Having helped Ruby back to their room Weiss decided that, in the current state of post-sugar rush, which for Ruby was a little similar to a drunk at the end of the night, Ruby was not going to be much help for anything, so rather than struggle to get her into her own bed, Weiss opted for the simpler and easier route. She put Ruby into her bed, and, with only a little coaxing, convinced her to take her boots off and slide under the covers. Ruby smiled wildly as Weiss tucked her in, "You're the best partner ever Weiss." The declaration caused Weiss' cheeks to burn slightly and a faint flutter in her stomach to start.
The feeling was ruined by a certain blonde huntress saying "Wow Weiss, don't you think getting my sister in your bed whilst she's on a sugar crash is a little opportunistic? Didn't think you had it in you Ice Queen."
Weiss spun around with an ice-cold glare on her face that would have frozen lava "Don't you dare insinuate that I'd take advantage of Ruby like that!"
Yang immediately raised her hands up in surrender but still smirking, "Whoa! Okay, okay, chill out."
Blake stood up quickly "Hey Yang, how about that walk around campus you mentioned earlier?" Blake hoped her partner would agree and they could vanish, she didn't want Weiss pushed too far, after all they hadn't even been back for an entire day.
Yang slid off her bed, Weiss shooting ice daggers at her the whole time, and sauntered to the door "Sure thing Blake, let's leave Weiss and Ruby alone here…although I expect my sister to still have her innocence when we get back." She smirked at Weiss, wagging her finger in a mock scolding, ducking quickly out the door as Weiss grabbed for something to throw at her, Blake in a quick power walk after Yang.
Weiss glared at the door frame for a few moments before getting up and slamming it shut. "Insufferable interfering idiot." She muttered to herself as she walked back to her desk on one side of the dorm and started arranging some books and paper that she'd brought with her, hoping the organisation would calm her down.
An hour or two later, there was a soft knock at the door. Weiss placed the book she was reading down and got up from her desk to open the door, hearing Ruby stir behind her.
"Penny? What's wrong?"
Standing in the doorway was the usually energetic redhead, Penny, looking pretty down. "Hello Weiss. Is Ruby there? I would like some advice."
Weiss turned her head to see Ruby get up from the bed and walk towards them both, rubbing her eyes. "Hey Penny, how..." her sentence was interrupted by a fairly large yawn, "how can I help?"
Penny looked at Weiss who shrugged and stepped aside, letting her enter and closing the door behind him before going back to her desk. "Can I ask you for some advice please? I don't know what to do."
"Sure Penny, what's up?"
"Well, Professor Goodwitch told Jaune, Ren, and Nora that if they wanted to graduate, they need four people in their team. Since Pyrrha isn't here anymore they need a fourth member, and she said that I should be that person."
Ruby nodded "Yeah, Ren mentioned it earlier."
"I think Jaune is not happy about me being part of the team. When I ask my teammates, they don't explain. I want to be a good team member, so what can I do?"
Ruby sighed, "There's not really anything you CAN do Penny, they...they lost their previous teammate. It's going to take some time for them all to get used to it." Ruby put a hand on her upper arm comfortingly.
"If that is the case, then why is it only Jaune who seems annoyed with me?"
"Because Ren and Nora have each other. They still have their partner." They both looked at Weiss, who had turned to face them. "Whereas Jaune doesn't, he has to try and deal with the fact that you're his new partner and will be for the next two years. I don't know how I'd react if someone replaced Ruby as my partner..." Weiss shuddered at the thought.
Penny seemed confused, "But I'm not replacing his previous partner, I'm only part of the team so I can fit in easier for my mission from General Schnee and so they can graduate."
"Nobody is saying you're replacing Pyrrha Penny, you're someone different, but it might take Jaune some time to get used to it. Give him a bit of time and space and he'll be okay." Ruby smiled at Penny.
"Thank you, Ruby, I knew I could count on you for advice!" Penny hugged Ruby tightly. Letting her go she turned to Weiss, "and thank you too Weiss. I will give him some space and be patient." Smiling more brightly than when she came in, she left their room.
Yang was still giggling to herself when Blake caught up to her, "Oh the look on her face was priceless! Weiss is SO easy to tease." Turning to find Blake beside her, "This is going to be so much fun."
Blake smiled back, "You need to be careful though, you don't want Ruby to hear you joking about her 'innocence' like that."
"Oh, it'll be fine, I'll just make sure to do it when Ruby isn't there or listening."
Blake shook her head and chuckled. Strolling side by side they headed out the main entrance and started to walk around the edge of the building in a long loop. Reaching a part of the gardens that overlooked the city they stopped to sit down and admire the view, the entire city stretched out before them, reaching from the base of the cliff Beacon was built on all the way to the docks on the far side. Yang spoke softly, "It's been a long time since I last saw Vale, I actually missed it to be honest, especially looking at it from up here. It's beautiful."
Blake smiled at her partner, despite the way she seemed to a lot of people, a flirtatious joker living her best life, she had a romantic, and possibly even artistic, streak hidden that she rarely let out. Blake was fairly certain that she was the only person who knew about it other than maybe Ruby and their dad, and it was something that she loved about the blonde sat next to her.
Wait, loved about her? Blake blinked a couple of times, Well saying you love something about someone is normal, you can just say that about a friend, can't you? After all Yang had told her that she loved it when she was feisty, and that had been over two years ago, so it was definitely a normal thing to say about one of your friends. Blake smiled and leaned towards Yang automatically, closing her eyes, There are definitely quite a few things I love about her, her endless energy, the way she always keeps an eye on Ruby, ready to help, but makes sure to stay far enough back so that Ruby can handle things on her own, her puns, not that I will EVER tell her, the way she scratches my ears to get my attention, like she is now...
Blake's internal thought process was interrupted by the realisation that Yang had been scratching her ears for at least a minute. She jumped slightly and stopped leaning against her partner, cheeks starting to burn up. Yang was grinning "Oh did you want me to stop? I thought you were having a purr-fect time?" If Blake's cheeks were pink before, they were now a violent shade of red. "Don't worry kitten, if you're embarrassed, I'll take a quick cat-nap and just pretend it was all a dream." Yang smirked at Blake, winked, and then pretended to fall asleep, snoring loudly.
Blake, despite the heat that was still rising to her cheeks, saw a perfect opportunity for revenge. "I know you're not really sleeping Yang, that's not what it sounds like when you snore."
"Of course, I'm not asleep, that was obviously a fake sno..." halfway through her reply Yang realised what Blake has said, "Wait, what do you mean that's not what my snoring sounds like? I don't snore!"
Blake grinned and got up, sauntering away.
"I don't snore! I do NOT snore." Yang got up and followed Blake, still protesting.
"Whatever you say Snoring Beauty." Oh god, Yang was rubbing off on her.
"Ok that was a good one, if I snored. Which I don't. I don't snore!"
When Yang and Blake returned to the room, Yang winked at Weiss who huffed loudly and turned her back on her, diving into her book.
The next week passed by with the two teams getting used to being back at Beacon and watching out for the new, and old, arrivals at the school.
The fourth-year students were the first to arrive, and RWBY were happy to see that CFVY had returned. CFVY also passed on a message from Sun that he'd keep an eye on Cardin for them, as apparently team CRDL preferred the laxer attitude of Shade Academy and were transferring for the rest of their training. "No loss there" said Coco, "Means I don't have to spend my time keeping an eye on him and kicking his ass to Haven and back every time he's a racist piece of..." Coco cut off as she noticed Velvet giving her a death glare. "What? He is though! Got no sense of fashion either..."
"If I wasn't blind, I'd roll my eyes." Fox muttered, "Later." He shouldered his bag and walked off to the dorm building. Yatsuhashi nodded to each of team RWBY in turn and followed after him.
"Sorry about Fox, he's not the best on long airship journeys, especially when he's tired." Velvet apologised as her and Coco followed their teammates, "I'll see you later, ok Blake?"
"I'm a little surprised at you Yang, normally you and Coco flirt incessantly. Have you finally started to grow up?" Weiss was looking at Yang and smiling out the corner of her mouth.
"I grew up a long time ago Weiss, that's why I'm taller than you." Weiss' indignant noises were cut off by Yang continuing, "And no, I wouldn't flirt with Coco at the minute. For one, she normally starts it and she didn't today, but the main reason is that I have a feeling she has her eye on a certain rabbit Faunus, who may just have an eye on her too..." Yang was staring at Coco and Velvet and how close they were walking.
"I agree with you, the way Velvet kept looking at Coco, and how she smiled at her, I'm fairly certain that if they're not together already, it won't be long until they are. I'll need to ask Velvet about it later." Blake was also watching the two girls from team CFVY.
The third years arrived next, and they said hi to other friends they recognised, then the second years the following day, before finally the first years arrived. Their initiation was the next day, and the whole academy was in the hall watching overhead views on the screens, little dots moving around the Emerald Forest as they got partners, selected chess pieces, and headed back. Ruby was secretly very glad that if the whole academy was watching that there was no sound, and hopefully it was that way with her initiation too...
Teams were set up, Professor Goodwitch dealing with the announcements, and introducing them to the whole academy. Team FIOR were first, a mix of three Faunus and one human, split evenly between guys and girls, and they were led by one of the male Faunus, Finn Jenkins. Followed by Team BLBD, all human girls, led by Bianca Barossa. Next up were team GAIA, a group of two Faunus and two humans, all girls, led by Garnet Garis. Finally, there was team SEIA, a group of all human guys, led by Saturn Gale.
Normality resumed.
Or so they thought, as on their first morning of the school year officially starting, whilst Weiss was berating Ruby about insisting on wearing her cloak over her uniform, AGAIN, a flyer was slipped under the door.
Blake noticed it first and picked it up. "Huh. I'd forgotten about that." The other three turned to look at her, Yang stopped brushing her hair and wandered over. Blake turned the flyer around so the room could see, "The Vytal Tournament is back."
Author's notes:
Writing that walk between Blake and Yang was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The version that's up now is the fourth version, the other three were awful, and I even thought about scrapping the walk bit entirely, but decided to give it one last go, as I needed (and wanted) to put in a bit of flirting Yang and Blake.