Note: Well... that last chapter was depressing. I have to confess, when I was planning this arc, that twist was something I had in mind since the beginning. I specifically asked for audience requests for the rest of the chapter because I wanted to soften the blow somewhat. Did it work? Eh, you be the judge. This is an aspect of my WhiteRose relationship I felt was important to explore, and we're going to finish our vacation with it. Yep, after the next chapter, the vacation is done! Back to our regularly scheduled programming. What lies in store then? You'll get a taste next chapter. But for now, we need to talk about boundaries. Enjoy.

April 11th. The last day of vacation.

Where else could Ruby turn to but here?

She hadn't slept a wink. Her twisting stomach wouldn't let her. Some primal part of her feared that Weiss would enter her room in the middle of the night. Not scared of Weiss, but of the confrontation, of living with what had happened between them. It made her nauseous just thinking about it.

So, she turned here. She waited until the crack of dawn. She needed to be sure she wasn't interrupting any sleep. She needed honest advice, unfiltered. She could think of only one person capable of that. Ruby stood outside the door in her pajamas, her forearms pushed against her stomach to keep herself sturdy. She bowed her head, trying to sort through her thoughts.

She knocked on the door.

She waited.

The other answered, just like Ruby thought she would. The door swung over, and Ruby was met with the narrow gaze of the woman she needed to hear from most—Blake.

"Ruby," Blake said dryly. "You're up early."

Ruby didn't have time for small talk. She couldn't keep her eyes fixed as she muttered to herself. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "You're double dipping. That's not fair."

"Huh?"

"You already got your heart-to-heart in my bedroom," Blake explained. "You did it two days ago, and Yang did it like two days before that, and then Weiss did it a day before that. Like… everyone wants to talk to me about stuff in my bedroom. It's weird."

"S-Sorry," Ruby said softly. "I'll… leave you alone."

Ruby turned to leave, but Blake just groaned and beckoned her inside. "Come on. Let's do this." She said it with the same enthusiasm one had when visiting the doctor, or spending time with an unfortunate relative. Blake wasn't expecting to spend half her vacation being a soundboard for other people's problems. Why she attracted this kind of interest was something she couldn't fathom. Didn't these dipshits know her whole gimmick was being antisocial? It was getting bothersome. But, well, it was the last day of vacation, and she would soon be returning to the frozen hell of Atlas Academy. Might as well relish the moments of team bonding she had.

Ruby entered the room on light feet, and Blake closed the door behind her. Immediately, Ruby shuddered. Blake thought little of it as the two climbed onto Blake's bed. The former assassin slinked beneath the covers, and Ruby sat cross-legged by her feet, staring at the wall. Blake rearranged her pillows to support her back, and then she patted the mattress, signaling the beginning of their session.

"Okay. What happened?"

Ruby sat quiet, and it was her prolonged silence that made Blake drop her sarcastic visage.

"Hey… you all right?"

Ruby subtly shook her head. Blake frowned.

"Wait… what happened? Is someone hurt?"

"No," Ruby mumbled. "It's nothing like that."

"Okay, what is it?" Blake tried to think of the worst-case scenario. No one was dead… did something happen with Rosaline? Velvet? Please, let nothing have gone wrong on that front. Blake definitely didn't need that now. She pursed her lips and waited for Ruby to confess, and when the young warrior found her courage, it wasn't what Blake expected.

"When you and Yang were sleeping together… did anything ever go wrong?"

Blake leaned back in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know… I know you had experience beforehand," Ruby said slowly. "I don't know about Yang. But I was curious how you two managed to… do that? If everything fit like you thought it would?"

Blake rushed to put the pieces together. She really expected this to be something about Team CFVY. Relationship drama? Never. Why would Ruby even care… unless…

"Did something happen between you and Weiss yesterday?"

Ruby cringed, turning away. Blake reared back with dread.

"Shit. Shit, okay," she said, trying to gather what she could. "What… what happened? Yang texted me that your date went well."

"It did. It really did," Ruby sighed.

"Well, you can tell me anything. I mean, I don't know if I'm really the best person to tell about this. Yang would—"

"Not Yang." Ruby's refusal was quick. "She would get angry, and someone would get hurt. But you… I can trust you to be unbiased about this. You're the most knowledgeable, and I know you'll listen. Do you know what I mean?"

Blake didn't, though she was rapidly picking up the clues. There were only so many narratives that fit, and none of them soothed her. She nodded regardless.

"Sure. I'm here for you."

Ruby accepted that. There was no other way to stall for time, but she sat in silence for a little while longer. She forced herself to see the night clearly—not just her own feelings at the time, but every detail she may have missed. She needed to analyze it like one of her combat trainings. It was the only way to bring clarity, and without clarity, she would never be able to move on.

"After dinner, we went back to her room," Ruby explained. "I was tired. She put on music and wanted to dance. I went along with it. We danced for a little while, and she started telling me how much she loved me. She started kissing me…" Ruby groaned. "I'm sorry, this feels weird telling you about this."

"You don't have to tell me anything you're uncomfortable with," Blake reassured her. Ruby felt mildly better, but it wasn't helpful. As much as she wanted to hide, she needed to be exact. Blake's advice would be meaningless if it was uninformed.

So, Ruby told her everything.

She went through the scene moment by moment, trying to recall Weiss's words and actions exactly. She didn't mean to embarrass her, though the guilt of revealing the most intimate moment of her life weighed heavily on her. She worked through the scene, summoning her feelings from the encounter—her disassociation, her reluctance, her panic as Weiss encouraged her to touch her chest. Blake sat and listened, and her eyes grew wider as the story progressed. Ruby's posture faded as she recounted leaving the room, even fumbling with the lock as she tried to make her exit. She finished by telling Blake how she heard Weiss sobbing behind closed doors as she hurried back to her bedroom. When every last detail was shared, she hung her head in shame.

Blake sat for a moment, processing silently the story of Ruby's disastrous night. Then, she cursed under her breath.

"Come on, Weiss… fucking really?"

Ruby was surprised by her tone. Though her frustration was prevalent, it hadn't mutated into full-blown fury. It was more… disappointment than anything else.

"I don't know what to do," Ruby admitted. "This all feels so… bad. And it's like… I can't even fully understand why. I feel hurt and confused, and… and guilty. Is that normal?"

Blake took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts. "Okay, first of all… I'm so sorry that happened to you. You shouldn't have gotten your boundaries violated like that, and that was not cool of her. Second… why are you feeling guilty?"

"Because I just left," Ruby confessed. "I didn't tell her why I was panicked. I didn't even try to comfort her. She was crying over it, and I left her alone to cope with it."

"No, Ruby, no," Blake insisted. "You were in a bad situation, and you got yourself out of it. That was the responsible thing to do. If shit is going south, you leave. End of story. You can always talk to her about what happened later, but that's not a priority when you just had someone put you in that situation. You did the right thing."

Ruby sighed. She hated that. She really fucking hated that.

"I don't… I don't know what I'm supposed to do now though. I know I have to talk to her, but I also don't even want to look at her. That just makes me feel worse. I love Weiss, but it's like… it's like…"

"It's like you saw a part of her you don't recognize."

Blake spoke with a familiarity that shook Ruby to her core. Ruby had heard of Adam mostly in passing, but she was still oblivious to his darkest tendencies. Blake didn't wish to overwhelm Ruby with that knowledge. God knew that the poor thing could take it. But Blake had more insight than she knew what to do with, and it was her responsibility as a teammate—fuck that, as a friend—to give her perspective.

"Okay, so I've had a few relationships, you know? And they were all messed up to one degree or another. I'm going to try to give my thoughts on this as both someone who has been abused by someone I trust, and also as someone who… may have been more aggressive than the other person was expecting." Blake sighed. Damn, she supposed it was going to get pretty uncomfortable. "So, the first time I initiated with Yang… she didn't know I was going to do it." Blake waited to see Ruby's reaction to mentioning her sister, though it was so muted that it was barely noticeable. "Basically, I figured out that Yang was into me, and I lured her into a position where I could make a move on her. I kissed when she wasn't expecting it. And at the time, I didn't really think there was anything wrong with it. It was sudden, and fun, and… well, fuck, it worked. My view on my current relationship at the time was… I guess you could say it was warped. My understanding of consent was pretty fucked up. As I've gotten some distance from it, I've realized that it wasn't the right way to approach her. It put her in a really uncomfortable position, and I shouldn't have gotten physical until I knew she agreed to it. It was wrong… but also, I don't think it made me a bad person… not any more than I already was."

"I don't think that Weiss is a bad person," Ruby stated, the pain coming more clearly through her voice. "At least, I don't want to think that. But I can't… I can't understand why she would do that without asking me first. I'm not mad at her, but…"

"Do you want to be mad at her?"

"I feel like I should be," Ruby confessed. "I feel like I should be furious. I know Yang would be. If she found out what Weiss did, she'd kill her. Weiss did this, and… shouldn't I be angrier at her?"

"Why are you asking me?" Blake asked pointedly. "I'm not here to tell you how to feel about this."

"But that's kind of what I was hoping for," Ruby said pathetically. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about any of this. What's the right way to feel when someone you care about betrays you?"

"I don't…" Blake groaned. "I don't think betrayed is the right word."

Blake rolled back her head, musing aloud. "Boundaries are super fucking messy, Ruby. Like, that's the truth. I know everyone pretends it's this really straightforward thing of, oh, just get verbal consent before everything, and if you don't do that, it's horrible. But like… people don't function like that? We act off intuition and emotional cues, and like, we think we see things in one another that indicate willingness beyond what we can say. And we can be right about that, which is why this whole thing gets so fucking confusing sometimes. We don't have to ask for permission every time we go to kiss someone, because, honestly, who the fuck does that? We base that on what we know about each other. There's always this subconscious communication going on between people who are already close. And like… okay, I gotta be really clear for a second. I am not saying that we should ignore consent. Like, I am not saying that at all. I'm saying specifically as someone who has been on the wrong side consent more times than I can fucking count, that this shit isn't always easy to navigate."

Ruby turned to Blake for the first time since her confession began. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

"Thanks, but this isn't about me. I'm just trying to compare it to what I know," Blake explained. "I don't think Weiss is like my ex. I don't think they're even comparable. In fairness, that's a pretty fucking low bar to clear, but like, I still think we need to draw that distinction. Weiss made a mistake. A really stupid, harmful, ignorant mistake, but it didn't sound to me like she was actively trying to take advantage of you, or even that she realized what she was doing could be harmful. She clearly had no idea how to navigate the hardest part of a relationship and she failed fucking hard. That's aggravating as shit because it's one thing that you really can't fuck up, you know? And I'll repeat it, so it's super fucking clear, what she did was not fucking acceptable. But, like, this is the shit that's going to happen in a relationship when no one has any experience. No one teaches anyone how to set up boundaries anymore…" Blake felt the need to clarify her point. "That's not directed at you, by the way. Even if you two never talked about boundaries, this still doesn't become your fault. This entire fuck-up rests on her. I'm just ranting generally, I guess."

Ruby bowed her head. Blake was making good points to her ear, yet she couldn't quite hold onto what she was saying in full. The moment itself was becoming clearer, but it was never just about that, was it? Despite Blake's assertion that Ruby had nothing to feel guilty about, that didn't make any sense. Ruby was a strategist. Everyone in her team trusted her to think five steps ahead, but in this crucial aspect of her life, she had been deeply negligent. Blake blamed Weiss entirely, but Weiss wasn't irrational. She thought she had seen signs. There was a magic word that should have stopped this from happening long ago that Ruby refused to say out of selfishness, and every heart-wrenching moment would have been avoided had Ruby just said the goddamn truth.

Blake wouldn't believe such irrational thoughts—so Ruby kept them to herself for the time being. She wasn't here to argue.

"I know she messed up," Ruby confessed. "But I'm really worried about her. I don't like seeing her upset."

"Yeah, like I said… it's complicated," Blake groaned. "It's unfair. Not to you or her, but overall. You're the one who was actually wronged here, but she's probably hurting from this more than you are. And that's a little selfish, unintentionally. You can't let her sobs replace an apology though. You can't cry your way into forgiveness."

"You say that so easily."

"I say it as someone who fell for that trick," Blake reminded her.

"I… I see."

"But again, she's a different person."

"So, what should I do now?"

"You mean aside from talking to her?"

"Yes. Beyond that."

Blake pursed her lips. "Well, I definitely wouldn't sleep with her. That is something that you should not cross for a while. I'm not saying forever. I'm not even saying for more than a few weeks. Fuck, I don't know how long you'll need to process it, but there should definitely be a break on that."

"I know that, but," Ruby hesitated, "I do like being close with her. Everything from yesterday was so nice before… that. I don't want to lose that."

"My only concern would be that her making a move triggers something," Blake reasoned. "I don't know if you're aware of this, Ruby, but you've got a lot of unresolved trauma that you don't react well to."

The comment was more cutting than Blake intended, but Ruby didn't mind. Her focus was elsewhere. Through all of her other doubts, there was one that triumphed above the rest. It was, in some way, she feared, the most reasonable response. The correct solution. In her limited understanding of relationships, it was a cliff that always loomed just over there, a ditch to plunge oneself into under the direst of circumstances. Last night had easily qualified, and now, she was haunted by the urge to do something right.

"Do you think I should break up with her?" Ruby asked. The terror scratched at her throat. Blake felt the pain as Ruby scrunched into a ball, the reality of what she had to do overwhelming her. To Blake, however, it was an overwrought question from an innocent mind. She shrugged it away.

"Do you want to break up with her?"

Ruby shook her head, on the verge of tears. "No…"

"Then don't break up with her."

That answer…

That was way too fucking simple.

Ruby grunted in frustration. "These kinds of answers don't help me."

Clearly disagreeing, the more experienced woman spoke down to her.

"I'm not gonna make the decisions in your relationship for you," Blake said strictly. "I'll give you my perspective, but I don't think it's my place to tell you to dump her. Like… I got fucking trust issues, Ruby. You know that. Do you really want my paranoid ass telling you that you should never let her get within ten feet of you? That's not gonna be helpful."

Again, another solid point that just annoyed Ruby further.

"I still want to know what you would do if you were me."

"If I was you?" Blake thought about it carefully. "Ok, well… do you still trust her? Like, do you trust her to keep you safe?"

Ruby took a deep breath. She searched in herself for an answer, wanting to push back all the doubts and attachments. Could she place her body into Weiss's hands again, knowing she'd be protected? With everything Weiss had done in their time since they had begun dating—hell, since they had known each other—and combined with what happened the night before, the answer was obvious.

"I… I trust Weiss with my life," Ruby said. "That hasn't changed."

"Okay, and you love her?"

"But shouldn't I—"

"Listen. Do you love her?

"Of course."

"And you think she will grow from this in a positive way and be better? You're all about that."

Ruby nodded. For the first time since speaking with Blake, she started to feel better. "I know she will. We've overcome worse."

"Then it sounds like to me this is a bump in the road, but one you can work through," Blake explained. "I think that despair is the wrong thing to feel. That's my perspective on this. Frustration? Yeah, you should be frustrated as shit. Despair? Nah. You're gonna leave this room, talk to her, she'll apologize, and you will work things out for the future. Not everything is the end of the world, Ruby. You're both reasonable people. I mean, you're a reasonable person. This is fixable."

Ruby internally cringed at that word: fixed. Like a pet, or a broken fence. It shouldn't have been that easy to overcome. Violating a personal boundary was supposedly a deep red line, and she knew that if she asked anyone else for advice, they would have told her to cut things off with Weiss and stand her ground. There were certain actions that didn't deserve redemption, and for something so personal, it seemed almost like cheating. It should have been black and white. Simple.

And yet, if there was one thing she had learned these past few months: nothing was ever simple. Not with herself, and not with the woman she loved.

Fixing Weiss was seemingly a passion project of hers, one she told Weiss openly not too long ago. From deflating her ego as a would-be leader to a loyal teammate, challenging her bigotries, and undoing the years of brainwashing her culture had forced upon her, Ruby wanted to see Weiss become a better person. And, what had inspired Ruby all this time was Weiss's willingness to accompany her on this journey. Despite her veneer of stubbornness, Weiss was never unwilling to admit her faults and strive to discipline herself. That refusal to be complacent, to give up… it had personally saved Ruby more times than she could count. They had grown stronger together. That was what made them who they were.

They could recover from this.

They could go back to normal… or something close enough…

"I think that was something I needed to hear," Ruby sighed. "I appreciate you being open with me. And I'm sorry for putting this on you so early in the morning."

"Hey, you've been good to me," Blake shrugged. "The least I can do is return the favor."

"I definitely need to talk to Weiss about this."

"No shit."

"Do you think I should also tell Yang?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Why would you do that?"

"I just… I don't know. It feels weird keeping something between only three of us."

"It's not between the three of us," Blake clarified. "This is something between you and Weiss. I just… happened to lend an ear."

Ruby nodded, following along. That was probably for the best not to include Yang in her sex life, and not just because Yang would punch Weiss's head off the moment she saw her. This was a matter for her and Weiss alone. She was more confident in her ability to handle it. Blake was there merely as a nudge in the right direction. After this, both of them expected that Blake would never be dragged into their romance again.

"So, have you had this boundary talk before?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. A few times with Adam," Blake confirmed. "Best not to talk details."

"Then can I ask you one last thing?"

"Sure."

"How are you supposed to do them?"

Blake rolled her eyes again. "Okay, kid, listen up. It usually goes like this…"

Pyrrha was having the most frustrating three days of her life.

It was going so well. Genuinely amazing. She had been on a romantic date with Jaune, confessed her feelings toward him, and was even able to end the night with a parting kiss. She thought that this would be the beginning of something meaningful, a new chapter in her life that even as a child, she never thought she'd live.

Then, the frustration.

The day after, per some motivating words from Velvet, Pyrrha tried to speak with Jaune about their date, only to find him in a panicked mess. She hadn't learned all the details, but it involved something Weiss and a prank and a bottle of wine, and the end result was a very unnerved Jaune who was not mentally ready to talk about their drunken escapade the night prior. With her motivation stifled, Pyrrha decided to wait a day to cool off and try again. She would talk with Jaune over lunch, she decided, and they could clarify their relationship there. This was apparently too much to ask, because a few minutes before she was set to approach him, Blake punched Velvet in the face, and the entire damn villa erupted into chaos. Jaune slinked off to nowhere, and Pyrrha had to spend the rest of the day cleaning up the mess, worried that her alliance was going to explode around her.

But there was still the day after, wasn't there? Surely, she could talk to Jaune then and finally confirm the status of their relationship?

No.

Because when Weiss and Ruby left for their romantic excursion, Yang took charge, and Pyrrha could only describe her reign over the house as tyrannical. Call it the overprotective instincts of a big sister who didn't want Ruby to come home to drama, or call it desperation to prevent more drama. Regardless, Yang ran the day's festivities like a military general, keeping track of every person in the house at all possible times. They would play games when Yang wanted, eat when Yang wanted, and talk when Yang wanted. There would be no gossip, no secrets, no running off to Blake's room to gouge her eyes out. Yang was the most orderly she had been in her entire life, all to prevent her sister from coming home to disaster. It was worse than Ironwood ever treated them.

Or, like, it felt like it to a girl who really, really wanted to tell the boy she had a crush on how she felt about him. To the others, it was probably just sort of annoying, though understandable given the circumstances.

So that brought her to the final day of vacation. There was no more room for error. This was her chance to speak to Jaune face-to-face, undistracted by the world around them. Waking up at her usual early hour, Pyrrha was a woman on a mission. She showered, dressed herself, ate a protein bar, and marched directly to Jaune's room the moment she knew he would be awake. Her face was rigid with determination as she planted herself in front of his door. She checked over both shoulders to ensure there would be no distractions. She took a deep breath. She was a warrior. A Huntress. She had already taken the plunge. Now, she just had to finish the job.

She knocked fiercely on Jaune's door. He took nearly a full minute to respond, during which her heart fluttered and her cheeks started to turn red. When he finally opened the door, he was wearing his one-piece pajamas and his hair was a disheveled mess.

"P-Pyrrha?" he choked out. He quickly recovered, cleared his throat, and leaned against the door frame. He tried to slightly lower his voice so it wouldn't crack. "I mean… Pyrrha. Hello."

Pyrrha's resolve stuttered. Good God, he was cute…

"Jaune. We need to talk. It's very important," she said, trying to keep her head on straight.

"We… we do?" he responded nervously.

"Yes. About us."

"Us?" Jaune stammered. He nearly slipped off the doorframe.

"Correct," Pyrrha said. "I don't want to waste any more time, so I'll just say it. I want us to officially date."

Jaune's brow furrowed. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Us. You and I," Pyrrha said more clearly. "I want to be able to hold your hand in public, and I want to be able to kiss you when I want to, and spend at least an hour of personal time with you every day. I want to be the first person you turn to if you are in trouble, and I want to be able to tell you anything. I don't feel comfortable doing anything further yet, but we can discuss more intimate details if the time ever arises and I might change my mind. I want very standard boyfriend and girlfriend things, and I hope that is all right with you."

Pyrrha finished rattling off her requirements as if it were a shopping list. It was so plain and matter-of-fact, and Pyrrha was so stiff in her posture that Jaune wasn't sure if it was some kind of practical joke. He very quickly realized Pyrrha was being genuine, and the neurodivergent teen was trying her hardest. He cleared his throat and tried to respond rationally.

"Uh, yeah… that sounds great," he said with a smile.

Pyrrha's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean," Jaune had to confess, "I kind of thought we were already official, but… great!"

"Well…" Pyrrha clapped her hands together, grinning nervously. "Good to be upfront about it!"

"Yep," Jaune nodded unsurely. "Good point."

"Yep."

"Yep."

Pyrrha and Jaune stared at each other, neither knowing what to say next. After three days of waiting, finally getting all that out in the open took a world off Pyrrha's shoulders. She didn't even mind it was incredibly anticlimactic. She was just thankful it was done. Now, there was only one thing left to do.

"Would you mind if I kissed you again?" Pyrrha asked suddenly.

Jaune was floored by the request. He was still coming to terms with the idea an actual human woman was romantically interested in him. Could… could he just say yes to that? Like, he could now get kissed anytime he wanted, as long as he asked permission first? That seemed way too convenient. Pyrrha didn't have any experience on that front either, and she seemed to be making up most of it as she went along. It was highly possible they were breaking some cardinal rule of dating neither had been informed of. But, well, they both liked the terms they agreed to. They supposed that was enough for the time being. As for this specific kissing request, Jaune pointed back behind his shoulder.

"I haven't… brushed my teeth yet," he said awkwardly. Pyrrha nodded understandingly.

"Yes. You should do that first."

"I'll do that now."

"And I'll be waiting here."

Jaune hurried off to the bathroom to clean. Pyrrha stood by the doorway. She had been patient this long. What was a little longer?