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Yang grimaced as she hit the heavy bag and felt sand run out over her fingers. Someone needed to tell them to wrap the bags in something sturdier, these just weren't doing it. Yang disconnected the bag and slung it over her shoulder, she carried it over to a stack she had in the corner and leaned it up with the rest. She tried to avoid spilling any sand on the floor but that was impossible. Yang grabbed a fresh bag from the opposite corner and slung it over the hook on the stand. How did they expect her to get a decent workout in if she had to constantly rehang the bags. She planted herself in front of the bag and sighed, the whole point of coming here had been to relieve stress not get all pent up over weak punching bags.
She stood up on her toes, flexing her calves and stretching the backs of her legs, then fell into an easy bouncing rhythm and raised her fists to the bag. The sensation of beating her fists into something helped calm her mind a little and let her think over things. Usually she preferred a moving target, a sparring partner, something that could hit back, but right now she had too much going on in her head to think and hold her own in a match at the same time. Her fists fell into the bag in rapid succession, replicating combos that would send most Grimm flying when she was wearing her gauntlets. She fell into a pattern and then started to let her mind drift again.
What had happened at Junior's the other night was out of the ordinary for sure. Most men knew not to approach her at that club, not only was she an intimidating presence on her own, but she had a reputation at the club as the Yang Xiao Long who had floored every goon and thug in the place before dropping Junior, Malachite and Melanie; destroying half the club in the process and walking out as if it were just another Tuesday, which for Yang, it honestly was. So when those two men had approached she and Nora it had thrown her completely off guard, she was unprepared for them to be as aggressive as they were and even less prepared for the way Nora had responded. Not knocking one over the head with a bottle, that was expected, it was when she had pretended they were a couple to try and get the men to leave.
Sure it was just a ploy, Yang knew they weren't anything more than friends, hell they hadn't even been that great of friends until that night at the bar. But Nora went for it so easily, so naturally and it hadn't felt wrong to Yang at all. The way her lips had felt against her cheek, the sensation of leaning into her, feeling her strong arm wrapped around Yang's shoulder. Yang wasn't even gay and it had felt great. Whenever she went looking for a man, or a boy, she always looked for someone who could at least challenge her in terms of strength, there was no way she could ever be even slightly attracted to someone weaker than her. Jaune was cute and all, a total goofball but the boy could barely bench his own body weight. Ren was not only quiet and contemplative, traits that didn't get along with Yang in the slightest but also all fast and lithe in a fight. Sun, Neptune, the other transfers who had arrived leading up the Vytal Festival...they were all pretty boys or self-obsessed. Some were strong, definitely capable in battle, but no one that jumped out to her. When Nora had put her arm around Yang's shoulders she could feel the muscles there, squeezing hard even in such an innocent gesture. She had seen the girl in the gym, out lifting all but the strongest male students, Yatsuhashi could outlift her but the man was nearly eight feet tall and seemingly built of iron. Nora was obnoxious, loud, impulsive, strong willed and strong armed. But she was a girl, so there couldn't be something there. Plus she was already with Ren, everyone knew that. Yang finished her latest string of hits with a solid right hook and felt sand dribble out over her knuckles. This was useless.
After cleaning up her bags, putting them near the maintenance office to be patched and then showering off in the lockers Yang headed for the dining halls, maybe getting some food in her would help her think straight. She opened the doors to the grand hall, gym bag slung over one shoulder and looked for an open table or a friendly face. She spotted Pyrrha sitting alone, quietly eating a serving that put most of Yang's meals to shame. Yang smiled and headed her way, perhaps this redhead would have some insight on the other redhead, being teammates and all. Yang threw herself down on the bench across from Pyrrha and dropped her bag at her feet under the table.
"Oh hello Yang, good afternoon." Pyrrha covered her mouth with a hand and politely greeted Yang as she sat.
"Hey Pyrrha," Yang tried her best to maintain her usual chipper attitude, Pyrrha was a worrier and she just wanted to know more about Nora, not have Pyrrha start wondering what was wrong and trying to help and offering to get the rest of Team RWBY involved. Yang just had to ask a few questions, get a grip on the fiery little girl's attitude. Yang tried to think of just what those questions were.
"Were you going to have lunch?" Pyrrha set down her fork and regarded Yang strangely, "I believe they're still serving." Yang glanced at the clock behind Pyrrha's head, it was 12:35, of course they were still serving, they had barely started serving. Pyrrha was always so polite though, is that one of the things Jaune liked about her? That was it, a place to start.
"Pyrrha, how are you and Jaune doing?" Pyrrha immediately blushed and turned her head to the side, attempting to conceal her embarrassment behind a demur hand.
"What..umm whatever do you mean?" she stammered out and tried to focus her face back to a normal shade.
"Oh come on. Everyone knows team JNPR is just two couples sharing a room. So, how are you two?" Yang sat up and smiled, with Pyrrha feeling a little uncomfortable she was more at ease, the Mistralian girl was always so composed it put Yang off sometimes. But flustered and embarrassed, that was something she could work with.
"I don't know what you mean. None of us are in a relationship with anyone else on our team." Pyrrha cleared her throat and tightly gripped her fork, trying to steady her nerves, "It is true that I am.. well that I… Jaune and I are close. But, it has not developed into anything further than that."
"Oh…? Really? I always figured that… Okay well, Ren and Nora are together aren't they?" Yang felt bad for what she had brought up regarding Jaune, she thought that Pyrrha was so easily flustered because she was a conservative girl, not because she was harboring unrequited feelings for her team leader. Anyone with half their wits about could tell that Pyrrha was smitten with Jaune, which explained a lot about Jaune since he seemed utterly oblivious to the fact. Yang had been sure they were dating since the dance and that Jaune was just much subtler about his feelings than Pyrrha was.
"Well you see. How did she put it. They aren't 'together together.' I believe that was her wording." Pyrrha was somewhat recovered now that the topic had changed, "They seem to have a very platonic relationship."
"A what?" Yang squinted one eye, trying to dredge the meaning of that word up from her inner scholar, it was hiding in there, somewhere deep under hours of combat training and violent video games. Pyrrha chuckled slightly, not meanly, just amused.
"I'm sorry. They are like brother and sister. Very much devoted to one another but in no way romantically involved. At least as far as I have been able to tell." Pyrrha sat for a moment as Yang digested that information, she waited a moment and when Yang said nothing, began to eat again, not wanting to let her meal sit overly long.
Yang thought over that in her head. She wasn't sure what Nora and Ren's history was, she knew they had been together for a long time, that neither of them had much family and they leaned heavily on each other for support. The relationship was obviously mutual and she had never seen the two openly disagree or argue, they always seemed so happy together. Was it possible that they weren't involved? Why wouldn't they be? What could possibly be keeping them from each other when they seemed so absolutely perfectly paired? And then it hit Yang harder than she had been hitting the bags, what if Nora was gay?
Yang stood with a start and startled Pyrrha.
"Yang, are you alright?" Yang was pulled out of her thoughts by the girl's gentle voice, filled with that motherly concern she had been trying to avoid, "If you want I can-"
"No, no I'm fine," Yang cut her off, "I just remembered I have to meet up with my team at the gym. Sorry for bugging you," Yang turned to run off in a hurry, "Enjoy your lunch" she called out behind her as she raced down the rows of tables.
Yang threw the ball in her hand back up at the ceiling and caught it as it descended towards her. She threw it up and caught it again. She had run out on Pyrrha and back to their rooms, part of her hoping to run into Nora, part of her dreading the possibility. When she didn't meet up with the girl, she simply went in her room and began searching her thoughts again. So what if Nora was interested in girls, she wasn't right? She had never been interested in a girl before, why should that change now. Yes, she could admit Nora was cute, she could also admit that Weiss was beautiful, that scar acting as the perfect blemish to an otherwise flawless complexion, but she definitely wasn't interested in her. Yang threw the the ball in the air again.
"Hello Yang," Blake had, as usual, entered the room without a noise and was standing next to Yang's bunk. Or was she standing next to her bed and Yang just happened to be there? Either way her intrusion on Yang's pensive state caused her to drop the ball right on her face, flail trying to catch it and slip out of her bed and fall the considerable distance to the floor. Blake swiftly stepped out of the way, avoiding Yang as she fell.
Blake laughed quietly, almost under her breath and extended a hand to help Yang up. Yang took the hand and shot Blake a look of askance.
"Oh nothing. Just proof you are related to Ruby." Blake sat quietly on the edge of her bed beneath Yang's and motioned for her to do the same. Yang sat slowly and started to ask what was going on but Blake cut her off, "So, what's wrong?"
"Huh? Nothing's wrong. I'm just bored." Yang tried to grin Blake's question away but Blake shook her head in denial. She pointed over by the door, Yang followed her finger and found her gym bag lying there.
"You told Pyrrha you had to meet us at the gym," realization hit Yang like a ton of bricks, "and then left your gym bag with her. She was only concerned you would have to workout without it so I offered to bring it to you." Yang breathed a sigh of relief, glad to at least be somewhat free of Pyrrha's smothering care, "She said you seemed distraught."
"Oh, yeah, thanks." Yang stood and went over to her bag to put its contents away, "I just wanted to get up from sitting with her and so I used a lame excuse."
"That's fine. But you still need to tell me what's on your mind." Blake had not moved, she had her hands folded calmly in her lap.
"I told you there's nothing-" Blake calmly raised a hand, cutting her off again.
"You wouldn't have forgotten your gym bag if something else wasn't on your mind." Blake stood calmly and walked over to grab Yang gently by the shoulder, "You helped me once, let me help you." She offered her partner one of her rare, small smiles. Yang sighed and dropped her bag at her feet.
"I'm just really confused," Blake took her by the shoulder and led her back to the bed to sit, "It's really not a big deal. It's just dumb."
"C'mon Yang, if you don't get to it now then you'll have to tell me in front of Weiss," Blake paused to let that sink in, "and Ruby." Yang turned and locked eyes with her partner, violet focused on amber.
"So, Nora and I went out the other night to Junior's. It was a great time, we danced and talked and drank. Then these two guys tried to hit on us, they were rude about it and really pushy. We played cool though, we were having a good time and didn't wanna make a thing of it. They kept pushing though, so Nora acted like we were dating. She grabbed me around the shoulders, kissed me on the cheek and stuff. They didn't back off and Nora ended up hitting one guy with a bottle and I punched the other one out."
"And what part of that is troubling you? Bar fights are not new to you." Blake turned on the bed and crossed her legs.
"Yeah, that part was fine. Kinda fun actually. It's the whole thing with Nora kissing me and stuff." Yang fell back into the bed with a heavy sigh, flinging her arms out to her sides.
"Did it make you feel uncomfortable? I'm sure she didn't mean to upset you. She was just trying to-"
"I liked it Blake!" she cut her off, "I liked it so much I blushed and lost my train of thought. She kissed my cheek and put her arm over my shoulder, I leaned into it. I didn't even think twice about it." Blake sat quietly for a moment, making sure that Yang had said everything she wanted to say and giving herself a moment to process the information.
"Have you talked to her about it? How did the rest of the night go?" Blake's face fell to deeper concern.
"The night was great. We danced more and talked a bunch. Nothing else happened though. We just rode the airbus back and came back here. I haven't talked to her yet because, what if it wasn't a big deal? What if she just wanted to get the guys to stop bothering us? What if she thinks it's weird that I'm making such a big deal about it? I had a lot of fun with her Blake, I could really relax. That's new and I don't wanna lose that so quick by freaking her out." Yang started waving her hands around emphatically and sat up, her eyes were wide with worry.
"Well, if it wasn't a big deal to her, then it shouldn't be a big deal if you bring it up." Blake put her hand on Yang's to comfort her, "You should really talk to her about it. That's the only way you'll get an answer."
"I guess you're right." Yang flipped her hand over and grabbed hold of Blake's, "What do I do if it's not though? What if it wasn't anything to her?"
"Well how do you feel Yang. It has you concerned obviously. But what did it mean to you?" Blake squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"I…" Yang paused and looked down at their hands, that felt normal, like holding hands with Ruby, her sister, Nora's arm had not felt like that, "I don't know Blake. I have no idea what's going on in my head. Why do I feel this way about a girl?" Yang's voice was wavering, on the edge between shouting and breaking. Blake pulled her forward into a hug, holding her about the shoulders, putting one hand on the back of her golden locks and pulling her head down to her shoulder.
"Yang, it's okay. So what if she's a girl? She's really cute and strong too. Plus, she's a great person, perhaps a tad violent but so are you. I don't see a single problem there." Yang flung her arms around her partner and held her tight. Blake rubbed the back of Yang's head and just held her for a moment, waiting until she was ready to talk again. After a few minutes Yang pulled away and cleared her throat softly.
"Okay, I'm gonna talk to her then." She steadied her face into an uneasy smile and Blake returned it.
A/N - Okay, so first of all, yes this was only supposed to be a one shot about Yang and Nora going out to Junior's together. I really like Collateral Damage and so I hinted at it pretty strongly in the first chapter and just sort of let it do what it did near the end. However, do to popular demand and my own insatiable desire to write about Yang and Nora, I am looking at making this into a mini-series of sorts. I have absolutely no idea how long I will make it at this point and I am posting the chapters as I write them which is strange for me. I'm usually the kind to completely finish a piece, beginning to end and then publish it.
Secondly, as some of you may know I am still working on a much longer piece that I will be finishing in completion before I publish even the first chapter. I really hope you stick around for it, I hope to have it done in the next two weeks or so. That said, I will try to update this one every two days or so until it has run it's course but we will see how that goes.
And finally I would like to again thank everyone here. I haven't published a lot of work in a creative format, I've always been more of an academic writer but the response I've gotten here has really emboldened me. I really appreciate all the kinds words and warm welcomes. A special thanks to Trewill91, NobleMETA, Errowscar, and Dongyrn; your comments and interest are what keep me writing. I also love any sort of critical review, I'm constantly trying to improve my writing so please if you see something that stands out, if there are errors or things that don't feel right please let me know in a review or a PM, either way.
Thank you for reading!