#ebyn

(assuming you mean their relationship) hmmm i figure Blake is at least a bit weirded out by Neo’s latent Yang obsession so until that tones down a bit she’d keep her distance

after that they’d still be kinda distant i think

OH okay so the backstory for the team is still kinda vague but its based a lot on the first part of a fic i wrote but repurposed and tweaked for the different team obv

basically the stuff with cinder has been resolved, the atlesian military and honestly most of atlas itself is fucked, the white fang is splintered and mostly defunct

Weiss and Winter are joint-running the SDC but they’re working on converting it to a public institution rather than a business (the hope is to effectively hand it over to menagerie, as they’ve been hurt the most by it and (at least in this au) most of the dust mines are there). This is pretty much a full-time thing so Weiss dropped out of Beacon, at least until it’s handled

Ruby was blinded fighting Cinder, but thanks to a set of implants (courtesy of the SDC R&D department) she can see what Penny sees, and they work together to improve huntress weapons tech. Not having her own eyes takes her out of the huntress game, though, at least until she can figure out a way to build a replacement. She hopes to resume her training the same year Weiss does.

Emerald had been playing double agent against Cinder for a while, largely thanks to Blake’s influence, and her last-minute total betrayal of Cinder saved more than a couple lives. She got a full pardon, and is the team leader

Neo was always a bit… hung up on Yang, and at one point she cut off one of Mercury’s legs to save her life. After that she pretty much disappeared until the dust settled, then showed up at Yang’s doorstep with a smile. She’s pretty much under house arrest at Beacon, for the time being.

from there it was like a month before they all started dating in some capacity or another (except emerald and neo. Neo still kinda gives Em the willies)

Yang nearly snapped her controller in half when she lost -- again -- to Emerald’s onslaught.

“How are you so good at this? You're just mashing buttons at random!”

Emerald leaned back, dropped the controller into her lap with a grin. “Maybe it just looks like I’m mashing buttons at random because you’re not good enough to get it?”

Yang gritted her teeth. She was plenty good at this particular game, thank you very much, but no matter how much she practiced she could never seem to beat Em, who didn’t even appear to be trying.

And then Blake walked by, glanced at the screen, and cocked her head. “Lost again, huh Em?”

Yang’s brow knit. “No, she hasn’t... lost... once...”

“Your sister’s cute.”

Yang turned to look at Emerald, a smirk already growing on her lips and a dozen chiding jokes and puns leaping to her tongue.

They wilted there when she saw the look on Emerald’s face, soft and distant.

“... Yeah, she is.”

“You're good to her, you know. She's a better person because of you.”

Yang smiled, a little sadly. “Thanks, Em.” Emerald had never spoken of her own family. Not to Yang, at least, and Yang was content to wait until she was ready.

“She just-” Emerald paused, cleared her throat. “She’s good. She’s a good kid. It used to bother me, how happy you all were, y'know? Guess I thought you didn't deserve it. I think… I think what I needed to figure out was that I deserved it.”

Yang’s arm fell around her shoulders, pulled her to lean her head against broad shoulders. “You know what Ruby told me, the other day?”

Emerald tilted her head up, just enough to meet Yang’s eyes.

“This was after she was holed up in the dust synthesis room all day and you brought her a sandwich.”

Emerald smiled, just enough to show teeth.

“She asked me if I told you how to make it, because it was cut into four pieces, diagonally. That’s always been her favorite; when she was younger she’d get all surly if I didn’t make them like that.”

Emerald chuckled, let her eyes shut for a moment.

“When I told her I didn't, she said ‘I guess I have two big sisters now, huh?’”

Emerald was quiet, quiet and still.

“Anyway, yeah, I think you deserve that kind of happiness too, Em.” Yang ruffled her hair, leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head.

And Ruby chose that moment to notice them from where she was sharing lunch with Penny across the courtyard, cup her hands around her mouth, and shout “GAAAAAAAAAY!”

There wasn’t one, at first. For a long time they were simply teammates, and content to let things stay that way.

And then Yang began to notice things. When they were sparring, she noticed how the look in Emerald’s eyes would shift from predator to prey the moment Yang’s eyes turned crimson and flames began to lick at her arms. She noticed how Emerald seemed to crave affection, how she needed it but would never reach out, never be the first to touch.

The first time Yang brought her breakfast in bed she was fighting back tears. Yang noticed.

The night they moved from friends to lovers was the night Yang woke to find her on the couch with her legs pulled close to her chest and her chin on her knees, staring out at nothing. She flinched when Yang sat beside her, kept silent as long-cooled ashes while Yang murmured in her ear.

“You’re safe now, Em. You’re safe and loved, really loved, now. We care about you, about you, not your semblance, not your stealth, but you. You’ll be alright, now. We love you, Emerald, we love you so much, I promise you that.”

(Im feelin the second one)

No, Yang.

Yang contemplated how signing her words left Neo with a wealth of unused facial muscles with which to form the perfect look of affectionate disdain.

“Oh, why not? You don’t think I could pull of topping?”

“Yang, you couldn’t top your way out of a wet paper bag.”

“Oh who asked you Emerald.”

“She’s not wrong. Sorry, Yang.”

Yang threw her hands up in defeat. “Et tu, Belladonna?”

Blake shrugged. “It’s not your fault, really, it’s just… you have this…” She turned to Emerald, the unofficial talker of the group.

“Yang, you are a golden retriever in every sense but the literal. See, when Blake gets dommy it sends chills down your spine, right? Like she looks through you and you feel really helpless and you like it and-”

“-And you two are gonna fuck after this conversation, right, okay, we get it.”

Emerald rolled with it, as was her way. “Yeah, exactly. Anyway, when you try to get dommy it’s like… it’s hot, but more in a ‘tie me to the bed and have your way with me’ sense than a ‘I’m going to tie you to the bed and have my way with you’ one. Sorry, hun.”

Neo and Blake exchanged a brief look, one that Yang missed but Emerald noticed.

“See, the thing is, I can’t really read.”

Emerald’s eyes dropped, suddenly more interested in inspecting the polish on her nails than meeting Blake’s eyes.

“I mean, I can read some. Just, not really read. I guess she,”

Cinder, the name that so often fit into those gaps, seldom spoken but often intended.

“didn’t think I needed to know more than the basics. Besides, my eyesight’s kinda shit up close.”