On-Screen Adventures (ch1)

2-DAY EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!! THANK YOU!

This is a reward for s22132! A very fun and interesting concept I was excited to write! Each chapter will focus on a different pairing c:

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													On-Screen Adventures

													Act 1. Blake and Yang

Blake lie helplessly on her back, weaponless and terrified. Everything is in disarray all around her; the school had been pillaged, the monsters are loose, her teammates are missing-

And Adam is here.

He stands towering over her with his face concealed by the mask, his sword red and hungry for blood. Blake whimpers and moans, begging him to stop, but he won't hear it. He leans over her with a smirk to show his fangs.

"I'm going to destroy everything you love..."

That's when Blake's ear flicks at the sound of another familiar voice, one that's much more terrifying to hear right now.

"Blake!"

She makes the mistake of turning her head, of glimpsing Yang on the other side of the debris, searching for her. Adam looks too. Blake gasps when she realizes what she's done.

"No-"

He smiles wickedly,

"Starting with her."

"No-!"

Adam raises his sword high and brings it down on her. Blake screams, and Yang's eyes turn red.

"Get away from her!"

She charges, and Blake can only lie helplessly on the ground, cringing in agony.

"No... p-please no..."

Adam swings his sword again – this time at Yang – and a spray of red fills her vision. Yang slumps to the floor and is still.

It's all Blake's fault. She has to go to her. She has to-

"Cut!"

"Oh, thank god..." Blake sits herself up and wipes the sweat and tears off her face. Next to her, Yang does the same.

"Nice!" She grins up at Adam. "That was a perfect fight!"

"You think so?" He smiles his usual grin now and removes the mask needed for acting, revealing his blue eyes and red hair. "I feel like I was a little off on that final swing."

"You kiddin'?" Yang laughs. "That was epic! Definitely believable, even without the prop arm being thrown in!"

The three of them relax a little bit now after cut has been called. The people backstage on the set being chatting and muttering about the shot, including Ozpin himself, the director. He reviews the take with his assistants and co-producers Glynda, James, and Salem, while the actors get themselves situated.

Adam offers Yang his hand and pulls her up. Yang then turns back to do the same for Blake. Blake smiles, but has to wipe the fake blood off her hand before accepting.

"Are you okay?" Blake asks Yang as she's pulled to her feet. "It looked like you actually hit the floor pretty hard."

"Nah, I'm fine! Adam and I've practiced that stunt a million times. I'm glad we finally nailed it."

"Finally," he sneers playfully. "We could've had it two days ago if you hadn't kept laughing halfway through."

"Hey, I can't help it! Your bad-guy schpeal is just too much sometimes. As if you could ever hurt a fly."

"Hey, I've killed at least two flies before."

"Oh, wow, excuse me."

Blake smiles as the two of them banter playfully. It's always been amusing to her how they played mortal enemies on the screen, but backstage they were the best of friends. She tunes back into their bickering for the moment when Yang calls for her.

"Blake, be real! Has this softie ever actually killed a fly?"

"I did!" he defends, looking to Blake for help. "Back in grade school. There was that one time it was bothering you cuz of the noise, so I swatted it. And then the other time there was one near your food!"

"Well..." Blake hums. "You definitely killed that first one. But the second one I think you just stunned."

"What-?"

"Yeah... I kinda just let you believe you killed it..."

"What the hell, Blake?"

Yang laughs out loud and gives Adam a hard pat on the back.

"Well, you got at least one kill under your belt, dude."

Adam grumbles about wanting some water and slinks away. Once he's out of earshot, Blake steps closer to Yang.

"Actually, he didn't kill that one, either."

"Oh my god-"

But before Yang can call out to tease him, she's interrupted by another voice.

"Yaaaang!"

"Oof- jeez, Ruby!" Her little sister nearly bowls her off her feet with the running hug she throws at her. Yang just barely manages to catch her and keep them both on their feet. Ruby is half-giggling and half-wailing into her sister's shoulder.

"That was sooooo good! Uwaah, I can't believe your character's gonna lose an arm after this! I wonder if they're gonna give her a robot arm or something next season!"

"Guess we'll find out."

Blake enjoys the sight of the sisters for a moment; she always knows that Ruby is dying off-stage during any of Yang's big scenes because she just wants to rush in and hug her. But Blake always earns a bit of praise as well. She turns to find Weiss hurrying over, slightly flustered.

"Blake! Goodness, it looked like he actually stabbed you!"

"Then it was a good shot." Blake purrs and opens her arms to give Weiss a squeeze. Out of all their friends and fellow cast members, Weiss is the one who tends to get the most nervous about stunts that could accidentally cause actual injuries. She's always on the edge of her seat worrying until Ozpin calls cut so she can confirm no one actually got hurt.

When Blake eases back, her ears droop in apology when she notices she got a bit of her fake blood onto Weiss' clothes.

"Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine. My character's been fighting monsters all day by this point. She can use a bit of blood on her. Now come on then, all of you. Have some water before we begin the next scene."

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby chirps. "Soon I'll get to do my scene fighting with Neo and Mr. Torchwick on the top of the Air Ship surrounded by flying Grimm!"

"Don't remind me..."

The four of them head off set for now to have some refreshments. A group of their friends and fellow actors is standing there waiting for them to praise Blake and Yang for their work.

Even though Penny's character was recently killed off, she's still sticking around the set to watch the filming. Now, she scurries around to hand out waters.

"For you, and for you! And here you are, Blake!"

"Thanks, Penny."

"Oh! It seems that was our last one! I'll have to go and fetch some more!"

"No," Blake stops her. "Don't worry about it, Penny. Yang can have some of mine... if she wants." She looks shyly up at her friend, ears lowered. Yang grins back.

"Thanks, partner." She accepts the bottle from Blake and takes a few sips, then hands it back to her. Blake feels her face turning red.

"A-Actually, I'm not thirsty anymore-"

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Adam cuts her off. "Blake, would you come here for a second? We need to talk."

Blake flashes a glance at Yang and the others who shrug, before making her way over to him. Adam puts a hand on her shoulder and steers her out of earshot. Blake is about to say something, but before she can, he headbutts her directly on the forehead.

"Ow-! Adam!"

"You're driving me nuts!" he hisses. "When are you gonna make your move on her, for Pete's sake? If you keep pussyfooting around you'll never get anywhere!"

"Please don't say that word. And you know it's not that easy!" she counters. "What if it makes things awkward? We still have several more seasons left to shoot together."

"Blake, the only one making things awkward is you when you keep brushing this off. Just tell her already! I'm pretty sure she'll be cool with it..."

Blake's ears perk up, then flatten instantly.

"Did you tell her? You didn't tell her did you? Adam, please, I asked you-"

"Calm down, idiot." He knocks his fist lightly against her head. "I didn't tell her. What do you take me for?"

"Sorry..."

Adam heaves a sigh and lowers his voice a little.

"Listen, I've known you for what, twelve years now?"

"Thirteen."

"Sure, fine. Point is, we got this job and started working together almost three years ago, right? Well for the past three years I've been watching you beat around the bush since the second you met her. I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now how you feel about her, Blake. The character you play might be cool and broody, but I hate to say that you're not the best at hiding things."

Blake's face only gets redder, and she has to cover it with both hands.

Adam sighs. "Exactly."

"I just... don't wanna hurt her..."

"Blake, the only one you're hurting is me, because I'm about to vomit."

She punches him in the arm and he laughs.

"C'mon, seriously. Just spit it out, would you? For all our sakes. Sun and those morons have been placing bets for months now."

"What-?"

But before Blake can hear more, Adam has already turned her around and started pushing her back toward the group. Yang spots them and grins as they make it over.

"Oh, hey! Ozpin just said that's a wrap for today! We're gonna finish up our scene and then start on Ruby's tomorrow."

"Great," Adam sighs, taking off his prop sword. "Can't wait for this episode to air. The fans are gonna come at me with pitchforks..."

"Hey, don't sweat it, bud." Yang gives him a nudge with her elbow that makes him stumble. "If they give you any problems, just leave 'em to me. I'll straighten 'em out and tell 'em you've literally never even killed a fly."

"I told you, I did!"

"All right, enough!" Weiss interjects. "Go shower and get cleaned up, all of you! We can all go to bed early tonight."

"Pshh uhh, I think you mean stay up late and play more video games!" Ruby shouts. The majority of their friends like Jaune, Nora, and Sun all agree.

As they all break into various groups and conversations, Blake catches Adam's eye. He gives her a compelling look and jabs his chin toward Yang.

Blake feels her heart backflip. He's right. She's known Yang for three years now, and she'd been smitten with her at first sight. And then filming together with her, getting to know her personality, late-night conversations in their trailer, and weekend outings on their days off...

She'd just fallen more and more in love with her to the point where now it's almost unbearable to keep quiet. She just doesn't want to lose what she has with her-

"Hey, Blake?"

Yang's voice has Blake's ears perking up again. She lifts her face with a gasp to find Yang right there.

"S-Sorry, I-"

"Whoa, whoa, what's the matter? Are you crying? For real?" Yang reaches out to brush her palm across Blake's cheek. Blake forgets how to breathe.

But sure enough, she can feel water in her eyes, and the fake drops Glynda had given her before had definitely run out by now. She can't lift her face because it would mean meeting Yang's eyes, but keeping her head bowed only makes the tears fall more quickly.

"I'm fine, I-I just-"

"Hold on a sec. Let's go sit down somewhere, kay? You should really drink something."

Yang picks up the water bottle from earlier and takes it with her before wrapping her other arm across Blake's shoulders. She leads her quietly away from the group and over to a bench nearby.

Blake's heart is a mess in her chest. She'd just wanted to say it outright, but now that she's started crying she knows it won't stop.

And Yang's only making it more difficult; her soft, caring side is one of the things Blake loves most about her, so for Yang to be doing this for her right now is only making Blake more emotional.

They sit down on the bench together as Blake tries to compose herself. She hears Glynda asking what's wrong, but Yang reassures her for the time being.

Blake takes in a few steadying breaths and lets them out slowly. Yang keeps an arm around her all the while, rubbing her shoulders.

"Hey, you okay? C'mon, have some water."

Yang hands her the bottle and Blake sniffles. It's the one Yang had drank from earlier. Blake's heart is already so much of a mess it couldn't possibly get any worse. So she accepts the indirect kiss and takes a few sips, trying to coach herself to say what she needs to.

But every time she's about to say it, Yang throws her off with that concerned tone.

"You didn't actually get hurt did you? All that blood's fake, yeah? Did you hit your head on the fall?"

"Yang-" Blake all but chokes out her name, almost smiling at how pathetic and humorous it all is. She keeps trying so hard and then Yang keeps thwarting her without even knowing it. Blake puts the bottle aside and exhales again. "I'm fine. Honestly. I'm not hurt. I promise."

Yang just gives her a puppy-eyed look.

"Then why are you crying? Are they killing your character off? Are you gonna be leaving the set? Cuz we can still see each other-"

"Yang." Blake half-sobs and half-laughs, ears slowly lifting. "It's not that. I just... wanted to ask you something..."

"Huh? Me?" She straightens up. "Sure, anything."

Blake draws in another breath.

"I was just wondering... if you'd want to go to dinner with me tonight?"

"...Huh?" Yang blinks and tilts her head. "I mean sure, yeah! I think Ruby and Jaune and them are going to that new place downtown-"

"I didn't mean with them," Blake mumbles. "I was thinking... just us...?"

"Oh..." Yang's mouth drops open. "Oh."

She's quiet for a minute, and Blake feels her chest tightening up. She squeezes her eyes shut to prevent any more tears from falling, and waits for the verdict.

This is it. I've ruined our friendship. It's all over-

"Oh my god-!" Yang's voice rises up into a high-pitched squeal. "Oh my god, oh my god! Did you just ask me out?"

"Huh?" Blake looks back up nervously. "I-I uh-"

"Yes!" Yang cries. "A million times yes, Blake!"

The next thing Blake knows, Yang's thrown both arms around her and is crushing her into a tight hug. She blinks, not understanding if it's real or not.

"Yang...?"

"Oh my god. I've been wanting to ask you out, like, since we met, honestly. But I was just so nervous! I didn't wanna make things awkward. Ruby and Weiss kept telling me I should just do it, but-"

"W-Wait-" Blake eases back a little to look into her eyes. "You... You like me, too?"

"You didn't know?" Yang gapes. "Ruby said it was painfully obvious, and Weiss said everyone else already knew..."

"That's what Adam said, too."

"Adam knows? Oh god-"

They both revel in the fuzzy embarrassment of it all, hearts fluttering. At last, their eyes meet again.

"So then..." Blake mumbles. "That's a yes...?"

"Did I not say it enough times? Yes, it's a yes!" Yang pulls her into another tight hug and sighs.

Blake finally exhales as well. Her heart feels like it's skipping on clouds. She cries a few more tears only to find Yang has started crying too.

It takes them both a few moments to compose themselves enough to pull apart, though their hands come together. Then it finally hits them.

"So, uh-" Yang clears her throat. "I should probably go shower first."

"Oh! Me, too..."

"C-Can I walk you back to your trailer?"

"Yang, we share a trailer, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

Another beat of silence passes. Both girls smile and make eye contact for half a second again.

"Should we tell the others we won't be joining them...?" Blake wonders.

"Yeah. Good idea."

They stand together, still hand-in-hand, and slowly start making their way to the group. Everyone is still chatting and strolling slowly back toward the trailers. Yang clears her throat and calls out to her little sister.

"Hey, Ruby-"

"Finally! Yeesh, Yang what took you guys so-ohmygoshyou'reholdinghands!"

All other conversation immediately stops.

"What?!" Sun yells. "Hah, I knew it! Jaune, you owe me big!"

"Aw, come on! It took you guys this long to confess? Guess I'm paying for dinner..."

"You oafs!" Weiss chides the boys. "I can't believe you placed bets!"

"Wowzers, it's about time!" Nora sings.

"It's certainly been a long time coming," Pyrrha agrees.

As the excitement and commotion continues, Blake catches Adam's eye and mouths him a 'thank you'. He rolls his eyes and makes a playful gagging expression.

Eventually, Yang and Blake manage to tell the others they'll be having their first dinner date together tonight, and they all wish them well.

The two of them head back to the trailer they share with Ruby and Weiss, still holding hands. Blake is quiet, still unable to believe it was really happening.

"Oh man," Yang whistles. "Pinch me. No wait, don't. If it's a dream I don't wanna wake up."

"It's not a dream, Yang."

"You're right; it's a dream come true!" She pulls Blake close and gives her a little twirl. "Oh! I wonder if I ask Ozpin if he'll write in some romance for our characters into the script!"

"That... might be nice..."

"We can kill off Adam's guy together or something!"

"Yang, please slow down."

"Sorry."

Blake chuckles and keeps close to her until the reach the trailer.

That night, they end up having a very nice dinner date, and when they get back to the trailer they curl up in the same bed together.

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A/N: So there you have it! This is going to be my Acting AU (hence the chapter titles.) As requested by my patron, each chapter is going to deal with a pair of different characters within the AU.

The idea of writing Nice Guy Adam was both challenging and fun to me. Because of course he isn't actually a good guy, but I liked getting to explore the idea of him being one, sort of like how I wrote Cinder as a a good person in Cinder Falls For Ruby Rose. I think we all know that kind of actor who plays a horrible villain on-screen but irl is a super nice person.