"Ooh, natural twelve!" Nora called out, as her dice clattered to a halt on the table. "The Vacuo CCT is mine!"

"Aren't... all the die rolls natural in Crown Corporation?" asked Ruby, as Nora advanced her horse-shaped token along the board. But Nora paid her no heed as she passed her 'lien' to Pyrrha, who was acting as the banker despite never having played the game before. If only because she was the only player everyone could trust to be impartial.

Nora slammed her pink-colored house chip onto the board. "Ha! With two of Remnant's CCTs under my control, it's only a matter of time before you're all serfs to your one true Queen!"

Velvet rolled her eyes and snatched the dice off the board, rolling them with a lazy flick of her wrist. "Oh great. A four," she noted, with about as much enthusiasm as announcing a trip to the dentist. Her own token slid a few spaces down the board, coming to rest on the single-priciest property in the game.

"Ah, the White Castle welcomes you once again," said Weiss, with a cheery expression on her face that was creeping everyone out just a little bit. Yang had invited Weiss to play because the heiress was usually easy prey when it came to board games, but it turned out that her teammate was something of a natural at this. "Given the renovations I've recently undertaken, your rent will amount to 1700 lien." Weiss mentally tallied the few colorful scraps of paper the Faunus had wedged under her side of the board. "And if you're looking to liquidate your properties in Menagerie, I am willing to make you a very generous offer for them."

"I don't want to play anymore," muttered Velvet, as she began selling off the few buildings she still had.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said, as she watched Weiss stake her claim on several of Velvet's holdings. "We didn't know she'd be so good at this." Or ruthless, Ruby mentally appended, sizing up her own meager possessions. She'd spent too much time in Jail to stake a claim on anything worthwhile; the rule for 'speeding' was - in her opinion - pretty dumb.

Yang snorted a little. "Really, Weiss, you're taking the only properties a poor Faunus like Velvs has? What would Blake say?"

Weiss shot her a dirty look. "It's not my fault I was the only player who made actual strategic investments. " Still, she looked momentarily apologetic as snow-white hotels were laid across the tiles representing Menagerie. Momentarily.

"Actually, where is Blake?" asked Ruby, peering around the library. She spotted Blake's bag and her books on the table, so she couldn't have gone far, but...

"Here you are, Ren," said Blake, the noise drawing both Nora's and Ruby's gazes to a nearby table, where Ren was attempting to study a safe distance from his friends' gaming. Nora watched as Ren raised his head from the microeconomics textbook, blinking in mild surprise at the cup of tea being proffered at him.

"Thank you, Blake," said Ren in reply, accepting the cup with a small bow of his head. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"I was making some tea for myself, and I thought that you might like a cup as well," replied Blake, sliding into the chair next to him. "It's a ginseng tea from Mistral. A bit bitter, but I'm rather fond of the aroma."

Ren raised the cup to his lips, taking a long and deliberate sip, and then nodded approvingly. "It's very good," he stated, setting the cup down gently. "Thank you, Blake. I don't get the chance to drink tea as much as I'd like to."

"Please, it's my pleasure," answered Blake, a small smile creeping across her face. "Are these notes for the microeconomics quiz next week?" she asked, glancing down at the papers splayed before Ren.

"Yes, they are. It's a bit dry, but I think I have a handle on the theories."

The Faunus leaned in a little closer. "Has anyone ever told you that your penmanship is exquisite?" Blake asked, a note of admiration in her voice.

'Of course I have', though Nora, unable to keep herself from eavesdropping. 'It's got all those cute little squiggles and the little curvy lines for flare and-"

"No, I don't think so," mused Ren, though he didn't sound particularly disappointed. "Before she passed away my grandmother was rather insistent on calligraphy lessons," he continued, with a small, nostalgic smile. "My shorthand isn't quite as neat, regrettably."

Nora tilted her head. She had told Ren how much she liked his handwriting. Hadn't she?

She'd certainly meant to...

"Would you mind if I copied down your notes from last week? I think I drifted off when Professor Peach started rambling about income elasticity."

"Not at all. Please, let me just..."

Ren slid his chair slightly over, giving Blake the space to move her notebook up beside his. For a brief moment, their hands brushed.

Nora blinked.

Yang punched her in the arm.

"Hey, Remnant to Nora, it's your turn," the brawler declared. "Hurry up and figure out how much you have to pay Weiss."

Nora scowled at the interruption, but tried to throw herself back in the game. "I'm not giving up my Kingdom to you, Ice Queen," Nora promised, rolling the dice with gusto. "There's a certain White Castle on the board, and it has my name on it!"

Her friends snorted and giggled and rolled their eyes at her quotidian theatrics. Nobody noticed the way her heart wasn't in the game anymore.

It was such a good performance, Nora almost convinced herself that nothing was wrong.

"Nora, Ren is not cheating on you with Blake," said Yang. Then she tilted her head, wondering just how their conversation had gotten so bizarre so quickly. Nora's imagination was a force to be reckoned with.

"But he could be," called back Nora, sounding entirely unaffected by the weights she was bench-pressing. Yang stood behind her in the spotter's position, completely unnecessarily, wondering for the millionth time how her gym partner managed to bench literally five times her own weight.

"Look, Nora, I don't really know what you and Ren have going on together..." At least Nora was no longer denying that they were together-together (It would have been pretty hard to, given the photographic evidence of their first-year graduation ceremony). "But Ren is probably the literal last person in all of Remnant who'd tried to cheat on anybody. Plus, I don't think Blake's going to let anyone come between her and her books."

Nora hoisted the bar back atop its rest, sitting up to properly scowl at Yang. The pads beneath her were drenched in sweat, but there was no trace of exhaustion on the powerhouse's face.

"Yang, Blake made tea for Ren," Nora stated, as if repeating a self-evident truth. "And he accepted it."

"Nora, I'm trying to follow you here, but I really can't," Yang admitted. The back of her mind told her it was probably some dating-courtship-ritual thing, but she'd never really had the patience for learning even her own culture's. Yang's approach to flirting had always been a bit more... direct.

"Making someone tea can be a very intimate act, Yang," Nora shot back.

"So Blake is... muscling in... on your tea-brewing turf?" asked Yang, trying to put the pieces together. Grimmspawn, this was like one of those terrible teen romance shows. "Do you even make Ren tea?"

Nora shot Yang a quizzical look. "What, no, I don't 'make Ren tea', Yang, I..."

I've never made Ren tea. I don't even know how to make tea.

Blake does.

"...I need to go," said Nora, snatching her towel and throwing it over her shoulders.

"Wait, but, what about my..." by the time Yang could finish her sentence, Nora was already long-gone.

"No, no, you have to move the left and right thumbsticks at the same time. See, you're playing it like it's basically a shooting gallery."

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha repeated, as her digital avatar died for the hundredth time that evening. How someone so naturally coordinated could be so terrible at video games was a mystery to Ruby, and one the younger woman was determined to solve.

"You know, I never really thought about it, but Blake and Ren actually work pretty well together," mused Yang, seated on an overstuffed pillow next to her sister and mashing buttons with equal fury. As much as she tried to avoid getting entangled in other people's love lives, the conversation she'd had with Nora early that morning had stuck with her. "Assuming you could tear Blake away from her smut for a whole five minutes, obviously." She and Jaune held a slight advantage over Pyrrha and Ruby, if only because "Guest 1" was handicapping "ReaperRose1383" pretty badly.

"I don't know, Yang, I don't really see it," replied Jaune, groaning sullenly as Ruby managed to snipe him from halfway across the map (again).

Yang snorted. "Blake likes tea, Ren likes tea. Blake likes reading, Ren likes studying. They're both quiet, shy introverts." Yang managed to battle her sister to a draw, their two characters retreating in search of health and ammo. "You think Nora's going to want to go with Ren to some boring museum exhibit, or read books quietly on a park bench for an afternoon?" Pyrrha managed to spray enough bullets into Yang's already-weakened character to score a kill, her first of the game. Yang let out an annoyed hiss. "I mean, when do you think Ren's finally going to clue in and realize he needs someone, I dunno, sane in his life?"

In the excitement of the game, none of them had noticed that the door to the RWBY dorm was left open. Or realized that someone had stopped by at an inopportune moment, looking for advice after a day of soul-searching. And that she had left moments later with tears in her eyes.

Ren knew something was wrong the moment he entered his dorm.

For starters, Nora was there, alone. Since the JNPR quartet basically worked, studied, ate and slept together, it was very rare for just one of them to be in the dorm. Even rarer at ten o'clock on a school night, long after Pyrrha and Jaune should've returned from their usual sparring sessions.

More problematically, Nora was doing... absolutely nothing. Not bouncing on beds, not listening to music, not trying to study or learn the guitar or fall asleep. Just... sitting there. On the edge of her bed, still in her uniform.

"Hi Ren," Nora greeted, forcing a smile onto her face. She should have known better than to try to fool him. "How was your study session with Blake?"

"Fine," Ren replied, keeping his tone neutral. He slipped off his backpack. "What's bothering you, Nora?"

"Nothing's bothering me," Nora responded. She was a terrible liar. "How's Blake doing?"

Ren took a seat on his bed opposite Nora's, clasping his hands together in front of him. A few black hairs fell in front of his eyes. "Blake seemed to be doing well," he said, watching Nora closely for any reaction. But his roommate's head was bowed, her gaze pointed down at the floor.

"Do you want to sleep with her?"

Nora's voice was barely a murmur, and for a second Ren thought he'd heard wrong, or perhaps completely misunderstood her. "Or maybe you want a threesome?" Nora followed-up, removing any ambiguity from his mind.

Ren paled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He felt his skin growing sweaty. He swallowed, loudly.

Ren closed his eyes, bracing for the torrent that was sure to follow. For Nora to call him a cheater and a liar, for a fire of jealous rage to engulf them both. He mentally berated himself - he should have seen this coming. Nora had always been protective of their relationship, even when it had been nothing more than platonic. Once proper romance became involved, he should've known those protective tendencies would only deepen. She valued their bond so deeply, it was hardly surprising that she'd become a bit paranoid in protecting it. So he held his breath and waited for her to scream...

But when Nora finally raised her head, there was no anger in her eyes. Only tears.

"I'm... I'm okay, if you want to," she whispered.

"Wait, what?" Ren said, the strangeness of Nora's words causing him to speak without thinking.

Nora was blinking back more tears. "If you... if you also want to see Blake, I'm okay with that," Nora repeated, unable to meet his gaze any longer. "I don't know if you want to date her, or just have sex with her. I'm not really into girls but if you want to try a threesome I-"

She choked on her words, hugging herself tightly as she struggled to continue. "I've lost a lot in my life, Ren. I just don't want... I don't want to lose you, too. I can't lose you completely. "

He was at her side a moment later, having crossed the distance between their beds without conscious thought. One arm wrapped around Nora, drawing her into his chest.

"Nora... Nora, where did this come from? What are you talking about?" asked Ren, softly, as he felt Nora shake a little against him.

With a loud sniff Nora managed to pull herself back out of him, her eyes already puffy and red. "It's not your fault, Ren," Nora explained, speaking quietly. "We were always 'together', so we just kind of became.... together-together." One of her small, impossibly delicate hands moved to rub her eye. "But I'm not really the kind of girl you want to spend your life with, right?" Her words were no longer punctuated by tears or laced with sorrow. She actually sounded rather calm, almost at ease. "That's... that's someone more like Blake. Someone less manic. Someone who likes the same things you do, and doesn't constantly drive you crazy, and..."

She trailed off. Ren wiped the streak of a tear off her cheek, and she smiled a little at that. "So I'm okay if you want to see Blake. You're an amazing person, Lie Ren, and I think... I'd rather share you than lose you completely."

"Nora?" His partner glanced at him.

Ren kissed her.

He didn't initiate kisses very often - it wasn't like Nora gave him a lot of chances to, in any event - but he certainly knew what he was doing. One hand rested on each of Nora's cheeks, holding her in place while his mouth met hers. Lips sealed, eyes closed, bodies pressed together. For what might as well have been an eternity.

"I don't want to date Blake," he said, after they finally separated.

Nora blinked. "Why not?"

"Wh...what? What do you mean 'why not'?"

Nora scowled, sliding a few inches back on her bed. "I mean, Blake is super cute, right? She's got those gorgeous amber eyes, those adorable cat ears, that mysterious air to her." Sorrow had been banished from her voice entirely, replaced by frantic energy. "Ooh, plus I bet she's into some really kinky things, right? I mean she's always reading those 'romance' novels which are basically book porn. You think she'd like to-"

"-I don't want to date Blake, Nora. She's a good friend, but I really, really don't." He had a lot of bizarre conversations with Nora, but most of them involved unicorn Grimm or pancake-serving raptors. This was a whole new category of weird.

"But... she's your type, Ren," said Nora, her tone taking on a serious note. "She's quiet and bookish and doesn't like crowds and both your weapons are pistols and-"

"Because I don't want to date someone who's just like me," interjected Ren, barely managing to get a word in edge-wise. He took Nora's hands in his. "I want to date someone who's just like you."

Nora smiled.

"Why?"

Ren stifled a groan. Of course she wasn't going to let him off that easily.

He kissed her, though much briefer this time. "Because when I'm with you, Nora, Remnant just feels so much more alive." Another kiss. "You see the world as a wondrous, exciting place filled with fun and adventure. I... I don't normally see things that way." His voice quieted a little at that.

Nora tilted her head. "Waddya mean? How do you see it, then?"

Ren shrugged. "When I'm not with you, things are just... duller. All I can see is everything that's wrong with the world. All I think about is what went wrong in our lives. I don't have the energy to go out and try new things. I don't even have the energy to even care about Remnant. I just... want to sleep."

His throat tightened. He wanted to believe it was just because he rarely spoke more than a sentence or two in a row, but the moisture accumulating in the corners of his eyes suggested something else.

"I don't want to be with someone who sees the world in the same pale tones as I do, Nora. I don't want someone who lets me be me. I want someone who forces me to become a better person.

"That's why I want to date you, Nora. You're not just my better half. You will always make all of me better."

"Ren..." Nora didn't have time to find the words before they were kissing again, Ren atop her, Nora digging her fingers into his jacket. Scrambling on the bed they managed to slip out of blazers and shoes, but a passionate search for un-kissed skin distracted them from their disrobement.

Nora traded places with Ren, positioning herself so she was straddling her boyfriend, now flat on his back. Tears of sorrow had morphed to joy, to a relief she'd never known she'd needed.

And it turned out peace of mind was a surprisingly good aphrodisiac.

"Boop." Nora poked the tip of Ren's nose, eliciting a playful smile from him.

"I love you, too."

OMAKE

"So, any luck with Operation Lotus Orgy?" asked Yang, as her partner slunk back into the RWBY dorm room.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that," grumbled Blake, collapsing onto her bunk. She sighed. "Nora was on-board and everything."

Yang hopped off her own bed, sliding up next to Blake to pet her roommate's head. "There, there, Blakey," she teased, eliciting a small growl. "Plenty more fish in the sea. Some even as deviant as you."

With a final scowl Blake drew herself up, depriving Yang of her favorite scratching post. Reaching for the filthiest of her dirty books, Blake extracted from within a well-folded noted, staring at the list it contained.

Ninjas of Love sexy cosplay

Dirty haiku contest

"Wrestling" practice

Trip to beach + sunscreen

Grimm poison (needs to be sucked out)

Car wash fundraiser (reminder: give Yang hose)

"Laundry day"

Spin the bottle (find one with metal in it and call in favor from Pyrrha)

Whipped cream "accident"

Tea

"Help, I'm in heat"

With a defeated sigh, Blake crossed the penultimate line off her list. She assessed her remaining option with a weary eye.

Well, desperate times and all that...