Blake had to steady her breath as she opened her eyes, uncertain as to how Weiss and Yang would react..

Weiss was staring uncertainly at Blake's ears, as if unsure if it was real or not. Blake couldn't fault her; it wasn't every day you find out your teammate is actually a Faunus with cat ears hidden under a bow for nearly a whole semester. Yang on the other hand was… grinning? Wait what? That wasn't something Blake had expected at all. No, Blake had expected shock or even a look of betrayal... the grinning was not that.

"You have cat to be kittening me right now."

Blake blinked as her mouth opened and closed at the awful puns, unable to form words at the light hearted words. Ruby groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Weiss was still focused on Blake's Faunus ears.

Yang shrugged her hands palm up in gesture of ambivalence. "What?" The largest smirk Blake had ever seen was being exhibited by Yang. "Did I ruin the mewment?"

"You're taking this… surprisingly well." Blake's voice decided to finally function.

"I kinda knew already heh heh." Yang replied, guiltily.

"What."

"Welp." The light teasing tone started to fade as Yang shifted nervously on her feet, her smirk fading as she became more serious. "I figured you had a reason for not telling us." Blake could only stare at her partner. Yang had known the entire time?!

"How… how did you know?"

Yang continued to shift awkwardly on her feet as she started to tick off her fingers. "You really don't like dogs, thought tuna was better than chocolate, your bow twitches sometimes aaaaand there was that one time when you came out of the bathroom without your bow on for a few seconds."

I thought no one saw me that time too. "Oh." Blake was at a loss of words again, a reoccurring theme as of late. So Yang knew the whole time. That was a bombshell that Blake had never considered. Surely Yang would have acted different or at least… something. Yet she never acted any differently… and she is still treating me the same. Except worse puns.

Yang mischievous smirk returned. "Aww, cat got your tongue?" Blake shuddered at it, too many puns. Yang noticed, her smirk faltering. "Should I stop? I had a loooong time to think of some…"

Blake shook her head. "No just toned it down a little?" A smile of her own broke through. "Paw-lease?"

"Oh no, now Blake's doing it too…" Ruby lamented as Yang gave a goofy smile and thumbs up to Blake. That went well.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Weiss' voice cut in, speaking up for the first time since Blake's bow had come off.

"I… I wanted to fit in." Blake had come to that realization a long time ago, yet it still felt awkward to say out loud. "I wanted to have a chance at normalcy. I didn't want to get picked on, or judged because I have these." Blake twitched her ears.

Blake looks around the room at all her teammates. "I just wanted to have friends, to have teammates who cared for me." Her eyes focused on her feet. Despite the fact she had planned this - that Blake had prepared for this - she couldn't help but feel her eyes start to get watery. "That's all."

"Ehm." Weiss cleared her throat. "Well I for one do not see an issue."

"Really?" Blake couldn't believe it. All this time she had thought Weiss would act shocked, or at least be different. Yet it turned out she didn't mind.

"Yes really." Weiss' tone became gentler, something that Blake had never heard before. "I still consider you my friend."

The small warmth that had grown increasingly familiar to Blake occurred as Ruby hugged her. "You have me too!"

A heated inferno of bone crushing joined Ruby, as Blake's partnered bear-hugged the two. "We're still partners Blakey." Yang pulled back from the hug.

"Hey! Watch wher- oof!"

Weiss joined the group hug as Yang dragged her into it – not that Weiss was unwilling – turning it into a team hug. For the first time in a long, long while, Blake felt relieved. Her teammates finally knew at least some of her secrets; they knew she was a Faunus. It was like the bubble bursting, all the fear of rejections had been for naught, all the worrying and sleepiness nights had been for nothing. Who knows how long she would of suffered worrying about what her teammates would think if she hadn't revealed her ears? They might not know about her time in the White Fang, but small steps at a time.

It was all thanks to a little Rose that Blake had actually confessed up to the rest of her team… who knows how much longer she would have kept her ears hidden? Sometime I really need to show some gratitude to Ruby.

AU: Wait…. No cliffhanger today? In the famous words of Admiral Ackbar, "IT'S A TRA- chapter that has no cliffhanger. How quaint." (No not really. Half of his quotes are about traps or retiring early from the military, nothing about chapters).

Now then, I actually did have resolution pretty quickly... its not like Weiss is gonna be a idiot and go "YOU LIED NO MORE FRIENDS"... no, Blake had a understandable reason for hiding her ears and her teammates get that. When they find out about the White Fang however... that will be messier I suppose!

I did actually hint at a close calls way back when at chapter 14. The thing with Yang didn't come out of left field, I swear.

Chapter 24 had references to several BooksandWeapons images/posts; there is the optimist image Dani drew a few weeks ago, the fact that Blake has the same worries as how Dani outlined a early Ladybug relationship would have.

Sidenote: Thanks Dani! You're the best! (and the Queen of Ladybug, for I am but a mere pretender to the throne of the lady bugs.)

Important note: I have a three or five chapter arc planned for RTX. There will most likely be a prelude and a finale posted, with a chapter each day from Thursday August 6th to Monday August 10th. Or I will be super lazy and post the finale and prelude a day before and after the Friday through Sunday chapters. I DO SOME PLANNING ON SOME DAYS I SWEAR. I actually planned the next 22 chapters while working last night. It was fun.

Thank you for the reviews guys and girls! Its what drives me to keep releasing chapters so quickly! Have a great day!