"Everything looks so gooooood!" A squeal emerged from a certain redhead as her eyes raced back and forth over a menu. She was sitting outside a small café at a metal table with a blue and white umbrella over it, with her three friends sitting around the table. To her right sat the white-haired Weiss Shnee, Ice Princess Extraordinaire. To her left was the quiet Blake Belladonna, fidgeting with her signature cat-ear headband. And across from her was her older sister Yang Xiao Long, who was absently chewing on a strand of her bright blonde hair.

"Will you pipe down? People keep staring." Weiss said with an exasperated tone, as she scanned the menu herself.

Ruby blushed a little. "Sorry Weiss. Anyway, what do you think you'll be getting? I like the look of the breakfast quesadilla myself."

Blinking, Weiss looked hard at the menu. "Whats that? I don't see it on here…"

"Oh it's right here…" As Ruby helped Weiss navigate the rather unorganized café menu, Yang struck up a conversation with Blake.

"I like your headband!" She said cheerily as she poked the cat ears. "You look like a catgirl from some anime."

Blake jumped a little and adjusted her headband. "I-I do? Oh. Um…thanks, I guess?"

"Yeah, it looks cute. Have you always worn one of those?"

Thinking for a moment, Blake nodded. "Yeah, ever since I was a kid."

"I could never understand the appeal," Yang said as she took a drink from her glass of water. "I like my hair as it is."

"That's because if you had a headband on it'd be a lot harder to chew on it." Blake said, smiling a little.

Yang glared at the brunette as she returned to staring at the menu. "What's good here anyway? I can't pick anything out, there's too much."

"I've always been partial to the ham and cheese wrap. It has green onions and chives in it too, it tastes great."

"Bleh," Yang said, sticking her tongue out. "Where's the bacon? You can't have a good breakfast without it."

Laughing, Blake began pointing out all the different dishes that came with bacon.

…

An hour later Yang was leaning back in her chair, letting out a sigh of pure happiness.

"That…was delicious," she said, motioning towards her sparkly-clean empty plate.

A perfect mirror image of her sister, Ruby agreed with a grunt. She stretched and pulled herself out of the chair to fish out her wallet. "I had it with me somewhere…." She muttered as she dug around in her purse.

"Umm…Ruby?" Blake said, laughing quietly.

"Yeah?" Ruby said, not really paying attention.

"Your wallet is sitting on our bedside table. I just remembered. I meant to remind you but…then…um…I forgot." Blake then blushed, clearly remembering something that embarrassed her.

"Hm." Ruby said, continuing to dig around. About a minute passed before her hand slowed to a stop and the realization of what her roommate said hit her. "…what did you say?"

Weiss started giggling uncontrollably, which caused Yang to start laughing as well. After a bit, not even Blake could resist and they were soon all laughing at poor Ruby's scatterbrain. Pouting, Ruby plopped back down onto the chair.

Wiping her eyes, Weiss looked at the girl who was visibly upset by this unfortunate turn of events. "Oh calm down you big dolt, I'll cover your part of the bill. But you owe me."

Ruby blinked and looked at Weiss. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Yes. But you are going to pay me back the instant we return." Weiss's voice was very stern and serious, but her eyes had a lighter glint to them. Ruby broke out a huge grin and threw her arms around Weiss's neck.

"Thank youuuuu!" Ruby squealed, squeezing Weiss in a tight hug.

"Urk! Ruby! Can't! Breath!" Weiss said, gasping.

Breaking away, Ruby blushed as she rushed to apologize. "Sorry! But, um, thanks."

A slight pinkish tinge to her cheeks, Weiss nodded abruptly. "Don't mention it. Seriously. I'm just doing it because I'm…a decent person."

Ruby hesitated a few seconds, and then nodded. Yang and Blake were eyeing the two with bemused looks in their eyes, and when Yang giggled slightly, Blake broke and followed suit, leading to looks of daggers from the two girls.

On the drive home, Weiss was a little less chilly and exchanged a few words with Ruby, to her immense delight. Maybe she isn't so bad after all…

…

"So. Where should we go first?" Ruby said, looking at a map of the campus. They had gone shopping and had deposited the food in their fridge and cabinets, agreeing to sort everything out later. Ruby had picked up a map and was trying to decipher it.

"Where are the eats?" Yang said, looking over her sister's shoulder trying to locate where a place to eat would be located.

"Didn't we just eat?" Weiss said, looking at Yang with a healthy mix of admiration and distaste.

"Hey, a girls gotta know where she can get her fix of things like burgers, pizza, beer. You never know when you'll need it!"

Weiss shook her head. "I want to look at the library first. I heard it's absolutely massive."

Blake nodded her agreement and Ruby frowned, trying to locate it on the map. After about thirty seconds of mulling it over, she shoved the map in Blake's hands. "I give up. You find it."

Blake smiled and rubbed the top of Ruby's head as she took a closer look at the map. "Oh, it's right here." She said, pointing to a place on the map.

"How'd you find it so fast?!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing up to examine the map.

Laughing, Blake, pushed Ruby forward by her shoulders as she started walking. "I'll show you as we walk, it's a ways away. C'mon you two, let's move." Yang and Weiss had been waiting patiently for Ruby and Blake to finish up. Well, Weiss was waiting patiently. Yang was busy punching a tree trunk over and over again, and only heard Blake after she poked the blonde in the back of the head.

Weiss walked a short distance to the side of the three other girls, keeping her distance as she looked around at the campus. Yang had her hands behind her head and walked behind the tangle that was Blake and Ruby.

Blake held the map open in her hands, and Ruby had poked her head under Blakes arm to look at the map while Blake explained how to read it. Blake was slightly weirded out at first, having her arm around a girl a year younger than her, but with Ruby being Ruby, it wasn't long before Blake felt rather nice having Ruby cling onto her as she tried to figure out the map.

"Wait, so what does that symbol mean again?" Ruby asked, jabbing a finger at a random symbol on the map.

"You can figure that out by looking at the legend." Blake explained patiently.

"The what?"

As Blake sighed and restarted her explanation of the layout of a map, Yang walked over to Weiss and tried to talk to her.

"And what do you want?" she said as Yang approached.

"Hey, relax. Not trying to fight here. Just wanted to make some conversation is all." Yang held up her hands in front of her, signaling that she meant no harm. Weiss scowled for a few seconds, then it softened and she sighed.

"Well? Go ahead."

Smiling as she realized she was green lighted to speak, Yang began firing off questions like a toddler who just figured out how to talk.

"Where are you from?"

"My parents are from Germany."

"Were you born there or in America?"

"Here. In Washington."

"Oh cool! So you've lived here your whole life?"

"Yep."

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"Of course."

"…what are they?"

And this continued until Weiss took an abrupt right turn. Yang was about to open her mouth to ask what's up, and then promptly ran into a wall.

"Ow…" she said as she rubbed her head, grimacing.

Weiss turned around and walked over to her. "You okay?"

Yang blinked, surprised to receive sympathy from the Ice Princess. "Um. Yeah. No biggie. Just gonna have a little bump is all."

"I figured someone with such a thick skull wouldn't be bothered by a little wall. Now come on, your sister and Blake are way ahead of us."

It took a few minutes of walking for Yang to realize she'd been insulted again. "Hey!"

…

Weiss was right. The library was huge.

"Wooooow!" Ruby said, detaching herself from a slightly dismayed-looking Blake and running up to the entrance, which towered at about twice her size. "That's a big door."

Weiss walked up and opened the door which opened with a nice sounding creak. The library was already full of people looking around in awe at the sheer size of the place. The other three girls trailed in behind her and looked around in wonder. "You were right Weiss," Blake said quietly. "This place…is big."

"I wonder how many books are even in here." Ruby said, her eyes wide. "There must be thousands."

Weiss smiled at Ruby's expression of pure amazement that a library could be this giant. "Not just thousands. There are multiple floors to this library you know. It isn't just this one. I'd be willing to bet there are hundreds of thousands of books here."

Ruby's jaw dropped as she stared blankly at Weiss, who laughed and poked Ruby's chin, shutting her mouth. "Let me put that back for you."

Giggling, Ruby returned to looking around. "Oh look at that! They have paintings on that wall over there!"

Weiss looked up from browsing a shelf. "Really? Where?"

Ruby grabbed Weiss by the hand and began dragging the girl to where the artwork was hanging. "Over here! Come look, it's really pretty too!"

While Weiss was protesting as to her mode of transportation, Blake and Yang continued to aimlessly browse the books.

As Blake pulled out a leather bound book, Yang appeared behind her and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"Eek!" Blake gave a small scream of surprise and jumped. Yang covered her mouth to contain laughter as Blake blushed and got an angry look on her face. "Don't DO that!"

"You're just like a kitty. Easily startled, and with ears to match!" Yang walked up and scratched Blakes head right behind her headband in between the cat ears.

Blake opened her mouth to yell at Yang, but no words came as she realized she actually enjoyed getting her head scratched like that. Her face got even redder as she realized this fact and she settled for a mumbled "I'm not a kitty…", averting her eyes from looking at the blonde-haired menace in front of her.

"Awww! You totally are." Yang said, wrapping Blake in a hug to her great surprise. But she resigned and hugged Yang back, sighing.

"You really haven't changed at all, huh?" Blake muttered, resting her head on Yang.

"Nope!" Breaking off from Blake, Yang tousled her hair again. "Now where did my sister go? I'm really bored already."

Blake pointed Yang in the right direction, still red in the face. As Yang ran off, Blake sat down on the floor with her back against the bookshelves. What had she gotten herself into?

…

The foursome departed the library with all having a new library card and each having a book or two in tow. At least, except for Weiss who needed a new bag to carry her seven checked out books.

When Ruby had seen her attempting, and failing, to carry the seven big books to the checkout counter she had rushed to help before the books inevitably collapsed along with the girl carrying them.

But, as luck would have it, Weiss took a funny step and tipped over backwards, the books collapsing on the ground around her.

With a very pissed look on her face, Weiss began angrily stacking the books back up. When she reached for her fourth, she realized that Ruby had already stacked the other four books and had begun walking back to the desk, grunting with exertion.

"Weiss, did you have to pick out such heavy ones? These probably weigh as much as I do!"

Flustered, Weiss gathered up the remainder and brought them up. With muttered thanks to Ruby, she put them in her bag and calmly walked out, although with a much more pronounce scowl than earlier.

Blake walked next to Ruby who had become very chatty, as she wanted to learn more about her sister without directly asking her. Seeing as Yang had broken off from the group to go look at a flyer about a kickboxing club, she figured this was a good a time as any.

"So…Ruby.." Blake started, not sure what she wanted to ask first.

"Yeah? What's up Blake?" Ruby said, looking at Blake with a happy gleam in her eyes.

Blake decided to ask the first question that popped into her mind. "Is Yang always so…physical?"

Ruby thought for a minute. "Are you talking about the punching trees or the random hugs and noogies?"

Noogies? What? Blake shook her head to clear it. "Um…both, I guess?"

"Yang was always into martial arts and stuff. She says that being physically active helps clear her head and her system. Especially when she's mad about something. There's a tree in her old backyard that has a huge dent in it, because it was the tree she would always go out to beat up whenever her dad or mom or teachers made her mad about something."

"And the, uh, hugging?" Blake blushed slightly but luckily Ruby didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, we both do that! Although I guess the reason I do it is because of her." Ruby thought for a minute, pursing her lips. "Anyway, I like hugs! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Don't you feel like that when you hug someone?"

"I, uh, guess it depends on who I'm hugging?" Blake said, confused a little. How did she get to this conversation?

"Ohh, I see. So like just friends, or maybe a boyfriend?" Ruby said, a mischievous smile playing on her face.

Blake's face became even redder, and Ruby noticed this time. "A-ha! So, is there someone special we're talking about here?"

"S-shut up! No, we're not! Just…talking in general!" Blake said in a very flustered tone.

Ruby nodded, although it was clear she wasn't going to forget this little conversation. "I've never had a boyfriend." She said suddenly.

Blake blinked. "Really? But…everyone loves you. Surely someone has asked you out before."

Now it was Ruby's turn to go red in the face. "Well, yes….just…not the right someone. You know?"

Nodding, Blake said "I think I do. You mean you just never got the right vibe from someone?"

"Sort of…" Ruby said, biting her lip. "You see, I, uhm…don't really swing that way."

Blake was confused. "Swing? What's that?"

"I mean…I bat for the other team." Ruby was growing redder by the second, and Blake's utter confusion wasn't really helping.

"I'm afraid I don't understand. What does that mean?" The look in her eyes told Ruby that Blake truly didn't really get it, and wasn't just screwing with her.

"…you must have led a really sheltered life, Blake." Ruby commented.

Blake nodded. "Yeah. I never got out much, and my parents were very…uptight. So…I never really got exposed to other kids, and we didn't even have a TV. I learned everything I know from books, mostly."

Ruby felt bad for Blake, and swallowed her pride to explain what she meant…more clearly.

"What I meant Blake is…I'm…ah, well, gay."

Blake stopped walking and her mouth made a small 'o' shape. "You're…gay? Like…you like girls?"

Ruby nodded, still red as a rose. "…yeah. I never really liked boys, and I thought there was something wrong with me till Mom explained. She said she always had an idea ever since I was twelve and never really paid any special attention to boys, but a lot to girls."

Blake nodded slowly as if she understood. "Huh."

Ruby chewed her lip nervously and Blake realized she was waiting to see her reaction, and she was surprised to see a bit of fear in her eyes. She wasn't quite sure what to do, so she just gave Ruby a hug, figuring she'd understand.

A shaky sigh emerged from between Blake's arms, and she knew all was well. "Ruby…I don't really care. That doesn't affect our friendship one bit you know."

"Thanks Blake. That means a lot. I…haven't really told people yet. The only people who knew were Mom and, um, Yang. And now you."

Blake felt a warm feeling in her chest. She wasn't really sure what it was, then she realized she was really, really happy that Ruby trusted her so much even though she barely knew her. Blake smiled and held her close for a few more seconds before letting go.

By that time Weiss had doubled back and was staring at the two with badly-disguised impatience. "Why are you being so slow? I thought we were going to check out the gym! And where's Yang?"

Ruby and Blake shared a look that made Weiss even crazier. "Did I miss something here? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Weiss." Blake said softly, smiling at Ruby. "And Yang is behind us a ways, she wanted to check out a kickboxing flyer. See, here she comes now."

Sure enough, Yang was running back towards them, waving a piece of paper above her head.

Ruby let out a sigh. This day was already turning out pretty crazy. But she didn't care. This was turning out to be a great day, and it wasn't even lunchtime.

"Guys, we're headed to the gym right? You can just leave me there, I'm gonna check this kickboxing club out. It looks awesome!" Yang said, nearly jumping with happiness. "I can meet you guys up for lunch or something, alright? Sound good?"

The three girls nodded and decided they'd eat at the pizza place not far from the gym.

The rest of the day passed by much the same, with Ruby getting lost in the maze of classrooms and having Blake find her wandering out near the opposite end of where they were trying to go. Weiss and Yang had a small argument over pizza toppings, which Ruby and Blake solved by ordering two different pizzas.

And at the end of the day they had all gotten their class schedules, as tomorrow was Monday and classes would be starting.

Ruby flopped down onto her bed in her pajamas, listening to the thud of water as Blake showered. She smiled as she thought of the moment outside the library.

Blake was definitely one of the bestest friends ever. Ruby was looking forward to the rest of college at her side. She was really nice, funny, and trusting. Even if she was a little clueless, Ruby didn't care.

Blake was her new best friend. Flaws and all.

Ruby closed her eyes and began drifting off to sleep as she heard Blake getting out of the shower. She was just about to pass out as she heard Blake sigh. Then she felt her hands as Blake tucked the blankets around her.

"You better not be doing this on purpose you goof. I'm not tucking you in every night." Blake said as she lay back in her own bed. "Night Ruby."

Every night? Ruby wasn't sure what she meant, but she was happy Blake cared. She fell asleep with a smile on her face and happiness in her heart. College was going to be awesome.

Author's Note

Damn. I really can get carried away, can't I? Well, whatever. I like how this turned out.

For any of you wondering, yes, this is going to be the general layout of the story. A LOT of talking. The activities of the girls will be explored a little, but I think it's the conversations they have during whatever happens that matter a lot more than what they're actually doing. Again, if you like it, cool beans, otherwise, well, that sounds a whole lot like a 'you' problem and less like a 'me' problem. I do plan on dialing back a little with the dialogue once the story really gets rolling, but for now, the dialogue is kinda what's moving it forward.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Spike, you said this was a White Rose/Bumblebee fic! What's up with the blatantly obvious Ladybug?" Well dear reader, Ladybug is my second-favorite ship. So while I don't think I'll ever get the two in an official romantic relationship, Ruby and Blake are definitely going to share a very special relationship.

Also, Ruby is the only character (so far) who is comfortable with her sexuality at the moment. Blake is obviously feeling some of those feelings, but has yet to really come to terms with them. As for Yang and Weiss, well, you'll just have to see how they deal with it, won't ya?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the latest installment of Every Rose! Please remember to review, as it really helps me out a lot!

Until next time,

Spike