Getting Yang and Ruby to leave the next morning like they'd planned was an ordeal.
"You're sure you don't want us to stay?" Ruby asked for the fifth time, dancing from foot to foot like a reluctant puppy. "Dad won't mind too much, he's gonna watch us during the Festival and then we'll be back for like a month!"
"Ruby." Weiss extricated herself from their fourth goodbye hug. "I'll be fine, stop fussing."
"We're just saying!" Yang adjusted the suitcase she had slung over one shoulder. "You can call us whenever, okay? Oh, and don't forget to take your antibiotics—!"
"Ugh." Weiss shoved her bodily towards the door. "Go. Home. You. Sweet. Idiots!"
They went, though not before Yang ruffled Weiss' hair and gave Blake a quick kiss. And if that series of events put Weiss in something of a bad mood, well, she was determined not to let Blake notice.
The rest of the day was... quiet. Blake mostly spent it reading cross-legged on her bed, and occasionally going out to get food from the dining hall. Weiss was doing her best not to bind her wings for the day, to give them a bit of a rest while she had the chance, and that meant staying in the room. With nothing to distract her, since classes were over and there was no homework to be done.
So Weiss busied herself by rereading bits of their textbooks at random. Every time Blake got up to leave the room she would squeeze her shoulder as she passed, and every time Weiss hid her flinch. She wasn't really in the mood for casual physical contact, but she didn't want to react too negatively and lose it for good.
She kept sneaking glances—unable, as usual, to suppress her baser instincts. Except that it was much worse now that she knew what she was doing, and why. She had absolutely no business looking at Yang's girlfriend like that. This feeling had to go away. It would go away. Because as much as it galled her to admit it, she needed these people. She could not and would not let her stupid impulsive bird brain drive them away.
Her eyes flicked to the side, and met Blake's.
Weiss looked hastily away, cursing herself. "Hey," Blake said softly. "It's okay. Whenever you're ready."
That was when she remembered that Blake was expecting to talk. Had, in fact, foregone a pleasant break in Patch with the Xiao Longs in order to talk, because Weiss had wanted her to. "Now is fine," she said, even though she was not remotely ready.
Blake set her book aside. She studied Weiss' expression for a moment, then, "How about some tea, first?"
Weiss tried not to let out an audible sigh of relief. "Coffee?" she said hopefully.
"Sure." Blake made a face. "Blasphemer."
The time it took for Blake to walk to the cafeteria and back gave Weiss a precious few minutes to steady her nerves. She wasn't even sure why she was so anxious—but she retrieved the pieced-together pages of Doctor Polendina's notes and smoothed them out on her desk. That felt a little better. After further consideration, she also took out an empty notebook and pencil, arranging them on her left side so that she could take notes.
Blake returned. Handing Weiss one steaming cup, she perched on her bed with the other. She shot a bemused glance at the notebook, then said, "So... what do you want to talk about?"
"I was hoping you would know that."
"Right." Blake's ears twitched as she thought. "Well, what did you most want to ask someone, growing up? That your parents just wouldn't know?"
Her throat tightened. "Is it possible for two humans to have a faunus child?" She hugged her arms around her stomach. "I know it's not supposed to be, but I thought maybe... maybe you'd know about exceptions?"
Slowly, Blake shook her head. "Sorry. I've never heard of anything like that happening." Then, hastily, "Before you, I mean."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh, spare me. You're hardly the first person to assume I'm a bastard."
Blake winced.
"My sister thinks our mother must have cheated," Weiss went on. "She denies it, of course, and I do look a lot like him so I suppose she might be telling the truth. I'm her daughter, though. My semblance proves that much."
"Would it be so bad not to be related to him?" Blake asked hesitantly.
She shrugged. "He doesn't think I am, so I guess it wouldn't change anything."
"He told you that?" Blake's ears pinned back in anger.
"No. My mother did."
"What about you?" Blake asked, after a long moment.
"Hm?"
"You told me what your sister and your parents think. What about you?"
"I..." Weiss swallowed. "I looked into it. Not a lot, I didn't want anyone to notice, but I looked for bird faunus in Solitas. There aren't any."
"It's rare," Blake agreed. "Even in Menagerie."
"Of course, maybe there was one and my Father found out, but I don't think so. If he had proof my mother had been with someone else, he would have done something about it."
"Hm." Blake's brow furrowed, as if she were deep in thought.
"What?"
"Well... he wouldn't have to be a bird faunus."
Weiss stared at her. "Excuse me, what?"
"When two faunus with the same trait have a child, that child inherits their trait." Blake gestured to herself. "When they have different traits, the child will get one or the other. But with a human... they might get the faunus parent's trait, but they might also get something random."
"Wha—random? Why? How?"
Blake spread her hands helplessly. "I don't know. Half the scientific community is still convinced I have a heat cycle, there isn't much good research."
Weiss took a moment to digest that. "So my Father might be..." Her stomach twisted. "That still doesn't explain why I look like him. I look more like him than Whitley does! That doesn't make any sense if we're not even related!"
She paused. Realized suddenly that she was out of breath, and Blake looked alarmed.
"Never mind," she muttered. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it does." Blake mustered up a small smile. "I'm not going to pretend I understand your relationship with him. But if it's important to you, then it matters."
Weiss looked away. "Why are you all like this," she groaned.
"Like what?" Blake sounded slightly offended. Maybe that was why Weiss' reply came out so much more honest than she'd intended.
"Kind."
"Oh."
"You can't talk to me like this all the time." She was aware, distantly, that she was talking too fast and too loud. "You can't just do all these things when I don't—" Her shoulders slumped. "I can't do that. I can't give it back."
She wished she hadn't said anything. Now, she was sure, Blake was going to argue with her. Was going to be kind again. Or worse, she'd finally realize the obvious and—
"I feel like that too, sometimes."
Weiss goggled at her. "You... what?"
Blake tried for a smile, and grimaced instead. "I worry about Yang and I. She's wonderful in so many ways... ways I still don't really think I deserve."
"What? But you're—" Weiss choked on whatever she was about to say. Because she didn't know how to articulate it, and had the acute sense that she shouldn't try, in case she revealed too much.
"I've got a lot of my own baggage." Blake shrugged, attempting nonchalance even as her expression turned pained. "The point is, I do my best to support her the way she supports me, even if my best isn't as good. Because that's all I can do. Because... sometimes you can't help other people until you get some help yourself."
Blake took a deep breath, and grinned at her. "We're not being kind because we want something, Weiss. It's because we care about you. You don't owe us anything for it, and you're still worth helping, even if you can't pay it forward right now. Honestly? Just seeing how much better you're doing, compared to the beginning of the year, or even a week ago...it's been really inspiring."
Weiss wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Kind, again," she grumbled—and failed to hide a smile.
By the next day, Weiss was starting to get cabin fever. She put on the bindings for a few minutes at a time, to walk with Blake around Beacon and get her own meals in the cafeteria. Which was... awkward. Jaune and Pyrrha had both gone home for the break, too, so the only people she knew on campus were Sun and Neptune, and... well. People she'd shouted at.
They passed Ren and Nora in the hall that afternoon. Ren gave them the same polite nod he always did—but Nora's eyes narrowed.
"Hey," she said. "You're obviously going through some stuff, and I hope you feel better. But don't take it out on my friends again. Got it?"
"Nora." Ren put a hand on her shoulder. "That's—"
"Fair." Weiss looked down. "It's... fair."
He frowned. "The error was mine in the first place," he pointed out. "I should have remembered your boundaries. Besides, there was no harm done. It was just a plate."
"But—" Weiss and Nora started to protest, at almost the same time. Nora blinked at her, startled.
"I was angry." Weiss still couldn't quite meet their eyes. "Not at you, but... I wasn't feeling like myself."
"That's still not an apology," Nora pointed out, and Blake winced.
"Nora."
Nora gave Ren a sweet smile. "Oh, we'll give her one, too! I know we accidentally tripped over some... stuff." She looked squarely at Weiss. "We all have stuff, though. You weren't trying to hurt us, but we weren't trying to hurt you, either."
"Good," Weiss said. "Then I see no reason why we have to humiliate each other to illustrate the point."
Nora stared at her.
Ren stared at her.
Blake stared at her.
"What?" Weiss folded her arms defensively across her chest.
"Is... that what you think apologies are?" Nora shot her a sideways look that came uncomfortably close to pity.
"Am I wrong?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"An apology really isn't necessary," Ren insisted, giving Nora a look. "Since that was what we were doing in the first place, remember?"
"Ugh, fine! You and Pyrrha are way too nice." Nora waved a hand at Weiss. "Obviously there's more stuff happening here, so just don't push Ren again or I'll beat you up. 'Kay?"
"That sounds acceptable."
"And since I didn't get to this part last time..." Her expression turned alarmingly serious. "I'm really, really sorry about before. I don't know you super well, so I shouldn't have guessed about what was happening with you and your team. If you ever need something smashed, let me know!" And then, with a parting grin, she and Ren were off.
Weiss stood there for a moment, struggling to process what had just happened. Then Blake stepped up beside her, silently offering her a hand. She took it.
"You do a lot of apologizing at home, don't you?"
She looked away and tightened her grip.
That evening, Weiss was partway through reviewing a chapter of Intermediate Dust Mechanics when Blake cleared her throat. She glanced over her shoulder, trying not to dwell too much on the image of her teammate curled up on her side in her pajamas. "What?"
"It's getting kind of late. Do you... maybe want to relax a bit?"
"I am relaxing."
Blake gave her a flat stare.
"It's relaxing to be able to look at the material without worrying about being tested," Weiss said defensively.
"Is that what you usually do in your free time?" asked Blake. "Study?"
"I like to stay productive. It's not like I can just forget about an exam until it's right in front of me and pass with flying colors." She still hadn't forgiven Yang for that, and probably wouldn't until the day she died.
The corner of Blake's mouth twitched upward. "She does study, you know. It's just that she mostly does it as she goes through the homework."
"Must be nice," Weiss said coldly, "being so naturally gifted."
It took a moment for the shock on Blake's face to sink in. Once it did, she turned back around and glared blankly at her textbook. "I'm... I didn't mean that. I'm just..." Jealous. Again.
"You're doing better than she is, you know," Blake said quietly. "Than all of us, except maybe Pyrrha. And, well... Pyrrha."
"I wouldn't if either of you actually bothered to try."
"We are trying, Weiss," Blake said, gently but firmly. "Maybe it's hard for me to get stressed out about tests when I've spent years on the run from the law, but this is the first time I've been in a formal school. I'm honestly happy I'm keeping up with the material at all."
Weiss cringed. "You're right. That wasn't fair."
"That's not what I meant. I'm saying you're not the only one who struggles with classes. It's not a fluke that you're at the top of the class. You're there because you're driven, and because you're brilliant." Weiss felt her face heat up, and very deliberately turned her attention to a diagram of a burn Dust crystal.
Blake was quiet for a while. Except, occasionally, for the flicking of pages. Then, completely unprompted, she asked, "Do you want to read with me?"
"What?"
"Well, we don't have any assignments right now. It's the best time we're ever going to have to relax. So, if you want... I could pick a book and read it out loud."
"You do know that I'm almost eighteen, right?"
Blake shrugged, but the way she fidgeted with the book in her hands revealed how tense she was. "It's something I do with Yang."
"You... read to Yang."
She flushed. "Other way around, actually. She does voices for all the characters and everything." A soft smile crept across her face. "It's no wonder Ruby loves fairy tales so much."
Weiss struggled to ignore the twisting feeling in her gut. As the seconds stretched, Blake reached out and patted the space beside her. She should definitely stay at her desk... but she couldn't quite bring herself to say as much. So she settled in, just far enough away from Blake that their knees weren't quite touching.
"Do you like fantasy?" Blake asked. She started to reach for the bookshelf, but Weiss waved her hands.
"I don't want to interrupt you," she said hastily. "You can just keep going, I don't mind."
"Um." Blake's ears got twitchy, and she glanced apprehensively at the book in her hands. "Sure. Okay." She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and began.
Weiss didn't read fiction. She was jumping into the middle of a story she knew literally nothing about, full of characters whose names she kept getting confused. And, within minutes, she was enthralled.
It had to be something about Blake's voice. Calm and melodic, it drew her in so gently she didn't even realize she'd started moving closer until their legs were pressed together. And when she did... well, she hadn't said anything, right? Did that mean this was okay?
She couldn't worry about it. She found herself swept along in the emotions of the story, all her focus drawing in until she realized something... odd. Blake was skipping things. It wasn't obvious, but sometimes she would pause for a moment, and when she picked up again the characters would be in a slightly different place. She might have ignored it, but the further they got into the book, the more often it happened.
"Why aren't you reading all of it?" she demanded, and leaned in to see.
Blake's ears jerked up. "Weiss, wait—!"
She read one of the missing sentences. Her face went very red. "Oh," she said, a bit faintly.
"Yeah..."
"Oh."
"Sorry." Blake grinned sheepishly at her. "I thought it would be less awkward to just..."
"Yes," Weiss said hastily, seizing on the lifeline Blake had tossed her. "Much."
Which didn't really make any sense, but Blake just chuckled and picked up where she'd left off, carefully skirting around the sorts of passages that might be slightly, mildly, extremely inappropriate to read to someone curled up next to her who was very much not her girlfriend.
Weiss tried to settle back into the story as if nothing had happened, but she couldn't stop fixating on how close they were. On the place where their shoulders were touching. What had felt wonderful only a moment ago, well... it was still wonderful, but now the feeling was tangled up in panic and guilt. She was caught between conflicting impulses. She wanted to jump away, but she also wanted to lean closer and—
She jumped away. "I—I didn't," she stammered, her stomach tying itself in knots as she tried to explain herself. What if Blake thought she didn't want to be touched anymore? What if she told Yang and Ruby?
"Hey." Blake shot her a reassuring smile. "It's okay, you can be as close or as far away as you want. Whatever makes you more comfortable."
"I didn't hate it. I just..."
"Needed a break?"
She nodded, and tried to conceal the depth of her relief. Blake started reading again, and Weiss curled up at the end of her bed, letting her voice lull her back into the story. Allowing herself a tiny sigh as she relaxed into her friend's presence, forgetting all about the weight of her bare wings on her back.
To clarify: I don't want to kinkshame the heat cycle trope or anything—I'm just not using it here, and in a world where she didn't have one I think Blake would be kinda annoyed by humans assuming she did.