As far as friends went, Ruby could honestly admit that Pyrrha was the best fucking friend ever. Ever ever.

She clicked the top of her ball point pen repeatedly, lost in thought. It wasn't as if she didn't have any good friends. Weiss could be a fun person to be around when she didn't have a stick up her butt, and as long as she didn't disturb Blake during her precious 'alone time' (something which Yang often did), the percentage of being on the receiving end of dirty looks and sarcasm were reduced to zero. The cat Faunus was a great conversation partner, having modified Gambol shroud to some extent, and they were able to exchange informational tidbits on the topic of weaponry.

But.

Nobody knew her as well Pyrrha Nikos did. If Ruby had to describe friendship(s) to the best of her ability, she would refer to it as a two way street. Giving was just as important as receiving, and with most of her other friends, the girl felt as if she was doing most of the giving and never the receiving. Perhaps she was being a tad too naïve, but she stood by the principle that any good relationship was formed by an equal amount of giving from both parties.

A loud 'ahem' drew her out of her daze. The finicky old hag– er, librarian was glaring at her with the intensity of a pissed off Ursa. Embarrassed, she quickly put down her pen and raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. The battle was won, and the Beacon librarian adopted a pleased expression before she trotted away back to her nest of dusty books and stamps. Ruby stuck out her tongue at the retreating back and crossed her arms with a frown. Damn. She really hated 'studying' in this musty old place sometimes.

Now. Where was she?

Ohhh right, the friendship thing.

Seriously though, Pyrrha had seen and experienced every ounce of her insane habits and quirks, and even Ruby herself was surprised that the champion didn't take off like a bat outta hell. Even Yang had to draw a line when she tried to get her to taste test her new concoction, a triple chocolate cookie banana split ( which Pyrrha had demolished off, surprisingly). Ruby was proud to admit that she, likewise, also knew more of Pyrrha than anyone else. Probably being the keyword. She didn't exactly know what team JNPR was up to every second of the day, but she was still better informed than anyone else on the campus.

For starters, she was pretty sure that only she knew that Pyrrha was a massive fan of wrestling. Ruby smiled wryly as she recalled their outing to the less…respectable area of Vale. She damn near had an aneurysm when her friend dragged her into a building that looked as if it were straight from a cult movie. She had half expected Pyrrha to throw on a brown cloak complete with hood, but to her surprise, a small ticket had been pressed into her hands. Her friend had been red faced with embarrassment, apologizing at rapid fire speed while removing her crown…and sliding on a cap with emboldened black words 'VWE'.

She sighed wistfully, leaning forward to rest her forehead on the table. It had been a fun, if somewhat eye opening night (Ruby definitely hadn't expected Pyrrha to elbow the gut of the rivaling team's rabid fan).

Sunlight filtered through the small transparent area of roof covering the length of the table currently occupied. The smell of ink and yellowing paper was hypnotizing, her senses being slowly lulled to sleep, her tensed muscles unraveling as she relaxed into her seat. She wanted to take a nap…but the grainy texture of her book beneath her reminded her of her soon to be overdue homework. 'Just one minute…' the girl told herself (a blatant lie of course) and her eyelids fluttered shut.

All was silent. An occasional snore would drown out the soft breathing, but the calm and tranquil atmosphere forged on. Minutes passed like jumps over narrow streams and time had slowed to a crawl. Ruby slept comfortably, but unfortunately, her short nap was interrupted when someone threw something heavy onto the table, jarring the girl awake.

"H-Huh –wha zat?" Ruby said blearily, trying to clear her vision.

The sight of red hair and an amused smile made her groan. "Pyrrhaaaa" She whined childishly and pulled her red cloak around herself, "Why did you wake me?"

The Amazonian chuckled at the display and took a seat beside her, gloved fingers toying with the edge of the thick tome she had placed (dropped) in front of them. "The library is no place to sleep, Ruby." She scolded playfully, "Nor is it a place to drool all over." Ruby's back became ramrod straight, face flushing cutely as she quickly wiped the dribble off her chin with her sleeve. She giggled uneasily and tried to redirect the attention from her accidental spit trail.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked curiously, leaning forward to read the golden words on the thick brown colour. Her eyebrows rose. "Erm, Pyrrha. Why are you reading–" Ruby cocked her head to the side. "Playscroll through the generations: Everything you need to know in one handy guide? I never knew you were interested in games!" She chirped in surprise. Being an avid fan of gaming, it wasn't rare for Ruby to coop herself up in the room for hours at a time. It didn't slip her mind that the Amazonian had declined her invitation of playing together the first time she had offered.

Maybe a change of heart? She wondered.

But when Pyrrha looked away, the telltale sign of a blush beginning to form on her pale cheeks, Ruby knew that it could only be one person, perhaps the only person who could make the famed Pyrrha Nikos into a puddle of jelly with a goofy smile.

"J-Jaune has been playing a lot more games recently." She said. "It seems like it could be a good b-bonding experience if we p-played together…" The girl twiddled her thumbs, looking nothing like the mistral champion who dominated her competitors with a determined gaze and skillful use of her weapon. "But since I know little to nothing about these types of things, I was thinking about…maybe…asking you for help?"

The sentence felt more like a question. Pyrrha felt humiliation creep up her neck, wanting nothing more than to disappear into a hole and never come out again, lest she ruin herself. Averting her emerald green eyes in fear of her friend's judgmental gaze, she mistook the lack of reply as a rejection. Sighing heavily, she stood. "I'm sorry for bothering you with such a trivial matter. I–"

"Is that all?"

"I –er what?" Ruby was grinning widely, and looked as if she was going to bounce up and down in her seat. "I-I'm sorry but I'm not following."

"Geez Pyrrha, if you wanted me to help you all you had to do was ask." Ruby's grin softened into something of a gentle smirk and she nudged her friend softly in reassurance. "Don't be such a drama llama, it's no biggie! And besides, I think it's cute that you wanna learn about something he likes. Not everyone puts in so much effort in these sorts of things y'know?"

Standing up and stretching languidly, the younger girl excitedly hooked her arm with her friend's, inwardly chuckling at the bewildered expression being directed at her.

"Sides' I'm all for getting a gaming partner!" She said happily. Lowering her voice, Ruby leaned up to whisper in Pyrrha's ear conspiratorially. "Please don't tell Weiss I said that."

The confused expression melted away into a smile, the edges of Pyrrha's lips curving up softly. Placing a hand on Ruby's arm, she squeezed gently as they made their way towards team RWBY's dorm room. It wasn't a secret that Ruby could be rather touchy feely at times, hugging people on an impulse or dragging them around at mach speed.

But the warmth radiating off her, coupled with the faint scent of roses made her nerves relax significantly. She felt silly for feeling so nervous. Ruby was never the type to judge others, and it was a trait that Pyrrha valued, if not, found attractive. She and Jaune were similar like that.

But…that was where the similarities ended.

"…Thank you, Ruby." She said. "Truly."


She was currently rethinking her plea for help.

Why, you ask? Well, because–

"Press the button! Quick!" A voice screeched directly beside her ear, making her wince. "Run run run OH MY GOD RUN!"

Ruby grabbed onto her shoulders, nails digging painfully into her shoulders. Pyrrha squeaked when the girl started shaking her roughly, the sudden double vision causing her to run straight into the blood thirsty alien which fell from the open hole in the ceiling.

"NOOOOO" Ruby's vice grip on her loosened as she fell on her back dramatically. "Darn it…we were so close to the exit too."

Throwing a glance at the blood splattered words of 'Game Over' repeatedly flashing on her screen, the older girl heaved a sigh at yet another utter attempt of a failure. Setting down the controller, she also resisted the urge to fall flat on her back with her arms splayed at her sides. "I must apologize for making light of this, Ruby. I had no idea that playing such things needed such–" She paused, seeking the right to describe the cause of her predicament. "–coordination." She said lamely.

From her position on the floor, Ruby flipped to her side and rolled closer to her friend, pressing her face into her side. " 's okay." She mumbled tiredly. "I was a complete noob when I first started out too. You'll get the hang of it soon Pyrrha."

"But…what if Jaune loses his interest in this?"

"C'mon, no one 'loses interest' in something they like overnight." The younger girl snorted in disbelief. "Butttt, I get that you want to improve your skills as fast as possible for some bonding time. Amirite?"

Ruby waggled her eyebrows suggestively, making Pyrrha giggle. Slapping her arm lightly, she shifted to make herself more comfortable. However, instead of getting into a better position like she had planned, she suddenly found herself falling backwards and let out a shriek of surprise. The culprit cackled madly, silver eyes bright with amusement as she felt the ground beneath her vibrate as the older girl fell flat on her back with a loud thud.

Groaning at the impact, Pyrrha still found the strength to swat a still giggling Ruby who tried to evade her attacks. "Hey!" She laughed and began rolling away from her friend, red cloak being crumpled mercilessly as both girls indulged themselves with an all-out tickling storm.

Worries soon washed away by the bubbly feeling of happiness that accompanied their laughter, the two students soon tired out quickly, drained by the impromptu tutorial gaming session (plus the failure thereafter). Taking in a deep breath, the red cloaked girl turned her head to address her friend.

Emerald green met steady silver.

Ruby felt her chest tighten and her breath waver when Pyrrha's hand wrapped around her own, full lips curving into a warm smile. The scent of pine and fresh leaves brought a wave of emotion bubbling inside of her, but the younger girl could not make heads or tails of it. This wasn't the first tickle fight they had so why did she suddenly feel this way…?

Realizing that she was staring, Ruby quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. She fidgeted under the curious gaze and blurted out the first thing that had been on her mind since watching their character get devoured by a blood thirsty monster.

"I-I know someone who can help us!"


"Why am I doing this again?" Blake asked dryly. She glanced at a fidgeting Pyrrha standing side by side with her widely grinning team leader. It was clear who had been the one to instigate the current situation.

"Cus' you're an amazinggggg team mate!"

"Right. I suppose that my amazing leader will be buying me my next lunch, no?"

"Of cour– wait, what?!"

Blake felt herself squashing down a laugh when her adorable leader shot her a look of horror, and it wasn't hard to guess what Ruby had been planning to spend some of her extra money on. She pretended to shrug carelessly, turning her attention to the colourful blinking screen. Grabbing a controller, she handed one to Pyrrha (whose face had twisted into a sort of grimace) and patted the empty spot on the floor beside her.

"Wait wait wait–" Ruby babbled hysterically, trying to pull Pyrrha away from the Faunus, "You don't really mean that, do you Blake?" She asked nervously.

"Hn."

"H-Hey! Come on, it's not funny. You're just k-kidding, right? "

The room was encompassed in silence. And then, a giggle.

"Blake?!"

The cat Faunus hid a grin when her leader flopped about in a show of exaggeration. Deciding to keep her mind on the task at hand, she directed the amazonian's attention towards the game controller which she was holding. Giving her a reassuring smile, Blake turned away. Subtly, she observed how the girl held her controller, inwardly wincing when Pyrrha held it at an awkward angle, looking at it like it was some sort of unknown specimen.

Ruby was still whining in the background.

'This is going to be a long afternoon.' She groaned.


Blake smirked wryly at the sound of Ruby's wails, watching the hilariously situation unfold before her. Her leader was face first on their carpet, her wails of defeat muffled by the soft furs lining the large piece of fabric. "Nooooooooo!" She cried, weakly hitting the floor with the bottom of her fist. Beside her, Pyrrha smiled unabashedly, the large grin of victory serving to further aggravate the sore loser in the room. "T-That was just a lucky hit! C'mon, let's just play one more time-"

"I hardly think that you can call that combo a 'lucky hit', Ruby." The older girl answered, emerald eyes twinkling with mirth. She reached out and poked her friend's sides, relishing in the girlish squeal that a severely miffed Ruby Rose had made.

"Argh, fine!" Ruby mumbled grumpily, swatting the hand away with mock annoyance. "I'm just telling you that your character is way too OP, so that win didn't count."

It was at that moment that Blake decided to cut in.

"Hm and here i am, remembering someone saying and i quote-" She said, using two fingers to emphasize the irony of the words uttered several hours before. "'Jeez Pyrrha, your character's gonna be beaten down in no time, this guy is a total weakling' or was that just a mirage caused by the heat outside?"

Ruby sulked, shuffling over to one side when she realized that they had been baiting her the whole time. Mumbling to herself, the girl pouted when friends' chuckles increased, and plopped herself in the corner.

'Yo, nice to meet you.' She mentally greeted the beige wall with a grimace. 'You are now officially my new best friend. I hope we make some precious memories together.'

"Stop conversing with the wall, Ruby."

"Urk!"

Pyrrha grinned when she saw the other girl freeze, knowing that her words had hit the nail on its head. She found it endearing (rather than annoying) when Ruby acted like this. She thought that it was part of her charm. Had someone else done the same thing, they would most likely be subjected to a stern talking to about sportsmanship and whatnot.

However, she knew that her best friend wasn't doing this out of mere jealousy. Pettiness was not the right word to describe it either. In the end, she decided that it didn't really matter.

And besides, Ruby wouldn't stay in that state for long.

"Good game Pyrrha." Ruby ceased her grumbling for a moment to smile at her friend. Silver eyes filled with pride and happiness met hers. "T-Thank you..." Fighting down a blush, she returned the smile with similar emotions. Strangely enough, her body felt warm all over and despite trying to look away, her gaze was glued on the red cloaked girl comfortably wedged in the corner of the room.

Words stuck in her throat, Ruby made to say something (anything) but the strange nagging feeling died down when Blake stood up from her spot on the floor.

"Anyone want to head down to the cafeteria?" The cat Faunus asked coolly. Was it Pyrrha's imagination, or was her voice a tad colder than usual? "I'm getting hungry. We might be able to get extra servings if we get there before the crowd."

"Yep, let's get going then! I'm actually kinda hungry too, hehe."

Brushing off the tone as her imagination, she stood up and swept the dust and dirt which had accumulated under her thighs as a result of sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Let me just turn it off before we go." She said.

The members of team RWBY nodded in reply and began clearing up what was left of their snacks, picking up the wrappers which were strewn about. Stepping up to the small television (courtesy of a certain heiress) Pyrrha bent down and shut the console off with a press of a button. With that done, she turned to address the others, only to come upon the sight of Blake and Ruby side by side; engaged in conversation.

Ruby chatted animatedly, bobbing her head up and down every few moments. On the other hand, Blake just nodded, interjecting several times and drawing a bubbly laugh from the cookie lover. Amber eyes softened when they spoke, and Pyrrha shifted uncomfortably, unsure of whether to turn away from what felt to be such a private moment.

Normally tense shoulders were relaxed considerably, and Blake spoke languidly, very much unlike the curt and sometimes biting tone she used. And suddenly, her arm extended, hands reaching towards Ruby–

Pyrrha straightened up with a start when their eyes met, and a dark look flitted across the Blake's face before it disappeared. A stoic face stared back at her. An elegant eyebrow rose, accompanied by a questioning gaze. She swallowed, the previous change in atmosphere sending goosebumps scattering across her skin.

'What in the world was that?'

But then the moment was over, and Ruby was already out of the room in a blink of an eye; waving at the both of them to hurry it up. Blake shrugged casually and made her way out of the room, never once giving her a second glance.

"Hurry up Pyrrha!" Ruby called.

"Right." The Amazonian shook herself out of her stupor and flashed the girl a smile. Stepping out of team RWBY's room, Pyrrha tensed when she brushed shoulders with Blake, not from shock, but because the action seemed strangely aggressive. Amber eyes flitted between the two friends, the black bow twitching slightly as she observed them laughing at their personal inside jokes.

Blake trailed behind them as they walked towards the cafeteria at a casual pace. Turning her gaze to stare outside one of the large windows lining the hallway, she grimaced when a sudden burst of light made her wince.

'...how annoying."


A/N: Well, I am officially embarrassed for being away for such a long time. Not much i can say, other than that I've been lazy and busy with work. I wanted to post this before the end of march, but it's nowhere close to being finished. But I decided to post it because well. Writing is writing no matter how bad it is haha. Any criticism is appreciated, and I'm kinda sorry for posting a one shot with such an ambiguous ending.

And also, I have no idea why the last few paragraphs have such yandere vibes to them. Like sheesh, maybe I've been hearing to many of those akuma no riddle endings.