What is Love?
Moment Nine: Phone Call
"And that's just the problem."
SLAP!
Her head turned painfully to the side, her cheek flared with a stinging sensation from Weiss's icy hands.
"How dare you!"
Blake didn't even hear her leave, all she heard was the pounding of her heartbeat.
Hollow.
Broken.
It only seemed to hurt more when Weiss walked away from her.
She slid to the floor and ran her hands down her face, "What the hell I she thinking?"
I'm a Firestarter! Make your heart run faster! I'll melt hearts like water~
Groaning at the inevitable timing of it all, Blake reached into her back pocket to pull out her scroll.
Incoming Call: Yang Xiao Long.
If she denied the call, no doubt that Yang was going to call over and over again till she did.
With a deep heavy sigh, Blake cleared her throat, and adjusted herself so that her Scroll was propped against the wall, so the camera was facing her. Her finger pressed the green button, and waited for the call to connect.
Sure enough, the fiery blonde popped up in the screen with her signature grin, "Hey Blakey!"
Oh how she missed her.
"Hi Yang, how you've been?" She mustered up with thinly laced amusement.
"Woah woah, not so fast Missy, don't think I just noticed…" Her cheery personality suddenly changed, as Yang's eyes glowed red from the Scroll screen. "There's no way that you're still back at Beacon."
'Shit.'
"Yang I-"
"That's it! I'm coming back tonight if that's what it takes!"
"Weiss is already here with me Yang, its okay…"
"OH!" And just like that the playful expression is back, "I see so it's like that."
"Yang." She sighed, "It's not like that."
"And what happened to your cheek!" Yang's temper is definitely like an on and off switch sometimes.
Blake grimaced, as her own hand went up to touch the side of her cheek. There was no way the pain was going to leave any time soon. And judging by Yang's smoldering glare, she might as well come clean to at least the closest person that she can be honest to.
"I made Weiss upset." Blake admitted, "She wanted to know why I was acting weird around her…Yang before you get any ideas of burying her six feet under…she chose to stay here with me at Beacon."
Yang's temper simmered, and only a frown was in place. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I- didn't want to burden you guys." She whispered. "My last home was with the White Fang, I didn't have anywhere else to go home to."
"You could've came home with Ruby and I. You've heard of things here in Patch. Good things for the Faunus. Blake, you always had a home here in Patch."
Guilt increased tenfold.
Her ears folded back against her head sheepishly, "Weiss found out, and she demanded that she would stay with me."
Yang sighed, and ran a hand through her unruly locks, "Sounds like her. Even if I wished it was me there for you, I'm glad she's with you right now."
"I don't think she's all that happy anymore." Bake muttered.
"That was your fault." Yang stated simply.
"I know."
"Then do something about it."
"Like what Yang? Grovel to a Schnee?"
A flash of red filled the screen, and Blake swore that she felt that heat through the thin screen that separated the pair.
"You know that's not it Blake. I know you're over that Schnee mess, so don't even start with that. Whether it was with Adam-"
"Don't."
"-or just with us a semester ago, Weiss still deserves honesty. Blake and you need to be honest with yourself too."
"Yang…I can't." Tears were now falling from her eyes. She felt so defeated. So tired. So tired from all the running. She truly believed she has nothing left in her to fight. To fight for love. To fight for happiness. She buried her head onto her free arm, cursing at herself at how weak she must've looked.
"Can't? Or won't? You won't get anywhere with her if you're always torturing yourself like this. Self-denial Blake, will kill you one day."
"…"
Yang waved her hand to dismiss the thought, "Think about it okay? You can trust the awesome advice of Yang Rose-Xiao-Long for a reason."
"Yang-" she took a deep breath, but it came out watery with tiny sobs. "What if I'm not strong enough for this?"
A choked cry escaped her before she could even stop it, and then the dam that Blake had been desperate to keep in bay came out in a flood of tears and whimpers.
Blake knew she was strong enough, enough to tear the heavens for Weiss. She can forego anything as long as it meant Weiss's safety and happiness. Anything for her. As long it involved not being with her. Even she did, Weiss had the power to break her, to leave her with nothing.
If she did…Blake doesn't know if she has the strength to pick up what's left the pieces.
She hadn't felt this feeling complete and empty all at once around someone she adored, not since Adam. And that went so well.
Maidens, she was such a fool.
Yang must've said something all the while, but the Faunus heard nothing over the sounds of the crying.
A few tense moments after, Blake finally had the courage to look at the screen. Yang was still there, her eyes filled with worry, lips pressed in a thin line. A hand raised as if she wanted to reach through the screen, and comfort Blake with the warmth that she was accustomed to.
"You're strong. You're strong enough for this." Yang said sternly.
"It's not so simple."
If Yang was rolling her eyes, Blake didn't see it happening, "But it can be. I'm not telling you to confess to her right now. Don't give me that look. I've known for a while." Yang said simply, "Do what you can one step at a time. After you apologize."
Blake averted her eyes, at the sight of Yang's sunny grin that returned brighter than before. "Do what I can…" She repeated. "Will it be enough?"
"It'll be enough until you are ready to tell her how you feel."
"Okay."
"Alright, Ruby and I will be back on the last weekend of Spring Break, okay? I miss you Blake."
"I miss you too. And Yang-"
Yang winked, "You're welcome. Now go court her, like in those sappy novels you read."
Before Blake can retort the call was disconnected, leaving her alone in the kitchen.
Thinking about what Yang had been patiently trying to tell her.
With her Faunus ears, Blake discovered that Weiss was nowhere to be found in the girls' dormitory.
Eventually she found Weiss sitting on a bench, where a tree was casting a shadow over her form.
She peered closely to see that Weiss was leaning against the tree, staring out toward the courtyard.
When Weiss heard muffled footsteps, she didn't turn her head right away. She'd wait for Blake to make the first move. The Faunus moved so that she was sitting next to Weiss, her shoulder pressed lightly against the Human. Everything in Blake's body was sending her red flag to run while she can, her fingers itching to break away from the contact that she initiated.
But no, not anymore. She needs to apologize.
When she finally got the nerve, the Faunus turned her head quickly to find that Weiss's head moved at the same time.
"I'm sorry." They both said, almost startling each other at the proximity of their faces. Blake tried not to break eye-contact, but the intensity of the smaller woman's gaze was enough to send a heat through her cheeks, and some uncomfortable rumbling at the pit of her stomach. She turned her gaze away, and tried to collect her thoughts.
Her ears perked up when she heard the breathy voice speak gently.
"No I'm sorry for overreacting." A pale hand cupped her stinging cheek. "I keep pushing you before you're ready…and I can't force you to be ready."
Blake's head was gently titled back up so that the pair were staring at each other again. This time with more gentle eyes lingering with regret and sadness.
"I'm sorry for being difficult when you only want to help." Blake choked, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
There was silence, but without the tension and teenage angst.
Be honest with her.
"I'm scared Weiss."
'I'm scared of what I feel for you…I'm scared that in the end you'll leave…I'm scared that you'll take the remaining pieces of my heart.'
Weiss nodded patiently, her thumb running on the side of Blake's tender cheek. Involuntarily Blake flinched, but relaxed tender strokes. She gulped and tried to swallow back the tears that were threatening to fall.
"I know Blake…I am too."
Weiss dropped her hand from Blake's cheek and turned away so that she back to facing toward the courtyard. The Faunus hastily wiped her cheeks, before copying Weiss's posture staring in to the courtyard.
And they sat like that for a while. Trying to collect their thoughts, misplaced pride and misplaced anger. Trying to figure out where they would go from there.
Blake rested her weight on her right hand, trying to slowly form her thoughts. It made her laugh slightly. Usually her conflicts involve Weiss in some way. But at the end of the day she's always coming back to the Human in some way. Whether it's blowing up freight carts at the harbor in front of Vale City Police, or food fights in the cafeteria, or literal fights in the kitchen, Weiss is still around.
'Count your blessings Blake,' the pessimist inside her crooned.
Her sharpened nails dug into the ground, in thinly laced fear.
But a slight brush caught her attention. A lone lithe pinky wrapped around her own. If there was any indication of feeling that Weiss was trying to convey to Blake, she didn't show it. And the Fauns was grateful, this was time for apologies.
"I don't want to keep giving you excuses."
Weiss hummed her reply.
"Then don't give me any. We can't be scared of each other Blake…We can't keep hurting each other like this."
Blake took a deep breath. She unlaced her pinky away from Weiss's, before turning her palm over so that all her fingers were interlaced with the smaller hand. Her own thumb rubbing slow circles across the back of Weiss's hand, trying to convey her own sincerity and affection.
"I won't hurt you like this anymore. I'll try to be more open about my thoughts with you."
She gave a gentle squeeze, hoping that Weiss can be patient just a little longer.
"That's all I ask."
And when they faced each other for the third time that afternoon, Blake and Weiss smiled.
AN: Agggh this was really in the rough... Anyways Happy New Year everyone. I'm not dead yet!
So...any questions, concerns, feelings, thoughts, issues...
Let me know!
-Okaami-chin