Just as Ruby'd bid farewell to Pyrrha, the door to her dorm opened.

She turned, seeing Weiss staring at her. The young Schnee was clad in her typical nightwear, her posture more slouched and relaxed than her normal, perfectly straight spine. She had a grumpy expression on her face, a steaming thermos in her hand. "What?"

Ruby gulped, standing a bit straighter as she ran a hand through her hair. Normally, Weiss was cold and distant. But she'd learned very quickly that you did not approach her before she'd had her morning coffee. "Just trying to get ready."

Ruby yelped as Weiss yanked her inside, slamming the door shut.

She spun on her heel, her face a dark red as she slammed down some of her coffee. Right before slamming her thermos on a nearby desk. Ruby braced for shouting. And by dust, Weiss did not disappoint. "Where the hell were you? I was looking for you until five in the morning, Ruby! Five. AM."

Ruby's brows furrowed. "Then why didn't you open the door when I knocked?"

"How long did you knock?"

Ruby's voice suddenly got a lot quieter. "A minute?"

"When?"

"A bit before eleven?"

Weiss grit her teeth, slamming down more coffee before staring at her with blue, bloodshot eyes. "It didn't occur to you that—I don't know—maybe I went to the bathroom? Did it not occur to you to try more than one time? Or to borrow someone's scroll and call me?"

Ruby gulped. "No?"

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a groan. "I waited until midnight and nothing. I ran the entire perimeter of BEACON looking for you! Nothing! I looked in every place I could think you'd be!" she started listing them on her fingers. "The cafeteria, the courtyard, the training areas—I ended up tracking some random person I'd never met halfway into the Emerald Forest!"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Sorry?"

Weiss glared at her for a moment before walking over to her. There was a beat where Ruby braced herself, hands curled around her chest as she braced for impact.

Weiss lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Ruby in an embrace.

Ruby stared at her taller teammate, feeling the woman's cold arms yet warm hands around her torso. "If you scare me like this again, I won't let any kidnappers or killers get you—I'll do it personally!"

Ruby nodded a few times, a faint smile on her face. "Got it."

She pulled back, sniffing before wrinkling her nose. She jerked a thumb over her shoulder before sitting back on her bed, downing more coffee. "Take a shower—and burn those pajamas, too. They stink."

Ruby nodded, grabbing clothes from her dresser.

She walked toward the bathroom, pausing at the door. "Hey, Weiss?"

Weiss snapped to her. "What?"

Ruby gave her a warm smile. "Thanks."

Weiss stared at her for a moment before turning away, slamming back her thermos, only to look back at it before turning it over to reveal a single, brown drop. "I need more coffee."

"You need some sleep."

Ruby ducked into the bathroom—fully expecting the thermos thrown at the wall next to her.

…

When she got out of the bathroom, she saw Weiss sitting at her desk.

Sure enough, next to her was a freshly filled, steaming thermos.

Ruby walked over to her, seeing the still nightgown-wearing girl turn and glare at her. Though, after a moment, that glare lost some of its malice, replaced with confusion. "What're you wearing?"

Ruby took a breath.

"Ruby, before you say something stupid, keep in mind I've had no sleep and have been chugging pure espresso for the last few hours entirely because of you."

Ruby blinked a few times before gesturing to her outfit. It was something only slightly different from what she normally wore—a black sundress and pair of white flip-flops rather than her normal combat skirt and boots. "What do you think? Normally I just wear pajamas on Saturdays so I can do laundry, but—like you pointed out—they stink. Plus wearing pajamas in Vale would look pretty weird."

Weiss nodded. "Why're you going to Vale?"

"I owe Jaune lunch."

Weiss blinked a few times, opening her mouth before shaking her head. "You know what? I don't wanna know. I've got work I need to finish before filling this thermos with sleep syrup and crashing on my bed."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Weiss, that is not healthy."

"Do I look like I care about my health at this point?"

Ruby looked at her for a moment before holding up a finger. "Fair enough. Don't die!"

"No promises."

Ruby walked to the door, making 100% sure to grab her scroll this time (as well as a red purse to store it in since she didn't have pockets today) before walking into the hall.

Oddly enough, she saw Jaune doing the same thing.

The Arc was clad in his normal jeans, though was wearing a button-down shirt the same color as his eyes rather than his normal hoodie. A faint hint of white was present beneath his collar, indicating he was wearing his normal undershirt as well. His eyes widened a bit when he saw her. "Oh, hey Ruby! What's with the dress?"

"What's with the shirt?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

The two stared at each other before Ruby just shrugged. "All my other clothes were dirty. Besides, I've been wanting to wear this for awhile. So, I figured, why not wear it to Vale? Okay, your turn."

"The weather says it'll be almost ninety degrees today."

Ruby nodded a few times in understanding. "Yeah…not really hoodie weather, I guess."

"I figured that's why you aren't wearing your cloak."

"Nah, that's dirty too."

Jaune nodded a few times, gesturing toward the nearby stairway. "So, should we head to Vale straight away or get breakfast at Beacon, first?"

Ruby tapped her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hmm…let's see what breakfast at Beacon is first, then we'll go from there."

"Alright, lead the way."

The two made their way down the stairs, Ruby filling Jaune in on the bizarre (and somewhat terrifying) encounter with Weiss this morning. The two shared a few laughs—though it was mostly Ruby laughing at Jaune's reactions since they so closely mirrored her own.

They'd just gotten to the cafeteria when Ruby brought up Weiss's thermos.

Jaune's eyes widened as she explained, holding up a hand. "Wait wait wait, she was drinking espresso? Just…straight espresso from a thermos? Don't they only sell those in tiny cups?"

"Yep."

"That can not be healthy."

Ruby smiled, holding up her arms. "That's what I said! Then she was all—" she tried to do her best Weiss impression. "'Do I look like I care about my health at this point'?"

Jaune snorted, unable to stop from laughing.

Apparently, I'm either really really good or really really bad at it.

Something told her it was the latter.

Jaune composed himself after a second, the two reaching the doors to the cafeteria. "That does not sound like Weiss—at all."

"Come on, yeah it does!"

"Ruby, you sound like a twice-divorced duchess from Atlas that's trying to marry a commoner her family doesn't approve of."

Ruby's brows furrowed, staring at the Arc. "That's…oddly specific."

Now it was Jaune's turn to look confused. "Of course it is—that's Tyra Andrews! She sounds really close to that whole 'old-timey aristocrat' voice you were doing."

Ruby blinked a few times. "Who's Tyra Andrews?"

Jaune's eyes widened, his hand froze on the door to the cafeteria. "Are you…Ruby, are you serious? Are you serious right now?"

Ruby's face only descended deeper into confusion—with a splash of worry. "I uh…yes?"

Jaune sighed, a faint smile on his face as a chuckle slipped through his lips. "Ruby, Tyra Andrews is the embodiment of old Atlesian culture. Look at any movie set in Atlas before the Great War and if she's not the star, she's at least a supporting character. You must know her from something!"

"Uh…what movies has she been in?"

Jaune started counting on his fingers. "The White Nights of Abakash, The Day of Black Snow, Last Ride of the Valkyrie Queen—ring any bells?"

Jaune snapped his fingers. "No! Wait! I know how you'll know her! She's Duchess Mercia in 'The Duchess Approves'!"

"What's 'The Duchess Approves'?"

Jaune's mouth fell slightly, eyes wide before he shot upright, a bright smile on his face. "Oh, we are definitely watching that movie after lunch. It is a crime that you haven't seen it yet! Now come on," he opened the nearby door. "Looks like they're serving pancakes."

The moment Jaune walked in, the lunch ladies scrambled to get the pancakes out as fast as they could to the students.

"It's okay! Nora's still asleep!"

The cafeteria breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The two made their way into the line, Jaune turning back to Ruby. "Speaking of Nora, you might want to have Ren take a look at your bruise when we get back."

Ruby let her hand trail up to her cheek, somewhat surprised when she felt only flesh. Then again, she had taken a shower with the bandage on, so she wasn't all that surprised to find it missing. "Huh…that stuff must really work, I can't feel a thing!"

Jaune held out his arms, lightly tilting his head as he smirked. "Did I tell you or did I tell you?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You told me."

Jaune nodded a few times, letting his arms flop to his sides. Though, after a moment he pointed back to her cheek. "Seriously, though. Even if it doesn't hurt, he still needs to check to see if it healed up properly."

The two made their way through the line, Jaune assuring the lunch ladies at his approach that Nora was, in fact, still asleep—and not currently on her way to pilfer their pancakes with a ferocity that rivaled an Ursa. Ruby simply listened, giggling at the lunch ladies' relieved appearances. Yeash, I knew Nora was bad around pancakes, but not THAT bad.

The two got two rather large pancakes each, making their way to their normal seats. Though, given it was just the two of them, the table felt far larger than normal.

As they began eating, Ruby simply listened as Jaune revealed something she'd not known about him. Perhaps it was natural, given she didn't spend as much time with him as her team, but it was something she figured would be rather obvious:

Apparently, he loved old Atlesian movies.

What she found even crazier was when she looked up movies he was talking about on her scroll. She was shocked to find that most of them were in black-and-white. Wow…when he said old he MEANT old. He actually likes these things?

Over the course of their breakfast, Jaune had recommended her at least two dozen movies—most of which were black-and-white period dramas. A few seemed more her speed: A war documentary with actual footage from great-war battles, a tale of two huntsmen stranded in the Atlesian wilds—forced to work together to survive—and a horror movie inspired by a real-life Valean serial killer.

All three of which were in black-and-white.

Though she found herself paying less attention to the movies he was talking about, and more attention to Jaune himself. It seemed something had just…clicked in him. His movements were more fluid, his smiles wider and his eyes open a bit more. He looked different than she'd ever seen him, more animated, fluid…more alive.

She must've been way more obvious than she thought, given Jaune stopped halfway through describing a post-war movie about veterans and staring right at her. "Ruby? Why are you staring at me with that weird grin?"

Ruby shrugged, laying her chin in her hands as she widened that grin into a smile. "Sorry, I've just never seen you like that before. The whole—" Ruby made hand motions that vaguely remember the ones Jaune was doing, making faint mouth noises all the while.

Jaune's face tinted pink as he rubbed a hand behind his head. "Sorry, sometimes I get a little carried away. I haven't been rambling for too long, have I?"

Ruby shook her head, a bright smile on her face. "No—don't apologize! You looked like you were really happy, keep going!"

Jaune shook his head, face tinting darker as he grabbed his empty tray—gesturing to the one next to Ruby's elbows that had been empty even longer. "Nah, we'd better head out. We planned on heading to Vale, remember? Not sitting around in the cafeteria all day."

Ruby begrudgingly nodded, slowly getting up and following Jaune to deposit their trays in the trash. She followed him as he made his way out of the cafeteria, holding the door open for her and some random student behind her before making his way toward the airships.

Ruby followed a beat after, frowning as she stared at the back of his head. She'd admit, she was somewhat disappointed. Stupid me—he was so happy and I got him to stop! Wish he'd have kept going—I liked watching him like that.

It took a few seconds before the full implications of what she'd just thought hit her, causing her to stop in her tracks for a moment. Wait…why did I like watching that? He was just talking, making gestures on occasion—dust's sake I don't even remember half of what he said! Seems kinda creepy…

She shook herself out of it, jogging a bit to catch up with Jaune.

Here's hoping he doesn't live up to his 'vomit-boy' nickname.