Of Dark Skies And Shining Stars
Monochrome
Chapter One: A Closer Look
Author's note: Of Dark Skies And Shining Stars will be a collection of Monochrome one-shots, however I may sneak the occasional Ladybug in here, and if needed, Freezerburn. Please enjoy.
It was rare for Weiss Schnee to second guess herself on anything she did. She was extremely intelligent, sharp-witted, and she held a social standing that would tolerate no foolish actions nor words.
She was used to her word, if not her father's, being law, and so her time at Beacon had been incredibly eye opening.
Sure, it had been her choice to go to Beacon, and she knew that she would face some challenges, but to be fair, she never expected that half of her world would be turned upside down.
She never expected that she would be part of a team that included an air-headed, happy-go-lucky, act-before-thinking fifteen year old, and she certainly never would have anticipated that said girl would be her leader.
Her quick wit had yet to fail her thus far though, and she was learning more about working as a team quicker than she could make mistakes and embarrass herself...
... Mostly, anyway.
One of the things she had expected least was that she would be working on the same team as a Faunus.
Her quick wit and sharp judgement immediately relegated the raven-haired Faunus to the back of her mind; she was unimportant, and little more than a troublesome nuisance at most.
Weiss would be careful to keep her guard up around her, at least in the beginning, but when it became increasingly clear that Blake had as little interest in Weiss as Weiss had in the rest of her team, she could relax a bit.
Thus they began promptly ignoring each other, the Faunus maintaining an outward air of casual disinterest and the barest hints of respect toward the Schnee heiress, whilst Weiss preferred to have as little interaction with the Faunus as possible.
At least, that's how it was in the beginning, and that's how it was supposed to continue.
Weiss hadn't counted on having her opinions and assumptions challenged so frequently whilst at Beacon, but here she was, staring at the Faunus girl as they sat in their dorm.
Weiss was certain that her staring hadn't gone unnoticed by the perceptive girl, but really, it was impossible to help.
Weiss shifted on her bed, adjusting the book in her lap as she glanced sidelong once more at the raven-haired girl on the bed a few feet away from her.
Weiss was fascinated by how incorrect her initial assumptions were regarding the Faunus.
Or, this one, at least.
She had grown up hearing tales of their brutish, animalistic behaviour, their general disregard for order and cleanliness, and most of all, their disgust and hatred toward the Schnee lineage.
Blake was the exact opposite in every way, and it kind of bothered Weiss that she had been so quick to stereotype the quiet girl as just another filthy animal.
Weiss licked her lips slowly. biting her bottom lip as she slowly, silently closed her book. Setting it aside, she straightened her back as she adjusted her position on her bed, turning slightly so she could get a better look at the girl.
Only the bedside table lamp spilled light throughout the room, although it was plenty for the both of them to see by. In the soft light of the shaded lamp, Blake's long raven strands were looking impossibly soft, as well kept and impeccably brushed as her own long silver-white strands.
Blake had long ago foregone wearing her bow in the relative privacy of their dorm room, and now her soft, furry cat ears stood at full attention, twitching and rotating with every distant laugh, footstep, or creak and moan of the building.
Weiss' icy blue eyes slid down to Blake's face next. Her skin seemed to be made of alabaster, a bit darker than her own porcelain complexion, but flawless nonetheless. Her sharp, alluring golden eyes slowly slid side to side as she read, occasionally reaching up to brush her bangs back from her forehead or tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear or over her shoulder. In the low light, Weiss could see that Blake's pupils were almost round, her yellow irises seemingly made of soft, molten gold.
She was devoid of her hunter outfit tonight, and instead wore a more casual set of clothing. Her upper body was clad in a baggy sleeveless black shirt, and at some point during the evening, the loose strap had slid down her right shoulder. It was clear that she hadn't bothered with a bra, Weiss noted, as her eyes trailed further downward. There was a distinct lack of tan around her shoulders and the part of her chest that Weiss could see that wasn't obscured by her shirt.
Weiss shifted somewhat uncomfortably now, uncrossing her legs and pulling them up to her chest. Leaning her head down on her knees, she wrapped her arms around her knees as she turned her head to the side, staring fully at her teammate. At this point she was foregoing all pretenses of not staring at her. Either the girl knew by now and didn't care, or that was one hell of an engrossing book.
Blake's lower body was covered by a pair of grey sweatpants. Little kitty pawprints made their way up the sides in red ink, and Weiss noticed that Blake was also barefoot.
A small, small part of her was genuinely curious if the girl was wearing panties or not.
A heat rose to her cheeks at that thought, but there was no one in the room who would notice, or care to look.
"I find it hard to believe that I'm that fascinating."
Blake's voice jolted Weiss out of her thoughts, and she straightened up, clearing her throat softly.
"I, er... what?"
Blake smiled somewhat demurely, before gently placing a worn bookmark between the pages of her novel. Closing it and setting it aside, she slowly turned to face Weiss. Upon making eye contact, Blake's pupils swiftly shrunk to narrow slits, the warm, enticing gold filling her eyes.
"I would say it's been an easy twenty minutes now that you've been staring at me." Blake's tone was soft, factual, but not accusatory. There was no confrontation to her tone, and Weiss struggled to control her rising embarrassment so that she would not be tempted to respond in kind.
Weiss was silent for a moment as she contemplated her response. There was no use denying it, that much was certain.
"I... " Her voice trailed off, and her gaze slipped away from her teammate.
"Do I have something on my face?" Blake reached up to gently pat at her cheek.
"A remnant from dinner, perhaps?"
Weiss' head rose, her ponytail playing about her shoulders.
"No! Er... " Weiss looked away once more, unable to maintain eye contact. "No, that's not it."
Blake shifted, slowly sliding her legs over the edge of her bed until she was sitting up, toes brushing idly against the floor as she kicked her feet back and forth.
"Then what is it?" She pressed gently.
"I-it's nothing!" Weiss retorted, looking away.
"Aw, Weiss, it's not nice to lie to your partner." Blake teased quietly.
Weiss was silent for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts.
What was it, exactly, about the girl that fascinated her so much?
"It's.. " Weiss began, unsure of how to put her thoughts into words. A few feet away, Blake sat silently, patiently.
"You're just... different, than what I expected." Weiss' voice was quiet, hesitant.
"In what way?"
Weiss looked up at Blake, catching her gaze. An idea began to form in her head, and it set her heart racing.
"C-can I come over there?" Weiss asked, cursing her sudden inability to form a sentence without stuttering.
Blake seemed to study her for a moment, before her ears swivelled away from each other, pointing out to either side of her head.
"I suppose." Blake patted the bed beside her invitingly.
Weiss took a deep breath as she stood, unsure of what she was really doing. Crossing the few steps that separated them, she carefully lowered herself down onto the bed with about a foot of space between herself and Blake.
She was uncomfortably close now, and part of her was straining against her self control, willing herself to move way from this ex-White Fang member and potential threat.
Almost against her will, her eyes flicked to where Myrtenaster lay against the foot of her bed, before lowering to her lap. She hoped that Blake didn't notice, but the way Blake seemed to shift a few inches away signaled otherwise.
Weiss let out the breath she had forgot she was holding. Raising her gaze, she looked up to Blake.
The stoic girl stared back at her evenly, expression unreadable.
"You're so unlike what I was told you'd be like." Weiss started, unsure of what to really say.
Blake tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, raven locks falling over her shoulder. Her mouth quirked into a half smile, revealing a curved, gleaming ivory fang.
"What were you told I'd be like?" Blake asked.
Weiss shifted uncomfortably, lacing her fingers together in her lap.
"Not you, personally, but... your kind."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she winced. Was that offensive? Could it be misconstrued as confrontational? Would Blake be upset?
"I'm not the face of my kind, and my kind are not all like me." Blake said slowly, after a moment. "We aren't all the same mindless beast hell-bent on your family's destruction, you know. You can't lump us all together."
Weiss nodded slowly. "So I've been learning."
Blake stared at the obviously nervous heiress, wondering what was causing her such distress.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Blake asked, her gaze falling to Weiss' tense shoulders.
"Would you feel safer with your weapon in hand?"
"No!" Weiss exclaimed. Blood rushing to her cheeks and burning the back of her neck, she willed herself to calm down.
"Uh, no. No. I don't want my weapon." Weiss mumbled softly. She unclasped her hands long enough to reach up and flick her ponytail back over her shoulder.
"Blake, can I ask you an embarrassing question?"
Blake's head tilted the other way, golden eyes assessing the heiress. As she stared at the silver-haired girl, her pupils slowly enlarged until there were only slivers of gold at the edges of her eyes. Her alert ears flicked back and forth, listening as a group of students passed by their door outside in the hallway.
A wry smile curved Blake's lips, as she began to enjoy the heiress' obvious discomfort.
"We're biologically no different than humans, Weiss, we bleed once a mon-"
"NO!" Weiss' head shot up and she affixed Blake with a horrified stare, too mortified to recognize the playful grin spreading across Blake's face.
"Th-that wasn't what I was going to ask!"
Blake couldn't keep herself from giggling, and almost immediately the embarrassed look on Weiss' face turned straight to anger. Her delicate, perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed, her ice blue eyes darkening as her glare caused her scar to bunch up on her forehead and cheek.
"Sorry," Blake smiled, "What were you going to ask?"
Weiss scowled at her, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away.
"Never mind." The girl muttered.
"Aw Weiss, I was just playing." Blake reached out and gently patted Weiss' shoulder.
Weiss glanced at Blake over her shoulder, contemplating the raven-haired girl beside her.
"I think Yang is rubbing off on you." Weiss grumbled after a moment, uncrossing her arms and returning them to her lap. Shuffling around, she once more turned until she was facing Blake.
"Blake, can I touch you?"
Gold seemed to fill Weiss' vision as Blake's pupils rapidly dilated, becoming narrow black slits as her ears laid back flat against her skull. Instantly her heartrate skyrocketed, and if it weren't for the serious look on Weiss' face, Blake would have cracked a terribly inappropriate, Yang-inspired joke.
... Maybe Weiss was right. Maybe Yang was rubbing off on her.
"Not in a weird way, obviously." The girl huffed exasperatedly, a dark blush beginning to stain her cheeks.
Blake shook her head, blinking a few times to bring herself back to the present. Weiss had felt the need to clarify herself, based on her lengthy period of silence.
"I... I suppose I don't have an issue with that."
Weiss nodded, swallowing nervously. There was silence between them for a moment, and neither dared look away from the other. The only sound in the room were their nervous pounding hearts, and Weiss' panicked breathing.
Trembling hands reached out slowly toward Blake, who leaned forward slightly, encouraging the shrinking distance between them.
Weiss hesitated, then quickly returned one hand to her lap. Maybe reaching out toward her with two hands was too much. Too threatening. Too... something. Damnit, she could barely think, her mind was running too quick to make any sort of coherent thought.
Reaching out with her right hand, icy blue locked to warm, inviting gold, Weiss gently touched Blake's cheek with her fingertips.
Blake's cheek was warm, and incredibly soft. Weiss' eyes fell from Blake's intense stare, to her cheek. Her soft skin, her adorable button nose, her curved, slightly parted red lips...
Weiss trailed her fingertips down Blake's cheek, ghosting over her lips. Her fingertips stopped at her chin, before gently tracing the Faunus' jawline up to her human ear.
She paused, then stole a glance up at Blake once her pounding heart had subsided a bit.
Blake was staring at her with that damned unreadable expression on her face, her hands folded neatly in her lap, patiently waiting.
When Blake said nothing, did nothing to discourage her, Weiss felt herself growing slightly more bold.
She scooted a bit closer, shrinking the distance that separated them down to scant inches. She traded a fingertip touch for the press of her palm, caressing Blake's cheek and concentrating on the feel of the girl's skin under her palms.
Damn, she hoped her hands weren't sweaty from nerves...
Her left hand soon came up to join her right on the other side of Blake's face, and some small part of her realized that she was caressing Blake almost as an intimate lover would.
Pushing that thought to the deepest depths of her mind lest she spontaneously combust, she slid her hands toward Blake's neck until her fingertips grazed against Blake's human ears.
Weiss' left hand slid gently down Blake's neck to the soft, slender curve of her shoulder, whilst her right hand continued higher. Her fingertips traced the outer edge of Blake's ear, marveling at how pedestrian and completely indifferent it was from her own.
Her gaze slid to Blake's hair, and she gently entwined her fingers in the loose strands. She rubbed it between her fingers, careful not to tug, and admired it's shiny, silky softness.
"You know... " Weiss began, her voice low and sounding dangerously weak, "I was told that Faunus were nothing but animals... "
She let Blake's hair slip from between her fingers, and chanced a look at the girl. Blake was studying her silently, golden eyes fixed upon wide blue.
Weiss' right hand slowly joined her left, caressing Blake's throat and feeling the pulse in her neck pound beneath her fingertips. Blake's skin was almost unbearably hot against her hands, and Weiss tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as her gaze slid down Blake's beautiful face to her throat.
"... Slaves to your most basic desires, creatures who were human only in shape and nothing more... " Weiss breathed, her voice cracking as she struggled to speak.
Her right hand slid down Blake's bare shoulder, tracing the muscles in her upper arm. Her fingers caressed Blake's tough, yet slender tricep, before slowly teasing the inside of her elbow.
"It's becoming increasingly clear to me that you are nothing like that, and have done nothing to deserve such treatment." Weiss lowered her head to study Blake's hands, her vision blurring slightly as she bit down on her bottom lip to maintain some semblance of control over her emotions.
Weiss' left hand relinquished it's grip on Blake's shoulder, falling to Blake's lap to join her right as she picked up Blake's hand.
Weiss examined the back of Blake's hand, sharp eyes picking out the faint scars that adorned her hand and wrist. Porcelain skin contrasted against tanned as Weiss gently turned Blake's palm skyward. A soft touch revealed Blake's hand had rough callouses, the result of many years of fighting and gripping her weapon like her life depended on it.
Fighting people like herself, Weiss Schnee, who couldn't spare a second thought for her other than wondering how to best rid themselves of the troublesome Faunus.
Weiss gripped Blake's hand tightly in her own, a myriad of feelings she couldn't decipher washing over her and threatening to overwhelm her with their intensity.
They both sat silent and unmoving for several moments, Blake staring down at Weiss, and Weiss staring at the tanned, calloused hand that she clasped tightly in her own.
After a few moments, when Weiss felt she had some sort of control over her emotions, she sniffed quietly before raising her head and straightening her back. Levelling her gaze with Blake's, she slowly relinquished her grip on her teammate.
"I'm sorry about that, Blake." Weiss murmured softly, slowly pushing herself away and to her feet. Blake was silent as the heiress slowly retreated.
Golden eyes watched curiously as silver hair swayed side to side, Weiss falling onto her bed with a muffled thump! before rolling onto her side and facing the wall.
"Anytime." Blake muttered softly under her breath, staring at her teammate's back.
Weiss pulled her knees to her chest, huddling up as tight as she could as she squeezed her eyes closed against the threatening onslaught of tears.
Weiss wasn't sure what she was expecting when she asked to touch Blake, but she wasn't expecting to find someone more human than her.
Author's Note: As noted above, I've created a collection of one-shots for Monochrome. Despite BumbleBY being my favourite ship by far, I've read so much adorable Monochrome, that I cannot help but try my hand at it. As with everything I write, my aim is to develop my writing skills and my understanding of the characters, and all comments and criticism are welcome. Thanks in advance. I hope you enjoy.