"I can't do it Blake! I can't" Ruby said in a very distressed voice, curled up on her bed. Blake was lying down on her side on her bed, her head propped up on her arm. She was looking at Ruby with a very amused look on her face. Still in their pajamas, Blake wore a black button-up shirt and short comfy pants, whereas Ruby wore what appeared to be a red jumpsuit.

The two had woken up about an hour earlier at 5 AM due to Ruby making a mistake with her alarm clock. After apologizing profusely, and Blake saying she gets up this early sometimes anyway, they had double-checked their class schedules, only for Ruby to discover something that was, in her opinion, quite terrible.

"C'mon Rubes, it isn't that bad," Blake said, smiling.

"No, it's not. It's WORSE." Ruby moaned, rolling back and forth on her bed. "It's a complete and utter disaster."

Blake could hardly contain her laughter, but she somehow succeeded. "Ruby. So we don't have any classes together. It's not a big deal! We can see each other outside of class."

Ruby flipped towards Blake and narrowed her eyes. "But I was hoping we could be study buddies!"

"We still can be."

"But it won't be the saaaaame…." Ruby said, dragging out the last word. "And that still isn't the worst of it!"

Curious as to what could be worse than this, Blake waited for Ruby to continue, adjusting her headband.

"Not only do I have no classes with you or Yang…I have three classes…with Weiss." Ruby said, her voice getting quieter as she kept talking.

She couldn't help it. Blake started laughing. Ruby looked slightly hurt and pouted a little.

"It's not funny! She doesn't like me! How am I going to survive?" Ruby looked quite serious about her plight, so Blake slowly calmed down and swung her legs onto the floor. Walking across the room, she put her hands under Ruby's arms and lifted her up with surprising strength. Plopping her back onto the bed in a sitting position, Blake looked right at her face.

"Ruby look at me." Ruby dutifully looked at Blake. "Weiss doesn't hate you. I think."

"Well that's real reassuring," said Ruby in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"She doesn't! She probably just has a hard time making friends. Not everyone can be you, ya know." Blake said this in a very dry way as if it was totally obvious.

Ruby was having none of it. She jumped up and, helped with some loud gestures from her hands, started talking again.

"You don't understand! When she looks at me she always has this funky look in her eyes. Like she wants to pounce on me or something. Like…like…like she's a wolf and I'm a bunny!" Ruby put her hands on Blake's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Help meeeeeee!" she cried in a very pitiful manner, doing her best to put on puppy dog eyes.

"Well, what are the classes anyway? Maybe they aren't the important ones." Blake said with a slightly hopeful tone to her voice, genuinely trying to be helpful at this point.

"Psych, English, and…" Ruby dug out her schedule quick and gave it a scan. "Neuroscience."

"Oh." Blake said simply. "Um…what's your major again?"

Ruby glared slightly at Blake. "Psychology! I want to be a therapist." Ruby stated. "So…all these classes are kind of unskippable. Although I wonder why Weiss would be in my Psych and Neuroscience classes…unless…"

Ruby started walking across the hall, Blake trailing behind. They quickly reached the door to Yang and Weiss's shared room, which for once was silent. Rapping on the door, Ruby soon figured out why.

Weiss opened the door and revealed a Yang-less room. Weiss was still wearing her nightgown, a small, loose little white thing. It framed her perfectly, and her hair was loose for once. Ruby realized she had never seen it outside of Weiss's long ponytail, and realized she thought Weiss with loose hair was really pretty. Weiss rubbed her eyes, as it was rather early. Which made the Yang-lessness of the room even stranger.

"If you're-" interrupting herself with a yawn, Weiss gave a small smile. "If you're looking for Yang, she's at the gym. Meeting her new club buddies. What's up?"

Slightly stunned at Weiss speaking to her as an equal, Ruby put her question a little more bluntly than intended. "What's your major?"

Blinking, Weiss thought for a second. "Um, Psychology. More specifically, Neuroscience. I want to go into research. Why?"

Ruby pointed at her schedule. "We share three classes. Psych, English, and Neuroscience. I'm a Psychology major too so I wondered why you would be taking a Psych and Neuroscience class unless you were majoring in it too."

Weiss was obviously waking up and returning to her usual Weiss-ness, as her response was rather huffy. "What, why couldn't I just be interested in the subjects? Is something wrong with that?"

"Well, um, no, not really-" Ruby was saying in a very halting voice. Weiss's cutting way of speaking had a tendency to make one lose their competence for forming complete sentances.

"Anyway, please leave. It is very early, and my classes start in about three hours. I was planning to get another hour of sleep or so, but seeing as that plan has been so kindly disturbed, I would like to get dressed and prepare. So with all due respect, shove off." Weiss concluded with a door shut in Ruby and Blake's face.

Blake, who hadn't spoken the entire time, decided now was a good time to interject with: "Well. Maybe she dislikes you just a wee bit."

Grumbling, Ruby automatically leaned into Blake, who wasn't quite sure what to do. After a few seconds, she patted Ruby's head awkwardly.

"Blake?" Ruby asked quietly.

"What's up?"

"We're friends, right?"

Slightly caught off guard by the question, Blake stumbled over her answer a little. "Well, um, yeah. Of course we're friends."

Ruby nodded, satisfied by the answer. "Friends back each other up, right?"

Not sure where this was going, Blake answered slightly hesitantly. "I..guess so?"

"So if I say Weiss is a big mean bitch you'll agree with me?"

Smiling, Blake led Ruby back into their room and began preparing a small breakfast. "Yes. And for what it's worth, I agree with you. She can get pretty cutthroat."

"Then Weiss is a big mean bitch." Ruby said in a very grumbly tone as she sat down at their little makeshift table. "And I like cinnamon sugar on my toast."

Laughing, Blake located the cinnamon and made Ruby some toast, decided she'd like some eggs herself. Sitting down, the two ate silently. After they ate, Ruby sighed and got up. "I should probably get dressed, huh. Class with Ice Bitch starts in a few hours and I need to make sure I can find the classroom."

Blake wiped her mouth with a napkin and dug out her clothes. "I'll come with you. My classes don't start till noon. Plus, someone has to make sure you don't get lost again."

Ruby stuck her tongue out at Blake and began stripping down.

"Whoa, whoa whoa! What are you doing?" Blake said in a mildly panicked voice, her face getting a little red.

"Huh?" Ruby asked, as she had just gotten out of the top part of her jumpsuit and was standing there half-nude. Looking down, she realized what Blake was panicking about. "Oh. Do you mind? We're both girls you know."

Her face getting further from pink and closer to maroon, Blake's next sentence took her a few minutes to fully finish. "B-b-b-b-but isn't it k-k-k-k-kinda w-w-w-weird? I-I-I mean s-s-s-since y-you're…y'know…" Blake then realized what she was saying and trailed off. "Um…I mean…not that it's a problem! Or anything! Just that it might be kinda weird? Maybe? Sort of?"

Ruby was staring at her tongue-tied roommate, not sure whether she should be offended or rolling on the floor laughing. "If it bothers you I can change in the bathroom, I don't mind."

"I didn't say that! I just, um…ah…" Blake was finding it increasingly hard to find words, let alone keep her eyes firmly trained on Ruby's face. What am I thinking? Calm down Blake, she's you're friend and roommate for fucks sake! Plus, you don't…do that. Right?

Ruby gathered up her clothes and walked into the bathroom. "I'll just change in here."

Blake was unable to find more words as Ruby shut the door to the bathroom. After a minute she just shook her head quickly and dressed herself quickly. Ruby emerged from the bathroom in jeans and a black t-shirt, complimented by her red sweatshirt. "Come on then. It's gonna be a bit of a puzzle finding this place." Ruby said in a slightly curt tone as she headed out.

Blake speed walked to catch up to her and after a few minutes of awkward silence, she spoke up.

"Um…I'm sorry."

Ruby remained silent, training her eyes on the walkway in front of her.

"Ruby, c'mon. I'm sorry for…that. You just kinda caught me really off guard. I didn't really know what to say…."

Ruby spun around and clamped her hand over Blake's mouth. "Apology accepted. And if this helps your peace of mind, I don't plan on asking you out anytime soon."

Blake blinked and moved Ruby's hand away from her mouth. Nodding, they returned to walking. Though she didn't really get it, a weight lifted from Blake's heart. She didn't want these complications in her relationship with Ruby. They were just friends.

Friends who do tease each other mercilessly, that is.

"So…does that mean you don't think I'm pretty?" Blake said, a mischievous smile playing on her face.

Ruby stopped in her tracks. "Well, um…that's….not the subject!" she said, a little red in the face.

Blake got in front of her and fake-pouted, putting on a façade of hurt feelings. "So you think I'm ugly?"

"I didn't say that!" Ruby was getting increasingly embarrassed, mostly because she knew Blake was doing this on purpose.

"So am I pretty?" Blake said, still pouting.

"….." Ruby's first response was silence. Then she sighed. "Yes, Blake, I think you're very pretty. But you're my friend. I don't have any romantic attraction towards you, even you are pretty much drop-dead, take-me-how-you-want gorgeous."

Now it was Blakes turn to blush as Ruby giggled and wrapped her friend in a hug. "You're too easy to embarrass Blakey. Now come on, help me find this stupid place."

"….Blakey?" Blake said, not really sure how she felt about that one. "….Really? Blakey?"

Laughing, Ruby grabbed her hand and pulled her along. "Come on slowpoke, I thought you didn't want me to get lost!"

"Blakey?!"

…

A good hour of searching later, Ruby was sitting in her classroom as students started trailing in for the morning class. Blake had dropped her off at the entrance to the classroom, still seething a little about the nickname. "I'll text you when I get out. Then you gotta fetch me." Ruby said, smiling.

"Alright, but you gotta figure this place out eventually. I can't always be your guide dog." Blake said, making sure Ruby and her had each other's numbers.

Ruby tried pouting, but Blake wasn't having it. Eventually Ruby agreed to try memorizing the routes to her classes at the very least.

Interrupting her thoughts was a thud followed by a long "Owwwwww…."

Ruby looked next to her and discovered a boy with blonde hair had seemingly tripped over his own feet. "Want some help?" she asked, holding her hand out.

The boy took it and pulled himself up. "Thanks. I'm Jaune, by the way. And you are?"

"Ruby. Ruby Rose. So Jaune, you excited for English class?" Ruby said the last part in a mildly sarcastic tone.

"Nope. Not even a little bit. And I really regret picking a morning class. Not making that mistake again." Jaune plopped down in a seat next to Ruby, and thudded his head down on the desk. "My roommate woke me up really frigging early too."

Giggling, Ruby told him how she had been the culprit of her and Blake's early awakening. Their conversation was cut short however by the arrival of a certain white-haired Weiss Shnee, who stalked over and sat next to Ruby, a rather standoffish look on her face.

"Um…hi Weiss?" Ruby said, slightly confused by this turn of events.

"Don't talk to me." Weiss said bluntly, looking straight ahead. "Class is starting."

Ruby looked up and discovered that their professor was indeed standing there waiting to start.

As he began class, Ruby noticed that Weiss was trying to catch her eye. She looked at her and found a vaguely apologetic look to her eyes, and Weiss confirmed it when she mouthed Sorry to Ruby.

Smiling slightly, Ruby nodded, showing she accepted the apology.

…

Class was dismissed and everyone was putting away their notebooks. Except two girls sitting near the back, who were both already packed up and walking out. Ruby and Weiss walked side by side to the nearby sitting area, and sat down with a long sigh.

"That…was boring." Ruby said, lacking her usual enthusiasm.

"He sounded so monotone…" Weiss said in a rather defeated tone. "It was hard to even take him seriously, let alone remember what he said…"

"Hey, um, Weiss?" Ruby said, slightly nervous.

"Yes?" Weiss said, looking at Ruby with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Um, I'm sorry about this morning. For waking you up, and, um, calling you a bitch."

Weiss blinked. "You didn't call me a bitch…." She said, rather confused.

Ruby realized she never actually said it to her face. "Oh. Um…."

Weiss looked like she was going to slap her, but then she smiled a little. "No, it's okay. I was a bitch. You just caught me at a rather bad time is all."

"Oh." Ruby said, not used to Weiss acting so…relaxed. "What, um, happened?"

Weiss narrowed her eyes, debating whether or not she felt like talking about it. "Your sister happened. Up at four thirty in the morning to go work out. Four thirty! Who gets up that early?!" Weiss was gripping her chair pretty hard, and was quite obviously frustrated.

Ruby smiled meekly. "Yeah, that sounds like Yang alright. I'm sorry about her, I know she can be kind of difficult sometimes…"

"She's stubborn as a mule, overprotective of her things, and refuses to compromise on anything." Weiss said with an exasperated look on her face, which drew a burst of laughter from Ruby. "What? What did I say?"

Ruby wiped her eyes and held out her hand. "In absence of Kettle, I'm Pan. Kettle sends it's greetings."

It took Weiss a few seconds to realize she was being called a hypocrite. "At least I don't punch trees." She said huffily, but she had a hint of laughter in her eyes.

Ruby couldn't help it, and started laughing again. After a few minutes, Weiss joined in, and Ruby discovered that Weiss had one of the prettiest laughs she had ever heard. It sounded like a crystal wind chime.

Weiss turned a little red and Ruby was confused for a few seconds till she realized…

"Did…um..did I just say that out loud?" she said, her own face heating up.

Weiss nodded.

"Crystal wind chimes?"

The deepening of the red on Weiss's face confirmed it.

Neither of them really knew what to say for a bit until Weiss very quietly said, "Um…thanks. No one has ever really complimented me like that before…"

Ruby was surprised. "Really? But…you're, well…really pretty. How do you not get compliments?"

Weiss spoke very slowly, and looked like she was very out of her element at the moment. "I think…people are put off. By my….abrasive personality."

Both girls sat in silence until Ruby reached out and grasped Weiss's hand. "Well….I think you're sweet. Like a candy. Hard on the outside with sweet sugary goodness inside."

Weiss looked like she wanted the universe to delete itself right about there. "U-uhm…thanks, Ruby. You're…you're a good person."

Smiling, Ruby pulled Weiss up and stood, wrapping her arms around the completely lost girl in front of her.

"Ruby…what are you doing?" Weiss sounded quite thoroughly confused.

"Giving you a hug, silly. That's what friends do." Ruby said, squeezing her a little tighter.

"Oh." Weiss said. Then she realized what Ruby just said. "I'm…your friend?"

"Yeah of course! I know I thought you were a big mean meanie-pants before, but…well, I was wrong. So…what about it? Friends?"

Weiss thought for a moment before returning Ruby's hug. "Friends."

After a few moments it seemed that Weiss had reached her 'Nice' quota for the day, and pushed Ruby away. "Anyway." She said, trying to regain control over the situation.

"I have classes. And so do you. So shoo. Off with you." Weiss stood up and began walking away, trying to act normal.

Ruby looked a little hurt, but decided to go about her day until she met up with Weiss in her Psych class this afternoon. So she was quite surprised when something collided into her back and wrapped its arms around her waist.

"Um…see you later." Weiss's voice sounded in her ear, sounding very quiet and soft. And then she was gone as fast as she had came, and was soon nowhere to be seen.

Weiss darted off and hid behind a pillar, trying to steady her pulse and her breathing. What was wrong with her? Was she sick? Did she pick up something at the library? At the café? She didn't understand what was causing this. Heavy breathing, increased heart rate, hotness in the face…

She sat down and held her head between her knees as she thought about what just happened. Ruby? Her friend? She thought it was impossible.

But…she remembered how Ruby had pulled her up and hugged her. Said that they were friends. Was she telling the truth?

Weiss shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Of course Ruby was telling the truth. She didn't seem like the type to lie about things like that. But…the idea of a friend was so…so…foreign. How did you go about being a friend anyway? Weiss decided to discuss this with Ruby later. She would probably know what to do. After all, she had already made good friends with that Blake girl.

And Weiss resolved to be a little nicer to Yang. Or, she was going to try anyway. But she was so insufferable, just the way she spoke like she was all high and might made Weiss want to just punch her right in the face.

Taking a few deep breaths, Weiss collected her thoughts. As strange and alien as the idea of friends was, she decided to at least give it a shot. Who knows.

Maybe she and Ruby could be better friends than she hoped.

Author's Note:

Lo and behold, White Rose you were promised, and White Rose I shall deliver! So, I feel like I should clarify a bit of confusion a few beta-readers had with this.

Yes, Weiss and Blake have similar characters. The idea of being such close friends with someone is a very foreign idea, but each has very different reasons for feeling this way.

Blake never had the chance to make friends. She was very sheltered and isolated from other kids growing up, and just never had the ability to connect to other people. When in reality, she makes the perfect buddy, being a very loving person who notices the little things.

Whereas Weiss suffered from typical "Rich Bitch" syndrome. Spoiled during her childhood, she was very entitled and haughty, feeling like other children were peasants. Eventually, as it always happens, she gets bullied and defends herself with hatred. So friends are repelled instead of simply not having the chance to make any. Obviously Weiss reaches a point where she regrets this, but at that crucial point she still hasn't learned any other way to interact with people, so she continues to lash out with hatred and fear even when people try to be her friend. Ruby, being Ruby, manages to find a kink in the works and wriggle her way in.

NOTE: Those observations are in no way canon to the official RWBY Series. Those are simply my personal interpretations of how those two characters would have grown up in an alternate world. They could be spot-on, or I could be talking out of my ass. You tell me.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment in Every Rose, and I hope you have a wonderful day. Please remember to review, as it really does fuel my writing! Seriously. Every time I get that little notification in my inbox that I have a review, I do a little happy dance inside. You have NO idea how much even just a little "I love this story!" or "This is pretty nice, looking forward to the next chapter" means to me as a writer.

Enjoy and have a wonderful day!

Spike