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Blake looked at her reflection in the mirror, focusing on her eyes because she wasn’t sure how to feel about the rest of it.
It was weird enough for her that Weiss had taken the time to force her to sit still so that she could do Blake’s make up. It was just…so not like Weiss.
Hmmm. Maybe that was a bit harsh. Weiss was not the same girl back at Beacon, that was for sure. Blake heard the genuine guilt in her voice when she apologised (again) for whatever involvement the SDC may have had in creating the monster that was Adam.
Blake shook her head.
No. You’re not thinking about that now. Not anymore. He’s gone.
Taking a deep breath, Blake looked at her reflection again and this time, allowed her gaze to travel down, taking in the soft material of the long, deep purple dress Weiss has arranged for her to wear to the Atlas Ball. It almost seemed bizarre that mere days before, she had been fighting for her life and now, Team RWBY were being honoured in large part, thanks to Cordova’s report of their assistance in the defeat of the Leviathan.
Not that Blake had really done very much other than try to be the cheerleader for her team. It wasn’t a role she was used to playing, that’s for sure, but after everything that they had been through, how could she not?
“What do you think?” Weiss asked.
Her voice was quiet, and Blake knew it was because Weiss, along with only two other people in the world, knew that she liked to be in her head sometimes, and they respected it.
She felt a rush of gratitude for her incredible teammates and quickly turned to enfold a surprised Weiss in an embrace.
“Uh, Blake, it’s not even that big a deal. The dress was one of Winter’s and Kline made sure to-“
“I’m not hugging you because of the dress, Weiss,” Blake said, smiling despite wanting to roll her eyes.
“Oh.” It took a moment, but Weiss’ arms rested around Blake’s waist as she hugged her back.
“Uh, am I interrupting something?”
Blake and Weiss stepped apart.
“You’re not interrupting anything,” Blake said with a smile, walking up to Ruby and giving her a hug. “I’m just really, really glad we’re all here together. We’re safe.” She paused. “Well, for a little while, anyway.”
Ruby didn’t hold back in her hug, which Blake expected. She was the only person in the world who broadcasted everything that she felt and thought. Blake envied her.
“Yang’s waiting for you,” Ruby said after they pulled away.
Blake’s heart started beating irrationally fast. Well, not irrationally. Yang had a habit of making her heart beat fast…
“Blake, calm down.” Weiss put her hands on Blake’s shoulders. “This doesn’t need to be anything you don’t want it to be.”
Blake took a deep breath. “It’s everything I want,” she whispered.
Weiss looked at her for a few moments before nodding and stepping back. “Well, go on, then. She’s not gonna know what hit her.”
Blake couldn’t be sure if Weiss was smirking, but it certainly looked like it. She’d just never seen it on Weiss before.
“Yang’s not gonna know what hit her!” Ruby agreed, clapping her hands in excitement.
“I don’t want to hit her,” Blake mumbled, even though she knew that wasn’t what they meant. She knew how to dress up; she’d done it at the Beacon dance before the Vytal Tournament and had done it plenty of times when her father still ran the White Fang.
I wonder what’s going to happen now-
No! You are not thinking about that now! The White Fang are no longer your concern.
Blake entered the long corridor that led to the ballroom in the municipal offices that had been done up for the event. She could already hear the music playing and laughter trickling through the open doors. Her heels clicked noisily on the tiled floor as she walked closer to the party.
Was Yang already inside? Blake bit her lip and her ears twitched nervously. She had hoped they might have a few moments to themselves before being swept up in the grandeur of everything. Being honoured was great, especially after what they’d all been through the last year. Blake’s guilt started creeping back up her spine, but she straightened her back and lifted her chin.
She would not let her fear dictate her anymore.
“Oh, wow.”
Blake spun around, knowing immediately who owned that voice. Upon seeing the vision of her partner, Blake’s mouth went dry. Yang was wearing a three-piece black suit with the top button of her purple dress shirt undone – the same purple as Blake’s dress. She should have guessed that Yang would look good in a suit, but any image she’d conjured in her head did no justice to the real thing.
Nothing in her head ever could.
“Wow indeed,” she whispered.
Yang stepped closer and while Blake had experienced many reactions and emotions from Yang since re-joining the team, nervousness had never been one of them. She didn’t even think Yang knew how to be nervous.
“Blake,” Yang murmured, moving so that she was right in front of Blake, “you look breathtaking.”
Words, Blake. You know those. Use them.
“You look stunning, Yang,” she replied honestly, staring deeply into the eyes that matched her aura.
No, it wasn’t something that had constantly been on her mind since their fight. And no, she definitely didn’t remember the stories her mom told her about soulmates and eyes and auras.
Yang exhaled lightly, her breath fluttering across Blake’s lips, making her swallow thickly. Had it suddenly gotten really warm?
“Are you ready for this?”
What is this…?
“Um…” Blake shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Yang held out her arm. “I’m here for you, Blake.”
Blake nodded and hooked her arm through Yang’s. “I know you are. And I’m not going anywhere.”
It seemed like an ordinary thing to say, but Blake was hyper aware of how Yang seemed to relax each time she said that she was staying.
She’d promised, and there was no way she was breaking that promise.
Yang was struggling to keep her cool. Confidence was usually second-nature for her, but with Blake…
Everything was just different with Blake.
It was better, and Yang knew that it was because it was real.
She and Blake were real. She felt it in her soul.
As much as she wanted to tell Blake how she really felt, she didn’t want to push too much on her too quickly. She’d just endured a terrible ordeal, and while Yang had been there, Blake had been suffering for so much longer than Yang cared to think about.
Once Yang had realised that her hurt at Blake leaving was ruling all of her emotions, she took a little time while they were out searching for Oscar to think things over. Yeah, Blake had left, and yeah, it had really fucking hurt. But she’d come back. She tried to make amends, even if she was terrible at it. But she was trying. Yang had let her own pain blind her to that. They had always been more than partners, than friends, than roommates.
So, so much more.
Before, Yang hadn’t been able to put it into words, but holding Blake in her arms, trying to calm her shaking sobs, she’d known then that she loved Blake. It was an awakening, but more a case of relieving that itch that she’d never quite been able to reach. She loved Blake with her whole heart, and she wasn’t letting her go.
Swallowing nervously, Yang reached out with her prosthetic arm and took Blake’s hand. One thing she marvelled at was once Blake had gotten over her initial nerves of being back with the team, she’d never looked at Yang’s arm in any different way that she’d looked at her before. Yang was so tired of the sympathetic expressions, especially in Atlas. Sure, it was Atlesian tech, but it was her. It was part of her.
Blake linked their fingers together. “Are you ready to do this?”
As Yang looked into Blake’s eyes, she wondered if Blake had something else in mind. Ready for what? For the ball? For such a ridiculously public spectacle that they both generally avoided?
Maybe a ball every now and then isn’t necessarily a bad thing if I get to Blake all dressed up like this…
Unable to look away, Yang tried to read Blake’s thoughts – wouldn’t be the first time she’d tried. She just wanted to know. Was her affection one-sided? Sure, she knew Blake cared for her, knew that she felt a loyalty and devotion to her partner and team, but…was it more? Could it be more?
God, I want it to be more.
Yang was definitely feeling something from Blake, something a little different to their usual vibe, but she was scared of misinterpreting it. They’d spent so much time misunderstanding each other, not listening to one another that Yang wanted to make sure they were on the same page about everything. That second nature that they’d had back at Beacon certainly made a grand reappearance during their fight with Adam, but their connection was more than their fighting together.
She wanted it be more.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Blake sked quietly, stepping a little closer so that there was minimal space between their bodies.
Yang smiled bashfully. “I’m sorry. I guess you just render me speechless.”
Blake rolled her eyes, but her smile belied her annoyance. “You sure you’re okay?”
Yang took a deep breath. “Blake, I am the most okay that I have been in a very long time. Too long, actually.”
Habitually, Blake’s eyes dropped, and Yang used her other hand to tip her chin up. She didn’t want to waste moments where she could be looking into Blake’s captivating eyes.
“I know that there’s still a lot we need to talk about, but right now…right here, I’m Yang, and you’re Blake.”
Blake nodded. “Yeah. I like the sound of being just Yang and Blake for a night.”
“So…what would just Blake say if I asked her to be my date to the ball tonight?” Yang asked quietly, nervously. She desperately fought the urge to break eye contact out of fear of rejection.
“I think that just Blake would love that,” Blake whispered. “But I think the rest of Blake would also really like that too.”
“Really?” Yang’s excitement seemed to brighten the entire hallway.
“I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to waste anymore opportunities because of…him, because of how he got in my head, how he made me feel.”
“I’m glad you’re recognising the strength I always knew you had,” Yang murmured, fingers playing with an errant strand of Blake’s hair.
“I’m always stronger with you, Yang.”
That was it. The moment. It had to be, right?
Yang cupped Blake’s face in both hands and brought their faces close together. “Tell me if this isn’t what you want. I never want you to feel like you have to do things with me.”
“Oh, I don’t,” Blake replied breathily, grabbing hold of the lapels of Yang’s suit and pulling her closer, finally allowing for their lips to meet.
Weiss’ sharp eyes saw another politician heading towards Blake and Yang as they swayed together on the dance floor, eyes only for one another, lost in their own world. Deftly, she intercepted the man’s path.
“Pardon me, but I have to ask if we’ve met before? Your face seems awfully familiar,” she said politely.
She saw his eyes dart behind her but it wasn’t like she was an unfamiliar face in Atlas either. Ignoring a Schnee, disinherited or not, was still considered to be a grievous societal error.
“Uh, I believe we have, Miss Schnee, though it was some years ago.”
Weiss had taken the few moments afforded to her to tap back into her Schnee training. Memorising face after face, matching the names and affiliations so that she could competently work a room at one of the many functions her father threw during her formative years.
“Senator Rialto,” she said in comprehension. “You’re the head of the agricultural industry in the Municipality.”
The senator actually looked impressed and Weiss gave herself a congratulatory pat on the back. Subtly moving their positions so that she could keep an eye on Yang and Blake, Weiss effortlessly engaged the senator in a conversation she had no genuine interest in. The name of the game, however, was to give Blake and Yang a chance to experience each other.
If anyone deserves it, they do, Weiss thought fiercely.
After successfully handing the senator off to another congressman, Weiss moved back to her perch at the edge of the dance floor.
“Whatcha doing?”
Weiss rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Nora. This is a ball. Have some decorum.”
Nora just snorted. “You have more than enough for everyone.”
Weiss opened her mouth and then closed it again, not sure if she was being complimented or insulted.
“W-Weiss!” came Ruby’s panicked voice from next to her.
She readied herself to catch her partner instinctively. Ruby grinned and threw her arms around Weiss’ neck.
“Thanks! You’re getting into the hang of saving me when I need you most!”
“Don’t you mean getting into the yang of it?” Nora guffawed.
Ruby tried not to laugh, but her stifled attempts were poor at best.
Weiss shook her head at the childish antics of her friends and resumed her watch over Yang and Blake.
“Just leave them be. They’ll be fine,” Ruby said, her voice uncharacteristically soft.
“I know they will be. I just want to give them this moment.”
“They’ll have so many more, Weiss. This is only the beginning for them.”
Weiss looked at Ruby and the earnest, happy look in her eyes cracked a smile.
“Well, I guess it’s clear who the captain of the Bumbleby ship is!” Nora exclaimed.
“They have a ship?” Ruby asked, confused.
“Yeah! A big ol’ ship with a big-hearted Weissy-Weiss to keep them on course.”
Weiss just smiled as she saw Yang press a soft kiss to Blake’s forehead. “You’re right, Ruby. This is only the beginning for them. And they’ll steer their own ship. They’ve been sailing past each other for too long.”
“I knew it! Weiss is a romantic!”
“Nora, will you keep your voice down!”
On the dance floor, Yang spun Blake in a slow circle but pulled her back almost immediately, not wanting to be away from her for longer than necessary.
“How long do you think we should let Weiss think that she’s doing us a favour by running interference?” Yang murmured. Their tones had been soft whispers since they’d stepped on the dance floor.
Blake smiled. “Let her have her fun. I quite like having so much interrupted time with you.”
“You’re gonna have so much time with me you’re gonna get sick of me.”
“I very much doubt that, Yang,” Blake said with a chuckle. “I love you too much.”
Yang kissed her immediately. “I love you too much.”
Blake kept her hand on the back of Yang’s neck and rested their foreheads together. “I finally feel like I’m home.”
Yang wrapped her arms around Blake, knowing exactly what she meant.
Wherever they were, in Atlas or Vale or Vacuo, as long as they were together, they were home.