When Ben walked into the dorms after classes, he didn't expect it to be so...empty. It may have been a Friday, but he figured there would still be some people lingering. Apparently not; most people had left immediately after the final bell had rung.

Well, everybody except Weiss.

Ben had no issues with Weiss, really. She was ...okayish? The only time they really hung out together was when they were in groups. Ben had no idea how to talk to her one on one.

Weiss was busy doing some light reading when she noticed Ben coming in. Yang and Blake had gone on a date, and Ruby was busy hanging out with Penny, so Weiss had opted to get a head start on some homework. However, doing homework on such a nice Friday afternoon didn't appeal to her, so Weiss was happy to see someone she could hang out with.

"Uh, hey," Ben greeted awkwardly.

"Hello, Ben." She showed a small half smile before closing her textbook. She had no idea how to break the proverbial ice between them- she and Ben were rarely alone together- so Weiss just waited for Ben to continue the conversation.

Ben made his way over to the table, plugging his charger in. His phone was at 20%- the group chat was always lively, but Min had broken into a five-star restaurant to steal some of their leftovers, and she had chronicled the entire event live. Ben hadn't retained any of his physics lecture, but fuck that class anyway.

He slowly turned to Weiss, who alternated between looking at him and somewhere else, her fingers tapping out a catchy rhythm. Ben averted her gaze, wracking his brain for any sort of topic they could talk about. Damn you, social anxiety!

"So!" Ben's voice pierced the silence, startling them both. At Weiss' bewildered gaze, he sheepishly asked, "Uh, whatcha reading?" There! Something school related was usually a safe topic, and Weiss clearly adored her classes.

"Oh, I was reading ahead for Professor Lepisto's class," Weiss told him. "According to the syllabus, we have a fairly long essay due in a few weeks, and I wanted to get a head start."

Ben looked at her appraisingly. "Oh yeah, I remember that. I think I want to do something about the Brother Gods. Like, I know the God of Light is supposed to be a good guy, but honestly he seems like a dick."

Weiss looked at him, confused. "But he's the embodiment of good?"

"Good doesn't necessarily mean nice or benevolent," Ben said, shrugging. "Besides, almost every teacher likes a well-thought out counterargument to popular opinion. How about you? Have you already chosen a topic?"

Weiss' cheeks turned pink. "I'm still debating it, to be honest. My go-to is the story about the four seasons, but it seems too saccharine for a school paper. And I think Lepisto mentioned that he gets a lot of papers concerning them every year."

"Makes sense," Ben mused. "Everyone loves a happy ending. Why not try one of those moon legends? Or an Atlesian fairy tale?"

"Hmm, maybe," Weiss mused. Awkward silence hung over them once more. Ben peered at his still charging phone, and was startled when Weiss piped up. "So! Where are you off to?"

Ben dared to look over. Even when Weiss was trying to be nice, she still looked intimidating. "Oh, I wasn't… sure? I mean, I can't really go anywhere when my phone's practically dead, and I didn't have any plans for today, so…"

Weiss' brow furrowed. "We seem to be in the same boat, then." She looked longingly out the window. "And it's such a nice day out, too…"

Ben got what she meant- it was perfect shorts and t-shirt weather, with hardly a cloud in the sky. He could see why everyone had left the dorms so quickly, and why Weiss looked so bored, sitting in her dorm alone. Hell, Ben was getting bored just staying in here.

He took another look at his phone. "I mean, it's still mid-afternoon, and dinner should be starting soon… wanna grab a few things and eat outside?"

Weiss blinked. "Like a picnic?"

"Yeah, that," Ben said, nodding. "I got a few old blankets we can use."

She thought briefly. "And Yang has a picnic basket here somewhere. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we use it."

"Sweet! I'll get changed and let my phone charge a bit, and we can go."

"Alright."

As Ben left, Weiss found herself completely taken aback. What started out as an icebreaker had turned into… a date? No, no, Ben clearly had no interest in her (and she in him), so it was more like… hanging out? Wasn't that what she wanted? But she barely knew Ben! What was she supposed to say?

As Ben quickly changed into street clothes, the only thing he could think was motherfucker I'm having dinner with a veritable stranger what the actual fuck am I gonna do. For the millionth time in his life, he wished he didn't have social anxiety- or any kind of anxiety, really.

Ben briefly cursed all the Chaos Gods he knew, because clearly someone was messing with him.

(Somewhere, Min and her father smirked.)

"Just for the record, this is not a date," Weiss declared, glancing at Ben with a raised brow.

Ben, who admittedly had been more focused on carrying the basket, merely looked at her. "I know? I thought that was obvious?"

Weiss pouted. "Considering we're going on a picnic, I figured someone might get the wrong idea."

"The courtyard is mostly empty, we'll be fine," he dismissed. "Besides, guys and girls can totally hang out and have it be totally platonic." Weiss conceded the point and laid down the blankets, while Ben set up the basket.

As the pair slowly dug into their food, another silence hung over them. Weiss finished her bite of chicken salad pita and shattered it. "I'm surprised you asked me to dinner. We don't really talk outside class or without our friends around."

Ben, who was about to bite into his Cubano, merely looked at her. "Eh, I guess I wanted to get to know you better? I mean, I hang out with Blake more than I hang with you, and she's usually so quiet."

Weiss blinked. "You do? She never mentioned it."

"Probably because every time we hang out, it's completely by accident," Ben admitted. "Like, we usually catch each other in the library and do homework together, and sometimes we rant about how good or terrible certain book series are. I legit have a recording about how much she hates 50 Shades of Gray, it's beautiful."

Weiss nodded sagely. "Yes, I know what you mean. Considering how much smut she consumes, the fact that she hates that one particular series speaks volumes."

Ben swallowed a bit of his sandwich and nodded. "And considering we've all been working together for a few months, I thought it was weird the two of us barely talked?"

"Considering we're both Ruby's partners and friends, I suppose it would be best if we got along better," Weiss said thoughtfully. "And it would make her happy, to say the least."

"Yeah!" Ben grinned. "So are you and Kylie a thing or-" He immediately shut his mouth and mentally cursed. He did not mean to say that, holy shit. "I mean, uh, you and Kylie are close too, right?"

"Hm? Yes, we're pretty close. All the more reason to get along, I suppose." She smiled, casually waving a hand before starting to adjust herself. "I'd say we're about as close as you and Ruby are."

That… confirmed a number of his suspicions, actually. "So, how're classes?" Ben asked casually.

"It's nice, I'm not all that overworked as I thought I'd be..." She joked again before glancing at Ben's phone- she noticed all the gibberish text, which made him quickly hide it in his pocket.

"Uh, riveting conversation on my discord," Ben lied. "Lots of key smashes."

"Uh-huh." Weiss let out a soft sigh. "Listen, I can understand that you're nervous considering we barely talk..."

"Yeah, that's a bit of an understatement," he blurted out.

Weiss just placed a hand on his shoulder. "Again, I can understand being nervous. Not a lot of people want to talk to a powerful heiress with a stepfather who runs an entire military precinct."

Ben looked at her, confused. "No, I'm just freaking out because I have no idea how to talk to you. You're intimidating on a good day, and no one's given me any good advice on how to get to know you."

"Oh!" Weiss just looked back to Ben before starting to rub the back of her neck. "That… that makes a lot of sense, actually."

"Yeah…"

Weiss took a deep breath. "Okay, so, I think we can agree that we're both very awkward right now and we're both having an awful time speaking to one another because we don't know how the other would react to our quirks," Weiss explained in a rush. "What I do know is that you care a lot for others and genuinely want to get to know people better, even if your anxiety tries to stop you."

"Yeah, that's me to a tee. Uh, I know you're kinda rich and snarky, and it takes you a while to warm up to people." Ben shrugged. "I'm not good at describing things."

"That was me before I ended up meeting Kylie, Ruby, and all the others. I don't want my status to define me as an individual anymore," Weiss declared. She then daintily finished the rest of her pita, like that was supposed to punctuate the end of her sentence.

Ben, having already finished his sandwich, reached for a bottle of cold sweet tea. "How did you meet Kylie, actually?" he asked, twisting the cap off. "I know you two went to that Huntress camp with Yang..."

"Now that one? I think it'd be best to ask her yourself~" she teased. It was so unexpected, Ben nearly choked on his drink. Weiss snorted as he spluttered, and she went into full on snickers as he fixed her a glare.

"Oh, very funny," Ben groused. He racked his brain for another topic, and came up short. "Okay, so, I don't really have any more conversation starters. I've never really been good at ice breakers. And it's weird to do so, considering I'm actually richer than you?"

Weiss just stared, all traces of humor gone. "I...I seriously doubt that."

Ben sighed. "Alright, here's the thing- my alien forms and my identity have been the subject of many, many, many ripoffs. There was once a chibi show that mocked both my alien forms and Ruby. There were also a multitude of space shows that capitalized on my story, with multiple discrepancies, including one that had my 'girlfriend' in one adaptation be my cousin. So, got myself a space lawyer, went to space court, and sued them for that shit."

"I...what?" While Weiss was familiar with the concept of discrepancies and lawsuits (especially when it came to the idea of slander and defamation of character), the idea of space slander was so… mind boggling.

Ben nodded. "Yeah. They straight up just made me and my cousin date each other. Grandpa Max was fuming when he told me that..."

"Yikes." Weiss was genuinely horrified at the idea, but then she let out an inelegant snort. "I'll be honest, when you told me you were richer, I didn't think it was because of you suing people into oblivion."

"Well, I mean, I have a pretty big bank account. I just never really touch it in case I need something. That, or when Ceres needs funding." Ben smiled sheepishly. "Don't tell her about that."

Weiss shrugged. "I don't plan on it. I can't argue with a man of business."

"Ah, well, I almost failed economics last year…" Ben admitted.

Weiss shook her head. "So, how bad were these rip offs? Was Ruby in any of them?"

Ben shivered, face going deathly pale. "Bad enough that I haven't even told her about what they did to her character."

"...how bad, Ben?"

He paused and closed his eyes. He looked like he was heavily debating something, but eventually he showed Weiss a disturbing image of a scantily clad Ruby expy. "Apparently I'm a male savior in this adaptation, and she, like, loses every fight. They call this story 'Skylines' or something. It was really bad."

Weiss' eyes widened, before darkening dangerously. She quickly brought out her weapon and smiled. "Ben, who made that bootleg?" she asked, absolutely furious that someone would shame her partner and team leader like that.

Ben eyed Myrtenaster. "Uh, some dude. In space."

"I need more than just that, Ben. Because once I find that motherfucker, he is going to be as cold as the ice cold heart of a goddamn tundra," Weiss stated, her gaze as hard as diamonds.

Ben had never heard Weiss swear before, it was genuinely terrifying. "I mean, he lives on like this sun planet..."

Weiss started to smirk. "That sun isn't going to be very warm by the time I'm done with him," she singsonged.

Ben blinked. "So, skip dinner and go kick this guy's ass?"

"Absolutely." She immediately stormed off, ready to murder.

(Ben vowed to never reveal all the other times Ruby had been demeaned and sexualized in space media. He and Grandpa Max had already beaten them all up and bankrupted them, anyway.)