RWBY In Your Room.
The atmosphere of the cafe is light, jubilant. Outside the tall panes of glass, the street is dark and patters of pain fall.
Your eyes rove in front of you. A man, hunches forward in his seat, dejectedly stirring his Caramel Cocoa Cluster Frappuccino Blended Coffee with a wooden stick.
His face should be clean, but a pointy beard sits there now. A depressingly brown overcoat replaces the usual hoodie, and your friend is unrecognisable.
"Buddy, you know you don't actually need to stir a frappuccino, yeah?"
Buddy stops stirring, eyes still fixed down, then stirs again in the opposite direction. He hasn't taken a single sip.
"Doesn't matter. Nothing does anymore."
The mocha drizzle is mixed with the cream now. The nuts have sunk to the bottom of the cup. 'It's ruined,' you decide.
"It's got 450 calories Buddy." You glare at him. "I can see your love handles."
"How could she do this to me." Buddy's voice is trembling. "We loved each other."
The hurt he feels, you can feel it too. Well, sort of. It's a mutual understanding. You can still see the bruises on his knuckles where he beat up his girlfriend's other lover. It's not that you know how it feels, to walk into your bedroom only to see your girlfriend hungrily humping someone else, but you also feel you should help your only friend.
"I'm sorry." you mutter, cause you really are. "Some women really are just monsters."
Buddy says nothing. He doesn't even look up. What else does he want you to say?
"You don't know how I feel." he mutters bitterly.
The rain patters more heatedly now, rapping on the sides of the window. You sigh and look at the shell of a man in front of you. Life sucks. I wish I could go somewhere else. Oh yeah? Like what?

-

Team RWBY was in a spot of bother. Yang Xiao Long skimmed her forefinger through the sticky honey, raising a finger to her mouth and sucking on it thoughtfully.

Ruby watched urgently, then asked through clenched teeth. "How is it?"

Weiss and Blake are surveying the scene with intensity too, eyes glued on her. Yang circled her finger inside, head cocked, eyes gazing up thoughtfully, enjoying the attention. Then she pulled her finger out with a loud slurp and slammed it down on the surface of the pancake.

'It's PERFECT.'

'Really?' Ruby squealed.

'Perfection itself.' Yang nodded proudly.

'Ah, every sister needs this moment of pride!' She strikes a theatrical pose.

'I guess that cook book i gave you helped, huh?' Blake said kindly.

'Totally! Thanks so much Blake!'

'Nora's had it.' Weiss smiled, confidently. 'She can't hold a candle to our pancakes.'

The rest of the team bobbled their heads in aplomb.
"Good job, Ruby. You're becoming more of a team leader every day." Weiss went over to pick up the plates of pancakes. "I'd say the competition's in the bag."
"Oh no no, I'll clean them up." She said, when Blake walked over in an effort to help.
With that, she disappeared out of the team room.
"Say sis, what did you add in the honey? It's amazingly sweet." Yang asked, incredulously.
"I really shouldn't say…" Ruby giggled, wobbly from the praise. She turned to look at Blake, looking for permission to share the secrets of the cook book.
"Go ahead, be my guest."
"Welllll, I added the usual stuff, yknow, but the cookbook also recommended a pot of dragontail dust."
"A pot! Damn." Yang whispered in awe.

A sort of impressed silence spreads, before Yang gives a suppressed little cough. Blake's ears twitch, indicating something is confusing her.

"Did you say a pot of dragontail?"

Weiss strides back in, eyebrows furrowed. "Did someone say something about dragontail?"

Yang coughs again, louder.

"Yup, Weiss, i added a pot to the pancake sauce. That's why it tastes so good!"
"A pot?" Weiss's expression is suddenly aghast.

"Didn't they say a teaspoon, Ruby?" Blake murmurs hurriedly.

Yang watches the string of nervous questions blankly, wincing. Her stomach gurgles.
"It isn't that important." Ruby blushes furiously.

"That much dragondust reacts explosively with stomach fluids." Weiss informs.
"Holy fu-" Yang explodes. In fact, the entire left wing of the school blows. As it turns out, Yang had a lot of gastric acid in her that day. Poor Ruby.
The whole cooking debacle sort of just, blew up in her face.
_

'Go All The Way' by Raspberries pounds in your ear.

Your eyes are shut.

You drum your fingers on the block of assignments on your desk. Your head bobs to the beat, loving your new headphones.

'Please go awayyy~' the lyrics sing passionately.

'Just hold me close, don't ever let me go~'

'Y/N!'

'Woo hoo~'

'Y/N!'

You open your eyes and look up to see your boss wave a clipboard of papers at your nose feverishly.

'Yep Jen?' You.

Your boss sighs and pushes the clipboard onto the stack of assignments.

'What the-? What's this?' You stutter, trying to sound indignant.

'Friday's hand-ins.' Jen (your boss) pauses. 'Means you hand it in on Friday. To me.'

'I've got a lot to do Jen, gimme a break? Please?'

She gives you a wry smiles and turns to walk away, hazel eyes lingering a bit. She looks beautiful today in her sunny dress, long brown hair tied into a neat bun. But you don't bother to say anything. She probably likes you, but you both know the chemistry isn't there. In a nut shell, relationships aren't your cup of tea.

Groaning, you pocket your phone, headphones, laptop and the ton of work.
_

Your car bumbles along the open road, kicking up a cloud of orange dust behind it. Inside, you have an episode of the RoosterTeeth podcast playing.

It's the voice actors of RWBY.

Barbara Dunkelman warbles a joke through the speaker.

Lindsay bubbles and laughs.

Team RWBY contains all of your waifus. They're wonderful, and beautiful, and funny, and so far away.

You look at the screen of your phone, then at the stack of papers in the passenger seat, then back at the podcast.

Your apartment rises out of the horizon.

Grabbing your phone, scrolling through, you put on your favourite song.

You manage a smile.

You sit in your room. You're alone.

Around the walls are pasted posters of your beloved anime and movies, accompanied by some figures from Cowboy Bebop, Sword Art Online, and mostly, RWBY.

They gleam in frozen, sculpted cheeriness, in the dark, cramped room.

You feel the pit of your stomach churn. At least they accept you. It doesn't matter if most people don't.
The cheap bed creaks as you lie down, not even undressing-you don't care anymore-and you close your eyes, trying to sleep.
This life sucks, big time. People just grow older and accept their reality. The anime figures smile back at you. They've got it easy. Trade?
Tossing and turning, itches and urges keep you from unconsciousness. Flashes of images and shuddering light. Jen materialises in front of you, inches from your face. Her breath is warm and heated, lips pursed and slightly open, while her eyes are nervous, wide, wondering what move you'll make next. Then she's sitting on a pile of papers, like a queen on a throne. It swirls like a black hole, next you're old. A faceless man jeers. 'You're alone. You're worthless.'
The nerves in your body jolt, and the man melts into a feminine figure, Ruby Rose from RWBY, sprawled on your chest, eyes gently closed, mouth open, a quiet snore. The room is dark, but sun light through the open door slowly reveals the rest of team RWBY on your bed, all asleep and inches from your rigid form.
You smile and trace a finger down Ruby's face. This isn't the first time you've dreamt about this.
Otaku, they called you. Loser, they called you. At least you weren't the one getting your heart broken.
She wrinkles her nose slightly, eyebrows furrowing. Turning, she digs her head in your chest, and you smell the scent of flowers and summer from her hair. She's still sleeping.
You brush your hand across her jawline. Your eyes trace around the room, watching the other members of RWBY. This obviously feels extremely wrong. Even in a dream, you feel sick, vision glued to Ruby's curves, contours and soft skin.
But maybe, maybe this isn't a dream. It doesn't feel like one. Too real, you can feel her mushy skin under your hands.
Blake snores in the back, gently.
Briiiiiing

Your phone rings in your pocket, loud and clear. Your brain goes to overdrive, taking it out and jabbing at the screen.
Briiiiiiiiiiiing
"Fucking Iphone." You growl, and shut it off.
"Mmmh."
Ruby's face twitches, movement behind the eyelid.
"Oh fuck." You whimper.
Her mouth hangs open, then closes, licking her lips. Then her eyes slide open lazily. The grey irises stare into your soul.
This definitely isn't a dream.
"AHHH!" Ruby pulls away, trips, slams into your bedroom wall. Her yell rouses the others, who grapple for their weapons, but realise that they aren't there. Instead, they settle on kicking your shit.
Weiss chops your throat, you gargle and try to stand on the bed, but Yang's fist pummels your gut, and Blake sweeps her leg, tripping you.
You hop around in muted pain, and fall on the cold floor.
"Who are you?" Ruby gasps, still planted on the wall.
"I'm just some guy! Why are you in my house?"
"This is your house?" Blake cried, spinning round hysterically.
"Where the hell-?" Yang yelped, eyes wide.
"Who are you?!" Weiss yells
"None of your business!" You hiss. "What are you guys doing in my bed?"
"Like we're supposed to know!" Weiss retorts from her scarlet face.
"Weren't we eating pancakes just like, 10 seconds ago?" Ruby squeals.
"Yeah, why are we in some guy's trashy room now?" Blake yells back.
"Did you just say trashy?" You yell.
"Didn't I explode?" Yang screams.
"Only because Ruby added too much dragondust!" Weiss says accusingly.
"Only cause Blake's book said so!"
"It said a teaspoon!"
"I told you her books are utter filth!"
"People, can we focus on the creep on the floor?" Weiss shrieks.
"Can we not?" Yang says with her tongue between her teeth.
"What's going on?!" You scream.
"We ate explosive pancakes, died, and I think this is heaven!" Ruby wails.
"Kill me." Blake moans.
"Guys listen, I just woke up and saw you here! I have no part in either explosive pancakes or bringing you here!"
Team RWBY stops and stares and you.
"Let me help you guys out." You say, breathing deeply.
"Some heaven this is." You hear Yang's voice behind Weiss and Blake.
"Um….guys…?" Ruby's voice can be heard too.
"What, Ruby?" Blake says agitatedly.
"Why does everything look….different?" She's right. Their clothes, bodies, everything really, still looks like it's rendered in Poser. Toon-shaded. But your room, your world is well, realistic.
You slowly rise up to your feet and grit your teeth.
"You guys have a lot to catch up on."