Late October hit Vale like a ton of bricks. The seasonal shift came swiftly, but Blake considered it a welcome change of pace. Fall had always been her favorite season, with its sweater weather and its colorful leaves. But it also meant that the campaign was now into its final month, and Yang was running around so much that she was hardly at the office anymore.
Qrow had her film a couple commercials, and they used the gala funding to broadcast them on tons of radio and TV stations around Vale. The whole group had spent days putting up posters and handing out free t-shirts, buttons, and lawn signs to anyone who would take them. It was tough, but Yang's charm came through as always, and she talked to person after person, showing almost no signs of fatigue. But between ad filming, interviews, public speeches and appearances, preparing for the second debate, and her regular council duties, Yang was stretched thinner than Blake had ever witnessed.
Yet somehow she still found time to be romantic. Well, Yang's version of romantic, which Blake found oddly endearing.
The day after their first kiss, Blake arrived to find a small box of something laid smack in the center of her desk. Closer investigation revealed that is was, in fact, a box of macaroni.
"Um, Yang? Why is this here?"
Yang was watching her with a giant, goofy smile on her face. "It's a gift! Take it as an apology for me being stupid before."
"You're not stupid," Blake said automatically. "And...this is macaroni."
"And CHEESE, Blake! Look, it's shaped like bunny rabbits, isn't it cuuute?" Yang sidled over and threw an arm around Blake's shoulders.
"I guess?"
Yang sighed. "I know it's lame. I was gonna buy you lilies, but then the flower shop was closed so I panicked and, well, here we are!" She laughed somewhat sheepishly.
Blake felt a familiar smile work its way onto her face, not in the least because Yang had remembered her favorite flower. "It looks good. Thanks, Yang." She turned her head and placed a light kiss on Yang's cheek.
Yang turned red and sputtered out something about it being no big deal before fleeing back to her desk.
That was another thing Blake had quickly come to appreciate about Yang: how incredibly easy it was to get her flustered. Yang might act like some James Dean-type badass, but all it took was one carefully executed touch from Blake to turn her into a blushing mess. Blake thought it was adorable.
So, naturally, she took every chance she could to spend time with Yang. It was honestly starting to affect their work efficiency. Whenever they were in Yang's office together more than ten minutes, one of them would invariably come to the other one's desk. And then light touches would lead to light kisses would lead to full-on make outs would lead to, in one instance, Yang dramatically sweeping everything off of her desk in a big romantic gesture she had probably seen in some movie.
Of course, that one was a non-starter, since a large, glass paperweight had been among the items on the desk. It narrowly missed Yang's foot and shattered into dozens of pieces on the floor, prompting Qrow and Ruby to come running in and Yang launching into a half-funny, half-depressing attempt to convince them that she had tripped and somehow knocked EVERYTHING onto the floor.
Luckily they had both backed off, although not without some suspicious glances.
Blake and Yang had decided last week to keep their..."relationship" to themselves for now. Yang described it as "bonus time" before she could publicly come out, which would ideally be in a few months. Blake agreed to the terms of secrecy since...well, since it was Yang.
Plus, the secret lovers cliché had an embarrassing amount of appeal to her. Blake decided that she read way too many romance novels.
At the moment, Yang's desk was back in order, minus one paperweight. She had a rare couple hours in the office before another meeting with Weiss Schnee, and was working feverishly while Blake watched her out of the corner of her eye. Yang was wearing one of her best suits in preparation for the meeting, but had by now - in typical Yang fashion - discarded the jacket on a nearby chair and loosened the tie so that she could unbutton her top two buttons. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, which she leaned heavily on the desk while she worked. Blake's eyes were drawn to her strong forearms. Yang was kind of jacked. As she looked intently at her arms, Yang shifted suddenly, lowering the paper she had been holding up.
"May I help you?"
Oh god, now she was looking at her with those eyes. Blake felt her face heat up.
"Um, n-no I was just..."
"Staring at me? You're not nearly as sneaky as you think you are." Yang rested her face on her palm and grinned. Blake continued staring mutely, overcome by the sheer force of her feelings.
"Come here."
Yang's voice sounded like honey, and Blake couldn't have resisted it if she tried. Which she didn't. She immediately walked over to Yang's desk, paused to take in her smirking face, and then flicked her lightly on the forehead.
"H-Hey! What was that for?"
"You looked way too smug," Blake explained simply, sitting on Yang's desk with her feet just brushing the floor.
Yang gaped at her for a second. "Unbelievable."
Blake rolled her eyes, but leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "Better?"
"Hm, I GUESS," Yang said. But her smile gave her away as always.
Blake gave her another kiss on the forehead. "So, what are you working on?" she asked.
"Nothin' much. Just another factory idea," Yang sighed and clasped her hands, resting her chin on top of them.
"A new one?" Blake was continually impressed by Yang's perseverance. If it was her, she probably would have backed down by now and started damage control.
"I mean, I said I was gonna save that park, yeah?"
"God, you're stubborn."
"Hell yeah - like a bull, that's what Ruby says! In fact, I'll have you know I'm a taurus," Yang stated with a wink. Blake instinctively tensed at the word, her fists clenching before she could stop them. Yang noticed immediately and the smile dropped off of her face in a split second.
"Whoa, you okay? Did I say something wrong?" Her forehead was now creased in concern.
"No, it's fine." Blake spoke way too hastily to be convincing.
Yang was still frowning. She rubbed a piece of paper between her fingers like she was very carefully considering what to say next.
"...you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
Blake took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I know. But can we not talk about it right now?"
Yang hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Of course."
There was silence for a moment, and Blake shifted awkwardly.
"So, let's see what you're working on," she said, mostly to fill the silence. She walked around the desk and looked over Yang's shoulder.
"It's a bit of a crazy plan," Yang admitted. She chuckled nervously.
Blake's eyes widened as she looked over the pictures and documents scattered around Yang's desk, then quickly scanned through the overview pulled up on her laptop. "It's genius."
Yang blushed at the word and swiveled back and forth in her chair. "Well, I dunno about that..."
"But Weiss-" Blake started, then stopped herself.
"Yeah I know. It'll be tough," Yang said. She leaned back in the chair and looked up at Blake from under her bangs. "You actually like it though?"
Blake smiled warmly. "Obviously, it's insane. But I have no doubt in my mind that you could pull it off," she concluded. Yang's grin was so bright it could probably be used to guide ships to shore in a storm. Blake certainly felt like it was pulling her in. No wait, that was Yang's arm, which had wrapped around her back.
"You're perfect." Yang stated it calmly, like some sort of undeniable fact. Blake felt her entire face go red. Her speech faculties had abandoned her.
Yang laughed, her eyes sparkling. "Wow, it's so easy to get you all flustered," she teased.
"N-No, that's you! And that line's way too cheesy anyway," Blake protested. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to control her blush, although the prolonged eye contact with Yang combined with the feeling of her stupidly muscular arm around her really wasn't helping matters.
"Really? Which one of us is doing a tomato impression right now, hmm?" Yang looked disgustingly pleased with herself.
That was the final straw for Blake. She half-lunged, half-fell forward directly into Yang's lap and kissed her hard on the mouth. The chair skittered backwards and collided with the wall behind the desk. Yang's eyebrows shot up to get lost somewhere in her hair, but before she could do anything Blake pulled back and stared her directly in the eyes.
"Blake...my rolly chair," Yang whispered. Her cheeks were distinctly pink in color.
"I wouldn't worry about the chair if I were you," Blake said, her voice lower pitched than usual. She leaned further into Yang and pressed an open-mouthed kiss on her lips. Yang's legs suddenly felt like they were made of jello, and she was grateful that she was sitting down.
"Blakeeey."
Blake shushed her gently, lowering her head to kiss at her neck. Yang eyes drifted shut. She sighed happily and rubbed her hands in slow, soothing movements along Blake's back. Blake waited a moment, then cautiously slipped a hand under Yang's shirt. As expected, her abs were just as nice as her arms. Blake smiled against Yang's neck. Her hand roamed higher up the shirt, lightly exploring the full area of Yang's core.
"YANG."
The voice came from the doorway.
Blake pulled back slowly, looking almost annoyed at the interruption.
"R-Ruby, what the hell?!" Yang gasped, straightening her shirt nervously while Blake extracted herself from her lap.
"Wha- I should be asking you that!" Ruby pointed an accusatory finger. "You two were about to have sex in your office!" She made a face. "Gross."
"We absolutely WERE NOT!" Yang yelped.
"Yang, you're screaming," Blake informed her calmly.
"Listen, we all know you two are 'secret dating' or something, but I don't wanna see-"
"WHAT?"
"Still screaming, Yang." Blake patted her shoulder. Then she blinked and looked at Ruby. "Wait, you knew?"
Ruby giggled at the looks on their faces. "Um, you guys are reaaaally obvious."
Yang was still staring at her, mouth slightly open.
"C'mon Yang, we can all see it when you grab her knee under the table. You do realize that table is mostly made of GLASS, right?"
"There were papers on it! I thought...hold up, what d'you mean 'we'?" Yang's expression had morphed into one of pained dread.
Ruby started listing people off on her fingers. "Me, Jaune, Pyrrha, I think Ren figured it out when he delivered those cupcakes, Nora probably because Ren would tell her, aaaaand Dad."
"Oh god, your dad knows?" Blake looked pale.
"He asked me about it because, y'know, you guys are flirting LITERALLY all the time. And I can't lie to him, you know that!" Ruby explained, looking a little nervous herself at the face Yang was making.
"...What about Qrow?" Yang asked finally.
Ruby thought for a second. "Nah, I don't think so. He wasn't there during the big Bella-knee-grab incident." Blake groaned and put her face in her hands. "And we've all been making an effort to keep him away from your office, since I figured you wouldn't want him to know?"
"Huh," Yang said. Then she smiled warmly at her sister. "Have I ever mentioned that you're the best?"
Ruby grinned widely and shook her head. "Nope, not once!"
Yang stood up and stretched.
"Two things though," she said, still smiling. "First, you and the rest of them better not tell anyone else about this. It can't go public, got it?" Ruby nodded immediately and gave her a quick salute. "And second, please - and I'm begging you here - learn to KNOCK."
Ruby produced a sound that can only be described as a squeak of indignation. "Wha- I didn't expect you to be doing...THAT!"
Blake sighed, and decided to step in before things got derailed any further. "Anyway, Ruby, is there a reason you came in here?"
"Oh, right! Weiss will be here for the meeting in about 10 minutes." Her voice took on the dreamy quality it always did when she talked about the Schnee Company CEO. "Just wanted to remind you. And like, to NOT see you two about to take off all your clothes and-"
"WATCH IT," Yang warned. Ruby wisely shut her mouth and beat a hasty retreat from the room.
Yang laughed lightly and shook her head. She turned around to gather up the materials on her desk, nearly running into Blake, who had somehow teleported behind her.
"Whoa, what's up Blakey?"
"We got interrupted, didn't we?" Blake said, a sly smile landing on her face. "I think we were somewhere around here..." She grabbed Yang's shoulders and leaned up to kiss her deeply.
"Now?" Yang asked a moment later when they pulled apart. "The meeting's in..." She glanced at her watch. "8 minutes."
Blake half-raised an eyebrow.
"Well shit, that's a good point," Yang said. She gently tugged Blake closer to her for another kiss.
Exactly 7 minutes later, the two of them entered the conference room. Ruby exhaled audibly when she saw Yang's messy hair.
"Sis, you've got lipstick all over your face," she stated.
"Blake! Why didn't you tell me?" Yang wiped at her mouth vigorously.
"I...My mind was elsewhere," Blake said stiffly, avoiding eye contact with both sisters and especially with Weiss Schnee, who was quietly sitting at the table with a veiled expression.
"If you're quite done over there, I believe you called me here with a new proposal?" Weiss directed her question at Yang.
"Right, yes!" Yang had grabbed a tissue and was still trying and failing to clean her face.
Weiss sighed. "It's alright, take your time," she said, surprisingly un-sarcastically. Then she caught Blake's eye and smirked. "Nice job taking my advice."
Blake was unsure whether to thank her or glare at her, eventually settling on a completely blank expression.
Yang finally cleared her throat to begin, and three pairs of eyes swung over to look at her.
"Sorry about that." She straightened her tie and cleared her throat again.
"So. As we all know, the main issues we've been running into with the factory are space, location, and cost. Well, I think I have a solution that doesn't compromise on location and actually increases the space available."
Weiss leaned forward slightly. Her eyes were sharp. Yang had already caught her attention, and that made Blake smile.
"Not only that, but this plan will improve tourism potential for the factory by a lot. Plus, it has environmental appeal, and-"
"Stop hyping it up and tell us what it is," Weiss demanded, although she was looking more curious than irritated.
"Of course," Yang replied. "We build the factory..." She paused for dramatic emphasis, her smile gleaming. "Underground!"
Blake's proud smile got a little bit wider. There was silence as Weiss processed what she had just heard.
"...Explain."
Yang laughed good-naturedly. "Thanks for giving it a chance," she said with a wink. Weiss rolled her eyes, but they all saw the small smile that flashed over her lips.
"Alright, so this sorta thing has been done before. Here's the info I got on modern underground factories. Mostly overseas, but it's all relevant." She dumped a folder in front of Weiss. "Here's cost-benefit for the Schnee factory, taking into account tourism and public support, which will help boost your stocks." She deposited another folder. "You can also save on energy costs by having solar panels on the above-ground entrance. That'll be useful for the 'eco-factory' angle, which tests out really well with the public."
Weiss pawed through the materials cautiously. "Yang, this is expensive." That was all that she said.
"I know." Yang responded steadily. She stayed quiet for another minute while Weiss read a few things over.
Blake decided to step in. "The upfront cost gets offset by later income, and the savings from..." she trailed off when Weiss silently raised a hand to stop her. Blake crossed her arms and shut her mouth. Whatever nice, drunk Weiss she had met a couple weeks ago was obviously not present today. And "Business Weiss" was abrasive as always.
"It could work," Weiss said emotionlessly. Yang and Ruby's eyes lit up at the same time. "But," Weiss continued immediately. "It's going to be impossible to get the board to agree."
"Nah, not impossible." Yang didn't seem put off in the slightest. "I would say nearly impossible."
Weiss waved a hand. "Whatever you want to call it. This is too risky."
"Weiss.." Ruby looked at her like she had something to say but couldn't find the words. Weiss winced at the downtrodden expression on her face.
"Don't give me that look! If father fires me, it'll be over for all of us." Weiss crossed her arms with an air of finality.
"If you were avoiding things because they were risky, you wouldn't be here right now, talking to all of us," Yang said, maintaining her calm tone.
Weiss didn't say anything in response.
"You have a chance to really improve the Schnee image here. And don't forget all of us'll be supporting you through the whole thing." Yang gave her a sunny smile.
"You will?" Weiss was genuinely surprised.
"Of course we will!" Ruby chimed in. Weiss looked between the three of them, her eyes wide.
Blake made eye contact with her for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, you won't be alone in this," Blake said. "You helped me, after all." Her eyes flickered over to Yang for a second, then back to Weiss.
Weiss shook her head, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face. "You people are absolutely ridiculous. And you! Don't you have a campaign to finish?" she asked Yang.
"Eh, there's under a month left. I'll make time for now, and once I'm mayor we can put even more resources on it," Yang replied with another grin.
"You're way too confident."
"So does that mean you're down?" Yang asked, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.
"Have some professionalism," Weiss said sharply. Then she nodded slowly. "I'll look over the work you've done and get back to you shortly. I am...considering it."
They were all smiling now, and Ruby looked like she wanted to kiss Weiss right there. At the moment, even Blake wanted to kiss her.
"If that's all, I have a lunch appointment to get to," Weiss continued, pushing out her chair and rising to her feet. Yang nodded vigorously.
"Of course. Thank you." She stood up to shake Weiss' hand. "Seriously, Weiss. Thank you."
Weiss blushed a little from the attention. "Alright, that's enough. I don't want to be late for my appointment."
"Wait, what appointment?" Ruby asked, standing up beside her. She had her lost-puppy face on. "I thought we were having lunch..."
Weiss blushed harder and scowled. "...You're the appointment, dolt." She snatched Ruby's hand and pulled her out of the room, pointedly ignoring Yang's loud "AWWW CUUUUTE!"
"Ahh, must be nice," Yang sighed once they had gone.
"Hm?" Blake raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her.
"You know, not having to hide."
"How so?"
"Oh, I guess it was a while before you moved to Vale. But she's been out as a lesbian for a while now," Yang explained. "Her dad might be a dick in every other way, but at least he's not homophobic." She shrugged.
"Huh...I had no idea." Blake stood up and gathered a few things from the conference table. "You'd think after living here for nearly a year it would have come up, especially since I'm a journalist."
Yang shrugged again. "I guess people just don't talk about it."
"That's stupid."
Yang laughed at Blake's dry tone, although it faded quickly. "Yeah, it is," she said, the last of her smile disappearing. "But now that Weiss went through all that, at least she doesn't have to, y'know, hide her relationship 24/7."
"If it helps, it's not like we hide it very well."
Yang laughed properly at that. "Fair point," she said. "We should probably be more careful."
"We should," Blake agreed. She was moving towards Yang now.
"On the other hand, though," Yang said, a smile inching onto her face. "Some might say it's a good thing that all our friends know about it."
"Oh yeah?" Blake was right next to her now. "Who are the 'some' that say that?"
"Me mostly," Yang replied. Blake rolled her eyes.
"What, I'm serious! They're all trustworthy people, and now we can be all gross and gay whenever we hang out with them." Yang grinned.
"You know, Weiss might be onto something when she calls you a...what was it? A knave?" Blake was grinning right back.
"Mmhm, and a barbarian. I like that one."
"Of course you do." Blake finally reached up to grab Yang's shirt and pull her in for a soft kiss. Yang smiled against her lips and kissed her back just as softly. And for a single, thrilling moment, Blake felt like she might be falling in love. But she chased that thought away before it went too far.
AN: Sup everyone! Since the RWBY V5 finale was a little...light on the bees (imo) I made this chapter every gayer than necessary lol. Also fun fact the mac n cheese bit was inspired by true events - remember, flower shops will let you down but the 7/11 pasta section is always there for u!
Another fun fact: underground eco-factories are actually a thing! Realistically, I think it might be too expensive a solution in the context of the factory in this story, buuut it's a fanfiction so fuck it :P
Thanks for reading as always, and drop a review if you're feeling it!