A/N: Heyo, Evii here! I'd like to apologize for this incredibly out of character Cardin in this piece; it was inspired by a conversation involving Angie's Yang (meltthembitches) and my Cardin (CWinningchester) after a BumbleBY following out. Special thanks to Hiro's Blake (misguidedstray) as well as Hana for helping me and Angie to flesh out some dumb ideas. Once again, apologies for the out-of-character of it all.

Cardin coughed as he finished the last rep of his chin-ups before sitting down on the bench and grabbed his water bottle. He was a little frustrated today. Not because of the work out, which he had completed flawlessly, as to be expected. Nor was it because of his studies, which were going well enough. No, the cause was…

"Yo, Cardin!"

The Huntsman-in-training groaned as the voice of his imminent torment called out to him from across the gym. At first, he hadn't thought it would be that bad, making this friend. But she was beginning to wear him out.

"Hey Yang," he muttered, between gulps of water, as she sat down next to him. Her vibrant smile fooled him no more. He knew her game too well. "How's Blake?"

The smile dropped as Cardin allowed himself his own small victory. After all, as much as he detested the Faunus girl, she was the reason he and Yang had become friends. And for all his grandstanding, that's what the two were: friends.

"She's fine, musclebrains," Yang retorted, sticking out her tongue at her workout partner. She edged a bit closer to Cardin, raising a hand to her mouth as she began to whisper. "But we might want to tone down the cat puns; I think she's spying on my gym time."

Cardin chuckled, slamming down his water bottle before running a hand through his burnt-orange hair. Before he could open his mouth, his eyes went wide with panic. "Wait, did you hear that?!"

"Hear what?!" exclaimed Yang, scanning the area for her sneaky girlfriend.

"It sounded like a whip being snapped!" Cardin howled before he got knocked off the bench by a punch from Yang. "Oh come on, that was funny!"

Yang merely pouted and looked away from the boy who was picking himself up off the ground and dusting himself off. As he stretched out his arms, he flashed a charming smile at his blonde companion. "You look like you could blow off some steam. What's first on today's work out agenda?"

"Sparring," replied Yang with a smile as Cardin groaned. There was only one way that particular activity was going to end and he'd rather postpone it a little.

"Shouldn't we do stretches first?"

"If you're a sissy who's into sappy chick flicks, sure."

"Sparring it is," said Cardin, with a sigh of resignation.

As the two walked into the combat ring, the daily feeling of dread packed onto Cardin's chest like it always did. He wasn't weak, not by any stretch of the imagination. He had made it in to Beacon almost solely on his strength, although his family's name and money had contributed. In a fight of pure brute force, he could beat almost anyone he went up against. But not Yang Xiao Long.

The blonde girl leaped into action, attacking fiercely with her gauntlets, as Cardin ducked and dodged the first few blows. They were slow attacks, made to lull him into a sense of ease. He had quickly learned this lesson during their first few bouts. As the fourth punch missed, Yang saw an opening in the armoured boy's defense and struck.

But for once, he was prepared. Swinging his mace in front of him, he caught his partner's fist and knocked it away. Pushing the advantage, he leaped up to swing the mace down on her pretty little head when she side-stepped the blow. Attempting to keep the momentum, he altered the mace's course so that it would catch her shoulder. However, the blow lost all steam when a flying fist caught the knight just below his chest plate, driving the breath from his lungs.

He should've known better, as he looked into the smiling face of his opponent. This was all still a game to her, as she emasculated him time and time again. As he sunk to his knees, he wheezed audibly and groaned. A heavy slap on the back was all it took to send him face first into the mat. He cursed many things at this time but mostly himself. He'd have to learn one day…

"Hey you almost got me that time!"

"Less talking, more pressing."

Yang frowned as she returned to her weight lifting as Cardin spotted, still rubbing his chest to try and ease the pain. Despite her claims to the contrary, he knew Yang had let him get the one hit in. While it bothered him a little, he had to appreciate that she did at least give him a small bit of redemption. And, if he was being truly honest, he didn't mind being second best if it was to Yang.

While Cardin had to admit he found her attractive, and he didn't think he'd ever meet a person who could disagree, he saw her more like a sister, really. Sometimes older, sometimes younger. He saw a lot of himself in her; the desire to be the best, the drive and determination... The two shared some less than wholesome traits like their vanity, simplistic thinking, and love of puns. Maybe that was why he had acted like he did that day instead of as he had so many times before.

Cardin had just finished beating Sky into a pale tar from sparring when he decided to take a stroll through Beacon. He had already begun to lighten up with his bullying but he still was more than a little self-centered. That's partially why he hadn't noticed the sobbing Yang that crashed into him.

Blake, who had returned from a two week absence, was leaving the blonde again, despite her protests, Cardin quickly gathered from an upset and furious Yang. For all of his inexperience in helping people, somehow he had gotten through to her that night. Not without some pretty awkward missteps but in the end, what mattered was that he somehow cheered up Yang and got her to go back to Blake.

After that, the boisterous blonde and the brutish brunet became friends. It wasn't a fast process, for Yang took a while to warm up to Cardin, but after a month or so, the two began to work out together. He enjoyed that because while Russell and the rest of the team were his friends, outside of that he didn't have anyone else to really talk to. Not to mention that the rest of his squad were not exactly on par with him. So having someone who could push him was a nice change of pace.

"One hundred!" cheerfully proclaimed Yang, pushing the weight onto the latch.

"Nice try," chuckled Cardin, looking at the sweaty teen knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, don't think I didn't hear you skip ten or twenty of those reps."

"And how exactly would you know that?" asked Yang as she sat up to look her spotter in the eyes. "You were gazing off like some old man who had forgotten if he left the stove on."

"Old man?! My birthday is only two weeks before yours!" Cardin ground his teeth and the two students stared each other down.

"Age is more than just your birthday, genius," replied the blonde, wrapping a small towel around her neck, as she grabbed her own water bottle.

"Fair enough," relented the boy, a sneaky grin on his face. "It would explain why I'm so much more mature than you."

Yang blinked a few times before bursting into laughter. "As if! I'm not the one who spent most of first year being a bigot!"

"Wow, your girlfriend is even teaching you to use big words. She should be a teacher here. I mean, none of them can manage to get through your thick skull."

"Okay, that's enough sass from you, smartass." Yang pushed her work out partner onto the bench. "Let's see you get to one hundred. Assuming you can count that high."

"Oooooh it's on, blondie!" What Cardin had failed to notice was that Yang had snuck a few extra weights onto the bar. Once he got to fifty, he swore his arms would fall off while the boisterous bruiser mocked him for giving in so soon.

As the two left the gym, they were sticky and stinky, having pushed themselves to outdo each other and getting immensely sweaty as a reward. As the two embraced in a quick hug, Cardin caught a twinkle of a smile in Yang's soft lilac eyes. "Same time Thursday?" she asked in a surprisingly quiet voice. It shouldn't be a surprise, Cardin reminded himself. She was always like this after a workout. Yet each and every time, it took him off his guard. She was so loud and in charge when they worked out. But afterwards, the exhaustion brought out a shred of timidity in her voice.

"Of course," replied Cardin, a grin of his own on his face. "And next time, if you cheat again, you'll have to double up on your reps."

Yang merely rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever, you metal wall." She made a back handed wave towards him as she began to walk towards her dorm.

Before Cardin could process what he was about to do, the words were already escaping his mouth. "Say, wanna catch a movie tomorrow?"

Yang froze in his tracks and the armour wearing teen felt immediate regret for what he just asked. It really wasn't what it sounded like, so his mind spat out the first string of words that could make this clear. "You can bring Blake if you want!"

The blonde was not looking at him incredulously. "What are you going to tell me next?" she asked, approaching him, still confused by his offer. "You want me to tell Ruby that you hit on Weiss or something? Because it sounds more and more like you have some sort of weird death wish."

"That… That's not it, Yang. I just… I don't know… Working out together is fun, don't get me wrong, but I figured maybe we should," the boy gestured wildly, attempting to get his point across, "mix it up a bit or something."

"And a movie was the first thing to come to mind?" Yang crossed her arms as she gave Cardin a once-over. "Alright, what movie?"

"Well, I was thinking Grimm 2: Back to the Revenge."

"Oh come on, there's no way that could ever match up to the original."

Cardin rolled his eyes. "Great, you're one of those people."

Yang fumed, stamping her foot on the ground as her intense purple eyes bore holes in Cardin's. "No, you don't understand! Grimm was a masterpiece of an action movie! Chris Pearl Baggin was a director genius and this is just some cheap cash-in on his vision!"

"Look you wanna go see this movie or not? If you really don't, I'll go by myself."

Yang looked at him with a bored gaze. "Are you trying to do the puppy dog eyes?"

"No," replied Cardin, as he attempted to do the puppy dog eyes.

"Look, I'll go if you swear to never do that again."

"Deal."

Cardin stared at the dark ceiling that night, thoughts of going out the next day on his mind. It's not a date, he reminded himself, as if that would calm his nerves. He had taken girls out on dates. He could do that. But Yang wasn't his girlfriend and never would be. No, the blonde was completely enthralled with her Faunus partner, a girl with no love of Cardin in her soul. The more he thought about it, the harder it was to blame Blake for being like that. He had treated her kind so terribly. He was getting better about it but she just can't take any jokes.

He heard stirring in the bed next to his and saw Russell looking at him with concern. "You worried about your date with Yang, boss?"

Cardin turned his head back to the ceiling, letting the words stew. "It's no date, Russell. She's going out with Blake."

He could see his partner nod as he remembered. "Right, the cat Faunus girl. Y'know, I heard they have guy parts."

Cardin looked back at the excited Russell. "What? What has guy parts?"

"Girl Faunus. My dad told me that the females are just temptresses that then—"

Cardin cut him off with a sharp gesture, as he felt himself gag a little. "Yeah, I'm going to pretend you didn't mention any of this."

"Sorry, boss. I just thought—"

"You might want to stop," yawned the team leader, as he felt the fingers of sleep begin to close his eyes. "Seems that kind of thing is dangerous to you."

Cardin stood outside the movie theatre, tapping his foot as a great deal of other students kept pushing past him to get in. Checking his Scroll, he saw that it was only five minutes until showtime and there was no Yang in sight.

"Yo, Cardin!"

Apparently there was one within earshot though. As the bubbly blonde burst out of the crowd, she pulled her feline girlfriend along by the arm. Her amber eyes glared at Cardin but spoke not a word. They didn't have to; he felt very unwelcome in this situation.

"So you did bring Blake along, huh."

Yang smiled softly. "More like she insisted. I did tell her that you were okay with it, aren't you?"

"Yeah, of course," the boy nervously chuckled, swearing that those eyes weren't blinking.

"Well, I'm not in the mood for a dumb action flick that mostly likely has terribly inaccurate depictions of Faunus in it," Blake said, continuously scowling at her former tormenter. "I merely wanted to ensure that you were not up to any funny business with this idea, Cardin." Turning back to her girlfriend, she kissed her softly on the cheek. "I'll be in Pages, talking to Brook Wyrm; she said she would need some help organizing some things for her big sale coming up. When you are done, come meet me there, okay?"

As the Faunus left the two workout buddies alone, Yang serenely smiled at Cardin. "Isn't she the greatest?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Come on, we need to hurry up and get our tickets."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't already get them?"

"No, of course not! I didn't know if you were bringing Blake to the movies or not! Hell, you might've brought your other teammates too; I don't know! I'm not spending an extra 20 Lien on a ticket we aren't going to use!" He flipped through his wallet, taking out the required payment and waving it in front of Yang's face. "Just because the Winchester family is famed and wealthy, doesn't mean I can around spending money all willy nilly."

"Right well, that's not important. Let's just go get our tickets already."

Cardin sighed and followed the skipping Yang into the theatre. He wondered why she seemed so happy today. Well, she was always happy but she seemed extra chipper today. Yet asking why seemed like a potentially loaded question so he just decided to bask in her glow.

As the two approached the ticket vendor, Cardin rested his arm on the desk and flashed the part-time worker a charming smile. "Well hello there, beautiful. Two tickets for Grimm 2: Back to the Revenge."

"You sure that's the movie you want to be taking your soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend to?" advised the redhead, her tone and expression marking her as a waste of time to Cardin, much to his annoyance.

"Oh, we aren't dating," smiled Yang. "I have higher standards than this."

Cardin groaned. What was it with women and picking on him as of late? Was it because they knew he didn't like to hit them? "In any case, yeah, we'd like tickets to Grimm 2."

The redhead rolled her eyes and printed out the tickets and handed them to the duo as Cardin forked over the Lien. "Theatre number eight, on your right."

"Thanks, gorgeous," winked Cardin as he gave one ticket to Yang.

"Never talk to me again," was the reply he got.

"You are taking this to your grave, Cardin. Understood?"

It was an hour after the movie started and the two stood outside the theatre. The blonde was glaring at her workout partner from behind bloodshot eyes.

"Un-Understood."

Cardin himself was not holding up all too well, a little bleary eyed himself but not to the extent that Yang was. He cursed that ticket vendor; she had done it on purpose. She had given them the tickets to the wrong movie. Yang had suggested leaving when they realized this, but Cardin was not leaving until he got his monies worth.

As the movie played, this quickly revealed itself as a very bad decision. The plot of the movie was about a Faunus boy who fell in love with a human girl but the two were pulled apart by family and society. A pretty straight forward chick flick… Until Cardin realized just how many parallels it drew to Blake and Yang's relationship. After the blonde had already managed to put that together and was screaming at the screen. Despite his hushed attempts to get her to quiet down, theatre security saw the two out, as Yang swore and screamed at the fictional characters on-screen.

Moments like this reminded Cardin that Yang, for all her bluster and actions, was not just another one of the guys. "There's no shame in crying. You're a girl, it happens."

The words were a mistake and he realized it the minute they left his mouth. Yang did too, hoisting him up by the collar of his Beacon uniform and slamming him into the side of building. "And just what is that supposed to mean, you moron?" she chocked from behind her remaining sobs. "Are you looking down on me because I'm a girl?!"

"That… That's not what I meant," Cardin said, struggling to pull himself free of his emotionally unstable friend. "You have friends… Friends that accept you for all your craziness and obnoxiousness… A bit of crying won't hurt at this point."

Yang simply held him aloft, as outside the alleyway people went about their day. And just past that, Blake would be working at Pages, likely worrying about her girlfriend being stuck in a theatre with Cardin. And past that, Ruby and Weiss and Team JNPR were back at Beacon, going about their own days but still looking forward to seeing her return. As much as she hated to admit it, Cardin was right and not for the first time. He had the worst way of phrasing his advice, however, and that's what always bothered Yang about accepting it.

Just when Cardin was beginning to turn blue in the face, Yang dropped him down. Landing on his ass, he reached up to accept the helping hand she offered. "Sorry about that, bro, but you kinda were asking for that."

"You and Blake need to take jokes better, that's all," Cardin said, brushing the dirt off his uniform and straightening the cuffs of his blazer. "A few cat puns and girl jokes shouldn't cause you two to blow your gaskets. A sense of humour is all I'm asking you two to get."

Yang punched him in the shoulder, knocking him back into the wall. "Try not to be such a jerk about it and we'll think about it." And yet, there was a hint of a smile twitching on her face.

Cardin smirked, leaving the alleyway with Yang in toe. "I guess it might be worth a shot."