You're god damn right kiddos, I'm back! This chapter and the last one were originally meant to be one whole chapter, but I split it up because I thought it'd flow better. Don't expect too much more of these quick updates though, sorry. Anyway, enjoy!
"You did what now?" Ruby tilted her head to one side. Weiss maintained her proud stance.
"I sent some invitations," she said again, simply.
"Invitations," Ruby repeated. "For what?"
"A gathering at our house."
"A what at our what now?"
Weiss tutted, placing her hands akimbo. "A gathering at our house," she repeated a bit more forcefully.
Ruby could only freeze in place, the most quizzical of expressions on her face. "Why? To who? Our house? Why?"
Weiss sighed. "To get Blake and Yang into the same place at the same time, of course," she listed off of her first finger. She raised her second finger. "To whom -some mutual friends of ours, not too many people," she gently raised Ruby's lower jaw back in place, closing her mouth. "At our loft. Tonight," she finished with an air of triumph. "Which is why I need your help to buy some supplies for the gathering."
Ruby laughed a bit. "You've got to stop calling it a gathering."
Weiss blushed a little bit. "Regardless," she said with an air of defensiveness. Ruby laughed a bit more, leaning in to plant a chaste kiss on her lips.
"You're sure about this?" Ruby asked.
Weiss nodded, as sure as she ever was. "I have a plan," she said simply. She whipped her scroll out, pulling up the notepad. A list of things had been written on it, in true Schnee fashion, she couldn't even have fun without making a list out of it. Weiss looked over to Ruby, and with a small smile, the plan was set into motion.
"Y'know Blondie, the more employees you hurt, the less people there'll be to serve you," Junior offered sarcastically, polishing up a glass behind the counter. It was almost opening time, and of course, who else but Yang Xiao Long was seated at his bar, and two of his bouncers were face down on the floor with pain that almost they would almost certainly feel in the morning. Junior motioned for his other workers to clean the two up, before turning to look at the stony-faced, blonde vixen seated with a drink in her hand. A drink that she was finishing far too quickly. "Hm," he intoned. Yang flickered her eyes up to look at Junior, hoping her expression conveyed just how much she didn't want to deal with any bullshit.
Junior shrugged slightly, choosing instead to fill her glass back up. Yang gave an almost imperceptible nod of approval. Junior watched her nurse her drink this time, taking solace in the fact that at least she was here before opening. When the club was packed (and it was packed very often, thank you very much), he didn't have many doubts that any sleazy guy would try their luck with her, and he had even less doubts that that would end in anything short of a very thorough ass kicking.
"But I'm kind of impressed this time," Junior set the glass down, placing both hands on the bar top. "Didn't realize you were that tough," he said, smiling a little bit. Yang looked at him, an indecipherable expression on her face. "What do you need this time?" he asked. Yang blinked.
"Something stronger," she said, something like lethargy lacing her voice. Junior chuckled a bit.
"I don't mean to be a cliche," he started, even as he was shuffling under the bar. "But I don't think you'll find the answers you're looking for at the bottom of your glass," he chuckled again lightly, pulling out a clear bottle and looking it over. "And don't take this as us being friends or anything," Junior jabbed a finger in her direction. "I'm honestly afraid of you, and I care about my club too much- everything is made of glass, okay? It's easy to break. But whatever your problem is, I don't think drinking is your solution. Especially not getting piss-drunk. Especially not here."
Yang rolled her eyes, and made to snatch the bottle out of Junior's hands. He pulled it away, and gave her a hard look. She returned it twofold. "Junior," she said, her voice betraying no emotion. "Give me the bottle," she hissed.
Junior opened his mouth to say something when her scroll buzzed. Yang gave him a cold stare before pulling the device out of her pocket. Her eyes widened, before she pocketed it and bolted out up the steps, taking two at a time, and out of the club, brushing past anybody in her way. Junior stood in silence for a while, before shrugging. He put the bottle back under the counter, figuring it was best to not look any sort of blonde-be-gone gift horse in the mouth. It was almost opening time anyway. He had more important things to worry about. Ties to crime syndicate or not, Junior ran a damn good club.
Blake briefly wished it was raining. She loved the sound of rain. It provided the perfect white-noise ambiance for reading. Of course, in this case, she wished for rain for some sort of noise to drown out her thoughts. They were loud and obnoxious and intrusive and she absolutely could not focus on the book. Blake sighed and put the book down, crossing her arms petulantly and looking out the window of the library.
The library. Her sanctuary. Her own little slice of heaven. And she couldn't even enjoy it.
Fuck.
The sun was just beginning to set, and Blake was very much not looking forward to going home, especially when there was a possibility of bumping into Yang. She tried again to repress all thoughts of Yang, all thoughts relating to Yang, all words that might rhyme with Yang, and everything that might possibly be associated with the name Yang.
Only she found everything made her mind jump to the thought of Yang, with her hair wild like the bushes outside, with her personality as bright as the sun, with her eyes purple like the dusting of the sky. Yang, Yang, Yang. Blake pouted, not unlike a child being forced to do something they didn't want to, like brush their teeth or eat their vegetables or talk to their best friend about the possibility (okay, probability. Or inevitability. Okay, absolute certainty) that they were in love with them.
The sky was growing darker. The purple was drifting gently into inky blackness, and the light of the sun was dimming. Blake swallowed hard.
Of course, then her thoughts were interrupted from their worrying about Yang to a completely different type of worry when Ruby messaged her.
Need you at the loft ASAP.
Blake bolted upright, grabbing her coat and rushing out of the library.
Oh fuck, Yang thought.
Oh fuck, Blake screamed internally.
Oh fuck, the Universe gasped.
"Oh-"
"Oh fu-"
The door to the loft opened, and none other than Ruby Rose's head popped out. "Oh!" she smiled. "Hey guys, come on," she motioned for the both of them to enter with a cock of her head. Yang gladly and very very forcefully yanked the door open and bolted in, leaving Ruby face down on the floor and leaving Blake with a mixed sense of relief and an even more panic.
Quickly, before she could even think about bolting, Ruby grabbed her (with more strength than she expected) and yanked her into the loft, shutting the door behind her. Blake looked at Ruby with wide, fearful eyes, to which Ruby responded with narrowed, determined eyes.
"Ruby," she hissed. "What is this?"
Ruby broke out into a wide grin. "A gathering!" she giggled.
A gathering?
It was only then Blake noticed the people walking scattered around the loft, drinks in hand. She looked back at Ruby, wide eyed. "What?" she asked, ever the eloquent one.
Cheers and whoops were heard from behind her as somebody (Weiss) found (brought out) a bottle of vodka, just in time (it was planned, very very meticulously). "Who wants to play truth or dare?!" Weiss slurred out a little bit, in a most un-Weiss manner. It had begun. Drunk Weiss was back.
"What the hell is this?" Yang hissed, shaking the Schnee heiress, who giggled (giggled!) in response. "Weiss, are you-" she waved a hand in front of Weiss. "Are you drunk right now?"
"Nope," she said, popping her 'p', and smiling.
Yang sighed. "As much as that entertains me," she shook her head. "Dammit, this is not cool!"
Drunk Weiss slipped out of Yang's grasped, bent down underneath the kitchen counter, and produced from it a clear bottle of vodka. She held it up in triumph as the rest of the loft whooped and cheered. "Who wants to play truth or dare?!"
Jaune hadn't expected this.
To be fair, Jaune hadn't expected half his life going this way.
That is, to say, he didn't expect to be 21, sitting in a circle with 7 other people, drunk off their asses, playing truth or dare like they were 16 year olds. And he didn't expect one of those people to be his boss, or the other to be Lie Ren. Jaune took another sip of his beer anyway, because his life had already officially gone off the rails anyway, so fuck it. Jaune looked across at Pyrrha, who was already flushed and giggly, and he briefly wondered how everybody had gotten so shit-faced already.
The bottle spun, and spun and spun, and it finally landed on none other than himself. Everybody cheered and looked at him. Jaune laughed nervously. "Truth," he said.
Nora, curled her lips into a tight smile, hooking a finger into her chin as she 'hm'd for dramatic effect. Jaune smiled nervously.
"What," she began. "Is the most embarrassing moment of your life?" she asked, leaning in on her hands and beaming, getting a little too close, like she always did, before pulling back and giggling.
"Oh," Jaune wheezed a nervous little laugh, because everything he did was nervously, because he was nearly not drunk enough. He looked at his bottle of beer, and quickly took another sip, intending to fix this little problem of his. "Um, the first time I ever met Pyrrha," he darted his eyes towards the red-haired girl, whose hands flew over her mouth, in an attempt to suppress and oncoming fit of giggles. Jaune laughed anyway, a little less nervous and a little more drunk at the sight of her smile.
"I, uh only just realized right then she was on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, then I tripped and fell and made a complete ass out of myself," he said, to the mild (very mild) amusement of the others. "And now she's dating me so, I guess it wasn't all bad, huh?"
The group 'aww'd, and Jaune reached out to spin the bottle.
Blake was not nearly drunk enough for the bottle to land on her. She took another quick shot, screwing her face up at the unpleasant taste. "Dare," she choked out, pouring herself another shot.
"Okay, um," Jaune looked around at the group, brows knitted in thought. "Point out," he clasped his hands in front of his mouth like a wise old man about to impart something life-changing. In a way, he was, kind of. "The most beautiful person in this room."
Blake froze. The room stilled. The group looked at her, waiting. Her eyes didn't dare flicker to where she knew Yang sat, cross legged and beer in hand. She could feel her, radiating like she was the embodiment of warmth in the middle of winter. She could feel Yang's presence like a magnet, and everything in her body willed her to turn and stare at Yang and whatever would happen be damned, at least she got to look at her again. But her mind, stronger than all of her combined, stopped her. Blake swallowed thick, before looking down at her shot. She shook her head, set it down, and finally, finally decided to let go. All the pressure inside her let up as she turned to face Yang.
She couldn't describe how it felt, to have Yang staring back at her, those lilac eyes of hers conveying more meaning than she ever meant it to. She stared back, and for the briefest of seconds, she felt light, she felt happy, she felt like everything was going to be okay, because how could it not be with Yang?
Three knocks on the door, and she felt her heart almost stop. "Come in!" Ruby sing-songed, and the door opened to the tall blonde man she was supposed to be in love with, and his blue-haired companion. She felt Yang's smile dissipate, and felt a little colder, like all the hot water in the shower had run out. Like the sun had suddenly disappeared.
"Hey, guys!" Sun called out as the pair entered, and the group accommodated the circled to include the two. Sun took a seat next to Blake, kissing her on the cheek, and Neptune decided to snuggle up to Weiss, much to Ruby's chagrin.
"What're we doing?" Neptune asked.
"Spin the bottle," Blake quickly answered, reaching out to give the bottle a quick spin. The moment had gone, and she was quick to make sure everybody would move on. She didn't dare look at Yang. Not again. Not anymore. The bottle landed on Pyrrha. Blake's already preoccupied mind came up with nothing, and she stammered for a while, before Ruby swooped in to save her.
"Dance!"
Yang drank more, because she needed it. For a moment, she wondered if she should save some for the morning, because she had already determined she wasn't going to ever sober up as long as Blake was around. Not that she ever felt sober when she was around Blake.
Yang drank more, finishing the rest of her beer.
The bottle spun, and spun, and spun. And it landed on her, just as she cracked open another one. "Dare," she said before taking a long swig.
Pyrrha looked at her dead in her eyes and said, "Kiss Blake."
She froze. Blake froze. Ruby and Weiss froze.
Fuck.
The group 'ooh'd like a group of drunk teenagers, which to be fair, they weren't very far off. Yang's eyes crawled over to where Blake sat, next to Sun. She clenched her teeth and curled her free hand into a fist.
"Um," she started, clearing her throat. "Um, no." she shook her head.
"Aww, come on!" Nora yelled, spilling some of her drink onto the hardwood. "Do it!"
Soon, the whole group had begun chanting 'Do it', and Yang swore she would kick each and every one of their asses in the morning, when her limbs didn't feel so heavy and her heart didn't threaten to burst.
"No, nononono," Yang scrambled, but Nora's vice grip around her didn't falter. Pyrrha grabbed Blake, and in they both went into the closet. The door shut behind them with a quick slam, and a small 'click' sealed their fate inside the tiny room. Yang desperately looked anywhere but Blake, slamming on the door, and yelling.
"They're not going to let us out," Blake said, after a few minutes of silence. Yang stopped hitting the door, giving a long sigh.
"Blake," she said, soft and careful. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," she replied, just as soft. Yang finally turned to look at her, and the sparse lighting helped a bit, because she thought she might explode if she saw her properly. Blake looked tired.
"What did we do?" she asked. Yang slid down onto the floor, and Blake mirrored her. In the small closet, they couldn't help but have their knees touch. Both of them gave up on fighting it.
"I don't know."
"What are we going to do now?"
Blake paused. "They want us to kiss."
Yang paused. "So what are we going to do?"
Both of them sat in silence. Yang wanted nothing more than to grab Blake and kiss her. To love her until she couldn't anymore. Yang wanted a happily ever after with Blake, but things were just so confused. She had Sun, and she knew he loved her, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't be this selfish to him, to break him this way. Yang wanted Blake more than anything else in the world, only she knew she couldn't have her.
"Do you love him?" she asked. Blake looked up at her.
"Sun?"
"Blake," Yang said, weariness colouring her voice. Blake smiled, tight-lipped, but didn't answer.
"He loves you."
"I know."
Silence again.
"I love you," Blake said, her voice starting to waver a bit.
"I love you, too," Yang whispered.
Blake inched in closer. "Kiss me," she breathed. Yang felt it more than she heard it.
"Okay."
The moment Blake's lips met hers, Yang felt lighter. Happier. She felt her heart skip a million beats and she experienced fireworks. It was everything she ever wanted and needed and Blake was right there and her hands were in at the base of her neck and another at her hip and Yang fisted a hand in Blake's hair, never wanting this moment to end, because at the back of her mind was still worry. She knew this was not happily ever after. Just a happy moment in the middle of a really bad time. Yang cupped Blake's face, and she wiped away the tears that fell, running down her cheek. The moment they pulled away, Yang felt her heart break. She wiped away Blake's tears, leaning her head against the other girl's. Yang breathed in her scent, cool and comforting like the night air, and committed it to memory forever and ever.
After an eternity, after only a few seconds, after the whole of Yang's life was lived out in the space between moments, safe in Blake's arms, Blake spoke. "I think we're going to have to just be secretly in love with each other and leave it at that, Yang."
"Okay," Yang said, even though every fibre of her being cried out in something like what she thought was anguish. "Okay, Blake."