"And…there we go." Ruby finished up fluffing a pillow and set it against the arm of the sofa beside a folded over blanket. "All set for the night."

"Heh. Thanks, Ruby." Yang rubbed the back of her neck and gave her sister an almost sheepish grin. "Sorry for callin' ya up on such short notice."

"Meh, don't worry about it. I mean at this point I was considering just getting you your own key." Absently patting the pillow, she sighed and her expression became one of concern. "You sure you don't wanna bunk with me again? Being a couple days older doesn't make me too old to share beds with my big sister."

Indeed this wasn't the first of Yang's visits. She had been staying with Ruby on and off at seemingly random intervals for the past month. Yang and Blake had experienced a falling out in their relationship due to a mishap on Yang's part. She was in the habit of grabbing a few drinks with Blake at the nearby bar at the end of the work week and, after downing a few more than she usually did, brought up the possibility of bringing "that hot piece of ass over there" in for some action with them. Yang had managed to drink out a rather important piece of knowledge that she learned about her girlfriend over the course of their relationship: the Faunus wasn't fond of sharing her partner.

The pair butted heads for a time almost as soon as the blonde started to sober up. As a result, the two had "taken a break" to cool off. An ongoing break that was doing a number on Yang's normally sunny personality throughout the almost five weeks of the two not speaking a word to each other. She had hoped it would blow over in a few days or so and had waited patiently for Blake to contact her. No calls. No texts. Nothing. The longer they put off talking, the more awkward it became...

...and that led to a miserable Yang. Ruby tried her best to keep her sister's spirits from diminishing any further where she could.

Yang's mouth curved into a small smile. "I'm good. You have work in the morning so I don't want to end up waking you in the middle of the night."

Ruby shrugged. "If you say so." She turned around in the direction of her room and her shrug became slightly more comical as she went. "I'm leaving the door cracked in case you change your mind though."

"Mmhm. You do that. Just don't be surprised if I sneak in and body slam you while you're sleeping."

Jokes were always a good sign. Well, so long as she didn't act on this particular one. Ruby did have to be up in the morning and it was already midnight thirty.

"Yeah yeah. Make sure you get some rest too, Sis. You're starting to get bags again."

Ruby leaned against her doorway for a moment, expecting her sister's usual question after she got settled for bed. The routine defeated sigh as she did her usual phone check for any missed calls or messages, the usual shift of position as she reclined in the sofa to lay down, and the usual sounds of the blanket being flipped to cover her. Then the last part of her routine came.

"Hey Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think she's still mad? You think she...broke up with me?"

The question that was asked at least once every time she came over. Each time sounded a little more worried than the last, more unsure. Ruby didn't like it. The pause this time dragged out a bit longer too.

"I don't think she'd do that without giving you some kind of closure. I mean, who knows? Maybe she's asking herself the same thing right now."

Yang gave a long sigh. "I hope. Goodnight, Ruby."

"'Night, Yang." She flicked off the lights and headed to bed, leaving the door cracked as promised.

With one more check of her phone, Yang set it down on her stomach, staring at the ceiling in the dark.

'Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. Some closure would be really nice.'

She could tell she wasn't in for a full night's sleep again.

Bzzzt

A low groan of a mostly asleep blonde was the only reaction to the first buzz.

Bzzzt

Yang snorted as she awoke from the tickle of the phone, drool just barely starting to fall. She clumsily wiped it off as she reached for the device that had slid between her and the cushions of the sofa. Who the heck is even awake at this time?

Bzzzt

She glanced at the digital clock across the room. Three-something in the morning. Her vision was still a bit fuzzy. But she could read the name on her dimmed screen.

Blake.

Bzzzt

'Oh god oh god oh god is this for real?' Yang quickly sat up, alert with heart pounding. 'Come on, me. Answer the damn thing!'

She hesitated a moment before realizing that she probably didn't have many buzzes left and slid the lock to answer it. "M'lo?" she mumbled, sounding heavily groggy. 'Shit.' She cleared her throat and licked her dry lips to try again. "B-Blake?" Still shaky but better than the first attempt.

"O-oh. Hey. I, uh...I didn't think you would, um, pick up."

Yang's heart was beating a mile a minute in a weird mix of relieved joy and panic. "Well ya know," she said. "I like my late nights."

"Heh, I know. I woke you up, didn't I? Sorry."

Gosh it was good to hear her voice again. "Nonono, really I'm fine. It is pretty late though. Are you okay?"

There was a good five second pause before she heard a small sigh and a response. "Yes. Everything's fine. Are you? You're pretty quiet. For you."

'People don't usually call someone at 3am if they're fine.' Yang set aside the question for now. "I'm doing alright. Just don't wanna wake my host so I gotta keep it down."

Another short pause from Blake. "Oh. I see...you're staying with someone." Did she sound almost...disappointed?

"Mmhm. I'm staying the night at Ruby's and she leaves her room door open in case I don't feel like sleeping on the couch. That little softie. We never did get around to fixing that noisy doorknob."

"Ah okay. That's go- uh, nice of her," Blake muttered. "Very nice."

Wait a minute. Did she think she was not with Ruby? She wouldn't be asking Weiss to bunk her at such hours. The girl had comfy beds at her place but it was too fancy to relax. Who else would she be sleeping wi- oh. Ooooh. Oh. She got it. Holding back the small urge to prod the issue, Yang redirected the topic. She didn't exactly know how carefully she should tread in their first conversation in over a month. She did not want to take the risk but it had to be asked.

"Hey uh...mind if I ask why you called? You said you were alright but you're not one to just call somebody in the middle of the night for no reason. Are you sure you're okay?"

Blake wasn't exactly ready for that to be brought up again so soon if her stammering was anything to go by. "I-I told you I was. Is it so weird to want to talk to someone when you can't sleep?"

"Not really, no. And I'm not complaining when I say this but why me?"

"Huh?"

"You have plenty of friends. Ones that don't, ya know...piss off people they care about," Yang could feel herself trailing off. The pit of guilt was filling again and it made her feel a little sick.

Then she heard a small groan. "I'm not mad about that anymore."

The blonde perked up slightly. "Well I know when you're grumpy and I can hear it very clearly in your voice right now. You're not quite over it yet, are you?"

"I don't like holding grudges. And I'm not mad," she grumbled back. Before Yang could quip back, she added, "I haven't been for a while. I just wanted to talk to you, okay?"

Yang was afraid that Blake could hear her heart thudding in her chest. She sharply drew in some air when she realized she had stopped breathing. "Oh."

Her brain was momentarily scrambled. She struggled to say something to avoid an awkward silence.

"So, um...I've been sober for a month now," she said, giving her neck a nervous rub. 'Yes, let's bring up the thing that started this in the first place. Way to go, Xiao Long.'

Surprisingly she was met with a chuckle. "Hmhm, good job. I'm proud of you, Yang."

Yang couldn't stop the goofy grin from coming to her face. 'Wow no don't cry, you loser. She just said your name. You hear it all the time. For all we know, she's still upset with you. Shit shit, stop trying to break through, stupid tears.'

Composing herself with an "ahem", she put the phone up to her ear again. "Thanks. I mean, the stuff caused me to...say some things. I don't wanna repeat that mistake." A quiet 'hm' was all she got. Yang spoke a little softer but with enough firmness to be heard. "I'm sorry about that night, Blake. I know I went a few drinks over and wasn't in my right mind but even then that wasn't okay. I should've just tried to clear things up instead of arguing about it."

The Faunus sighed, "It's my fault too."

"Wha?"

"I overreacted. Your drinking doesn't excuse your actions but you weren't exactly you at the time. I know you're not like that. You've been nothing but faithful and I should have trusted you and just brought you back home. So I apologize as well."

A shred of boldness overtook Yang. "Oho, so Blakey got a little jealous?"

"...You know I still haven't explicitly said I forgive you."

"You were, weren't you? That's so cute~"

"I'm hanging up."

"No wait wait!" Yang backpedaled immediately. Realizing she has raised the volume with that short outburst, she glanced over at Ruby's doorway and was relieved to hear her sister still snoring. "Please don't do that."

Blake huffed. "I dunno. I don't think you were as sincere as you sounded when you apologized."

She should've known what the Faunus was doing. She should've known she wasn't being entirely serious. Blake had always liked to tease her just to watch her squirm. The blonde was still in high tension after her "slip-up" though.

"Uhhhh," Yang felt her stomach drop. She could feel the panic return full force. "You really mean a lot to me, Blake, I swear. I, um, also wanted to tell you that, uh..."

What do I say? Oh man oh man.

"...that you're the only hot piece of ass I need!"

Nailed it.

Silence on the other end. The seconds were terribly crawling.

Yang was sure she had screwed up her apology and actually considered just hanging up and leaving on that terrible note but a noise caught her attention. She pressed her phone to her ear and upped the volume a click. One more and she was certain. Blake was trying (and kinda failing) to hold back a laugh. It was certainly muffled by a hand and moreso by holding her own phone away from her.

"Blake? You there?"

Taking some recovery breaths, Blake relaxed. "I almost can't believe you actually said that. For your sake, I hope Ruby didn't hear that and think you're making some sort of booty call."

Feeling a lot more confident after her apparent success, Yang took the plunge.

"This might be a Bellabooty call."

"Oh my god, Yang, stop," the Faunus said with a familiar amused affection. Yang held in a giggling fit when she remembered she was supposed to be quiet. Whether it was because it was late and they were tired or from relief or a combination of all of that, they didn't know, but the two shared a few more laughs for while.

Once the last of the giggles had started to die down, Yang asked, "So you forgive me?"

"I do. Are you still upset with me?"

"Never was."

It was then that Blake said something that made Yang's heart skip a beat.

"I missed you, you dork."

The blonde's goofy smile came back to her sunny features.

"I missed you more. Now about that booty call~"

"Yang, don't ruin the moment."