I've clearly opened Pandora's box of RWBY fanfics...but RCR is something I've really wanted to get back to! Mostly because I left you all high and dry. But here we go! And I've been sketching out future chapters...so there may be more in the future. Clearly, I'm slowly creeping towards something. Just a matter of how fast we can get there!
As always, enjoy!
"So how's Bang doing?" Pyrrha asked before extending a gracious 'thank you' to their waiter when he set a plate filled with food in front of her. "Jaune said Nora has literally not stopped talking about him since your birthday party."
"Oh, you mean the fish that's quickly replacing me?" Yang asked facetiously, adding one of those Celica-worthy pouts for emphasis. "He's still alive. For now."
"He's not replacing you," she quickly refuted, gently placing one reassuring hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Although I do spend an awful lot of time with him. And always when you're not at home..."
The chubby little goldfish now lived on the desk beside her computer screen, meaning that she watched him swim back and forth, back and forth, allll dayyyyy long. He would reach one side of the tank, pause for several seconds as if pondering whether or not he should make the effort to turn around, before finally coming to a decision and heading back the way he'd just come. Sometimes, just to alter his predetermined course in the bowl, she would throw a tiny scoop of food on top. After he'd finished gulping up most of it he would resume his swimming, but in a slightly different direction than before.
Depending on how well her writing was going on any particular day, she might end up feeding him several times...which may have contributed greatly to his rapidly increasing size, but there was no evidence to prove that. Bang could just be one of those unfortunate fish whose genes made it easier to put on weight! Although she'd always kind of believed that it was impossible for a fish to be overweight...
He wasn't too distracting from her work...most of the time...but at some point she might need to move him to another room - for her sake as well as his own. At least that's what she kept telling herself, but at the end of the day he reminded her of Yang, which meant he got to stay by her side.
Things had been just fine for the first couple of days. The jealousy hadn't begun until the blonde had walked in on her speaking to Bang in a voice that was a tad too...familiar. Apparently, it was highly unusual (and extremely frowned upon) for her to 'coo' at something that wasn't tall, blonde, and vivacious.
But ever since they'd put down those damn rugs in the hallways, Yang had been virtually silent upon returning home - meaning that Blake never heard her sneak up to the office door. Meaning she'd been caught in the act of conversing with the fish a few too many times recently.
Bang was a great listener though. He never interrupted her and always reserved judgement until she'd reached the end of her train of thought. And, although she wouldn't consider herself to be any sort of 'fish-whisperer,' it did seem like his tiny air bubbles were encouraging in nature. By now he knew all of the characters, plots, and subplots in her stories, as well as how she truly felt about particular scenes and relationships.
Now that she thought about it...that could be a reason why Yang felt so threatened by the innocent, pudgy, little creature. He had far more insight into Blake's working mind than she did. He was 'in the know,' as the expression goes.
'That Damn Fish,' Yang called him now.
Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if one day she came home and Bang had suffered some sort of tragic, unsolvable accident. But she could keep him safe as long as Yang never found out what she referred to him as during the day...
'Little Yang'
Such a cute fish...
"Be right back!"
Pulled out of her thoughts, she glanced over just in time to catch a kiss on the cheek as Yang stood from the table and made her way towards the back of the restaurant, likely for the restroom. Undeterred, she unfolded her napkin and placed it on her lap before setting in on her magnificent salmon topped salad.
"So I heard you two are having dinner with Weiss' family tonight," Pyrrha commented while spearing the first forkful of her own salad. "Seems a little strange, doesn't it?"
"Yeah...I'm not sure why her family is involved, but Weiss told Yang it would be a huge favor...and Yang is so determined to be best friends with her that of course she'll do it," she answered easily, placing a piece of delicious, perfectly cooked salmon into her mouth immediately after.
No wonder Yang had suggested this restaurant for lunch - the salmon was spectacular.
"I know," the model responded with a tinkling laugh and big smile. "That's been her goal for a while, although she never made any progress until you came along. I always thought she had a huge crush on Weiss...b-but obviously that's not true!"
The girl looked mortified at what she'd just let slip out, cheeks growing a shade of pink just as the scraping sound of a chair against the floor announced Yang's return to the table.
"Whatcha guys talking about?" the blonde asked curiously, placing her own napkin in her lap while settling back into her seat.
"Your huge crush on Weiss," she responded with a smirk, the remark nearly causing Yang to spit water out all over the table.
"W-what? Who said that?"
Grinning, she pointed one finger across the table where a certain world-renowned supermodel was trying to look as innocent as possible.
The blonde leveled her closest friend with narrowed eyes.
"After all I've done for you -"
The words were spoken seriously, but made Pyrrha immediately burst into laughter.
"Oh come on - you were always talking about her! What was I supposed to think, that you were trying to befriend her out of the kindness of your heart?"
"Yes!" the actress cried out, the answer so vehement it came out much higher pitched than usual - much to Pyrrha and Blake's continued entertainment. "That's exactly what you were supposed to think! My heart is very big and very kind and - oh shush up you two..."
Another pout appeared while Yang waited for the two of them to quiet their laughter.
"And for your information - not that you deserve it, you little red-headed twig - Weiss was the one who invited us to dinner. She called in a favor and as her friend I was more than willing to help."
Nodding at her girlfriend's somewhat-defiant words, she reached over and lightly squeezed Yang's hand on top of the table. Yang had been over-the-moon thrilled when Weiss had finally requested a favor, even if it was something as simple as having dinner with the singer's family. Although she was willing to bet that there was a good reason why Weiss considered it worthy of being called a 'big' favor...
"Ah, I see…" Pyrrha responded diplomatically, nodding her head as if Yang's answer suddenly made all the sense in the world. "So you're replacing me with Weiss."
Yang snorted at the unexpected answer, which only caused them all to start laughing once again.
"Well I'm trying to!" the blonde replied while nodding her head emphatically, earning a world-class eye roll from across the table.
"'After all I've done for you?'" Pyrrha asked sarcastically.
"Hey, 'Yang's best friend' only has a term of four years. Your time's about up, Pyrrha."
Scoffing, the model flipped her long red ponytail to the side with a tremendous amount of flair.
"Fine. Then I hope Weiss can figure out how to handle you on her own. I'm not going to help her."
"Ohhh someone's gonna be jealous of the new girl, huh?" Yang teased - pointing her fork across the table as Pyrrha puffed out her cheeks in protest.
Unable to hold it in any longer, she began giggling - the entire interaction between the two girls far too amusing to remain silent. The interruption brought an immediate halt to the argument as Yang turned towards her with a big grin - like the girl always did whenever she heard Blake laugh.
"You two bicker like an old couple," she said, only to laugh even harder when the two girls looked at each other in utter shock at the statement. But it wasn't long before Pyrrha began laughing too, with Yang following close behind.
It hadn't taken her very long to learn that this was how lunch usually went with these two - teasing and poking fun at one another until they both dissolved into laughter.
And since lunch had only just begun, she knew that at least three more 'arguments' were likely to occur...each over something trivial in nature, with the sole purpose being to artificially ruffle each other's feathers. The three arguments would probably result in at least two idle threats to leave the country, and one resolution to encroach on the other's profession.
If someone had told her a little while ago that this was what it was like to eat lunch with two of the most idolized girls in the world, she would have bet her career they were wrong. Yet here she sat, in the midst of something that had become her own special secret...
"Oh I hope it's ok with you, but since you're filming and can't make it to my next show I gave your pass to Jaune."
"You what?"
It was nearly an hour later that they'd finally finished with lunch or 'moved one step closer to friendship divorce,' as Yang had just put it.
"Alright Pyrrha, we'll see you later," the blonde said, gently taking ahold of Blake's hand as they stood outside the restaurant to say their goodbyes.
"If you're not too busy with your new best friend," the model replied cheekily before stepping forward to give Blake a quick hug, made a little more difficult by Yang refusing to let go of her right hand.
Turning to Yang, Pyrrha gave the blonde a big hug and kiss on the cheek before separating - sending an earnest smile their way.
"It was great to see both of you. Blake, try to keep her out of trouble, ok?"
Nodding sincerely at her new life goal, she waved when Pyrrha made her way away from them - fiery red hair sticking out like a sore thumb on the sidewalk sprinkled with gawking pedestrians.
"I love that girl," Yang commented casually as the model disappeared from view. "I-I mean, as a friend, you know -"
"I know," she replied, cutting off the girl's needless explanation. "But what do you want to do now? We still have a few hours to kill before dinner."
"Oh?" the blonde asked, raising her eyebrows while offering a beautiful grin and a seductive wink. "I could think of plenty we could get up to in a few hours…"
Rolling her eyes at how insatiable the girl continued to be, she still couldn't help being flattered at the never-ending desire to spend every spare minute of free time together…
"How about something involving clothing?" she pressed.
"Or absence thereof?"
Giving Yang one of 'those looks,' the girl burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright - how about...window shopping!"
As soon as the words left Yang's mouth, the girl was dragging her happily towards the shopping mall they'd just eaten lunch near. The entrance was teeming with people rushing to and fro on their own missions and agendas, but nearly all of them spared a second to stare in shock as Yang Xiao Long rushed past them. She grinned as she was dragged along behind the girl, by now having grown more accustomed to the ever-present glances someone like Yang received.
Not that she blamed people for looking - she couldn't really fault them for that. She would freely admit that she would be staring, too, and that she did stare...from time to time...
It wasn't very often that one got to be in the presence of someone so naturally gorgeous, after all. But she actually felt a little sorry for these people - the people who could only stare as Yang walked by. To them, Yang was nothing more than a famous, pretty face. They would never know the depths of the girl's character - how her sense of humor could make anyone smile or how her smile could brighten an entire room. It was those things and more that made Yang far more beautiful than anyone Blake had ever met before.
When they'd made it into the mall, Yang finally slowed to a more appropriate walking pace in order to guide them slowly along the path predetermined by the mall's architect. She didn't really care where they went, as long as they went there together. One of her favorite things to do with Yang (a list that just kept growing longer and longer with each passing day) was something simple like this - walking hand-in-hand, glancing through the windows of various shops as they passed while talking about whatever topic struck their fancy.
It was as if their hands fit perfectly together - comfortable beyond comprehensible imagination. Her hands were usually on the cold side, while Yang's were always nice and warm. Although...not as clammy as when they'd first started dating.
Not that she'd minded the clammy hands. It had been extremely cute, actually, knowing how nervous the blonde was. Here Yang was, an internationally recognized actress used to dealing with crowds of adoring fans and cameras pointed in her face all day, and Blake made her nervous.
She might have...taken advantage...of that situation just a few times.
Flustered Yang was also on her list of favorite things - quite near the top, actually.
"I wonder what Weiss' family is like," Yang mused as they walked past windows stuffed with an assortment of different wares - clothing, dishes, chocolates...
"I would think they'd be similar to Weiss."
"I imagine they look exactly like Weiss, have perfect manners, play chess for fun, and speak like...five different languages," Yang replied.
She laughed at the image of multiple chess playing versions of the singer.
"Do you think they have family tournaments or…"
"They tour the world racking up trophies."
Laughing, she leaned one shoulder into Yang's to bump the girl gently.
"Guess we'll find out tonight, right?"
"Maybe they'll have salmon for you."
Her mouth started salivating on cue. Swallowing and licking her lips, she finally responded.
"That would be really nice."
Of course, Yang hadn't missed the slight pause, grinning at her and poking her in the side with several tickling fingers.
"Didn't you justtt eat like...an entire fish with lunch?" the blonde teased. "You even ordered extra salmon!"
"I did no such -"
"Pyrrha and I saw you!" Yang interrupted. "You practically chased our waiter to the kitchen when you said you were going to the bathroom!"
Blushing when she realized she'd been found out, she was fortunately blessed with a rather convenient change of subject - this one disguised as a very familiar looking girl standing outside of a clothing store directly ahead of them.
"Isn't that...Coco?"
As she said the words, the tall girl turned towards them. It was in fact Coco Adel - the owner of the nightclub where they'd spent Yang's birthday a small time ago.
"Hey, fancy meeting you here!" Yang called out as they walked up to the girl. "What pulled you out of your coffin during the light of day?"
The question at first seemed odd, until Blake noticed that Coco did appear to be really tired. Undoubtedly, owning and operating a nightclub resulted in some pretty untraditional working hours.
"My girlfriend wanted to go shopping at this store today," the girl replied, tone and demeanor as calm and collected as the day they'd first met (and clearly unperturbed by Yang's insinuation that she was a vampire). "I just had a phone call I needed to step outside for."
"Girlfriend? No way! I need to meet the girl who managed to pry her way into your heart!" Yang said gleefully.
"You're in luck."
When Coco nodded her head towards the store behind them, they both turned in unison to see who the girl was gesturing to. Blake's eyes widened in surprise when she recognized the girl passing them by - feeling her heart start beating twice as fast in an instant. The girl was a shadow from her past - the very last person she would have expected to meet today, with Yang, of all people.
"This is Velvet," Coco said, wrapping one arm possessively around the girl's waist and drawing a blush onto the slender brunette's cheeks. "Velvet, this is Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna."
"Nice to meet you," Velvet directed towards Yang with a pleasant smile and nod before turning to Blake with an even bigger smile.
"Blake, I haven't seen you in forever."
Both Yang and Coco's brows rose in unison. She felt her cheeks heating up from the look Yang was giving her, but struggled to remain composed and answer like a normal person would. Like nothing was wrong. Nothingggg was wrong. Especially nothing worth asking about.
"Very well - what about you though? I thought you'd moved to Mistral!"
"I had. I just moved back recently, actually. Gosh, how long has it been? I haven't seen you since -"
"How long have you two been dating?" she interrupted, knowing that it was rude to interrupt but trying to avoid where the topic of conversation had been headed.
"A few months. We met at a fashion show in Mistral, actually," Coco explained, seeming vaguely intrigued as to what had just transpired. The girl's cool demeanor was not at all reflected in Yang's expression, which was openly curious about whatever information she was missing.
"You were working at the fashion show?" she asked turning back to Velvet with genuine interest at the news.
"Yes, they asked me to be one of their lead photographers. It was quite an honor."
"That's so great!" she replied, truly feeling happiness for her old friend. "I know you've always wanted to do that."
She was trying to keep the conversation going without allowing anyone else to butt in, but she could feel Yang looking back and forth between her and Velvet while trying to figure out what the connection was. And she knew - knew with every fiber in her being - that the curious blonde wouldn't be able to resist asking. Sooner or later, Yang would ask the questions that were burning just beneath the surface. Blake's only chance of getting out of this relatively unscathed was the keep talking and hope that Yang would wait -
A loud clearing of someone's throat halted Velvet's words before the girl could speak next.
It was with a foreboding feeling of dread that she turned towards Yang, who seemed to have finally had enough of waiting on the outskirts of the talking.
"So how do you two know each other?"
Her cheeks blushed fully at the question, which didn't go unnoticed by Yang for a second. The blonde gave her one of those enthralled grins that only succeeded in making her blush even deeper. Yang knew she was onto something - the girl just didn't know what it was yet.
"We went to school together," she answered quickly, trying her best to avoid Yang's eyes. The girl would be able to read right through her. "Actually," she continued, turning back to Velvet, "Yang went to the same school as us. Of course, you'd only have met her if you went to frat parties and looked for blondes jumping off roofs into pools."
"Hey!" Yang shouted, feigning indignation for a half second before flashing a big smile. "They weren't all frat party roofs."
They all chuckled for a few moments at Yang's joke (which had more truth in it than Yang would admit), before the appropriate time seemed to have arrived where they could say goodbye. Sensing this, Yang spoke up before Coco could speak, rushing out a question in order to keep the pair stuck in this conversation.
"So you two were friends? In college?"
Velvet nodded her head. "Yes, we met in an introductory photography class I decided to take on a whim. Blake was my photography partner."
Internally, she let out a long, very loud groan. For someone with such high energy, Yang was actually very observant. There was little that would slip by her on a good day, but when it came to Blake on a subject that had already perked the blonde's interest? Yang was like a dog chasing a giant steak.
"So you guys what - ran around campus taking pictures together?"
Yang smiled graciously at the end of her question - the type of smile that put people at ease with providing information even if the questions seemed like they were prying. That smile had worked wonders on her when they'd first begun dating, and it certainly didn't fail the girl now.
"Well, we got to choose which subject was most interesting to us. I believe Blake was interested in animals and I was fascinated by people. She volunteered to help me take model shots when I was first getting started."
She could feel Yang's eyes burning into her, silence shrouding them even in the busy mall. Although silence was a relative term, since her ears were filled with the pounding of her own heart as blood rushed to her cheeks.
With all the time they'd spent together talking and sharing stories, she would have thought that all of her embarrassing stories would have come out by now. But nope. Apparently she still had some to spare.
"You...modeled for her?"
"Just one or two times," she replied, trying to sound nonchalant about it. Yang didn't fall for it though, turning back to Velvet as if Blake hadn't spoken at all.
"You have to have pictures!" Yang practically pleaded the girl. "Please tell me you still have some - I'll buy them from you. Name your price - I'll pay anything!"
"It was a long time ago!" she interjected before Velvet could respond. "I'm sure she doesn't -"
"I...actually do have some of the negatives," Velvet replied, giving Yang a small smile in response to the loud 'whoop' of victory the girl had just done.
Coco had begun nodding her head when Velvet spoke.
"That's why you looked so familiar when we first met. I'd seen a couple of the photos when Velvet was showing me her early works."
If Yang's jaw had been on the ground before, it was now falling through the basement towards the other side of the earth.
"You've seen them?"
The blonde's voice squeaked loudly at the end of her question, drawing several (more) curious glances their direction. Yang paid the extra attention no mind though, eyes flashing back and forth between Coco and Velvet like she didn't know who she wanted to start questioning first.
"What do they - Where - What was she wearing?" Yang finally got out, actually reaching over and grabbing both of Velvet's hands in her own. "You have to let me see them - please!"
Velvet and Coco laughed at the blonde's pleas while Blake shook her head in resignation. Suddenly, the decision to go window shopping seemed like a big mistake. Of course, the gleeful expression on Yang's face said the exact opposite - the blonde was clearly ecstatic about her most recent discovery.
"I can probably have copies made and sent over to you," Velvet said, giving Blake a small, apologetic smile. "I'd actually been meaning to contact you to see if you wanted copies."
Velvet hadn't even finished speaking before Yang had her phone out, hastily tapping keys before a soft beep emitted from Coco's bag.
"I just sent you my work address, home address, email, all my phone numbers, and fax numbers," Yang said, undeterred when Velvet began giggling at the exhaustive list. "Please send them to one or all of those things!"
Sliding her hand into Yang's, she gave the blonde a little tug in an effort to calm her down.
"Glad we could all find something to talk about," she commented dryly, before something else popped into her mind. "You know, Yang is good friends with Pyrrha Nikos. We just had lunch with her, actually. Yang, do you think Pyrrha could get Velvet into some more shows?"
Yang grinned, satisfied with the information she'd already learned today, and nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yeah, absolutely! I don't want to brag, but I can get Pyrrha to do pretty much anything I want. Except tell me I'm right..."
All of them laughed at Yang's comment, which was true - Blake had seen it in action.
"That would be really, really great though," Velvet said. "I would love to photograph her. She's absolutely gorgeous."
"Well let us know what you need her to do and we'll get her to do it!" Yang said. "And I'm prettyyyy sure I can get Jaune Arc thrown in for free. I'm not sure if he's worth anything, but he's free so can't hurt, right?"
"Perfect - we'll be in touch then," Coco said with a smile, her cool demeanor having warmed considerably over the past few minutes. Velvet's joyful expression might have had something to do with that though...
"Can't wait," Yang answered cheerfully. "And please don't forget those photos!"
"I think you'll enjoy them," Coco said as the two girls backed away. "Some of them are a little...risque."
As the tall girl winked at them over her sunglasses, Velvet elbowed her in the side and pulled her away with a small wave. Blake felt her cheeks reach new levels of red when Yang turned towards her, eyes wide open in shock.
"Are they?"
The question was whispered in such awe, she ended up laughing. "Guess you'll just have to wait and see," she teased, intertwining her fingers in Yang's and pulling the blonde towards the exit of the mall, slightly worried about who else they might stumble across if they kept walking. "Come on, we should go get ready for dinner tonight - don't want to be late, do we?"
"I do want to be late if it involves seeing photos of you in college!"
"Any chance you'll forget about that?"
"No way - you're adorable! All awkward and stuff."
"I wasn't awkward! I just...I had no idea we were going to run into her today. Of all people," she sputtered, feeling even more embarrassed now.
Yang stopped laughing and squeezed Blake's hand reassuringly.
"But now she's back so you two can be friends!" Yang said excitedly. Blake looked at her in surprise, knowing exactly how much Yang valued having all of Blake's free time to herself.
"You wouldn't mind that?"
"No, of course not! You need to have your own friends. I mean, I have Pyrrha, if you can count that piece of red licorice a friend."
She laughed at the newest nickname for the redhead, which seemed to be getting more and more outlandish with each passing day.
"Well, I appreciate it. It would be nice to reconnect with Velvet."
"Yup! And don't worry about me being jealous since she's all beautiful and you modeled for her in the past in who knows what outfits."
She scoffed. "They were just regular clothes! But you don't have anything to worry about."
Although, the more she tried to remember what she'd worn, the less sure she was about the 'regular clothes' part of that statement...
"I know I don't have to worry," Yang replied earnestly, turning to give her a smile while swinging their arms back and forth. "Because I know exactly how you feel about me."
Blake raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And how do I feel about you?" she asked, curious as to what the answer might be.
What she didn't expect was for Yang to stop walking and pull her close - close enough that they were staring into each other's eyes, her entire field of vision filled with that vibrant lilac that had captured her from the first instant they'd stumbled upon each other.
"You can't live without me," the blonde whispered softly, all hint of a joke gone.
Blake smiled, pushing Yang playfully away from her with a "you wish."
But her rapidly beating heart told her that Yang was 100% correct.
"Come on, let's go home and get ready for dinner."
Hopefully after an eventful day, they could enjoy a rather uneventful night. Although, being with Yang usually meant that something interesting was always just around the corner. And with Weiss so far being mum on what her parents were like…
"What if Weiss' dad is a robot?"
...it didn't look like that was going to be changing anytime soon.