Weiss perched on the edge of Ruby’s bed, her right leg dangling over the edge. Her younger protégé was having trouble with her faunus history homework again, eyes narrowing at the page.
“Ruby, give it up,” Weiss said, rolling her eyes. “We can discuss this later. It’s 1am, we’re on our second cups of coffee, and I for one need my beauty sleep.” She tried hard to impart only the subtlest hint of her signature prissiness, but even she had to admit she failed. Flicking her bangs to the left, she glanced at Ruby, exasperated.
“If I don’t get this done, Oobleck will be disappointed. They’re counting on me to work hard and improve. Please please please would you stay up just for a few more minutes?”
Weiss muttered a quick “no” and averted her gaze, knowing that Ruby’s eyes would compel her to stay and not wanting to give in. It would have worked, too, she told herself, had Ruby not grabbed her arm as she attempted to leave. Weiss sighed.
“I suppose I’ll help you through one more problem”
“YAY!” Ruby screamed, quickly covering her mouth as Yang stirred and then fell back on her pillow. Weiss laughed derisively before jumping back into C. J. Towry’s Primer on Faunus History. “As usual, that one’s wrong,” she told Ruby, earning a look of humble gratitude mixed with a bit of shame.
An hour later, Weiss was, of course, still helping with-okay, fine; by this point doing-her team leader’s homework, while Ruby’s silver eyes glowed with admiration. By the time she reached question 20, she had stopped even asking Ruby the questions first. It was a bit of a challenge writing different answers from those she had used three days earlier on her own assignment, but she was Weiss Schnee, and so it was still faster than correcting everything Ruby said. Academic dishonesty was a small price to pay for rest. She drowsily slipped the paper back to Ruby, who gave her a full-blown smile and thanked her profusely. It was almost worth the sleep deprivation, though Weiss would never admit it.
She slipped under the new satin covers her parents had sent, curled her legs to her chest, and closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her. It felt just like the bouts of insomnia she had suffered as a kid, her mind whirling with self-doubt. She could still remember them-the midnight wandering, the inability to concentrate on anything but her social blunders, and above all the feeling that she could never become her father’s equal. Even now a chill ran down her spine. She was making it worse by thinking about it. She had to stop that. Just another way you’ve failed-you can’t even keep control of your own mind, a part of her brain taunted. The caffeine was making it worse, she realized as a wave of nausea hit her stomach. She should never have had three cups of coffee this late. What was she thinking?
“Weiss? Is everything alright?” a hushed voice called in the sickening darkness. Blake.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Weiss lied, repressing a slight quaver. “You’re still up?” Weiss heard her roommate turn bright red.
“I just started Midnight’s Children 4. It’s really not as bad as it sounds.” Looking closer, Weiss saw the dim glow of Blake’s reading light as it illuminated the cobwebs still hanging from the raven-haired girl’s bed.
Weiss stifled a giggle, not wanting to seem rude when Blake was the only person keeping the heiress out of her own head. Unfortunately, after a few seconds she was unable to contain it, and a shrill sound incongruous with the generally somber night issued forth.
Ruby woke with a start, dazed. She glanced around quickly and asked Weiss what had happened. “It’s nothing,” Weiss replied, but Ruby clambered down anyway, and Weiss cursed the tremor still present in her voice. She hadn’t wanted to keep her younger teammate up.
Ruby slipped into Weiss’ bed, asking what was wrong in a hushed voice. Weiss tried to blow it off again as she had with Blake, but Ruby was having none of it. “Weiss, I’m sorry to bother you, but um, what’s really wrong?” Another tremor went down her spine at the mention of her name, but this one was definitively more comfortable, a pleasant tingle.
Weiss continued her evasive tactic even as her façade fell apart. “What are you talking about? I’m fine. Better than fine. N-nearly perfect. Stop meddling and go back to sleep.” She didn’t want Ruby to see her like this. She was falling apart, and she was supposed to be the best teammate Ruby had ever seen-confident, strong, intelligent-not the stupid, crying heap she was about to become.
“You’re trembling” Ruby said as she came closer. Her eyes were full of worry as she cleaned the beginning of a tear from the heiress’ face.
“It’s just an anxiety attack. Remnants of…of childhood stress…” she trailed off. “Can you just pretend this never happened? I don’t want anyone to think less of me for it.” Why was this happening? She wasn’t supposed to be the vulnerable one. She had to admit it, though. It felt good talking to someone, even if she wasn’t saying much, and she wouldn’t have picked anyone over her empathetic team leader. The conversation would be calming if her brain had a calm mode at the moment.
“Of course I can. I just don’t want you to feel alone. We’re a team,” Ruby said, putting her arm around Weiss and pulling her in. Weiss immediately felt more comfortable even as embarrassment brought blood to her cheeks. They lay there quietly for a good half hour as Weiss calmed down. Even after the worst of the attack was over, Weiss still wanted her teammate around for some reason. Weiss reached around Ruby’s back and held tight.
She had needed this, she realized. She had needed a light on one of her darkest nights. She dozed off, still holding her teammate tight. It wasn’t perfect; she was by no means healed. But she was accepted unconditionally for the first time, a first step toward freedom from the bitter legacy of her family’s demands for perfection. And a first step was certainly better than nothing.