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Yang sighs as she looks up at the moonlit ceiling above her. As crazy as it sounds, she can’t fall asleep.
After the day her and her friends had, Yang should have no problem falling asleep. They’ve had rough, long days before, but nothing compared to fighting off Cinder, a rogue headmaster, and a guy who had some serious anger issues with Ozpin, on top of recovering a world saving relic. So now that Yang and her friends finally had some peace and quiet to rest and not worry about things, it was a little ironic that this was the one time she wasn’t able to just close her eyes and drift into sleep.
It’s not like Yang doesn’t know the reason for her restlessness, though.
Ever since Blake made her grand entrance earlier in the night, Yang barely found it in her to contain her excitement. It was a similar feeling to when her and Weiss hugged back in her mom’s camp, or when they rejoined with Ruby and the rest of their friends. Except with Blake it was… different. Seeing her spin gracefully through the air and kick back Hazel still seems amazing to Yang hours later, as if it was something straight out of a fairytale, and she can now say with full confidence that she is head over heels for her Faunus friend.
Truth be told, Yang always kinda had feelings for Blake. On their first night at Beacon, Yang pushed her sister to talk to Blake not just so Ruby could make new friends, but because Yang wanted to talk to her. Most of the other students at Beacon didn’t really stand apart to her, but with Blake, she just… shone compared to the others. And she wasn’t talking about just her looks.
It just so happened that Blake was the same person who ran into her sister earlier that day, so that gave Yang a good excuse to mask her real reason for wanting to talk to her.
When she was put on the same team with Blake during orientation, Yang took it as the universe giving her a sign. The more time they spent together at Beacon, she found herself genuinely caring for Blake more and more, and what she thought was just a stupid crush began to grow into more concrete feelings — feelings that she never told anyone about. Not Ruby, not Weiss, and more importantly, not Blake.
So of course Yang was upset when Blake said she wished she could trust her after being banned from the tournament. And of course she went ballistic after seeing Adam hurt Blake in the ruins of Beacon Academy. And of course she felt hurt after she decided to run away from her and the rest of the team.
And of course Yang’s heart practically jumped for joy when Blake literally jumped back into their lives. Now that she has a second chance, Yang isn’t planning on hiding her feelings any more.
She tried to find an opening during dinner to pull Blake in the small garden outside and tell her how she felt, but she had no such luck. It was the first time that everyone was finally back together, and everyone was interested in hearing stories from Blake and the rest of their friends. Besides, Yang didn’t want to ruin her first night back by complicating it with her feelings.
So after a night of smiles and stories, everyone went to bed content and with a full stomach. Except Yang, who has the added weight of trying to figure out when and even how to tell Blake about her feelings. Which is why she’s aimlessly gazing at the ceiling while everyone else slept.
Knowing that she’ll get nowhere moping around, Yang decides to least get some water from downstairs to try and calm her nerves. She isn’t going to confront Blake now about her feelings in the middle of the night with Ruby and Weiss in the room, so the best she can do is to relax and worry about it in the morning. When she might have a chance to tell Blake about these months long feelings she has for her.
Against Qrow’s recommendation, the four girls decided to recreate their bunk beds from Beacon, so she takes extra care to climb down without also bringing her bed down with her. What they gained in combat skills, they didn’t exactly make up for in bed construction.
Once landing softly on the wood floor, Yang glances over at Blake’s bed to make sure she hasn’t woken her up. But her eyes grow wide and she feels her heart skip a beat as she looks at what should be an occupied bed, but instead only has a pillow and two blankets resting on it. Her first instinct is to wake up Ruby and Weiss, and her mind fills with images of Blake being kidnapped or taken away by some White Fang member that tailed them back to the house. But before she can spiral out of control, Yang leans against Blake’s empty bed and takes a few deep breaths.
The two windows in the room are as securely locked as they were when the four of them came in, and Yang knows for a fact that Blake was with her, Ruby and Weiss when they all went to bed. The rational part of Yang is sure that Blake is probably in the same sleepless boat she’s in, and hopes that she’s downstairs with a cup of tea in her hands instead of having a knife at her throat.
She makes her way to the other side of the room, being careful to not trip over anything in the dark, and reaches the door. Weiss is thankfully still asleep in her bed, while Ruby fell asleep on her stomach in the bed above, with a half open comic book next to her. Yang grips the doorknob and slips out of their bedroom, her sister’s snores being the last thing she hears before closing the door with a soft thud.
The floorboards cooperate with Yang, not squeaking under the weight of her feet as she approaches the staircase. The lack of windows on the stairs means that she has to squint hard to see them and Yang practically has a death grip on the bannister with her left hand. The last thing she needs is to miss a stair and for everyone in the house to wake up at the sound of her tumbling down!
At the bottom, three stairs are illuminated by the moon shining through a window in the living room, but until she reaches them, Yang makes do with her limited sight to get her downstairs.
After the first few steps, she notices a pattern in how low each one goes, and begins to trust her impromptu calculations more than her vision to get her downstairs. She continues down, and by her estimates, only a couple more stairs should stand between her and the first moonlit step.
“Yang?”
A voice that she recognizes as Blake’s calls out from the darkness and Yang stops dead in her tracks. But rather than blindly running towards it, she hesitates. They’ve all been tricked before in the past, and with Blake missing, Yang worries that this is all some elaborate trap. Her eyes scan the living room, squinting like before until she notices a darkened shape sitting on the couch. Neither Yang nor the mysterious figure say a word or even make a move, until she watches the silhouette reach over to the table next to them and turn on the lamp.
The light doesn’t completely fill the room, but it’s enough to reveal Blake sitting on the couch in her pajamas, an opened book in her hands.
Yang breathes out a sigh of relief and feels the tension in her body fade. “I thought it was supposed to be bad for your eyes to read in the dark.”
A small smile forms on Blake’s face. “Sorry, I can't sleep, and I thought the light might wake you guys up.”
“I don’t exactly think reading a book is a loud activity.” Yang teases as she finishes walking down the stairs and heads over to where Blake is sitting.
She folds the corner of the page the book is turned to and places it on the table next to the lamp. “Yeah, but Weiss might complain that I’m turning the pages too loudly.”
Now it’s Yang’s turn to smile. “Touche”
The couch sinks slightly as she joins Blake on it, and apart from an occasional cricket outside and the ticking of the clock in the corner, the room is filled with silence.
Now that she’s sitting next to Blake, the same excited, but nervous feeling from earlier washes over Yang’s entire body as she realizes that this is the exact moment she was waiting for all night. There’s no distractions, no people to interrupt them, and no worries about Uncle Qrow barging in. Her left hand begins to fidget slightly from how anxious she is, and Yang has to rest both of them in her lap, soothing her shaking hand with the other one.
“Yang, I’m so sorry…” Blake says, breaking the silence. She brings her knees up to her chest and her ears droop down as she looks forward at the wall.
Turning her head to face her, Yang forgets about her nervousness for a moment and can only assume that she’s talking about her arm.
“Don’t be Blake.” She replies. “ I made the decision to run in there and help you. I wasn’t going to let Adam hurt you and it’s not your fault tha-”
“I’m not just talking about that…”
A pang of hurt shoots across Yang’s heart as she watches Blake’s eyes water. She was about to extend her arm outwards, but decides against it. It hurts her to see Blake like this, and she wants to do anything to make her feel better: hold her hand, hug her, hell, Yang might even be able to muster up the courage to kiss Blake if it meant making her pain go away. But at the same time, she knows that Blake is the type of person to keep things to herself, so she doesn’t want to do anything that might stop her from opening up.
Blake looks downwards at the gap between her knees and closes her eyes before continuing.
“I missed you guys so much while I was in Menagerie. I thought I was helping you guys by running away, but I wasn’t.” She pauses and shuts her eyes tighter. “I was so selfish, and after seeing how much you guys welcomed me back tonight, I feel like the worst friend ever .”
There are tears falling down Blake’s face by now, and Yang can see small spots on her pajamas turn darker from her crying. She can’t just sit here and watch her friend in this much pain, so Yang reaches over to wrap her arms around Blake and pulls her in for a hug.
Her shoulder serves as a pillow for Blake to rest her head on, and she doesn’t care if her tank top gets wet from her crying. A damp shoulder in exchange for a happy Blake is the best trade Yang can make, as far as she’s concerned. She soothingly rubs circles in Blake’s back, and holds her more firmly in an attempt to calm her down.
“You’re not a bad friend!” Yang insists, doing her best to keep her voice low enough so the other upstairs won’t wake up. “We all care about you Blake, and it doesn’t matter that you left because you’re here now.”
Her shoulder continues absorbing Blake’s tears, but Yang can feel the girl shaking less in her arms, and more time passes between each choked sob.
“There wasn’t a single day that went by that I didn’t think about you.” Her voice is now softer than before, and it’s her turn to open up. “I spent every day hoping you would just walk through that door and I could stop worrying about you. And when that didn’t happen, I went to bed every night hoping it would happen in the morning.”
Blake ceases shaking and lifts her head up from Yang’s shoulder, wiping away any remaining tears before looking up at her.
Yang’s breath hitches, and she prepares herself for the consequences of what she’s about to say as her heart runs a million miles a minute. But she’s tired of dancing around her emotions and pretending they don’t exist.
“Blake… I... have feelings for you.” She closes her eyes, unable to bring herself to look Blake as she speaks. “Not just as a friend… but more than a friend…”
Yang prepares herself to be rejected. She’s gone through this scenario a dozens of times in her head before and is waiting for Blake to slap her, or say she’s just being silly, or that she has feelings for someone else, or that she’ll run away or-
Her chaotic train of thought breaks and Yang almost jolts back on the couch as she feels Blake press her lips on her own.
At first, she hesitates. The chances of Blake actually kissing her are slim to none, so Yang worries that this is all in her head, and that Blake is still crying in her shoulder while she gets lost in her own fantasy. Despite dreading it, Yang opens her eyes and comes face to face with Blake, head tilting slightly to the left and their noses only a centimeter apart while she captures Yang’s lips in her own.
Fireworks are practically shooting off in her head, and Yang’s mouth turns upwards in a smile as she closes her eyes again. She leans forward into the kiss, and a hand reaches up to caress her cheek. Blake’s lips taste slightly like strawberries, and considering they didn’t have any for dinner, Yang has a feeling she put on chapstick before bed. Which means that Yang will now forever think of Blake whenever she sees or tastes strawberries.
She forgets about all of her worries, focusing entirely on Blake. A horde of White Fang members could have come through that door and Yang would have no idea. The only thing that matters right now is the amazing girl she’s kissing.
Yang gets so lost in the moment that she barely notices when Blake gently breaks away from her, but her sudden gasping for breath is a good reminder. She rests her forehead against Yang’s and catches her own breath before giving her a smile so bright that it makes up for all the days she spent worrying.
“That’s pretty good to hear since… I have feelings for you too.” Blake whispers, her ears perking up to match her elated mood.
“As in… more than a friend?” Yang asks, still in blissful shock about what just happened.
Blake lets out a genuine laugh and the sound is like music to her ears. In fact, Yang can’t remember the last time she heard Blake laugh, and the fact that she’s the cause of it sends a warm feeling through her.
“Yes, you big dork!” She playfully punches Yang’s shoulder. “As in more than a friend. I don’t exactly go around randomly kissing my friends.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind if you wanna start randomly kissing me…”
“I can tell.” Blake says and winks at Yang.
The two girls share a smile and the couch squeaks as Blake shuffles around on it. She curls up and rests her head on Yang’s shoulder, nuzzling her neck lightly while getting comfortable. Yang protectively wraps an arm around Blake’s waist in response and peaceful silence fills the room again as they cuddle on the couch.
Letting out a yawn, Blake’s ears droop slightly again, reflecting her sleepy mood and tickling Yang’s neck slightly.
“What, we’re gonna sleep down here tonight?” Yang laughs. “Whoever finds us here tomorrow morning might get the wrong impression.”
“I’m way too comfortable to go upstairs.” Blake mumbles into her neck. “We can go to bed in a bit, but not right now.”
Yang smiles. She can already tell that they’re not going to go back up, so rather than waste electricity, she carefully reaches over Blake and turns off the lamp.
Sure, their friends will definitely say something about them sleeping together downstairs, but they can deal with that in the morning.
The room is as dark as when Yang first came down earlier, but now, it’s different. She can clearly make out Blake’s chest slowly rise and fall, the tips of her ears folded down slightly, and her right hand resting on her thigh. And the sight makes Yang feel safe knowing that they’re together. The dark sometimes scares her, but with Blake in her arms, it might as well have been as bright as day.
“Good night Blake.” Yang whispers and rests her head against Blake’s.
A few seconds go by before she hears a sleepy reply. “S-good night s-Yang.”
It takes Yang a few minutes to fall asleep as she listens to Blake’s gentle breathing, but her eyelids begin getting heavier. Turns out she doesn’t need a glass of water to fall asleep or calm down. She needs something else. Someone else.
The last thing Yang feels before succumbing to sleep are Blake’s soft breaths against her neck, and for the first time since Beacon, she’s happy.