Chapter Text
It had been a long time since Salem’s era and to be quite honest, Blake was so unbelievably glad to revert to a boring modern life.
She enjoyed living with Yang since everything ended. Their domestic little life moving from awkward sleepovers in their twenties at each other’s houses, then their first shitty apartment together that was so perfect. Now, finally, they’re home. Their real home.
Detached and in the suburbs of Vale, their own front and back yard that was basically a field. Three bedrooms and still expanding as Yang worked on the loft extension in her spare time. Their gorgeous living room that flows so easily through into their kitchen and dining room, even out into the backyard if their back door was left open.
During the week she would go to work, helping Weiss rebuild SDC from the ground up whilst Yang danced her way through life doing what she did best: mechanics.
Cars, bikes, vans and motorcycles. If it had wheels she could work her magic on it. It was a talent. God, she was so talented at everything. She built all of their furniture, painted every room, installed all of the flooring and carpets by herself. They’re sliding doors at the back of the house? Yeah , Yang did that.
Yang’s talent aside, their life together was the happiest and best years of Blake’s life. She could say that confidently. She loved when they came home at night and had dinner together, so looked forward to climbing into bed and resting her head in the crook of Yang’s neck. It was perfect.
The other regular part of her life that she loved more than anything: her weekend girls nights with Weiss, Emerald and Nora.
All four of them went to Crosshair’s bar (aka, Coco and Velvet’s amazing cocktail bar smacked down in the middle of Vale) and got wrecked. Blake and Weiss took shots, Emerald physically cannot get drunk, then no one quite knows how Nora gets to where she ends up.
Every single time Blake ends up in the smoking area.
Every. Single. Time.
They don’t count when she’s drinking! Weiss says it too and they stand by the universal rule.
It’s just one of those things that happens every weekend. They share all their stories, get wasted, smoke. Then Blake comes home and tells Yang every minute detail, of course.
“-and then Mercury had threw up on Emerald’s feet so now, he’s embarrassed, she’s embarrassed, everything’s a little awkward-“
“Blake, I’m gonna cut you off there,” Yang said, signing as she held her hand up, her eyes closed in half annoyance. “How do you know this?”
The faunus gasped, feigning surprise to the question she is asked every time she tells a story to her fiancé without fail.
(Oh, yeah, they’re engaged. Blake supposed she hadn’t flaunted that fact as much as she should but it was literally the best thing to happen to her.)
“From the smoking area.”
“Oh yeah?” Yang grinned. “The smoking area you go to because you don’t smoke.”
“You know they don’t count when you’re drunk right?”
“Really? You should tell your lungs that too.” Yang moved to sit on her chair across from the sofa. The chair was rightfully claimed as Yang’s because it was the only place she sat when she and Blake would talk together when they were alone. She preferred the eye contact she could get whilst remaining comfy. “Just give the little organs a heads up. Hey ! Maybe we should tell our livers that too and start taking shots of tequila every night before bed.”
“Why can you never not be sarcastic when I talk about things?” Blake grumbled, pouting.
Yang held her hands up, waving them profusely as an apology to her fiancé. “I’m sorry, it’s just…you and Weiss go out every weekend and you always come back with these crazy stories.”
It didn’t take a genius to tell that Yang was looking a little dejected. Like a lost puppy left to wander around on its own whilst everyone minded their own business.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asked, leaning on the arm of the sofa. She needed to know so she could fix it. They were on a roll for months without an argument and that seemed like a good omen before their wedding…in twelve weeks, but time is a made up concept anyway!
“Do you ever tell stories about me when you’re out?” Yang asked. “About us ?”
“Of course I do!” Blake said. “We have so many stories, what’s not to tell!”
“Blake, you literally never talk about you and Yang.”
“That’s not true!”
Weiss rolled her eyes, twirling her cigarette between her fingers and miraculously avoiding burning herself at all. Only tiny pieces of ash falling to the ground as she flicked them off.
“You tell us nice things, you tell us news, but never any stories,” Emerald said, shrugging as she leaned against the fence of the smoking area, the bar’s ruffled nylon fence cover rustling and threatening to fall off with another movement. “I bet you have a lot of lovely stories though.”
“I don’t know if I’d call them lovely…” Weiss shivered. “But some are… nice .”
“I was being sarcastic,” Emerald stage whispered, Weiss chuckling at her.
“We have hundreds of nice stories, actually,” Blake said with a pointed look at Weiss, downing her drink and placing her glass on a bench nearb.
The truth was, she treasured all of her stories with Yang like trinkets stacked upon shelves. She thought about them often and took pride in all of those moments, they made her happier than anything else in the world. For some reason, she was just scared to share them.
It was terrifying thinking how people would react. Would they laugh? Would they tell her that there was something wrong? Would they show her something that she had never seen before and suddenly she would be rethinking the last six years of her life - oh, and all of the lien she had sunk into this wedding - she couldn’t bare the thought.
She loved Yang Xiao Long more than life itself but she would be damned if she would let her get the best of her in this hypothetical situation she had made up in her head.
Which sounded insane…she realised.
But she wouldn’t even know where to begin with these stories! Their first date? Their engagement? Would they want something cute? Something raunchy? Gods, what would even be classified as anything because Weiss was a prude unless she was six drinks in.
“Let’s make it easy!” Nora declared, perking up from the bench she had been passed out on. “Why don’t you just start from when you first started to like Yang!”
Weiss narrowed her eyes. “Nora, that was like twelve years ago. How is she supposed to remember that?”
“I actually do remember it, it’s in my wedding vows,” Blake said, smiling dreamily. “I could literally never forget that.”
Now that made her feel like a schoolgirl again. So giddy and fawning over the hot blonde in her class.
“So are you gonna tell us or..?” Emerald quipped, studying her glass for some odd reason.
Blake sighed and nodded her head.
“Well,” she said. “Six years ago-“
It was the second day at Beacon and Blake had already had her sights set on a partner.
If she had to be stuck with someone, please god let it be Yang.
Admittedly, Blake was embarrassed to have even been thinking about it. But she was just so… nice . Something felt right about her. Like coming back home to a warm house after being out in the rain.
There was something so comforting about her. Maybe it was her bashful yet still confident introduction. The caring way she fawned over her sister. Possibly even how she stuck up to the Schnee heiress the night before when she was complaining about them making a racket.
She pitied the team who got stuck with Weiss Schnee.
Blake steadied her breathing and closed her eyes as she was launched into the air by Ozpin. Her landing strategy came easy for her. It was like diving into a pool, she found. All it took was to balance her weight, fire off gambol shroud into a thick branch and, voila, she was clinging to the ribbon and…
Crashing into the bushes apparently.
Okay, so not that graceful of a first start but she would move on from that.
Blake scurried into the trees, keeping out of sight whilst she loosened the ribbon around her ears. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, she could hear Yang’s voice and rush to her. Sure, it was cheating, but if no one found out about it then who cares, right?
She clutched her ear as gunshots rang out. Loud and much like something powerful.
And as much as she wanted to ignore it and go search for Yang…there was a very real possibility that one of these kids wouldn’t be able to hold their own against the Grimm. Honestly, she was certain that the blonde boy flirting with Weiss must have skipped the entrance exam entirely. Because not only was he scrawny but he was clearly stupid because not a single thing about Weiss told her that she was into men.
Blake jumped from branch to branch as she traversed, a black bird flying by her side that she couldn’t quite identify until it eventually disappeared into the tree line. At least this was a good deed done for the day. She could at least keep one kid alive.
But, much to her excitement, she just so happened to find Yang instead. Still alone, no potential partner in sight.
The blonde had beaten two ursa’s already, tossed aside like garbage. Another appeared behind her and of course Yang acted like the hero. Practically beating her chest as she yelled a taunt at the Grimm. The ursa had no clue what she was talking about, opting to roar and ready itself for a charge.
Luckily, Blake was there to throw one swift swing of gambol shroud that brought the ursa to its knees.
It took so much to not smirk when Yang looked at her, absolutely dumbfounded. So instead she pulled back gambol shroud from the grimm from the ribbon of her sword. If anyone knew how much of a performance she was trying to put on to make sure she looked good her life would be over.
Blake looked up at Yang to solidify that, yes, she was her partner for until whenever they parted ways. She tried to keep her composure, keep a straight face as the gothic and mysterious girl. She knew the role and played it well.
But, as the story always goes, as soon as she locked eyes with Yang. Blake smiled.
“Blake, you know I don’t believe in love at first sight,” Weiss complained, sighing with a cloud of smoke following behind. “It’s not realistic.”
Without dropping her smile, Blake rolled her eyes and said, “That is bullshit and you know it. Besides, that wasn’t when I knew that there was something more between us.”
“A plot twist,” Emerald says. “Do tell.”
Blake leaned back and relaxed. She knew how the story went. Not the classic romance and if anything probably a little silly now that they were older. More matured and looking for novelty in their lives.
She knew exactly when she fell for Yang, “It was that night in the dorms.”
Their team had packed away their things, claimed their beds and screwed around getting to know each other's habits.
Weiss was a clean freak, that much was to be expected.
Ruby was not.
See the problem?
Blake couldn’t claim to be a saint either, she left everything at her feet. Their vanity table where Yang had quickly set up her gaming console was half filled with a mirror and a collection of dark coloured makeup. A very stark contrast to Weiss’ side that was filled with blues, whites and a singular black mascara.
She could foresee a battle over the table but that was a future problem.
Currently, Blake was watching Yang from the top bunk. Opting to lie in her partner's bed whilst the blonde did her own thing for a little while. It was fascinating, honestly. Yang had already established a habit of putting out fires once they started and throwing a match elsewhere to distract everyone from the real issue.
The situation was this: Weiss and Ruby had got into a heated argument over the bunk beds. Weiss was not particularly happy about the prospect that the bed may collapse on top of her in her sleep. Instead of arguing the point, Yang simply slipped in a comment about how she was too used to sleeping in luxury.
Blake knew she didn’t mean it to sound nasty. But whilst Weiss raved on and on about the comment Yang made, Yang simply secured Ruby’s bed so as to not crush the ice queen in her sleep.
The best part was, no one caught on to what Yang did. Only Blake.
That night, Blake lay awake. Too many thoughts racing through her mind, everything too alert and on edge despite the fact she knew she was safe now. So she let herself wander out onto the roof. She had seen Jaune sneak out here earlier so why not copy him. It was the dead of night.
It would just be her, the shattered moon, a cold breeze and fresh air. The cold air did make her shiver.
And as the thought crossed her mind, Blake jumped in surprise when she felt a warm fabric loosely fall on her shoulders.
“Sorry,” Yang laughed. “I didn’t think you’d be so surprised.”
“I thought you were asleep,” Blake said.
Yang shook her head. “Too wired.”
“How so?” Blake asked, gripping the warm zipper that Yang had thrown over her. She had a feeling Yang would’ve just left the question hanging in the air, so Blake smiled and bumped her shoulder. “Come on, what are partners for if not late night talks.”
The blonde ducked her head down, her hair covering her eyes. It was silent for a moment. Blake’s heart began to race because she feared that she had upset Yang. The thought of her crying right now…well, Blake wouldn’t know what to do. It would be sort of awkward really.
“I’m glad it was you…” Yang said quietly as she lifted her head, smiling as she stared off at the sky. “I’m glad you changed your mind.”
Blake blushed. Her face was flushed red, so much so that she had to hide behind one of her hands.
“I just saw you and thought it’d be a good idea since we already knew each other, don’t get too ahead of yourself.”
Yang laughed. “You chose me, and I’m glad that you did. I wouldn’t want anyone else here as my partner.”
“Stop getting all sappy!”
“I’m serious, we’re a great balance!” Yang cried. “You’re all dark and serious, I’m lighthearted and not serious at all- “
“I guess so, like how I’m super agile and you have a more head on fighting style, it’s a good balance.”
They stopped for a moment. Blake didn’t know what to do, how to act. Not when Yang was staring at her and smiling like she was the only other person on the planet. Like she had crossed oceans just to find her waiting at the edge of remnant.
“I’m glad we met.” Yang grinned as she stood, gently patting Blake’s shoulder as she walked by. “Keep the zipper, it’s cold. I’ll try to stay up until you get back to the room.”
Blake muttered a thank you before tucking her face into the neck of the zipper.
Something was set in motion, a small flutter in the pit of her stomach that would not go away. Something she hadn't felt in a long time…and it was so exciting .
“And that’s the night I knew I was going to be absolutely head over heels for Yang.”
Weiss smiled as she snubbed out her cigarette, collecting her jacket from the back of one of the chairs. She smiled as she placed her cigarettes into her handbag, saying, “You never told any of us that.”
“Yang doesn’t even know that,” Blake said. “I’ve saved that story for six years .”
“Bullshit, how did that not come up in all that,” Emerald said with a roll of her eyes.
“It did, but never the whole story,” Blake explained. “Yang is absolutely none the wiser, she gets caught up in the fact that I actually liked her back at the time.”
“Well, you better get home to her before she starts asking if we’ve killed you off,” Nora exclaimed, waving her taxi booking app in the air on her scroll.
Going home to crawl into bed sounded amazing right about now.
It only took another forty minutes for her to get home. She had to help a stumbling Nora into Ren’s arms and then had to deal with Weiss and Emerald’s insufferable flirting in the car. It only made it worse because she knew it led absolutely nowhere.
But she was more than happy to see all of the lights turned off in the house. A singular lamp turned on in the living room as a sign that Yang had headed to bed despite trying to wait for Blake to get home.
She tried to close the door as quietly as she could, but that only caused a larger ruckus when locking the door. Not to mention the sound of her bumping off of the furniture trying to turn off the lamp before she headed to bed.
With complete excitement as she hopped upstairs, Blake swung around the corner into the bedroom. Leaving a trail of clothes that she shed off like a second skin, opting for the pyjamas that Yang had left lying on her dressing table for her getting home.
The blonde was sound asleep in their bed, glued to her side of the bed, one arm tossed to Blake’s side and waiting for her.
So, like the good fiancé she was, she indulged Yang by crawling into bed and resting her head on Yang’s arm as though it was a pillow. Her hand clasped Yang’s as she settled in.
This was it, she decided, this was the best story she could tell anyone.
How simply great it felt to just be with Yang.
But , she supposed she had more tales to tell.