Nora walks in on them next morning, all bright eyed and bubbly. She freezes, then quickly backs out of the room, and Ren curses himself. Nora has been walking him up every day for years, how could he have been so stupid?

Dimly he wonders why it matters so much, why she would care so much, why he cares so much. But then he's yanking the covers off and hissing as his bare feet touch the cold hardwood floors. Jaune stirs and mumbles something,

"Go back to sleep, Jaune," He says, probably a little harsher than he means too and then he's out the door, and gods, are his feet cold.

He finds Nora sitting on the front steps, her face burning with embarrassment.

"I guess you're finally getting to that age, huh? I should have knocked." Ren sighs and pushes his hair out of his eyes. It's a complete mess, unbrushed and loose, but he didn't even think of making himself presentable. He flops down beside her.

"Hilarious." It's rare to have Nora so quiet, and he hates it. "He's been sleeping badly." He can see the gears in Nora's head turning and her face flares even brighter.

"Ohmygods, I'msosorry, Ididn'teventhinkIjustjumpedtoconclusions, ofcoursethatwasitI'msodumbit'sjustthewholebedthingseemedso- Intimate?" He can't help but laugh, just a little to see her flustered.

"I know, I didn't even think, either." And she starts laughing too and the whole world is better again.

"You'd tell me right? If you ever found someone?" She says, a little awkwardly, and Ren feels a little hurt at the thought she'd even ask.

"You're the first person I'd tell, you know that." There had been one time in their previous combat school, where a girl invited Ren to the dance, and he'd tried to hide it. Nora had gotten so upset she ended up going with another guy just to piss him off. It was the stupidest fight they'd ever had, but at least they'd gotten it out of the way. They were always honest with each other.

"Besides, with Jaune?" She teases him. "He's so dense I think it would take you a whole year to trick him into holding hands with you. And you're pretty dense too."

"Wait, what?" His brain short circuits, trying to figure out if he was missing something.

"I mean, you're a handsome guy, ya know? There's always been people flirting with you. I could count at least 5 at Beacon." She digs her elbow into his side and he yelps. Time to fight back.

"How do I know you weren't just scaring them off?" She did have a tendency to do that. He usually didn't mind, since relationships always seemed really, really tiring.

"Oh believe me, it's not like it didn't try," she grumbles. She leans up against him, falling back into a familiar position.

He can't stop his mind from wandering a little as they sit. It's not like he hasn't dated before. He has- just poorly. He's bad at opening up, bad at reading the mood, bad at talking to people. He was never opposed to the idea, in fact, he liked it. But putting it into practice was more than Ren could deal with.

And stuff like kissing, and even sex, didn't bother him, not really. He'd always been a voracious reader, so he was fairly comfortable and knowledgeable about that. But parts of it made him shudder, like the way people's eyes stared at him, like they were hungry. When they lived on the street, their lives were full of people who'd wanted to take advantage of desperate children.

They had never been that desperate.

He briefly wonders if he'd be okay with Jaune, but he pushes it away. It's too close for comfort, he'd be betraying Pyrrha. Maybe they all were, being so happy and alive right now. He tramples everything back down, back into the same little place he crams everything uncomfortable and painful, and slams the door on it. It's unhealthy, he knows that. Glynda, and Pyrrha, and everyone warned him about that, but he can't help it. He'll sort it out when he gets to Mistral, he promises them, hearing their disappointment bouncing around his skull. There's just too much to deal with right now, it's too much at once-

He stands up, startling Nora, and stretches.

"Sorry, but it's cold. I'm going to go take a hot shower." He moves towards the door.

"Oh, Ren!" He turns around and Nora is grinning at him.

"It's been a while since I've seen you with your hair down. It looks cute like that, you should wear it like that more often!"

He waves her off, and walks inside. As he heads upstairs, he twists a lock of hair around his finger. Maybe she's right. Maybe he'll wear it down today.