This story is just as much about Bumblebee as it is about the bond between Blake and an OC. If that's not your thing then I don't love you anymore. No wait - I'm sorry, I didn't mean that! COME BACK!

'What a horrible sound,' Blake thought. The rumbling growl in her stomach was so loud, she became worried that everyone in the vicinity might have heard it. Having been so nervous about her first day at Beacon Academy, the faunus hadn't eaten a single thing for the past twenty-four hours.

But, all her fret had proved fruitless so far, as the day had been very uneventful. A subtle peek around and at the people standing behind her in queue revealed that, of course, no one could have actually heard the growling among all the bustle in the dining hall. She quietly sighed.

Nerves... Yes, it was just her nerves getting to her, she concluded.

Blake reflected upon the only event of the day to have transpired so far, an assembly inside the amphitheater announcing that the first-year students would all be sleeping in the ballroom tonight, and that their initiation would take place tomorrow.

Now, that's something to be anxious about... but until then, 'There's nothing important left on the itinerary for today. All there is to do is eat and I could probably get a few hours of reading in before bed,' she thought.

Letting out an exhale as she spun to face forward again, her eyes stalled upon a profile view of the human in front of her. "Woah," she whispered. This figure... This tall, curvy woman facing away from Blake nonchalantly skimmed through her scroll whilst she stood leaning most of her weight on one leg... That vest and tank top combo that hugged her body, maybe just a little too much; those incredibly short shorts that left little to the imagination underneath that... skirt... thing- 'what do you even call that?' The way those curves filled out her entire outfit that showed off so much skin had to be breaking the school dress code, if there was one. Was there? She'd have to look into that one later. And oh- but, her hair... that mane, such a vast expanse of bright, golden locks, almost a direct contrast to Blake's very own.

The faunus lightly shook her head. What were these thoughts? And why was she thinking them? Did she wish to posses those curves herself...? Were they inspired by jealousy? No, it didn't seem like it.

Amidst this internal interrogation Blake's eyes suddenly shifted focus onto the subject of the extreme foreground of her view, a lock of her own hair slowly creeping downwards. She noticed a slight outline of a small face in it and a loud, raspy, familiar voice ripped her concentration away from the bizarre thoughts she was just questioning herself for having, "Are you gonna move forward in line or are you just gonna keep gawking at that girl in front of you?"

Realizing what had just happened and that there was a large gap in the line in between her and the human girl in front of her, Blake's eyes widened so big they could've popped out of her skull. Being terrified of the attention that may have just been lavished upon her, the dark haired girl's gaze dropped to a tiny spot on the ground out of embarrassment. 'Cid! What the hell are you doing,' she shrieked inside her head. 'Are you trying to out us on our first day at Beacon Academy!?'

"Well, you were just standing there staring at her," Cid's voice now down to a low whisper next to her ear. "It was even starting to weird me out, and that's hard to do... Oh- don't look now, but that girl you were checking out is doing the same to you now." Blake's eyes didn't dare to raise, transfixed upon the floor as if it was the most important set of tiles she'd ever seen in her life. Realizing there was still an immense space separating the two in queue that she had yet to fix, her cheeks shined a deep shade of red. "Hmmm, the bimbo's still watching you and she's got this... interesting look on her face. It's almost like she's-"

'Shut up!' Blake exclaimed into her mind. 'Just shut up! I don't need to hear how everyone's staring at me right now because of you...' At last, out of her peripherals, she noticed the blonde had returned her attention forward in line again and, just like that, the faunus was able to finally reclaim the distance between them undetected. She exhaled.

Just a few minutes later found Blake and Cid sitting down alone at one of the huge dining tables with an also huge tray of food. "God damn, Blake. You turn buying lunch from a glorified cafeteria into a huge ordeal," he reprimanded. "Why did you wait so long to eat?"

"That was your fault," she quietly shot back. "Not only do I have to eat twice as much as a normal person because of you, but I wasn't eating because I was so nervous that you'd do something as stupid as that in public!"

"You know I get cranky when we're hungry!" Disregarding his excuses, Blake rolled her eyes as she took a bite out of her tuna fish sandwich, letting out a quiet, satisfied hum. "How's the sandwich?" The faunus continued to ignore the talking heap of hair on her head, sinking her teeth into another exquisite mouthful. The dark haired girl was truly enjoying this meal.

Cid was able to decipher from her slowly un-furrowing brow and his innate ability to read her thoughts that her mood was quickly cheering up. Maybe this was the time to bring up the idea he had been pondering? An idea that he thought may help to put his host at ease for once. At the risk of burning her bridge to elation through food, he started, "I... I think you just need to relax. Maybe you..." Cid paused for a moment. "Blake..." he said softly, making an attempt at sincerity for once, "maybe you need to make a friend."

Instantly, the girl's brow re-furrowed. "How could I possibly be able to relax when you're almost giving us away after only being here for just a few hours? And I don't need to do anything, Cid. That's not why I'm here."

"So you're just gonna attend the academy for four years without talking to anyone?" The heap of hair sarcastically offered.

"That's the plan." Blake plainly said, staring straight forward, still eating.

"Even while on a team with three other people?"

"..."

"You should really try."

"No."

"You need to."

"No. I don't."

"Yes. You do." And instantaneously... a plan was hatched. "And I'm going to make you a friend right now..."

Blake's eyes widened. "...What?" It was almost as if time had frozen for a very short moment, while her mind took the liberty to race across numerous possibilities of the implications of what that statement could mean. She knew any one of them could be catastrophic for herself or even for her future here at Beacon. Perhaps this looming disaster would serve to remind her of the time that he reached around to disable the safety bar while they were on that ride at that theme park because it'd be 'more fun', or possibly when he randomly chose to test out his ability to stretch out and become a parachute by throwing themselves off a tall building, or conceivably even that time he unexpectedly decided to pet that stray... dog...

She shuddered.

Suddenly, from behind was a quick, high pitched, "Ah!" And a loud crash, followed by the sound of something sliding across the floor a short distance.

In a slight panic, the faunus quickly turned her head; peering over her shoulder, she peeked a glimpse of a small girl caught in the aftermath of Cid's mischievous deed. Lying face-first into a tray with various food items strewn about, a red cape was untidily draped from her back over her head. Quite the unfortunate victim.

Blake was unable to even muster a response, no more than staring blankly at the mess, mouth agape. It was only the whisper of Cid's annoying teasing in her faunus ears that was able to snap her back to the situation he had put her in, "Uh ohhh! She's probably gonna think you did that on purpose... Better suck up to her real quick!" It frustrated her knowing that he was likely correct. The dark haired girl sighed as she decided she needed to fix this.

Blake nervously stood up from the table as the damsel on the floor started to move, "Hey... umm," She hesitated. "Are- are you okay?" Bending down to attempt an offer at assistance, the faunus rested a hand on the tiny girl's shoulder and readjusted the cape to its intended position, revealing a mix of short, red and black disheveled hair. "Here, let me help you up." Blake hooked arms with the nearly weightless girl and effortlessly hoisted her up to her feet, eliciting a slightly distressed groan. "Oh, you have a bit of something on your face. Here, let me." Feeling like she would be held responsible, she quickly swiped a couple napkins from her own tray and began lightly dabbing to clean up.

Mouth open, the girl looked up at Blake with a twinkle in her silver eyes; offering only a bewildered, yet awestruck stare, she was seemingly unaware of being on the receiving end of a grooming session. After an awkwardly silent moment of having her face wiped, she finally murmured, "That..."

The faunus's ears twitched under her bow. "Hmm...?" She peeled her focus off of what she was doing to notice the human now had an incredibly wide-open smile.

"Was so... COOL!" The short haired girl exclaimed loudly, evoking silence and a large mix of stares throughout the dining hall. "Oh my gosh, what WAS that!? How did you DO that!" With their arms still linked together, the ecstatic student was lightly bouncing up and down with glee while the faunus just held a wide-eyed blank stare.

Not having seen exactly what had happened, Blake didn't have much of a response. "Umm, I..."

"Like, that was the craziest thing ever! I mean- your hair just went, like, 'WHOOSH,'" she continued as she made a sweeping arc with her free hand to demonstrate. "And whipped out across the ground and totally got me! Was that like, your semblance or something?" After a brief moment of quiet, the smaller girl finally noticed the tension stemming from her interlocutor, probably due to her own obnoxiousness. She let go of her arm. "Oh, sorry," her voice now lowering to a whisper as she repeated herself, "Was that like, your semblance or something?"

The volume level in the room was starting to return to its natural state of loud. "Umm, well, kind of..." Blake muttered.

"Ahh, no way! That's awesome! What else can your semblance do?"

"Oh, not very much. Sometimes it just-" Cid wasted no time trying to impress as he swiftly stretched out a lock of hair towards the assortment of food items still on the floor, gathering them upon the tray and shoving it into the girl's hands within a matter of seconds. "...Seems like it has a mind of its own." She nervously offered.

"The coolest..." At this point, the smaller girl was completely starry-eyed, jaw nearly dropped onto her own tray. "I'm Ruby..." she barely murmured as she drooled.

Blake was not enjoying this attention, especially since it was actually meant for Cid. Just a few moments ago, she had been enjoying her lunch by themselves and wanted to keep it that way. But now, due to his apathy for Blake's desires, she was now unwillingly putting on a show for this girl, waist deep in her admiration. Why did he have to be like this? Why was he always so careless? 'You're going to be the death of me...' She thought.

At last, Ruby managed to shake herself from her stupor and dropped her gaze downwards. "Soooo..." Blake noticed a shift in the girl's body language. "Can I, maybe, sit with you? I was supposed to sit with my sister but, I don't know where she went... Aaaand I don't really have any friends at Beacon yet."

Immediately, Cid whispered to Blake, "This is it, this is your chance! This chick is basically begging to be your friend right now. Don't you dare say anything but yes!"

'NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO-'

He didn't wait for her to figure out how to say that nicely.

Ruby suddenly found her waist wrapped up in Blake's hair, then being moved through the air and seated down gently at the table with her tray of food. She turned and beamed a smile up at Blake.

'I am SO getting you back for this, Cid...'