Ren closed his eyes, the room team JNPR shared finally empty. The team had gone off with their neighbours, RWBY, to go into Vale, stocking up on supplies and, as expected in this heat, ice cream. Ren had decided to stay at the academy as he had not had a good night's sleep, but he could not sleep even when alone. Instead he stayed in his meditated state, asleep but fully conscious.

There had been a lot on Ren's mind to keep him from sleeping. Mainly it was the thoughts of his best friend, Nora. In the last get together the two teams had, a game of truth and dare had erupted, and the questions and tasks go more sinister and dirty as the night went on. It inevitably came down to everyone asking who liked who in the academy. Of course the girls found it easy to answer. They all always fancied the popular boys in school, but Ren and Jaune still had to answer.

"Ren!" Ruby had exclaimed as the circle of turns passed to the young man. "It's your turn now!" Ren's cheeks had brightened to a crimson red, having tried and failed to think of someone he liked other than who he did, not wanting to avoid the truth completely. But, the truth was that there was no one else. No one could beat the beauty of this person, inside or out.

"Who do YOU like?"

"I uh…" Ren paused, his throat going surprisingly dry. This caused Weiss to roll her eyes, checking her nails in her 'know-it-all' way.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked, raising a small brow. The group turned to look at her, Ren's expression twisted into a nervous one. "Think about it. Who does Ren spend all his time with? Who have been friends since forever?" The group gasped, all with a wild grin on their face apart from three. Weiss, as this news wasn't new to her; Nora, as she was shocked; and Ren, as he was embarrassed.

"You like Nora!" Ruby and Yang exclaimed in unison, causing them to giggle. Ren's gaze shot across to his best friend, trying to catch her gaze to silently apologise, but it was to no avail. Nora, for once in her life had a frown on her face, her gaze to the floor, her face a heavy pink colour. Ren's stomach flipped, his head hanging low.

They had not spoken more about it. It had really affected their friendship and this worried Ren. If they couldn't be friends, what was this going to do to team JNPR? Ren's meditation was ruined, as the thoughts wouldn't escape his head. The corners of his lips turned to the floor, his eyes opening, and the magenta tinged with a shine from the tears that had formed in his eyes.

"Ren?" a delicate voice came from behind him, causing Ren to freeze. His eyes widened slowly. "Ren, I-" the voice cut off as the person behind it was stuck on what to say. Ren slowly turned his head to let his gaze fall upon his best friend.

Nora's head was the only thing visible behind the door, her cheeks were burning. "I left Jaune and Pyrrha to go shopping. I just... Needed to talk to you."

The long haired male remained silent, turning his whole body around to stand, his head lowered and gaze focused on his feet. He was still ashamed with himself for ever upsetting Nora and he didn't think he would ever be able to forgive himself. Before Ren could do anything, Nora had moved from the door. Her hands were cupped around the other's cheek. "Do you really like me? Like Weiss said?"

Ren grunted, his gaze elsewhere as he nodded a single nod. "Good," his friend stated, a beam on her face. "You should have just lied about it! I mean, I did!"

"You lied?" Ren said with a tone of shock. This caused Nora to nod and giggle, her teeth lightly grazing against her bottom lip.

"I can't admit that I like my best friend, can I? Not until I knew how you felt, at least."

Ren's face went bright red, his gaze falling upon Nora, unbelievably happy, but not allowing his face to show it. His heart was racing a little. "How long have you-"

"Quite a while," Nora admitted. "I... Tried to hide it. You know with all the 'not together together' things..?"

The male pulled away lightly, this news hitting him. How could he have been so blind. And now he was alone with the girl he had fallen for. Dare he make a move? Ren's hand moved onto the window sill, the muscles in his back toughening as he stretched them. His gaze was on the grounds around the room. Nora stood, her knee bent in a way to make her heel raise, chewing nervously on her lip as her hands rested behind her back. "I know this is not the time but I may as well just say that I-"

"I love you."

Nora's eyes shot wider, her heart in her throat, stopping from beating. Her posture straightened as her breath stopped and her hand searched over her chest for where her heart should be. Ren pushed himself to stand straight, moving towards Nora and sliding a hand gently around her waist. This movement caused the hand resting on her own chest to his, gently caressing the light fabric covering his skin. Her gaze was focused on her hand, a soft smile upon her lips. She'd never been so close to Ren, both physically and emotionally.

The taller of the two lowered his head, his lips grazing against her forehead. This caused Nora to pull her head up, letting out a small hum as their lips grew closer. Slowly, Ren completed the lean, his lips lightly finding themselves in the creases of Nora's. His other hand lightly moved to cup her cheek, never wanting to lose the contact he had gained after wanting it for so long.

Another voice came from the doorway. "HEY LOOK!"