64

Sooooooooooo… beloved , huh?" Yang started, drawling casually as she peeked over Penny's shoulder and grinned teasingly. Penny startled instantly, hiding her notebook that was full of doodles of assorted things and nicknames the gynoid had been brainstorming. "Aww, it's cute! Don't hide it- tell her!"

"I-I couldn't possibly do that! I have only known Ruby for approximately a month now!" Penny stammered out, venting heat and thanking the fact that she couldn't visibly blush lest she look even redder than she usually was with her hair color and naturally rosy cheeks. "It would be entirely inappropriate to try and start a romantic relationship with her so soon- not that I want to!"

She hiccuped, covering her mouth and whimpering a little bit as her notebook fell to the ground and fell open to the incriminating page… which involved an extensive list of nicknames based on some of Ruby's various traits, along with a few doodles of hearts with her and Ruby's initials… plus a few stick figures of them drawing hands… plus a few up close sketches of Ruby's beowolf-like mask. And a few realistic drawings of Ruby's eyes, rendered in stunning detail despite the black and white medium of ink on paper.

"A-ah! Please pretend you didn't see that!" she cried out, immediately ducking down and snatching the notebook back- or at least, she would have if Yang hadn't picked it up instead and started leafing through it. "Friend Yang! No!"

"Aww, don't sweat it Pennster, I'm not gonna judge you for liking Rubes!" Yang chuckled, reading through the list of names and whistling lowly as she flipped through the pages. "Wow, these are really good drawings. And… a lot of nicknames. Damn. A lot of these are cookie related, huh? And… gemstone puns? And… Wishing Star, with a bunch of hearts around it."

"I… I was told that coming up with nicknames to call one's significant others is a sign of affection," Penny mumbled, hiding her face in her hands and shaking her head with a light groan of defeat. "Please, Friend Yang, give it back. I cannot let Ruby know of this- it is…"

"It's not inappropriate, y'know," Yang mentioned, shutting the notebook and setting it aside on Penny's rather awkwardly added desk (which, really, was just Ruby's original desk before the grimm girl had just entirely replaced hers with a fully stocked workbench made of grimmstuff) and patting her not-yet-sister-in-law on the shoulder. "Crushing on a close friend is kinda normal, y'know? It's not like it's super inappropriate and there's no way Ruby doesn't like you back. She snuggles with you more than she snuggles with me and Cinder. Combined! Which, I guess I'm a little jealous of, but it does also mean I get to sleep on my own without waking up to a grimm corgi butt in my face, but still."

"Ruby does tend to move around a lot when she actually lets herself sleep instead of forcing herself into dormancy," Penny nodded awkwardly, not really sure where Yang was going with all of this as the blonde brawler pulled up her own chair and sat down with a somewhat serious expression. "I- I still do not see how it would not be inappropriate to confess as I am now- I am hardly a real girl and-"

"Penny."

Yang sighed, stopping Penny before she could get herself worked up into a ramble with a single finger to the redhead's lips, shaking her head and frowning as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "Don't you ever say that you're not a real girl. It doesn't matter if you're a robot beneath that skin of yours- you think, you feel, you remember and you laugh and you've done so much that those buckets of bolts that Atlas sells as military bots couldn't. You have a soul Penny. You're as real as anyone. Me, Blake, Weiss, Ruby… gods… Ruby would know the right thing to say here but…"

She shook her head, taking Penny's hands in her own. "I'm gonna be your big sis from now on okay? So… sisterly advice time. You are real. You're as real a girl as anyone. And it's normal to have a crush, normal to catch feelings for someone you spend so much time with. You're young, you've got plenty of free time between classes- you have the opportunity to just… explore these feelings. Learn more about yourself. Find who you want to be and who you really are. You don't have to follow the rules of what's appropriate or not- just… be yourself. You and Ruby are cute together and… I think it'll work well for you. You can't keep pining from afar forever- you and Ruby literally sleep in the same bed now. And spend all of your time together. And she keeps dragging you to the libraries to watch movies and weapon documentaries."

"... I- those are… strictly friendship activities," Penny tried and failed to deflect, hiccuping again as she said those words and looked to the side. "I- she does not see me that way, I fear. Her behavior now has scarcely changed from how it was when we first met, and… I do not think that our situation extends beyond platonic even though I wish it did."

"You're just talking yourself in circles, Pennjamin," Yang deadpanned, palming her face as she bopped Penny on the head with her other hand, a metallic clank ringing out as her bracer connected with the redhead's skull. "You keep saying that there's no way that Ruby feels this way for you, but… I mean. I'm her big sis. She's never gotten this close with anyone so fast. She started sitting in your lap and cuddling with you within a week . Blake and Weiss didn't get their first taste of puppy cuddles until like, three weeks in, and even then that was just her giving out blankie hugs. Nothing like what she does with you. You'll never know if you don't ask. So… put on your brave face, and go out and get your girl, okay?"

"I… Friend Yang, what if she says no?" Penny murmured, looking down at her own hands and clenching them in uncertainty, a frown marring her face as she silently wished that she could actually cry instead of just feeling the horrible sensation of… not really pain since she didn't have nerves… but… there was this awful pressure in her soul core that felt an awful lot like how the CCT Network described sadness or despair. "I do not know what I would do in that case…"

"If she says no, then it's not like she'll want to stop being friends with you. It's Ruby- her heart is as big as her explosive yield if she ever blows up everything stored inside of her. Besides, I think I know what I'm talking about, y'know? Ruby's my baby sis. There's no way she'd hurt you," Yang grinned, standing from her chair and pulling Penny up into a standing position. She started patting the redhead down, making sure to straighten out the few wrinkles in her immaculately clean combat outfit before reaching out and adjusting the bow in Penny's hair to a slightly jaunty angle. "There. Cute as a button, clean as a whistle, and ready to hold hands and cuddle with Ruby in a meadow full of flowers. Gods you two are cute together."

"I- er… thank you, Friend Yang. I am sorry for running in circuitous lines of logic, but emotional processes are… difficult, at times, and sometimes the intensity of such bouts is enough that I almost wish to cause self damage in order to force the emotions out," Penny grumbled a little, crossing her arms as she started towards the door, one hand reaching out to pat Yang on the shoulder as she passed. "I… will go find Ruby now. Thank you for your assistance… even if you… did tease me about it a little bit. And… thank you for… calling me a real girl. It means a lot to me, Friend Yang."

"Ah, don't sweat it Penny- any one of us on Team RWBY'd do the same. JNPR too. Hell, if you're still concerned about it go ask Rubles if you're a real girl and see if you get out of her blankie cuddle in less than two hours," Yang huffed, patting Penny's shoulder again as she followed the redhead to the door and held it open. "Now go. Get your girl- if all goes well, I should hear the resultant squeal of joy from across campus."

"I- yes. I will. Um… I should be going now," Penny chuckled a bit awkwardly, then looked around and darted back so she could grab her bag that… Well. Yang hadn't seen what was in it but given the sound coming from within and the fact that Penny had mentioned she wanted to bring it to Ruby… it was probably full of cookies. Or raw meat. Or both? Probably both. "Ah- I almost forgot about this! Now I will be going!"

And with that, Penny raced out of the door, her soul invigorated and ready to face what may come no matter the result.

Yang, meanwhile, smiled, sat back in her chair, kicked her feet up on the table, and simply waited .

Less than twenty minutes later, a faint squeal of joy could be heard emanating from somewhere on campus.

"Heh. Called it."

Notes:

More art tomorrow~