SPOILER ALERT!: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 5 FINALE! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, THEN DON'T READ THIS YET!

(Mom… Mom, I'm looking at you… You just finished Volume 2, you can't read this yet!)

By the way, I think I should let you know that if you're here looking for Bumbleby… I just wanna let you know that the only bees appearing here are BeeFF's. Translation: This is platonic, not romantic. Sorry; not sorry. I know that the majority of the fandom ships them… but I just don't, okay? I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm just letting you know. If you're looking for romance, it's just not here. And if you're not looking for romance… well, then you've come to the right place!

(Also, can we make, "BeeFF's" the official platonic tag for Yang and Blake, please? Since their partner attack combo is "Bumblebee" and their OTP ship name is "Bumblebee(by)," why not have their BrOTP name be "BeeFF's"? You know, sticking with the bee motif and making it a pun, to boot? What do y'all think? Let me know in the review box below after you've finished reading this chapter.)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the cover image or RWBY. The cover image, RWBY, and its characters are the lovely brainchildren of Monty Oum (may his memory be eternal) and Rooster Teeth. I am merely a fangirl playing in the world that they created.

That being said, let me stop talking so that you can come play in this world with me.

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Chapter One: Approaching the Chasm.

Theme Song: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, (Op. 49 No. 2-2nd mov. Tempo di Menuetto).

Despite what some movies, books, or fanfictions may say, two people sharing a twin-sized bed isn't the most comfortable of sleeping arrangements. Especially if the two in question are both grown adults.

Why? Well, there's a great violation of personal space since it's an awfully small bed. Some people toss and turn as they try to get comfortable, some throw punches and kicks while fighting monsters in their dreams, and others hog the blankets, or spread themselves out like a starfish, or even push their bedfellow off of the mattress itself.—Or maybe your companion is a touch… bulkier than you are, and thus, they take up more space than you.—And if both of you like to sleep on your side and you end up facing each other… well, that can either be awkward or not depending on your relationship with that other person. Not to mention there are those who snore and talk in their sleep, and don't get me started on morning breath and body odor.

Or maybe you and your current bedfellow haven't seen each other for about a year and they're mad at you for something you did and you feel guilty because it was your fault and now you're wondering if you're still even friends anymore while an awkward silence is turning the very air around you into a stifling, uncomfortable mess.

That's how Blake Belladonna felt as she lay with her back to her bunkmate in their shared twin bed.

How did she end up in that situation?

Well, after the battle at Haven Academy had been won and Team RWBY had been reunited, Qrow had told them all that they were going to take a day to rest and catch up before packing up and heading to Atlas. And since Blake had made it apparent that she wasn't going to leave her team again, that meant that she would be going with them.

All those who were going to go to Atlas were Team RWBY, the remainder of Team JNPR, Oscar/Ozpin, and Qrow. Sun and Ilia hadn't decided yet if they were going to go with them or not, but they were currently staying with them in the campus guest house to either catch up with them or become acquainted with them, respectively. Thus, it was rather cramped in the guest house, and many had to share beds, since there were no sleeping bags and the couches weren't very comfortable for sleeping on—as Qrow had found out the morning after finding Oscar/Ozpin, and the pain in his back did nothing to help his hangover whatsoever. So after they all had a late dinner together, they all proceeded to sort out their sleeping arrangements. There were eleven people—twelve if you counted Ozpin in Oscar's head—and three guest rooms with two twin-sized beds each, so almost everyone would have to share.

In Team JN_R's room, Jaune and Ren had bunked together in one bed while Nora had graciously offered to share with Ilia—much to the chameleon girl's trepidation due to the other girl's very hyperactive personality. Ruby had moved her things out of the room she had previously shared with her uncle so that Sun and Oscar could bunk together in her old bed there—much to Qrow 's annoyance, considering the monkey boy's talkative nature—and had moved into Weiss and Yang's room, instantly jumping on the ex-heiress's bed and proclaiming that she was going to bunk with her "super-bestie-better-than-the-restie." Oddly enough, Weiss didn't protest or try to push her out, but just rolled her eyes, smiled fondly, and scooted over to give her partner some room. That left Blake with only one option: to bunk with Yang…

Awkward…

So anyways, that's how Blake came to be sleeping in a twin bed, back to back with Yang.

Neither Yang nor Blake had anything with them in terms of sleepwear—come to think of it, none of them did—so the two had to just settle for taking off their jackets and boots and sleeping in their tank tops and long travel pants. In addition to her boots and jacket, Yang had also removed the left half of Ember Celica, her leather wrist guards, her scarf, as well as her prosthetic arm and placed them all on the nightstand. When Blake had—nervously—asked why she had taken off her arm, the blonde had simply shrugged and replied in a nonchalant and seemingly uncaring tone, "I don't wanna accidentally hit you with it in my sleep." Turning her back to the cat faunus as she placed her boots by the door, Yang added, "Or shoot you with it."

Needless to say, Blake was terrified.

Once the four girls had put away their weapons, shoes, and jackets, they got into their beds and got comfy. Ruby and Weiss snuggled underneath the covers of the ex-heiress's bed, and Blake huddled underneath the blankets of Yang's bed while the blonde lay on top of the covers. The light was turned off and then they all proceeded to say their goodnights.

The leader went first. "Night-night, Yang. Night-night, Blake. Night-night, Weiss."

Then the ex-heiress. "Goodnight, Ruby. Goodnight, Yang. Goodnight, Blake."

Next, the prodigal teammate. "'Night, Weiss. 'Night, Ruby. 'N-Night, Yang."

Then the brawler. "G'night, Ruby. G'night, Weiss… G'night, Blake."

With their goodnights all said and done, they proceeded to try and get some shuteye. Weiss was the first to fall asleep, followed quickly by Ruby, and after a while, Yang as well, but Blake had a hard time getting to sleep. After many months, she had finally gotten used to sleeping without her teammates close by, so to have them near again would take some getting used to, but despite that, she wouldn't trade being close to them again for the whole wide world. That, however, did not change the fact that insomnia was plaguing the cat faunus, caused by both the sudden close proximity to her teammates again, as well as the adrenaline and stress of the previous battle and journey to come.

If she were the only one in the bed, Blake would have been tossing and turning, but Yang was pressed almost back-to-back against her, and she had to be considerate of her teammate. So, for the next couple of hours, she tried her best to lie as still as she could.

As I am sure you know by now, some faunus have heightened senses depending on their specific animalistic characteristics, and since Blake was a cat faunus, she could see almost perfectly in the dark, and she had a heightened sense of hearing. Her almost perfect night-vision wasn't hindering her ability to sleep—it never had—but her hearing, however, was another one of the things keeping her awake. Her keen cat ears would twitch every so often from the slight noises she would hear in the room: Weiss occasionally murmuring in her sleep, Ruby quietly snoring and her rustling the blankets slightly as she shifted in her sleep, and Yang's slightly louder snoring.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about these sounds. They were the sounds that she had heard every night during her time at Beacon. But tonight there was one sound that didn't belong.

Every so often, Yang's snoring would stop, and another soft, almost unrecognizable sound would take its place.

When Blake first heard it, she thought that it was just the foundation of the guest house creaking and groaning.

But buildings normally only creak and groan either when there's a strong wind, if there's lots of snow on the roof, or if it's about to collapse. There was no howling of a strong wind outside, it wasn't winter, and it was pretty safe to say that the guest house was structurally sound… so it couldn't be the foundation creaking and groaning… What else could it be?

Before she could figure out what the sound could possibly be, it stopped, and Yang started snoring again soon after.

Knowing that it would be futile to try and pinpoint the mystery noise over the sound of the brawler's snoring, the cat faunus shut her eyes and resumed attempting to go to sleep.

After many minutes, Yang's snoring stopped again, and the mysterious sound was heard once more. Lifting her head off of the pillow, Blake pivoted her ears around, searching for the source of the noise. It sounded like it was coming from the wall behind her, and this time it almost sounded like the squeaking of some sort of rodent. Probably a mouse.

There was nothing unordinary about that; many old buildings such as this one were known to have the occasional mouse or rat scurrying around in the walls or attics.

Feeling satisfied with this answer, Blake laid her head back onto the pillow and relaxed once more.

Several minutes later—it had to have been a little after three in the morning by now—she heard the mysterious noises a third time. This time, however, they were accompanied by Yang squirming ever so slightly from her place back-to-back with Blake. After a moment, realization finally hit the cat faunus like a train. The sound was Yang whimpering! Yang was having a nightmare! Probably caused by the PTSD that you gave her! her conscience accused her. Shut up, brain, I know! she silently snapped back at herself. Stop reminding me!

Eyes widening at this realization, and guilt tugging at her heart for only putting the pieces together just now, Blake turned over in the bed as carefully as she could before placing her hand on the other's shoulder—the one missing its arm—and began to gently run her hand back and forth. "Shh… its okay, Yang," she whispered. "You're safe... its okay… I'm here."

For many moments, Blake kept on whispering reassurances as she continued to gently rub the blonde's shoulder. It didn't seem to be working, at least not very well, and every little sound that her best friend made—she didn't even know if they were best friends anymore—chipped away another piece of her already broken heart. She briefly considered trying to calm her by gingerly petting her hair like she used to do before Beacon fell.

In case you didn't know, dear reader, Blake petting Yang's hair was a thing that had started shortly after her teammates found out that she was a faunus:

"Blake?"

"Yes, Yang?"

"May I please touch your cat ears?"

"…Only if I can touch your hair."

"…Deal."

It was a pretty laid back little ritual between the two of them, and would typically start with Blake sitting somewhere reading a book and Yang eventually coming along and either sitting or lying beside her. If the cat faunus was laying on her bed, then Yang would curl up next to Blake with her head on her stomach and ask her to read to her, which the brunette would do for a while before beginning to lazily stroke the top of the blonde's head. If Blake was sitting at a desk or table while she read, Yang would sit next to her and lay her head on the table, using her arms as a pillow, before asking the other girl to read to her, which, again, the cat faunus would do before absentmindedly petting Yang's hair. Once in a while, they would switch places, and Blake would sit or lay next to Yang while the latter gently scratched at her ebony cat ears. This little hair and ear petting ritual, or habit, or whatever you want to call it, between them helped the two grow closer during their time at Beacon, and was one of the little ways they showed their trust for one another.

And on that note…

No, Blake finally decided, I lost the right to touch her hair a long time ago. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when the blonde awoke with a jerk and a scared gasp, causing the cat faunus to both yank her hand away from Yang's shoulder and flatten her ears against her head in surprise.

For many moments, both women were as silent and still as the grave...

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Well, that concludes this chapter (I know, I'm mean, I'm not sorry, lol).

Don't worry, I intend to finish this fic before Rooster Teeth airs the first chapter of Volume 6 (maybe even before the first trailer for it if I can). And speaking of which, I intend to have this fic be two, maybe three chapters long.

I really hope you're enjoying this story so far. Please tell me what you thought about it in the review box below (your favorite/least favorite parts, comments, suggestions, etc.). Also, please tell me if you find any grammar errors and where to find them so that I can fix them (don't y'all ever worry about sounding like an English teacher, if anything, it will help me fix my mistakes and avoid making them again in the future).

I'd also like to remind you to please tell me what you think of making "BeeFF's" the official platonic/BrOTP tag for Blake and Yang. And lastly, if you're a Bumblebee shipper and you've taken the time and patience to read this anyway and decided to be nice (and honest) when/if you leave a review… thank you, your niceness and patience is greatly and genuinely appreciated. :-) And if you're not a shipper, thanks to you as well. :-) Every review that I get brightens my day, so please send them my way.

Thank you all so much for reading and God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor.

P.S. Happy belated-Easter/early-Pascha! :-)