I do apologize for how long this chapter took, everyone. My main problem is covered in the apologies section! I don't want to bore you for now with an extra-long explaination, so on to the story!

Chapter 7 - Comfort Level

Weiss had been asleep for only ten minutes when everyone else had decided to leave. Blake and Yang had some homework to do, both of them reassuring Ruby that she and Weiss could catch up in later classes, and Sun said that he had an important appointment to go to. Blake had seemed to give him an odd look, but it also could have been Ruby's imagination. Before they left Yang promised to bring by Ruby's sketchbook, though she was surprised when Ruby had said she wanted to show her drawings and designs to Weiss.

Their absence left Ruby lying on the bed, eyes closed and relaxing as "I May Fall" played from her MP3 player. She loved the beat, and went back at times to listen to a part again, just to make sure she understood the lyrics. For some reason, even with the tone and beat of the song she found it relaxing and began to doze off beside her girlfriend. The song ended and she smiled a bit, sleepily wondering what the next would be like. A gentle tune played on a piano came through and it relaxed her even more. It sounded like a much more gentle song, and she wondered if it would be purely instrumental. That was until someone began to sing. It was...familiar.

"Mirror...tell me some...thing..."

Her eye opened and her head turned to the girl lying next to her. This song was what Weiss had been singing before. Could she have gotten an advance copy of the new album? She decided that made no sense, there had been no vocals to the music on the roof, but the ones on the song now sounded just like how Weiss did when she sang it. There were obvious differences like the tone, but the voice was definitely the same. She sat up, really paying attention to the words of the song. Weiss said that they had been true...but did she still feel that way? The two of them had gotten somewhat closer since that night, and were even sleeping in the same bed now, although really that could have been because Weiss didn't feel like walking back to her own.

Ruby snickered a bit at that. If her dad saw them he would probably flip out...though maybe not as much as he would if it were a boy in her bed. Speaking of which, she had to figure out how she was going to explain to him. 'Hey dad, guess what! No grandchildren! Not from me at least.' She shook her head. No, that definitely wasn't the way she would do it. Rubbing her neck with her good hand she realized her thoughts had wandered and quickly got them back on track. She liked Weiss, she liked her alot...but was Weiss happy? Was she doing this all right? What if she messed up, would Weiss immediately think that this was all a mistake and end it? The song ended, but instead of playing the next one Ruby paused it and took out the earbuds, setting them and the player on the stand.

She looked at the window, seeing that it was getting darker and darker outside, and let out a soft sigh. She could just wake Weiss up to talk about it...oh, but she hated to be woken up. But they were dating now...well...technically they hadn't been on any dates. Just classes. Would she mind being woken up to talk about this? There was really only one way to find out. She reached out and gently shook Weiss' shoulder, "Weiss..." She whispered, "Hey, wake up."

Weiss grumbled softly, her eyes opening a bit and she blinked a few times, eyes opening more with each until she turned her head to look up at her, "Mm...Ruby? What do you want?" She asked, her annoyance at being woken up making itself known.

Ruby retracted the hand, "I just...yknow, wanna talk." she said with a shrug, "About...stuff."

"Stuff." Weiss said, eyebrows coming together in confusion before she carefully sat up, "Fine...fine...just let me wake up first." She said, yawning a bit. It was obvious that she was tired, but if Ruby wanted to talk about something, she would listen. Besides, if it was something stupid she could probably be forgiven for dozing off again. And as soon as that thought came across her mind she became annoyed with herself for it. She reached up, rubbing her eyes gently before she looked at Ruby, "Alright...what do you want to talk about?"

Instead of speaking to give an answer, Ruby offered Weiss the MP3 player. Weiss was confused at first and looked up at her. If this was about music she liked, couldn't it have waited until later? She considered refusing but decided not to argue, instead putting the earbuds in place and waiting for Ruby to start the music. Maybe she would get lucky and it would be one of Casey's more gentle songs.

As soon as her girlfriend hit play and she heard the first notes she knew that wasn't the case and turned to look at her. Ruby was smiling, which was...good. She hoped so at least. And as the first lyrics came up she felt her heart drop. 'Crap...CRAP! She put it on THIS one?!' she thought, reaching up and pulling out the earbuds. "Ruby..."

Ruby paused the song, "Weiss, what's going on here?" She asked. "How is this song here when I heard you sing it on the roof before the album even came out?"

Weiss loosely crossed her arms, only pausing for a moment at a slight twinge of pain from her wound, "I..." She paused. How exactly should she explain this? After a moment she realized that she might not have to explain all of it. "Did you download the song's information with the album?" She asked.

Ruby looked down at the MP3 player and checked with a few button presses. "Yeah." She said, "The songs are all made by Casey Lee Williams and Jeff Williams, her dad, along with..." she stopped, her mouth hanging open as her eyes widened at the next two words, "Weiss Schnee." She quickly looked up, "That's you!"

Weiss blinked, giving Ruby a funny look, "Well...yeah. That's been my name my entire life."

"No! Not that!" Ruby said, setting the MP3 player down and pointing to it, "On here! The song! It's you!"

"It..It is."

"How? WHEN?" Ruby seemed excited, even more so than usual, even considering her current injured state.

Weiss laughed a bit, "Er...in a recording studio?"

Ruby's stare told her that she was not going to let it go at just that.

A sigh left the heiress, knowing she had some explaining to do, "Well..." Weiss reached up, rubbing her neck as she mentally cursed Casey for not telling her about this, "See...my father is a strict man, but not unreasonable. When it was found that I had a talent for singing he gave his permission to pursue it as a sort of...side project to my training." she explained, "I love it. I like to sing whenever I can, but not where anyone can see. Unfortunately when you're a Schnee that becomes impossible at times, especially if your dad wants to show you off. Recitals became a common thing for me for a few years until...I think it was a year ago I was offered the chance to sing in front of a new audience. Not a bunch of pressed suits, but real people. I was so nervous before going out on stage, even though I had done it plenty of times before."

Ruby listened patiently, smiling at the story Weiss told her. She had no idea she had been singing for so long. She wondered if Weiss hid anything else from her, but for now this was much more interesting. "What happened?" She asked.

Weiss gave her a pointed look, "I'm getting to that." She said impatiently, not liking how she had been interrupted. She gave a soft sigh, "A minute before I had to go on stage I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see a girl standing behind me, Casey Lee Williams. She peeked out at the audience and seemed so excited about the night that I couldn't help but get the same sort of smile she had." She brought her legs up to wrap her arms around them, "She looked at me and said 'They came to see us and they're expecting a great show, so let's give it to them, okay Weiss?' Somehow what she said made me happy, like she didn't try to impress me because of who I was, didn't see me as anything other than me. She was genuinely nice and wanted to make sure that these people enjoyed themselves." Weiss smiled a bit, "The concert was incredible. The cheering, the energy of it. After it was all done Casey and I decided that we had to do it again sometime, so we kept in contact, worked together on a few songs and I even recorded a few myself. The song you heard is called Mirror Mirror. I have the musical score on my own MP3 player and like to listen and sing to it whenever I feel down. The version you heard was one I recorded with Casey's help about two weeks before I came to Beacon."

"Mirror Mirror..." Ruby repeated. Weiss had told her that it was written during a very dark time of her life...and it reminded her of why she had woken her up. "Do you still feel that way?" She blurted out, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. She had meant to be more subtle about it, honestly she had.

Weiss looked over at her, "What?" She asked, a bit confused.

Ruby slowly took her hand away, "Do you...still feel that way? Yknow, like from the song. Like you're the loneliest of all?"

Weiss paused for a moment, seemingly taken off guard by the question. After a long moment she gave a slight, hesitant shrug, "I...really don't know, Ruby." She said, "Honestly I can't say. I feel...confused. I stood up to that b-" She stopped, closing her eyes for a moment before she continued, "That nurse, but I don't really understand why. It just made me so...angry that she would be like that toward us. Is it really so weird that two girls can be together, or sleep in the same bed?" She asked.

"To some people it is." Ruby said, pulling a bit at the covers.

"Well it shouldn't be. What we choose to do is our own business, not theirs." Weiss crossed her arms again, obviously irritated about what had happened.

"That's the thing though, Weiss..." Ruby looked over at her, "I don't know what to do."

Weiss looked back at her, "What?" she asked.

Ruby reached up and scratched gently at her cheek, seeming a bit nervous, "I...don't know what to do. I mean, I know basic stuff, but I don't know important stuff like timing or when things should feel...right, yknow?" She sighed, "Until now I've only really been interested in weapons. I've had friends, but none of them have ever been anything more than that until I met you."

Weiss felt her cheeks heat up just a bit and turned away in an attempt to hide it. "So you're saying...what? You've never had a girlfriend? Ever?"

"Nope." Ruby said, "You're my first. And to be honest...I'm nervous about it. Like what if I mess up? What if I try to do something too fast, or what if I make you angry about something?" She asked, letting out a sigh and looking down at the blankets, "Yang has...books. I read a few of them and...in them a girl kisses another and the other freaks out about it, shouting at the girl about how sudden and rushed it was and I keep thinking that if I were to kiss you someday you might do the same, but I can't help but think that it might be nice because I really like you and you look really cute all the time, and..I'm...just gonna shut up now." She said, quickly pulling the blankets up and over her head in her own effort to hide from her girlfriend.

Weiss quickly turned back to look at her again, her face turning a brighter shade of red. Did Ruby just admit that she wanted to...kiss her? That surprised her, especially given that they had only been dating a few days, but it wasn't as though she was any more experienced than her. She still wasn't sure about everything that was going on. At least, she thought she wasn't, but for being unsure...why did it sound so appealing? She chewed her lip gently, debating in her mind whether or not she would ever come to regret what she was tempted to do, but she eventually came to the conclusion that she didn't care.

"Ruby..." She said, shifting to sit on her knees before she reached forward and pulled the blanket up. Ruby looked up at her in confusion, only to have that and every other thought in her mind go blank as Weiss leaned in and captured her lips in a gentle kiss, allowing the blanket to fall behind her. Ruby was frozen for a moment before her eyes slowly closed and she was able to return it just as gently.

And as suddenly as it had happened Weiss pulled away, the heiress feeling grateful that the darkness would hide her blush. "There." She said quietly, "Now you don't have to worry."

Ruby didn't respond. She only shivered a bit as she stared at Weiss, her unbandaged eye wide.

Weiss stared back, "Um...R-Ruby? Are you okay?"

"You just..." Ruby whispered, a hand coming up to cover her mouth, "I-I thought you weren't..."

"Sure?" Weiss guessed at what she was going to say. Ruby nodded and Weiss gave a shrug, "I'm not completely positive about some things, but...I am sure that I like you." She smiled a bit, "Just...no more of Yang's books, okay? Most of them might give you the wrong idea..."

"Aww..." Ruby whined softly, "Some have nice plots..." She smiled though, bringing her hand back down. "So...um..." She shifted a bit, "What now?"

"...I'm not really sure, to be honest." Weiss said, "We could...sleep?" she suggested.

Ruby shrugged, "Maybe..." she said, shifting a bit and wishing that she could move her other arm. She shifted a bit too much though and yelped as her side hurt. "Or...probably a good idea. Stupid Boarbatusk..."

Weiss quickly uncovered them at her yelp and turned on a lamp, looking at her with concern. "What happened?" She asked. Ruby laughed a bit nervously, "Just stretched a bit too far and felt some pain, is all." She said. That didn't do much to convince Weiss.

"You need to be more careful, Ruby..." She said, helping the younger girl lie back down. Once she had her head on her pillow Ruby looked up at her and smiled, noticing how worried Weiss looked, "Say what you want, but I'm not sorry for what happened." she said.

Weiss sighed, staring down at her and unable to help but give a small smile, "You dunce..." she said, leaning down to place another light kiss on her lips before she turned off the light and settled into the bed as well, pulling the blankets over them both. "Hopefully tomorrow goes alot smoother."

Ruby laughed softly, "Yeah...night, Weiss." she said, closing her eye and quickly falling asleep, apparently exhausted from the days events. Weiss smiled over to her, "Goodnight, Ruby." Soon enough, she had followed suit and both girls slept peacefully well into the morning, even as in their dorm room a blonde and a faunus came up with plots of their own.

Aaaaaand there it is folks! Not only is a new chapter up, but it's a good one in my opinion! Honestly I was tempted to have them wait a bit longer for their first kiss, but at the same time it just gave too good of an opportunity as I planned all of this out that I just had to seize the chance.

So, what do you guys think? What kind of plans are Yang and Blake making? Do you think we've seen the last of Nurse Woods? Let me know what you think of the chapter and any questions you may have in a review and I'll be more than glad to answer. Within reason, of course.

Until next time, everyone.

-Nex