Something was wrong with Blake.

Ruby didn't know exactly what it was, but she was sure it was there. Blake was, of course, much harder to read than Yang or Weiss, but Ruby felt that she'd gotten pretty good at reading her over the years - after all, Blake was her best friend!

Well, other than Weiss and Yang, of course. Except… Yang didn't really count since she was her sister, and Weiss didn't really count either since she was her partner, so…

Yeah. Blake was her best friend.

Well in any case, precise friend ordering aside, it was pretty obvious to Ruby that Blake wasn't feeling well. She'd been anxious all day, even before the incidents with the crowds.

Ruby winced. Yeah… I really should have figured there would be crowds when I planned this. Not exactly the relaxing together time I'd planned for. Still, Blake hadn't been this bad in ages. Something was up with Blake other than just the crowds. Well, whatever the reason was it didn't change the problem in front of her - her best friend was in a bad way and she had a duty, both as a friend and a team leader, to try and do something about it.

Plus there was… That. Some time in the past couple of months Ruby had started feeling something strange whenever she was around Blake, an odd mixture of nervousness, excitement, and other, less identifiable feelings. She couldn't quite identify what it was, only that she always looked forward to spending time with Blake, especially when it was just the two of them. It felt… different than how she looked forward to hanging out with any of her other friends, but in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on. In the end, she'd just started referring to it as That weird feeling I get when Blake's around, or, for convenience's sake, That.

The idea of it being some sort of crush had briefly crossed her mind, but she dismissed it almost out of hand. She didn't have crushes. Oh sure, she was happy whenever her friends started dating someone, but she'd never quite understood the appeal of it herself. Not to mention Yang would never let her hear the end of it if she got a crush on her partner of all people. Or even asked her about it. No, the idea of That being a crush was just stupid.

Luckily for the problem at hand, Ruby had found the perfect solution - or, at the very least, something to distract Blake from whatever was on her mind. The author for one of her and Blake's favorite series had evidently come through and done a book signing at some point, and she'd found a few signed copies of their latest book left over! Ruby grabbed one and looked around to try and find Blake. She spotted her browsing the shelves near the bookstore's small cafe and ran up to hand off the book. "Hey Blake! Look what I found!" she called out.

Blake turned to look and, as she saw what Ruby had found, some of the tenseness in her face seemed to drop away. Yeah, Ruby thought to herself, that's the stuff! No bad mood can stick around when I'm on the case! Ruby handed the book over and, in the process, her hand brushed against Blake's.

Apparently Blake felt it too, as she immediately flinched backwards, dropping the book to the ground as the worry rushed back into her face. Ruby was frozen for a second, too surprised to say anything or react at all. Blake seemed to retreat into herself, shrinking back and stammering apologies as she bent down to pick up the book.

Ruby's first instinct was to grab Blake and drag her over to the cafe and have a Talk with her, but she overruled that idea when she remembered how Blake had just reacted to a simple hand brush. Instead, she figured something a bit gentler was in order. "Hey Blake, can we talk?" she asked quietly.

Blake looked around nervously and Ruby saw her eyes dart towards the exit once or twice. Ruby was shocked that something had evidently been getting to Blake so badly without her noticing at all. She gave her best sad begging eyes and added a "...please?" Blake tensed up and muttered what sounded like a few words of encouragement to herself before nodding jerkily. Ruby felt a little guilty for laying the act on so thick, but she knew that if Blake was feeling bad enough that an abrupt exit seemed tempting then they needed to talk things out now. Left alone Blake would just stew in whatever was eating her, and that wouldn't help anyone. The two of them headed over to the cafe.

Ruby led Blake over to a table and ordered a pair of hot chocolates before going back to the table and sitting down across from her friend. "Blake…" she started. "Is everything okay?"

I- it's fine Ruby I'm just… I wasn't feeling very well today and then the crowds and then… I'm fine Ruby. You don't need to worry about me" Blake said, desperately avoiding Ruby's eyes.

"Blake, you shot away from me just because I brushed up against your hand! You haven't been this touch-averse in years! I'm really really sorry all this happened and I should have seen you weren't in a great mood this morning, I was just really excited about today and…" Ruby shook her head, trailing off. "Blake, whatever this is, it seems really serious. You know you can tell me anything right? You're my best friend and I'm really worried about you."

Blake bit her lip before answering. "Ruby, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it more than I could ever express but…" she paused. "If this were anything else I would tell you immediately, of course I would, but I can't talk to you about this. I have to deal with this by myself, I can't just-"

Ruby felt a little bout of anger flare up in her gut and she found it hard to focus on whatever excuse Blake was working up. Blake was such an awesome person and she was in such a better place than she was then they first met but she still sometimes went on these spirals where she felt like she couldn't ask anyone for help! It was ridiculous! She-

She needed to calm down. This wasn't Blake's fault. Blake had been through a lot, so much more than she could possibly imagine. As much as Ruby hoped the last couple years had been healthy and healing for Blake she still had so much she needed to work through. And she wanted to help. Blake had been such a good friend to her over the years and she wanted to pay that back in any way she could. Getting mad at her wouldn't help with anything.

Ruby paused for a second, collecting her thoughts, and she noticed that at some point Blake had finished speaking and was looking nervously at her. The fearful look in her eyes hurt Ruby more than she had expected and Ruby's desire to protect and help her friend intensified. Blake had been through so much. She shouldn't need to feel afraid around her friends. She double-checked what she had been planning to say, making sure that everything was as close to what she intended as possible.

"Alright," she started. "I understand. I just worry that you're walling yourself off from us again. If you can't talk to me about it then I'm sure Yang or Weiss or any of our other friends would be super happy to help you out any way they can. And even if you can't talk to them either then… we're all here for you Blake. I'm here. You're my best friend and I want to do everything I can to help you feel better. I want you to be happy," she said, giving Blake her sincerest smile.

Evidently some part of it worked, as Blake smiled and had to look away, a faint blush intruding on her face. Ruby felt a swell of pride filling her up and That sent a brief shock of something unidentifiable but pleasant through her. Blake's smile still looked a little fragile but… hey. It was a start.

Blake took a deep breath before she looked back at Ruby. "Thank you Ruby. That… I don't think that helps in the way you were hoping but I do feel much better. Thank you."

Ruby smiled, feeling the warmth of a job well done spreading through her. Then, an idea occurred to her. "Hey, Blake," she said. "I uh… I know this whole thing started because you were feeling sorta touch-averse, but now that we've talked it out a bit do you want a hug? I remember you once said my hugs always made you feel better."

Blake's eyes widened. Ruby could practically see the internal debate raging in her mind and almost retracted her offer before Blake nodded sharply and started getting out of her chair.

Ruby forced herself to get up slowly, not wanting to appear too eager. True, Blake had said that her hugs made her feel better, and true, she loved making her friends feel good. However, Ruby had a slightly more selfish motivation in mind as well. Now, both standing, Ruby stepped towards Blake. She wrapped her arms around her friend and teammate, snuggled in, and relaxed.

There was always something that was so… wonderful about Blake Hugs. Ruby loved hugging all of her friends, of course, but at the same time she loved hugging Blake more than anyone else she could think of, and she wasn't entirely sure why. She was sure That had something to do with it, she always felt it strongly after a hug, but just why that was, she wasn't sure. Plus there were other things to think about. Sure, Blake's hugs weren't as bone-crushing as Yang's or as tense as Weiss's, but that couldn't account for all of it - sometimes what she really wanted was one of her sister's bear hugs and it always felt special when Weiss actually wanted a hug, but there was something else. Another thing she had trouble defining when it came to Blake.

She gave the mental equivalent of a shrug and went back to enjoying the hug. She was sure she would figure it out eventually.

Blake and Ruby finished up at the bookstore, buying a couple of books to share and taking note of a few more that looked interesting, vowing to come back and buy them when they actually had the money.

Luckily, they managed to catch the shuttle back during a relatively quiet time. Although the shuttle certainly wasn't empty, neither was it anywhere near as crowded as it had been on the ride down, and Blake and Ruby sat with a comfortable distance between them.

A few minutes into their ride, Ruby looked over at Blake. She had already started one of the book's they'd bought, and had quickly become engrossed in it, that particular mixture of eagerness and quiet happiness that came over Blake when she was reading a good book playing over her face. Ruby smiled. She found herself marvelling, certainly not for the first time, at her teammate. Blake was so smart and cool and always nice to be around. Of course Ruby loved her sister and Weiss, but there was something about spending time around Blake that she never got from her other teammates. She'd always found spending time around other people to be so draining, but over the past couple years she'd found that she could spend all day around Blake and barely feel tired at all.

And Blake was so pretty! Other than her love of a nice combat skirt, Ruby had never been one to care too much about how she or anyone else looked, but even she could find herself admiring the beautiful and occasionally dashing figure Blake cut seemingly effortlessly. Ruby wondered idly about why Blake was still single. She was pretty sure Blake had gotten crushes on other people before, and she had to imagine that people would ask out someone as nice and pretty as Blake, right? She didn't really understand why anyone bothered with that sort of thing, but Blake seemed like the sort of person people would be tripping over themselves to ask out.

Ruby set aside that train of thought. At the best of times she barely understood romantic stuff, and these thoughts weren't likely to go anywhere useful. She sighed happily.

Truly, she thought to herself, she was lucky to be Blake's friend.

Hey you two, how was your date?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. This was hardly the first time Yang had teased the two of them about how much time they spent around each other. "I know you know it wasn't a date, Yang," she said, "and for the record it was a lot of fun."

As she walked over to her bed to start her new book Ruby didn't notice either the knowing and teasing look Yang shot at Blake, or the blush that fought its way to Blake's face.

Author notes! I forgot about those. Anyways so uh... this took a while. In my defense since the last chapter I got a new job and moved across the country. I'm not going to say anything about hoping the next chapter doesn't take as long but we all know how those turn out. We'll see.