It was a comically short journey home. One crossed hall, one opened door, but somehow it felt like a long way; like the walk down a tall mountain after a dragon was slain. Nobody spoke, which didn't help.

Ruby tried to put the image out of her mind. All in all, the talk had gone well. Team JNPR (Was it JANPR now? JNAPR?) seemed to be doing okay, all things considered. And Team RWBY knew some things they hadn't this morning.

Big things. Big, big, scary things.

Ruby sighed, as the endless seven feet of hallway finally came to an end. She needed something else to think about.

Blake wants to cuddle, right? Ruby smiled at the thought. She's so cute. And warm. Ahhh, I wanna snuggle her and smooch her cute face and maybe her neck a little, and her tummy, and come to think of it she's got a really nice butt. Am I into butts? Maybe it's just Blake's butt. Weiss has less butt but it's still a good butt I think. Do I have a nice butt? What makes a butt nice? Bodies are weird. I think I want to touch Weiss's butt now. Is that weird?

"Ruby?"

Ruby blinked, turning to find Weiss looking at her with a familiar mix of annoyance and concern. "Is everything okay?" she asked. "You've been staring at the door for a while now."

Ruby giggled nervously, trying to stop her dumb brain from rattling on any further. "Yeah! I'm okay," she said, failing to hold eye contact with Weiss. "Um. Just, thinking."

"…Not about what we just learned, with that expression," Yang teased, grinning as she draped herself over Weiss's shoulder. "Something about our lovely girlfriends?"

Ruby bit the inside of her blushing cheek. "Maaaaybe just a little," she mumbled, pressing the tips of her fingers together.

Weiss rolled her eyes at them both. She shrugged Yang off her shoulder with a sigh. "You two are… well, delightful, but honestly we're keeping Blake waiting."

Weiss was right. If Blake wanted cuddles, then cuddles she would have. Ruby nodded sharply, shaking off her silly thoughts and opening the door with purpose.

The room was lit low by the last rays of sun to escape the storm. The only sign of Blakey was the conspicuously large pile of blankets huddled on her bed. It looked like she'd pulled out her comforter out of their winter bags. And maybe Ruby's too.

Yang chuckled, setting down the duffel bag she'd collected from Nora's closet. "Uh oh, our gf's gone missing, girls. I guess we gotta go looking. There's absolutely no way she's hiding in this very room."

Weiss rolled her eyes with a silly smirk. Ruby giggled.

The pile of blankets shifted, and a single hand snaked out into the air. It held up a particular finger in Yang's direction, then curled it inward, beckoning.

Yang chuckled again, nervous now. Ruby's smile bloomed.

"YAY!" she shouted, and zoomed over to the pile. Burrowing in with zero hesitation, she quickly found a warm body and latched onto it. "Hi!"

"Hello, Ruby," mumbled Blake.

"Hi!" Ruby said again, nuzzling into her shoulder. "You doing okay?"

Blake grunted something dark, pushing her face into the pillow.

"You want hugs?"

A nod.

"You want me, Weiss, and Yang, to hug you real tight?"

A pause. Then, slowly, a deeper nod.

Ruby poked her head out of the blanket burrito. "Alright team, new mission! Cuddle Blake until her anxiety goes away!"

"Way ahead of you, sis." Yang said. "Weiss, ready?"

"Go ahead," said Weiss, grabbing the bottom of Yang's bedframe.

With the amount of effort you'd expect from two girls with active auras and years of combat training, they hefted Yang's bed off of the book piles and set it down alongside Blake's instead. One tower of tomes tumbled to the floor, and Weiss quickly set to disassembling the rest of the "supports" before they collapsed and clobbered anyone.

"Honestly," she grumbled. "How did this last so long?"

"Because I'm an architectural genius," Yang declared, using her foot to push her bed flush against Blake's. "And now, we move onto my newest project."

Ruby gasped in delight as she realized where this was going. "Oh my gosh," she said. "Blake! Blake, look, you gotta see this!"

A furry ear poked out of the bundle, followed by the rest of Blake's head as she squinted at what her girlfriends were creating, her eyes widened. "That's… a terrible idea," she said, her voice mixing disbelief with awe. "There's no way that's actually going to work in real life."

"Sure it will," Yang said with casual certainty. "Blake, where's your ribbon, can I borrow it?"

Blake's eyebrows rose, but she indicated her dresser with a tilt of her head. "The spares are in the second drawer from the bottom."

Yang leaned down to give her a brief peck on the lips, then started digging. She came back with a familiar length of black, high-durability fabric. "Cool," she said, ducking down to the floor. "Hey, Weiss, help me with the other end?"

"Of course," Weiss said, dropping to her knees as Yang started tying the bedframes tightly together. Yang tossed the roll of ribbon underneath—Weiss caught it, and repeated Yang's actions on the other end.

Ruby watched all this in fascination. "You're tying the beds together?"

"So they don't get pushed apart, yeah," Yang explained. She caught the ribbon when Weiss tossed it back, doing one last knot for good measure. "Alright, that should hold as long as we don't move around too much."

"Neat!" Ruby said. She eyed the gap between the mattresses. "So, how are we not gonna get sucked down in between them?"

Weiss answered by taking a pillow off her own bed and stuffing it in the gap. "Hmm," she murmured, observing her handiwork. "It's a start. Yang, can you throw me Ruby's?"

"Already on it!"

The pillow sailed across the room and directly into Weiss's outstretched hand. She set it down as well, humming to herself as she packed it in carefully. "There," she said, stepping back and pausing to regard her handiwork. "Oh, that's hideous."

"I think you mean awesome, " Yang said. She sat down on her end of the structure, then rolled over onto the pillows. "…Okay you're right this sucks," she declared, "but we can work with it. Weiss, get the thingy?"

A conspiratorial smile crossed Weiss's face. She nodded sharply, going back over to the duffel.

Ruby craned her neck to try and see what Weiss was doing. She hadn't been privy to this part—Weiss and Yang had quietly bartered with Nora to acquire the package while Ruby talked with Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren—but as Weiss dragged it over something clicked in the back of Ruby's head.

She gasped. "OH! Is that the—?"

Yang nodded. "Nora said we can have it."

"It" was a mattress topper. Queen-size. Memory foam. Never used.

As the story went, back in Freshman year, Team JNPR had gone on a mission and stayed in either a "slightly fancy" (Pyrrha's words) or "totally swanky" (Nora's words) hotel, where Nora had discovered memory foam for the first time. She'd fallen in love, and when Jaune and Pyrrha decided to get a new, bigger bed, Nora decided to celebrate her best friends' relationship by buying them the nicest present she could think of.

The issue had been that, at the time, Nora hadn't known the difference between "full-size" and "queen-size," and went with the one whose name made her happier. By the time she realized her mistake, she'd become enamored with the idea of having a bed that large, and decided to keep the topper in their closet, as an "aspirational keepsake." She'd even gotten sheets for it at some point, which Yang and Weiss had also snagged.

Ruby felt a giddy warmth as she watched Weiss lift the thing. "She just gave it to us!?"

"Yup!" Yang let out a wistful sigh. "Nora is a god damn treasure."

"We've gotta pay her back."

"Oh definitely. Smuggling, arson, hiding bodies, I've got her."

"Yang?" Weiss called. "Please stop planning crimes and help me move this thing."

"In a sec!" Yang nudged Ruby, and shooting her a grin that signaled mischief. "Alright Rubes, got a puzzle for you. Me and Weiss need to fix up this bed, but Blake needs to stay wrapped up nice and snug. How are we gonna do both at once?"

Ruby blinked, then grinned as the idea took root. Before Blake could protest, she semblanced herself out of the blankets and over to the side of the bed. Gently, she wedged her hands under the warm bundle.

Blake craned her neck to look up at Ruby with wide, pleading eyes. "Please don't drop me."

Ruby's heart felt like it was going to explode. AAAAAH she's so cute she's so cute she's so cute I'm gonna cry. I wanna be cool and impress her but I'm so gay I just wanna cry.

Somehow, she settled for kissing Blake on the top of her cute little head, directly between her cute little ears. "Never," she whispered, hoping she sounded cool, hoping her huge dumb burning blush didn't make her sound less cool.

Then she lifted Blake into her arms, and her head went quiet.

Blake was the kind of heavy that all people are. Ruby liked holding her.

Ruby dimly observed as Yang stripped the fitted sheets and helped Weiss unfurl the mattress topper over the middle of the bed, but her eyes were locked on Blake's face, on her eyes, narrow and warm, her ears lowered and content. Blake smiled at her, and Ruby didn't know how to externalize what that made her feel.

"There!" said Yang triumphantly. Ruby realized she was rocking slightly, and steadied herself, forcing herself to come back to the world.

Blake seemed to shake something off as well, as they both looked down at the monstrous pile of softness Yang and Weiss had constructed. The topper didn't quite fit perfectly, and the pillows stuffed in the crevice left a weird lump in the middle, but it looked pretty alright all things considered, especially with the new sheets forced over it.

"Not that I don't appreciate it," Blake said, ear twitching restlessly, "but you guys didn't have to go quite this far."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Don't think we're just pampering you," she huffed. "This is a mutual arrangement. Now Ruby, set her down so I can get in there too."

For a moment, Ruby really wanted to argue that Blake lived in her arms now, but then she took one look at the weary blush on Weiss's cute face and recognized the wisdom in her words. "Awwww, okay," she sighed. She gently lowered Blake down into the middle of the beds, planting another little smooch on her nose as she did. Blake couldn't hide her tired smile, and Ruby couldn't hide hers.

Meanwhile, Weiss casually undid her hair, set her scroll on the floor, tossed her socks off, and immediately started searching for the seam in Blake's cocoon. "Ruby, Yang, you two get in here as well," she said, without looking up. "And grab the sheets off my bed while you're at it."

They took a while to get settled in. The new layout really was a lot nicer than what they'd gone for earlier, given that this time they actually had enough room for four people to lie down without squishing each other. Plus, it was soft. Nora'd definitely had the right idea with this memory foam stuff.

Thunder cracked the distant sky. The light outside was fading fast, and the wind whistled through the trees outside, clattering branches against the window. Ruby spooned closer to Blake's back, burying her head in a wave of dark hair as Yang snuggled up to Weiss on the other end.

"Hey…" Blake murmured, curling a little closer to Ruby. "Thank you. You really didn't have to do all this."

"Like I said: It isn't just for you," Weiss said, softly. She kissed Blake on the cheek, and tucked her head under the other girl's chin.

After a little while, a sniffle rose from where she lay.

Ruby stretched her arm as far as it'd go and began rubbing gentle circles on Weiss's shoulder. Yang and Blake took this as a cue to squeeze Weiss from both sides.

It wasn't long before Weiss really was crying. Her breath came in quiet gasps as she pressed her face to Blake's chest. Her hands grasped at Ruby's arm, her legs tangling with Yang's.

"I'm sorry," Weiss eventually said. "I know you're upset too, and I… I want to be there for you, but, I think, I need to be held for a little while?"

"That's okay," Blake said, squeezing her tight. "'Mutual arrangement,' right?"

Weiss chuckled a little, closing her eyes as Yang stroked her hair. "You're all so… stars, you're too good to me," she said. She swallowed heavily. "I've always felt a little apprehensive around Professor Ozpin, but… I never thought… I never thought. "

Blake nodded, kissing her hair. "Yeah."

"And Pyrrha…" Weiss shook her head. "It's unspeakable."

"Mhm," Yang murmured softly, tucking her arm tighter around Weiss's waist.

"And I don't know what to do about any of it," Weiss said. She sounded fragile, brittle. "Just… what are we supposed to do now?"

Ruby drifted her fingers through Weiss's hair. "I… dunno what we're gonna do," she admitted. "But we're gonna do it together, right?"

"Absolutely," Yang said. "Nobody's in this alone." She shifted her gaze, catching Ruby's eye before shifting back to their girlfriends. "Blake? How are you doing?"

"Better," Blake said. She reached out and took Yang's hand with her free arm, using the other to hug Weiss tight. "That talk just… brought a lot of stuff flooding back. I worried myself sick about the White Fang for months. And when nothing happened, I guess I convinced myself I'd just been paranoid? But apparently I was right, and now I just have to wonder… where did all those people go? Cinder, Torchwick… Adam. They're out there, somewhere. Whatever that all was, there's no way it's over." A pause, and when her voice came back it was weaker. "Adam wouldn't give up like that."

The sound of rain on the windowpane filled the silence.

"You're probably right," Weiss said, her voice steadying out. "They probably are still out there, and they probably are still plotting something." She shifted up, adjusting her position so she could press her forehead against Blake's, tired eyes to tired eyes. "And we'll probably have to face them all again someday." She ran a hand through Blake's hair, sweeping it back across her cheek and tucking it behind her hominid ear. "But we're safe here. At least, for now." She smiled, her cheeks pinking slightly. "You're safe, we love you, and we're not letting you go."

She kissed Blake, and it was all Ruby could do not to just scream. She glanced up at Yang and found a similarly fond expression on her face.

"We have the cutest girlfriends," Ruby said, extending a fist.

Yang bumped back without hesitation. "That we do, sis."

Weiss broke the kiss to glare at Ruby. "Hey! We're having a tender moment here, " she grumpled.

"Aww, we love you too though," Ruby hummed, wiggling happily.

"The feeling's entirely mutual," Blake chuckled, shifting to tangle a leg with Ruby's. Her pants were rough on Ruby's skin, but that was nice too, in its own way. A different kind of contact, but not an unwelcome one.

Yang laughed, as they drifted into wordlessness again. For a moment, her hand slipped free of Blake's as she reached out to rest it on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby reached out to touch her arm, noting how warm she was. It was odd, noticing how different it felt to touch her sister compared to her girlfriends. Not bad, not even less, just… simpler. Calming. And... she needed calming, right now.

They stayed in that moment a while, just warm and happy and safe, but it couldn't last forever. The storm outside continued, more violent with the minutes passing. Lightning flashed, transforming the room to a strange contrast of itself for a single imaginary moment.

Ruby sniffed, hugging Blake tighter as her smile broke under the weight of darker thoughts. "I feel so lost," she admitted. "Like Weiss said, I just can't figure out how to do what's right."

"You don't have to know right away," Blake said.

"I know," Ruby murmured. "It's just…" She trailed off, an odd panic settling in as she found her mouth empty. She focused on the words that were trying to get out of her, absentmindedly drumming her fingers against Blake's thigh to help her focus.

I'm the leader, she thought. I'm supposed to look at the threats we face and come up with the best solutions. I just don't know how to do that. I don't know how to prepare us for fighting Cinder, or how to protect Pyrrha, or even whether we should trust Ozpin. I don't know anything, and I'm scared. I'm scared because I know that if I mess up, you could die. Just like mom died. And, I can't even think about that, because the idea of having even one of you gone, of having a hole like that in my life…

But her voice just… wouldn't come out. No matter how she tried, she just couldn't say the words. She pressed her forehead into Blake's neck, a low noise building in the back of her throat as frustration twisted her heart and put tears in her eyes.

"It's so much ," was all she eventually managed to say. She hoped it was enough.

Blake and Weiss shared a silent glance, and Blake quietly twisted herself around to take Ruby in her arms, and just… held her, so tight that Ruby's aura flickered under her hands. Ruby closed her eyes, hugging back and pushing her defenses down, gasping as the full force of Blake's strength hit her.

She'd never felt so small.

Gradually, Ruby's heartbeat slowed. She let her eyes flutter shut, breathing in Blake's scent. It was strange—not something she was used to yet, really, but comforting all the same. Earth and subtle sweetness.

They slipped into silence again, gradually letting the tension drizzle away. The rain was coming down hard and loud now, and wind rattled the window frame. The light was a low shade of blue.

"You doing okay, sis?" Yang asked, her voice familiar and gentle.

Ruby mumbled something that was supposed to be "yeah." She nodded, to clarify. "Words are hard, but I'm ok."

"Good, good…" Yang sighed.

Ruby pushed herself up, looking over Blake and Weiss at her sister. "Are you? Ok?"

Yang rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. "Not really. I'm tired, and pissed, and I don't know what to do about any of it. But, honestly? I don't want to think about it anymore. Right now I just want to hug you guys until I stop thinking."

"That sounds delightful," Weiss chuckled. "Frankly, I also find speculating on the machinations of shadowy forces beyond our ken rather unappealing when I could instead be snuggling with my three very attractive, very warm girlfriends."

"Hear hear," Blake chuckled.

Yang snickered, turning over again and staring at Weiss with warm, dark eyes. "Sounds good to me," she said. "Soooo… tell me more about these attractive girlfriends of yours. They sound neat."

Weiss smirked, her eyes drifting closed. "Well, one's an insufferable hothead. She's always trying to protect us, even when we don't need it, and while it sometimes makes me want to bang my head against the wall … it's sweet, as well. But, I worry that her heart is too big for her chest sometimes."

"Dang, that's pretty big," Blake muttered. Ruby and Yang both snickered in tandem.

Weiss's brows pinched. "—By which I mean, she pushes herself too hard. I don't think she realizes just how wonderful she is, and that even if the whole concept of 'deservingness' wasn't a load of nonsense peddled by charlatans and class structures, she'd still more than deserve us. She's kind, and thoughtful, utterly hilarious and stupidly brave. And on top of all that?" Her brow twitched. "She's somehow the only one of us who's never gotten below an A. In any class."

Blake's ears perked. "Wait, really?" Even Grimm Theory II with Onyxia?"

"Yep." Weiss smiled, cracking an eye to gaze proudly at Yang.

Yang had the biggest, goofiest smile Ruby had ever seen on her face. "Awww… it wasn't that big a deal."

"Yang," Ruby said, finding her words coming a little easier. "That's like… the only class Weiss ever got a C in . "

"Oh damn, really?"

"Yes, really," Weiss huffed. "Anyway, I'm not done!" She turned to Blake. "There's also my other girlfriend. She plays herself all aloof and mysterious, and world weary, but she bears a remarkably pure heart—especially given her reading habits."

Blake curled into Ruby a little, muttering a quiet curse as she blushed.

"And like the first," Weiss continued, "she doesn't give herself nearly enough credit. She's already survived more than most of us will ever face; a woman of her own making, self-defined and free. She isn't just an incredible person; she inspires me, every moment of every day."

"You're going to break her," Yang chuckled, as Blake curled up fully into a little ball and made a flustered sound.

Weiss shifted, reaching out and hugging Blake to herself. "I couldn't break her if I tried," she said, resting her head against Blake's spine.

"Awwwww," Ruby intoned. "Smooth."

"And then there's my third girlfriend," Weiss said.

Ruby's heart leapt an inch at the upward curl in Weiss's voice. "Oh crap, here it comes," she muttered. Blake snorted out a laugh.

"She's an utter terror, sometimes," Weiss said. "She's impulsive, and she's headstrong, and sometimes it seems like she can't take anything seriously…"

Ruby chuckled bashfully. "Yup, that's me…"

"But then the next moment, she's the bravest of us." Weiss's voice fell, uncertainty entering it. "And she scares the piss out of me constantly, because she's worth more to me than I can ever put into words, and she sometimes seems to lack any sense of self preservation! She is baffling, impetuous, hilarious, frustrating, patient, kindhearted, gorgeous, and so much wiser than she has any damn right to be." She her eyes watered, as she smiled big and soft. "And I love her for all of it."

Ruby felt herself shake, and realized that she was crying again. "Weissss…" she mumbled. "Stop it, you're mean."

"I… what?" Weiss looked at her in utter confusion. "How—?"

"You're too nice! Stop being so nice, it's mean!"

"Wh?!" Weiss's mouth opened in an incredulous grin. "I can't believe you. No, scratch that, of course I can." She lifted herself over Blake and pressed her lips to Ruby's forehead. "How did you ever get me to fall in love with a dolt like you?" she huffed.

Ruby giggled, tilting her head to kiss Weiss properly, making note of the way Blake's ears perked up as they did. She was almost tempted to continue, turn this into a makeout session on the spot, but then an arm snaked around Weiss's middle and yanked her away.

"H-hey!" Ruby protested, making grabby motions with her hands. "Mine!"

"I'll give her back in a sec, Rubes!" Yang said.

"Hey!" Weiss protested, wriggling in a most undignified manner. "Let me go! I'm not an object for you to fight over!"

"Aww, but Weiss…" Yang used two fingers to push Weiss's chin up to look at her. "You said all that nice stuff about us, and we haven't even gotten to return the favor," she simpered. "It's only fair, y'know?"

Weiss flushed, her eyes dilating even as she did her best to compose herself. "Do your worst, Xiao Long," she said, in a voice which might have been imperious if Yang didn't practically have her by the jaw. "I can handle a few compliments, unlike some people."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Well, you covered my absolute gremlin of a sister. And my other girlfriend, who is everything you said, and also hotter than a habañero pepper."

Blake snorted, burying her laugh in Ruby's chest.

"As for you…" Yang's smile faded. "You're… beautiful."

Weiss gave Yang a thoroughly bewildered look, even as her flush spread to her neck. "…Thanks?"

Yang swallowed, looking away as her confidence evaporated in an instant. "S-sorry! I. Uh."

Ruby snickered, peeking over Blake's shoulder. "Gaaayy…" she whispered.

Yang glared at her, sticking out her tongue. "Well, can you describe this without getting flustered?" she demanded, gesturing at the totality of Weiss. "Like, all of this? This, gorgeous, brilliant, wonderful person?"

"M-maybe!" Ruby shot back. "She's, um, she's pretty! Yeah." She sank back down behind Blake. "I win."

Weiss's smile had been growing the whole time, and at last it seemed she was unable to hold back. "You lovely idiots," she wheezed, laughing girlish and giddy as she hugged Yang tight. "I love you both so much. Even if neither of you know how to compliment a pretty girl."

"Hmmm… maybe I could give it a shot?" Blake said, her voice entirely casual.

She patted Ruby gently, and rolled over to face Weiss again. "She calls other people terrors, impetuous, headstrong," said Blake. "And yet she's all those things herself. She's devious. Frustrating. But most of all, she's defiant. She had a comfortable, easy life laid out before her, and she threw it away because it wasn't what she wanted. She refused to be defined by anyone else, and when her father disowned her… I think that just made her even stronger."

She smiled, reaching out to cup Weiss's cheek. "You called me a self-made woman," Blake said, looking deep into Weiss's eyes. "But if I am, then so are you. You are not your father's daughter. You're not some Atlas snob. You're you, fundamentally rejecting all labels but the ones you write for yourself. The Weiss who's here, in this bed, in this moment, is a person I never would have believed could exist, just a few years ago. I've never felt so lucky to be wrong."

There was a pause, and then Yang whistled low. "I think Blake wins this one, sis."

Ruby giggled, hugging Blake tight. "Yup."

Weiss stared into Blake's eyes like she needed to memorize them, utterly frozen in place. "Um," she finally managed. "I think you've stopped my heart, but I feel like I should thank you for it?"

Blake smirked, lidding her eyes and leaning in towards Weiss. "You could kiss me, if you think that'd start it again."

Weiss's face pinched with the strange lovechild of amusement and frustration, and then she flowed into motion, crashing over Blake until she'd rolled her fully onto her back, straddling her in the process.

(They almost squished Ruby as she hastily scrambled out of the way, but she hardly felt like complaining.)

They stilled. Blake's eyes were slitted, her lips parted, and her breath came in quick, quiet gasps. Weiss stared down at this image with cold intensity. "You want me to kiss you?" she asked.

Blake nodded, swallowing hard. "Please," she rasped.

And Weiss rushed down onto her without further hesitation, lips on lips and hands on wrists, powerful for all her smallness. Blake arched into her, a quiet growl in the back of her throat, struggling against Weiss with no intent to free herself. Once again, there was tongue.

Ruby found herself experiencing an entirely new cocktail of emotions as she watched her girlfriends unravel. It started as a warmth in her cheeks and neck, then as a warmth in her belly, tingling more intensely with little sound they made.

"Wow…" she breathed. "Is this what watching porn is supposed to be like?"

"Oh my god." Yang let out a sputtering laugh. "I did not need to hear that."

"Shhhhh!" Ruby hissed. "I wanna watch!"

"…Okay, yeah, same."

Blake snickered into Weiss's mouth, and the Ice Queen shot a pair of particularly frosty glances at Ruby and Yang. "Really?"

"We did start making out without even asking if it was okay first," Blake gasped, a guilty twist to her voice. "…S-sorry, by the way."

Weiss blinked, seeming not to have considered this, before her eyes widened hilariously. "Oh," she said, sitting up and quickly smoothing out her skirt—which had hiked quite a ways up her thigh. "Well. Hm. I… apologize. A-anyway, thank you for your participation in this abject foolishness, Blake."

"Aww, are you done making out?" Ruby muttered, scooting forward and nuzzling into Blake's neck. "No fair."

Blake cleared her throat, trying to pretend she wasn't flustered having Weiss still very much on top of her. "We don't really have to get up any time soon," she said. "I think today's pretty much a write-off at this point." A crack of lightning punctuated her sentence.

"Yeah, today's done," Yang agreed, moving into Weiss's former spot at Blake's side. "I've had more emotions in the last seventy-two hours than the rest of my life put together. I want to stay right here until I get hungry, eat something cheap and easy, and then come right back when I'm done."

"No objections," Weiss sighed, then gasped as Yang did something devious to the hem of her skirt. "Hey! I thought you were tired."

"I said I was staying right here." Yang smirked. "Didn't say I was out of energy."

"Oh. Well. Hm."

Ruby's smile shined as she buried herself in Blake's side and just existing. "Yaaaaay," she mumbled. "Team bonding."

"That… is quite a euphemism," Blake said, kissing her lightly on the forehead. "You and Yang aren't uncomfortable with… both being here?"

The temperature in the room dropped a degree, as Ruby and Yang exchanged a surprised and wary look.

"I hadn't thought about that," Ruby admitted. "But…"

She searched inside herself, forcing herself to think over the rapid pulse of her heart. She nodded, slowly, as it crystallized.

"I'm okay with it if she is."

Yang's eyes widened, a little. "Uh," she said.

"Only if she is though!" Ruby insisted. "And only with like, kissing! Maybe some squeezing. I'll let you know how I feel about fondling when we get to it."

"I… think I'm okay with that?" Yang said, sounding a little surprised at herself. "But yeah, no sex stuff. Specifically, nobody's hands or faces below anyone's belt."

"Agreed," Weiss said, softly. Blake nodded, reaching out to take her hands.

"Then… I guess I'm okay with this too?" Yang sounded more surprised than anything else. "I dunno. Is this weird?"

Ruby felt something in her spirit give way, and she slumped out a laugh. "We share the same two girlfriends and we just found out one of our best friends is a secret magical superhero with a dead woman's soul riding shotgun in her brain. Life is weird. I think we're just along for the ride."

Yang regarded her with warm amusement. "Yeah, fuck it," she chuckled. "Just… promise you'll speak up if anything feels bad? And, everybody keep their pants on."

"I'm wearing a skirt," Ruby reminded her. "And so's Weiss?"

"Well, y'know, metaphorically."

"So this is happening?" Blake asked. She was trying, she really was, but she just couldn't keep the eager out of her voice.

It was adorable enough to bring down the last wall. Ruby laughed and threw herself onto Blake, kissing up her collarbone. They found each others' lips, and the moments turned to wax and melted all away.

It was strange, getting lost like this, in the tug of sheets and the movement of bodies, the subtle touches and breathless questions. New, strange, and a little frightening, but good.

A lot of things happened, as the afternoon bled out into evening, as the storm outside raged and the gears of Beacon Tower ticked on high above them all. The awkward laughter of those moments didn't matter one bit to the world beyond their room, but that was part of what made it such a magical thing. It wasn't sex, but it was maybe making love. Whatever it was, it was theirs, and theirs alone.

Eventually they fell still, and Ruby found herself with her eyes closed, her body glowing warm as she listened to the patter and rumble of the storm.

Eventually that faded out, leaving her with the warm quiet of Blake's breath on her breast, the soft press of Weiss's hand on her belly, the gentle glow of Yang's body close beside, and the beat of all their hearts together, slow and steady.

Eventually, even that dimmed into sleep.

A/N:

Sorry for the delay! Things got kinda messy at the end there. Thanks to

(oh god here we go)

FriendOfYggdrasil, Sgt Chrysalis, shockfactor, juniorthib, and ickyickyvic, who all contributed to this chapter in various complicated ways that I'm going to generalize as "beta reading" but honestly qualify as way more than that as this point. Thank you all for the support.

And thank you for reading!

(P.S.: As of now, juniorthib and I are maybe synchornizing our update schedules on purpose! So go read Grounded Lightning! It's really good!)