Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.
Yang sprinted across the courtyards and down the flagstone path. The sun had nearly disappeared, only the last vestiges of sunset still holding off the coming night. Some students were milling about, finding their way between late afternoon study sessions or headed off for something to relax themselves after the long day. Yang's hurried figure stood out among the early evening calm, students quickly jumping out of the way to let her pass. At Beacon, you never knew if someone was running late for a test or hurrying to save someone's life. Yang just wanted to tell a certain redhead exactly how she felt about her. She reached the library, huge and ornate, and nearly ran through the sliding glass doors as she came up to the entrance. They slowly slid open and gave Yang a chance to check herself, she was here now, she could breathe.
Yang straightened her clothes, slightly disheveled as they were from her dash over here, and she wanted to look her best for this particular moment. She stepped into the library and ran both hands under her hair, flipping the mass of locks outward and letting it fall lightly against her back. She gave her head a little jiggle and made sure it all fell in a way that looked good. It was a practiced motion and she needed only the distracted stares from several boys in the room to tell her she had done her job correctly. She smirked slightly, confident in her appearance and scanned quickly around the entryway. There were several tables for group studying and a row of computers along one wall. The library was fairly empty, only a handful of students here on a weeknight without the end of the term approaching. But, the fiery redhead she was searching for was nowhere to be seen. Yang figured she must be deeper in the library, desperately searching for the books Ren had sent her after. So, she casually sauntered in, confidence was ninety percent appearance for Yang. If she could appear in control then she could fool herself into thinking she was prepared for this talk.
She made her way up the stairs, looking out over the bottom floor one final time before turning her attention to the second floor. This area was much more devoted to books and computers than the floor beneath. There were several large tables spread out but they were intended to be used for intense studying, large enough to accommodate a spread of texts from multiple students and leave room for notes. Also, Yang knew first hand that they were the perfect size for overly large board games. She smiled remembering she and her sister's attempts at pulling Weiss and Blake into their obsession with tabletop games. It had been mostly successful but they should probably choose a simpler game next time. Yang allowed her focus to slip back to finding Nora and threw her glance casually around the floor. She couldn't see the girl anywhere and wandering around looking would probably be as useless as Nora's search was. There were four more floors in addition to the two she had already visited and she could be on any one of them. Determined to find her and surprise her with her presence Yang struck out to find a librarian. They would most certainly know where Nora was because there was no way she had not been disturbing the peace they strove so fervently to maintain.
"Hi, I'm looking for a friend who's somewhere in here." Yang smiled congenially at the petite brunette librarian, she had long dark hair and round glasses. Supposedly the librarian look was cute, but Yang still had eyes for only one girl. "She's short, wears pink and white and has short cut orange hair." Yang held her hand at just about ear height to indicate the length of Nora's hair. The librarian smiled.
"Oh yes, I helped her. Or rather I tried. She is looking for several titles which do not exist, or at least that I have never heard of. I ended up directing her to the non-fiction research logs upstairs as she refused to take no for an answer." the girl pulled a small piece of cardstock with a simple map printed on it, "This is the fourth floor. She should be somewhere in here if she hasn't moved on yet." The girl indicated a section of shelves and Yang smiled in thanks.
"Thanks." Yang whispered and turned with a wave. The girl gave Yang a quiet smile and returned to her computer and whatever work she had been doing. Yang quickly but respectfully made her way to the stairs and climbed two more flights, bringing her to the fourth floor. There was almost no one here, and the few that were present were undoubtedly graduate students, people like Dr. Oobleck with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Yang looked quickly around and didn't see Nora, then she heard the only real noise on the floor outside of gentle page flipping. Several loud thunks and an annoyed groan. Several of the readers shot the general direction an annoyed glance and quickly returned to their tasks. The blonde grinned and beelined for the noise, knowing that it was exactly what she was looking for.
She came around the edge of a bookshelf and found Nora lying on the ground surrounded by a small pile of large text books, all splayed open and scattered about the floor. Nora was rubbing her tailbone and looking despondently at the mostly empty top shelf and then glanced at the toppled step stool further down the hall.
"You know, this is a library miss. You're supposed to be quiet" Yang whispered harshly at Nora, trying her best to imitate a certain white haired teammate of hers. Nora jerked her head around and caught Yang's eyes. She threw both hands over her mouth to stifle a noise somewhere between and shriek and a giggle. Yang shook her head with a smile and quickly stepped forward to offer a hand. Nora got her vocal cords under control and accepted the hand up. She leaned close to Yang's ear and whispered overly loudly.
"Okay, but your impression is only better because you live with her." Nora pulled back with a restrained giggle and then looked down at the books.
"Here. I'll hop on the ladder if you hand me the books." Nora smiled at Yang's offer and immediately righted the ladder, Yang climbed up and together they corrected the mess Nora had made. Yang was significantly taller than Nora and so had very little trouble replacing the books, especially with the step stool beneath her. Several times while they were working Nora's fingers would brush innocently against Yang's and although she seemed to ignore the contact completely Yang couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement and apprehension at every brush.
They finally finished replacing the heavy tomes and Yang descended the ladder, replacing it at the end of the row for others to use. Nora seemed about to burst but Yang put a finger to her lips and shushed the other girl. She motioned for her to follow and led her outside. On their way out, Yang caught sight of the librarian who had helped her and jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Nora. The girl smiled politely and Yang waved a thank you as they continued their trek to the ground floor. They reached the sliding glass doors and waited patiently for them to slide open. Nora stepped through them with uncharacteristic calm and turned to watch them close behind her. As soon as the sides touched in the middle with a soft noise she released an over the top sigh and let her shoulders slump dramatically towards the ground. The air was fresh and the moon was now peeking over the hills to the East of Beacon. The sun had vanished and the stars were began to shine out against the deep blue of the night sky. This far from the city the students were afforded a decent view of the constellations.
"Oh wow, it felt like I was being led to the electric chair." then she burst out laughing, "Because that would even work on me" she clutched her sides and began laughing overly hard. Yang couldn't help but laugh with her and at the imagined impression of an executioner after flipping the switch, only to see Nora's hair standing on end and a devilish gleam in her eyes. Nora mocked being shocked, making her limbs go rigid and bouncing about erratically. After a moment Yang regained herself and remembered why she had come to grab Nora in the first place.
"Nora, Nora wait. I had something serious." Yang tried to reel herself in but the freckled girl's laughs were contagious. Nora continued her impression, going limp for a moment and then resuming the jerking sensations, making buzzing and popping noises the entire time. After a moment Yang repeated herself, a little louder this time and in more control of herself. Nora heard her tone and stood, giggling with the end of her fit of laughter. "Okay first, the books are fake. Ren and I had to have a private discussion so he sent you after them." Nora gasped and took a step back, one hand to her mouth and the other held out defensively.
"Yang, I thought… You and Ren? I mean that's great but-" Yang cut her off before her brain carried her too far away from reality.
"No Nora, oh Oum no, he wanted to talk to me about you. And umm about me, and us I guess." Yang was so sure of herself going in, but putting it out in words was always harder than thinking it through, especially when she had to constantly reign Nora's imagination in. But at the word 'us' Nora sobered considerably and the same nervous, expectant look from after lunch grabbed hold of her.
"Oh…" she trailed off before she even began, waiting for Yang. Yang cleared her throat and tried to stand a little taller, confidence girl.
"So, well, I talked to my sister, and I talked to Ren and I even talked to myself a little," Nora snickered, "because Nora I don't know what's going on here." Yang motioned at the space inbetween them. It was only a few feet but the space felt impassable to Yang. "I, well I really have a lot of fun with you. You're awesome and funny and energetic and spontaneous and always make me laugh." Nora blushed at Yang's compliments, visibly struck by her words but she continued, "Plus I uhh.." Yang shied a little, heat rising to her cheeks, "I think you're really cute." Yang fell to silence after her last utterance, not sure exactly how to continue. That had been the easy part. Luckily Nora finally felt the need to speak up.
"I have a lot of fun with you too Yang. Around you I can really let go and be all of me. Plus I already told I think you're just gorgeous." Nora flustered again and now Yang blushed harder. The compliment helped solidify her confidence though and gave her the will to continue.
"The thing is though Nora," Yang paused, "You're a girl and well I'm a girl and I don't know what to do with that." Nora smile faded a little and her head drooped, this was her constant fear. It's what Ren had told Yang, what he had warned her about. Nora never put her feelings out there because she knew that most girls she ran into probably weren't gay too and so she didn't want to get hurt all the time. Yang saw her smile drop and rushed through her next few sentences. She didn't want Nora to get the wrong idea. "I have no problem with that. It's just that you're the first girl I've ever felt this way towards and so I don't know what it is." Nora lifted her eyes and Yang saw shimmering, unshed tears there. Yang felt a shudder and decided right there that tears in those pale green eyes was the saddest thing she had ever seen. "I want to try this," Yang gestured back and forth between herself and Nora, "I just want you to know that it's new ground for me."
A single tear slid down Nora's cheek but her lips spread into an uneasy smile. She walked forward towards Yang and stopped just a foot or so short. She extended her arms out towards the blonde and waited, eyes locked on to Yang's brilliant purple ones. Yang took one small step and closed the gap between the two. She closed her arms around the girl and they hugged, gently holding each other close. Nora rested her forehead on Yang's shoulder and she could feel the tears from earlier soak easily into the cloth of her shirt and jacket. Yang pulled Nora close and felt her strong arms squeeze back. This was okay, this was definitely something Yang could get used to.
As they stood there, holding each other Yang looked out over the rooftops of the school and saw the edge of the moon creeping gently higher. Some pieces of the shattered side were still visible, tonight would be their last visible night and then they would float around the opposite side, showing only a complete, marless surface to the world for a few nights before the broken, shattered face returned and the pieces came orbiting back around to this side. It was a beautiful cycle they all got to watch played out every few weeks. Nora pulled away, out of the embrace but still close enough for their arms to remain around one another and Yang brought her attention back to the even more beautiful girl she had in her arms.
"Yang. I'm so happy. I don't even know what to say. I just," Nora paused and wiped an errant tear from her eye, "I want you to know that I am so proud of you and I will be the best girlfriend anyone has ever had for you." Yang smiled, a huge silly grin.
"Well you'll definitely be the best I've ever had." She laughed and Nora let her hand slide down from where she had left it on the small of Yang's back, along her smooth, muscled arm to find her hand, still at the back of Nora's shoulders. Yang let their fingers wrap about each other and her laugh faded to a sleepy smile. They pulled apart, keeping their conjoined hands between them and faced down the path back towards their rooms. Nora let her arm fall underneath Yang's, allowing Yang the dominant position and rested her head on the taller girl's shoulder. Together they walked like that, slowly making their way to their rooms. "Thank you though Nora. I'm really nervous about all of this. I haven't done something this new in, well ever I think." Nora hummed with contentment before replying.
"It's enough that you even decided to Yang. If you ever feel weird or uncomfortable or anything just tell me. I want you to be sure the entire time." Nora never looked up at Yang, perfectly content to leave her head right where it was, and Yang wasn't complaining.
"Well, you're off to a great start here." Yang smiled and squeezed Nora's hand a little tighter, the redhead pushed her head onto Yang's shoulder and hugged her arm closer to her torso. The rest of the trip back to the dorms passed in silence, just the muted footfalls of the newly minted couple and the quiet sounds of evening at Beacon. Wind coming off the coast rustled through the branches of the tall trees and insects started up their nightly chorus of noises. Several other students passed Yang and Nora as they walked. Most completely ignored them, giving the exact amount of attention anyone else walking down the path got, but a few made obvious note of the couple. Some smiled, some seemed almost startled and a few gave them a wide berth as they passed. Yang noted this and wondered at it.
She and Nora would definitely not be the first gay or even lesbian couple on campus. Everyone was fully aware that Coco and Velvet were a rather established item at the school, especially since Coco made nearly zero efforts to conceal her affections for her Faunus teammate. Yang had never thought it strange or offensive that the two girls were together. It was really adorable how flustered Velvet would grow when Coco would pat her bottom on the way past or make very lustful glances at her over the top of her sunglasses. So why was Yang noticing all this attention now? And so quickly as well? She was sure it was nothing, probably most of the attention was because she and Nora were such a new couple. They were only what five minutes into this relationship? So the glances were most likely because no one was aware and it took them by surprise. Yang pulled away slightly and looked down to Nora. Her new girlfriend pulled away and looked up to meet her glance.
"Something wrong?" Her eyes were clear now, shining and bright the way Yang hoped they would stay. But, when Yang hesitated a gloss of concern came over them.
"No, nothing at all. Just happy." Yang gave Nora a gentle smile and loosed her hand, reaching her arm up and over Nora's wide shoulders to pull her close. Nora grinned with contentment and slid her hand around Yang's waist, letting it set right above her waistline. She leaned her head on Yang's shoulder again and Yang dropped her head to rest on top of Nora's. Her mane of golden hair fell like a curtain behind them, obscuring their arms and swaying slightly as they walked.
They got to the dorm building and made their way gently up the stairs.
They pulled apart and simply held hands on their way through the building as walking up the stairs while wrapped around each other's torsos proved prohibitive. Their feet padded softly against the lush carpet, hushing their walk from the stairs to their adjacent doors. They stopped outside the rooms and turned to face each other, grabbing hold of both hands. A door down the hallway opened and they stepped to Team RWBY's side of the hall to make way for the other student. They both leaned on the wall, keeping hold of the other's hands and gazed into the opposite set of eyes.
"So this part will be nice won't it?" Yang smiled, under the brighter light she was able to take in Nora's face. She had known the girl for almost a year now and had never taken the time to really learn her face. Her eyes were wide and fully open all the time, brimming with the energy she was always barely containing. Her bright orange hair fell in messy bangs over her face and around her head and her smile...that smile stretched from ear to ear, radiating with her constant positive feelings. "Hey Yang, Nora to Yang. Anyone in there." There was a sharp but gentle flick at her forehead and Yang came to attention.
"Hey- Yeah, what's up." Yang shook her head a little, forcing herself to focus. Nora just giggled and smiled.
"Isn't it gonna be great? Living so close to each other." Yang looked up from her face and at Team JNPR's door, then over Nora's head at Team RWBY's door.
"Wow I guess I hadn't really considered it. Yeah it will be." then she smiled, "Maybe I'll actually be on time to pick you up for dates and stuff." Nora giggled again and squeezed Yang's hands.
"And who said you were gonna pick me up? You just have to make sure you are all dolled up for me when I come get you." Nora poked Yang in the nose and she screwed up her face a little.
"Is that...?" she paused and her face took on a more confused look, "Is that how it works? I'm not really the dolling up type. I mean I can but-" Nora cut her off.
"I was kidding Yang I'm sorry. We can handle it however you want. If you wanna come grab me or I can get you, or we can walk out into the hallway at exactly the same time and get each other. But that might be hard to get just right and we might mess it up and then it could be awkward." Yang laughed and squeezed Nora's hands and she stopped rambling, "However you want Yang." Yang pulled Nora into another hug, holding her close. Nora smiled into her shoulder and nuzzled her head into the crook of Yang's neck, squeezing her right back. They pulled apart and Yang sighed.
"I think we both have to go. Our teams are waiting for us with a million questions I'm sure." Yang looked to her door forlornly but smiled as she turned back to Nora, "They should all be really happy though right?"
"Well they might be a little jealous. I mean, I took the hottest girl at Beacon off the market." Nora giggled and flashed Yang a devious little smile. Yang laughed and blushed slightly at the praise, she knew she was hot, always had known, but hearing it from another girl like that, hearing it from Nora like that was entirely new. She squeezed Nora's hands one final time and raised herself from the hallway wall. Nora stood as well, wearing that adorably giant grin.
"I'll see you in the morning?" Yang asked of the little redhead.
"Well yeah, we have class together don't we?" Nora smiled and opened her door, slipping inside before Yang could answer. The blonde stood there and smiled at the door like an idiot, lost in her thoughts of the girl. She jumped at the sound of a familiar voice from her side.
"I assume it went well then?" Blake was sticking her head out of the room. Yang shot her an accusing look, eyeing her bow and the concealed Faunus ears underneath. Had she been eavesdropping? "Before you ask, yes. And also, Ruby made me. I do not apologize." With that Blake ducked back into the room, leaving the door open for Yang to enter. Yang shook her head and chuckled before following her partner in.
A/N - Alright Yang, way to step up and take the leap. So now they're finally dating, we'll just have to see where this adventure takes them. This will not be the end of Clubbin', there is much more yet to come.
A slight apology here. It looks like the site is having some trouble with the review system. I get the email notifications and can read the first few lines of most reviews but when I try to view them on the site it tells me they don't exist. I really try to keep up with answering reviews and PM's and everything, so please if you're waiting on a reply and I haven't sent one just PM me because I probably didn't get it as a review.
Also, thank you for all the great commentary. I've been getting lots of love for this piece along with good critiques and some solid advice. Thanks so much for the interest you're all showing, I hope you continue to enjoy the piece.
-Zach