Blake

Yang and I trudged back up to the school, tired but satisfied. Killing Grimm all morning felt very rewarding, especially considering I'd beaten the highly competitive brawler at her own bet. Both of us had gotten through the morning unscathed, with nary so much as a scrape to illustrate what we'd been doing.

On arrival, we found that the campus was nearly deserted. Fairly normal for a Saturday, because everyone tended to relax in their rooms or go into the city. Occasionally students would go out into the forest for some live practice, like Yang and I had, but generally those who wanted to train would settle for one of Beacon's many training rooms.

The cafeteria also proved to be mostly empty, with only a few people eating, spread out across the room in their own little groups. Most of the tables were free, a fact I didn't dwell on because the smell of food had made me realise just how hungry I was. As if on cue, Yang's stomach rumbled loudly beside me. Wordlessly, we headed over to the serving counter to see what was available today.

I was pleased to see that tuna sandwiches were being offered, while Yang opted to take an entire chicken. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she merely shrugged in response. After I got a carton of milk and she got some People Like Grapes soda, we made our way to a table. After a couple of minutes of comfortable silence between the two of us, a loud, familiar voice made us turn to face the serving counter.

"NO PANCAKES?!" Nora yelled in frustration. "Ren, you have to make some. You make the best pancakes. Pleeeaaase?" she added, speaking more quietly but extremely quickly. She was joined by the rest of Team JNPR, who looked around apologetically.

"Not now, Nora," Ren told the redhead patiently. "Pick something they do have. I'll make you pancakes another time."

"Okay..." Nora replied dejectedly. After she and her team had their food, Yang waved them over to our table. They joined us, as they usually did, and I became very aware of Pyrrha sitting right beside me. I could barely focus on the fact that Nora was back to her normal level of excitability, eagerly telling us yet another story of her and Ren's exploits before coming to Beacon. Ren would occasionally interrupt to make corrections, which I barely heard despite my Faunus hearing.

I sneaked a glance at Pyrrha. The sunlight streaming in through the windows caught her hair in such a way that it looked like fire dancing on her back. Seeing her like that, I understood why her name was Pyrrha. Flame-coloured. Self-explanatory in that moment. Even though I'd only intended to take a fleeting look at the girl, I found myself enthralled by her beauty and unable to look away. I only got drawn back to reality when I felt something sliding up my nose. I jerked my gaze away from the warrior beside me and realised I'd missed my mouth with my straw.

"You okay, Blake?" Yang asked, just as concerned as the day before.

"Mm," I replied, trying to play it cool but blushing furiously. At this point, I was getting annoyed with myself. I couldn't stop thinking about Pyrrha when I wasn't around her, and when I was my brain refused to work properly. I seriously needed to sort this thing out before I did something really embarrassing. Thankfully, Yang seemed to realise something was troubling me and stood up.

"Great hanging out with you and stuff, but we gotta go," she told Team JNPR. "Blake said she'd help me with some homework." I was about to ask "I did?" when I realised Yang was getting us out of there in the least awkward way she could. I nodded and, after we'd both cleared our trays into the garbage, walked with her back up to our dorm room.

When we arrived, she told me to go shower and that we were going to talk afterwards. She wouldn't say any more than that. I showered and got dressed quickly, while harbouring a suspicion about what it was Yang wanted to talk about. I really hoped I was wrong. When I got out of the bathroom, the blonde was sitting on my bed, obviously waiting for me. She patted the space beside her, so I made my way over and sat down.

"What's going on with you, Blake?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?" I replied, trying to dodge the subject for as long as possible.

"You haven't been yourself lately."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Yesterday, during Goodwitch's class, you were completely out of it. Then we didn't see you for hours. It's not normal for you to disappear without a word like that, or miss dinner. Then today, you didn't even notice the Grimm at the temple until you heard my gauntlet go off, not to mention lunch just then. You spent most of it staring at...something. It honestly looked like all your attention was focused on Pyrrha. And the straw-up-the-nose. Not like you at all," Yang explained. "So, what's going on?"

"I...I don't know," I replied.

"Come on. Give me something here. I'm trying to help, but I can't if you don't let me."

"But I really don't know."

"Has there been anything on your mind lately?" At that, I laughed mirthlessly. "What? We might be getting somewhere here," the blonde told me.

"There is...something...that's been on my mind a lot," I replied, slowly and reluctantly.

"Something? Can you please give me just a teensy bit more?"

"Okay, it's...someone."

"Oh? Mind if I ask who?"

"You're going to anyway, aren't you?"

"Yup."

I sighed, before muttering "it's Pyrrha."

"Come again?"

"Pyrrha," I repeated, louder this time.

"Pyrrha? Really?" Yang asked in shock. "I mean, yeah, she's hot, and a badass, and an all-around great person, but I never really saw you as the type..." she trailed off after I glared at her. "Anyway, wanna tell me about it?"

"I guess so. I'm really confused so it might help," I replied, before taking a long pause. "I can't... I can't get her off my mind. The slightest reminder of her and I just zone out completely thinking about her. That's what happened at the temple. I remembered seeing her running from the Deathstalker and that was it. Your gauntlet blast brought me back to reality." She nodded. "Then when I'm near her, that's the worst. My brain shuts down. Hence the straw up my nose."

"Anything else?" Yang asked. I shook my head. She pursed her lips and was silent for a minute or so. "Blake...I'm not sure how to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" I asked nervously.

"It sounds to me like you have a crush. A pretty big one, actually," Yang told me.

"I...I do?"

"Seems like it."

"What do I do?"

"Well…what do you think you should do?"

"Why would I be asking if I already knew?"

"See, there's no one solution to everyone's situation when they like someone. You have to figure it out yourself," Yang told me sympathetically. "I'm sure you will though."

"Okay."

"I can give you one piece of advice: don't ignore what you're feeling. At least, not forever. Worst case scenario is that you never do anything then something happens that prevents anything between you and her."

"All right."

"Remember, I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Thanks. Hey, don't…don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Of course not." Suddenly, Yang leaned over and hugged me. The heat from her body calmed me down a lot, but the hug didn't last long. The blonde pulled back, stood up and headed towards the door. "See you later," she told me as she left. When she was gone, I lay down and stared at the bottom of Yang's bunk, resting precariously above me. I remained like that for a long time, until I heard the door open again.

"Ruby! Slow down, you'll choke!" Weiss snapped as she entered the room with Ruby. Good thing Yang didn't hear that, I thought, smiling to myself. The actual reason behind the sentence was perfectly innocent; Ruby was eating cookies. Actually, inhaling was a better word in this case; the girl seemed to not be chewing them at all. How she managed to eat anything that fast was beyond me. Meanwhile, Weiss was carrying a bag, which, judging by how delicately she placed it on her bed, I figured contained Dust, ammo or both.

"Hey Blake!" Ruby called out cheerfully.

"Hello."

"Where's Yang?"

"No idea. She left without saying anything."

"Oh, okay. How was your day?"

"Fine. Yang and I had a bet over who could kill the most Grimm," I told her.

"Oooh, who won?" she asked eagerly.

"I did. Now I get to choose a book which Yang has to read from start to finish."

"Go to the library and borrow a dictionary or an encyclopaedia," she suggested.

"I'm not that mean."

"Aw. That's boring."

Some time later, Yang came back and suggested we go for dinner. I didn't want to risk seeing Pyrrha before I worked out what I was going to do, so I opted to stay in the room. Yang frowned, but said nothing.

My teammates left and came back an hour later with some salad, which I ate while reading. In fact, I spent most of the rest of the weekend reading, determined to avoid seeing Pyrrha until I absolutely had to.

On Monday morning, I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to see the redhead, for better or for worse. I dejectedly went through my morning routine, wishing I didn't have to go outside. Yang clearly noticed my attitude, but didn't say anything. Ruby on the other hand didn't know the situation.

"Blake, is something wrong?" she asked, full of concern, while we were walking to our Grimm Studies class.

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied.

"Okay." Thankfully, Professor Port had assigned our seats at the beginning of the year and I was nowhere near Pyrrha. I figured I'd be able to focus, not that it would have mattered in this class. Unfortunately, the veteran Hunter had an announcement to make.

"Good morning, class," he boomed. "Today, you will be receiving a…research project of sorts." The entire class, save for Weiss and I, groaned. "It will be done in pairs-" at that, everyone looked around the room, trying to make eye contact with the person they wanted to work with. "-which I will be assigning" Port finished. The class groaned anew. "I will explain your assignment, then you will receive your partners. First, you will select a species of Grimm. The two of you will come up with a strategy to kill it as efficiently as possible. Submit a written report detailing this strategy two weeks from now. Then, over the course of several days, after the required Grimm have been captured by our staff, you will demonstrate your strategy. You will be graded on the effectiveness and execution of the strategy, as well as the difficulty of killing the Grimm you selected. Questions?"

"Any Grimm, Professor?" Yang asked beside me. I figured she was going for a loophole. Knowing her, she'd pick the rarest Grimm known to man and only have to do half the project.

"No. You will choose from the choices you are given," Port told her. "If there are no more questions, I will tell you your partners. Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie." Yang grinned and shot Nora a thumbs up. "Ruby Rose and Lie Ren. Blake Belladonna and-" I inhaled sharply, waiting for the professor's next words. "Pyrrha Nikos." Well, fuck, I thought, as Yang patted my leg sympathetically.

A/N: There's chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed. So, some development. How's this project going to end? Stay tuned to find out. I don't have anything else to say, so leave a review and follow/favourite if you want. Thanks for reading.