Why are we doing this again?

Blake knew better then to voice her question as Ruby reverently held out Crescent Rose to her.

If there was one thing that Blake knew about Crescent Rose, it was that the weapon meant the world to Ruby. Heck, the contraption had her own last name on it, and there was more than a few times that Blake could remember Ruby referring to it as her sweetheart.

It was for those reasons that Blake bit her tongue as she gently took a hold of the high-caliber sniper-scythe. On the other hand, while Blake was wondering why she was here, she did also feel quite honoured.

Ruby was letting her handle her sweetheart, after all.

True, Ruby had handled all of their teammates weapons at this point, - Blake had some rather interesting recollections of the times that Ruby had handled Gambol Shroud - as well as most of team JNPR's too… but no one had so much as touched Crescent Rose. No one.

There was nary a person that Blake had met that put so much time into their weapon as Ruby, which was why she did find herself questioning what exactly was going on, why is does she suddenly wanting me to try it?

Ruby finally picked up on Blake's not so hidden inquisitive stare stopped her rather energetic advice on how to use a high-caliber sniper-scythe, "y-you've let me h-hold Gambol Shroud… so this makes it even, r-right?"

Even though she accepted the explanation with a nod, Blake couldn't help but feel like there was some other motive that was a foot, if only from the glaring redness that was flaring up on Ruby's face all of a sudden. This is Ruby, she doesn't scheme or plot… subtlety is mostly lost on her. While it sounded like a rather unkind opinion of her friend, it was a very true observation… the only more unsubtle members of their friend group was Yang and Nora.

Blake liked to think she was an observant person – it came with being a former member of the White Fang - so when Ruby started to act differently, the Faunus noticed.

It was small things, simple gestures, like a flinch that was there whenever they happened to bump into each other, or a rather uncertain quality that had entered Ruby's tone whenever they were talking. Or the occasional lingering glances that Ruby gave her. Perhaps most importantly, was how Ruby's cheeks had a tendency to take on her namesake in colour far more often than in the past.

Awkward as Ruby may be sometimes, they added up to something that Blake was not all that certain of. Was Yang right? Does Ruby really have a crush on me?

Yang had no reason to lie to her partner, especially when it came to her sister, yet it'd been hard to swallow when she'd flat out told Blake that Ruby had a crush on her. And that Blake should act on it.

The thought both excited and terrified the black haired teen.

True, she had her own crush on her team leader for a few months now, but at the same time was growing rather… comfortable with just what they are; close friends. Or that was just the fear talking. After all, a change in status quo is alw-

"Blake?"

Ruby's silver eyes were closer to Blake's amber ones then the Faunus remembered them being. "Yes?"

"Um, are you going to fire her, or…?"

Blake blinked; right, firing at the targets at the end of the range. "Just a moment." Her hands got a better grip of the obscenely large weapon before leveling it down range and pulling the trigger.

Next thing that Blake could recall, she was on her back, the large and extremely dangerous weapon several feet away with Ruby crouched over her, freaking out.

"Blake are you okay? Blake? Blake?!" Ruby was rather roughly shaking the girl in question. "Oh no, she isn't saying anything, uh, there should be a first aid kit somewhere around here…" Before Ruby could take a step away, Blake pushed herself up.

"No need for that Ruby." The short girl's worried face melted into relief as Blake got to her feet. "I'm fine." With that out of the way, amber eyes found the forgotten sniper scythe. "I forgot about how much recoil Crescent Rose has."

"It's okay!" Rose petals fluttered in the air as Ruby zipped back to her. "M-maybe we shouldn't try that again?"

As much as Blake wanted to agree with that, there was at least one very good reason she was going to say no to it. Clearly this meant a lot to Ruby, and the fact that she was putting as much trust as she was in Blake by even suggesting that the black haired teen try her weapon meant that the Faunus felt obligated to at least try again.

Plus, Blake idly mused as Ruby excitedly started to give tips as she got a grip on Crescent Rose, it's not like Ruby stopped the first time she tried Gambol Shroud. This time the recoil of the sniper rifle didn't knock Blake over, though it did knock her into someone.

By the time Blake got her bearings and was making sure Ruby was fine, pulling the girl up from the ground and make sure she didn't have any bruises, another huge blush was spread across the younger teen's cheeks.

Maybe she really does have a crush on me…

AU: HEY LOOK IT TOOK ME LESS TIME THEN THREE WEEKS, YAY!

Honestly, the freaking THIRTY REVIEWS had me making a chapter by the next day but other projects (Acceptance and my MonCon entry for Happy Pyrrha Nikos story) took all my time this week!

ALSO HOLY CRAP THIRTY REVIEWS WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?! Honestly, as long as I get ten I'm pretty content, so thirty blew me out of the water!

YES PROGRESSION IS HAPPENING, YESSSSSSSSS!

Sorry, I'm excited. Took me two damn months to get Acceptance done and I'm posting it in a few scant hours from now for those of you who read it!

Thank you for reading and hopefully I'll see you for the final update of the day, to those who don't read it, have a great day! :D