I'm never going to finish at this rate.

Ruby caught herself staring at the page without reading the words on it for what must have been at least the fifteenth time.

Shaking her head, Ruby turned to look over at her study partner a- an empty chair greeted her silver eyes. Right, Blake isn't here. After months of spending so much time in the library together, Ruby half expected her Faunus teammate to be sitting next to her like she always was.

True, Blake was still in the library somewhere, but she was nowhere near their usual spot. In fact, Ruby was almost certain Blake was avoiding her. The investigation into the White Fang had done the opposite of what Ruby had been hoping; instead of pulling Blake back into the team, she was further away than ever.

Ruby couldn't help but feel like it was all her fault. All. Her. Fault.

Despite Ruby's talk with Penny, there was still a little nagging bit of doubt in her mind that her stupid crush was causing Blake to distance herself, which was only exacerbated when Blake became even more elusive after their return.

Or the fact that as the team leader, it was her responsibility to rein her teammate in; yet the thought that she might be the reason that Blake was gone kept a paralyzing hold over her whenever Ruby tried to figure out how to solve it.

That fear was the biggest reason that kept Ruby from trying to find her wayward friend in earnest. From just trying to talk it out like Penny had suggested. It was the reason why Ruby was studying alone with a worried grimace across her face as she sat there, staring at the words on the paper wi-

"Ruby, do you have a minute?"

Silver eyes blinked before looking up – Yang and Weiss were standing in front of her. "Uh, sure, what's up guys?"

The yellow and white haired girls pulled up a chair to the study table, before Weiss spoke up. "We're worried about Blake."

Ruby felt her stomach drop as the worry increased; Weiss knows I have a crush on Blake, what if they think the same thing, that' I'm the reason? While it wasn't perhaps the most logical of conclusions, it was the one that Ruby's mind latched onto. "O-oh… sorry."

"Sorry?" A single white eyebrow rose as Weiss echoed it back after a moment. "What are you sorry about?"

"Well, it's my fault…" Ruby's head hung low as the Yang and Weiss glanced at each other in slight confusion. "Y'know, that Blake doesn't hang out with us anymore."

"Why would you think that, Rubes?"

Why? Why?! The reason had been plaguing Ruby for days now, how could they act so oblivious to it?! "I'm too scared to act like a team leader I should be and get Blake back because I have a stupid crush on her!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Ruby realized the gravity of what she just said, I just admitted it to Yang! Ruby's hands clapped shut around her mouth as her silver eyes stared in horror at her big sister.

Instead of the anger that for some reason Ruby felt Yang would have for admitting to be the reason her partner was avoiding their team, the blonde instead gave a small, reassuring smile. "I don't think that's the reason Rubes." The reassuring smile turned into a slightly smug one, however. "But that's good to know." An embarrassed blush lit up Ruby's cheeks.

"Neither of us think that's the case." Weiss' voice had a gentler tone to it then Ruby was accustomed to hearing. "We didn't come to blame you. Rather, the opposite."

"Huh?" This was definitely not what Ruby had been expecting.

"Blake listens to you far more then she would listen to either of us." Yang supplied after a moment. "I couldn't convince her to have us help her when it came to the White Fang, but you did."

"You… want me to talk to her?"

"Pretty much, yup. She needs to know that we're there for her, and not to keep trying to do this solo. Stopping the White Fang is important to Blake, but it's completely taking over her life at this point."

"…are you sure that I should do that? M-maybe you're wrong and she's really weirded out by me having a cru-"

"Ruby." Yang let out a groan. "She has one on you too."

"Buh-wha?"

"I guess the cat's out the bag, oops." Lilac eyes blinked in surprise as Yang awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

Blake likes me? True, Weiss had more or less hinted at the same thing, but Ruby knew she wasn't the best when it came to picking up those kinds of things. Plus, it felt a lot more concrete now that someone said it out loud…

Moreover, feelings aside, it meant one very important thing. Namely that Blake PROBABLY wasn't being weirded out by Ruby's crush on her. The redhead felt a small smile crease her lips at the thought. It's not my fault?

Yang, however, chose the moment to continue. "I'm not saying you should confess or anything right now, but Blake is going to listen to whatever you have to say."

Silver eyes locked onto light blue before going to lilac.

"I'll talk to Blake."

AU: Both characters finally are fully in the know. It feels like the endgame is upon us haha.

Sorry for only doing one chapter this week, but at least it came out a day earlier then I usually do? Though, to be honest, one the reasons this came out later then intended was because I was having trouble grasping about how to go about this. I could draw out the conversation far further but honestly, its pretty pointless to do that at this stage. This might not be the best possible way to do it, but it was the one I was least dissatisfied with in the end. So I'm sorry if the quality was lower then expected D:

It feels really weird for me to write at this point for Dilation mostly because the stuff that is happening is now… is actually happening. Real progress is happening. I still don't know how I feel about this. Not in the dissatisfied sense but more "woah, the route is locked at this point. Finally."

For those that are curious, Yang saying how Blake felt was less accidental and more "Ruby needs to stop beating herself up over this."

Acceptance chapter 20 rewrite is finished – plot wise – and just needs to be edited. Which means I can finally start working on Chapter 21.

Next chapter should be Tuesday for Dilation, and Spoon Equality tomorrow!

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day! :D