Once Weiss recovered from her cold, she volunteered to help Sapphire's assistants. Whether it was helping Tanner fight Grimm or preparing medicine with Saffron, Weiss jumped at any opportunity to assist.
While Adam couldn't do anything to help, he still kept Tanner company. Tanner was always the one talking, and Adam listened to him in silence, only ever chiming in with a comment or two. Weiss even caught him smiling during some of Tanner's stories.
Their extra week stay at Sapphire's went by faster than Weiss would've liked. Sapphire had tried to convince them to stay another week, but Adam wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. They'd stayed longer than intended.
It was near the end of their stay when Saffron had the idea of throwing a farewell party.
"It'll be fun! We gotta send you two off properly after all the help you gave us," she reasoned. "We can ask the Doc' for an extra day off to prep!"
"Saffron wants an excuse to have a party," Tanner translated, earning him a smack on the arm.
"We'll cook up a big feast to prepare you for your trip!" Saffron went on. "You folks any good around the kitchen?"
"I know some Mistral dishes," Adam volunteered.
"And I erm..." Weiss blushed when he looked at her curiously. "I know how to help out a bit?"
"Then it's settled! We're goin' to eat like Kings!" Saffron beamed.
"Will Sapphire be okay with us taking over her kitchen?" Adam asked.
"She'll get over it once we promise her a free meal!" Saffron waved his concern off. "Let me tell her about all this. I'll find a way to win her over."
On the morning before their big feast, Tanner and Saffron brought over bagfuls of fresh ingredients, filling Sapphire's kitchen countertops. Sapphire hardly glanced at their ingredients. With a simple request for them to clean up their mess, she went off to knit in the living room.
They gathered around the dining table to brainstorm ideas. Tanner listed all the items they had to work with, using Saffron's old recipe book as inspiration for ideas. Adam, who usually kept to himself, chimed in more as Tanner went over various recipes they could make. Before she knew it, Adam and Tanner completely dominated the conversation. The two of them bounced off recipe ideas with an ease Weiss had never seen from them before.
"Looks like we'll be in charge of dessert." Saffron laughed, snapping Weiss' attention away from Adam.
"I don't really know how to bake." She blushed.
"That's okay, I'll help ya' out! What's your favourite dessert?"
She looked over to Adam again. The guys had moved their conversation from the table to the kitchen counter where they inspected the ingredients together. Adam was discussing a roast duck recipe he learned from an old teacher. The giddiness in his voice made Weiss hesitant to interrupt and ask what he wanted.
As a kid, he always looked forward to the chocolate desserts she brought him. She never forgot the joy on his face when he took his very first bite of chocolate cake. Did he still enjoy eating it?
"Well…I have a soft spot for chocolate."
"Mmm, that's a good choice. Let's do somethin' simple and bake some chocolate cupcakes. We should also include mango pudding and…"
The bulk of the work started the following morning. Saffron came by early so they could get their hands on the oven first. Once they'd finished their part of the job, they cleared out for Tanner and Adam to take over.
Weiss blamed the lovely aroma filling the house for drawing her eyes to him as he worked.
It wasn't the first time she'd seen him cook, but it was different seeing him in a domestic setting. He was completely engrossed with his work. Whatever tension he had around Tanner vanished as he manoeuvred around Sapphire's kitchen like it was his own. He handled the food like they were diamonds, even the process of foiling the roast duck had a touch of delicacy. He added and measured each ingredient with the precision of a surgeon. Sometimes his eye would light up with inspiration, and he'd pick some of Sapphire's fresh herbs or prepare an extra ingredient to add to the dish.
Tanner and Saffron would jump in and help whenever his bandaged wrist got in the way of his work. Weiss felt disheartened that she didn't know how to lend him a hand, but it also gave her a unique chance to observe him uninterrupted.
And Weiss couldn't keep her eyes off him.
This was a side to him that she never knew existed. She wanted to know everything about him, committing every new detail to memory. She would've watched him for much longer had Saffron not pulled her away to finish the frosting for their cupcakes.
Weiss frowned at how sloppy her cupcake decorating skills were. Saffron made it look so easy, but her frosting refused to form the shapes she wanted. It was painfully obvious which were Saffron's and which were Weiss'.
"Don't worry, what matters is that they taste good!" Saffron assured her. "Trust me, they'll taste good."
The evening couldn't have come any sooner. As soon as the sun touched the horizon, they moved Sapphire's dining table to the living room, where there was more space. It all reminded Weiss of a buffet. The main dishes occupied the centre of the table where they could pick and choose what they wanted to eat.
Of all the colourful dishes set before her, she had eyes only for the roast duck Adam was responsible for making. It was what she went for first when the meal started.
The bronze skin was crispy and packed with flavour, complementing the tender meat that had a milder punch. The dipping sauce was salty with a hint of sweetness to balance the rich palate. It was all a beautiful combination of his hard work. Knowing he poured so much time and effort into the dish made it taste that much better.
"How is it?"
Weiss' heart quickened when Adam addressed her. Was he always sitting so close to her? They were practically sitting shoulder to shoulder together.
"It's delicious. I don't think I've ever had anything like it before," she replied.
Warmth blossomed in her chest when his smile reach his eye. Weiss hadn't seen him smile like that in a long time. She almost pulled out her Scroll to photograph the moment.
Adam explained to her where he learned the recipe. His voice was light, and his eye sparkled as he recalled the first time he'd tried the dish. His excitement was contagious, leaving her with a smile.
Saffron opened a bottle of wine from her family's farm during dessert. Weiss only agreed to try some out of respect for Saffron's family. She had no intentions of going down the same rabbit hole as Mother.
Her first taste of alcohol was...underwhelming. It was more bitter than any of the medicine Sapphire gave her, and it burned her throat on the way down. How could anyone become addicted to something so uncomfortable?
She was about to offer the rest of her wine to Adam when Saffron brought out the baked desserts. Weiss choked down the rest of her drink when Adam sought out her poorly decorated cupcakes to eat.
While Weiss avoided the remaining wine, the others grew more energetic the emptier the wine bottle became - especially Adam.
Adam's usual apprehension toward Tanner all but vanished after a couple of glasses, allowing him to take part in conversations with ease. It was even harder to keep her eyes off him when he was so relaxed.
Weiss lost track of what they were talking about. All she could focus on was the wonderful sound of his laugh and the way his smile lit up his entire face. The slight twinkle in his eye made it so much harder to look away.
She hoped more than anything to see him this happy in the future.
The fire in her cheeks grew whenever their eyes met. She'd always look away, heart racing so loud it drowned out the voices around them, but her eyes went right back to him no matter how many times he caught her staring.
The heat burning in her face and chest grew so hot she worried her fever was back.
With an excuse to grab some water, she left to pour herself a cold drink at the kitchen sink. Even away from the table, the warmth in her body remained. When she closed her eyes to clear her head, all she saw was him. Her heart fluttered when the image of his smile popped into her head again.
It was the wine. This was the first time she'd ever tasted alcohol, and she likely didn't have a high tolerance for it. Weiss downed her glass of water in one go before refilling her cup again.
"You two leaving tomorrow morning?" Sapphire joined her by the sink.
"Yeah, thank you so much for the hospitality," Weiss said.
"Adam should take it easy for another week to be safe. Aura can only do so much if he continues to neglect his health. I'll show you how to bandage it tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, I'll make sure to do all the fighting until he's better," she promised.
"Good. He's lucky to have a partner like you." Sapphire gave her a funny look. "When you two are ready to settle down, consider moving to Orchid. It's a peaceful village to raise a family."
Weiss choked on her water. Sapphire went back to the dinner table before Weiss had the chance to correct her grave misunderstanding.
It was the wine again. She didn't think Sapphire could say that when she was sober. Stupid alcohol was messing with everyone's heads.
Weiss didn't return to the table until she finished her second glass of water. She put in extra effort to avoid Sapphire's pointed stare as she sat back down.
The heat returned to her face when Adam draped his arm behind her chair. The back of her neck tingled from the proximity of his arm. As the night went on, she once again found it hard to keep her eyes off him.
They were up first thing in the morning. As promised, Sapphire showed them how to rebandage Adam's hand after a filling breakfast. Before leaving, Sapphire handed Weiss a handful of medicinal herbs for injury, fever, and a tremendous amount for nausea.
"You're always welcome back if something goes wrong," Sapphire said.
"Thank you so much for everything." Weiss accepted the gift.
"And if you ever run into Faunus who's been burned like you, send them my way," Sapphire said to Adam. "Depending on how fresh the injury is, I can help lessen the scarring. If…something like that happens to you again, you're always welcome back to my home."
Adam regarded her for a moment.
"You mean it?" he asked quietly.
"My oath didn't distinguish between Human and Faunus, and neither should I."
Adam smiled and held out a hand to her. "Thank you."
"I'm only doing my job. There's no need to be so dramatic." Sapphire accepted his handshake. "I snuck my contact information into Weiss' bag. For your sake, I hope you two won't need it anytime soon."
"I think we'll be okay," Weiss said. If they could survive with a mountain of baggage between them, she was sure they would do fine without it there.
"Good! Because next time I see you two, I expect to see a cute baby!"
The intense heat from last night returned to her face with a vengeance. So that was why she loaded Weiss up with nausea medication.
"What? Aren't you two together?" Sapphire pressed on, completely unfazed by the silence in the room.
"W-we're just friends! Please tell me you're joking!"
"I don't joke around, young lady. Why do you think I let him into your room in ungodly hours?"
"Because we're just good friends?"
"Hmm." Sapphire wrinkled her nose in disapproval. "You should think about that the next time you make googly eyes at your man. You two would make beautiful children, so you better not disappoint!"
Weiss buried her face in her hands, wishing the ground could swallow her whole.
"We really need to get going," Adam cut in. "Thank you for your hospitality."
They got out of there as quickly as possible. Weiss couldn't even look at him after hearing what Sapphire said to them. She wasn't sure how she was going to face him for the rest of the day.
They ran into Saffron and Tanner on their way out. Thankfully they didn't share the same idea as Sapphire, choosing instead to wish them a safe journey on the road. It was the distraction she needed to forget Sapphire's mortifying comment.
"You should visit sometime, bud! We'd be glad to have you back again!" Tanner said to Adam.
"You're just saying that because you need more friends your age," Saffron teased.
"N-no, b-but it is cool to talk to someone who's not a kid or in their late thirties."
"In that case…I'll have to drop by whenever I have the time." Adam smiled. "Take care until then."
"You too, bud!"
"You don't have to force yourself to do this. I don't mind going vegetarian for a couple more days."
"Absolutely not. You're still recovering, and I want us to eat well."
"You look pale."
"I always look pale. Now be quiet, I'm trying to focus"
Weiss glared at the fish swimming in the river. She had hoped catching something that wasn't cute and fluffy would help make the hunting process easier to stomach. But as she watched the fish swim by, she felt like a heartless killer about to end their peaceful existence for no reason.
It wasn't long into their journey that Weiss realized something crucial. If Adam couldn't use his sword for at least another week, then they'd be stuck eating random berries and fruits. That is unless Weiss took over his job hunting.
Adam had assured her that he was fine with surviving off fruits, but it wasn't fair after all the hard work he put into that delicious dinner. After everything he's done for her, this was the least she could do for him.
That's how she ended up by a river, staring down at a school of fish for what felt like hours.
"You could always use your Semblance to make it less personal," Adam suggested. He sat on the side, watching her struggle to strike her sword into the water.
"Y-yeah, good idea." She prepared to activate her glyphs.
It was like killing the Grimm. She did that all the time.
Weiss tried to imagine the tiny, helpless fish were a dangerous Grimm trying to kill them. It worked only for a second before she remembered how defenceless they were. They couldn't fight back even if they wanted to.
He sighed impatiently when she made no move to strike.
"When I first went hunting, I experienced the same thing. It didn't help that Sienna was the one teaching us." Adam stepped up beside her, peering over her shoulder at their potential dinner. "Sienna told me I wasn't allowed to leave the river until I caught something."
"Let me guess, you got over your fear and brought home a big fish."
"Nah, I cheated." His blunt answer got her to laugh. "The goal was to catch them with my sword. I ended up using my Semblance to make it easier. It would've worked if I hadn't chopped them up so much."
Weiss could only imagine how much of a mess he left from doing that.
"She must've been upset."
"She was pissed. The only reason I had anything to eat that night was that she took pity on me."
"How did you get over it?" Weiss asked. "You make it seem so easy now."
"Ironically, Sienna was the one who helped me with that. She said to think of it less as killing something and more as allowing our prey to help us survive. She told me something else would likely eat it if we didn't. Nature isn't always nice when it comes to killing prey. At least we can respect them by not wasting our food and giving them a quick and painless end."
Weiss found the explanation helped to ease the guilty knot in her gut. When she thought of using the fish to help them survive, it felt less like a senseless murder.
"Okay. I-I'll try again," she promised, feeling braver than she initially had.
"You don't have to if it's too hard."
"No. I-I need to do this!"
This was all going to help their survival.
She wanted to do this for him.
She took in a shaky breath, focusing on two particularly fat fish swimming nearby, and activated her Semblance.
Weiss was still woozy from gutting the fish, but treating Adam to a filling dinner made it worthwhile. She wasn't skilled enough to make a delicious meal but watching him finish her cooking made her particularly proud of herself. She could almost forget the gut-wrenching process that went into preparing her catch.
"I'll be honest, I'm surprised you did it," he said once they'd both finished eating. "I was sure you wouldn't have the guts to go through with it."
"I wasn't going to force us to eat scraps," she said. "Besides, you're still technically supposed to be resting. The least I can do is spoil you a bit."
She blushed at how it sounded out loud. Why did she have to tell him she wanted to spoil him? Why couldn't she have been a normal person and said she wanted to be a good friend?
"I never thought I'd ever get spoiled by a Human, but I'm not complaining." He grinned. She relaxed at his easygoing reaction to her response. "Is it safe to assume you'll try to hunt those cute furry animals now?"
"I-I can try," she stammered. "It might be harder than catching fish…b-but I'll get it somehow."
She might throw up in the process, but at least there was medication for that now. Her blush deepened when she remembered Sapphire's crazy assumptions about them.
"Either way, I'm proud of you. I know it couldn't have been easy."
Weiss was glad they were having this conversation at night or he would've noticed how red her cheeks likely were.
"How's the wrist doing?" she asked as he fiddled with his wrapping.
"It's alright. I'll have to rewrap it before sleeping."
"Let me do it."
"It's not that difficult. I can handle it."
"I know, but you've done so much for me, and now it's my turn to care for you." She held out her hand. "Just sit back and let me worry about it."
"With an offer like that, I can't say no."
He moved so that they were sitting across from each other. She peeled his glove off and gently rolled up his sleeve, her fingertips tingling as they glided against his exposed forearm. His skin was smooth and soft. She wanted to brush her fingers across his arm again.
"Let me know if it hurts," she instructed, pushing down all thoughts on the feel of his skin.
Weiss focused on applying the right amount of pressure on his wrist, just as Sapphire showed her, never taking her eyes off her work even for a second. The crackling of their campfire and cicadas chirping filled the silence between them.
"Hopefully it'll hold through the night," Weiss said once her work was complete. She tilted her head up, her pulse spiking when she caught Adam staring right at her.
"Thank you." He smiled. The fire's light twinkled in his eye like stars.
"D-don't mention it." She turned her attention back to the fire. "You should sleep. I'll stay up and keep an eye on things first."
"I'm guessing there's nothing I can say to change your mind?"
"The only way you'll get better is if you get plenty of rest."
"Can't argue with you there." He moved back to where he was sitting, laying down on his back. "Night, Weiss."
"Good night, Adam."
A peaceful lull fell between them. Weiss caught herself staring at him several times as he slept. She always forced her eyes back on the fire, relieved he never felt her gaze and woke up. His breathing eventually deepened, falling into a slow rhythmic pattern.
When she was sure he was fast asleep, she turned her eyes back on him. Light from their fire kissed his figure in a warm orange glow. The light guided her eyes around his sharp jawline, down his neck and across his sculpted collarbone.
Weiss didn't have the luxury of blaming the wine when a familiar warmth fluttered in her chest, spreading to her cheeks.
The fire was bigger tonight. It was messing with her head. She scooted further away from the firepit, hoping to leave some of the heat behind.
I wrote/edited this every time I was hungry…why do I do this to myself?
Also where I'm from, the legal drinking age is 18. Thought I needed to clarify because I have a lot of American readers.
Thanks to CMDR Quillon, StarStream2005, D-D, Gleaming Onyx, Able and Table, and a Guest reader for the reviews!
Lemme know what you think and take care!