Chapter 27: You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds

"And honestly I have been begging for answers, that you and only you can give to me..."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Nex said, raising an eyebrow. "This isn't about homework, is it?"

His scroll was propped up against the bedpost, the grey numbers on the screen flickering. Forty-five minutes before History. Plenty of time to talk about whatever it was his partner wanted to talk about in the privacy of their dorm.

Their knees touched as they sat on the edge of his bed, her palm flat on his thigh. Her lips tightened into a frown as she shook her head.

Not about homework then. Maybe about the upcoming finals. Or even their papers.

"What Winchester said," Weiss whispered, breathing a world-weary sigh. She rested her head on his shoulder, radiating her particular brand of warmth. The dormant Mt. Weiss one. "You didn't let it go to your head, did you?"

Ah. That one.

But still, why was she even asking?

Whatever Dumbchester said, it already washed off like water on a duck's back. There was definitely nothing the racist could say that he did not hear before.

His days in the gutter, crawling with the filth of Atlas and Mantle, gave him privy to more creative insults—barbs and jabs about his half-heritage. He sat alone, thinking and watching as the world moved around him. Because no one wanted to sit beside the filthy faunus, regardless if he sat in the Huntsman's Respite or in Atlas Primary.

Until the storm came and Weiss Schnee entered his life, taking a seat at his table—the first time someone ever did so of their own free will. With no strings attached, even. No Atlesian mechs to hack or some shit or another.

Nex shook his head, smiling as wisps of fire bubbled in his chest. "Nope. What did he say again?"

"He said that you're nothing but my pet," Weiss mumbled, her eyes fixed on her skirted lap. Her fingers curled, tightening over his thigh. Nails pressing through his slacks and into his taut flesh. "It's not true."

Come to think of it, that faunus girl in Atlas Primary seemed to imply the same thing.

Submissive.

Nope. He was the opposite of the word. Someone who crawled their way up from the bottom of the dirty barrel. He was a guy who refused to submit to the fate that befell the others like him—the ugly fate that visited the orphans on the floating city of Atlas.

"I know. You're not Dumbchester or Silverstain," Nex said. It was nothing but the truth. "You're you, Weiss."

Weiss smiled—a tentative little thing, lifting the edges of her lips. "Why? How could you believe in me so much? What Winchester said was true. My father, he—"

"You're not your father," Nex said. Screw it. "I'm not your father. You want to fix your company, right?"

"Yes. I do," Weiss answered, lifting her head. She nodded, turning to face him. Just like in the barbeque place. "There's no other way around it."

Fire smouldered over chips of ice.

Cloying warmth stuck to the back of his throat. His heart. Beating. Speeding off into sunsets and silhouette dreams. Thumping in his ears. Some sort of marching band lost without its guide.

Just like in the hospital.

But no Winter to interrupt.

Nex blinked.

His hand was already there.

Stopping right beside her temple.

His thumb brushed her scar, the warmth blazing—turning into heat when she flashed him a smile.

Weiss closed her eyes, leaning into his palm. Then she snatched his arm and tugged him towards her. Her back pressed into the sheets—both the wolf and the huntsman recognized the prey.

A huntress who had cornered herself.

Nex fell, their legs entangled into a knot—a knot firm as cotton. His face stopped inches from hers, his forearms fencing her head.

Her eyes peered through her tussled fringe, her scent teasing his nostrils—coffee with a hint of vanilla, and flowers and baby blue.

Weiss burned scarlet, her lips curling into a coy smile. "Nexus Shade. What are we going to do about this unspoken thing between us?"

His brain stuttered.

Somewhere far away, his father said something about women and their trap cards. Something about desirable.

Desire.

A firestorm raged in his stomach, killing that train of thought. He had to stop thinking before his skull imploded into chunky bits. Or before his cheeks burned hot enough to roast a barbeque.

"If we spoke it out loud," Nex said, pale blue closing in, like the walls of a great tide. Rain dripped all over. Pitter patter. Pitter. The maelstrom surged, swallowing the room. Her heart pounded against the gentle swell of her chest. It was vibrating through his ribcage. Waves lapping around his heart. "It wouldn't be an unspoken thing anymore. Right?"

"I'd love that," Weiss said, a giggle bursting from her throat. Her soft, calloused hand cupped his cheek. She leaned forward, their foreheads meeting. His brain sizzled—like eggs behind his skull. "Kiss me."

Nex flinched. His arms shook. "What?"

It must have been the humming of the air conditioner. The hiss. There was no way he heard that right.

Weiss scowled, batting her eyelashes. Her index trailed down his lips, her hot breath stroking his chin. "Do you need a diagram, Mr Shade?"

But then again, maybe he did hear what she said.

Screw it.

There was nothing left to do but act—the consequences be damned.

"Nope," Nex said, smiling. At the woman lying under him. His partner. Weiss. "I learn better hands-on."

He shut his eyes. Just like in the commercials. Or even in the pamphlets.

Right?

He tilted his head.

Gravity took control.

His lips locked against hers.

Weiss exploded into a rush of flavor, searing bonfires through his spine.

Nex sped through the clouds—a boy flitting between the borders of salty croissants and sweet, oh so very sweet, vanilla-flavoured coffee. Lava-wet dribbled down his chin, the fires of Mt. Weiss soaring into the clouds. Her chest rode against his, shy mounds tight under her coat. Lean thighs squirmed and ground against his crotch. Her hands groped at his neck, her toned arms snaking around his shoulders. Pulling him down, her core flushed against his—the anchor keeping his feet on the ground. Sparks crackled in his spine, even as she moaned, writhing under his touch, the sound explicitly music as it slithered through the hairs of his skin.

But eternity could not last.

Nex pulled away, a thread of white stretching from her lips.

Weiss beamed scarlet, her eyes snapping open, even as she drew ragged breaths.

And he was definitely doing the same.

"What do you want to do about this unspoken thing between us?" Nex said. His brain just impaled itself on the spikes of reality. She was a corporate heiress—the heiress of the SDC. While he was just a nobody—an orphaned faunus. An unwanted one, even. Fuck. "I happen to have an extra pair of ears."

Weiss reached out. Her fingers poked his extra pair of ears.

Nex shivered, the heat coiling around his spine.

"Someone told me that faunus and human are just labels and arbitrary categories," Weiss said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "What matters is who you are and what you're striving for. You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Second thoughts like his father?

He hanged the idea before it could even protest. There was no way. Absolutely no fucking way. He promised. To himself, even. If he placed effort into a woman, then he would go all the way.

"Nope," Nex said, popping the p even more. "I'm not the type of guy to hit and run."

Weiss giggled, rubbing his extra pair of ears. The traitorous appendages quivered. Feathers tickled his spine. "Then we're partners. Inside and outside Beacon. Unless you want to share a different set of titles..."

Labels hardly mattered. But evidently, titles mattered a lot to the woman known as Weiss Schnee. And well, he could definitely live with it.

What was another title on his ledger, anyway?

"It just so happens, Miss Schnee," Nex said, heaving an exaggerated sigh. "That I do want those other titles."

Weiss winked, smirking as she poked his nose. "Then from now on, you're my boyfriend. Don't let it go to your head."

Nex shrugged, but it was definitely difficult in his current position. "Don't worry. You're now my girlfriend. I'd hate to disappoint."

Somehow, the word just worked.

It was definitely odd, like something that should have been way scarier. But there was nothing to be afraid of in his par—girlfriend's shining eyes.

He had to practice thinking with that word now, so he would not forget.

"Do we tell them?" Nex whispered.

"We don't need to," Weiss said, rolling her eyes. Wait. He should have been the one doing that. "Yang has half of the school convinced that we're a couple."

Nex quirked an eyebrow, even as she pushed back his fringe, her digits lingering on his extra pair of ears. "But we are a couple, aren't we?"

Weiss breathed a sigh—definitely in exasperation—but the twinkle in her eyes never dimmed. "You don't really care to notice, do you? Even if they're hurling barbs at your back and even straight to your face."

"Hardly," Nex said, cracking a smirk. "Yours is the good opinion I care about. Not theirs."

Never theirs.

Weiss grinned, glancing at his scroll. "While I'm happy that my opinion matters so much to my boyfriend, we only have ten minutes to get to class."

His scroll turned out to be right.

They skipped into Oobleck's lecture hall.

Weiss squeezed his hand as they parted, settling into adjacent chairs in the middle of the crowd.

Yang spun in her seat, elbowing Jaune as she smiled.

Oobleck scribbled something on the board, connecting pins on a map before class officially started.

"You're glowing, Weiss-cream," Yang said, sitting directly in front of them. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You didn't do anything irresponsible with the dense edge lord. Right?"

Fuck. So that was what the irresponsible bit meant. Or maybe not.

But still, all things considered, he was definitely dense.

A dense edge lord, even.

Weiss matched the smirk on the brawler's face, sweat trickling down her flushed cheeks. Lines of white glimmered on her chin—the remains of Mt. Weiss' volcanic eruption. "Maybe. But that's between us."

She got that right.

Weiss pulled out her notebook along with a set of coloured pens and highlighters. Her eyes turned towards Oobleck. The man posed in front as the rest of their fellow students filtered into the classroom.

Nex took a cursory glance at his bracer. Three minutes. Plenty of time to take a power-nap, if his now-girlfriend allowed him.

She gave him a wide smile, parking a shoe on his calf.

Unlikely then. Some things never changed. His ill-conceived plan sprinted off the trenches and died.

"Lucky bastard," Jaune whispered, grinning as he shifted in his seat. "How'd you do it?"

Nex shrugged, propping his chin on the desk. "I went with the flow. You should try it sometimes."

Jaune glanced at Yang, before turning his attention to Oobleck. Their history teacher opened his lesson with a metric fuckton of explosives. The words gushed from their professor's mouth at a rate that outmatched Ruby's, rioting in his skull before exiting through an ear.

Nex groaned, digging his head into his crossed arms. His now-girlfriend's cologne stuck to his uniform, flowers and baby blue loitering in his nose, even as he nodded off, the discussion practically slipping away.

It took several minutes before Weiss' heel nudged his leg.

Nex blinked, opening his eyes to the man's rabid lecture. Pay attention for a few more minutes. Long enough to distract Weiss with her frantic note-taking.

Their teacher zoomed around the classroom, pulling at his atrocious yellow tie.

"And now! Have any among you been discriminated against because of your faunus heritage?"

Nex sighed, closing his lids and falling back into the dark.

Or at least, in theory.

Velvet Scarlatina raised her hand two rows below, her tall rabbit ears marking her among the other students. More students with extra animal appendages raised their hands, others that shared his supposed heritage.

Weiss shot him a look. The back of her pink highlighter poked his forearm.

"What?" Nex said, his lids half-opened.

"You're not going to raise your hand?" Weiss said, arching an eyebrow.

Nex shrugged as their teacher went on with his near-incoherent ramblings. Even Pareidolia could barely keep up. "I don't see the point. It wouldn't stop discrimination against faunus, would it?"

Weiss frowned, her left hand continuing to write in her notebook. "You're right. But you should still participate in class. It's not that hard to raise your hand, is it?"

His now-girlfriend had a point, admittedly. Thus, he closed his eyes and drifted off into the darkness. Pareidolia blared. A scream echoed in his head.

Nex flinched. His eyes snapped open. He lifted his face, ears straining to pinpoint the sharp, whistling sound.

There.

He swayed a little bit to the right.

A ball of paper smashed into the back of Jaune's head.

Vomit Boy yelped.

"Excellent! Excellent! Mr Arc, finally participating in class! This is a welcome development! Tell us, what is the event that many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Poor Jaune.

Someone snickered behind them—probably the student who tossed the ball of rolled-up paper.

Dumbchester leaned into the back of his seat, just two rows above theirs. The leader of the three idiots smirked, his eyes narrowed.

Nex stifled a yawn, turning back to his improvised pillow.

Dumbchester should have aimed a little more at his centre of mass if the idiot wanted to hit him.

But still, poor Jaune.

"Err..." Jaune said, scratching the back of his neck. "Gesundheit?"

The class chortled.

Oobleck shook his head, taking a long sip from his thermos.

"The Battle of Fort Castle, teach," Yang said, shaking her head. She sighed. "Sorry if my fearless leader is a bit out of it."

"Doctor, Miss Xiao Long! Doctor! But indeed, it's the effort that counts! Now, can any of you scholars tell me the advantage that the faunus had over General Lagune's forces? Perhaps why the general lost the battle? How about you, Mr Winchester?"

This should be good.

Nex sat up for the very first time. Well, probably. Whatever words of wisdom spilled from the idiot's mouth would be golden. And the ensuing laughter could make up for his lost shut-eye.

"It's a lot easier to train animals instead of soldiers," Cardin Dumbchester said, snorting. Like he was presenting some sort of revolutionary thesis. "Just ask a certain pair."

Weiss Schnee's hands clenched into fists. Her eyes narrowed, the tip of her pen ripping into her notebook. Drawing a jagged line straight from the top and down to the bottom, crossing out whatever nuggets of wisdom she managed to take.

Disappointing.

Dumbchester had his chance, but he passed over it to dig a deeper grave instead.

Stupidity.

Sheer liquid stupidity.

"Don't mind him," Nex muttered to his now-girlfriend, offering her a smile. "He's going to get in trouble."

There was no need to use Pareidolia to come to that conclusion. One did not simply answer one of Bartholomew Oobleck's questions in the way Cardin Dumbchester did.

Weiss scowled, huffing as she turned her head towards the idiot. "You're quite the close-minded person, aren't you, Winchester?"

Nex sighed. Troublesome. There was no stopping his partner when she went on one of her tirades. Certainly not when Mt. Weiss just spewed lava all over her own notes. The only thing left to do was to sit back and enjoy the show. But still, there was definitely a reason as to why she snapped. And it was probably their newfound relationship.

Fuck.

Screw it.

How hard was it to throttle Dumbchester?

Maybe he could catch the idiot in a classroom somewhere, turn off the lights, then wrap his fingers around his neck. And squeeze. Then squeeze just a little bit more.

Squeeze enough that the idiot's face turned blue while he choked on nothing, the rotten air banging on the walls of his lungs—a balloon just seconds away from bursting.

The best thing was no one would ever know.

That is, if he hacked the school's surveillance cameras and planted false evidence to throw them off his hypothetical trail.

"You got a problem, Schnee?" Dumbchester said, the sneer on his face practically audible.

Weiss shook her head, her ponytail tickling his nose. "No. In fact, I have the right answer. It's—"

"Stupidity," Nex said, saying the word loud enough for the entire class to rear their heads at him. "But if that brief, concise answer isn't enough for you, then I can elaborate."

Oobleck chugged his thermos.

"Please! Do so, Mr Shade! I would appreciate the opinion of a faunus on this issue! In fact, I would love to hear it!"

Weiss spun, shooting him a glare, her eyebrows definitely twitching.

"What are you doing?" Weiss hissed.

Nex shrugged. "Participating in class."

Her face twisted into something indescribable, definitely doing a lot of things to his stomach. Like honey splashed over an open fire. But there would be time for that in the future.

Nex cleared his throat, readying an impromptu answer for his adoring audience. That night with Winter. Being drunk without being drunk.

It was definitely the best model.

"It's simple," Nex said, nodding like a sage. "The general neglected to engage his brain."

Oobleck nodded at hyper-sonic speeds, frowning while he sipped his thermos.

Weiss kicked his leg even harder, her eyebrows vibrating into slits.

Not entirely unexpected. But well, he started it. It was too late to end it.

"He ordered his massive army to attack at night, failing to consider that faunus have the advantage of night vision," Nex drawled, cupping his chin with one hand. He propped his elbow on the desk. "Thus, the general rushed into the battle blind, literally and figuratively, and ended up being captured. You could say that he lost because of his lack of knowledge and awareness. Therefore, stupidity, or perhaps ignorance, as some might forgive."

Now, the cherry on top of the poisoned cake. The one thing that would push Dumbchester into taking a detention.

Let it be said the cake was a lie.

Nothing more.

Nex turned to smile at his prey. "If only the good general listened more in class and had more of a brain, then perhaps he wouldn't be remembered as a failure, would he?"

Dumbchester rose from his seat, his face scrunched up into a ball of red.

Nex smirked, turning away. Got him. Any moment now.

"Mr. Winchester! Please return to your seat and see me after class for detention and extra readings with Mr Arc! Mr Shade, you are indeed correct! Astoundingly so! But it would not be remiss of you to phrase your answer in a more academically-inclined manner! Even so, your participation in this class is highly welcome! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter! Capital! Moving on!"

Oobleck dashed around the classroom, continuing his manic speech.

Jaune groaned, even as Yang patted him on the back. She grinned at them, before she spun and faced their hyperactive professor.

Weiss wrestled control of her twitching eyebrows. She blinked, her mouth hanging open before she slammed it close. Her teeth clattered.

Well, it was a little bit rude.

"What was that?" Weiss whispered, sounding like a girl lost somewhere.

Maybe in his eyes.

Nex shrugged, smiling as his chin crashed on the desk. "I'd be a bad boyfriend if I didn't back up my girlfriend, right?"

Weiss chuckled, shaking her head. "You're surprisingly motivated, Mr Shade. Perhaps we should fit more team-building exercises into our schedule."

Said team-building exercises probably involved what happened in their dorm earlier. Not that the proposition was unwelcome.

No. Of course not.

It was an opportunity to explore more of Weiss—a new side of his partner he had never experienced before.

That they had never experienced before.

Nexus Shade grinned at Weiss Schnee's glistening lips.

After all, it took two people to share a kiss.