"Again." I said, moving to the middle of the roof. I held up my two F-S knives, readying them to fight.

Weiss nodded, sweat dripping down her brow as she moved across from me, her back to the ledge as she held up her rapier.

We were to be leaving for Beacon later on today. I had to make sure we got one last bit of training in before we got there.

Weiss had gotten scarily good these past two weeks. Over the month I had known her, she had improved a lot.

She had even beaten me a couple times.

When she won for the first time, I had given her two options—she could move on to elemental glyphs or I could help her get better at fighting an opponent with a weapon.

Seeing as I am wielding knives, it is obvious what she chose.

I wasn't a big fan of weapons in general, but I was okay with using a decent set of knives to fight with. I liked close quarters combat, knives kept to that.

Due to the little time I'd used them for, I wasn't stellar with knives. I'd spent much more time training with my fists, and even then I wasn't great at unarmed combat. It wasn't shocking I was mediocre with my blades.

That's why it only took Weiss three days to beat me once I switched to them.

Once she beat me when I was fighting with my knives, I gave her the same option but with changing environments.

As we are fighting on the roof of the manor, her choice was obvious.

I was honestly rather proud of the choices she made. Elemental glyphs are powerful, yes, but it was much smarter to have your skills rounded before going on to supplementary skills like her elemental glyphs.

Which is why her picking weapons and different arenas is so great. Most people wield weapons and will block attacks. Weiss needs to learn to deal with that.

Most fights are not in a place you are comfortable with. Changing up the arena helps her learn that.

It helped that she was very, very talented. She learned at a scary fast pace. She was dedicated. She had a powerful semblance. Once she got even halfway decent with elemental glyphs, she'd be my complete superior.

"Ready." Weiss confirmed, nodding her head. A graceful grin rested on her face. How she managed to be graceful while grinning, I didn't know. She just did.

Weiss threw up a pen.

When it hit the ground, I readied my guard. Weiss was on me in an instant.

I pushed chi to my feat, making a circular, intangible platform below me that canceled out the glyph sticking me to the ground.

Training with Weiss really helped me figure out new tricks. That is, the repulsive property of chi. Chi could repulse things away from it.

The ability was utterly exhausting to use, draining my chi much too fast. It was also incredibly tough to use, taking up alot of my focus to use in any sort of complex way. It made it very useless to use in a fight—for now, that is.

The most useful thing I'd figured out was how to stand on a wall, and even then I could do it for maybe ten seconds.

I mentally snapped back to the fight as the tip of Weiss's sword charged at me like a hungry lion to a steak.

My right hand launched up, knife held tight as it slammed into Myrtenaster, metal clanging against metal loudly. Arms glowing gold with aura, I shoved the locked blades forward as hard as I could, swinging my other knife towards her midsection as she stumbled.

The blade struck a glowing glyph as I was shoved back, my feet sliding against the floor and singing from the shear friction.

Slowing down, I barely managed to raise my knives in time to catch the length of Myrtenaster in between them. A glyph appeared beneath the interlocking blades, pushing my hands straight up as the point of Weiss's rapier approached my chest.

I swiveled, my left leg rising up and slamming into Weiss's unprotected side.

A glyph appeared, holding her in place.

My eyes widened as Weiss didn't stop her attack, Myrtenaster propelling forward as dozens of glyphs appeared in front of the weapon, accelerating it to speeds I could barely comprehend.

In a fraction of a second, I found myself shoved back as I focused all of my aura onto my chest.

I could feel it, my aura lessening as the hit landed.

It didn't crack.

Twirling around the still extended blade, I dove forward and launched my hand around her waist, yanking her to the ground as I fell on top of her. Myrtenaster fell out of her grasp.

My right knife moved over her throat as my left knife hovered above her liver.

"Nice!" I said, not moving to get off of her. "You did good, you almost had me with that hit."

I moved my knives from her vital points.

Weiss nodded, giving me a small smile. "Thank you." Then it seemed like she processed the position we were in, her face mimicking the setting sun in how quickly it got red. "Get off of me!"

She made no effort to push me off.

"Hmm?" I absentmindedly said. "Why, we sleep together, Sunshine…this is lesser, ain't it?"

"You—" Weiss got even more red. "Don't say it like that! We share a bed and stay on opposite sides of it. Don't word it to be something it isn't." She blinked a couple of times. "And don't call me that."

Getting off of her, I pulled her up to her feet. She wouldn't meet my eyes, which made me hold back a laugh. Weiss was fun to tease, she got riled up so easily.

It was kinda sad that, objectively, she was my closest friend…

Also my only friend, now that I think of it.

And I'd only known her for a month…

I'm quite the hypocrite, aren't I?

I had sorta judged her for being lonely and friendless when I was no better. We shared that boat for different reasons, but we had the same issue.

"Sunshine, how could you?" I exaggeratedly cried out. "To try and act like we aren't intimate? My poor heart…" I gave a morose look.

To be honest, I hated sharing a bed. I wish I hadn't made that bet because, well, I don't like sleeping so close to someone else.

It wasn't like I was going to back down, though.

My bedmate was just as bad as me, so the resting predicament was not likely to change.

Weiss went even more red. "You are such an imbecile." She shook her head, a small smile appearing on her lips. "And I don't want to be in your fantasies," she teased back, "I'm way out of your league."

Shrugging, I sheathed my knives. "I hope you aren't trying to make me compete for you. What's your record with me? 30-3?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "30-4…and obviously not. A brute like yourself is not my type."

I put a hand to my chest, giving her an exaggerated face of anguish. "Thy words! They wound my poor, feeble soul!"

Weiss looked at me in exasperation.

I shot her a grin in response.

Being not lonely was fun to be honest. Most of the loneliness I'd had throughout my life had been self-inflicted.

I never lacked social skills, I don't have a difficult time talking to people. The main issue was my standards.

Now, I know my standards for basically anything are crazy high. That applies to who I accept as my friends. See, when I was younger, I was ambitious and talented. Most kids are ambitious, and due to me being talented, I was with the other ambitious and talented kids.

The main problem was that basically all of the innately talented kids were fine resting on their laurels and not working hard. They were good, so why try harder? Or they did try, but they didn't want to work for it like I did.

It was pathetic. If you are born with a talent, a gift, you should hone it. You should put every waking moment into perfecting it.

Oh, sure, I could do very well in most things with little effort…but how would I deserve that? I know I am talented. I know I have a gift. If I sat and tried to reach mediocrity, I could easily achieve it like those I went to school with. Their ambitions were pathetic.

They dreamed of fame and glory while having more natural skill in their pinky than ninety-nine percent of people. It was disgusting. I couldn't respect their dreams. I couldn't respect them.

So I didn't.

I had doubts Beacon would be much different.

Speaking of Beacon… "Anyways, is all of your stuff packed for Beacon?"

"Obviously." She said like I was painfully stupid. "You helped me pack, Nigel. Are you suddenly amnesic or something?"

"Nothing like that. I was just wondering if you did have everything." I spoke defensively. "And speaking of amnesia, my memory is rather crisp. Actually, I seem to recall that one time we saw that stray dog…what did you say to it again?" I paused as she shot me a look. "Oh, right. Something like, and I quote, aw your so cute! Your so cu—"

Weiss smacked my hand. "I get it! You don't have to be so irritating…" she pouted.

"That's my goal in life." I cheered, giving her a brilliant smile. "To annoy you. Truly, I am the epitome of ambition."

Weiss continued to pout.

This is the future head of the largest conglomerate on the planet, folks. She's arguing like a little kid with the future leader of the world!

Mwahaha.

We're quite the pair, aren't we?

I patted Weiss's head, which made her pout deepen even more.

Humming in consideration, I raised my hand from the top of her head to the top of my head.

"You know," I began, "you need to grow a little. You're so…tiny."

Weiss was around five-three. With heels on. So she was probably around five feet tall.

Her mom and sister, however, were probably around five-six or so, meaning Weiss probably had a bit more growing to do.

It was kinda odd, though, as I'm pretty sure women tended to stop growing by seventeen, so either Weiss lost the height lottery or she was an abnormality.

I was guessing the latter because, honestly, neither of her parents were nearly as short as she was. Which kinda sucked because we'd have to rework her fighting style if she ended up developing a physique like Willow or Winter.

Weiss had a fighting style reliant on agility, nimbleness, and dexterity…if she ended up growing up to look like Willow or Winter…well, they weren't skinny women.

Not to say they were fat.

Just…not thin.

My point is, her fighting style relies on her size just as much as it relies on her glyphs or speed.

Weiss huffed at me, crossing her arms. "I am not tiny."

"Sure you ain't." I gave her a placative smile.

"I am not!" She protested. "And I'm bound to grow more! My mother was my height at my age." Weiss narrowed her eyes at me. "And it isn't like you're any better than I am. Five-six is not much better than five-foot."

"Hey!" I squawked in protest. "I'm a healthy five-nine, thank you very much. That is the national average for Atlas, I'll have you know."

Weiss uncrossed her arms and patted me on the head. I was offended. She gave me a mock-pitying look. "Of course you are."

"Yes. I am." I continued to protest, huffing in offense. "You're just hating me because I am a specimen of a man!" I bragged, spreading my arms out in a cross-like shape. "Sexy black hair, alluring gold-colored eyes, and tanned skin covering a sculpted physique! I am the epitome of perfection!"

Weiss snorted at me. "Ugh, go find a mirror and kiss yourself already, Narcissus." I stuck my tongue out, mimicking a petulant toddler. I wasn't some old Mistrali failure of a myth, okay? "And perfection?" Weiss continued, putting a hand to her chin, clearly deep in thought. "Seven out of ten."

"Gah!" I pretend to be shot. "My ego! I'm wounded, my dear Weiss. Wounded." I sniffled a couple times for effect,

Weiss giggled at that, something she quickly stifled as she sent me an unimpressed look.

"Don't give me that look. You laughed."

Weiss shook her head. "At you, not with."

"Suuuure…" I stretched the word out, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You know you looooove me."

Weiss made a choked noise and looked away. "Don't be ridiculous."

It was funny how she reacted to affection. It's why I acted overly affectionate, she didn't know how to react to it.

At least, that's the only reason I could think of for why she got so flustered when I teased her.

"Nope, I'm being completely un-ridiculous!" I sing-songed, lightly shaking her side to side. "Cause we're beeeeest frieeeends."

Weiss made an odd, strangled sound. "...Best friends?"

"Course we are." I took my hand off of her shoulder, smiling at her and crinkling my eyes. "By default and because I'm just that awesome."

She looked at me, blinking slowly. After a long duration of her blinking in awkward silence, it seems her brain turned back on. "You're insane."

"Not at all!" I intoned in the same child-esq voice. "Admit it, I'm your best friend."

Weiss stared at me for a solid ten seconds. Then she turned around, walking away and towards the roof exit.

"Hey! Admit it!" I trailed behind her, badgering her to admit the truth.

That I was totally her best bud. Pal number one. Her auspicious amigo.

While I was technically her one and only friend, I was also absolutely the number one friend she'd ever get.

Because I was just that awesome.

So I was de facto her bestie and de jure.

Weiss sighed loudly as I kept badgering her. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking back at me. "Fine."

"Hm? What's that?" I put a hand to my ear.

Her eyes twitched.

Maybe my behavior was not conducive to her mental health, but it certainly brought me a lot of fun, so…

Weiss's features smoothed as she huffed. "I said fine…you're my best friend."

I clapped once. "See? Was that so hard?"

She crossed her arms. "When you act like that? Yes."

I pouted. "So mean." I whined to her, putting on a faux-hurt expression.

Weiss, typical of her bullying, cruel, evil demeanor, rolled her eyes and turned around. My bestie, truly, did not deserve my perfection.

She kept walking, ignoring my mature behavior. It was very offensive.

Like the wonderful watcher I was, I trailed behind her as we headed towards her room.

Her room which was full of packed luggage. The luggage that we were going to bring to Beacon, luggage that we would keep in a shared room once we were on the same team.

A team with just us two on it.

I exhaled a breath of air. I guess it was time to be a bit more serious. "Hey, Weiss?"

She ignored me again. I carried on.

Some days it felt like I was talking to just myself.

"I know we haven't talked about it much, but are you really okay with being on a team with just me? Team NW? Because I know you want to make friends at Beacon, and me being your only teammate is a bit of…well, an impediment on th—"

Weiss had turned around, cutting me off. "—you're such a dolt, Nigel."

That left me speechless. "What?"

"You said it yourself, dummy." She smiled at me, a pretty expression crossing her face. "We're best friends. So stop it. You will be an amazing teammate." Then her smile fell a little, which was a shame as it was a nice look. "But please stop doing that."

I gave her a blank look.

Doing what exactly? I had no clue what she was talking about.

Was I being annoying again? Or something. I didn't really want to actually be annoying to her, but I found that I could often accidentally be annoying.

I knew it wasn't purposeful annoyingness. I knew for a fact I wasn't trying to be annoying right now. So I might just be acting like my natural, annoying self.

It was hard to fix that, accidental annoyingness. Purposeful annoyingness has a charm if the other person likes it, but the former type is not likable to anyo—

"That!" Weiss exclaimed, giving me a look I couldn't interpret. "You're doing it. You either act like you're the very best at everything or the worst person to exist. It's…" She sighed, her smile completely gone. I felt bad. "You don't have to do that. You are good at things. You're talented and smart and a skilled fighter. And you are a likable person. I wouldn't be friends with," I cringed, "someone I disliked, right? So stop acting like this."

My eyes moved down, looking at the floor.

She did say we'd talk about this again. But I really, really didn't want to.

It was because she was wrong. I wasn't talented or good, I just worked hard. It just so happened I was lucky enough to do better than other people who worked harder than me.

And likable? I could laugh.

I bit my lip in contemplation before looking up at her. "Yes you would."

Her eyes widened. She looked startled. "What?"

"You'd like someone if they were highly dislikable." My stomach twisted as I felt nauseous. "The only reason we are friends is because I'm the first person to try and be your friend. That's the only reason. I'm—well, I'm not a good person. You only are my friend because you were lonely enough to befriend someone like me."

Weiss looked like I had slapped her. "You—!" She looked hurt, her eyes dampening. I felt terrible, but it was true. I wasn't likable. She was my friend because I was the only option, not because I was a good option.

"You—!" Weiss stuttered out again, her face flashing through emotions. She punched me in the shoulder, no real force behind the blow. "You asshole!"

As I opened my mouth to agree with her, I was cut off. "No." She glared at me, eyes watery. "Don't you dare use that to be more self deprecating." Weiss stared at me in challenge, practically daring me to open my mouth.

I stayed silent, so she took that as a que to continue. "It's so unfair. You're unlikable?" She spoke the words like they were the most outlandish thing she'd ever said. "You only are nice to me! You mess with me and are overly affectionate, but bad? Insulting? No."

Weiss scrunched her eyes and I felt like shit. "All you do is help me." She balled her fists, staring down at my feet. "You've helped me get better at fighting. You've helped me open up. You've helped me align my goals. You've helped me have some joy in this stupid, terrible home."

A tear fell down her right eye. "And it's unfair. You do so much for me and get to claim you're bad? Annoying? I've done nothing to help you! Nothing." She cut off, choking on words.

Suddenly, I felt terrible. I didn't want to make her feel bad. She was my friend. I cared about her.

I'd hurt her.

And it was because I spoke up about how bad I was. I always hurt people.

Always.

I moved to speak and then stopped myself. I was going to apologize, because I should. Because I'd hurt her.

But that would get her more mad.

Instead, I smiled at her, forcing down how I felt. "Don't say that, Sunshine." I put a hand on her shoulder. "You're a great friend. You do so muc—"

Weiss swatted my hand off her shoulder, looking at me aghast.

I didn't know what I did.

What did I do wrong?

All I did was try to help her.

"—see? I'm trying to help you and yet it circles back to me." She hissed in annoyance, wiping tears off of her face. "It's you helping me. Me. And I can't help you." She paced around the hall.

I kept quiet.

Trying to help her would get her mad.

Apologizing would get her mad.

I don't know—I really, really do not know what I can do to help her.

My face must have shown what I was thinking because Weiss looked at me with another one of her incredibly complex looks. She exhaled til her lungs were empty. "Stop blaming yourself."

I looked at her in confusion.

"Stop blaming yourself." She repeated, trying for a watery smile. "Not everything that happens is your fault. And you don't always have to help. Sometimes—sometimes helping is the problem. You're my best friend because I like your personality and who you are as a person. Want to not hurt me?"

I nodded.

"Then stop insulting yourself." She poked my chest with a finger. "It just hurts the people who care about you."

She hugged me, pushing her head against my chest. I stood stock still, completely confused.

How can I possibly hurt someone by…insulting myself?

I didn't understand.

But I had more pressing issues at the moment. That is, the girl crying onto my chest.

It was painful. The contact.

I hated, hated skin contact. It was painful. Uncomfortable. I didn't like the feeling of hugs, they left me feeling trapped.

Regardless, I hugged her back, feeling immensely confused. I rubbed circles into her back with my hands as she cried.

It didn't make sense.

Nothing made much sense right now.

I didn't know why she was crying. I didn't know why she was upset.

Weiss didn't cry, that's one of the things I knew about her. She was remarkably strong. She didn't cry for her mom. She didn't cry for her dad.

I made her cry.

I talked about the person I was and it made her cry.

I can't do that ever again, then.

It would just hurt her. I hate hurting people.

Leaning deeper into the hug, I rubbed circles into her back. My arms burned at the contact. I felt my lungs tightening.

I put on a smile and looked down at her head. "Okay."

Weiss slowly pulled back, face streaked red from tears. It made me feel even worse, knowing I'd caused her to cry. "What do you mean?"

I held up the smile. "I'll try to be less self-deprecating. You're right," I said, lying straight through my teeth, "I am way too hard on myself. I'll work on being fair to myself."

Weiss's face visibly lit up at that, a smile blossoming on her face.

I continued my act, my gut wanting to rebel on me. "Thank you, Weiss. Your care…it means a lot to me."

If Weiss's face lit up before, her face absolutely flared now. The look on her face was practically radiant.

It was mildly infectious, if I was being honest. I'd never seen her looks so…happy before. Never. Thanking her, though, somehow made her actually light up.

Oh. I get it now.

Weiss wanted to feel useful. She wanted to help out. To her, I was helpful. Loneliness sucks and I helped her not be lonely.

Somehow, someway, she wanted to reciprocate that because she didn't want to feel like she was only taking from me.

So she wanted to help me so she didn't feel bad about herself. It made sense.

When we went to Beacon, she'd probably grow distant from me as she made friends there.

People who were, ya know, actually likable.

Pushing down how crappy I felt, I shared her smile as she hugged me again. It wouldn't do to stew in thoughts like these. It just made me act edgy.

I laughed. "You're really living up to the name, Sunshine. Who knew ya had such a bright smile."

She punched my side, pulling back from the hug. Weiss was still glowing. "You really know how to ruin the mood, don't you?" She playfully teased.

Breathing out, I smiled with her. "Course I do. It's a talent, you know."

Weiss snorted softly.

"And, Weiss, what do you think about having ice cream?" I curiously asked. Ice cream had the miraculous ability of making people feel good, after all.

She furrowed her eyebrows then nodded. "Sounds lovely. I'll go ask Klein to—"

"—nope." I cut her off, grasping her arm as I began to move us through the halls. "Let's go out for it."

Her eyes widened. "Out? Father wouldn't let us at this time…" She took the lead, now pulling me forward. "But who cares about what Father wants?"

"Exactly!" I encouraged her. "Screw your dad!"

Sorry, Jacques, but I'd do anything to stop talking about…ugh…feelings.

Weiss looked mildly scandalized before nodding. "You're right. Screw him."

She nearly dragged me through the halls and out of the manor. It wasn't hard at all to get the gate guards to let us out—they would take Weiss's word without much thought unless Jacques said otherwise.

It didn't take much longer to get into the city proper, only a five minute stroll from the manor to the actual city.

Those five minutes were nice, though. Schnee manor was built in a really, really nice location. In real estate, one of the most important things is the location. Whichever Schnee picked this place out clearly had a good head on them.

It was surrounded by nature yet close enough to the city that you could quickly walk to it. And it was close to the nice part of Altas, meaning there was a low risk of being shanked.

Wow, rich people doing rich people things. I shouldn't be so surprised by it, but the scenery was still amazing.

"So," I began once we got near a shop, "what kind of ice cream are you going to get?"

"Vanilla." Weiss immediately answered.

"Vanilla?" My voice dripped with disappointment. "Really? Out of all the flavors you could possibly get…you pick vanilla? That's such a vanilla pick."

"And what's wrong with vanilla?" She defended, pulling us into a shop. "It's a good flavor. It's not like you'll have a better pick."

"Actually, I do." I said dramatically. "Clearly, cookie dough is the best pick there is."

"...cookie dough?" She sounded as disappointed as I did. "That's literally just vanilla with dough in it. You are no better than I am."

I tisked, clicking my tongue. "Of course you wouldn't understand the perfection that is cookie dough. The vanilla clashes with the dough, creating a new flavor. It's not dough and vanilla, it is dough mixed with vanilla. A very important distinction."

Weiss looked at me like I was an idiot before shaking her head with a small smile. "Just order your ice cream or I won't pay."

Her bank account had numbers before the zeroes. Mine did not.

Obeying would probably be a good idea.

We approached the counter and placed our orders. I got a disgusted look from the cashier when Weiss pulled out her card to pay. I had no clue as to why.

After escaping the shop, we went to a park and sat with our ice cream, enjoying the treat.

Atlas didn't get incredibly hot in the summer, but it was still toasty, so it was nice. I found myself enjoying this.

I wasn't talking about just the ice cream.