"Couldn't sleep?" She asked him, not sure why she was talking to him at all.

"Never can on an empty stomach!" He replied cheerily opening the cupboard door and pulling out a box of cereal with Pyrrha plastered on the front. She wondered how he could be so happy. She had striven her entire life to be the best, and she was miserable. She was afraid and alone, and there he was, perfectly happy. "You?"

"Just can't sleep." She replied. She never could.

"You should try." He said casually.

"You don't think I have?" She sneered. He sat down next to her and poured the cereal, unfazed.

"Not really, you always beat yourself up over little things and ignore those who try to help you. That means you can't sleep, because you're thinking about those little things. And you can't fix anything, because you won't talk to anyone about it."

"I'm not beating myself up over little things now."

"Yeah, you are." He said it so matter of factly she couldn't argue. He was right, after all.

"Well, I'm talking to you now, aren't I? So that's wrong. Besides, I don't tend to talk to people after two in the morning."

"You're just replying, and that's because there normally aren't any people to talk to."

Crunch, crunch.

"So, because you have no one better to talk to, why not talk to me?"

"Because you're being annoying right now." He just shrugged. Despite being the most apparently unconfident, Jaune was surprisingly sure of himself.

"I'm eating. Better than just sitting there staring at a slab of granite."

"..."

"Here," He slid the bowl in front of her and she just stared at the little chocolaty puffballs. "It's good, I promise."

"You should eat something healthy." Weiss reprimanded coldly, pushing the bowl back to him.

"I think you should eat something unhealthy. Indulge yourself a little. C'mon, when's the last time you had chocolate?" Weiss didn't even know. The strict diet she had put herself on provided all the calories and nutrients she needed to survive and stay healthy, but was very bland.

"I have no idea, and I have no reason to. It's unhealthy, and unlike some, I actually have a modicum of respect for my body." Again, he shrugged despite her unkind tone.

"Respect is overrated. If you can't enjoy the smaller things in life, what's the point?"

Crunch. Crunch.

"So, what's on your mind?" The question caught her off guard.

"Nothing that's your business."

"It's two A.M, obviously something's bothering you, and as a gentleman, it is my duty to alleviate any and all suffering you have." Weiss sighed heavily. She thought they were done with the ham-fisted attempts at flirting.

"We're not friends." She pointed out. He looked hurt for a moment. "I know what you want, and I don't like you that way. In any way, really."

Then he laughed. Weiss looked at him, perplexed.

"What?"

"Look, Weiss, I know. You don't want to date me, despite my obvious charm. I think that I pushed a little too hard and we got off on the wrong foot. I get it, and you don't have to worry about me trying to make a move. I'm sorry for the way I acted, really. It obviously made you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry. Maybe we can forget it, and try again. As friends."

The idea was oddly appealing to Weiss, but she was uneasy. It had been easy to dismiss Jaune before as the bumbling fool, someone who just staggered drunkenly after who was arguably the most famous girl in school. The way he was talking now though made it harder to brush him off. It was mature, and a little bit of Weiss called out for a friend. A real friend. For some odd reason, Jaune seemed trusting and open.

"We're not friends." Jaune, for the first time, actually looked defeated by her words. "But," And he perked up at this. "Maybe we can work towards it." He grinned and slid the bowl of cereal over to her.

"Here, have a bite."

She did.

/

"You... Have no idea what you're doing." Weiss threw the sponge she had been using to scrub the pot at the annoying blond-haired moron who had questioned her.

"It's washing dishes. There's no way to not know what I'm doing. You scrub the pot, and it gets clean." She looked at the rice caked to the bottom of the pot. "Eventually," She added. Weiss decided not to cook anything involving rice again when she made the team dinner. Ruby might have the worst ideas in the world, she thought. Getting each member of the team to cook a dinner on a separate night starting in second year was just silly.

"Weiss, my family is pretty big. Between my sisters, my parents, my relatives and I, thanksgivings are a little bit hectic, and there are a lot of dishes to get done."

"You're going to tell me you're an expert on washing dishes?"

"A savant of sorts." He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Weiss had to fight back the urge to face palm.

"Seems a suiting title for you." She sneered instead.

"Oh, you're just upset that you couldn't make the perfect meal."

"The meal is fine. It's just the dishes." She corrected. He held up some not-so-white white rice. It may or may not have been slightly charred.

"The burning smell in the air disagrees."

"Shut it, Arc." She demanded and returned to scrubbing. She heard a heavy sigh beside her.

"Just let it soak."

"That's lazy and unproductive."

"You're wasting twice as much water trying to constantly scrub it out, dumping the water, then starting again. Just let it soak."

"And what? Watch the pot sit?"

Jaune walked up behind her, turned on the tap, grabbed the pot, filled it halfway up with water, then set it beside the sink. He shut off the water, grabbed her by the arms from behind, and steered her towards the island counter of the common area. He pulled out a cutting board, a knife, and then some carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and lettuce from the fridge.

"Because your team actually needs something to eat tonight, you're going to start on the salad. I have no idea why you tried for sushi on your first time cooking, but that's decidedly out at this point."

"No it's-"

"You haven't even cooked the rice yet. I'll start frying some chicken."

"I cooked the rice!"

"You overcooked the rice. Come on, salad."

"You are not seriously ordering me around, are you?"

"Weiss?"

"What!"

"You spent thirty minutes trying to clean that pot. Have you checked the time?"

"Of course I have."

"Really?"

"Maybe."

"That's a no. It's eight o'clock. How much longer do you want to leave Blake stranded with a starving Yang and Ruby?"

"Fine." Weiss growled. She turned to the vegetables in front of her, then down at the knife in her hand. She looked at the lettuce first, then back at the knife. "How the hell do you cut lettuce?" The comment was entirely to herself, and she bit her tongue when she remembered that Jaune was still there.

"You don't have to." Jaune said, stepping up behind her. He carefully lifted the lettuce and ripped off a few leaves. He then ripped them into a few smaller bits, making the leafy, natural looking base for the salad that Weiss was used to.

"Oh," She said, flustered. She could feel the blood flushing her face.

"You've really never cooked before, have you?" He said leaning on the counter next to her. She looked into his blue eyes, a more oceanic shade than her own, then lowered her gaze.

"No," She said, trying to force down the shame.

"What's wrong?" He asked, the intonation showing his genuine care. Weiss was still getting used to them being friends and having him actually give a damn.

"I just... I don't like being reminded of stuff like that."

"That you missed out on as a kid?" For an idiot, he was annoyingly perceptive. She didn't want to answer, so she busied herself ripping up lettuce the way he had shown her. She just kept tearing it into pieces, and then she felt a hand on her own.

"Weiss?" She didn't answer, looking furiously at his hand covering hers. "Maybe don't rip them into a puree." She looked down at the lettuce, and noticed that she had torn the leaves into scraps that looked more like seasoning more than anything. Once again, he was right. That was getting very frustrating. She let out a heavy sigh.

"It's alright." Jaune comforted, pulling his hand away. "I know you've missed out on some stuff, but you have plenty of time to learn." She knew the underlying message that he was so kindly avoiding. To learn to be normal. She wasn't normal, and she hated it.

"Don't you have some chicken to cook?" She snapped at him, and he nodded.

"Right on it captain!" He mocked saluted before going into the fridge. Weiss heard the crinkling of plastic wrap being removed as she methodically shredded the lettuce, followed by sizzling. When she had enough of the greenery, she threw it into a bowl she had pulled from the middle drawer. She then started slicing the tomatoes, pressing down on the sharp blade to cut through them. Annoyingly, it caused a mess of juice to explode from the tomato with a slight squelch and Weiss growled, narrowing her eyes at the antagonistic vegetable. Cooking was damn hard.

"Saw it rather than pressure it." Jaune called over his shoulder. Weiss whipped towards him and flicked the hand holding the knife. It buried into the wall an inch from Jaune's face. He stared at it for a second. "Okay, friendly reminder received."

"Aren't you going to give me back the knife?" It was hardly a question.

"You threw it, you get to grab it." Back home, a servant would have obediently done what she asked. It didn't matter how ridiculous the task Weiss would have demanded, they would do it. It didn't matter how rude she was either. Never did they question, never did they oppose, never were they human.

But this wasn't her home, so Weiss stormed over, grabbed the knife, and slapped the flat of it on Jaune's wrist.

"Ow!" He said, frowning at her in hurt. He reacted. He was human. At home, Weiss was always alone, but here... Well, maybe cooking wasn't so bad.

She continued cutting. The slight sawing did in fact help, though she wouldn't tell Jaune that. Soon she had all the ingredients cut as she heard sizzling behind her and a strong scent wafted over her. She dumped the ingredients into the salad bowl, and then looked at it. She was pretty sure that the ingredients were supposed to be mixed in. She tried using two forks to lift and drop the salad back down, but that just made a messy lump in the middle. Most of the ingredients just ended up in a ball in the centre.

She dumped the bowl back onto the cutting board, then started layering it. Lettuce, then 3 slices of pepper, two tomato, one carrot and three cucumber arrayed perfectly on top. More lettuce, just enough to cover it, and then she repeated the process. She finished as she heard Jaune dump the chicken onto a plate, and looked at the salad disappointedly. It still wasn't really mixed.

"That might be the most organized salad I've ever seen." Jaune was leaning on the opposite side of the island, looking at Weiss.

"It's not right..." She mumbled. It wasn't perfect yet.

"Of course it is." Jaune said with an energetic bump to his voice.

"It doesn't look like a normal salad." She criticized.

"No, it looks like a Weiss salad though, and that's just as good."

She looked at him perplexed.

"Now, your chicken is ready, and your pot is soaked. Here, I'll take care of the dishes. You should really get some food up to your team." He lay a plate down in front of her with heavenly smelling chicken on it. There was some seasoning on top, and she had no idea what it was, but it made her mouth water.

She picked up the plate and grabbed the salad bowl, one in each hand, and started walking towards the door. She paused halfway through it though, and looked back at the blond haired buffoon. He was already scrubbing the pot.

"Jaune," She started and he turned to her. "Thanks," She hoped he knew she meant for more than the chicken. He smiled at her and nodded.

"Any time, Ice Queen." She would have thrown something at him again if her arms hadn't been full.

/

First chapter! Whoo! I've just been writing this in my spare time to get away from some of the other stuff I'm writing which is getting kind of dark. I felt like writing something fluffy, so a little bit of white knight seemed fitting. Updates should be about weekly, but will vary depending on how I have to balance my schedule. Hope you like it so far, and we can look forward to a progressive relationship between Weiss and Jaune.