Midnight Meet-up

*7 years ago*

Peppermint knocked on his door wearing the same pajamas she did the day they met over three months ago. However, her hair wasn't a birds nest of knots and hair clips today. Instead she'd brushed it into a nice, cotton-candy-esque cloud before heading up the flight of stairs and across the hall to team OBSD's dorm. "Peppermint?" Her intended company answered the door wearing green pajama bottoms and an old white shirt that had been downgraded to sleepwear after enduring so many coffee stains. His glasses were also a bit askew, but he straightened them upon seeing her.

"Hey." Said student lifted up a grocery bag filled with sealed milk tea drinks, tins of cookies, and two bags of coffee. "Can I spend the night? My crew is in the middle of a long spat revolving around whether or not copying homework is considered helping or enabling and my contributions to the fight were not considered helpful. Plus I have an exam to make up in the morning and Wisteria insisted I go someplace quieter to get some rest." She shrugged in her fluffy hoodie.

"That isn't up to me, I'd have to ask my team members before-" Bartholomew was cut of.

"Peppermint, did you bring the ginger cookies or the chocolate chip?" Ochre, the team leader, asked from where he lounged on the bed. His muted orange hair was out of it's usual short ponytail and instead rested just on the top of his shoulders. Unlike Bartholomew, he slept shirtless.

Knowing packing the treats would land her on his good side, Peppermint responded, "chocolate chip." Reaching into the plastic bag, she tossed the tin over to the huntsman in training. "And coconut macaroons for you two." She then chucked the second tin at the female Kupine twin. Her black eyes snapped open and she swiped the tin out of the air and pulled it under the covers with her.

"Dravite is on a date with his girlfriend in Vale, these cookies are mine." She mumbled, her sharp teeth plainly visible while she spoke. Turning around to resume her nap, only her short crop of black hair was left visible to the room. "You're fine by me." The ferret faunus consented to her staying.

"Me too." Ochre commented after confirming the cookies were decent.

Peppermint looked expectedly at Bartholomew who opened the door wider to allow her in. The room was a mash of themes, one corner had a mattress on the floor and off its frame, apparently Dravite stumped his toe on it again, resulting in the splintered pile of wood in the corner. Schorl's bed was a mess: clothes, ammunition, and papers all occupying the covers that the aspiring huntress was sleeping under. Ochre's was more or less ordinary, the team leader munching on cookies as his legs hung over the edge of his bed. And then there was Bartholomew's. His bed was aside a wall of cork that he'd tacked countless papers to. "Have you woken up with a tack in your back yet?" Peppermint asked the question for the third time, still expecting it to have happened.

"No." He said simply, looking around. "I can't fathom where you can sleep." The bespectacled student started to survey the room.

She pulled out a blanket and lay it on the floor. "What kind of huntress can't sleep on the floor? I'll be fine Bartholomew." Peppermint plopped down on the blanket, not minding when the hoodie lifted up a bit to reveal her lower back to the other students in the room. More than that was revealed in her usual fighting outfit. Turning her head a bit, she looked under Bartholomew's bed and grinned, all his boots were organized by height and color. Although he was sloppy in most areas, his school uniform askew, notes a mess, and bed ruffled, he took being a huntsman seriously. His pack was always resting by the foot of his bed, his thermos topped off daily with fuel, and his combat uniform always in top shape.

"Did you get me thai milk tea again?" He asked, looking between the rose milk tea and the one in question.

"Choose one or the other, I ordered both without tapioca pearls, just the way you like it." She waved her hand, not having a preference herself.

"Then you take the thai milk tea, I don't want an orange tongue." He tossed the sealed drink to Peppermint as well as a straw.

Sitting up cross legged, she popped the seal and took a small sip. Slowly the huntress' grin grew as she savored the flavor. "Yum." The girl spoke to herself after swallowing.

"There are rose petals in this drink?" Bartholomew commented after one slid through the straw and into his mouth. "Why would they do that?" He removed the petal from his tongue and stared at in disgust.

"It's rose milk tea," Peppermint rolled her eyes. "That's part of the appeal. If you don't like it we can swap." She offered him the orange drink. "And I won't make fun of your tongue when it turns orange."

"You've already taken a sip." He gestured to the plastic straw.

"So did you, you'll still have the same level of drink." She offered the beverage again.

"Yes, but." He was unsure how to phrase it.

"Mewmew doesn't want to indirectly kiss you." Schorl commented from the messy bed, utilizing Bartholomew's hated nickname. "He refuses to share his thermos for that same reason. Hasn't kissed as girl yet."

"Oh." Peppermint saw that Bartholomew looked embarrassed and angry with his teammate. "Then how about this," she removed her straw. "We swap drinks, not straws." This clearly wasn't something to tease him about.

He seemed relieved Peppermint didn't poke him, and nodded, swapping drinks with her. As soon as he had a mouthful of the beverage though, Peppermint commented, "If you want to directly kiss me Mewmew, all you need to do is ask," a coy smile appeared on her lips.

He sputtered, the orange tinted drink spraying from his mouth and onto her blanket and jacket. All Peppermint did was laugh alongside his teammates as he tried to formulate a coherent response.

(A/N: I love the nickname "Mewmew". So much. It's perfect and cute. Can you picture someone calling him that rather than Doctor Oobleck? He already hates being downgraded to Professor, imagine a cutesy nickname like Mewmew)