Hello again. I am still breathing. Hope you enjoy :)
Blake:
From the slowly rising sun, streams of light flickered through the window blinds. The beams occasionally dimmed from the playful shadows of nearby trees, though persistently grew brighter. Team RWBY's room laid dormant and peaceful as the four girls still slumbered. Such peace of course could not continue, though. It was a Monday morning.
Their piercing alarm proceeded to obliterate the silence. Blake, along with Yang and Weiss, groaned upon their forceful return to reality. Blake noticed that Yang's grumbles were far lower than usual.
'I hope she didn't stay awake all night or something,' Blake thought as she slowly sat up and stretched her arms out to her sides.
With a gratifying click, Ruby disabled the alarm. The team leader then took a mighty, deep breath and bellowed, "Good morning, team RWBY! Are you all ready for another amazing week of training!?"
Weiss' additional groan was the only response the upbeat girl received.
"Well, at least you of all people should be excited, Weiss. After putting it off all weekend, you finally get to clear things up with Neptune!"
"Oh shut it, you dolt!" Weiss snapped as she stood from her bed, "I don't need you to remind me. We'll have a discussion when I see him between classes."
"Mhm. I'll be looking forward to hearing about it later at lunch, okay?"
After a final scoff, Weiss claimed the bathroom with a slam of the door behind her. Ruby chuckled while she started to make her bed.
Despite the desire to sleep and avoid all responsibility, Blake slowly dropped from her bunk, taking note that Yang was still motionless.
"C'mon, Yang," Blake encouraged, "We're starting a new unit in Port's class today."
Blake gently shook Yang by the shoulder, surprised to feel her skin to be far hotter than normal.
"You probably should back up," Yang grumbled, revealing an awfully congested tone.
Blake recoiled, realizing, "Are you sick?"
The blonde slowly rolled over to face her girlfriend. Her skin looked pale and her eyes were stung with red.
"I believe I would classify as sick, yeah," Yang admitted with a weak attempt at a smile.
"You were fine all weekend. What happened?" Ruby asked as she approached with her nose covered by the collar of her shirt.
"I don't know," Yang grumbled, "No one sneezed on me and I definitely washed my hands at least once…"
Blake lightly brushed away Yang's bangs and placed a hand on her forehead, "Well, you definitely have a fever. Should we take you to the nurse?"
"Nah, it just feels like a cold…," Yang sniffled, "They'd probably just tell me to sleep it off."
"I guess so, yeah. Alright well, you should definitely get some more rest then."
"Yeah…," Yang replied, muffled as her face returned to her pillow.
"I can bring you food back here during lunch," Blake offered, "Would some hot soup be good?"
"Yeah…"
"Do you need anything else, you think?"
"Nah…"
"Alright."
"There's some snacks in my desk too if you want," Ruby suggested.
"Now is not the time for cookies," Yang mumbled.
"There are brownies too!" Ruby insisted.
The bathroom door then opened as the heiress returned to the room, now dressed and equipped for the day. It was apparent Weiss had put substantial effort into her make up.
"Ooo looking good, Weiss!" Ruby teased.
"Quit it, oaf," Weiss grumbled as she approached her desk and began packing her bag. As Ruby passed her to enter the bathroom, Weiss suddenly took notice of Yang.
"Yang, we have classes! Have you forgotten why humanity invented alarm clocks?"
Rolling her eyes, Blake interjected, "Relax, Weiss. Yang's sick so she's not going to class."
Weiss squinted, as if she couldn't fathom the correlation.
"How sick is she? Is she contagious? Are you all aware we're starting new material in our classes today?"
'Oh lord have mercy,' Blake thought.
"She just has a cold; she'll easily make up the material from one missed day."
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Whatever. She just better not expect any help from my notes."
"Yeah screw you too, princess," Yang grumbled as she rolled over to face the group, "I'm sure you wouldn't want to help Neptune either if he missed classes."
Flustered by the suggestion of hypocrisy, Weiss heaved her bag and opened the room's exit, "I'm going to head to class. I'm not staying in this contamination zone."
"Yeah – you go figure out your shit out with Neptune," Yang ordered, "or I swear I will sneeze on you."
With a final scoff, Weiss left, slamming the door harder than necessary.
Sighing, Blake turned back and took a seat next to the ill girl, "I do hope things go well for her."
"I'm inclined to agree, but I honestly don't have the energy to care at the moment."
Yang conveniently coughed to emphasize the point. Blake in response, placed her hand on the other's shoulder. In the back of her mind, Blake wanted to stay here to care for her sick girlfriend. She'd done so much for her as of late, and surely would tirelessly aid her if the situation was reversed. Although Blake also sensed Yang wouldn't want to somehow feel like a burden – especially after Weiss' input. Blake eventually decided the offer couldn't hurt.
"Hey," Blake offered, "If you need me to, I could-"
"Nope," Yang countered, "Don't you dare. You need to go to class, ma'am."
"Yang, it really isn't-"
"Nope."
"Yang, I really don't mind-"
"Nope, nope, nope," Yang insisted, "Just bring me some soup as you suggested. I will sleep here until then. There's no need to waste both of our days."
Blake sighed, accepting Yang's wishes, "Fiiine. I'll be back as soon as possible then."
"Thanks, Blake," Yang winked, "I would hug you if I wasn't carrying the plague."
"Well…" Blake pondered, "We hung out here a lot last evening, so I've definitely already been exposed…"
"Oh yeah," Yang snickered, "About how many times did we kiss while Ruby and Weiss were out?"
The faunus started to blush, slightly. "Stop it," Blake muttered, as she leaned over and wrapped her arms around the burning girl.
…
A new unit in class meant new classifications of grimm, new combat tactics, and new tales from Professor Port. Blake sat rather bored at her table as the professor droned on and on. The story of a reptilic grimm with explosive poison spray would be far more engaging if less emphasis was put on the state of Port's facial hair at the time.
The empty seat at Blake's side only made it all the more dull. Who would've thought that simply holding hands with an occasional bit of footsie could bring so much joy?
Ruby sat nearby, doodling silly interpretations of the professor's tale. Her latest piece appeared to portray the professor far portlier than normal. This infuriated Weiss as usual, but by now, the heiress was impressively skilled at ignoring the team leader. The heiress feverously recorded notes on her paper with solid focus. Seeing this brought Blake a slight smile, but things still felt off.
'This sucks,' Blake eloquently thought to herself, 'I actually seriously miss Yang, and it definitely doesn't help, knowing she's sick in the room all by herself. I feel like I'm going against my instincts by not nursing her… God, do I sound sappy.
Regardless, she's supported me so much as of late. At the pier when I froze, she just … fearlessly faced the obstacle. All she cared about was protecting me. Even if she doesn't want me to skip class for her, I owe something special for her…'
The faunus' thoughts trudged onward until the bell suddenly blared, interrupting and surprising Professor Port, as always, "Darn it! These sections truly aren't long enough for sufficient storytelling! We'll have to continue this next time, my fellow huntsmen and huntresses. Until then, stay vigilant!"
…
As Blake continued through her routine of classes, she kept considering what she could possibly do for her caring girlfriend. It seemed her stack of romance novels had failed her. Eventually, Blake started her walk towards the cafeteria for lunch and to snatch a meal to deliver to Yang. Then an idea suddenly sparked as she thought about the upcoming lunch period. It was simple – not at all extraordinary, but it would at least be something to do for Yang. Blake immediately stopped in the hallway to pull out her scroll to make some purchases.
…
Once arriving at the cafeteria, Blake quickly spotted the still-healthy portion of her team. Weiss was just sitting down, and it appeared Ruby was already bombarding her with questions. Blake's arrival to their table went unnoticed as Ruby incessantly whispered, "What happened with Neptune? Did you build an iceberg?"
"An iceberg?"
"Never mind that!" Ruby retracted, "Tell what happened!"
"Would you relax, Ruby?" Weiss snapped, "I've just sat down. Seriously, an ounce of patience would truly-"
"Quit stalling," Blake groaned, taking a seat.
Weiss sighed, beginning to avoid eye contact, "God, you all whine like children. I simply talked to Neptune in the hallway…"
"And?" Ruby leaned closer.
Blushing, the heiress added, "He confirmed that we are in fact dating, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Is your life truly so void of meaning that you have to-"
"Ahhhh!" Ruby squealed, "That's awesome, Weiss!"
"Shut it, you dolt!"
"What a lucky guy," Blake sarcastically mused, "Why are you still so flustered? Did he kiss you or something?"
Weiss somehow managed to become even more flustered, "I-I uh he totally- no- no no no- that – why would you even suggest such a ridiculous idea? Do you honestly believe Neptune would just kiss me in the hallway as if no one around us even mattered… and… uh… no…"
The other two girls laughed with amusement. The picture of what had occurred was apparent. Weiss stared at the ground as she attempted to ignore the situation and began eating her lunch.
"Well," Blake announced as she stood back up, "I'm glad that's been worked out. I still need to bring Yang her lunch, so I'll see you all later."
"See you, Blake!" Ruby waved.
"Try not to get sick," Weiss scoffed, even though she was still bright red.
…
After picking up a few deliveries, the faunus arrived back at the dorm room. With several bags in hand, she slowly opened the door, carefully attempting not to disturb the likely sleeping huntress. She carefully stepped through the darkened room to set her haul on one of the tables.
Across the room, Yang groaned and groggily snored as she adjusted her position. Blake debated waking her up, but eventually decided against it. Yang undoubtedly needed her rest more than she needed to visit with her girlfriend, even if said girlfriend really wanted her company.
With a sigh, Blake began unpacking her bags, placing a row of containers in a line. It occurred to her that she ought to leave some sort of explanation with the food. The faunus snatched paper and a pen and began scribbling:
'Hey, Yang. I hope you're feeling better. I also hope you weren't too set on soup from the cafeteria since I instead got you a variety of soups from some nearby restaurants. I made sure to get some noodle soup from that Mystralian place you took the team to last semester, but I sort of guessed on the other two. Hopefully they're good. I also made sure they all had reheatable containers, so don't feel it necessary to eat everything. -Blake.'
The faunus held back any sappier statements on the possible chance team JNPR or someone may enter the room and read it. Just the thought made Blake uncomfortable.
She stuck the note on top of the mini buffet and lifted her book bag back up. Next to the doorway, she looked back at the slumbering huntress. Part of her wanted to kiss Yang's forehead, but the rational part of her didn't want to wake her up in such a foolish manner. The faunus sighed once more, quietly opened the door, and took her return to the school day.
…
Weiss:
After offering their varied farewells to Blake as she left to aid her ill-fated girlfriend, Ruby and Weiss continued their very one-sided conversation.
"So, when are you and Neptune going on a date somewhere in Vale?"
Furiously shaking her head, Weiss replied, "Neptune and I greatly value our studies on campus and currently have no inclinations to waste any precious time away from campus."
"You leave campus to go shopping for clothes just about every other week. What are you talking about?" Ruby laughed.
Weiss scoffed as she slumped further into her seat. The heiress wasn't consciously embarrassed by the notion of dating Neptune but felt irrationally uncomfortable as soon as the topic arose. Perhaps this was due to a lack of experience. None of her family members or past "friends" cared about the subject of her romantic life and thus never discussed such. Regardless, Weiss despised feeling out of her element or conversationally inadequate, so she fully planned on continuing to shut out her team mates.
'Why do they even care about such petty gossip and drama?' Weiss internally ranted to herself. 'The fact that Neptune and I are now officially dating should be of significance to no one. How could it possibly matter to anyone that a charming gentleman has taken an interest in me without caring about my family's fortune and influence? So, what if he kissed my cheek in the hallway as he confirmed our relationship and left me as a babbling dolt? That definitely shouldn't cause anyone some strange feelings and emotions … Oh god what is wrong with me…'
"Weiss!" Ruby firmly called as she snapped her fingers in front of the heiress' face.
"What!?" Weiss hissed as she pushed the girls' hand away.
"I asked what your plans for the rest of the day were. Were you having fun glaring into space?"
"I will be studying of course! We started a new unit today! Were you not paying attention? Additionally, I will 'glare' into space as much as I please."
Ruby rolled her eyes. It seemed the ice queen was going to snap at any topic of conversation. The leader briefly considered hunting down team JNPR to hang out with them instead, but something caught her eye, immediately convincing her to stay put. Ruby's smile began to slowly grow across her face.
"What are you grinning about? Have you lost it, entirely?" Weiss grumbled.
Ruby didn't answer as she continued her smile.
"Ruby, honestly, what on Remnant is-"
"Hey there, Weiss."
Weiss immediately froze. She turned to her side to see the blue huntsman himself had approached the table from behind her.
"Mind if I join you two?" Neptune inquired.
After stammering a fair amount, Weiss managed to squeak, "Of course!" She scooted her chair to make space while internally screaming.
"W-what are your teammates up to? I thought you usually sat with them," Weiss asked as she tried to ignore Ruby's maintained grin.
"I could ask the same about your teammates. Sage and Scarlet are off shadowing a huntsman this week, and I think Sun straight up just skipped training today. I've been abandoned."
"Ah I see," Weiss continued, "Yang is out sick today, and Blake is currently bringing her lunch."
"Cool," Neptune nodded as he started munching on some fries from his tray, "Well not cool that she's sick. Will she be alright?"
"I've been promised the she'll be back to class tomorrow."
"Right on."
The pair continued eating their food as the conversation turned to silence. Normally Weiss would continue talking about classes or asking Neptune about Vacuo, but it felt impossible with Ruby there.
Noticing the gap in conversation, Ruby repeated her question from earlier with a sly grin, "So are you all planning on hanging out in Vale any time soon? There's got to be a lot of events going on with the Vytal Festival."
Weiss maliciously glared at Ruby for reviving the topic, but Neptune took no notice and happily replied, "I don't think we've talked about it, but yeah that'd be awesome. I'm fighting in the tournament on Saturday, so I'll be in the area anyways. Did you have any plans this weekend, Weiss – aside from cheering on team SSSN of course?"
Weiss' rage towards Ruby immediately hid itself, as she turned back to Neptune with a highly hued complexion, "I -I'll have to check my calendar of course, but I should be available."
"Sweet," Neptune grinned with a thumbs up.
Satisfied with yet another set up, Ruby decided to have some mercy on Weiss and help change the subject, "So Neptune, are you excited for the Vytal Festival tournament? I still wish our team could've qualified."
"Oh absolutely!" The huntsman beamed, "We'll get a chance to show our skills to the world with a wild crowd cheering us on. It'll be well worth the journey from Vacuo and years of training."
"Are you nervous at all?" Ruby asked, "I'd be super stressed out."
Neptune scratched the back of his head with a chuckle, "I mean yeah – kind of. I'm fine if we lose or whatever, but I'm worried about something embarrassing happening."
"Like what?"
"Like slipping and breaking our own aura – that type of thing."
"You've trained to avoid such scenarios," Weiss reassured, "You all should be perfectly confident in your capabilities."
"Aw thanks, snow angel," Neptune leaned over and pecked Weiss on the cheek.
The snow angel blushed profusely as Ruby nearly burst out laughing.
Blake:
The Monday trudge was finally finished. Blake ran out of Professor Oobleck's lecture as the bell rang and nearly bumped into another student in the hallway.
'Oh god,' Blake thought, 'I've turned into Yang.'
She maintained the speedy pace all the way back to the dormitory. The faunus heaved to catch her breath as she reached the door. After a moment to straighten her hair and compose herself, Blake took hold of the doorknob and slowly turned it.
"Blake?" Yang immediately squeaked.
"Yes, it's me," Blake answered, eagerly grinning as she set down her bag.
"Oh, my beautiful kitten, you've returned to me," Yang mumbled as she rolled over. The sick huntress sounded substantially out of it.
Blake sat down on the edge of the bed and took hold of the blonde's shoulder, "Of course I have. How are you feeling?"
"Not amazing," Yang admitted, taking hold of Blake's hand, "but infinitely better thanks to you."
"Did you find…" Blake glanced over to the table, spotting three empty containers, "Oh my god. You enjoyed the soup I take it?"
"Yes, they were delicious."
"I'm glad," Blake beamed, "I wanted to do something special for you, even if you wouldn't let me stay back from class to help you."
"Well it was great, and there wasn't much to help with anyways. I slept most of the time."
"Is that so? Maybe I should leave now if I'm just going to keep you awake," Blake teased.
"Nooo," Yang cried, "Please cuddle me back to health."
The faunus chuckled softly, "Well, I suppose the readings I was assigned could wait a few hours. I guess we better snuggle if that's the only way you'll recover your health."
"It's the only waaay," Yang groggily mirrored.
Blake snatched a pillow down from her bunk and leaned back next to the blonde. Yang rested her head against Blake's neck and the faunus wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Both sighed as they settled into position.
Blake slowly closed her eyes, feeling that Yang was still helping her far more than she'd helped her.
Hello dear friends. I'll bet you all thought I quit the story again. (That's fair considering my garbage track record on a story that should've taken much less than 4 years to write). 3 months is less than 2 years though – just keep that in mind.
It was really fun to write for Weiss this chapter, so I hope a bit of her perspective was welcome. I debated writing out her entire confirmation scene with Neptune, but I decided having Weiss reflect on it was more important and far more entertaining.
This chapter was just fluff YET AGAIN. For better or worse, we've also got at least two more fluff, set-up chapters coming up. Also, it's probably worth mentioning that, assuming I stick to the current outline, this story will have about 28 chapters … so we have 11 to go still …you all can run the numbers on how long that will take me XD
…
God I can't wait for what's coming.
Well that's about it for now. Thanks for your support, and please leave a review if you feel inclined. Onto chapter 18…