I watched the clock on my desk anxiously as Professor Port rambled on and on about his adventures as a huntsman. It wasn't his fault, most of the important information he had to give could be learned in just a week, but the structure of the school demanded a full year of grimm anatomy classes. I personally used the time in his class to straighten out notes from other classes.

But today I was too worried about the trip with Weiss to even open my backpack. I looked back and forth between the clock and Weiss, trying to be inconspicuous about it. It didn't work.

My scroll buzzed on the table gently. I carefully checked to see a message from Weiss.

"You okay?"

I looked at her, and she looked back at me, visibly concerned. I must have retyped the reply half a dozen times before it became a simple "Yeah, just ready to get out of here".

I couldn't stop worrying. What if she finds it weird that I talk to my mom? What if she thinks I'm dumb for it? What if she sees me as a chore? On an intellectual level, as always, I understood that she cared about me, that you can't live in the same space as someone without getting closer to them; but depression never seems to care about what makes sense.

The week had been particularly troublesome. When I fell out of bed the week before, there had been a bright flash, like a hurt-your-eyes-even-when-they're-closed bright flash. I passed out for a little when I hit the floor, but the nurse determined I wasn't concussed, just still asleep when I fell out of bed. No one seemed to know what was going on with the light, but I managed to talk my way out of concern for falling out of bed by ceding the top bunk to Weiss. It bothered me not to be on the top bunk, but I don't like to argue with people.

Getting closer to Weiss would probably be good for me, but my anxiety never subsided. As the bell chimed I rushed to the door, only to catch myself and remember to wait for her.

"Weiss," I said, "this will be a long walk, are you sure you're up for it?"

Weiss scoffed. "Of course I am, Ruby. How many times are you going to ask that question?" She looked simultaneously annoyed and content. She always had such an expressive face.

"S-sorry," I stammered, "I've never done this with another person before."

"It's just a walk," Weiss said, "it's not like it's special." I hadn't told her about why I went on these walks because I was scared she'd think less of me. I really am a master of putting things off.

"It's just a time I take to empty my head and think about things, things I don't usually have time to think about while I'm in class." That itself was true enough. I still couldn't bring myself to tell her about my mom.

The walk began as we passed the academy gates, making our way to the forest. On the way, we made casual small talk about things in class, Weiss talked about how Yang and Blake were acting weird around each other. I had noticed it too, but thought I was just being nosy at the time.

"They're always looking for excuses to be alone," Weiss said. "Something... fishy is going on there."

"You don't think," I began, before we both said at once, "they're gay?"

"I mean," Weiss began, her cheeks heating up. "It's not a problem, but I wonder when they'll finally tell us." She looked genuinely embarrased. I wondered if she felt bad for bringing it up.

Luckily, before I had to say something about it, we made it to the cliff.

I fidgeted with my hands, looking down at my feet. "Uh Weiss..." I started. I could feel her eyes on me. "There's someone I want you to meet."

She looked around quizically, and then back at me. "What do you mean?"

I self-consciously grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. "Hey mom," I said, "This is Weiss." The heiress looked a little confused until she took another step forward, her hand still in mine, and looked down.

Her lips formed in a silent "oh" as realization dawned on her.

"I-it's not that weird," I started, pulling my hand away from hers to make an apologetic gesture. "Some people keep diaries, and address them as people, I'm just skipping the writing part when you think about it so-" She interrupted me with a sudden hug.

"Ruby, why didn't you tell me?"

My mouth tried to form a reply but I couldn't. I all but collapsed into her, beginning to sob uncontrollably. "I'm sorry," I began, but then my over-explaining habit kicked in. "F-for crying, n-n-not for the other th-thing." I hoped my words came out between those sobs because it didn't feel like they did. I was prepared for so many things, but not kindness.

She sat down under my weight, but kept ahold of me. "It's okay, Ruby, it's alright." I sobbed into her jacket like that for a while, while she stroked my back and told me things were okay.

"I'm sorry," I kept repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm..." the sobs drowned the apologies out and I just pulled myself closer to her.

After anywhere between two minutes and two lifetimes, I finally pulled away from her to say for one last time, "I'm sorry, about that, I don't usually let other people see me like this."

"Ruby," Weiss began. "I'm your friend, this is what friends are for. You'd do the same thing for me, I know it."

I chuckled a little. "I thought you'd make fun of me for this, you know." She looked taken aback.

"Ruby, I know I've been difficult in the past, but I would never do that to you." She was saying my name a lot. I liked that.

"I know that, of course, in the logical part of my brain," I said. "But I just couldn't believe it, not until now at least."

With all that out of the way, I went through introducing Weiss to my mom.

"Mom, this is Weiss. She's a little mean at times, but she's one of the kindest people I know. She's gonna be with me most of the times I see you from now on, y'know how the buddy system works. She sleeps in the bed below- well, above me now. She's super nice and smart and I'm so glad she's on my team." I turned to Weiss, "Go on, say hi."

Weiss gave a quick curtsy and introduced herself with her first and last name. "It's nice to be on Ruby's team," she said. "At first, I thought she'd be a bad leader, but since then she's more than proved herself. I think she'd make you proud."

My eyes blurred again, but I fought back the tears. This emotion was hard to describe, like a happy sadness. We finished up, and started heading back, her hand clasped in mine. This was a strange feeling. I'd never been close to someone who wasn't family, and this felt different than I usually did with Yang, Qrow and Dad.

We started a conversation about an upcoming history exam, and became so absorbed by it we didn't notice the Ursi before it was too late. Three of them, right in front of us. I drew Crescent Rose, Weiss drew Myrtenaster, and we set to work dispatching the beasts. Luckily, these weaker grimm weren't very smart, and their movements were as a result predictable and easy to combat.

Before we finished, though, an Ursa had come from behind and smacked Weiss to the side like she was a ragdoll. I rushed to her side, but she wouldn't get up. "Weiss," I said, as more Ursi started to emerge into the pathway. "You need to get up, I can't do this all alone!"

Weiss stirred a little, but when she tried to get up she just fell down again. She wasn't getting up on her own any time soon. I screamed, and there must have been a blank spot in my memory because suddenly, all the grimm were gone. Not a single one of them was left.

I picked Weiss up in a bridal carry and petal burst my way down the trail. It was, thankfully, a straight path. In 20 or so hops, I'd made it to the edge of the forest, and the path back to Beacon.

There was someone nearby, and I shouted "Help!" at them. Whoever it was, they ran towards me, but they were sideways. Wait, no, I was sideways.

Everything went black.

After getting discharged from the nurse, I walked with Ruby back to the team's room. I must have hit my head pretty hard because I could have sworn I saw Ruby scream and become enveloped in white light, blinding, and all the grimm just... vanished.

Dinner, shower, brushing teeth. Before I could climb up into my new bunk, Ruby stopped me.

"W-Weiss?" She fidgeted. She was cute when she fidgeted.

"What is it, Ruby?"

"Well, if it's not too much to ask, I'd like it if you slept next to me tonight." She fidgeted with her hands and looked down at the floor.

My heart skipped a beat, but damn if I would ever admit that. "S-Sure, Ruby." I got into bed next to her, and found that space was limited, to say the least. I had to roll over a little, resting my head on the soft gap between her shoulder and her ribs. She found sleep easy, but I had to fiddle around with my arms until I was really comfortable.

I thought about what had happened. I was feeling strange around her. Something in me wanted very badly to be closer to her, but now that I had what I wanted, I felt odd about it. I'd spent my whole life alone, and finally having a friend made my heart feel warm. I'd always had things easy materially, but otherwise... not so much. Affection of any kind is something I'd never gotten used to, but maybe I could.

I drifted off into exhausted, dreamless sleep alongside her.

Yo sidenote here but I just remembered this: why do so many fanfiction authors talk about characters using hair colors? Do they think that if they repeat someone's name it'll make the story worse? Because it doesn't.

Anyway, no they're not in a relationship now. I said this would be a slow burn, now didn't I? A lot of important themes are going to come up, like the age gap (at this point Ruby is 16 and Weiss is 18, if I remember correctly) and a few other things. Have patience, there's more to the story than just ships

Thanks for the reviews btw, I'll be back with another chapter.

P.S. I'm sorry the chapters are short, I typically write them in one go.