'Damn, that's one helluva stack of pancakes.' I think, looking at Jaune's plate. He has to have at minimum a dozen on there, all piled up. I just have to wait for the perfect moment… Weiss walks in, and he turns to look at her. Perfect! "Hey, mind if I borrow one of those? No? Great." Before he can even turn back to face me, I snatch the top pancake off the stack, roll it up, and stuff it into my mouth.
"What the- Hey! Get your own damn pancakes!" Jaune says.
I laugh a bit, and nod. After swallowing, I speak, "Fine, fine. Gimme a sec." I then stand up, and walk over to grab some pancakes. I grab four, along with a stack of cinnamon buns, and while walking back, eat one of the pancakes. I lay the now three new pancakes on his stack.
He smiles a bit, and I speak, "Does that suffice?"
"It will do. I'll accept your peace offering." Jaune says.
I snicker, "Very well. I'm pleased to know that I haven't evoked the ire of the great Jaune Arc."
"Just shut it." he says, and I giggle a bit.
"You're both such dorks." says Weiss. She sits down, and smiles a little. Quite the rare sight, I'll say. Jaune meanwhile blushes a little and turn back to his plate. It's been a couple days since the little game night, and everyone's in high spirits.
Jaune shovels a pancake into his mouth, swallows, and speaks, "You could have just asked for one."
I shrug. "I mean, I did."
"You didn't give me any time to answer!"
I shrug again, before speaking, "Not my fault you were too slow. Should have been faster."
Jaune shakes his head, and continues eating. Jade plops herself down, and smiles at me. "Well hello, Friend Doge. Are you feeling better after resting?"
I had spent the past two days to myself, just resting and recharging my social battery. Finished that book, beat a game I had been putting off, and binged a series I had been setting aside too. Along with paying back my sleep debt. Man, I feel good for once, and I fully intend on taking advantage of that opportunity.
"Absolutely. I actually have something I want to do soon. Going to be putting that hypothesis of yours to the test." I say.
"Oh?" Jade smiles a little. "Really now?"
I nod enthusiastically. "Yup. Probably not today, but like, soon. I'll pick up what I need next time I'm, uh, in Vale."
Jade nods, taking a bite of her cereal. In turn, I eat one of my cinnamon rolls. Alright, listen, this school takes the idea of school food, bends it over, and beats it with a metal pipe. Like holy shit, the food here is downright delectable. Fucking immaculate. I would sell my body for these damn cinnamon buns. Like fuck, someone could ice me for these bitches. Ok, wait, how the hell did I get so off topic? Oh, right, cinnamon rolls that melt in your mouth.
Anyways, Lukas sits down, and greets everyone. I nod back at him, but my attention is taken by something else. Nora is running towards the table, a big ass smile on her face. "Lukaaaas! I know your secret!" she says. I turn to Lukas, and his face has dropped. I mean, it isn't that big of a deal, Blake has an arguably worse criminal background, so I'm sure it won't change anyth- "You're a faunus, aren't you? Why didn't you tell us?" Nora says.
W h a t.
She… yeah, she doubles down, "I mean, it was so obvious! Everyone knows that you have some kind of secret, and I'm the one who figured it out!"
This whole time, Lukas' expression has gone from one of genuine horror, to confusion, and now forced surprise. "Oh, yeah, you got me." he says.
Ren runs in the room, and upon seeing Nora already there, facepalms. He must have a high tolerance for Nora's shenanigans, but this must be that little bit too much. As he reaches our table, he speaks, "I must apologize for Nora's… how would I put this… accusation? I told her not to-"
Nora cuts him off, "But I was right!" Her face is one of pure joy.
"You were right?" Ren asks, looking at Lukas and I. Lukas mouths "no" when Nora turns around, but then says, "Yup, she got me. Totally figured out my big secret."
"Don't worry," Nora says, still half shouting, "I won't tell anyone that you're a faunus!"
"Right… uh… moving on to other matters…" I say, trying to get this topic resolved before it becomes an actual issue. "Does anyone have any plans for today? I know that I'm probably going to do some training."
"Hmm…" Nora scratches her head. "I dunno. I'm gonna figure something out, though!"
"Have fun with that." I say.
"As for me," Jaune says, "I'm probably going to go train too, with someone."
"Do you mean Jade and Pyrrha?" Lukas says. I shove another cinnamon roll into my mouth.
"You know about that?" Jaune asks.
Lukas nods. "I saw you guys from another roof."
"What were you doing on the roof?" Jade asks, slightly tilting her head.
"Stargazing." he replies.
The idea of this makes me laugh a little. I'm just picturing him on the roof, maybe thinking about something important, then he hears Jaune get punted by Jade and Pyrrha tells him to "Get up and try again." from across the way.
By this point, Ruby and Yang have joined us, but there's no sign of Blake. I pull out my scroll, but there's nothing. "Hey, Ruby, Yang?" I start, making sure that I have their attention. "Where's Blake?"
Yang shrugs. "Don't know. She wasn't in her bed this morning." Ruby nods, as does Weiss.
"Oh, well that's a little worrisome. I'm sure she'll be fine…" I say, checking my scroll again as if a text would magically have been there the whole time. Plot twist, no. By this point, my leg is bouncing up and down on its own volition.
"Aww, someone's worried?" asks Lukas.
"Fu-" I remember Ruby's here, and that I promised to tone it down around her, "-udge off. Yeah. Fudge off." I say. Yang gives me a thumbs up, and Lukas rolls his eyes. "Is it so wrong to be just a little concerned?" I ask Lukas.
Lukas thinks about it, and shakes his head. "I guess not particularly, but it's still fun to bully you for it."
He has a very fair point, and I tell him such, "I mean, you've got me there."
"Oh, guys…" Levi starts. We all turn to him, and he just doesn't say anything. He's staring at his scroll and holding a glass of milk. He continues doing this and nothing more for a solid thirty seconds.
"Y-yes Levi? Are we going somewhere with this?" I say after a slightly uncomfortable amount of time.
"Oh! Yeah, uh, it's supposed to rain today. Like, next hour or so."
Oh for fuck's sake. I was supposed to go and actually do something productive like train. So much for that, I guess. Well, I guess I can take one more day of doing jack all. "Hmm. Might go back to my room and just watch a movie or something. Another day of me just being to myself might not hurt." I say, before eating my last cinnamon roll.
"All by yourself?" Lukas asks.
I shrug. "Are you bored enough to put up with me for several hours?"
"Just might be." he responds.
"Alright, well, I'll catch you folks later then. And I'll see you in a few." I say, referring to Lukas.
"Yo, did you actually say the word 'folks?'" Yang asks.
"I- Shut up." I say, standing up. I make my way to my room, on the other side of the damn campus, and try to think of something to do on this dreary and drab day. Every now and again a droplet of water will land on my nose, and I look up just to catch a droplet in the eye. I'm the fucking epitome of intelligence, trust me, I have Lukas, so maybe we can think of something fun to do? Or maybe it's going to end up in one of those conversations where we reveal something we never told each other… Nah. Not today.
I'm sitting down on my sofa, LED lights a bright blue, and I'm going through my games. None of them seem particularly interesting at the moment, and I sigh. Just then, I hear a rapping on my… window? I turn, and see the blue hoodie clad bastard hanging from the ledge. I walk over and push open the window. "Are you fucking serious?" I ask.
"Whaaaat? I wanted to see if I could still make the climb." he says.
"Yeah? Well let's see if you can still make the fall." I snicker, taking a few steps backwards.
His eyes widen. "Wait! No, no, n-" he's cut off by my foot making contact with his chest, and he goes right off. He sticks the landing with a roll, and flicks me off. I wave at him, and shut the window. A minute later, he opens the door, and I'm sitting on the couch smirking.
"Jackass." he says, kicking off his shoes. I just shrug. He smacks me upside the head, understandably so.
"To be fair, I warned you last time you did that. Like, explicitly. Plus, Sun tried to pull that shit on me too." I say dismissively.
"Yeah, sure. Didn't expect you to actually kick me off the fucking ledge!"
"Tragic. Also, have you seen Sun around? I haven't seen him in… uh… a while." I say, sitting up to make room for Lukas. He sits down and leans against an arm, while I cross one leg over the other.
He thinks on it, and shakes his head. "Haven't heard a word from him since break started." Oh well. He'll probably show up at some point or another. Probably through a window, chances are. "So. What are we doing?"
"Fuck if I know." I say, still looking through games.
I look over to see him blink a few times. "You invited me over, and didn't have a plan?"
"Since when do I ever have plans?" I finally decide on some good old fashioned CoD Zombies. I throw on a random map, and we start playing. This idiot doesn't even shoot the body three times before knifing.
"Huh. Well that kind of mindset is going to get either yourself or someone else killed one day." Lukas says.
"Aww, do you really have that little faith in me?" I say.
"Just shut up and focus on not going down on round two." he says.
I scoff and place my hand on my chest in mock offense. "Do you really think so lowly of me?"
His response is instant, "Yes."
"Whatever. We should put on some music. Cover me for a second." I say, taking out my scroll. After a minute, I just let one of the auto generated playlists play. I connect it to the console, so it plays out of the TV. A mixture of heavy rock songs, alt metal, power metal, some grunge here and there. All my usual stuff. We spend a few hours screwing off going for high rounds and playing on our phones before we realize it's nearly lunch. In this time I've also managed to get a hold of Blake, and she apparently had been trying to get some early morning training in, before getting rained on. Poor girl.
"So…" I say, after getting my nose broken by a very angry panzersoldat, "…what now? The weather seems to be clearing…"
Lukas looks outside, and scowls at me. "You call that clearing?" Ok. Maybe it's still a bit rainy.
"Look, it's better than earlier." I say, checking my scroll. It should clear up by tomorrow, and should dry out by the weekend, if not before.
"Yeah, well that ain't saying much." Lukas says, checking his scroll for the same reason. He then perks up and says probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard, "Wanna go camping when the weather clears?"
Fucking camping? Where in the sweet hells did he get that idea? "Lukas, you want me, the insufferable idiot who only goes outside when I need something, to go into the woods, willingly, for fun?"
"Yes."
"Mmm… I'll think about it." I say, thinking about it. On one hand, why the fuck would I willingly go into the woods? On the other hand, s'mores… "Yeah, fuck it, why not."
"You made up your mind that fast?" he says, his expression going from somewhat smug to befuddled. Hehe, befuddled.
"I had an epiphany." I say. I then see that I have a message from Blake. Ooh! The plot thickens…
"Right. Well, I'll leave you and your girlfriend to it, then." he says before I can even check the message.
I blink a few times. "What?" I ask.
"Oh, yeah, I texted her that I was leaving, so she's coming over. Have fun!" Lukas says, walking out the door.
I chase after him, and half shout, "Get back here you fucking basta-" I stop, seeing as Blake's not two feet away from the door. "Oh hey, didn't uh, didn't see you there… yeah…"
She just shakes her head, and sighs. "I told him to tell you."
I nod, stepping inside. I shrug. "Oh, yeah, he told me. A solid twenty seconds ago, but he told me." I start to think of anything we could do. Normally I have like, an hour to sit in a corner, halfway overdose on caffeine, and plan, but now I'm just being thrown to the wolves. Or the cat, technically speaking. Ok, let me take a step back. There's movies…
…
…
…
Wow, I fucking suck at this. Oh, and before you go thinking "Well Doge, why don't you just go do that?" We haven't been together long enough for that, in my opinion. Maybe like, making out at most, but even then… Not really in that kind of mood, so... Anyways, back to more pressing matters.
"Based on the look on your face, you don't have a single idea in that head of yours, do you?" Blake says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, to be fair, I had at most twenty seconds between your message, which I still haven't read, and you being at the door, so… no." I say, a myriad of gestures accompanying my voice to emphasize words here and there. She smiles and sits down on the sofa, looking up at me.
"Well, we could watch a movie?" she offers. Oh, right, we both suck at this. No telling how we've made it this far.
"Sure. Let me… what was I do- Oh yeah, let me grab some snacks real quick, yeah? Do you want something?" I walk into the mini kitchen, opening a cabinet.
She nods. "Something salty, maybe?" Salty. Right. Well, there's some chips. Some crackers, because you can't have soup without crackers, and I'm a sucker for a good homemade soup. There's some popcorn I could pop, and some pretzels…
"Hey, Hon, we've got chips, crackers, popcorn, and pretzels. Do any of those sound good?" I ask before glancing over at her.
She seems to think about it for a moment, before saying, "I think chips will be fine." I nod, and grab the bag of chips, walking back over to the sofa. I realize the loss screen for the last game Lukas and I is still displayed, and while many guys would be pleased to see a round fifty game on Origins, that one map based on the Great War with some sci-fi elements here and there, I don't think Blake cares much. I open up a streaming app, and hand her the remote. "You're letting me pick?" she asks.
"I mean, I have about as many ideas as Levi has brain cells, so…" I snicker.
She sighs, "Why are you so hard on him? Do you guys hate each other or something?"
I tilt my head, my tone now sounding slightly confused, "Does it seem like we do?"
She looks more confused than I sound. "Uh, yeah? You two usually bicker about the most asinine things possible, and then curse each other and walk away. You usually then walk back over and immediately start joking about it."
She does have a solid point. I shrug a little. "I mean, you're right, honestly. Sometimes I just kinda… Look, you're not much better about certain things. You know when he says something so stupid that you want to slam your head into a desk-"
"Yeah, you've given yourself a nosebleed doing that." she says. "Twice."
"Anyways, when he says something like that, I dunno, my brain just goes into autopilot." I say.
"I understand that, but then there's also times where it will be dead silent and you just go, 'Shut the fuck up Levi.' Most people would assume that you hate him for existing." Blake says.
"Ok, well, if I'm not his biggest hater, someone else will be, and I won't allow that." I say.
"I… no, that shouldn't make sense…" she says.
I just pat her shoulder and continue, "Oh, but it does. You see, if anyone said a negative word about him, I'd throw them through a window. Only I can bully that dumbfuck, no one else can. It's like Lukas and I's relationship. That's my bitch to bully."
"I can't tell if you're being a good friend or a terrible friend."
"Yes."
"Uh huh. Well, anyways, I'll find us a movie." Blake says, looking through the options. She picks a cute looking romcom. I pull up a blanket and drape it over us, and get closer to her. She giggles a little and leans her head on my shoulder, while I put an arm around her. It's nice to just be close, I guess. I let out a sigh, and let my body relax once I realize I had been a little tense. The only sounds other than the movie are the sounds of the bag of chips, crunching, small laughs, and our breathing. I occasionally absentmindedly fiddle with her bow, and she swats away my hand, muttering something about how her ears are sensitive. One day I'll see if she's just saying that to keep me away from them or not, but I'm not pushing any boundaries today.
The movie isn't half bad either, honestly. I'm (hopefully obviously) not the type to commonly be into this stuff, but it has its own unique appeal. There's some good jokes here and there, too. Overall, solid 7.5/10 movie. As the film draws to a close, I feel Blake kiss my cheek, and I turn to her as a warm feeling fills my chest. She speaks, breaking the comfortable silence we shared for the past hour and a half, "Did you like it?"
I nod. "Yup. I used to hate that kind of stuff, but it's grown on me over the years." I say, watching the credits roll.
"That's probably because you can relate a bit more, now?" she says, still leaning on me, arms around my torso.
"Maybe so." I reply. My brain then has one thought overtake it. A thought so primal in origin that I can't possibly ignore it. After some internal conflict, I elect to be blunt. I decide to truly speak my mind…
"I'm hungry."
"Oh my Gods, really? Why are you like this?" Blake asks, rolling her eyes.
"W-what? Am I supposed to ignore that? My body has needs that potato chips simply can't satisfy, Honey. That much is plain and simple. If I don't eat enough, I'll get all week and sleepy, and then I'll go on a mission, and get overpowered, and then I'd die. Is that what you want? Oh! I knew it! How could you?" I ask, finishing my little tirade.
"So dramatic for no reason. Whatever, if you're making or ordering something, it's for two people, got it?" she says.
"Well no duh. As for what I plan on doing, I'm gonna cook something." There's a determined shine in my eyes, as I slowly pull out of the cuddle. I put the blanket back over her, and walk to the small kitchen. Alright, what do I have to work with?
Damn, I need to go grocery shopping…
Ok, so, options are limited, but there's hope still. I have chicken breasts, so there's plenty I can do with that. Some pasta there, oh, and some of those mushrooms I bought! Onion there, some Alfredo sauce, and some fresh spinach in here, right? Yup! I could use this to make a sauce… Oh yeah, it's all coming together. Now I have to turn principle into practice or something.
To start, I get the pasta boiling, and leave that alone for the time being. I then place the chicken breasts in a skillet with some olive oil, and get to work. I chop the mushrooms and spinach, along with a few other herbs. I make sure that the chicken is getting nicely seasoned, and make sure not to overcook it. Next, I set it aside, and then put in the mushrooms and onions. With that going, I add the spinach, and get it nice and soft. Alright, I'll save you some time, but I manage to cook it without burning down the kitchen, and it comes out looking pretty good. I use the parmesan to garnish, and we're done!
Plating two… well, plates, later, and Blake's sitting down at the table, looking at the food in front of her. She has a pleasantly surprised expression on her face. "Wow, I didn't think you could go into a kitchen without blowing it up." she says, before taking her first bite.
"I know, I know, I'm just full of wonderful surprises. Now eat before it gets cold, alright?" I say, starting to eat myself. Damn! I actually pulled it off in my opinion! "Well? Is it good?"
She nods, and the expression on her face says plenty. She actually likes it! Fuck yeah! I'm not useless after all! Let's go! Uh, anyways, yeah, chicken pasta tastes good, and I successfully fed my girlfriend. Absolute W. Once we both finish our food, I take the plates and rinse them off before setting them in the sink. I'll finish cleaning them fully later.
We make our way back to the couch, and she lays down first. I lay down on top of her, resting my head on her chest. I yawn a bit. "D'ya wanna take a nap, or something? I'm tired…" I say, pulling up the blanket again. It's phrased as a question, but we both know that I've already decided that it's nap time for myself, and it's just whether or not she joins me.
"When are you not tired?" she asks, looking down at me.
"Oh shut up, just lemme exist." I mutter, getting comfortable. She just laughs, and I wrap my arms around her, and close my eyes. I listen to her heartbeat, the steady rhythm lulling me into a sense of serenity. "Good night, Honey…" I trail off.
"Good night, Darling." Blake says. I squeeze her one more time, and let myself fall asleep to the gentle rise and fall of her chest, along with the steady drone of the air conditioning.
What's good? It's been a bit. Honestly don't know if this counts as early or late, but fuck it. You get a new chapter, and I have to get to work on Chapter Ten. I say that like Nine's finished as of writing this, but whatever. Not the point. What is the point, however, is that I'm keeping my word to an extent. There's not much to really talk about, honestly.
This is just some nice fluff for a chapter, and like, actually builds on the main relationship, which is, y'know, one of the stories main plot points. My bad for not giving any of that ages ago, but whatever, my storyboard's fucked enough as is. Anyways hope you enjoyed joyed!
Don'tcha just love when the characters are happy? Don't get used to it. Anyways, Chapter Nine will be out in the next week or two, so... yeah...
bye bye