment building.
"Well at least it's clear now," Blake commented. The sky was almost completely blue, and the storm clouds seemed to have abated.
"Okay? What d'you mean 'now'?" Yang asked, still eyeing her suspiciously.
"It's nothing," Blake said hastily, realizing that this might not be the best time to bring up the weather issues at the fairgrounds. "Do you see the color now?"
Yang ran a hand through her thick hair, pulling it forward so she could see. It was lighter than usual, and it had a definite purple tint to it. Wait, what? She stared at it for almost 30 seconds in complete silence while Blake shifted awkwardly behind her.
"Um, Yang?"
"MOTHERFU—"
AN: Okay it's still technically Friday in my timezone, so I'm calling this a success :P As always, thanks for reading!