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Chapter Text

"Hey, kitty cat?" Yang's cheerful voice chimed through Blake's headset. She and Yang had known each other since they began high school. Now eighteen and preparing to head to college, they were still friends. Their favorite activity was to play video games together, namely, Xbox live.

"Yes?" the brunette asked as Yang's character died, leaving the other girl to simply watch Blake's actions.

"Aw, fuck." the blonde complained as she watched. "Anyway, I was wondering if I could invite someone to play with us? Her name is Weiss, she's super cool."

Blake raised an eyebrow as she heard these words, taking a moment to consider them.

"Is she any good?" she asked at last.

"Oh yeah! She's great! Got quite a mouth on her when she loses, though. She only lives a couple hours from here, too."

"That's… Nice, I suppose." Blake replied, her fingers flying over the controller as she worked to stay alive (figuratively).

"So? Can she join? I think you'll like her!" Yang sang through the headset.

Blake sighed as her character died. She could just picture Yang right now, wearing her brown shorts and orange tank top, her blonde hair wild and streaming down her back like always as she sat cross-legged on her bed, head tilted to one side as she played. It was a scene Blake had watched every night last summer, when she had slept over at the Rose-XIao Long residence every day until school was back in session. It was a good thing Taiyang was fond of her.

"Sure." she replied, mostly saying it because Yang was her best friend. If she were honest with herself, she preferred a small, tight-knit group of friends. Inviting new people into her social circle was something she wasn't fond of. But Yang wouldn't do anything to intentionally make her uncomfortable.

"Awesome!" Yang's joyous tone was enough to prompt a small smile from Blake.

"Yeah…" she agreed, shaking her head at the other girl's enthusiasm.

Weiss… What a weird name. Blake would give her a chance, if nothing else.

Chapter Text

"Hey, Weiss?" the words were spoken through Weiss' headset, a loud and excited voice that belonged to none other than Yang Xiao Long.

"Yes?" the heiress asked, subconsciously sitting up straighter in her desk chair as she moved her fingers primly over the controller.

For all her proper upbringing, Weiss' parents weren't around much to enforce their rules. With no one but her sister- Winter- for company and the kids from her private school, Weiss was very sheltered.

Games were a way to get away from that. She could be anyone she wanted- but, fortunately, with Yang she was just herself.

"I know you don't have many friends," the blonde began bluntly, causing Weiss to wince. "But I have this one friend- she's my best friend, actually- and I think you two would get along great!"

"I... " Weiss said, trailing off. This was all very sudden. She didn't like change very much.

"Oh, come on, Ice Queen! I'm not asking you to give me your mortal soul! It's just that… I realized both of you like the same games and it just seems like your personalities would go well together!"

"Well…" the heiress was on the fence. Yang knew that.

"You're also both lesbian." she added.

At that, Weiss scoffed.

"Whether or not someone is lesbian means nothing to me, Yang Xiao Long. If you paid more attention to the game and spent less time trying to play matchmaker, you wouldn't have died just now." the girl reprimanded her.

A genuine laugh sounded in her ears as Yang's character died for the first time that night.

"All right, all right. You guys don't have to get together or anything. I was just dropping the idea on you. Her name is Blake and her gamertag is blackcat0998."

Even as Weiss rolled her ice blue eyes, she considered the idea. She could always use a new friend… It couldn't hurt to give it a try. Even if she had a weird gamertag.

"So?" Yang said once the heiress had defeated the level.

"I'll give her a try."

Chapter Text

"Fuck, fuck!" Yang's voice rang through Blake's headset, cursing furiously as she nearly died.

"How articulate of you." Blake remarked drily, sending a shot at one of the opposing team's members.

"Quit it with the sass, Belladonna." Yang said, although the brunette could literally hear the smile in her voice.

"Me? Sassy? Never." the other girl replied sarcastically as she killed off a member of the opposing team.

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear your sarcasm. It's not appreciated. Anyway, is it okay if Weiss plays with us after we annihilate these assholes?" Yang questioned as she killed another enemy.

"Yeah, sure." Blake replied.

Twenty minutes later, they had one.

"Nice job, kitten!" Yang cheerily commented.

"Not so bad yourself." the brunette replied, leaning over to pick up her green tea. She took a sip, disappointed to find that it had gone cold while she played.

"I'm gonna add her. sit tight." Yang told the other girl.

"Okay." Blake replied, moving from her previous position of laying down flat on her stomach to leaning back against her headboard.

"Weiss, you in?" Yang's voice rang through Blake's headset, unnecessarily loud.

"Yes, I'm in, there's no need to yell."

Blake raised an eyebrow at the prim voice that sounded from the new girl. She didn't know what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't that.

"Blake, meet Weiss." Yang's own tone was proud, as though she had achieved something merely by connecting them both.

There was a silence before the girl, Weiss, spoke.

"Hi."

"Hey." Blake replied. She didn't really like new people, but Yang was the one who was introducing them, and Blake trusted Yang.

"Great, now that we're all introduced, how about we play something?" Yang asked them happily.

Blake stayed silent, knowing that Yang already knew she agreed. She and the other girl tended to have a sort of telepathy. It was almost weird how well they knew what the other was thinking.

"That sounds good to me." Weiss confirmed, so Yang started them on a simple mission.

Blake and Yang were usually silent while playing, except when they were trash-talking one another or when Yang was making smartass comments or lamenting her sudden death. So, having two people who talked while playing was a little distracting.

"Weiss, why don't you take the east and I'll take the west? Blake can just go straight down the middle." Yang said, and Blake knew she was probably gesturing even though no one could see her.

"Alright." the girl's high voice came through Blake's earpiece again. She vaguely wondered why this girl sounded so proper. In her experience, people who played video games tended to be either awesome, ass-kicking ladies, neckbearded meninists, or just normal people, but she had never really talked to anyone from an upper-class upbringing on XBox Live.

"Blake, what are you doing? Move." Yang prompted, and Blake realized she had spaced out.

"Sorry." she apologized, pressing the button to make her character go forward.

She came across five members of the enemy team and shot at them all, only hitting three. Just as her character was in imminent danger, the sound effect of guns sounded once more and the enemy team members fell to the ground.

"You're good." Blake commented to Weiss. She'd hit her targets dead on and she'd had perfect timing.

"Thanks. Lots of time to learn how to play well. You aren't so bad yourself." the other girl's tone was proud, and Blake grinned.

Thirty minutes later, they had finished the game, a victory for all of them. With a yawn, Yang had announced that she was heading to bed and signed off.

Blake exited the game, realizing that someone had added her as a friend.

"icequeen774?" Blake mumbled to herself. She added the person back. A few moments later, she received a message.

'Hello, it's Weiss.' the message read. Blake took a second before sending one back:

'Hi. I guess you already know I'm Blake.'

A small ping sounded and Blake opened the new message.

'I do. It was fun playing with you today. Do you and Yang know each other in real life?'

'Yes. We're best friends.'

The conversation continued on for at least another hour, talking about anything and everything, and Blake found herself actually enjoying Weiss' company.

'Curiosity killed the cat, I suppose, but... Can you send me a picture of yourself? I'll send one back.' Weiss sent her the message.

'Sure. Give me a sec.' Blake replied, getting her camera ready. She gave a small smile, looking over the picture and deeming it satisfactory before sending it to the other girl.

'Wow. You have me feeling kind of insecure haha' came Weiss' message before another notification came in.

When Blake clicked on the message to open the picture, she felt her breath catch.

Weiss was beautiful. Her eyes were ice blue, her hair as white as freshly-fallen snow. Her skin was flawless apart from a scar that ran over her left eye, but it didn't detract from her beauty. If anything, it gave her a sort of peculiar charm that Blake couldn't quite figure out.

'No need to feel insecure. You're definitely cute.' Blake sent back, glancing at the clock and wincing at the time.

'I need to head to bed soon. I have to wake up early tomorrow. Yang and I are going to be volunteering at a 5K.'

'Oh, good night then. Have fun.'

Blake sent back an affirmative message including her phone number and the two bid each other goodnight.

The brunette smiled as she laid down, vaguely registering the fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Yang was right. Weiss was pretty cool.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Blake groaned as she fell back onto her bed, already having tossed her bag on the floor next to the footboard of the bed. To say she had had a shitty day was an understatement. She had been late to school that morning, been assigned a group project with the rest of her group consisting of idiots, gotten a drink spilled on her at lunch, and had just been in a sour mood ever since.

A quiet text notification came from her cell phone, which was nestled in the side pocket of her backpack. She was tempted to ignore it, but she then remembered that she and Weiss had exchanged phone numbers earlier and it might be her. So, the brunette leaned forward and reached into her bag, pulling out the phone, and the screen was lit up with a notification that was indeed from Weiss.

‘Hey, are you busy?’ the text read.

Blake paused. Sure, she had a paper to work on, but it wasn’t technically due for another week. ‘ No’ , she typed back. ‘ Why?’

‘I had something to ask you, but I don’t really wanna do it through text, and I figured that talking verbally while playing a game would be the closest I could get to in person.’ Weiss replied.

Blake felt a small thrill run through her before a feeling of anxiety took its place. Sure, Weiss could be asking her out. She could also be about to tell her something really bad, too.

Wasting no time, Blake got up from her bed and changed out of her soiled shirt and into a t-shirt that Yang had left over at her house once and never taken back, a soft, black-and-white-striped shirt.

Once she was fully clothed again, the brunette sat at the end of her bed, starting up all the necessary devices and starting up what she had learned was Weiss’ favorite game and inviting the other girl to join.

Both were silent as they played for a good while. Eventually, Weiss spoke.

Her voice sounded shaky as she began: “Blake, I know what I’m about to say and ask you is a bit unorthodox given our current situation and the time elapsed from when we first met, but I…”

Blake continued moving her character around to collect items, listening to Weiss speak. Had she spoken, filled in where Weiss’ silence left a blank, her voice would have betrayed her own nervousness. Her hands shook slightly as they manipulated the controller.

“I wanted to tell you that I like you.” Weiss finally got out, firmly, as though she was making up for her previous lapse in courage. “And, like I said, I know our current situation makes a relationship somewhat difficult, but I also know that I’d be willing to try out a long distance relationship with you.”

There was a silence that went on a beat too long before Blake realized she was supposed to speak.

“Yes.” She said quickly. How could she turn down something like this? She had been thinking about Weiss all week.

“Yes?” the other girl repeated.

“Yes. I want to go out with you.” Blake affirmed, her stomach fluttering as a smile made its way over her face.
“Thank God,” Weiss’ high voice filtered through Blake’s headpiece, accompanied by a sigh. “I was beginning to worry that I’d have to claim I was just kidding and was actually heterosexual.”

Blake laughed, a happy, warm feeling rushing through her.

She’d have to remember to thank Yang later.

Chapter Text

Six months later, nervous energy rushed through Blake as she stood next to Yang, watching the crowd stepping off the plane and searching for a hint of white hair.

“ Relax , Blake.” Yang said, placing a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “It’s fine. You guys have been going out for, like, ever now. There’s nothing to stress about.”

Despite the reassuring hand of her best friend, a thousand worries ran through Blake’s mind at once: what if she doesn’t like me? What if the spark isn’t really there and we just imagined it? What if she doesn’t have a good time? What if-

Suddenly, Blake didn’t have any time to consider the what-ifs, because Weiss was there , her slim, cool fingers threading through Blake’s own, and it felt so good to have the woman of her dreams right in front of her and tangible.

Blake opened her mouth to speak, although she had no idea what she was going to say, but she didn’t get the chance to embarrass herself anyway as her girlfriend moved onto her tiptoes and pressed a firm kiss against Blake’s lips.

Oh . Blake didn’t have to worry about the spark really being there anymore. She used her free hand to wrap her arm around Weiss’ waist, a giddy smile making its way across her lips. A moment passed before they parted, and Blake opened her eyes to see Weiss’ own ice-blue gaze meeting hers.

The moment was broken as Yang spoke. “You know, you’re much shorter than I pictured.”

Weiss’ eyes narrowed a bit as she whipped around to face Yang. “And you’re more obnoxious than previously thought!”

The blonde laughed, a boisterous sound. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m starving. Come on, lovebirds, let’s get something to eat.”

Blake found herself in the backseat, watching as her best friend and her girlfriend continued to bicker playfully. A small smile found its way across her face as she gazed out the window at the golden light that bathed everything at this hour.

She had a very good feeling about all of this.