Author's note: I'm not super happy with the first two parts of this chapter, but I think they turned out better than just skipping dinner all together. Heads up, this chapter IS A BIT DARKER. We've got mentions of homophobia and panic attacks, so you've been warned. There will be more chapters with some darker themes, but I will try to put warnings up here for you (let me know if I miss something). Thanks for the reviews, faves, and follows, and I hope you enjoy!
"So wait…we're all theater majors? Because that's awesome," Yang decided, taking a bite of a French fry. She'd heard horror stories about dining hall food, but this wasn't half bad.
"I'm focusing on directing and theatre history, not performing," Weiss corrected. "Still, it's nice to know other theater majors," she conceded.
"Hey, I'm doing directing too! And set design. Creating entire sets from nothing is just so cool!" Ruby said, and her excitement made Yang smile.
"She's also a pretty good actress when she wants to be," she said, proud of her little sister. "Blake and I are both doing performance, but she's also doing writing, right?" She said, looking over to her roommate to make sure she remembered correctly.
"Yes," Blake, confirmed, causing Yang to frown when she noticed how tense she was. "I'm going to look at the desserts," she announced as she stood. Yang almost went to follow her until Weiss announced that she too wanted dessert. I'll have to ask her later Yang mused with a frown. To her surprise, Ruby did not follow them.
"Are you feeling alright?" Yang asked, concerned. It wasn't like her sister to skip out on dessert. Back home her sweet tooth was legendary.
"I'm fine," Ruby insisted, giving Yang a reassuring smile. "I just wanted to talk. How are you doing?" she asked, almost timidly. Yang had to stop herself from getting irritated. She knew that Ruby meant well and that she wasn't worried for no reason.
"I'm doing good, honest," she said with a genuine smile. Her eyes drifted to her roommate, who seemed to be talking with Weiss. I hope they're talking things out she thought. "Blake's nice. I don't think she likes your roommate though," she observed.
"Have you told her about…" Ruby trailed off, but Yang knew exactly what she was asking. Did you tell her you're gay? She'd told Ruby she wanted to be out when they got to college, to not hide anymore, but the reality was she was kind of (okay, really) terrified.
"Not yet," she admitted, running a nervous hand through her hair. "But I mean I just met her. I want to get to know her so I'll have an idea how she'll react. You know, so I know how to go about it," she stammered, trying to convince herself that it wasn't just because she was afraid.
"I'm sure she'll be fine with it," Ruby said, ever the optimist, but they both knew that wasn't guaranteed.
"You don't like me."
It wasn't a question, and Blake didn't need to turn around to identify the speaker. "Not really, no," she said, crossing her arms.
"You don't even know me!" Weiss protested, prompting Blake to raise an eyebrow. She sighed. "Look, I understand why you might not be fond of me. The way my family's company treats Faunus is deplorable-"
"That's putting it mildly," Blake deadpanned, earning a glare from Weiss.
"You're right, it is," she admitted. "But I am not my father," she said fiercely, with a determination Blake had to grudgingly respect. "We should at least try to be civil. If not for ourselves, then for our roommates."
"Very well," Blake agreed, deciding to at least give the girl a chance. You aren't the only person in the world who wants a fresh start she reminded herself. She offered a hand, which Weiss accepted graciously. They returned to an unusually quiet table and the rest of dinner passed without incident. By the time they returned to their dorm room, Blake was more than ready to just relax for the rest of the evening.
"Are you okay?" Yang asked as Blake was pulling out a book. Her confusion must've shown on her face, because she continued. "You and Weiss seemed to...not really get along. Not that I blame you because I totally get it, I just want to make sure you're doing alright," she explained as she reclined on her bed. Blake smiled.
"I'm fine, but thank you. Sorry if we made things awkward," she apologized, to which Yang gave a nonchalant shrug, before she seemed to remember something.
"Hey, are you planning on showering tonight or in the morning? Because I take reeeeeeally long showers," The blonde asked, sitting up.
"Tonight."
"Cool, I'm a morning person anyway," she said cheerfully, before turning her attention to her phone and giving Blake a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet. Even after she showered and prepared for bed she could tell that Yang knew she wanted some alone time, at least as much alone time as you could get with a roommate. Blake smiled.
She could definitely live with having Yang as a roommate.
Surprisingly, dinner hadn't been a complete disaster. Initial awkwardness aside, Weiss seemed like a decent person all things considered. Yang noticed some tension between her and Blake (she assumed due to the SDC's...controversial labor practices) and resolved to keep an eye on it. As she stepped out of the shower feeling nice and refreshed, she quickly slipped into shorts and a tank top. Blake seemed nice, but parading around in a towel seemed a bit much at this stage of their relationship.
When she stepped out of their shared bathroom, she found Blake was already up and taking the time to read. "Good morning!" she sang cheerfully.
"You weren't kidding when you said you were a morning person," she observed, clearly not as awake as her roommate.
"Ruby's one so it was either adapt or suffer," Yang joked. Suddenly she heard a beeping sound that prompted Blake get up from her bed. She moved to the device (a water heater Yang realized) and poured the water into a cup, before setting a tea bag inside of it. "I hope I didn't wake you up," she added, pouring herself some orange juice from their mini-fridge.
"You're fine," she said, before her mouth quirked into a playful smirk. "You're not a bad singer," she said, and Yang immediately flushed. She was so used to being alone or just having family members around that she hadn't even thought about that. Blake seemed to be amused by her lack of composure. "That was Hayley Kiyoko right? I'm more of a Tegan and Sara girl myself," she said, a mischievous glint in her eye.
Yang froze, remembering exactly what it was she was singing and understanding exactly what Blake was implying.
"What kind of song is this?"
"I just looked up the lyrics; it's about a lesbian!"
"Oh my god she's a fucking dyke."
She started to feel like she was suffocating and the next thing she knew she was sitting on the floor and Blake was in front of her, a hand on each shoulder telling her to breathe. "Shit. Shit." Not again not again please not agai-
"Yang, look at me," Blake said, calm but firm. Yang somehow found herself doing just that, and was surprised to see concern in her amber eyes. "You're safe here, I promise, but right now I need you to breathe. Can you do that for me?" She asked, earning a shaky nod from Yang. "Do you want me to call your sister?"
"No," Yang stammered immediately, her voice shaky. She tried to focus her attention on Blake, trying to calm herself down.
"Just take a deep breath in...and out," Blake said soothingly. It took a few minutes, but eventually her breathing slowed.
"You're uh, pretty good at this," Yang choked out, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Way to go Yang, you didn't even make it 24 hours before freaking out, she thought bitterly. "Sorry about that," she apologized.
"Don't apologize," Blake insisted gently. "I'm the one that should be sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories," she said, moving from kneeling in front of Yang to sitting beside her. "I know we just met yesterday, but if you want to talk I'm here."
"I'll be fine, don't worry about it," Yang lied, convincing neither of them even a little bit. Blake frowned.
"Yang, you just had a panic attack. I understand why you don't want to talk about it but you need to. If you don't feel comfortable talking to me I can call Ruby-"
"Please don't," she pleaded, earning a look of confusion. "I don't want her worrying about me," she said. She's been doing that enough lately she thought.
"Then talk to me. Please. I want to help you," she said earnestly. Yang sighed. She hated feeling like a burden but felt that Blake deserved an explanation.
"It's not a pleasant story," she warned, folding in on herself.
"It never is," Blake agreed grimly. Yang took that as her cue to begin.
"As you may have guessed, yeah, I'm a lesbian," she admitted. It was only the second time she'd actually admitted it to someone, the first being to Ruby. She had to admit it felt like a relief, especially when Blake didn't recoil with disgust. "Like I told you before, Patch is...a very small town. You know, the close-minded 'everybody knows everybody' kind of town," she said, trusting Blake to pick up the implication.
"You were outed," Blake stated simply. Yang detected a hint of understanding (and was that sympathy?) in her voice.
"I kinda outed myself actually," Yang admitted. "Buuuuut I'm pretty sure a lot of them had guessed already. Guys practically threw themselves at me and I never went out with any of them, I did softball and volleyball, and I'm not exactly a girly-girl. I mean I was basically a walking stereotype," she tried to joke, but it fell flat.
"What happened?" Blake asked gently. Yang hesitated, but reminded herself that she needed to talk about it. She owed it to her after freaking out like that. So, she forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing.
"It was senior year, on our way to the last volleyball game of the season. We had a tradition where a different team member would be in charge of the music we listened to on the way up to each game. As the team captain, I got the last game. I'd been busy with college applications and classes and I didn't have the time to come up with a playlist, so when the time came I just plugged in my iPod and put it on shuffle," she said, and she could see the look of realization hit Blake's eyes.
"Naturally, my iPod decided to play the gayest song I had," she said confirming Blake's suspicions. Yang swallowed, willing herself not to cry "Everyone completely freaked out. By the end of the night we'd lost the game and I'd lost my friends and my reputation. Obviously people gave me a hard time at school, but I was tough. I could handle it," she continued, wiping away a stray tear as she braced herself for what came next.
"Until I couldn't."
Yang's voice came out small, too small, and Blake couldn't help the sense of dread growing inside of her. She never meant for her innocent comment to lead to this, she was only excited about the possibility that both she and Yang might be attracted to girls. Blake gently rubbed circles on her back, hoping to give her at least some comfort as she worked up the strength to continue.
"It happened a few weeks after the game, just a day or two before winter break. My best friend's boyfriend came up to me and accused me of...he accused me of-" her words were left unheard as a sob escaped her body. It took her a moment to regain her composure and Blake's heart broke for her. "Apparently my best friend was telling people that I'd tried to...seduce her, to turn her gay. My best friend," she said, devastated and no longer fighting the tears.
Blake was no expert at comforting people, but even she knew that physical contact was sometimes the best solution. So, Blake "not a people person" Belladonna did what she thought would help: wrapped an arm around this girl and squeezed her tightly. When Yang rested her head on her shoulder, Blake decided it had been a good decision. "She sounds like a shitty friend," she said darkly.
"Apparently they all were," Yang agreed bitterly. "I was hurt and betrayed and I just needed to get out you know? So, I decided to drive to Vale. Driving always used to help me clear my head but this time…" she trailed off, her voice growing distant. "I actually don't really remember what happened. I remember it raining, then screeching tires and then just...pain," she said, clutching at her arm instinctively. "Next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital room with my family and without my arm."
"I'm so sorry," Blake said, giving her a tight squeeze. She thought at first that the blonde would argue with her, but she seemed too drained to protest. The pair sat there for a few minutes before Yang spoke.
"I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you," she said, earning a frown from Blake.
"Don't be. I told you I'd be here if you wanted to talk, and something tells me you needed that," she said, getting the feeling that her Yang wasn't used to talking about her problems.
"Still, you didn't ask to get the fucked up roommate," she said, heavy notes of self deprecation present in her voice.
"You're not fucked up, Yang. You went through a lot in very a short amount of time. It's just going to take time to heal from that," Blake said gently, standing and helping Yang up.
"Thanks," she said. "For listening," she quickly added. She bit her lip, and Blake waited patiently for her to speak her mind. "And the whole gay thing doesn't bother you?" she asked, and Blake detected a hint of nervousness.
"Not at all," Blake said honestly, giving Yang a reassuring smile. "In fact, I was trying to tell you earlier that I'm bisexual," she said. She slowly saw the realization bloom on Yang's face.
"Oh god that's what you were trying to do with the music thing and I just completely freaked out I'm-"
"Yang, it's okay," she interrupted gently, stopping the embarrassed girl from apologizing. Before she could say anything else, she heard the oddest sound.
"In touch with ground, I'm on the hunt I'm after you~"
"Is that Duran Duran?" Blake asked, confused as she watched Yang reach for her phone.
"Hungry Like the Wolf to be exact. It's Ruby's text and ring tone. When we were kids I used to read Ruby fairy tales every night and Little Red Riding Hood was her favorite. She even used wear a red hood around the house!" Yang explained fondly, starting to sound a bit more like the girl Blake met yesterday. "I change it every now and then, but it's usually wolf related."
"Do you do this for all of your friends?" Blake asked, curious.
"Yeah, actually. I'm still working on what I want yours to be," she replied, taking a look at the message Ruby sent her. Blake felt honored that she was already being considered for her goofy tradition. "Crap," Yang muttered, eyes darting from her phone to her alarm clock. Blake followed her and realized what the problem was.
"The meet and greet," she breathed, looking down at herself. She was still dressed in her pajamas and Yang's hair was still wet from her shower, and according to the clock they were already ten minutes late. Yang quickly typed something into her phone.
"I've asked them to save us a spot and to fill us in, but we should probably hurry if we want to make it," Yang said as she grabbed her brush. Blake silently agreed as she got dressed faster than she'd ever done before. "Sorry for making us late," she added, her earlier cheer disappearing.
"Don't worry about it. Your well-being is more important than being on time," Blake replied easily, earning a small smile from Yang.
"Thank you."
Author's note: So this is the chapter that made me realize this story isn't just going to be the cutesy fluffy theatre AU I thought it would be, sorry about that. I'll try to keep a bit more upbeat for the next chapter at least.