BOOP.

At the request of a friend w/o an ff-net account, here's a Nora x Ren light one-shot.

Might be a collection of these, who knows.

Other fics are on hold briefly as school sucks the life out of my soul.

CUE THE HAPPINESS. ^^ Not very 'exciting' but rather fluffy.

Kind of like cotton candy.

-Skij

Microwave Countdown

"Reeeeeeeeeeeen?" Nora's voice sang and startled Ren out of his trance-like state from playing Grimm Tower Defense 5.

A cough sounded alongside the tell-tale click of Ren's scroll locking.

I really wanted to finish that level by tonight. Damn.

"Yes, Nora?" Ren glanced over at Nora failing to immerse herself in her Grimm Biology textbook.

'Of course I don't read the textbook, Ren. Why do that when I can learn all of this when I smash one to bits?' was the reason Ren had received as to why Nora had almost failed the first test this year. Ren would admit, he hadn't gotten a perfect score and was mildly surprised when the results came back; it looked like studying would benefit the both of them for the apparently tougher school year.

You'd think that a combat-oriented school would have more courses available for training than just "Sparring" with Professor Goodwitch as instructor. Yeesh.

"Can you make some popcorn?" Ren chuckled as he slid his scroll into the pocket of his white pants; his trademark green and black jacket resting on its hook on the door separating their room from Jaune and Pyrrha's. Being second years got them a slightly nicer dorm, complete with a dust-powered TV and mini kitchen in each section. The kitchen was inbetween their bed and the door with the stove, oven and fridge being on one side and the sink, dishwasher and a bar-like counter being on the other. The flooring changed from carpet to wood as Ren made his way into the kitchen, his head turning as a textbook slamming shut sounded from Nora's general direction.

"And some toast with peanut butter?" Ren reached up and slipped on his "cooker's hat" as Nora had sleepily dubbed it one morning and got to work calmly tearing apart the plastic of the Schnee Dust Company popcorn Weiss had managed to hook the teams up with.

Should a company that manufactures explosive products be trusted with popcorn? Probably not.

The packaging noted a cooking time of three minutes but Ren chose to click 2:22 and gently closed the microwave door. Their other teamates were probably asleep already; the brunette figured Nora would find a way to wake them up anyways but it didn't hurt to try.

The microwave ticked down to 2:05 as Ren spun on his right heel to access the left-most cabinet, pulling it open as he flicked the silverware drawer open, simultaneously grabbing a butter knife and the bread from their resting places and gently tapping each shut with an elbow and hip each.

Clapping sounded from behind him; the teen spun completely around to find Nora perched on the edge of their king-sized bed and her copy of Grimmology abandoned on the floor.

Sighing, Ren allowed a slight smirk before noticing the microwave's whirring; the teen threw the knife upwards and turned as he moved his second hand to the bread, undoing the plastic knot and pulling two pieces out while ignoring the end piece with practiced ease. Balancing the two pieces in his right hand, Ren slid the bread across the counter with his left as the knife began its descent.

The microwave read 1:34 as the magenta-streaked teen slipped each piece of pre-toast into their own slot and pushed down on the lever as he knelt down to catch the knife before it hit the ground.

"Ooooooooh. I haven't seen that trick before, Renny."

"That's because I haven't done it before, Nora."

"Ooooooooh. What's the special occasion? Did I forget something important?" Mirth bubbled up through Ren's throat as a light chuckle escaped.

"No, Nora. I just wanted to have a little fun."

"Ooooooooh. Okay. It was cool." Ren nodded as he walked over to the bread's final resting place and tied the knot swiftly, depositing it back into the cabinet while grabbing the peanut butter from its adjacent location.

The ticking brought the timer down to 1:05 as Ren undid the top with his left hand, slipping the knife into the creamy, light-brown homogenous mixture and moving on to a bowl for the popcorn with his right.

"Nora."

"Hmm?"

"You know that we have to at least read a chapter before we sleep, right?"

Exaggerated groaning played a brief bassline for the toaster's staccato springing; Ren deftly caught them both as he set the large bowl on top of the cold, deactivated stovetop; its smaller, more efficient counterpart ticked down towards 42 seconds.

"Right?"

"Fine."

Ren removed the bluntly-edged stick from the peanut butter as he set to work evenly smoothing each piece, a quarter being covered every four seconds.

"Nora, be a dear and grab a couple plates for us, would you?"

A blur of pink flashed by and as Ren completed the final square, the microwave began its final countdown from 10. Moving swiftly, Ren set a piece of toast down on each plate before opening the microwave at 1 second.

Phew.

Deftly pulling from opposite corners, Ren poured the popcorn into Nora's favorite bowl: hot pink with brown sloths covering the sides. With the packaging in the trash and two water bottles grabbed off of the counter, Nora and Ren's late night meal was complete and ready.

Ren settled for placing his meager share of popcorn in the center of the toast, creating a sandwich of crunchy, smooth goodness while Nora aggressively attacked her portions. Mid-chew, Nora's thoughts manifested themselves into jumbled jargon as Ren inclined his head patiently.

"Rffgfgfn?"
"Yes, Nora?"

"Hffgffgaai dfoo fyou nfgfgft hfff a schffrt?"

"Nora. We both know why I don't have a shirt on." Ren had long since given up on staying decently clothed in the dorms; ever since the second day of the new year, Ren's shirts would go missing between his entry and departure of the shower stall. He still had no idea how she did it, but every time the faintest creak would be heard and magically, the room would be missing a shirt.

He'd even tried bringing two shirts into the bathroom once, only to find them both missing and replaced with a note stamped with a sloth. That had been the last time he had donned a shirt in their shared dorm in a long time.

"Also, don't talk with your mouth full, Nora." The pink girl raised an eyebrow before gulping, only to shove the rest of her food into her mouth and give Ren a thumbs up with a grin. Frowning, the magenta-eyed teen ate half of the make-shift sandwich in silence before offering his partner the other half. Delighted met slightly amused as the most sacred exchange of all occured before four eyes; the exchange of food.

"And don't think I've forgotten that we have to study tonight." A pained groan sounded through popcorn and peanut butter.

"Rffgn. Dfoo vfhee hfff to?" Punctuated by a mouth slightly full of food, Nora's face grew more and more pout-like before Ren sighed and picked up the dishes.

"Finish the bottle of water and I'll read the introduction to the second chapter, at least."

"...and that's why Grimm disentegrate after death." Silence answered Ren's closing of the textbook.

She's been asleep ever since the first sentence, really.

I should probably get some sleep too. But…

Ren slid the textbook into a bedside shelf and flicked the lightswitch at the edge of the bed.

I wonder if people think that we're… a thing. Are we? Do I want us to be? Does Nor- you know, there's no use worrying.

Ren rolled under the remainder of covers left unsquandered by his partner; naturally, her normal reflex was to arch herself into his body.

Even when Ozpin stopped by and noticed the lack of a second bed… he didn't say anything.

Ah, dust.

Ren reached over to allow an arm to embrace the smaller girl's waste, the other threading under the pillow closer to their shoulders.

Funny. She's not snoring tonight… Was she really more bored than tired?

A hand clasped each of Ren's in turn and two sea-green eyes suddenly stared deep into Ren's own as the pair's noses briefly touched.

"Boop." Nora rolled back over and promptly began to snore, leaving their hands intertwined and the bed a perfect image of a loving embrace.

Ren smiled and allowed himself to drift off into sleep.

Boop. THE END.

I'm trying to come back to writing but it's like 4 in the morning and I can't be doing this on weekdays.

WTB time compressor on a broke student budget; anyone got any recommendations?

-Skij