Blakey locks and the 3 beds.

"23, 24, 25." Blake Belladonna grunted out the last count of pull-ups. She was almost completely out of energy but determined to push herself to complete one more set. She had always been very quick and agile, helped no doubt by enhanced Faunus reflexes and her cat-like ability to always land on her feet. But lately she had realised that her endurance wasn't as strong as she would like, last time she sparred in Professor Goodwitch's class had been an eye opening experience. She had known Lie Ren was a talented fighter, and the hand-to-hand exercise suited him well, but Blake was confident she had what it took to come out on top. At first it looked like she would too, but the longer the fight went on the more fatigued she felt and the harder it became to land a good hit on her opponent. By the time Ren put an end to proceedings with a leg sweep Blake could nearly have been knocked over by a strong breeze. So she had set herself the goal of improving her stamina by working out for longer and longer periods every night until she improved.

By the time Blake was making her way back across a dark Beacon campus to her dorm room her arms were like jelly and her legs felt like lead. She was so exhausted she could barely put one foot in front of the other and the only thing on her mind was a hot shower and a good night's sleep. She knew Yang would be disappointed that she didn't come along to Junior's club with the rest of team RWBY and team JNPR but she was never a club kid anyway and right now dancing sounded like torture. Even though she hated to see Yang disappointed she knew her teammate would understand and would get over it fast, nothing much ever fazed her.

"I wish I could be more like that." Blake thought to herself as she opened the door to the first year dorms.

After the most heavenly shower Blake was just about staying awake long enough to reach her bed. The thought of curling up in bed with a book until she passed out was her idea of paradise, and she was on her way to her Shangri-La. But as soon as she opened the door to team RWBY's dorm room she was frozen in place by a horrifying sight. She was stood in the doorway for moments that felt like hours, heart gripped by dread as her eyes her focused with laser accuracy on the monster before her. There on her bed staring at her with murderous intent was Zwei, Yang and Ruby's "battle-Corgi" as they called him. He was stood there head cocked to one side studying Blake with his tongue hanging from his mouth, drooling at the thought of tearing the poor girl apart no doubt.

It took far longer than she would ever admit for Blake to accept that of course the tiny dog wasn't going to attack her. But she wasn't crazy, there was no way she was going anywhere near that thing, which was now curling up to fall asleep on her bed. With the adrenaline from the surprise dog encounter fading Blake remembered how tired she was. Now she had a dilemma, she needed to sleep but there was no way she could on her own bed with that fiend there. Realising that she absolutely didn't have the energy to come up with a plan to get him off the bed she decided to commandeer one of her teammate's beds.

Her first thought was to pick the bed as far away from Zwei as possible, which was Ruby's. But one look at the girls bunk was enough to know that wouldn't work, it was littered with pages of notes and open textbooks as well as empty candy wrappers and even a half full cup of coffee.

Next she thought about Weiss's bunk, below Ruby's. Weiss wasn't the best at sharing and could be quite territorial, but Blake was sure she could get away with it. Just before she pulled back the blanket she had a realisation. If Zwei could jump on her bed her jump on Weiss's too. What if he woke up and decided he wanted someone to cuddle up to, she wouldn't stand a chance. She spun around in a blur and fixed her eyes on the slumbering beast that had laid claim to her bed. When she satisfied herself that he was in fact still asleep she released a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

Shaking her head at her own paranoia she settled on the one easy, safe, dog-free bed in the dorm room. Climbing onto the top bunk at the furthest point away from the sleeping puppy as she could Blake grabbed her book and tucked herself up into Yang's bed. She was so exhausted by the whole ordeal on top of her workout that she was drifting off to sleep before reaching the end of the first paragraph, surrounded by the lilac scent of Yang's shampoo which she found highly comforting.

"I know Junior is a pain, but breaking his nose was unnecessary. Running from the police was not how I wanted my night to end!" Weiss's obviously annoyed tones pulled Blake out of her sleep.

Although awake now she had no intention of moving at all. The team had lived together long enough that Blake knew the routine. Weiss would complain about whatever Ruby or Yang did to ruin her night, even though they all knew she secretly loved the excitement but wanted to maintain her image. Yang would shrug it off. Ruby would come down from her sugar high and crawl straight into bed, which she did without even clearing any space, just falling asleep on her notes.

"He hit on my sister, I hit on his face. Fair is fair" Yang replied with just a hint the nights many drinks lingering in her voice.

"What if he tells the police? We could be expelled for underage drinking and starting fights!" Weiss was starting to panic at the thought of how her father would react.

"Please, guys like Junior don't go to the police. They tell their friends that they got hurt in a gang fight and then never talk about it again."

It was then that Yang noticed Blake's bed was empty save for a snoring corgi curled up on the pillow. A sly smile spread across her lips as she realised the suspicious shape in her bed had two black cat-ears poking out above the blanket. Weiss, by now, had given up arguing in favour of crawling into bed as the tiredness finally caught up to her.

Yang weighed her options, moving Zwei didn't seem like a good idea. Once the puppy woke up he would expect attention and she was far too tired for that. Besides Yang knew this was a great opportunity to cuddle up to Blake and if the other girl didn't like it then she would just pass it off like she was drunk and didn't notice Blake in her bed.

Blake was in that floaty space between waking and sleeping when she felt something lift the blanket and crawl into the bed behind her. For a brief moment she was gripped by fear at the thought of Zwei learning to jump into the top bunk. That fear was dispelled when she heard the low tones of Yang's slightly slurred voice and felt her breath on her neck.

"Aww did the big bad wolf steal your bed?"

"mhm" was about all the response she could muster.

"Well I can protect you from that fiend", Yang whispered breathily as her arm slid around her teammates midriff and pulled her in towards her own body. She hadn't planned on being so touchy-feely at first but now with the smell of Blake's hair overpowering her she couldn't help herself.

Blake found herself wriggling slightly closer to Yang without really thinking about it and couldn't deny the feeling of security that came with being held by her, wrapped up and warm under the blanket. Before she could stop it a soft purr escaped her.

Yang felt her face flush and was lost for words, which so rarely happened. She could only hope that Blake's Faunus hearing wasn't strong enough to hear her heartbeat in that moment as it was hammering in her chest. She always thought Blake was attractive and enjoyed flirting with her the way she flirted with everyone else. But in the moment the girl lying beside her let out a long, slow purr she was surprised by how good it felt to know she was the reason and how powerfully she wanted to be the reason again.

Blake was beyond grateful that she was the only one in the room with enhanced night vision so Yang couldn't see the mortified look on her face, which was almost lighting up the room it was so red from embarrassment. Concentrating for a moment she determined that Ruby and Weiss were both asleep, they were breathing deeply and evenly. Now all she could do was hope that Yang hadn't noticed the contented purr.

This hope was shattered as Yang raised her head just enough to look at her. She tried to turn her face toward the pillow just enough to prevent Yang from seeing how embarrassed she was. She could practically see the smirk on Yang's lips in her mind as her partner playfully asked,

"Did you just purr at me?"

It took way more concentration than Yang would ever like to admit to keep her voice light and playful as she asked the question. Suddenly aware of her own breathing, she didn't know how Blake would answer or even what answer she wanted to hear. Just as she was about to give up on getting an answer at all and try to sleep she heard a barely audible whisper,

"I, uh, I didn't know what I was doing. I just felt, um. Never mind, it's embarrassing."

As Yang's heart sank she discovered which answer she wanted and it wasn't that one. But before she could get too down about it she noticed Blake wasn't trying to move. She wasn't leaving the bed. So, spurred on by the alcohol, she decided to try something to get Blake to open up.

"Aww, don't be embarrassed. It was cute, I've never heard you do that before."

"Well it only happens when I'm really relaxed and comfortable."

Blake instantly regretted that answer. She knew Yang would pick up on it and she dreaded how she might respond. But she was not prepared for how sincere and touched Yang sounded when she responded quietly,

"You really feel that comfortable here with me?"

The vulnerability in her voice took Blake aback and made her smile involuntarily. Without really thinking she laced her fingers through Yang's and pulled her arm a little tighter against herself. Her cat-ears twitched as Yang responded by nuzzling against the back of her neck and shifting closer against her back.

"Of course I do, you make me feel safe and secure."

By now both girls knew that what they felt for each other was mutual but Blake couldn't help but hold her breath waiting for Yang to say something.

"Always" was all she said.

They both lay there knowing that the morning would bring awkward conversations about what their night together meant, and questions from their sleeping teammates. But for now neither cared about tomorrow, they were too happy to share the night cuddled up together safe and warm and happy drifting off into a deep peaceful sleep.

Fin.