Chapter 27

The pair continued their routine with equal measures of satisfaction and happiness as they moved through their shower and into studying for the coming week. When their teammates finally returned from the movie, the trio stood outside the door, rather loudly discussing the movie. After about a minute, a frustrated Weiss yanked the door open, "We're not doing anything in here other than studying and getting ready for bed, you don't have to stand in the hallway practically yelling and disturbing our classmates."

Blake rolled her eyes and passed a 20-Lien card to Yang, who accepted her winnings with a smug smile.

"You know what, I don't even want to know you two pests are betting on now."

"See, I knew that you couldn't chill out, even if you are the Ice Queen!" Yang said, ignoring Weiss's previous comment.

With a huff, Weiss spun around and returned to the history book on her desk. Neo was on their bed, flipping through her copy of the same text.

Blake turned to Neo and gently pressed her, "We didn't go see that awful movie for nothing, did we?"

Neo feigned ignorance as she plastered on her most innocent-looking face at what the Faunus girl was implying before she flashed a quick wink and smile, unseen by the other women.

Blake silently replied with a small smirk.

Ruby had taken up a spot right next to Weiss and eagerly explained, in excruciating detail, all of the cool weapons showcased in the movie. Neo watched the pair, happy to see the two friends on far friendlier terms and that Ruby had returned to her normal overly energetic self and took it as her mission to pester Weiss whenever she could. Neo was amused that the two girls, very opposite each other, were such easy friends. I wonder how Ruby finally did it. How she got Weiss to open up. It must have been a pretty rough beginning for them…

Blake had gathered a couple of her books while Neo was thinking to herself. The Faunus slowly lowered herself into the bed alongside Neo and leaned in close to the woman. "She'll never admit it, but Weiss likes to sneak my novellas and read them. Considering that it hasn't been just once, I'm guessing she likes them… These ones seem to be her favorites," Blake held out the pile and let Neo read the titles, "Feel free to read them for inspiration any time." Blake slipped the books onto the top shelf, closest to Neo and Weiss's bed. Neo felt her self flush at the thought of Weiss reading the type of steamy erotica that Blake was into.

"Weiss?"

"Yes, Blake?"

"Your girlfriend is really warm. Do you think I can snuggle her for a bit of warmth? You know, offset some of the iciness in the room!"

"Will you and your girlfriend stop trying to make a move on my girlfriend!" Weiss shouted as she whipped her chair around.

With a frown thrown at the heiress, Blake pouted and stuck her tongue out at her. "You're no fun. I'm sure Neo wouldn't have minded sharing her warms."

Neo impulsively took a chance and did something incredibly risky. She reached up and started to run her fingers through Blake's hair, moving closer and closer to the Faunus ears she kept hidden with her bow. Blake reached up and untied the bow while tipping her head towards Neo. Neo saw that as her cue to continue; she stated to scratch at the base of her ears and softly took one between her fingers. The fur was velvety soft. Neo smiled as Blake started making a rumbling noise.

"Okay you two. That's probably enough now. Stop making my girlfriend purr!"

Ruby dropped her head into her hands and shook it. Only a little more than three years of living with these four. Unless we all stay together as a team after graduation. Or one of the couples have a bad, really bad, brake up. That wouldn't be awkward at all. Fortunately, as the fearless leader of Team RWBY, I'm fearless! Besides, it's up to me to keep this team functioning, no matter what's happening in their personal lives.

A pillow flew across the room from Yang's bed and smacked both Blake and Neo. Neo pulled away in shock from Blake as the Faunus flew towards the blonde, tackling her out of her bed. There were some shouts and grunts as the pair seemed to be legitimately fighting one another. Neo was actually a little surprised at how aggressively they were going after each other. Weiss had told her about some of the epic fights Ruby and Yang got into but she never mentioned that it was something the others did as well.

"Will you two knock it off, some of us are trying to study!" Weiss shouted to be heard over their fight.

"Guys, she's right. Maybe you should stop." Ruby added.

The brawling pair was oblivious to the pleas of their teammates and, apparently, enjoyed going blow for blow with one another. While neither started using their Semblances yet, Neo was afraid their fight could escalate to that point rather easily. She defensively pulled her legs up to her chest as she backed herself into the corner on her bed.

"Oh, don't worry. They'll wear themselves out pretty soon." Ruby tried to assure the woman.

Neo decided to take the girl's word for it, after all, if Weiss could go back to studying, she must not be that worried, so Neo reasoned that it probably wasn't as bad as it looked.

After another few minutes, the fighting became less intense and the sweat-soaked, winded pair settled against one another as exhaustion started to set in.

"You two are going to take a shower, aren't you? I can smell you from over here, and frankly, I don't want to have to smell it all night." Weiss's annoyance was hardly concealed.

Neo couldn't smell anything. Gods… What did Weiss's sensitive nose think of me the first time we met?

With a few laughs, Blake and Yang slipped into the bathroom, as they whispered to each other and giggled while Yang scratched the base of Blake's Faunus ears. Ruby had leapt onto her bed a moment beforehand and was already softly snoring. As Yang pulled the door shut, Weiss set her book aside and stretched her arms out with a long yawn.

Weiss turned out the desk lights and the ones on their side of the room before she jumped into bed and pressed herself against Neo, left arm and leg draped over the small woman. Neo wriggled underneath the girl's limbs to get comfortable and snuggle up to her.

Neo didn't want to think about the reality of Cinder still being out there, hunting her, so she distracted herself with the sensations from being in bed with her girlfriend: the weight of Weiss's limbs across her body, the sound of the girl's breathing, the drum of her heartbeat, the scents of the girl's shampoo and body wash, and the intoxicating feeling of falling in love.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I recently started a new job for the State and part of it is plowing snow / ice ~ and we've had a lot this past week. So, with the overtime and preparing for the holidays, I've had some issues keeping up with my editing. I'm hoping this week allows me to get a little ahead ~ as of right now, there's no real severe weather in the forecast, so I'll do what I can to edit a pile of chapters to stay on track.