The Calm Before The Storm
"And that ends the match." Goodwitch stated the obvious. One team laid collapsed with auras flickering and waning. Team RWAY stood with not a single member below seventy-five percent, looking for all the world like they'd just gone for a stroll.
"Team RWAY, your skills on the battlefield have improved dramatically, even in these past two weeks. Keep this up, and you four will have no problems qualifying for the Vytal Tournament." Goodwitch pushed her glasses up and shot a glare towards their leader. "If you keep your overconfidence in check."
Ruby let out a nervous giggle and glanced away. Maybe making silly faces behind her opponent while they frantically searched for her was a step too far, but she thought it was funny!
As the professor nodded for them to leave and moved to the other team to provide what advice she could against such an overwhelming threat, RWAY stepped out into the halls.
The door hadn't even fully closed before Ruby leaped into the air. "Now, that's more like it! Keeping that flawless record going!" she cheered as the door behind them closed.
"You know half of our victories were with us still ignoring each other, right?" Weiss pointed out.
"Well, duh! I, uh..." Ruby looked around and tried to hide how obvious it was that she was thinking up what to say next, but to little avail. "Meant o~our flawless record of flawless victories! Y'know, with all four of us still being up?"
Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"She's not entirely incorrect. Even if I could probably crush half of our opponents on my own." Adam crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall to the men's changing room.
Yang stifled a laugh. "Ooooh, look at Mr. Cool And Edgy over here. Last time I checked, I beat you last time we fought."
"You also have conveniently found ways to miss any fight after that," Adam replied, "and three to one isn't a particularly good record."
"Oh, really?" Yang rolled her shoulders and walked closer to him with a wide grin on her face. "My aura's still fresh, how about we even that up?"
"Okay, okay! That's enough!" Ruby slid between them.
"Aw come on, Rubes, we were just playing around!" Yang tussled her little sister's hair until she let out a growl that she probably thought was threatening enough.
"Yea~ah, but the headmaster is just about to let us off of that probation or whatever it was when CFVY was watching us and I kinda don't wanna go back to that! We're gonna prove that we're the best team in Beacon, and we're probably not going to do that if we've got older students around just to make sure we can't stay out of trouble... even if they are pretty cool. Right, Weiss?"
No response.
Ruby pushed up onto her toes to peer past Yang's shoulder. "Uh, Weiss?"
"She left to change around the time you started your speech," Yang said.
Ruby crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine! You agree then, right Adam?" She turned around... and found no one there.
"He left about halfway through your little speech," said Yang from behind her.
Ruby stamped her foot and spun on her heel to face Yang again, only to find her waving as she walked off into the changing room. "Ugh, you guys suck!" She called back as she jogged in after her, trying desperately to hold back a grin that'd betrayed her words.
Sure, her team was prickly... but it was nice to have Team RWAY all together!
That afternoon, someone left a book by a tree in the courtyard. Already, Adam could guess it wasn't a textbook: those things were practically worth their weight in Dust. However, curiosity took over, and he reached down to pick it up. No title, no information, just a simple black sleeve over it. He flipped the cover open and instinctively grimaced.
'Ninjas of Love 2: Romance of Ronins.'
Naturally. It sounded like something Blake would read. Adam frowned at the thought. How many weeks had it been since they last spoke to one another? Each night, he had called, wondering if the White Fang had caught up to her already, or if she had simply forgotten about him. Adam snorted at the thought: no, even if their relationship had fallen apart, they were still too close for that. Right?
Curiosity began to take over: exactly what did Blake find so entrancing about these books, anyway? Adam flipped open to a random page close to the beginning, and began to skim. Three pages later, and he'd flipped back to the first page: really, there was no point in reading without context.
Ten pages later, he was leaning against the tree. Why, he couldn't gather a synopsis if the sun was in his eyes.
Thirty pages later, he caught himself slumping down against the rough bark. For... smut, it was rather well-written. He'd have to read further if he wanted to really figure out what Blake's infatuation with these kinds of books were about.
Eighty pages later, Adam decided he ought to stay here and make sure no one stole the book. While he stayed here, he might as well spend time reading through it. After all, what else what he was supposed to do?
Two hundred and forty-two pages later, not including a couple rereads of certain... more interesting passages, and Adam wiped at his eyes: the sun had such an awful glare. Looking around, Adam realized just how much he had lost track of time: it was late in the evening now, deep into sunset. The sky was a mix of red and pink, much like Adam's cheeks after he realized not just what he had been reading, but how long he had been reading it for. Adam idly tipped the book closed with his thumb holding his place.
He sat up ramrod-straight: someone could've seen him. Would they have known what book he was reading? What if the original owner had seen him? His eyes nervously flicked from window to window, pathway to pathway. The last few people were leaving to their dorms. That didn't matter: if anyone had noticed him, they would have said something... or the damage was already done.
Grunting, Adam pushed himself back up the tree from the soft grass. Either way, he supposed, there was nothing he could do. Might as well go back to his dorm: no doubt the others would start getting curious about where he'd went. Frankly, he was surprised at least Ruby hadn't gone searching for him. He idly flipped Ninjas of Love II open again: now, what to do with this... He did only have about ten pages left, and the owner hadn't shown up yet, either...
"Oooh, please tell me I just left it here..." A soft, accented voice shook Adam from his thoughts, and the sound of hurried footsteps coming towards his position. He turned around the tree—
And found himself face-to-face with a very flustered Velvet Scarlatina.
"O-oh, uh, hey Adam! I was wondering if you had seen a... book... anywhere..." Her eyes slowly fell from Adam's face to the open book dangling loosely in his hand. The two stood there for what felt like an eternity. Velvet's eyes were wide, her jaw slack and her cheeks bright-red. At least in terms of the latter, Adam wasn't doing much better, himself.
He snapped the book shut, and Adam was certain she jumped a foot into the air.
"... Let's never speak of this again," Adam muttered and handed the book off to Velvet. Her eyes flicked between Adam's own and the book before she just squeaked and snatched it from his hands. Believing that was the end of that, Adam slowly stepped back, slipped his hands into his pockets and quickly strode towards his dorms. Just a few more minutes and he could forget all about this. Unfortunately, right when he thought he was free, Velvet's voice called out from behind him.
"Wait!"
Adam sighed. It was never that easy. He turned his head slightly, not enough to see the rabbit faunus herself, but enough to tell her he was listening. Adam preferred if she saw him blushing and flustered for as little as possible: he cared for his image a little more than he cared to admit. Now holding the book behind her back, Velvet carefully stepped into his view. Her eyes, however, were finding the grass much more interesting than the one she called to.
"Coco's been saying that she's getting pretty confident in your team. Enough to let you guys go when the Headmaster asks tomorrow. I just..." She kicked at the ground. "Well, that's no reason to stop hanging out, right?"
Fully turning to her, Adam let a rare, genuine smile show. Faunus friends were hard to come by. "I see no reason why it should..." He held up a finger. "Under one condition."
Velvet raised an eyebrow, amusement in her eyes. "Oh, this ought to be good..."
"It's time you stood up for yourself. Even if Cardin's... domesticated, it's only a matter of time before others pick up on it. If they haven't already."
Her smile fell. "Adam..."
But Adam's remained. He held up a hand in his defense. "I'm not saying to 'take him down a peg' or even make a scene, even if that is what he would deserve. Just don't let them harm you. That's all. You don't need to use your strength to make them know you have it."
Velvet shifted on her feet and crossed her arms beneath her chest. She thought it over for a little longer, then sighed. "Alright, fine. It better be worth it, though!" The corner of her lips had tilted back up.
Adam rolled his eyes and turned to leave. "Trust me, it will. Thank you, by the way. For more than what you think. I will admit that your ways and methods may have... worked better than I expected."
"Well, it was kind of what I was here for. See you later, Adam!" Though Adam couldn't see her, he could hear the smirk in her voice... and that just wouldn't do.
With a last glance back, he waved to her and walked off. Adam stopped only once on his way to his dorms, just barely within earshot as he called back, "Oh, and tell me how it ends!"
Her cheeks reddening, Velvet huffed and hurried off to her own room.
It wasn't long before Velvet had begun to join RWAY and JNPR at lunch even after their "probation" had ended. It also wasn't long before Yang and Ruby began teasing him over his new friend, especially when, due to Velvet's forgetfulness, it was Weiss who found her book the next time she had lost it. Adam soon contemplated if he should leave his room at night at all now, lest he come back to hear the two sisters giggling amongst themselves before he had even opened the door.
Still, it was worth it. With the combined pressure of her team, Yang, Nora, Ren—a surprising show of solidarity—and himself, it wasn't long before she'd begun pushing back against those who tried to bully her. Protected by RWAY, CFVY and JNPR, those who believed she was much of a target at all faded away all too quickly.
There was even a pleasant side-effect to it all: it seemed that seeing one of their most passive standing up for herself had spurred other faunus to do the same. Some more successful than others, but if they were to stick together, the possibilities were endless...
Adam sighed as he sat down for dinner, peering out over the other students. The faunus of Beacon were growing more confident now and without(too much) need for violence. Surely, Blake would have loved to hear such a thing...
His gaze fell onto his Scroll. Call failed.
If only he could actually talk to her.
"Are you alright? You've been staring at your Scroll like that for a whole week, now." Ruby leaned over Adam's shoulder, peering into the low light of his Scroll for all his secrets. Alas, Adam snapped it shut before she could see anything.
Adam yawned and glanced around at the rest of the room: RWAY and JNPR were planning on having a big night together tomorrow, and gathered tonight to try and come up with ideas. Unfortunately, Adam couldn't weasel his way out of this one, which was why he was stuck sitting in a circle with a bunch of girls and Jaune(and Ren) putting ideas to a vote.
And considering how some of their hands were raised, he must've missed one. Had Blake truly forgotten about him already? Replaced him, even? It'd been almost three months...
He forced the thoughts from his mind, even as it grew harder each time.
"... What's this vote about," he asked, ignoring the looks of concern from his team.
Weiss sighed in disdain and waved her hand towards the rest of the group: Ruby and Yang had their hands up, and Nora was holding Ren's up as well. He looked about as disinterested as he was. As it was, it was a stalemate.
"It seems we must have run out of good ideas already, because they are suggesting we have a poker night."
Adam arched an eyebrow. How long had it been since he'd played a game of cards at all? Around the time he started climbing the ranks, suddenly no one wanted to be the unlucky soul who nabbed his boss's money, and both Blake and Ilia were not exactly card fans. He had to admit however, that he might feel bad cleaning out a bunch of teenagers, even if it was just chips. His eyes fell onto Ruby, who smiled uneasily. She knew exactly what he was going to say.
"Aren't you a little too young for that?"
"Thank you!" Weiss threw her arms up. Ruby puffed her cheeks out, and Yang held her other hand out in her defense.
"Now, now, I'm her big sister: I can watch out for her."
"You're enabling her," Weiss stated flatly.
"No she isn't, she's just... not shielding me!" Ruby nodded with a satisfied grin at her own answer.
"Yeah! She can take it, come on!" Nora added in. Adam couldn't help but notice that Ren had started looking through his own Scroll, now.
Weiss crossed her arms and turned her head up to the rest of the group, determined to get her way. "Well, since we're tied again, Ruby will just have to figure it out on her own time."
Adam's eyes scanned across the room once more. On one hand, Ruby was young, and he didn't want to either make a fool of himself or make a fool of anyone else, but on the other, Weiss was just so ridiculously haughty, tonight. She was making this way, way too easy. Protecting an innocent fifteen year old from being brought into the world of gambling... or defying a Schnee.
"What's wrong, Weiss? Are afraid you'll lose that badly?" He propped his chin up on his fist and smirked. There really wasn't a choice.
"Adam..." Weiss began to warn him, even trying to throw an icy glare his way. As if that would dissuade him.
"I was just curious. So curious, in fact, that I think I might want to see for myself." Adam started bringing his other hand higher, enjoying Weiss' anger rising along with it until he had it proudly in the air. Ruby and Yang cheered and high-fived one another while Weiss snorted and shook her head. Jaune and Pyrrha uneasily glanced between one another. Easy targets for later.
"I swear, I must be the only mature person in my team..." Weiss huffed yet again as Yang and Adam high-fived over her head. Adam caught a faint blush on the ice queen's cheeks. Embarrassment? He wondered...
"Teach me." Weiss stood over Adam the next afternoon as he lounged on his bed with a textbook.
He was right.
He flipped along to the next page, not bothering to look up at the Schnee. "You don't even know how to play? Why not ask Yang? I'm certain Ruby did," Adam replied casually, as if he weren't trying his hardest to not look so smug he'd make Roman Torchwick look like an insecure child. Ruby and Yang were currently off doing a snack and cards run after they realized that they had none of either, leaving the two alone in their dorm. Weiss crinkled her nose in agitation and crossed her arms, intent on staying in control of the situation.
"Don't play dumb, Adam: you and I both know Yang wouldn't let it go."
He flicked another page over and got himself comfortable. "You're overreacting."
"Oh, yes, she's perfectly mature and wouldn't dangle this over me for weeks." Weiss growled.
Another page flipped by. Adam wasn't even hiding that he wasn't actually reading, right now. He was too busy watching Weiss simmer out of the corner of his eye.
Weiss huffed and looked like she was going to finally just give up... until she suddenly smiled and crossed her arms. "Just like she hasn't been dangling Velvet over you, right?" When Adam lingered on the next page and remained silent, Weiss knew she had him beat. Now, it was Adam's turn to be disgruntled.
The ice queen leaned over him with a sly smile. "Like. I. Thought. So, are you going to help me, or not?" She triumphantly placed her hands on her hips, expecting Adam to finally acquiesce to her now that he'd seen the truth. To her surprise, however, she instead received nothing but silence.
Weiss awkwardly glanced from side to side, then cleared her throat. "I-I said, are you going to help me, or not—"
"I think you're greatly underestimating just how fun I think it is to see you squirm," Adam spoke, catching Weiss off-guard.
She sputtered and looked around again before anger caught up with surprise, and after a kick at his bed, she stormed back off to her own.
"Ugh, fine! You are just impossible, I swear!" Weiss less sat down as much as she threw herself onto her bed, grumbling under her breath. While Weiss went off on her muffled tirade, Adam set his book aside and pulled his travel pack from under his bed. In truth, he never fully unpacked: he never saw a reason to, especially if this had ended up to just be temporary. Weiss never noticed the sounds of clothes and items rustling about, having decided to simply pretend Adam's side of the room just didn't exist at all.
She did, however, notice the small box that bounced off of her head. Pushing herself up and turning to Adam with indignant rage in her eyes and a building shout that'd wake up half the dormitories, Weiss opened her mouth wide... and paused. There was a box of cards sitting on the carpet, coincidentally the size of the one that had been so rudely thrown at her. Her eyes flicked between the cards and Adam, sitting on the floor just in front of it with the most insufferable grin she'd seen on him yet.
"Fortunately, it'll be all the better if you actually know what you're doing when you're beaten. Sit down, I don't know which variant we're playing, so I'll just show you both."
Weiss fully sat up and crossed her legs in defiance. "I'm sitting down, already."
"On the floor, Weiss. I could sit up there, of course, if you want Yang to go around telling people that we were in the same bed together."
Weiss snorted and rolled her eyes. "Please, as if she'd twist the situation that much for a giggle." Adam stared at Weiss until, with a sigh, she wordlessly conceded that such a thing was exactly what would happen, and sat down on the same level with her... "mentor".
"Well, are you going to help me, or not?" Weiss repeated, turning her nose up at the game already.
Adam shuffled the deck.
"... This game is stupid," Weiss stated flatly as she looked at the three cards out in front of them.
When Weiss was left looking around in a panic as Adam dealt the eight their cards in the blink of an eye, Adam was only reassured. The chips were set. The bets were placed. Tonight was looking to be a wonderful night.
"This game is great! Read them and weep, ladies!" Weiss flipped over her cards, winning yet another hand and completely cleaning out Ruby and Pyrrha both of their chips. As Ruby slumped into her chair in saddened disbelief, Adam hid his worries behind a smirk and began gathering the cards. He expected Jaune and Nora to be steamrolled out of this game in an instant, but Weiss was also supposed to be on that list.
Right now, the princess was going toe-to-toe with himself, Yang and Ren, and the only reason Adam believed Ren was in it was because he had the single best poker face he had ever seen in his life. Not that he'd ever tell him this.
The deck was shuffled, and eight cards flashed out to their new owners. It hadn't even fazed Weiss.
Adam gulped.
He had made a terrible mistake.
"Soooo, it might be a little against school rules, but how about we play for lien, next time?~" Weiss merrily skipped in front of her three comrades in arms, all following in various states of shock. She'd wiped them out.
"Do you really have to be any richer," Ruby murmured, still empty from her devastating loss.
"Ruby, my dear, it's not about the money! It's about winning!" She dropped onto her bed with a haughty giggle. "Proving that I am once again the best is just extra, of course."
Weiss never told him if she was a hustler or a genuine natural. Considering how she was just as good any other time they played after that night, Adam wasn't sure which possibility he feared most.
"Oh, and by the way, Adam, thanks for the tips~"
Either way, he got played.
He would never live this down.
