Specks of light glitter calmly on the water, reflecting the vagrant stars that managed to shine even through the sleepless lights of the city.

Was Austin really always this nice?

Admittedly, given your company, things were flavored far differently. Blake and Yang stood beside you, aimlessly staring at the lake that separated downtown from most everywhere else. Circling that was… well, really, it was just a walking trail. Usually, not much more than that. At night, though, and with two beautiful girls by your side, it was different. Dirt walkways stretched out next to the water, lit by dim glows coming off of small fences. Occasionally, the floor turned to wooden bridges, which turned to stone as the path crept out over the water, turning into a boardwalk.

On occasion, you've walked down this path. Now that you live outside the city, it's been dead to you for a while… until the perfect excuses blew up your garage.

Nice.

Quiet.

You'd even say cinematic.

Fresh eyes really painted things differently.

What was normally a simple walking path was now a date. Yang had given the excuse of wanting some late-night exercise and convinced Weiss and Ruby to stay at home, but yeah, this was just a straight-up date. A quiet, serene evening in the low lamp light, feeling a cool breeze carry the atmosphere of the lake next to you. It was, again, quiet. Though you can still hear the muffled sounds of cars barreling over the lifted roads, most of the noise around you came from the crunch of dirt beneath your feet or the sound of creaking wood as you passed over a bridge.

Yeah, past the introduction of the area, there wasn't even really a need for words up to this point. Just… calmly walking next to the water.

Together.

With Blake.

And Yang.

Things were definitely colored differently.

Two beautiful girls by your side added even more understated perfection to this place. And considering they were both in form-fitting workout gear… Yeah, this was nice.

"Bhaaaah!" Yang says, finishing a long drink from a fountain. You've reached a park pretty much a step away from the actual downtown; nothing but a bridge separated you from countless office buildings, and you very much enjoy that there IS a separation there. Yang brushes her hair out of her face and rests on a stone structure. "I like it here."

"Any particular reason? I'm sure that Vale had water fountains on walking trails," you point out.

"You say that, but thinking on it, we didn't have many walking trails. The thought of going out at night and walking in the dark is less appealing when monsters are involved." Yang leans back and looks up at the Austin skyline. "Back at Beacon, I used to jog around campus when I couldn't sleep, but we were on a huge goddammit cliff far from the city. I couldn't GO anywhere or DO anything."

"There was always the library, you know," Blake retorts, a smile stretching across her face as she stretches her leg next to Yang. "When I heard YOU leave, sometimes I'd go read in a corner."

"That's the most on-brand thing I've ever heard you say. And you never wanted to jog with me? The two of us, three AM running around? Think of all the shenanigans we could have gotten up to."

"When you say, 'shenanigans,' how many of your immediate ideas involve not wearing clothes?"

"You're implying I didn't go streaking at 4 in the morning at least once, and frankly, I'm offended you didn't consider that." Yang winks and pulls on her cleavage a few times. You can't tell if she's serious, but boy, did you want her to be.

Blake, also clearly thinking about Yang's big, bouncy breasts jiggling as she traipsed naked on campus, says "And if I tagged along, would I have been part of those, 'shenanigans'?"

Yang pauses. Letting out a breath, she answers, "Now? Just say the word and my top comes off‐" she immediately turns to you, "‐assuming we're a little less surrounded on our next walk~" The blonde glances around at all the people in the park before drifting off into the sky. "Back at Beacon? I guess I would have been too much of a coward to be so… forward with you. For all my semi-sarcastic flirting, I was terrified of you actually… acting on it. Woulda 100% suggested it to you acting all smug, but I guarantee I'd have immediately backed down before you could answer."

Blake giggles. "I can't wait to tell everyone back home that we were both head over heels for each other as long as we knew each other, and it STILL took us swapping dimensions to admit our feelings. Only thing missing was flowers spontaneously blooming and the sun piercing through the clouds or whatever cliché nonsense a romance movie would have."

"…"

"…I would have 100% called your bluff, by the way~" Blake adds, at the perfect moment to cut off anything Yang was about to say.

Yang's face noticeably turns redder, even considering the low light. Her eyes widen before she sheepishly turns away from Blake and looks at the ground.

"…and this is *exactly* the reason: Brothers Grimm, you're so cute when you're flustered."

You very much agree with Blake. Despite her first on-screen action being to strut into a nightclub and grab a man's balls with the confidence of a tank facing a small fence, Yang immediately falls apart when you or Blake meet her bravado. One genuine compliment turns her bright red and stuttering like a schoolgirl. She goes from, "Can you handle all this~" to, "T-thank you… You have… cute… face."

The contradiction is so goddamn cute.

Blake sits down next to Yang and touches her hand resting on the rock bench. Thankfully no one seemed to want to approach the cute blonde about her black and yellow arm, at least at the moment. "I'm glad I can finally enjoy this cute side of you."

Yang continues to crumble. "Helppppp, she's bullying meeeee!" she whines, looking up at you.

You consider. "Honestly, I think people would pay for you to bully them. And pay triple that for either of you to call them cute and hold their hand."

Blake touches her scroll. "I DID see a lot of comments about people wanting Weiss to step on them…"

"do you guys think weiss would be down for a foot fetish picture set or would she stab me for asking" Yang sags, dryly.

Blake snickers. "She's a rich, repressed girl whose main concept of romance comes from cliche rom-coms and those books with the same long-haired muscle man on the cover. I'm not even sure she knows what a fetish IS."

"i dunno i feel like shed somehow instinctively know what were doing and be disgusted by it"

"…D-does that work better?" Blake looks at you and asks, "Aren't some people into women looking disgusted by them while doing dirty things?"

"why are you asking me that specifically" you respond, somewhat offended. Sure, you know the answer, but still…

"asmr yang xiao long calls you a bitch cuz you cant bench press a thousand pounds" Yang puts on face that says, "Ew, gross," then immediately breaks into a laugh. "I'd be down for this."

"To my knowledge, ASMR is usually supposed to be calming or relaxing. Then again, people have memed Joker kidnaps you ASMR…"

A sinister smile spreads across Blake's face. "Or, we could the other route." She leans in close to Yang and whispers, "You're such a good girl~" in a voice dripping with honey.

You swear you see steam pour out of Yang's head. When she recovers, she says, "Yep. DEFINITELY have a lady boner right now. We're making ASMR."

"Why do we always talk about work when we go on dates?" You wonder aloud.

"Comes with us mixing work and pleasure~" Blake answers. "I don't mind. It's kind of a thrill to plan ways to exhibit my girlfriend around, and it's not like we have consequences. It'll be good to get this out of our system before we go home and someone like Neptune would have access to our lewds. No one here knows us." Blake pauses. "Wait, actually a lot of people know us. We don't know THEM, though… You know what I mean."

"brothers grimm neptune would make us soooooooo much money tho" Yang laughs. "but yeah imagine having to save the world knowing that sun bought your booty pics" She sits up. "Wait, HAS Sun seen your ass?"

Blake huffs. "No, Xiao Long, Sun has not seen my butt in anything less than shorts. You only saw it recently, remember?"

Yang stares at Blake's yoga pants. "And I have burned the image into my mind since."

Blake shyly turns and covers her butt with both hands. "I really fell in love with a pervert, huh?"

"what was that about exhibiting your girlfriend about…" Yang checks an imaginary watch, "I dunno thirty seconds ago?"

"…Shut up. You're right, but shut up."

"should I shut up or should I start practicing dirty talk for asmr videos where i constantly refer to myself as mommy"

Blake giggles. "Immediately jumping into the deep end, I see :p"

"Either that or I pat my lap and ask, 'who`s a good kitty?' Which would you prefer?"

"…"

"…we need a photoset of you petting my ears. For wholesome reasons."

"Suuuuure, BB. I'll believe that." Yang kicks up off the bench. "Oh, oh, maybe one where you brush my hair and it's all romantic and intimate without being explicit!"

Blake giggles again. "We're gonna cater to the real *freak* fetishes: domestic love."

"oh oh and then i can have one where my freshly brushed hair is covering my boobs"

"…"

"…okay, yeah, that's a new fetish to add to my ever-expanding list."

Blake chuckles. "Again, very glad we have the opportunity to get this out of our systems before going home."

Yang overdramatically tilts her head, accentuating, "Oooooorrrrr, we could just start selling sexy pics at home~"

"Yang, we can discuss selling our lewds online once the world isn't on the verge of being on fire. We have a lot to do before we can sit back and relax once we're back in Remnant."

"I dunno, maybe me publicizing my tits and your ass is the true method of uniting the world."

"Always the romantic." Blake stretches her legs. "Anyway, we should probably get going before Weiss and Ruby start asking questions. Plus now we need to prep for several new photosets. Whether or not those photosets will unite the world remains to be seen."

You and Yang loosen up a bit. With another look up at the night sky, you set back out along the long, peaceful trail.

Things really were better with company.