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Team RWBY had been travelling on foot for a week across Remnant under Ozpin’s orders, on a death mission to find Salem. Forced to split into their separate teams, the remnants of team JNPR and Oscar travelled to Vacuo on their hunt, team RWBY heading back to Vale. In order to remain inconspicuous, they couldn’t take any airships; they didn’t want to alert anyone to their mission.
It was hopeless, Blake knew it, but everyone was desperate. Salem had disappeared without a trace, Cinder and Emerald and Mercury too. Remnant was in danger, and it would remain in danger until Salem was hunted down and killed.
Finally, after seven long days of walking through forests and small, abandoned villages, sleeping on the dirt around a campfire, RWBY had finally reached a friendly little town just on the outskirts of Vale. Deciding that this was a good place to finally get a good rest, a good meal and a warm shower, they quickly stopped in a pub to eat, before they stumbled into the first inn they found just as the sun was beginning to set.
“Hello, travelers!” a peppy woman greeted from behind the front counter with a grand wave. “Welcome to the Four-Leaf Clover Inn! Do you plan on staying the night?”
Weiss quirked an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Of course we plan on staying the night, why else would we have come in here?”
Blake rolled her eyes, resting a placating hand on Weiss’ shoulder. Yang took a step forward, laying her hands on the counter.
“Excuse my friend here, she’s rich, y’know how they are,” Yang said, dismissively waving her hand. Weiss growled, taking a threatening step forward and grumbling something sounding very much like “I’ll kill you”. Ruby quickly wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist to restrain her. The blonde let out a loud laugh, glancing over her shoulder at the white-haired girl with amusement dancing in her eyes. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”
Blake sighed and rolled her eyes, walking up to Yang’s side. “Do you have any rooms open?” she politely asked.
The woman, undeterred by Weiss’ hostility and Yang’s teasing, smiled and nodded. “Of course! How many do you need?”
“Two’d be perfect, thanks,” Yang smiled, quickly digging in her bag for lien.
“Really close to each other,” Ruby quickly cut in, arms still wrapped around Weiss despite the smaller girl’s struggling. She flushed slightly as all eyes turned to her. “If you have any rooms near each other, I mean.”
“Of course we do, dear,” the woman smiled before turning around and rummaging through the shelves. Only a few seconds later, she turned around with two keys in her hand, sliding them across the counter. “That’ll come to 60 lien, and your rooms are just down the hall to the left!”
Yang quickly handed the lien over, offering the woman a grateful smile before walking down the hallway, the rest of her team quickly following behind. Their rooms were at the very end of the hallway, directly across from each other.
“Straight to bed?” Blake suggested, glancing around at the rest of her teammates. They all looked exhausted, and she knew that she wasn’t any better.
“I think I’ll quickly wash up and then pass out,” Ruby said, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. Yang tossed one of the keys to her sister, though the girl’s reflexes were slow because she was tired. Weiss caught it just before it could hit Ruby in the forehead.
“Goodnight,” the white-haired girl all but mumbled, though she would deny doing so in the morning. The other girls followed suit, bidding goodnight to each other before heading off as pairs into their rooms.
The blonde stretched her arms above her head as she entered the room first, Blake trailing behind, ears sleepily drooping. Inside of the room there was a single double bed between two small nightstands, a desk tucking into the far corner, and a door directly to their right that led to the bathroom.
“Only one bed, hmm~?” the blonde drawled with a teasing smirk on her face. “Is this a romance novel?”
Blake rolled her eyes. “Oh, how awkward this must be,” she sarcastically started, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, resting Gambol Shroud on the nightstand beside her, “me and my girlfriend, forced to share a single bed. Whatever will we do?”
Yang groaned, rolling her eyes as she ungracefully fell on the bed beside Blake. “You’re no fun,” she whined, looking at the faunus with a frown. She sunk further into the bed, eyes fluttering shut. “Oh Brothers, this bed feels so heavenly. Mattresses must be a gift from the Brothers themselves.”
Blake scoffed. “Yang, it’s only been a week since you’ve slept in a bed,” she pointed out, and her girlfriend let out a huff.
“A week too many!” the girl retorted, before letting out a long, drawn out groan. “Ugh, I’m too lazy to go shower. Blake, will you carry me to the bathroom and bathe me?”
“I’m just as tired as you are,” Blake pointed out, joining her girlfriend in laying back on the bed. “We can wait until the morning, right…?”
Yang hummed in agreement. “Then we can shower together, save water,” she suggestively said, though the tired drawl in her voice made it sound quite amusing.
A timid knock on the door was quick to draw Yang and Blake’s attention. The faunus girl pushed herself up, padding across the floor and looking through the peephole. She hummed at the sight of a girl clad in red.
“It’s Ruby,” she informed Yang as she tugged the door open, greeting the younger girl with a smile. Blake stepped aside, opening the door a bit wider to allow Ruby to enter, which she hesitantly did.
“Rubes!” Yang cheerfully called from the bed, throwing her arms up in the air. Upon noticing Ruby’s nervous demeanour, her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s up, sis? Is Weiss bullying you? Do I need to fight her?”
“No! No, nothing’s wrong, Weiss didn’t do anything,” Ruby quickly assured her sister, waving her hands side to side. “I just- um- I… got lonely…” she admitted, cheeks turning red. “Y’know, after we spent so long together, I felt weird without you guys, and after I washed up Weiss was already in bed, so…”
It was silent for a moment, Blake and Yang both watching Ruby as the younger girl pointedly stared at the ground. The next thing Ruby knew, Yang ran into her at full speed, wrapping her sister in a tight hug.
“Ruby!” Yang shouted, nuzzling her cheek against the top of her head. “You’re so cute! I love you!”
“Yang! Yang, I can’t breathe!” Ruby croaked out, rapidly smacking the blonde’s back. Blake had to step in and pry her partner off of Ruby, a small chuckle falling from her lips.
“Alright, both of you, that’s enough,” she fondly said, grabbing Yang’s left and Ruby’s right hand and pulling them over to the bed. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted, so…”
Yang chuckled, flopping onto the bed when she reached it and rolling to the middle. She set the pillows up against the headboard of the bed and sat up against it, looking to the other two. “Naptime with the homies,” she said, motioning for the other two to join her on the bed.
Blake chuckled, walking to Yang’s left side and leaning against her. Ruby quickly did the same on Yang’s right, the blonde wrapping her arms around their shoulders and pulling them in close. The blonde girl radiated warmth because of her semblance, and Blake felt her eyes slowly falling shut as if she had lost all control of her eyelids.
She was unsure just how long the three of them laid there in silence, in a state halfway between asleep and awake. Something about this moment, resting with her girlfriend, two of her teammates, even though they were in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar town, just felt so comforting. She felt like she was at home.
A quiet creak of the door snapped them all to full attention, Yang’s arms tensing up around her two teammates, Blake reaching for her weapon which rested on a stand beside the bed, Ruby looking ready to dash.
Weiss stood in the doorway, her fingers interlocked as she nervously shuffled on her feet. When all of them snapped their attention to her, she tensed up, eyes widening, mouth falling open as she stumbled to find words.
Weiss cleared her throat, eyes darting to the ground. “I- I just wanted to check that Ruby was okay, because she didn’t return to the room.” Her eyes shifted to the three of them and she offered a surprisingly nervous smile. “But she’s here, with you guys, so I suppose I will just return to our room. Goodnight.”
Weiss offered a stiff nod before turning on her heel, heading for the door. The three girls on the bed shared a look, before Ruby shot up, speeding across the room and almost tackling Weiss in a hug from behind.
“Stay with us!” she all but shouted, Weiss wincing at her volume. Still keeping the shorter girl within her arms, Ruby shifted around so she was face to face with Weiss. “Please?” she asked in a softer voice, pulling out her puppy eyes. “Let’s all sleep in here, just for tonight?”
Weiss, face slightly flushing, tried to look anywhere except the red girl in front of her. “I don’t want to intrude on anything,” she quietly spoke, but Blake easily heard her.
“You’re not intruding on anything,” she warmly said. Weiss looked over her shoulder at the two partners, both of them offering her genuine smiles.
“C’mon, princess,” Yang cheerily called, “hang out with your team!”
Still looking unsure, Ruby placed her hands on the side of Weiss’ face, forcing the older girl to look directly into her pleading eyes and pressing their foreheads together.
“Pleeeease?” she fluttered her eyelashes, watching as Weiss’ face steadily grew redder. “Stay the night with us?”
“Fine,” Weiss huffed, pulling away from Ruby with a face as red as the girl’s cloak.
“Yay!” Ruby and Yang cheered in sync, albeit tiredly. Ruby grabbed Weiss’ hand, leading her over to the bed.
“Cuddle pile time!” Yang cheered, opening her arms once again for the two girls. Blake scooted to the side, knowing that despite Weiss’ intense denial, she loved physical affection from her teammates. She also knew that the girl was constantly cold, and Yang would be a could heater.
Ruby reclaimed her spot on Yang’s right side, Weiss meeting Blake’s eyes nervously. When the faunus gave her a smile and a nod of her head, the white-haired girl hesitantly crawled to Yang’s left side, where Blake was quick to sandwich her against the living heater. Once again, Yang stretched her arms over all of their shoulders, pulling them into a cozy embrace.
“Thank you,” Weiss all but whispered, her face still warm from embarrassment. Yang chuckled and kissed the top of her head, only making the girl blush more, burying her face into the crook of Yang’s neck so no one could see her.
Ruby examined the embarrassed girl, a frown growing on her face at Weiss’ uncharacteristic shyness. “You didn’t get a lot of affection and hugs as a kid, did you?” Ruby sadly yet blatantly asked, and Yang’s eyebrows shot up, Blake’s eyes slightly widening as her ears flicked. Yang looked like she was about to laugh, but also like she was about to (gently) smack Ruby upside the head. The two partners, expecting Weiss to shout or lash out or lecture Ruby, loosened their hold from the hug in preparation; preparation for an outburst that never occurred.
Perhaps because she was tired, physically and mentally, or perhaps because it was simply true, Weiss let out a small, amused puff of air.
“No, I didn’t,” she softly replied, closing her eyes. “My siblings and I were taught to bottle up our emotions, so we never physically expressed our affection for each other. I suppose my mother must have hugged me when I was younger, before my father admitted he only married her for the company, before she drank herself to oblivion, but that was long ago. The only physical contact I had at home was...” Weiss’ voice died, but the three girls could easily guess what she was going to say. The heiress cleared her throat. “Painful contact from my father. Though, I suppose sometimes Klein would hug me after my father got rough with me, sometimes after he patched me up.”
Yang let out a small grunt, a noise of thinly concealed anger, and she squeezed the three girls inside her embrace harder. “If you ever want me to kill your dad, just let me know. Whenever you want, I’ll be there.”
“Yang!” Blake hissed, gently slapping the blonde’s arm.
Once again, to their surprise, Weiss let out a small laugh. “I do appreciate the offer, but... he is still my father,” she softly replied, leaning further into Yang’s warm embrace. “As twisted and frail as our relationship is, I still love him, even though I know he holds no such feelings for me.”
It was silent for a moment, Weiss’ words sinking in, leaving a knot to form in Blake’s stomach. She could never imagine having such a relationship with her parents, with the people whose job it was to take care of her. But when Weiss’ eyes fluttered open, and she looked at the three girls surrounding her, a warm, happy look in her eyes, that knot was quick to untangle.
“And besides,” she quietly started, reaching across Yang to gently intertwine her fingers with Ruby’s, “he isn’t really my family anymore.” Weiss glanced back at Blake, and the faunus wrapped an arm around Weiss’ waist.
A small, genuine smile grew on Weiss’ face as she cuddled further into Yang’s side, gripping Ruby’s hand just a bit tighter, pulling Blake closer with her spare hand. She closed her eyes, happy, content and at ease. The rest of team RWBY followed suit, reveling in the warmth and comfort of their embrace.
“You guys are.”