The Winter Challenge - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

“Is it still a race?” Cardin asked - the dry question drawing a few laughs and a smile from Professor Ozpin.

“It’s still a race,” he answered.  “You’ll find these small yellow tags marking your path.”  When Professor Ozpin held up a small, yellow flag, Ruby hopped up and down while Nora pumped one fist in the air.  The rest of them, however, waited for the ‘wrinkle’ of this challenge to appear.

“What you didn’t know is that this will be a partner race - two teammates must compete, and they’ll have to tie themselves together with this.”

Ruby and Nora immediately went flat-footed - their balloons of excitement popped - when Professor Ozpin held up a set of metal cuffs that looked suspiciously like repurposed manacles.

“Look familiar?” Yang whispered while nudging Blake’s shoulder, drawing a deep blush in no time.

“The winning team will be the first to cross the finish line,” Professor Ozpin concluded while handing the cuffs to Professor Goodwitch.  “Choose your partners wisely.”

Nora sprang to action first, grabbing Ren by the arm and dragging him to the starting line.  After snatching the cuffs from Professor Goodwitch’s hand, she locked her left leg to Ren’s right and gave Professor Ozpin a salute.

“Ready!  Right?  We’re ready?”  When she turned towards Ren, he looked down at her and smiled.

“I’m ready whenever you need me.”

While Nora was by far the most enthusiastic about this added twist, Sun and Neptune were the next to step up to the starting line, followed by Cardin and Sky.  With three of the four teams set, Weiss’ teammates turned towards her.

They didn’t need to say anything.  Not Yang or Blake, who looked smug or pleased by the change in plans.  And especially not Ruby, who clasped her hands together and aimed pleading silver eyes Weiss’ way.

“Fine,” Weiss said, walking over to Professor Goodwitch and claiming the last set of cuffs.  “Let’s get this over with.”

This wasn’t at all what she’d planned, but they would still win.  It wouldn’t be nearly as commanding of a victory as Ruby would earn on her own, but she had full confidence in their ability to make this work.  Even after locking her left leg and Ruby’s right leg together, limiting them to a strange, three-legged hobble, she felt assured in their victory.

Perfect timing and coordination would be key to making this work.  Fortunately, those were two areas of expertise they’d spent countless hours working on over the past few months.

“How does it feel?” Weiss asked while standing up.  “It’s not too tight, is it?”

“Nope!  Feels fine!”

To prove that point, Ruby tried to wiggle her leg in the air.  Luckily, she stopped before pulling Weiss’ foot right out from under her.

“Please remember we’re connected,” she said before testing their new contraption for herself.  As expected, it felt constricting and strange.  And, the more Ruby fidgeted, the more Weiss worried about being tied together with the speedster.  The last thing she wanted was to be pulled off her feet in front of everyone.

“Ok, outside legs first,” she instructed Ruby before they shuffled to the starting line, alternating their steps so they didn’t fall over.

“Looking good, Weiss,” Yang teased.

“I’ll save these for you and Blake to use later,” Weiss shot back, glancing over her shoulder to watch Yang’s jaw drop while Blake blushed a second time.

There was no time to add to that embarrassment, however, as Professor Ozpin looked them over and nodded.

“Are we ready?” he asked, again using the word ‘we’ as if he was also competing.  A series of nods followed his question, and he was about to continue before he was interrupted.

“Oh!  Not yet - gimme a second.”  When Nora turned towards Weiss and smiled, Weiss gave her a confused look.  “Hey Weiss!  Did you see that the other professors are watching?”

“They are?”  

Spinning around when Nora pointed over her shoulder, Weiss then yelped when someone grabbed her foot and nearly pulled her off balance while yanking off her boot.

“Made you look!” Nora quipped before shuffling out of Weiss’ reach - still holding her shoe.

“Nora!” 

“You may begin,” Professor Ozpin said before moving to the side as the other partners plowed forward.

“Professor!” Weiss whined while Nora took off with her shoe still in hand.  She looked at the man hoping he would rectify the situation, but he merely gave another one of those amused smiles while lifting his mug to his lips.

“When no rules are given, Miss Schnee, we must assume anything goes.”

That response, along with his clear entertainment at what Nora just did, made Weiss narrow her eyes.

“This is all just a big game to you, isn’t it?”

When he took another sip of coffee and remained silent, she looked to her team - and Ruby, who hopped on one leg and made rapid gestures towards the first yellow flag.

“We need to go!  You can run without it, right?”

“In the snow??” Weiss retorted.  “Sure, if you want me to lose a foot to frostbite.”  Turning towards Blake and Yang, she motioned towards their feet.  “Which one of you is closest to my size?”

“Probably mine?”  Looking at Blake’s feet, Yang smiled and nodded.  “Yeah, probably mine.  Blake has such cute little feet!”

Of course Yang chose now to flirt with Blake.  It wasn’t like they were losing this challenge or anything.

“I have an idea!” Ruby suddenly exclaimed before stepping closer to Weiss - so close that her heart stammered in anticipation of whatever Ruby’s next words would be.  And when Ruby reached out to hold her hands, her heart climbed higher still.

“Do you trust me?”

The question, combined with the look in Ruby’s eyes, sent a flurry of emotions flitting through her chest.

“Of course,” she breathed out, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she trusted Ruby with her life.  Even though she had no idea what Ruby’s idea was, it didn’t matter.  Ruby could hand her a bomb and she would hold it without complaint.

Well...she might complain about that one a little bit...

When Ruby took another step closer - so close that their feet actually touched - Weiss struggled to figure out what the new plan was.  Dropping Weiss’ hands, Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss’ waist and pulled them flesh together, making Weiss’ heart rate double in the process.

“Hold on tight,” Ruby whispered into her ear.  

And, the next thing she knew, they were flying.  Fast.  Faster than she’d ever traveled before.  Faster than she’d ever dreamed of traveling before.  The world passed by in a blur - so fast that it took several seconds before she gathered herself enough to figure out what was happening.

Ruby was holding her around the waist, and Ruby was using her semblance.  Ruby was using her semblance and carrying Weiss right along with her - the two of them intertwined within a cloud of petals while soaring across Beacon’s grounds.

This was what it felt like when Ruby used her semblance.  And it was...the most incredible thing Weiss had ever experienced.  No wonder she insisted on traveling everywhere at the fastest speed possible.

Weiss had no control over their direction, but that didn’t matter as the yellow flags flashed past one-by-one, nothing more than tiny blips on their radar while they flew through the course.  The trail led them around the corner of the nearest building, which Ruby swung them around in a tight arc without losing speed.

It was at that moment that a laugh slipped through Weiss’ lips - pure, unadulterated excitement at this new feat she hadn’t known was possible.  Somewhere beside her, she heard Ruby’s giggles - caught in the rushing wind and quickly swept behind them.

Who cared if their legs were chained together?  It didn’t even matter - not with Ruby dictating the pace and direction.  And, surprisingly, Weiss was more than willing to let go of those responsibilities.  It was actually kind of nice.  This way, she could enjoy the experience instead of worrying about winning.

Not that there was any way they’d lose.

“Say ‘see ya’ to CRDL!” Ruby called out, but Weiss hardly had time to pinpoint the two boys before they were left in Ruby’s petal-filled dust.

Reaching one corner of campus in no time, Ruby then spun them to the right and followed the path of flags weaving through the buildings.

Calling this a race ‘around campus’ was yet another miscommunication perpetuated by the professors.  ‘Around campus’ meant a straight line around the exterior of Beacon’s grounds.  This was the opposite of that - a weaving, unclear path cutting through campus in no particular manner.  In some parts, it doubled back on itself.  At others, it led into the heart of the school before swinging towards the periphery once more.  

Thankfully, Ruby had no issue flying from flag-to-flag.  Even at this accelerated speed, she reacted with a crisp precision Weiss had learned to expect from their practices.  She was quick, sharp, and possessed a level of intuition far beyond her years.

In moments like these, Weiss actually enjoyed ceding every decision to her team leader.  Sometimes it was nice to just...be along for the ride.

“Nora’s up ahead!” Ruby called out then, and Weiss spotted Team JNPR’s competitors in front of them.  “Let’s get your boot back!”

Grinning at the plan, Weiss pinpointed her shoe - which Nora was still holding, for some reason - while they rapidly approached the unsuspecting pair from behind.  

Even though they were latched together, Ren and Nora moved surprisingly well.  A clear rhythm stood out in their gate - an easy left-right-left-right that allowed them to run at a fast jog through the course.  Weiss couldn’t tell whether Ren was really good at reacting to whatever Nora did, or if Nora was reacting to Ren - either way, if Ruby hadn’t discovered a way around the three-legged race, Weiss suspected the pair from Team JNPR could easily win.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.  If Nora stole Weiss’ shoe, Ruby could use her semblance to get it back and win the challenge.  That seemed fair.

When the moment was just right, and Nora was almost within reach, Ruby slowed down.  It was just long enough for Weiss to reach out and snatch her boot from Nora’s hands before Ruby kicked her semblance into full speed once again.

Nora shrieked from behind them, but that was the only retaliation they faced (for now).  Flying around the next corner, Ruby had them soaring past five more flags before Weiss even started laughing at how satisfying that redemption felt.

“That was awesome,” she said, keeping a firm grasp on her boot while still hugging close to Ruby.  She heard Ruby laugh at the response as the two of them flitted around campus at a steady, excessively-fast speed.  

In the time she had left before the race was over, Weiss took a moment to enjoy the feeling of Beacon literally flashing before her eyes.  Landmarks appeared and disappeared in a blink, giving her hardly a glimpse before they were at another location entirely.

Only when Ruby slowed did Weiss realize that the challenge was over.  ‘Normal’ speed returned with a crush of gravity and loss of exhilaration, and Ruby gently released her so they could cross the finish line with a single step.  As soon as they were on the other side, the two of them shared a smile - and she felt her heart grow even larger with adoration for this silly, hyper girl who was her partner.

“That was incredible,” she said, hanging on to the end of their smile before finally putting her boot on and fixing her windswept hair.  She hadn’t prepared herself for that type of race - or any race at all - but, fortunately, it didn’t take long to put herself back together.  Once she had, she sent Professor Ozpin a look of triumph.

“Congratulations, Team RWBY,” he told them with a bow of the head.  “You’ve won this challenge.  By a fair margin, at that.”

“That was awesome!” Yang cut in, hurrying over and picking Ruby up for a hug - which made Weiss hop off to the side while trying to keep her balance.  “I had no idea you could do that!”

When Yang set her back down, Ruby giggled.  

“I didn’t either!”

The comment immediately caught Weiss’ attention.

“Excuse me?” she interrupted before waving a hand to get Ruby’s attention.  “You didn’t know you could do that?”

“Nope!  But isn’t it awesome?  Just think of all the things we can do with it!”

Even though Weiss scoffed, and even though she wanted to be affronted that Ruby just tested a potentially dangerous ability without her knowledge, it was impossible to be anything but happy when Ruby was so excited.  Plus, Ruby was right - this new skill held enormous potential for their future battle strategies.  

Maybe she should just be happy that it worked.  And it worked superbly, at that.

“How was that?” Blake asked, nodding towards the trail of red petals left in their wake.  Looking at the visible reminder of their whirlwind race, Weiss sighed.

“It was...amazing.”

For whatever reason, Blake gave her a knowing smile, as if it made sense that she enjoyed the experience so much.  Which...of course she enjoyed it.  Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to feel what it was like to be Ruby Rose - the fastest girl at Beacon?

“You have to let me try sometime!” Yang said then, tapping Ruby’s shoulder before bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“We can try!  That’ll be fun!”

Although the response was expected, a small ping of jealousy flitted through Weiss’ chest.  Of course Ruby was willing to share her newfound talent with whoever asked - she was a generous, thoughtful person, after all.  But sometimes Weiss wished there was something that only she and Ruby shared.

It was unlikely to happen, especially when Yang and Ruby were prone to sharing everything, but she could dream.

Hearing the sound of footsteps and somewhat-labored breathing, she turned away from Yang and Ruby and found that Nora and Ren finally completed the course.

“Congratulations, you two,” Professor Ozpin told them as they crossed the finish line.  “You finished in second place for this challenge.”

“We still got this!”  Nora gave Ren a high five before meeting Weiss’ gaze.  When she glanced at the boot on Weiss’ foot and walked over, tugging Ren into motion beside her, Weiss wondered what she would say.  Would she be upset?  Would she try to steal Weiss’ boot a second time?

“That was so cool!” she said instead, and raised one hand to give Ruby a high five.  “Can I try sometime?  Please??”

This time, Ruby glanced at Weiss before responding.

“Maybe later!  Need to work out some kinks with my team first.”

Surprisingly, Nora accepted the answer easily.  Instead of arguing for a turn right this second, she looked at Ren and motioned towards the dorms.

“Come on - let’s show Jaune and Pyrrha our new trick!”

Without taking the cuffs off their legs, she started jogging away, prompting Ren to fall back into step with her as they made their way to the dorms.  As they left, Cardin and Sky finally showed up, looking out of breath and deeply annoyed.

“Dude, that sucked,” were the first words out of Cardin’s mouth once they crossed the finish line.  Kneeling down, he removed the cuffs from their ankles and dropped them on the ground.  “Why is your balance so bad?”

“Pretty sure my balance isn’t bad...” Sky grumbled under his breath.

“Third place, Team CRDL,” Professor Ozpin interrupted while Cardin glared at his teammate.  “A worthy finish.  And you can still win the challenge.”

“Let’s just go…” Cardin mumbled while stalking away, his teammates falling into step behind him.

With Team CRDL stalking away from the library, that left half of Team SSSN waiting for their teammates to return.  Which…

“Where are Sun and Neptune?” Blake asked, voicing aloud the question the rest of them had.  It seemed like they should be back by now, but they were nowhere to be found.  Thinking back on their rapid flight around campus, Weiss tried to remember if she’d seen a flash of blue or blonde during that time.  Or caught a whiff of way too much cologne.

“Uh…”  When Ruby looked at Weiss, she looked equally miffed as to where the two boys disappeared to.  “I don’t remember seeing them?”

“I don’t either.  But they couldn’t have gotten lost in the first few sections of the race, could they?”

Sage sighed at the response, and Scarlet muttered, “You’d be surprised…” while the two set out in search of their missing teammates.  

“Fourth place for Team SSSN,” Professor Ozpin stated before turning to the rest of them with a still-amused smile.  “Thank you for participating in today’s challenge.  Keep an eye out for details of the next challenge tomorrow.”

Weiss wanted to roll her eyes at the remark, but she forced a polite smile as the man left them standing in front of the library on their own.

“At least we won, right?”

This time, she did roll her eyes while turning to Yang.

“Yes, we won alright -”

“We did!” Ruby interrupted, smiling so proudly at the results that Weiss instantly dropped what she was about to say.

As usual, Ruby was more than willing to share credit for her accomplishments.  Weiss was prepared to fight for her to get fair recognition, yet she went and gave it all away again.  Her graciousness and humility were to be admired, but sometimes Weiss wanted her to take credit for how amazing she was.

It would probably never happen, but at least their team knew, and the professors seemed to know, and some of the other students seemed to have a basic grasp of just how special Ruby was.  But until everyone understood and gave her the respect she deserved, Weiss would keep singing her praises to anyone who would listen.

“Can we go inside now?” Blake asked before wrapping her arms around herself in an obvious cry for Yang’s attention.

“Are you cold?”

And Yang fell right into Blake’s subtle snare, because she immediately moved behind Blake and wrapped both arms around her waist.  To add even more color to Blake’s already-rosy cheeks (the cold, you see…), Yang rested her chin on Blake’s shoulder and snuggled closer.

Spotting the picture-perfect moment, Weiss pulled her scroll out of her pocket and snapped a photo before either of them moved.  She didn’t even try to look inconspicuous about it, because why bother pretending when they weren’t attempting to not look like Beacon’s cutest couple?

“Uh…” Yang said, lifting her head but not removing her arms from around Blake’s waist.  “What was that?”

“Just wanted a photo,” Weiss replied before putting her scroll away and looking at the ground.  “Guess we don’t need these anymore.”  Kneeling down, she unclasped the cuff from around her ankle before gently removing the other half from around Ruby’s.  “Any takers?” she then asked, holding the cuffs in the air and giving Blake a look.

“I don’t know what I’d need those for,” Blake lied while pointedly turning away from the offer.

“I’ll take ‘em!”

Biting the bullet, Yang snatched the cuffs from Weiss’ hands and grinned while swinging them around one finger (she kept her other arm around Blake’s waist, because no way was she letting go until she absolutely had to).  “Never know when they’ll come in handy, right?”

“Like for more races!” Ruby piped in.  As usual, she chose the most innocent answer available, which made Yang chuckle and nod.

“You’re right, Ruby.  Like for more races.”

An idea sparked in Yang’s mind then - clearly visible from the way she froze and her eyes lit up.

“I’ve got an idea - why don’t we race?”  Gesturing from Weiss and Ruby to herself and Blake, Yang looked more and more excited by the second.

“Seriously?  Ruby and I just flew across the entire campus.”

“Uh huh...that looked like a lot of work for you, Weiss.  You were really struggling there.  Or should I say, you were really snuggling there.”

When Yang laughed at her own joke (and Blake smiled at Yang laughing at her own joke), Weiss pursed her lips and fought against the heat growing in her cheeks.

They hadn’t been snuggling.  They were holding onto each other while traveling at such a fast speed that it would’ve been ill-advised not to cling together.  Honestly, she didn’t see any other way they could accomplish that feat while still winning the challenge.

But if Yang wanted to race...maybe there was a way to make it a little more interesting.

“You’re just jealous,” she shot back, knowing the mere mention of the word would get Yang’s attention.  “Now Ruby and I can race together - can you and Blake do that?”

The moment Yang’s eyes lit up with an idea, Weiss knew she got her.

“We can totally do that!”  Turning towards Blake, Yang wore one of those blinding smiles that was almost difficult to look at.  “We can do that, no problem.”

“I’m sure we can -”

“Then let’s try it,” Yang cut in.  “We’ll race them.”

“What?  No, Yang - I wasn’t -”  

Before Blake made an excuse for why this wasn’t a good idea, Yang scooped her up in both arms and hugged her close.

It was another picture-perfect moment, and Weiss would take another photo if she thought she could get away with it.  From the red glow on Blake’s cheeks, however, any evidence of this moment wouldn’t outlive the day.

On the other hand, Yang looked happier than Weiss had seen her since the day Blake asked if they could set up a ‘partner-only’ practice schedule.  And what didn’t she have to be happy about?  She wanted to be closer to Blake, and now she got to carry her partner around in her arms - all to prove that they could also race as a single unit.

Grimm, these two were so easy to mess with…

“Ok, but you’ve gotta give us a ten-second head start,” Yang said before taking off towards their dorm at an easy gait.  And, since Blake needed to secure herself in some way, she wrapped her arms around Yang’s neck (for support, not because she’d always dreamed of holding onto Yang in that way).

Weiss watched the two girls race away and shook her head.  It was obvious that they could run together - Yang was strong enough to carry Blake without much difficulty - but that didn’t mean they were even close to as fast as Ruby.

“You wanna beat them, right?”

The question proved that Ruby knew Weiss better than anyone.

“I think you know the answer to that,” she replied with a smile that was returned tenfold.  When Ruby stepped closer, her heart started beating faster again.  Reaching up, she clasped her arms around Ruby’s neck and shivered in anticipation when Ruby wrapped both arms around her waist.

“Ready?”

The two of them were standing so close, Weiss felt Ruby’s words brush across her cheek and saw every bit of sparkling joy in Ruby’s eyes.  Tingles of thrill traveled up and down her spine, and she knew that what came next would be just as enjoyable as it had been the first time. 

“Yes.”

No sooner had she whispered the word, they were flying again.  And again, a joyful, delighted feeling overcame her.  Even if this had no practical purposes in combat, she knew that she wanted to do it again.  And, thankfully, she knew that Ruby would oblige.

“There’s Blake and Yang!” Ruby called out while they swept across the Great Lawn and whizzed past their teammates, who’d only made it a quarter of the way back to their room.

“That wasn’t ten seconds!” Yang shouted after them, making both of them laugh while they soared past the cafeteria and up the steps of their dorm building.  When they reached the front door, Ruby gently set Weiss down and opened it for her to walk inside.  The entire experience only took a few seconds, yet they’d gone almost all the way across campus.  It was an efficient...and fun...way to travel.

“Walking feels weird…” Weiss said as soon as she stepped into the building.

“Doesn’t it??”

“And slow…”

Ruby looked over and grinned.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I believe I am.”

This time, Ruby showed no hesitation in wrapping her arms around Weiss’ waist and carrying them to their room in a dash of petals.

“Your room, milady,” she added with a gracious bow while pushing the door open.

“You know what this means,” Weiss mused while entering the room.  Glancing over her shoulder and catching Ruby’s inquiring look, she smiled and said, “It means we can leave later for class.”

As expected, the idea of leaving ‘later’ for anything had Ruby whooping in happiness as she dove onto Weiss’ bed.  Weiss opened her mouth to complain but caught herself at the last second and shook her head instead.  Walking over to sit down, she nudged Ruby out of the way so she could remove her shoes.

“You did really well today.”  

She only had the courage to say the words because Ruby wasn’t looking at her right now.  When Ruby rolled onto her side and smiled, she knew exactly why that was.  Sometimes, Ruby had this strange magnetism to her - part charm, part allure, part irresistible sweetness.  

Sometimes, it was easy to tell that she and Yang were related.

“You did great too, Weiss.”  Pushing herself into a seated position, Ruby patted Weiss’ knee.  “It was a partner race, after all.”

Again, Ruby ceded her accomplishment to Weiss, who was merely a passenger along for the ride.  

“You still did really well,” Weiss replied, hoping that repetition might eventually make Ruby believe.

“You did too,” Ruby repeated, stubborn as usual, before motioning towards the bathroom.  “Do you wanna shower first?”

“Thanks, Ruby, but you go ahead.”

“You sure?”

Weiss nodded and gestured towards the desk.  “I’m fine waiting.”

Not that it would be much of a wait.  With Ruby’s short hair and penchant for speed, her showers took a total of five minutes in and out of the bathroom.  They’d timed her.

“Ok, I’ll be back in a flash.”

No sooner had Ruby disappeared into the bathroom did the door to their room open once more - this time as Yang and Blake returned.

“Finally,” Weiss teased them while walking over to her desk.  “We thought we’d have to search for you like Sun and Neptune.”

“Ha ha,” was the only response Yang gave before setting Blake down and keeping one arm around her waist for a second longer than necessary.

“You good?” Yang asked, her breathing slightly elevated from the run across campus.

“Of course.”  Tilting her head up, Blake probably didn’t notice how she arched her back into Yang’s arm at the same time.  “Are you?”

“Of course.”  Yang grinned at the response while Blake finally moved away.  “A little sweaty though,” she added, wiping her arm across her brow.  “Ruby’s in the shower?”  Before anyone answered, the water kicked on, and she nodded.  “Guess I can wait.”

And by ‘wait,’ she meant partially strip down in preparation for a shower, which she did by removing her jacket then pulling her shirt over her head and tossing it towards the hamper (it missed).

Rolling her eyes and turning away from the spectacle, Weiss couldn’t help but wonder if Yang did it on purpose.  Was she actually this immodest, or was she pretending to be in hopes of capturing Blake’s attention?

If it was the latter, it was working.  While Weiss pretended to read the notebook in front of her, she noticed the way Blake forced a disinterested, passive expression while almost openly staring.

Did Yang fall for that look?  Did she believe that Blake wasn’t interested in staring at her when she was half-clothed?  Or did she understand that the unwavering, unblinking gaze revealed far more interest than intended?

“Whatcha working on, Weiss?” Yang asked while pulling on a loose-fitted tee and walking over to the desk.

“The paper for Professor Oobleck’s class.”  Placing the tip of her pencil on the page to mark her spot, Weiss watched Yang’s brow crease before her eyes widened.

“Ooh...crap.  I haven’t started that.”

“Better start working then,” Weiss replied while turning back to her work.  

“Can you help me with it?” Yang asked.  “Maybe think of a topic or something?”

Even though Weiss was recognized as the smartest on her team, sometimes her version of smart didn’t matter as much as people believed.  Ruby was also brilliant.  As was Blake, as was Yang...

“He’s actually letting Ruby and I work on ours together.”  When Blake’s ears twitched with interest, Weiss knew this was the right way to approach the matter.  “She asked, and he said we could write a ten-page paper together if we wanted.”  After pausing to let that knowledge sink in, she gestured towards the two of them.  “Maybe you could ask to work on your paper together, too?”

From the looks of enthusiasm on their faces (one overt, one more muted), she already knew their answer.

“That sounds...awesome?”  Yang looked at Blake to see what her response would be.  Blake, thankfully, nodded and even threw in a smile to match.

“That sounds really nice.”

“Then let’s do that!” Yang replied, jumping on the opportunity to integrate her life more fully with Blake’s.  “You wanna ask him?  Or I can?  Or we can?”

When the bathroom door opened and Ruby buzzed back into the room, Blake glanced away for a second before standing and moving towards the hall.

“Why don’t I ask while you shower?” 

“Efficiency - love it!”  Slapping hands with Ruby (for no reason other than that she was nearby), Yang hurried into the bathroom while Blake disappeared into the hall.  Ruby, meanwhile, looked in both directions before giving Weiss a confused look.

“Uh, what?”

“They’re going to ask if they can work on Professor Oobleck’s paper together,” Weiss explained.

“Ohhh.  Cool!”  After shaking her head and spraying drops of water around the room, Ruby grabbed a chair and sat next to Weiss.  “That’s what we should work on too!”

“We should.”

Secretly, Weiss loved when Ruby sat with her to do homework.  She loved whenever they sat near each other and shared the same space, but it wasn’t quite the same as sitting elbow-to-elbow tackling the same problem together.  To Weiss, it felt like a much less strenuous version of fighting - the two of them standing together to accomplish any task, be it Grimm or homework.

“Where did we leave off?”  Ruby opened her notebook and flipped several pages before landing on one and tapping her finger to it.  “Here we go.”

Turning towards her own notebook, Weiss smiled as she opened it to the page they’d worked on last.  

“Are you still looking for sources for the third paragraph?”

“Just one more.  Then I think we’re...”  

Ruby trailed off when someone’s stomach grumbled.  And, at first, Weiss thought the noise came from Ruby’s (because Ruby’s stomach was always grumbling), but then Ruby looked at her without an ounce of embarrassment.  

“Was that me?”  When Weiss touched her stomach in surprise, Ruby burst into giggles.

“It was!” she said, looking way too pleased about the answer.  “You’re hungry, Weiss!”

“Apparently, I am...”

“You know what that means, right?”

With stars in her eyes, Ruby waited for Weiss’ answer.  For her part, however, Weiss had no idea what Ruby expected her to say.  Her current hunger probably stemmed from skipping lunch, but she’d been a little busy sending Neptune after Yang to see what Blake would do.  Of course, there was no way she could tell Ruby that (not that she wouldn’t tell Ruby, but if Ruby let it slip to Blake...Weiss was as good as dead).

“It means I should eat something?” she guessed.

“It means we should eat something,” Ruby corrected her before taking her hands and pulling her out of the chair.  “And I know just the place to find lots of food.”

“Seriously?”  Even though Weiss already knew where this was going, she made no attempt to fight Ruby’s pull.  “You want to go to the cafeteria?  We were just there.”

“There’s no time limit on the cafeteria, Weiss.  Plus, where else can we get food so your stomach stops complaining?”

“I have granola bars in my desk.”

“Blech!”

“Ok, ok.”  Looking back at her notebook, which would go unused for now, she decided that they could work on their paper later.  It was break, after all.  Plus...it wasn’t like it would take them long to make it to the cafeteria and back.

“Can we make this as quick as possible?”

The words hardly made it out of Weiss’ mouth before Ruby crashed into her for a hug, and then they were off - the door hitting the wall behind them in their haste.