The tall man sat in the edge of his bed, eyes closed and legs crossed deep in thoought. As per usual on a Sunday Coco decided to go shopping and today she had dragged Fox out to carry her various purchases, a rare occurrence as Yatsuhashi would usually be the one forced to carry the massive bulk of clothing. But not today, today the team's leader had decided that the bunny and the giant needed a bonding session of sorts. Neither of them knew why their teamwork was great, Yatsuhashi's size counter balancing that of the far lighter Velvet allowing for him to take the brunt of many attacks or her, but seeing as their leader had decided this they decided to spend the rare occurrence resting in their room.

Velvet was on the bed across from him, tinkering with her box, occasionally looking up at the peaceful man. Ever since they first became partners most of their exchanges had been brief, usually just a "Hello" an "Are you okay?" or the occasional "Don't worry", but the faunus girl had come to trust the man, in fact he was the first human she had ever truly trusted that including the teachers (who she had quickly warmed up to). As a result the bunny girl was rather paranoid about the fairly quiet man's emotions toward her. Was he only with her because she was his team mate? Did the he secretly hate faunus alike so many others? She had to know.

"This is nice" she commented looking up from her work.

He smiled and nodded, eyes still closed, he too was enjoying the calm atmosphere.

"Listen, we're friends, right?" she asked.

"Yes" he simply replied.

"You and I, a human and a faunus" she clarified.

"I don't see how that makes any difference" he responded, looking her in the eyes.

"It's doesn't it's just that… most other big guys seem to well… try to oppress me" she sadly responded, ears drooping.

"I'm not Cardin" he replied, a serious look on his face and tone in his voice.

"I know that but-

The tall man stood up, walked over, and sat beside her placing a hand on her far shoulder.

"I'm not Cardin. I'm your team mate I'll always be there or you and if for some strange reason I'm not just call and I'll try to be there" he told her, "I hope that I can rely on you to. You have no reason to fear me Velvet, I'm your friend and I always will be. If anyone wrongs you I will fight them. You are too kind a person to be deserving of the pain you've endured, I don't like to see my friends sad."

Velvet blinked, "I think that's the most you've ever said to me."

"I only like to speak when something needs said" Yatsuhashi replied.

"You're great Yatsu" she happily responded, resting her head against his shoulder and returning to her work.

Little did she realise her ears were rubbing against his face. Had this been Coco or Fox they would have either moved or informed Velvet of the predicament however Yatsuhashi found himself in a rather… unique predicament.

"He…He He He."

Velvet's ear twitched.

"He he ha."

She looked up at him, her ears rubbing across his face as she did so.

"He he ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha, hua hua ha ha."

His deep laughter filled the room as Velvet twisted and turned, looking to see just what was so funny, making the usually quiet man laugh even louder. The faunus realised what she was doing and blushed, surprised by the man's out of character ticklish-ness. A cunning thought crossed her mind, she knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help herself. She continued to tickle the poor man with her ears.

"HUA HUA HE HA HUA HUA HUA HA HA HA HUA HA HUA HA HA HA!"

Yatsuhashi fell back, accidently dragging Velvet with him. She landed on top of him, her box landing to her right its parts fortunately remaining inside.

"I didn't know you were ticklish" Velvet couldn't help but smile.

The stoic man didn't really know how to react to this scenario, he just attempted to catch his breath in response.

"I should do that more often" the bunny girl laughed.

He still didn't know how to respond, just kind of shrugging an ambiguously grunting.

Velvet clambered up is body so that she was face to face with the currently embarrassed friend.

"Thank you Yatsu" she smiled.

"For what?" he asked, regaining his composure.

"For helping me trust humans" she happily replied.

"It's my pleasure" he smiled.

"I couldn't ask for a better partner" she smiled, for once looking down at him.

"Ditto" he closed his eyes, relaxed.

Velvet realised how close they were and quickly turned red, her ears pricking up. She was just a few inches from his face, she'd never had this experience with a boy let alone a human one. And yet she felt that this was right, that she trusted Yatsuhashi more than she'd trusted anyone before, and maybe over time their friendship could evolve into something mo-

The door suddenly flew open and Coco rushed into the room, followed by Fox.

"There have been reports of terrifying loud noises coming from this room, what is going-

Coco froze upon realising what was in front of her. Velvet was straddling Yatsuhashi, her head lowered to his. Upon hearing the door open Velvet quickly turned, acing the team's leader. Coco lowered her sunglasses then raised them again then lowered them again. She grabbed Fox's hand, he was still gripping several heavy bags, and quickly led him out the room. Not even Coco queen of sass and stating her opinion knew how to respond to this. She would spend the next few hours preparing her response. But on her way down the hall she did inform everyone that things were "As they should be and to keep their noses out other's affairs."

Velvet quickly hopped of Yatsuhashi as he sat up, he hadn't really paid much attention to Coco and Fox's intrusion but had gotten the gist of it. Velvet on the other hand having heard and observed the whole exchange and was now extremely embarrassed. From that angle it probably looked like they were about to kiss or even-

Realising quite how flustered Velvet was Yatsuhashi pulled her into a hug, he couldn't help smiling. She soon returned the hug, her ears flopping down so as to not start another round of laughter.

"I'm glad we're partners Yatsu" she mumbled into his chest.

He rested his head atop hers in a calming response "I am to."

A few hours later Coco and Fox finally, Fox's arms even fuller than they were before if that was even possible (It almost looked like he was going to collapse and die). But Coco had finally found her words and come to a decision,

"If you two ever need to have another "bonding session" then just let me know in advance."