Sun shone in through the windows, finding itself free from the blinds and drapes, and found itself a direct line to Yang's eyelids. She grimaced and squished her eyes.
"Just five more minutes..." Yang said to nobody in particular, moving to roll onto her other side. The couch felt odd, not what she was used to – not like the one at home. She opened her eyes, which were immediately met by Blake's. Blake stood frozen, hand over Yang's shoulder and their eyes interlocked.
"Sorry, I just came to see if you were awake. I thought I heard you talking." Blake said.
"Yeah, it's fine, um..." Yang said, "Is the power still out?"
"No, it's been back since early morning. Nora came by to tell me, which woke me up." Blake said.
"Oh. Did she um... see..." Yang said.
A silence grew between them, as both girls knew what Yang was talking about, but were hesitant to say it. Yang stood up and stretched.
"I should apologize for that. I guess I just didn't know how tired I was," Blake said, "So I guess I just kind of... fell asleep."
"No, you don't need to apologize. I, uh, I kind of liked it actually." Yang said.
"Liked it? Liked it how?" Blake tilted her head, her eyes expecting too much of an answer for Yang to say.
"I mean – I didn't hate it, it wasn't uncomfortable, I definitely didn't... uh..." Yang thought back to Blake's ears flicking against her cheek, "Yeah I definitely didn't hate it."
Blake's blush melded in with the morning light. "I didn't hate it either."
The silence returned, the two of them standing near frozen in the living room, not knowing what to say or do next.
"Well, the storm's over, I should probably go back and check on Ruby. Gotta make sure there's food and everything. Not that she can't go get any herself, or that she doesn't have legs, it's just that-"
"Go ahead. Your clothes should probably be dry by now anyways." Blake said.
Yang thanked Blake and smiled before she rushed into the bathroom to change.
"You can just throw the ones you borrowed onto the floor, I'll get them later after I shower," Blake said.
After Yang changed, she walked to the front door and gave Blake a wave goodbye, both girls hoping they'd see the other soon. When Yang closed the door behind her, she felt as if she were leaving something important behind. Something left unsaid, or something left undone. She shook her head and began to jog home, shoes slapping against the muddy trail. As Blake watched her leave, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time – she felt lonely. As if part of her had just left. A feeling she couldn't put into words, which was unusual for her.
After Yang rounded the corner into the town square, she broke into a sprint. Her mind was racing with thoughts of the previous day, the night before, and whether Ruby was okay or not. She hated herself for leaving Ruby all alone, but Ruby would be fine, right? Right? She bolted through the town's gate and made haste towards her house, her chest pistoning to give her any oxygen it could. Only when she saw the house was in one piece did she slow down. She jumped up the side of the deck and threw the door open.
"Ruby? Are you okay?" Yang asked, looking fervently around the room to see Ruby was still laying in bed, asleep – but Yang didn't notice her shallow breaths. "Ruby?!"
"Agh – what?" Ruby shot upwards, eyes searching around the room before they met Yang's. "What? Is everything okay?"
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Yang pulled Ruby into a bear hug, squeezing the air from Ruby's lungs.
"Yang... mom... mode..." Ruby said.
Yang pulled back but left her arms on Ruby's shoulders. Ruby smiled, showing Yang that nothing was wrong, and she could calm down. An unspoken ritual they'd had since they were kids, since Yang was always anxious about Ruby's wellbeing.
"Sorry, the past day's just been kind of... weird." Yang opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. She uncapped it and took a swig before continuing. "Especially last night."
"Weirder than a power outage and an unexpected sleepover?"
"Much weirder. See, when Blake offered me food, it turned out she was a really good cook, and it also turns out she laughs at a lot of the stupid jokes I make, and I mean a LOT, and later in the day I looked over when she was reading and she had this little smirk on her face like the one she had when I told her about this weird dream I had and when we were watching a movie later in the night she laid against me and fell asleep and her ear twitched and-"
"Yang." Ruby said.
"What?"
"You're rambling again," Ruby said, "You don't ramble much."
"Oh, sorry." Yang took another drink of her water and looked away.
"I've only seen you ramble about a few things in life, you know what those are? Me whenever you're scared that I might be hurt, Uncle Qrow when he's drunk, your bike and whatever new modification you've made on it... and that one girl in high school." Ruby said.
"What does she have anything to do with it?" Yang asked.
"Yang, I remember you coming home and talking my ear off about that girl Trisha. 'It was love at first sight!' you said, 'She's so beautiful!' you said, 'I want to ask her to prom!' you said."
"And?"
"Whatever happened with her?" Ruby asked, "Nothing. That's what."
"What does she have to do with this?" Yang repeated, "That was a crush, I definitely don't..."
"Definitely don't what?"
"I definitely don't have a crush on Blake," Yang said, "Definitely not."
"Oh yeah? What color are her eyes?" Ruby asked.
"Amber, but when the sun's shining at just the right angle they look golden." Yang said.
"What's her favorite genre of book?"
"She loves murder mysteries and slow burn romances."
"What are her parents' names?"
"Kali and Ghira, wh-"
"Have you ever thought about kissing her on the lips?"
"Yes, but – WAIT." Yang yelped, spilling her water bottle on the table. "I didn't mean that, I mean-"
"Yang, it's obvious. At least to me. I've bene preparing this talk since I saw you absolutely fail catching her from the tree." Ruby said. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her sister.
"Oh, you saw that?" Yang said.
"Oh yeah. I saw her hesitate to stand up too. She feels the same way, Yang, you just gotta ask her out!"
"But how would I? There's nowhere to go on a date around here that I know of!" Yang walked over to the couch and flopped down on it, burying her face in the single pillow she used.
"You have a motorcycle, it doesn't need to be near here. Anywhere you can drive is a possibility!" Ruby said, "And you always brag how fast that thing can go."
"Okay but assume I can actually think of somewhere. How would I ask?"
"You have her number – just send her a text! Ask her to hang out somewhere!"
"One more question – how did you get so good at this sort of thing?" Yang asked.
"Remember when Weiss was nervous for her job interview at that coffee shop? I spent like, three hours hyping her up. Not to mention how many times-"
"Wait, that's it! The coffee shop! Blake loves tea, and they have great tea there! I think?" Yang said, "Yeah, I remember Weiss saying something about a chameleon!"
"Yang, that's chamomile." Ruby said.
"I don't speak Italian." Yang said.
Ruby planted her face firmly in her palm and shook her head, muttering something about Yang somehow graduating from college under her breath. She sighed deeply and brought herself to look at Yang dead in the eyes.
"Listen," Ruby said, "Right now, you should text her. No waiting, no delaying, because the more you question it the less you'll be able to do it."
"But-"
"Now! While you have the rush of thinking of the perfect place!" Ruby said.
Yang pulled her phone from her pocket and opened her messenger app. She tapped on Blake's face and took a deep breath, feeling her fingers shake as she began to type:
Hey Blake, thanks again for letting me stay over. I want to repay your kindness, so how about I take you to a cool coffe shop back in Malleus? I heard they have some good tea there, and it's really cozy. How's about it?
"How does this look?" Yang asked, holding her phone up to Ruby.
"Looksgreatsendit!" Ruby squealed and she pushed her finger on the send button, nearly knocking the phone out of Yang's hand.
"WAIT!" Yang yelled, "Why did you send it? Oh God I misspelled coffee, there's no way she's going to take this seriously!"
"Yang, it's fine! Just give Blake a minute or two and you'll have the perfect first date lined up." Ruby laid back on her bed, crossing her arms behind her neck.
"Oh god she's typing. She's typing and the bubble is there and she's typing and she's responding and-" A ding played from Yang's phone. "And... she said that it sounds lovely and she'd love to go. She wants to know if tomorrow for lunch is fine."
Ruby raised her arms in the air and shot finger guns at Yang, then let them fall back down weightlessly.
"Told ya sis." She said.