Red Carpet Romance - Chapter 39 (Patreon)
Content
With a hop in her step and a smile on her lips, Yang strolled into the lobby of the building she called home. She was in a pretty dang good mood today, which was why she held an unopened bottle of expensive (but not too expensive) champagne in her hands.
Part of her wanted to flip the bottle and catch it with one hand - because that always looked so cool in the movies - but, while she was happy, she wasn’t unrealistic. She knew she was more likely to drop it than pull off an awesome stunt like that, and with these marble floors…
“Well, well, well,” the doorman greeted her, making her smile widen as he pressed the button to bring an elevator to the first floor. “If it isn’t the ‘world’s sexiest adventurer’ - did you get in a good day’s worth of adventuring?”
“You know it!” she replied with a big grin, again resisting the urge to toss the fragile glass bottle in the air. “Now that the adventures have been adventured, I can finally get some rest.”
When the elevator doors opened, he chuckled and held the door while she stepped in.
“Congratulations,” he said with a sincere smile. “You celebrating?”
“What do you think this is for?”
Flipping the bottle in the air, she freaking caught it and beamed at what was probably the coolest and smoothest move ever.
Laughing at the response, he waved and went back to his post while the doors slid shut. “You deserve it!” was the last thing he said before she couldn’t see him any longer.
After jabbing the button for home, she looked at the bottle and wondered if she could pull off that trick one more time. Blake would appreciate it, as she appreciated all the weird and unnecessary things Yang did, but what were the chances she could do that twice in one night? Plus, did she really want to risk her one-hundred percent success ratio?
The answer was yes, of course. For Blake, she would willingly risk her one-for-one win percentage (and her pride) in pursuit of something cool. Because Blake would also think it was awesome, or she’d find it funny when Yang inevitably messed up, or she’d laugh and shake her head at the idea that Yang thought she could pull off something so cool twice in one day.
It didn’t matter whether or not she made a fool of herself though, because tonight was a night to celebrate!
World’s Sexiest Adventurer…she hadn’t even known that was a thing until her agent called with the news. Apparently, she won without doing anything. Well, she hadn’t done nothing. She had to be sexy and go on adventures - that was basically a full-time job.
Personally, she didn’t adventure very much, but Skyler Redd adventured a lot. And they were almost the same person, except one of them spent their free time jumping across rooftops of very, very tall buildings while the other considered grocery shopping on the weekend to be a trip.
Ok, maybe Sky fit more adventures in her schedule, but Yang was a little busy holding down the ‘sexy’ side of things. Laps didn’t run themselves, and she sure didn’t see Sky hitting the gym like...ever.
But now that she’d won the award she hadn’t known existed, she understood what she’d been missing her entire life - the title of World’s Sexiest Adventurer.
She couldn’t wait to tell Blake the news. Then they could pop open the champagne and do a little adventuring of their own. (By the end of the night, she fully expected Blake to take that title from her. Either forcefully or...well, Blake would just take it from her along with everything else.)
When the elevator doors opened, she walked into the hall and immediately heard a ringtone from her pocket. Curious as to who it was, she pulled out her phone, saw the name, and answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi Yang - how are you doing today?”
“Uh...” Thrown off by Weiss’ casual (ish) greeting, she tried to respond in kind. “Good, I guess? What’s up? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“Because you’re calling me, and you never call me. I’m always the one bothering you.”
“Oh.” The pause on the other end of the line stretched for several seconds before Weiss finally continued. “Well, I had something to ask you, so I called.”
Try as she might, Yang couldn’t prevent a big smile from appearing after the response. Weiss had something to ask her! First, a group of strangers voted that she was sexier than anyone else with ‘adventurer’ on their business card, and now Weiss reached out to ask her something? This must be opposite day, or the end of the world, because how else would this happen?
“Really??”
“Yes...why do you sound so surprised?”
“I dunno…” Yang said, moseying down the hall so she could finish the call before heading inside. “Because you never ask for anything?”
“It’s important to be self-sufficient,” Weiss replied, sounding just a little bossy before regaining her polite tone. “First, I wanted to thank you and Blake for being such wonderful hosts the other day.”
“Oh, no problem!” Even though Weiss couldn’t see her, Yang waved off the expression of gratitude. “It was fun.”
“It was. And, in return for your hospitality, I’d like to invite the three of you over for dinner.”
For a second, the earth stood still, and she froze in the middle of the hall while digesting those words. Weiss was inviting them over for dinner? At her apartment? Like...an unprompted invitation to hang out?
The idea seemed so unlikely, she actually laughed.
“Alright - who put you up to this?” she asked with a big grin, looking around the hall as if the perpetrator would jump out at any second. “Was it Pyrrha? Pyrrha’s pranking me right now, isn’t she.”
“I actually haven’t spoken to Pyrrha since my birthday party.”
“Nora then? Someone from work?” Thinking through some other options, Yang felt her eyes widen in surprise. “No way - was it Blake? Did Blake put you up to this?”
“No...no one asked me to do this. I came up with the idea of my own accord.”
This bizarro-world still didn’t make sense to Yang, but she had no reason not to believe the answer. Which meant...
“Then...you’re serious? You want us to come over for dinner?”
“Yes. You, Blake, and Ruby - my treat.”
“That sounds like fun! Count us in!”
“Great,” Weiss replied, and Yang practically heard her sigh of relief through the phone. “If you let me know when you’re available, I’ll arrange everything. Do you have any special requests?”
“Naw. I’m fine with whatever you decide.”
“What about Ruby? Does she have any allergies? Anything she particularly enjoys? Anything she doesn’t like?”
Tempted to try her champagne toss once more, Yang stilled her hand at the last second and laughed instead.
“Ruby’s not allergic to anything, and she’s a vacuum cleaner. She’ll eat anything and in large quantities.”
“So...order extra?”
“Yeah,” Yang replied with a chuckle. “That’s probably a good idea.”
“What about dessert? She seems to have a rather large sweet tooth...”
‘Rather large’ was only the beginning of Ruby’s sweet tooth.
“I keep forgetting you don’t know her. But yes - with Ruby, more food is always a good thing, and she would only eat desserts if allowed to.”
“Ok. I...think I can handle that.”
“Wait,” Yang interrupted before Weiss ended the call. “Don’t you want to know what Blake likes?”
This time, Weiss huffed in amusement.
“I already know what she likes - fish.”
“Yeah…” Yang said with another soft laugh. “She’s a little predictable that way.”
“I’ll make sure to have something she enjoys,” Weiss added, as if Yang was worried Blake might not have anything to eat. “And please let me know as soon as you have a date. My schedule is pretty clear for the next few weeks, but I might need to move some appointments around.”
“No problem! I’ll ask them tonight and get back to you with a time.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, and did you have fun giving a studio tour to Ruby?” Yang thought it was a pretty simple question, but she waited through several seconds of silence before Weiss finally responded.
“I...did. Why? Did she say something?”
“Uh, no, not yet. She just mentioned she was going, so I figured I’d ask how it went.”
“Oh. Well, I think it went well. I can’t think of any reason it might’ve gone otherwise, but maybe...we did run into a few...characters.”
“The ‘talent?’” Yang asked with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she had a blast.” Lifting up the champagne bottle in one hand, she suddenly remembered something pretty important. “Oh! And I have news to share with you!”
“Didn’t you win some award today?”
“Sexiest Adventurer Alive!” she said, but her grin fell when the title didn’t sound right. “I mean, World’s Sexiest Adventurer.”
Her smile returned when Weiss actually laughed.
“That’s a real thing?”
“Apparently, it is - and I won!”
“Am I supposed to congratulate you for this?”
Hearing the teasing in Weiss’ tone, Yang shrugged and said, “I mean...if you wanted to…”
Again, Weiss laughed, and Yang imagined her struggling to keep a straight face while saying, “Congratulations, Yang,” before ending with a succinct “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You too,” she said before hanging up and putting her phone away. Hurrying to her apartment, she couldn’t believe her good luck. Not only had she won an award that seemed like it was created just for her, but she somehow scored a personal invitation to Weiss’ for dinner. Sure, Weiss invited Blake and Ruby too, but she was still counting that as a win. Now she just needed to tell Blake so the two of them could celebrate their abundance of good news together.
“Blake!” she called out as soon as she opened the door. Rushing inside and shoving it closed with one foot, she sought out the most beautiful girl in the world - and found her standing in the kitchen with a mug of tea in her hands.
“You’ll never guess what just happened!” Yang carried on, grinning up a storm as she hurried over to kiss Blake on the cheek. The moment she did, however, she froze.
Blake sniffled.
Sniffles...a cup of tea...and a sweater...when it was already stiflingly hot in the apartment?
“Are you sick?”
“No.” Sniffling again, Blake walked over to the sofa and sat down with a sigh. “I just don’t feel well.”
“You mean you’re sick,” Yang repeated, following Blake to the living room and sitting beside her.
“I’ve been tired all day,” Blake explained, doing nothing to help her case. “I took a nap, but my nose has been running ever since I woke up. It’s probably just allergies or something…”
“But you don’t have allergies,” Yang pointed out, watching Blake take a sip of tea and sigh in temporary relief.
“But I still get the sniffles sometimes.”
Yang wanted to argue but, by now, knew better. Blake had this weird pride about never getting sick, which she perpetuated by refusing to admit the few cases when she did have a cold. It was cute, but made it impossible to convince her to take medicine. ‘Why would I take medicine when I’m not sick?’ was the most popular answer, which Yang had yet to successfully combat with any line of reasoning.
“What’s the champagne for?” Blake asked, nodding towards the bottle and sniffling again.
“Oh.” Taking one look at the champagne, which was supposed to celebrate people thinking she was ‘sexy,’ Yang set it on the coffee table and brushed off her hands. “That’s for something else. You’re sick, so let me take care of you!”
“I’m not sick,” Blake repeated before coughing into her hand - and not the ‘clearing my throat’ type of cough either. More like, well, more like the sick type of cough.
But Blake was being stubborn, which meant Yang needed to be even more stubborn to win this battle of wills. Or she could be clever and play the role of reverse psychologist. Or ‘reverse doctor’ as she liked to call it.
“You’re right,” she agreed, nodding once and sending Blake an apologetic look. “You’re not sick - sorry, that was my mistake. I just heard the sniffles and thought you were, but clearly you’re not.”
Under ordinary circumstances, there was no way in hell Blake would fall for that. But these weren’t ordinary circumstances. Right now, an illness was short-circuiting her neural pathways and compromising her normally-perfect ability to tell when Yang was being sarcastic. So, instead of calling out the lie, she gave a soft “hmm” and took another sip of her drink. Then sniffled again, looking quite miserable in the process.
This wasn’t exactly the evening Yang had planned, but some things were more important than a silly award. Blake’s health was one of those things, which meant she needed to use her superb skills of negotiation to convince Blake to take care of herself. No easy feat, but she was up to the challenge.
Covering her mouth with one hand, she pretended to yawn and stifled a grin when Blake immediately yawned in response.
“Are you tired?” she asked while reaching over to hold Blake’s hand. The question was perfect because it had nothing to do with being sick (although it also had everything to do with being sick). But Blake could admit to being tired without admitting she was sick, which Yang was counting on tonight.
“Just a bit…” Right on cue, Blake yawned a second time - this time making Yang yawn in return.
“I have an idea,” she said after shaking her head, trying to get rid of the sudden exhaustion trying to claim her. Taking the cup of tea from Blake’s hands, she set it on the coffee table next to the champagne. Next, she grasped Blake’s hands and pulled her to her feet.
“Why don’t you go to bed early?” Yang suggested before kissing Blake on the forehead and smiling. “It’ll be a luxury, right? Get a ton of sleep, then back at it tomorrow.”
If Yang needed more evidence that Blake wasn’t feeling well, the longer-than-usual pause was icing on the cake. Blake was smart and sharp - she normally didn’t need much time to answer any question. Tonight, however, she closed her eyes and - for just a second - looked like she might go to sleep right there. Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked even more exhausted than before.
“Maybe…”
“That sounds great, right?” Yang added, feeling Blake’s resistance waning. Holding Blake’s hands gently, she took a step towards their room and drew Blake along with her. “While you do that, I’m going to clean the apartment. How does that sound?”
“Really?” For as tired as she was, Blake still managed an amused smirk at the statement. “You’re going to clean?”
“Hey now - I used to clean this place on my own before you moved in.” When Blake narrowed her eyes, she added, “With Rosie’s help, of course.”
Blake laughed at the admission, and Yang smiled at the concession that she hired help keeping this place clean prior to them living together.
“I guess I can’t say ‘no’ to that…”
“Right? Let me spoil you - not because you’re sick, but because you’re so, so sexy.”
Blake rubbed her nose and shook her head, probably not believing a word Yang said, but it was the truth. No matter how sick or under the weather she was, she was beautiful. Yang might be biased since she was head-over-heels in love with her, but...that also made her the best person to take care of Blake right now.
Once in their bedroom, Blake sighed and gave their bed a longing look that made Yang a little jealous. But she wouldn’t squander the opportunity to help Blake into bed. Secretly, this was one of her favorite things to do.
“Let me help,” she offered, grabbing Blake’s pajamas off the drawers before Blake picked them up. On most normal days, the action would have started some witty banter, but Blake wasn’t feeling up for it today. Instead, she closed her eyes and nodded for Yang to continue.
That was all the permission she needed. First, she slid her hands under Blake’s shirt, pressing her palms against warm, smooth skin and hearing a soft sigh escape Blake’s lips. She then hooking her thumbs around the bottom of the shirt and moved her hands up Blake’s sides, pulling the shirt up with them. With a little bit of help from Blake, who raised her arms at the last second, she pulled the shirt off and watched Blake’s long, dark hair fall over her shoulders.
It was too bad Blake was sick right now, because if not...Yang would get in bed too.
Grabbing the oversized tee Blake loved to wear to bed - one of Yang’s old college shirts - Yang made sure it was facing the right way before pulling it over Blake’s head and helping her get her arms through the sleeves.
“There you go…” Yang breathed out while smoothing the fabric across Blake’s shoulders. Reaching around Blake’s back, she unclasped Blake’s bra and grinned when Blake shook her head.
“You were waiting to do that, weren’t you…”
“A fortunate coincidence, I swear.”
When Blake smiled and said “mhmm…”, Yang grinned and reached for Blake’s jeans next. With slightly fumbling fingers, she undid the button and zipper before pulling them to the floor - making sure to trail her fingers along Blake’s legs in the process.
It was really unfortunate that Blake was sick…
“Ok, here we are…” she whispered while helping Blake step into her soft, cozy pajama pants. Pulling them up and settling them around Blake’s waist, she smiled and brushed several strands of hair behind Blake’s ear. “Now you can get some sleep.”
“Mhmm…” Partially turned towards the bed, Blake suddenly stopped and turned back towards the door. “Oh. I forgot to feed Bang -”
“I’ll feed Bang,” Yang cooed, pulling back the covers and motioning for Blake to lie down.
“Will you really?”
“Of course!” Accepting the answer, Blake laid down and allowed herself to be tucked in, which Yang did with a smile.
“Although missing one meal won’t hurt that chubbo...”
“Yang -”
“But of course I’ll feed him,” she added. “I’ll do that right now.”
When Blake acquiesced with a sigh, Yang felt a wave of success wash over her. If Blake went to bed early, she would hopefully feel better in the morning. If she didn’t feel better, Yang would spend another day, week, month, or year spoiling her girlfriend rotten. Whatever it took.
Before leaving, Yang leaned down and pressed a kiss to Blake’s lips - this one lingering much longer than the others. After pulling away and brushing a strand of hair behind Blake’s ear, she smiled at the sleepy eyes looking up at her.
“You know…” she said as her heart swelled with love. “You’d win the ‘World’s Sexiest Author’ award - hands down.”
Chuckling at the words, Blake reached up and ran a hand through Yang’s hair.
“I don’t think that’s a thing...”
This time, it was Yang’s turn to laugh as she stole another kiss and stood up.
“You’d be surprised. Goodnight, Blake - love you.”
“Love you too - don’t forget Bang.”
Sighing in fake exasperation, Yang sent one last glance towards Blake before leaving the room and pulling the door softly shut behind her. This time, she sighed in relief while heading to the office, knowing that Blake was finally in bed getting the rest she needed. In the meantime, she would fulfill her duties as ‘world’s best girlfriend’ and take care of the damn goldfish Blake loved so much.
Honestly, she didn’t understand what Blake saw in Bang. Sure, he was cute, and small, and had a great name, but really that’s where the positives stopped. All he did was swim around, chasing his tail and chasing his tail and chasing his tail some more.
After pulling out Blake’s chair and sitting down, she tried several drawers before finding the jar of food. Opening it up and tapping some flakes onto the surface of the water, she watched Bang swim up and gobble down dinner.
For a creature that did hardly anything for most of the day, he was remarkably active at dinnertime. Someone could even say that he was hyper-focused while zeroing in on one piece of food after another, only to gulp it up and quickly find more. Not that she liked watching him eat or anything. It was just...mesmerizing, in a way.
“You know, I think you and I need to have a heart-to-heart,” she said while he ate. “I know you’re important to Blake. Obviously, I’m more important, but you’re also kind of important so...we should learn to coexist.”
As expected, Bang didn’t care about her presence, the cheeky bastard. Instead, he continued eating as if she didn’t exist, but that didn’t discourage her.
“I guess we could get to know each other,” she joked while leaning back in the chair and tapping her fingers together. “Like...well...I don’t really care about what you like, so...what’s your favorite thing about Blake?”
After watching him swim around for a few seconds, she nodded.
“Her smile? That’s a good one. Her smile is...amazing.”
With a smile of her own, she thought about how she felt whenever Blake smiled at her - not a regular smile, but one of the smiles reserved only for her. Equal parts flirty, sexy, and beautiful, Blake’s smile lit up her world in so many ways.
“I can’t choose a favorite,” she added, feeling a small measure of pride that she could come up with more things than Bang. “There’s way too much I love about her, but if I had to pick one thing, I’d say...how driven she is. She knows what she wants, and she works hard to get it. We could all be a little more like her, don’t you think?”
By the time she returned her gaze to the fishbowl, Bang had finished his meal and was swimming around the fake seaweed Blake bought for him.
“You should try to be a lot more like her,” Yang teased, but he didn’t care about his inherent laziness. Instead, he just...continued being lazy.
“I never thought I’d find someone so easy to be with…” she mused, tapping her fingers on the desk before glancing at Bang again. “I kind of thought that whoever I ended up with would be obsessed with fame like everyone else. I don’t mind the fame, you know, but I don’t want to become one of them - someone like Cinder, who does anything to keep her name in headlines.”
After a short pause to think about some of the people she unfortunately knew and worked with, she shook her head and said another silent thanks for having Blake in her life.
“Instead, I - or I guess, we - found this amazing, sexy woman who keeps us grounded and sane.” Turning towards the door, she felt her heart swell with love for the person she just bid goodnight. The funny, intelligent woman who refused to admit when she was sick, but willingly admitted when she was wrong. She challenged Yang to be a better person, not a more popular actress. She encouraged Yang to follow her heart and pursue what she loved, not chase the next ‘great’ thing like everyone else.
Thinking about how much Blake meant to her, a feeling swept over her - a feeling she hadn’t been able to escape for the past few months. A feeling of hopeless love, devotion, and desire to prove her commitment.
“How lucky am I?” she asked no one in particular before smiling and turning towards Bang. “I mean, how lucky are we?”
He didn’t need to respond, but she already knew the answer - they were incredibly lucky. Luckier than either of them probably thought they would ever be.
“You know,” she said while he swam through his fake castle. “You’re actually a pretty good listener. I can see why Blake likes you. Just remember - she loves me more.”
Chuckling at the joke, she leaned back in the chair and sighed. Blake’s office always made her feel content, as if the words and stories written here welcomed her into their grasp. It was strange to feel so comfortable in someone else’s space, especially when this realm was so far removed from her own. Then again, this was yet another reason why she knew the two of them were meant to be together.
How many more reasons did she need before she stopped dragging her feet and asked Blake to stay with her forever?
“Maybe just one more,” she told Bang while pulling out her phone and dialing Pyrrha. It was time to run this recurring thought past her best friend, and if Pyrrha gave a thumbs up, then...it was time to move forward.
After two rings, the call connected.
“I’m surprised you remember I exist,” Pyrrha answered with a light laugh. “To what do I owe this honor?”
“I always remember you exist! But in this case, Blake isn’t feeling well, so she went to bed early.” Yang smiled when Pyrrha laughed again, only harder this time.
“Oh, I see.”
“And because I wanted to talk to you, of course,” Yang finally added.
“Uh huh...it has nothing to do with you being bored.”
“Actually, this time it doesn’t.” From the stunned silence on the other end of the line, Yang knew she caught Pyrrha’s full attention with that one. “So Bang and I were talking -”
“I’m sorry - you and Bang are on speaking terms now? When did this happen?”
“Like five minutes ago when Blake asked me to feed him. He suckered me into a conversation.” Before she got too distracted, she waved away the topic. “Anyway, Bang and I were talking, and he made me realize a few things.”
“A goldfish helped you realize something?”
“Hear me out!” she said while Pyrrha laughed. “This little goldfish loves Blake more than anything - at least, he better love Blake more than anything. If he doesn’t, I’m flushing him right now.”
“Yang…” Pyrrha prodded to get her back on track.
“Right. He loves Blake more than anything, and I love Blake more than anything. More than I thought I could love anyone, ever. Which is why I’ve been thinking that...that…”
Her confidence waned when she reached the root of the issue. The main issue, which she’d been struggling with for some time, was that this topic made her nervous, excited, and terrified all at once.
“I’ve been thinking,” she started again, determined to put this out in the open. “I want to ask Blake to marry me.”
The silence on the other end of the line was almost palpable, but then Pyrrha’s light, joyful laughter eased Yang’s rapidly-building nerves.
“That’s wonderful news!”
“Yeah?” Now she couldn’t stop smiling if someone paid her to. “You really think so?”
“Of course, Yang. You’ve been head over heels for her for the longest time now, and it’s obvious she adores you. Why wouldn’t you get married?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? She already believed that they would spend the rest of their lives together, so what were they waiting for? To fall even more in love? To prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were meant to be together?
Hadn’t they done that already?
“That’s what I thought,” she answered honestly. “I just wanted to hear it from someone else. Someone who can tell me I’m not crazy for feeling this way.”
“You’re not crazy, Yang. You just found the person you’re meant to be with.”
That was exactly what she wanted to hear, and she grinned like an idiot towards the goldfish swimming in front of her. She’d waited so long to tell anyone because she didn’t want to feel any pressure that she had to ask. Also, she didn’t want to deal with the questions -
“When are you going to ask? How are you going to ask?”
Sighing at exactly what she’d hoped to avoid, she shook her head and spun around in the chair.
“Honestly, no idea. I haven’t gotten that far, but you’ll be the first to know when I do.”
Just thinking about it made her heart race and her knee jitter out of control. On top of that, her adrenaline was still soaring from telling Pyrrha. Pyrrha knew her plans and would definitely ask about them if too much time passed.
It was real, now. People knew. Well, not people - Pyrrha. But Pyrrha was a person.
“I’m so happy for you, Yang.”
“Thanks, Pyrrha.” Taking a deep breath, Yang let it out with a smile and shake of her head. “But how are you and Jaune doing?”
“Just fine, but nowhere near where you and Blake are - so don’t even ask.”
Swallowing the question with a smile, Yang laughed instead.
“I’m glad you’re doing good though. You’re happy, right?”
“Yes, very much so.”
The words carried so much sincerity, she knew they were the truth. Which was good, because she would knock Jaune’s lights out if he made Pyrrha unhappy.
The lights in his car - not like, punch him in the face. She didn’t want to be arrested.
“Well good! As it should be.” Inevitably, her thoughts returned to Blake, and her eyes widened with a realization. “Oh crap...”
“What?”
“This means I have to ask her parents for permission, right?”
“That is the proper thing to do...why? Is that going to be an issue?”
“No, no, of course not!” She waved away the concern even though she was suddenly exceptionally nervous. “They like me, I think.”
“You...think?”
“Blake says they like me! But there’s a difference between liking me for now and liking me for life, you know?”
“Is there?”
“Totally!” Even though Pyrrha clearly wasn’t convinced, Yang shook her head. “I’ll worry about it later. You’ll help me, right?”
“I don’t know how I can help, but I’ll try.”
“Thank you,” she replied with a sigh. “I appreciate it.”
“Wow, that sounded genuine - you must be really nervous.”
“Nervous enough to be grateful!” she replied with a smile. “I’d say don’t get used to it, but I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.”
“Something to look forward to,” Pyrrha replied with a soft chuckle before adding, “But I should get going now. I’m meeting Jaune for a movie.”
“That sounds cute - have fun without me.”
“I’ll try my best.”
When Pyrrha laughed, Yang couldn’t help but laugh along before they exchanged goodnights and hung up. The moment the call ended, she stared at her phone while a wave of excitement and nerves washed over her.
Pyrrha thought that they should get married. She also thought that they should get married. Which meant...she should start thinking of how to ask Blake if she felt the same way.
Blowing out a breath filled with jitters, she left the office behind and tidied up the living room. After straightening the blankets and putting away some stray magazines, she moved on to the kitchen. It didn’t matter that she was cleaning, she was still walking on clouds.
If Blake said ‘yes,’ they would get married.
After wiping off the island and putting everything back in place, she stepped back and admired her work. The kitchen was only halfway done, but it shouldn’t take her much longer to finish the rest. It helped that everything was still pretty clean from the mad rush they did before having Weiss over.
“Oh, shoot.”
Lost in the commotion of Blake being sick and her conversations with Bang and Pyrrha was Weiss’ phone call, which she still needed to ask Ruby about. And, since she deserved a break anyway, now seemed like the perfect time to make some plans for the future.
Leaning against the island, she pulled out her phone and called Ruby. Or, at least, she called Ruby’s last-known number. Fortunately, the call connected on the first ring.
“Hey Yang!” Ruby said, her breaths coming in heavier-than-expected gasps. “What’s up?”
“Are you...running?”
“Yup! Through the park - almost home though.”
“Oh. Good.” Reassured that Ruby wouldn’t be out too late, Yang smiled and remembered the reason for her call. “I’m supposed to ask if you want to have dinner sometime. Weiss invited us over to her place.”
“Wait, really??”
“Yeah, I was surprised too! So whaddya say? You free?”
“Yes! I’m free anytime! Like tomorrow - I can even go tomorrow if that works.”
Ruby’s endless enthusiasm never failed to make Yang laugh.
“Woah there. We have to give Weiss time to plan. Plus, Blake’s not feeling great, so we should give her a few days to recover.”
“Ah...ok. What does she have?”
“Just a cold or something. Nothing some sleep won’t cure.”
“That’s good. But, uh, I can have dinner anytime - like seriously, I’m not doing anything. The sooner the better!”
“Alright, alright, I get it.” Yang shook her head and laughed at Ruby’s persistence. “We’ll set it up as soon as Blake feels better.”
“Awesome!”
“Now, shouldn’t you be getting home?”
“Huh? Oh - right.” In the background, Yang heard the sound of Ruby running again. “I’m only like a block away,” she said before a squeak slipped out, followed by a splash and a gurgling noise.
“Ruby?” Yang asked, listening to what sounded like bubbling water before the call disconnected. Her instinct was to be worried about what just happened, but then she remembered that the park near Ruby’s apartment had a small pond in the middle. And, if Ruby wasn’t paying attention, she always tripped over this one particular bump in the sidewalk.
Apparently, this time her phone decided to take a little dip…
Even though Yang was positive that’s what happened, she kept an eye on the clock while cleaning the kitchen counters. It shouldn’t take Ruby more than a few minutes to get home from the park, with a few extra minutes spent mourning the loss of another phone.
When her phone buzzed a little while later, she sighed and answered it.
“You didn’t like that phone?” she asked while putting the cleaning supplies away.
“Sorry...I tripped and it fell in the pond…”
“Thought so. This is why you have extras, right?”
“And a landline…”
Yang laughed at the somber reply, which pretty much summed up Ruby’s relationship with phones.
“At least you made it home safe,” she replied. “Are you going to try the rice trick? See if you can save it?”
“Yup! That’s what I’ll do now - talk later?”
“Sure. Good luck!”
“Thanks! Oh, and let me know when we’re having dinner with Weiss!”
“Will do,” Yang said with a smile and shake of her head. “Goodnight, Ruby.”
“‘Night, Yang!”
When the call ended, Yang set her phone on the counter and smiled. It was nice to have Ruby back in town after all that time away. She always had a way of livening things up, even when their lives already seemed lively enough. Now if only she’d stay here for a longer period of time…
Regardless of what history suggested, Yang still held out hope that Ruby would end her meandering ways someday. She hadn’t always been like this - growing up, she was actually quite content to stay at home working on various projects around the house. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she didn’t get out enough when she was younger?
Whatever the reason, Yang knew that Ruby had the ability to sit still if she wanted to. The big question was - how to make her want to?
Shaking her head, Yang gave up on that question for now. Instead, she admired the newly-cleaned kitchen, which was sure to make Blake happy when she made her morning tea tomorrow.
Now the big question for Yang was...what to do next? She could watch a movie or TV. She could read a magazine or catch up on the news. There were plenty of options, but...she had no desire to do anything without Blake around. It was as if Blake’s not-illness had zapped her energy as well, convincing her that - even though it was earlier than their normal bedtime - she’d rather go to sleep than do anything on her own.
So she turned off the lights, closed everything up, and snuck into the bedroom - only to have her heart melt when she found Blake sound asleep in bed.
For someone who ‘wasn’t sick,’ Blake was sleeping awfully deeply already. The way she curled around the covers with her brow slightly furrowed and a frown on her lips pulled at Yang’s heart in the worst way.
Right now, all she wanted was for Blake to get better. Forget about the future plans and what may or may not happen - the most important thing was for Blake to feel like herself again. Which meant that she needed as much rest as possible.
With that objective in mind, Yang got ready for bed as quietly as possible before slipping underneath the covers and moving close - but not too close - to Blake. Keeping a distance ended up being a fool’s errand, however, when Blake subconsciously snuggled into her arms.
Holding Blake close, Yang sighed in content. She’d expected a completely different night - one filled with celebration, laughter, and maybe a late-night rendezvous - but this was fine too. As long as they were together, she was happy. She’d be even happier if they both felt perfectly healthy, but she’d do everything in her power to have Blake feeling good as new in no time.
In the meantime, it was time for her to plan the big question she wanted to ask, and how she wanted to ask it. Using her expert investigative skills, she already knew that faking a kidnapping was too far, which helped her...basically not at all. She already knew Blake wouldn’t want anything flashy, dramatic, or over-the-top.
Low-key, honest, and intimate - that’s what Yang needed. And once she figured it out…
When Blake shifted in her arms, she looked down, smiled, and let out a long, shaky breath. It made her nervous as hell, but she couldn’t wait to start their ‘together forever.’