Unintended Side Effects
Summary: Blake passes out on Weiss and the heiress is volunteered to take care of the Faunus. Blake ends up hearing a few things she probably shouldn't have.
A/N:First shot at a RWBY story, and I've only seen season 1, so the characterization may be off. This is a Weiss/Blake pre-relationship thing. Also, I really had no idea what genre to stick this under. Any thoughts?
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or anything associated with it. I am also not making a profit off of this story.
-0-o-0-o-0-
Blake rubbed her eyes as she walked down the hallway after her teammates, the four of them headed back to their room to relax after finishing their supper in the cafeteria with Team JNPR. The lights seemed to be brighter than usual, and she had to squint slightly as she walked. Keeping her eyes pointed downward helped a little, though not enough to completely stop the burgeoning headache behind her eyes.
On top of everything being too bright, her hearing seemed to be off. Though she was used to the slight muffling of sound her bow made, and there was nothing unusual about her friends' actions or volume that she could tell – Yang was being her boisterous self and getting Ruby wound up, much to Weiss' chagrin - her hearing was causing her problems. First everything was too loud, and then all sounds would be muffled as if she were underwater. And then, when she finally got used to that, her straining ears would be subjected to the piercing screech of a too-loud, well, everything.
"Everything okay, Blakey?"
Blake looked up and blinked at having her partner so close and staring down at her in worry. "I'm fine Yang."
"You don't look fine to me," Yang pointed out doubtfully as they kept walking, trailing slightly behind the shortest members of their team. A quick glance showed that Weiss was hauling their whimpering leader forward, talk of assignments and intense studying falling from her pale lips.
"Just ruminating on the essay Goodwitch assigned us," Blake responded, the lie rolling easily off of her tongue. "I'll need to retrieve some more source material from the library later; I've nearly finished the books I already have."
Blake watched in interest out of the corner of her eye as Yang's face paled considerably for a moment before returning to its usual healthy tone. Shrugging, the blonde grinned and crossed her arms behind her head. "It's only due after the weekend, right? I'll do it tomorrow."
As Blake smirked at the expected words, Team RWBY arrived at their destination. Walking inside, the four of them split up and settled into their own spaces. Weiss sat down on the edge of her bed after pushing Ruby up to her own bed and immediately started studying for an upcoming test, her position giving her easy access to prod their leader into working harder should she slack off. Yang through herself onto her own bed and opened her scroll, the opening sounds of the new tower defence game Jaune had gotten Pyrrha frustratingly hooked on blaring out of the small speakers.
Blake settled herself down on her own bed with a hidden grimace. Deciding to actually continue her research for her essay, she pulled the last book she had borrowed from the library from beneath her pillow and opened it up to the bookmark she had placed within – only a barbarian would dog-ear a page.
Nearly an hour passed in that manner, and as each minute ticked by Blake continued to feel worse and worse. It finally got to the point where the Faunus couldn't stoically ignore her symptoms any longer. The too-loud sounds from Yang's game mixed with the frantic and deliberate scratching of pencils on paper and the oddly loud sound of Ruby's crunching mixed together to form a cacophony of pain that shot right into her throbbing head. On top of the sounds were the smells. The scent of Ruby's sweets, the stench of Yang's dirty laundry, the half-finished cup of coffee sitting in the corner of the room. The strong scents were too much for her sensitive olfactory senses, and only added to her headache.
The lights were incredibly bright, yes, and she couldn't really see even when she squinted, but closing her eyes mostly took care of that problem. Closing her ears and nose were another matter altogether.
Blake slowly scrunched further into a ball, her book dropping to the bed as her arm went up to block her nose, though little good that did – she was then subjected to the unpleasant stench of the pickle juice Nora had spilled on her during supper. An unnoticed whimper escaped her lips as a particularly sharp pain shot through her head. Finally unable to bear it, Blake jumped to her feet with the intention of finding somewhere to hide, only to stumble in her light-headedness and fall into something firm - yet oddly cool and soft.
Taking in a sharp breath upon impact, Blake froze momentarily before she slumped even further into what she could vaguely recognize was Weiss, her head burrowing swiftly into the pale girl's stomach as her hands clenched the back of her dress in a death-grip. Unlike the overwhelming smells suffusing the rest of the room, Weiss' scent was akin to a breath of fresh air. Not flowery like Ruby's or spicy like Yang's, Weiss' scent was cool and crisp with a hint of something slightly tingly, most likely due to her high Dust affinity. Even before they began a tentative friendship after her reveal as a Faunus, Blake couldn't help but find Weiss' scent pleasant, a fact which had bothered her ever since their first meeting.
-0-o-0-o-0-
Weiss faintly registered a shuffling noise as a particularly tricky question had captured most of her attention. Frown in place, she raised her head and opened her mouth, ready to snap at the culprit to keep quiet so that she could work, only for her ice blue eyes to widen in shock as Blake fell into her. Winded at the unexpected impact, Weiss's shock increased as, after feeling Blake freeze momentarily, the black haired girl burrowed closer and clutched her firmly. Stiffening at the unexpected and unwanted contact, her face reddened as her mouth opened to screech something only for her voice to fail her. Arms raised, wanting to push the taller girl away and yet confusedly hesitating, they flailed awkwardly at her sides.
Silence.
Yang burst out into what was more a cackle than a laugh, her scroll slipping from her slack fingers as she used one hand to grab her stomach and the other to point at Weiss's flustered and panicked reaction to Blake's embrace.
"Oh- Oh god Princess… your face," Yang spat out between great guffaws, her own face turning red from a lack of air. Try as she might, she couldn't get out more than a few broken up words before descending into uncontrollable laughter once more. "Priceless… I can't even…"
"You-you Oaf!" Weiss snapped irritably as she shifted uncomfortably, wanting nothing more than to push her teammate off of her yet feeling the arms squeeze tighter every time she moved. It was completely backwards and left a bad taste in her mouth, and she couldn't believe that she was actually saying this to Yang, however… "Stop that incessant cackling and control your partner!"
Of course, Weiss's extremely reasonable demand was met with nothing more than a fresh round of laughter. At this point, the heiress couldn't help but vehemently hope that the lack of air to the blonde's brain would result in a loss of consciousness. An unconscious Yang was, in her opinion, far more easily dealt with than a conscious one. Less obnoxious, as well.
"Yang what are you-" Ruby started as she poked her head out from the mountain of books on her bed only to follow Yang's pointed finger. Hanging upside down, she blinked in confusion before her eyes widened and a large smile slid onto her lips at the sight of a red-faced Weiss with Blake draped over her lap and hugging her middle. "Aww, that's so cute!"
Wincing at her partner's high-pitched squeal so close to her ears, her face flushed even further in embarrassment, sharp words leaving her mouth before she could fully register the feel of Blake flinching and clutching her almost uncomfortably tight. "Sh-shut up!"
"Aww, but-"Ruby's smile brightened then dimmed into a pout. "Wait a minute- I'm your partner and I don't get Weiss cuddles…" Yang's cackling only seemed to increase in volume and intensity at her younger sibling's words.
Though utterly embarrassed and frustrated, Weiss still had enough sense to catch the barely audible whimper from the girl curled around her stomach at her sharp retort and paused, her next litany of demands interspersed with curses dying in her throat. Glancing down sharply – her cheeks only darkening slightly at the sight – Weiss inspected the cat Faunus, the panicked look in her eyes turning into a more calculating one. Distancing herself from the situation – which was extremely hard given the fact that she couldn't remember the last time she was embraced like this – she attempted to take in all of the facts.
Blake wasn't really one for pranks, despite her partner's proclivity towards them. From what she had been able to gather so far, while the cat Faunus could be playful and teasing, those instances were few and far between; the dark haired girl instead used sarcasm and dry wit to express her amusement. Something like this, while something she'd expect Yang to convince Ruby to do, was not something she'd ever expect Blake to go along with- the Faunus's pride was almost as strong as her own, after all. Couple that with the slight whimper and shaking she was able to make out, and Weiss was able to come to the conclusion that something was wrong with her teammate.
Scanning what she could of the taller girl, she noticed the bow nestled in her black hair was at an odd angle. Since it was tied around her ears, it should be perpetually straight and not subject to the floppiness of most other well used ribbons. And yet, it lay nearly completely flat against Blake's head, almost as if…
Eyes widening in realization, Weiss's shoulders straightened as she demanded seriously, her voice cold and flat and lacking its earlier frustration. "Yang shut up."
"Weiss?" Ruby asked questioningly, having spent the most time around the heiress she immediately understood the change in intonation.
Nodding to herself as the bow twitched and pulled back farther at the words being spoken so close, Weiss looked up the short distance to Ruby's questioning silver orbs, a frown on her face. "Control your sister."
Catching on quickly as blue orbs glanced down quickly at Blake, a determined look slid onto Ruby's face. Though Weiss wasn't the warmest of people, she was making headway in her effort to allow certain people passed the icy walls she had built around herself. Ruby knew that though she still acted cold most of the time, Weiss had come to care for her teammates- a fact that she was loath to show yet they were aware of anyways.
In a flash of red rose petals, Ruby appeared on the bed opposite hers and stuffed a sock of questionable origin into her older sister's mouth, effectively stopping the blonde in her tracks. Yang's laughter cut off sharply as she spat the sock out. The blonde's head slowly turned to regard her sister, her narrowed lilac eyes meeting silver as she opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off once more, this time by her sister's words instead of her actions.
"Something's wrong with Blake."
As if a switch had been flicked, Yang's expression became utterly serious. Beating her sister and leader to the floor, she knelt beside Weiss's bed and quickly scanned her eyes over her partner's form. Though she couldn't see her expression due to her face being buried in Weiss's stomach, Yang could just make out a very faint full-body tremble. "Blakey? You okay? What's wrong? Blake?"
Feeling more than hearing the Faunus's reaction, Weiss shot the blonde beside her an exasperated glare. "Quiet down, you brute."
Glaring up at the heiress's quiet yet sharp words, Yang snapped back. "What the hell is your problem, Princess? I'm only trying to-"
The room sharply dropped a few degrees as Weiss glared back, the clenched hands at the back of her dress pressing Blake's body against her tighter. "Be quiet," Weiss hissed in response, her voice a few octaves lower than normal in an attempt to follow her own advice, though having people so close was quite effectively fraying her nerves.
Yang opened her mouth to object loudly – and angrily – once more only to be cut off by the cross heiress.
"She appears to be experiencing hyperacusis, dolt, and you screeching in her ears helps nobody." Yang's voice thankfully died in her throat, but the twin looks of bewilderment on the sisters' faces caused Weiss to sigh in frustration and raise a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "An acute sensitivity to sound," Weiss's voice took on a slightly pensive tone, a new thought occurring to her. "Possibly photophobia as well."
The sister's exchanged glances of comprehension before Ruby crouched down next to Yang. Hesitantly resting a hand on Blake's shoulder, Ruby turned her troubled gaze from her suffering teammate to her partner. "Why…? How…?"
Weiss shot their leader a pissed off look that said more than it didn't. 'How the hell should I know?' and 'Why the hell are you asking me?' were first and foremost, however under that Ruby could make out a hint of the same questions reflected in her own silver orbs, as well as a certain sharpness that could only mean something along the lines of 'Don't blame yourself, you dolt; leader or not, this is not your fault.'
"She… she didn't look so hot on our way back from the caf…" Yang muttered under her breath, her thoughtful look turning into an expression Weiss was intimately familiar with - self-loathing. Thankfully, her voice remained a whisper. "I knew she was lying when she said she was fine… I should have… damn it!"
"Could it have been something she ate?" Ruby asked in a small wavering voice, her eyes large and worried. "A… an allergy maybe?"
Weiss pondered upon that possibility for but a moment before discarding it. "Doubtful. I've never heard of anyone developing hyperacusis from an allergy." Though she attempted to say it with her usual amount of no-nonsense finality, she couldn't help the slight hint of uncertainty from shining through. Though it was true that she had never heard of such a case, it's not as if she had actually researched the health condition more than a cursory glance in a dictionary a few years back.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ruby asked no one in particular, though Weiss noted that Yang's muttering seemed to quiet down as if she were also hoping for an answer.
Holding back an eye-roll at the siblings who were both obviously drowning in misplaced guilt – Weiss resolutely ignored the mocking voice that pointed out how well of a teammate she was for missing the signs – the heiress decided to get the ball rolling by prodding their leader along. "Perhaps the infirmary could help…?"
"Right!" Ruby yelled, the proverbial light bulb alighting in her mind, only to get a whimper and a glare from the pair on the bed. "Sorry, sorry!" Ruby's voice sharply fell until it was a guilty whisper, though it was still full of determination. If there was one thing that could be said about Ruby Rose, it was that she was passionate about helping those she cared about - and her team was unquestionably precious to her. Grabbing her sister's arm, she began tugging her towards the door. "C'mon Yang, let's go ask the nurses if they have a cure or something!"
Watching as Ruby took the hint and began moving, a thought quickly wormed its way into Weiss's mind as Yang nodded resolutely, the same determined fire in her own eyes. "Wait!"
Turning toward Weiss's frantic whisper as the door opened, Yang's eyebrow rose in impatience. "What now? We have to hurry before she gets worse!"
"I meant you should take Blake to the infirmary!" Weiss explained furiously with wide eyes, more than a slight tinge of panic audible in her voice as she gestured to the girl in her lap with her hands. "Not leave me here like… like this!"
Both siblings exchanged a glance as Blake pressed herself tighter against the heiress at her words, making Weiss squeak and redden once more. "Looks like Blake disagrees with you, plus even I know that it'd be a bad idea to move her," Yang pointed out, alluding to the crowds of boisterous students they'd most likely meet on the way.
Weiss watched with dawning horror as the blonde exited the room. Turning her gaze to Ruby, their leader smiled nervously as she inched out the door as well. "You can't possibly-"
"Sorry Weiss, we won't be long," Ruby gave the older girl a reassuring smile, though it didn't seem to work as she'd hoped. Instead, her partner's icy eyes reflected even more panic at her imminent departure. "We'll be back before you know it with help. Just take care of Blake while we're gone, okay?"
Weiss watched as the younger girl swiftly slipped out of the room, the door closing silently behind her. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply in an effort to calm down, Weiss slowly and reluctantly reopened them and glanced down at the girl curled around her stomach. She was at a loss.
She had never seriously comforted anyone in her life, and could not remember the last time she herself had been comforted. Add to this the fact that Blake was not only a hostile acquaintance a short time ago but was also too far into her personal space for the heiress to feel comfortable and Weiss was frustratingly at a loss as to what to do. Her normal methods of keeping people at arm's length would be unnecessarily cruel to the Faunus at the moment, a fact that even Weiss readily admitted. While she would quite happily give her three idiot teammates each a tongue-lashing once Blake was better, the current situation called for a little more finesse than freezing her teammates in place then beating them to a pulp with Myrtenaster.
A tingling sensation beginning in her lower extremities jolted the heiress into action- she absolutely loathed the helplessness brought on by sleeping limbs.
Hesitantly and with no small amount of awkwardness, she patted the taller girl on the shoulder and spoke haltingly. "Blake, I realize that you are… in discomfort, at the moment, however would you perhaps be amenable to releasing me?"
Silence greeted her whispered words.
Clearing her throat nervously, she tried again. "Blake?"
Once again receiving no response, Weiss slumped slightly, her hand coming to rest against her forehead. "Please tell me you did not fall asleep." Weiss sighed after a few more moments of silence. "…You did, didn't you?"
Pursing her lips and glancing around nervously, intellectually she knew that they were alone, yet she couldn't help but check regardless. Blue eyes taking in the empty room - just as she'd expected - Weiss turned her attention back to the girl in her lap. "Look, despite your questionable past – which I am not judging nor discriminating against in any way," Weiss paused to see if Blake would object to her words, which were met once again with silence.
Nodding to herself, she continued, somehow convinced that trying to cajole her unconscious teammate into releasing her was worth a shot. "You are the most reasonable and level-headed of our team. Besides myself, of course. Which is why I believe you'll see the wisdom in my words when I say that it's really in both of our best interests that you release me."
Pausing for a moment, Weiss tilted her head and let out a puff of air, both her bright white bangs and Blake's black hair shifting in the small gust. Slowly, she continued, her next words chosen carefully. She was honestly trying to be friendlier, and to be a better teammate, though she often fell short of her mark. Perhaps practicing with an unconscious person would be easier than a conscious one. "I… well, I understand that you are… not quite in control of your faculties, and so I will not… hold you responsible for your actions." Chewing her lip for a moment, Weiss added, "I am not… angry at you, so you do not have to fear my… retribution. Unlike Ruby and Yang. I make no such promise for them, the traitorous deserters."
Weiss trailed off in a dark mutter before forcefully bringing herself back to the present, though she couldn't wipe away the slight dark smirk that remained from imagining what she'd do to the duo. As a Schnee, it was her solemn duty to get even, and she'd enjoy every single moment of it.
Feeling the tingling in her legs worsen due to the awkward position they were in, Weiss simply couldn't wait any longer and decided to take matters into her own hands. Placing her hands on the bed on either side of her body, she pushed herself up and slid backwards slowly. Blake's loosened hands slid from her back as she moved, and Weiss shuddered slightly in discomfort as her tingling legs rubbed against the bed.
Almost free from her prison, Weiss's back just barely touched the wall when a distressed whine reached her ears. Startled eyes widening, Weiss watched helplessly as Blake quickly crawled forward and once again clung to her. The Faunus settled sideways into her lap and buried her face in the shorter girl's soft neck, earning a bright flush and another embarrassing squeak from the Ice Princess. Feeling a strong grip on her dress once more, Weiss's face flushed further as Blake took a long, obvious inhalation, her nose brushing softly yet firmly against Weiss's neck.
Shifting in – not exactly discomfort, though she was oddly disturbed at that particular revelation – Weiss shivered slightly. Staring resolutely up at the bottom of Ruby's bunk, the pale girl was thankful when, after snuggling impossibly closer, Blake settled down once more. She should shout, but she had already decided that course of action would be cruel, and she was trying to be nicer. She should push the girl away and make a break for it but, well, she had already tried that and now her situation was even worse.
Mask of confidence completely shattered and confusing thoughts and feelings swirling at the edges of her mind, Weiss began grasping at straws. What would her teammates do in her situation?
Her mind's eye pictured Yang, an altogether too large smile on her face and an odd look in her-
Weiss blanched and shuddered, horrified at the direction her thoughts had strayed, only to redden once more when Blake showed her disapproval of Weiss's movements by snuggling closer. A fact that really did not help the images mind-Yang had scarred her with.
Quickly moving onto Ruby, Weiss gave an inaudible sigh of relief as thoughts of… that… were replaced by the image of a grinning Ruby squealing at the sight of them- no, of Blake cuddling into her- and telling Weiss to look on the bright side.
The bright side?
What bright side?
Was there even a bright side in her situation? She had already committed to allowing Blake's transgressions slide, though recent events made her want to rethink her earlier pledge and lash out in embarrassment. She had shown a commendable amount of restraint in the matter, and quietly applauded herself. That was more of a bright side for Blake, however, and did not help her at all.
Well… she supposed that getting revenge on Ruby and Yang was a sort of bright side. She would enjoy that, and it was something to look forward to, though again it did not aid her current situation.
Weiss pondered upon that for a long moment, her frown of concentration akin to the one she wore while studying a particularly trying topic. After a few intense minutes of brainstorming, and with a sigh of resignation, Weiss could only come up with one solid answer.
At least her legs were no longer asleep.
0-o-0-o-0
Ruby and Yang burst into the reception area of the infirmary as one, the blonde immediately scanning the room for help while Ruby decided on a more proactive approach.
"Nurse! Nurse!" Ruby all but shouted frantically. Catching sight of movement out of the corner of her eye, Ruby called out again as she swivelled around. "Nurse! We need he-"
Eyes widening and voice trailing off in a squeak of terror, Ruby clamped her mouth shut as she came face to face with an annoyed Glynda Goodwitch. "M-M-"
"Ms. Rose," Glynda's voice was low and clipped, her eyes narrowed just enough to give whichever student was unlucky enough to be on the receiving end a sense of impending doom. "I would kindly remind you that yelling is not tolerated in the medical wing."
Ruby visibly shrank under the instructor's stare, a meek 'yes ma'am' escaping her lips. About to dredge up her courage to ask about a nurse for Blake, aware that her teammate's health rested in her hands, Ruby became sidetracked. Her silver eyes stared as a nurse led a blindfolded boy with red hair into an adjoining room, the long tail trailing limply behind him outing the patient as a Faunus.
Yang sidled up to her and nudged her side with an elbow, a quizzical frown on her face. "Look Ruby."
Ruby glanced at what Yang was indicating in confusion. Through a few of the partitioning curtains, Ruby could see quite a few patients who appeared to be in pain, a fact which was not odd at all considering where they were. What was odd was that all of them appeared to be Faunus. "What happened?"
Ruby gave a small start as Ms. Goodwitch suprisingly answered her whispered question.
"It seems that someone decided to add an ingredient to today's special," Glynda's eyes narrowed even further as she pushed her glasses up. "It's an herb that only affects Faunus. Not fatal, though it can be particularly unpleasant at high doses."
Ruby deflated like a popped balloon in relief. "So you mean Bl-"
Yang interrupted her sister with another well-placed elbow, this blow hard enough to cut Ruby off mid-sentence. The herb only affected Faunus, and Blake wanted her true status to remain a secret; a secret Ruby was about to blow out of the water. "You mean our friend, who we won't mention but is definitely a Faunus, will be alright?"
Glynda looked at the teammates, siblings if she remembered correctly, with a raised brow. Blinking slowly twice, she made a small sound of understanding. "Ah yes, your teammate Ms. Belladonna. She was also affected I take it?"
"Wha-," Yang's jaw dropped in surprise. "How did you-"
"All students are required to properly indicate their race on their application forms in case of medical emergencies." Glynda explained slowly as if it was common knowledge.
Which it most likely was.
Yang couldn't really remember filling out her own application; or at least, she didn't remember checking the little box next to 'Human'. She did, however, remember Ruby barfing thirteen times that day after having scarfed down three jumbo tubs of ice-cream while their dad was out with their uncle. In hindsight, that was probably why her mind was trying to protect her by having repressed most of that day. Not much in the house remained barf free when Ruby was finally done, Yang included.
"That… makes sense," Ruby said as she absent-mindedly rubbed her side. Her sister was strong, but she had built up a tolerance over the years.
"About your teammate; she is not already here?"
Yang was the one who answered this time. "Blake's back in our room. She had it pretty bad, but Weiss is taking care of her while we came to get help. There isn't any medication or anything we can bring her, is there?"
Ruby caught the faintest glimmer of amusement at the mention of Weiss taking care of Blake, only visible in their instructor's otherwise stoic façade due to Ruby's recent experiences with Weiss. Her partner rarely said what she was actually feeling, and so Ruby had taken it upon herself to learn to read between the lines. The fact that her efforts were paying off made her cheer up slightly. The fact that even their teachers were aware of her teammates', ah, history, made her want to… well, she wasn't completely sure about that one- she was on the fence between humor and exasperation.
"No. No medication. It should wear off within the hour, however, keeping the afflicted away from strong sounds, scents, and lights until it wears off completely is what the nurses are recommending." Here Ruby winced at the reminder of her earlier yelling as Ms. Goodwitch paused and gave her a pointed look before continuing. "Ms. Belladonna should be fine, given that these instructions are followed."
"That's a relief," Ruby sighed, a weight lifting off of her shoulders. It wasn't due to her negligence of her team, Blake would be A-OK in no time, and in the meantime Weiss would take good care of her.
"What about the bas-" Yang tripped over her words and cleared her throat as Ruby elbowed her this time, realizing too late who exactly she was talking to. "The, ah, perpetrator? Was he caught?"
Glynda eyed the siblings for a long moment before replying. "An investigation is underway. The perpetrator will be caught and dealt with accordingly. Now unless either of you are injured, I would ask that you be on your way."
"Of course Ms. Goodwitch. Good evening," Ruby smiled brightly and all but dragged her sister out of the room. Letting go when they were in the hall with the door shut behind them, Ruby sighed in relief once again. "Well that's good isn't it Yang? Blake'll be fine in an hour. We should go let Weiss know so she can stop worrying too."
"Wait." Yang grabbed Ruby's cloak and stopped the speed demon in her tracks, a thoughtful frown on her face. "Blake will be fine, so maybe we should… make sure this doesn't happen again. You get me?"
Ruby stared blankly at her sister for a whole minute, the cogs slowly turning in her brain. Yang, for her part, simply allowed her younger sister to come to the same conclusion that she had. After a minute of contemplation, Ruby began speaking slowly. "I… am team leader. If anything happens to my team, it's only… right… that I fix it- that I protect my team."
"Right," Yang nodded swiftly, a fire slowly blazing to life in her lilac orbs. "It's not revenge, it's… pre-emptive protection. We have to make sure this doesn't happen to Blake again, right? It's our duty as her teammates."
"Right. Duty." Ruby nodded decisively, a similar fire burning in her silver orbs. "Cafeteria?"
"Cafeteria."
0-o-0-o-0
Blake was mortified.
As in, she never wanted to show her face to the world again and instead would be quite happy to imitate an ostrich. Burying her head someplace where she would be unable to see the world and the world would be unable to see her sounded like a very, very good idea. And, theoretically, it was a good, solid idea.
Realistically? Not so much. Because for some reason she couldn't even begin to fathom, in this scenario the world ended up being the junction of Weiss Schnee's neck and shoulder. And the world smelled lovely and was making an effort to accommodate her sensitive ears, which was a surprise and actually pretty sweet… but mortifying.
Definitely mortifying.
In fact, she couldn't remember ever being so embarrassed in her life, and the catch was that she was effectively stuck between a rock and a hard place. Being snuggled up to her normally cold and reserved teammate and using her as a body-pillow-slash-air-freshener was embarrassing enough, yes, yet the prospect of pulling away and having to face the shorter girl was even more so.
To make matters worse, from the girl's softly spoken words to what she thought was an unconscious Blake – she figured that much out by herself. Weiss would have never been so open with her words if she knew that they were actually being heard, which was another reason Blake was hesitant to move. With her still feeling like she had gone a few solo rounds with a Deathstalker and a Nevermore, she knew that she'd never make it out of the blast zone in time – it appeared as if they'd been in that position for quite some time. From what she could gather, their teammates had split when she passed out and were currently hiding from the icy girl's wrath for leaving them in such a position.
As an outside observer, Blake couldn't fault her teammates for the fear their hasty actions wrought. As one of the parties deserted and left in a mortifying position, however, Blake was wondering if she could somehow facilitate Weiss' revenge.
But what really, really, mortified her was that Weiss was petting her- stroking her hair and lazily rubbing the back of her head and neck every so often. The touches themselves weren't mortifying, though they came as a surprise- both because it was Weiss doing the stroking and that she herself honestly didn't seem to mind her personal space being violated in such a way. No, what was mortifying was that she was physically and verbally responding to the touches, in a way that she really shouldn't be, least of all because it might give her conscious state away.
So Blake came to a decision and did the only thing she could to save face. She would endure the not-entirely-unpleasant touches and soft words until Weiss fell asleep. Then, she'd sneak out of the embrace she was currently in and forcefully repress the day's memories, vehemently denying anything and everything the white haired girl might bring up at a later date- though she'd be surprised if Weiss didn't repress the memories as well.
All would be well and back to normal once the slate was wiped clean, however in the meantime, Blake couldn't help but stew over one overwhelming emotion.
She was absolutely mortified.
-0-o-0-o-0-
As the minutes ticked by and there was no sign of Ruby or Yang, Weiss slowly melted her stiff posture into a more relaxed one, becoming if not comfortable, then used to the sensation of Blake's body and scent surrounding her.
As the minutes turned into an hour, and darkness fell outside, Weiss found – to her surprise – that she was actually fairly comfortable – that is, once she got over her renewed embarrassment. She had been able to shift into a position that gave her more comfortable back support and was now sitting cross-legged on her bed and leaning at a less harsh angle against the wall. What embarrassed her, however, was that Blake saw fit to change her position as well. No longer sitting sideways in her lap, the Faunus was now straddling her and had both arms and legs wrapped around the heiress' torso. Her head, thankfully, had stayed in the same place instead of wandering into less appropriate areas.
And now, as she watched the moon slowly rise into the otherwise dark sky through the window, Weiss surprised herself once again with the fact that she was not only comfortable, but calm. The revelation had come to her whist she was recounting one of Ruby's many mishaps in a class they did not share with Blake or Yang, only to realize that she had giggled aloud at the memory of her partner's antics. Her. Giggled. Due of Ruby being a dolt. In public!
Though she knew the currently unconscious Blake was stretching the idea of being in public, that particular surprise was enough to stop her story cold for a few long minutes as her mind tried to process.
Whilst she was puzzling over her odd reactions – she was supposed to be furious, embarrassed, and uncomfortable, not calm, comfortable and giggly - her traitorous hands had begun lazily stroking the black haired girl as if she were a particularly large housecat. When she realized that little fact, Weiss' brain promptly refused to ponder upon the subject any more in an attempt to retain what little sanity hadn't been sucked out of her by her team.
She kept running her hands through the Faunus' hair, however. The girl's locks were surprisingly silky and felt oddly nice to the touch. It only seemed fair that she derive a little pleasure from her current situation, and so Weiss promptly stopped thinking about her wandering hands as well.
What nobody else knew, would not be able to hurt her, after all.
"Where was I?" Weiss mumbled thoughtfully as she tried to recall where exactly she had left off in her tale before being sidetracked by her mini panic attack. This speaking her thoughts aloud thing was surprisingly soothing, though she would kiss a Beowolf before admitting that thought to anyone besides herself. "Ah yes. Ruby, the dolt, decided that to make it up to me, she would send me a cookie. In class. Via paper plane."
Weiss paused. She could have sworn she felt Blake shift at her words. After a few moments, however, Weiss chalked it up to the normal movement one would make whilst sleeping. Continuing her narrative in a dry drawl, Weiss allowed a small amount of amusement to filter through her voice despite only having felt equal parts fury and horror at the time of the incident. "As you can probably guess, it did not end well. The plane ended up landing in the professor's coffee just as he was about to take a drink, causing him to spill it all over himself and his papers. Of course nobody admitted to having thrown it, however our team leader had the smart idea to write my name with a smiley face on the wings of the plane."
Deciding to interpret the sporadic twitches and shifts as responses to her words, Weiss hummed in agreement, a small smile on her lips at the memory. "She was terrified. Remember about… oh, three weeks ago? When Yang attempted to rush Ruby to the infirmary for completing her homework in advance without prompting? It was due to that little episode. She was attempting to eliminate any factors that would prompt me to yell at her again."
Weiss rubbed a few strands of black hair between her fingers, gently working through a knot, before continuing. "May I confide in you a secret? You see, by that time I was no longer furious, however I allowed Ruby to believe I still was because, well, she was actually being studious. I had to relent and accept her apology a day later, though. She was practically in tears thinking that I was still angry at her, and while she should have known better, I didn't want to actually make her cry. I…"
Weiss' voice grew even quieter, and the only reason she was admitting these things aloud was because it was akin to confiding in a stuffed animal, or a diary. "This probably isn't a shock, considering my usual countenance, but I don't do too well in emotional situations. I lost most of my loved ones at an early age, and those left became different people. I don't even know how to deal with my own emotions, let alone someone else's. It may not seem like it most of the time, but I am trying to change. To be… better. For Ruby, for you, and even – though it pains me to admit it even to myself – for Yang."
Silence fell upon the room once more as Weiss became lost in her thoughts. A shift from Blake as she brought her hand up to the top of her head distracted her, however, as Blake's black bow was knocked off of her head exposing her fuzzy black ears. The ears momentarily mesmerized Weiss and drew her back from her melancholy ruminations, the black appendages twitching lightly every so often as the heiress' breath ghosted over them and ruffled the fur.
"I wonder…" Weiss trailed off before raising her hand the short distance and tentatively brushing her fingers against a pointy tip. The ear predictably twitched away from her questing digits, though Weiss didn't let that deter her. Trying again, this time the heiress gently grasped the ear between her thumb and forefinger and softly rubbed in a circle. The ear twitched once more, yet it remained within Weiss' loose grasp.
"Soft…" Weiss breathed, an awed smile on her face. The fur on Blake's ear was incredibly soft, and rather warm. Though she knew it was a working part of Blake's body, she honestly hadn't expected it to feel as such. Bringing her other hand up she gently rubbed both ears, delighting in the softness. Feeling more than hearing a slight disturbance in the taller girl, Weiss paused for a moment and strained her ears only for her smile to widen, this time in amusement instead of awe. "Is that… are you purring?"
As if she had heard her, the purring abruptly stopped. Too abruptly. Eyes narrowing slightly, Weiss began to stiffen only to feel the purring commence once again. Eyeing the girl suspiciously for a long moment, Weiss finally relaxed once more and continued petting the fuzzy appendages.
"Yes, well, the sound isn't an unpleasant one, so there's no need to be self-conscious. In fact it's…" Weiss paused, wondering for a moment if she should continue, even if she was basically speaking to herself. "It's quite adorable, as are these," Weiss rubbed the ears again as if to make her point. There was an almost inaudible hitch in the purring, however Weiss quickly brushed it off as normal. It wasn't as if she'd been around many felines in her life.
"In fact," Weiss continued her musings aloud. "This reminds me of when I was a child- I found this scraggly cat in one of the flower beds- Oh hush, I'm not being discriminatory or comparing you to an animal. Even when you're asleep you're still judging me." Weiss huffed, unable to stop a small amount of hurt from entering her voice though she knew it was a foolish notion. Blake was probably just dreaming about something unpleasant.
"I am trying, you know." Weiss continued haltingly, her hands stopping their ministrations at Blake's continued silence. She couldn't help but regret the cessation of purring- the gentle rumble was oddly soothing in its own way. "I can't forget the hell the White Fang has brought me, but I acknowledge that not all Faunus are… bad. I can't promise I'll ever care for them, or many of them at least, though not for the reasons you'd accuse me of. It's the same for humans; I can count on my hands how many humans alive I honestly care about. So you see, it's not really the Faunus as a whole whom I have a problem with; it's more like I have a problem with caring in general. In my experience, caring just… hurts too much."
-0-o-0-o-0-
Blake's ire swiftly faded and was instead replaced with no small amount of shame. She knew that Weiss had been trying, and the heiress had already improved by leaps and bounds from when they first met, but Blake had grown up with disparaging remarks and comparisons to dirty animals. To her, it was a knee jerk reaction to bristle at the very hint of such a comment. Perhaps the two of them weren't so different after all, both lonely souls putting on a mask and afraid of letting others in for fear of becoming irreparably broken - for a person could only take so much damage before they shattered.
On top of the shame was no small layer of guilt. In an attempt to save herself from further embarrassment, Blake had continued to play unconscious, and had heard quite a few personal things that the Faunus was certain Weiss would be horrified to know were no longer secret. She was in quite the dilemma, one she didn't know how to solve. If she admitted to Weiss that she had been awake for a large chunk of the monologue, would their burgeoning friendship survive? Or would the heiress view this as a violation of trust, as she well should, and reapply her walls even higher and thicker than before?
But on the other hand, could Blake pretend not to have heard what she had? Not only from a moral standpoint, but also from a physical one? Could she physically refrain from letting slip any signs of greater knowledge than she should have? Weiss was smart, and rather observant for a human without enhanced senses. Would she catch her in the lie?
"…I care about you guys, though."
The nearly inaudible words caused Blake's ears to twitch, drawing her from her guilty ponderings.
"You, Ruby, Yang… even somewhat team JNPR. I would be… sad… if anything happened to them, in any case. I… believe that constitutes as caring…"
Blake shifted closer to the girl, Weiss' small voice pulling at her emotions uncomfortably. She should have left when she first woke up. It would have been terribly awkward for a while, but she would have gotten over it eventually. This was… she wasn't meant to be hearing this… It felt… wrong. Violating.
"It's not much, I know- one Faunus and a handful of humans… but it's a start, right?" Weiss's voice was thick.
Blake couldn't take any more. Pushing her head more firmly against the limp finger resting against the base of her ears, Blake waited until they almost automatically began rubbing her sensitive appendages once more before nuzzling further into Weiss' neck. She would normally balk at the thought of allowing – nay, encouraging - someone to pet her ears, not only because they were extremely sensitive but also out of a wish to be seen as a person not a pet. In this case, however, she would make an exception. Letting loose a consciously louder purr than before, Blake attempted to comfort the smaller girl- it was the very least she could do.
"Oh!"
Weiss wasn't the only one who found certain sounds adorable.
Blake almost smiled at the small shocked gasp her actions elicited, and though she really shouldn't, part of her mind couldn't help but notice how cute the sound really was. She just barely refrained herself, however, because due to her position against Weiss' soft neck, the action would have given her away. When this was all over, she'd have to somehow make it up to the heiress, though she supposed this was a start. A poor start, yet a start nonetheless.
What really tested her resolve, however, was the light and airy giggle that followed, the second she'd heard that night. It was such an un-Weiss-like sound, and yet it suited the Weiss she'd seen in the past hour beautifully. The Weiss that previously only Ruby had caught glimpses of. It was a sound that Blake was dually covetous of and wished that she could elicit in the light of day.
It was also a sound that she would most likely never hear again; a sound which she'd all but tricked from the other girl.
"You know, this is what I was talking about earlier, when I mentioned the cat. I wasn't comparing the two of you, but the way you both made me feel. It's comforting sometimes to feel as if you're not alone in the world. That's what that cat meant to me."
Blake continued purring, her earlier guilt at jumping to conclusions seeping back to the forefront of her mind. While she may have broken Weiss' trust by listening to her secrets, Blake felt that she had to make up for her earlier mistake, and so she listened carefully to what she had refused to before.
She listened as Weiss spun a tale of a lonely little girl whose parents had no time for her. A lonely little girl whose family members kept disappearing one by one, whose maids were too scared of her father to comfort her and whose bodyguards were too scary period. She listened as the little girl snuck the cat inside and washed it, feeding it and caring for it all on her own. Almost desperately soaking in its unconditional love.
She listened as Weiss' voice grew softer and distinctly colder, as if she were distancing herself from both her words and the painful memory itself.
A month passed in joy for the little girl before her world came crashing down. It took an entire month before her friend was discovered. She viewed the cat as her savior from the loneliness, as her best friend; her father viewed the cat as a disgusting beast no better than the vermin that lived in the sewers. The little girl tried her hardest, but as always, her father's word was law. She never saw the cat again, nor any other animal within the vicinity of her family's estate.
Silence suffused the room, the only sound the now subdued purring Blake struggled to maintain. Though able to purr at will, the rumbling sounds were largely attached to her emotions; namely, positive emotions. Blake was currently so far buried under negative emotions that she was surprised she was able to keep up her current feeble attempt.
"What is taking those idiots so long?" Weiss grumbled under her breath after a long period of uncomfortable silence broken up only by a few yawns.
Feeling the shorter girl shift, Blake finally allowed her pitiful attempts at purring desist. After a few awkward moments, Weiss was finally laying on her back with Blake snuggled on top of her chest. "I'm not even going to try to get under the blankets."
Blake barely heard the girl's mumbled words, and was extremely glad that her face was currently hidden against the shorter girl, because she knew it was glowing red at their current position. While it wasn't really more or less intimate than when they were sitting up, Blake had been able to mostly forget about their position. After having slid against Weiss as she lay down, Blake was once again extremely aware of, well, everything.
As Blake was lost in her ruminations, the door slowly opened, causing her ears to twitch.
"Where. Have. You. Been?"
Blake winced internally. Weiss' mask of ice was back in place, and from the inflection of her voice, the deserting duo was going to be subjected to an acute case of frostbite in the near future.
"We had an errand to take care of. Blake should have gotten better on her own," Yang whispered flippantly, while Blake heard Ruby practically crawl into her bed as silently as she could. "She asleep?"
"Obviously." Weiss ground out between clenched teeth.
"We'll talk in the morning then. You'll understand why we were so late." Yang responded assuredly as she climbed up into her own bed, the sound of clothes falling to the floor reaching Blake's ears a moment later.
Weiss growled lowly in her chest, the sound actually impressing Blake for a moment before her earlier troubles began to fill the silence. As one by one her teammate's breathing slowed in sleep, Blake finally turned her head slightly to the side, opened her amber orbs, and stared blankly at the wall.
She had a lot to think about.
-0-o-0-o-0-
A/N: So this was supposed to be a comedy/romance with fluff, because that's what I'm good at and I suck at everything else. Then it turned into… this. If this is well received (as in, someone actually likes it), I have at least two tentative sequels in the planning stages.
The sequel to this would deal with Blake coming to the decision on whether or not to keep her unintended spying a secret from Weiss.
The sequel to that would be infinitely fluffier, and would deal with Blake trying to make it up to Weiss, neither of them realizing that to the outside world their actions are those of a fledgling couple.
Also toying with the idea of having perhaps a spinnoff down the line where Blake realizes that Weiss also has feelings for Ruby, and sets out to see if she can bring herself to give her girlfriend what she refuses to admit to wanting (yes that one would end up being a Ruby/Weiss/Blake rom-com, simply because I find both couples adorable.)
Apologies for the long A/N: if you've even reached this far. The longer than expected oneshot made up for this though, right?