Maxaro: I/we didn't plan on releasing this fic for awhile, we wanted to come to a certain point in Brotherly love and You're awesome first, but right now I really just feel like this should be released. I only want to note one thing before the chapter itself starts; before you read this, please imagine me standing over you with a hammer in my right hand and a nail in my right. On said hammer the word "Point" is written and on said nail the words "Blake is love starved" are written. Imagine then that I'm putting the nail against your head and then that I begin to hammer away at it. Thank you in advance. Please enjoy the chapter.

Blake Belladonna had not lived the most... prosperous life. She had never known her parents, she never made any real friends growing up at the Signal orphanage, the few foster homes she had lived in showed her anything but love and compassion, and at times she had been treated as nothing better than a slave by her caretakers. She knew why, though. She couldn't ignore it. She was a faunus, and the day faunus were treated like equals by humans again was the day the planet stopped orbiting the sun.

Not even once had she heard the words "I love you" directed at her, and she had come to terms with that they never would. She hated it, but she had no other choice than to accept it. Whenever she thought about how much it hurt, she would merely think about how fortunate she was in the end, in comparison to other faunus at least. There were few of her kind that could even claim they had the chance to obtain higher knowledge by going to college after all.

Even though the college she was attending was not exactly the most esteemed college by any means, it was a college. She was aware of the privilege she had gotten, and how hard she had worked to get where she was. And she did work hard. She had to, about ten times harder than "normal" people in fact. But goddammit she had made it. She had secured a future of her own, no matter how rocky of a future that may be.

She had thought that college would be harder to adjust to, but, fortunately for her, she had a habit of overestimating things and being wrong. Everyone in college seemed to be a lot more chill, in truth ever since she had first got there not a single soul had mocked her for being what she was, and everyone was a lot more accepting of a lot of things. Especially their situations. At least in comparison to what she had had to deal with before. Even still she didn't talk to anyone, unless she had to.

She could blame that on her socially anxious mind. Though her dorm mate would perhaps be eternally grateful for her inability to speak.

Blake honestly had no qualms about sharing a dorm with someone else, she had learned long ago that privacy and space were privileges she, or most faunus for that matter, would never have. She considered living with just one person a massive reward after having lived in the orphanage and been forced to share a room more fit for two with five other people.

'Just make sure you don't draw any attention to yourself or do something stupid and you'll be fine, Blake...' She thought to herself as she made her way closer and closer to where her assigned dorm room was located. She had been at the Beacon co-ed college for almost a week now, but it wasn't until today that she and the other students had been assigned rooms and roommates. 'So far no one has made fun of you, if you're lucky your roommate won't make fun of your either...'

She stopped in front of her dorm room door and took a deep breath, preparing for whatever she found inside, before she opened it up and took a step in. The first thing she had noticed was that the room was quite a bit bigger than she had imagined. Shelves, a bed, a desk, and a dresser had been provided and she noted that the shelves had enough room to fit all the books she had brought with her and then some. The bed was twin sized, large enough maybe to fit two people if they squished together.

Her eyes were drawn to the other side of the room and to a blond mop of hair along with a forehead and a pair of cobalt eyes sprouting over a held up comic book on the bed. Her roommate. He looked to be a tall guy, wearing a grey hoodie perhaps two sizes too big for him with headphones on his head. His side of the room was just as clean as hers, aside from one or two pairs of earbuds, a laptop, and his phone lying haphazardly on his desk. At least, Blake thought, there would be no arguing if she kept to herself.

The boy looked up from his comic book to Blake and offered her a small and hesitant smile, before taking off his headphones and reaching in his pocket the headphone cords led into.

"Oh... oh, hi... you must be my roommate." His voice was unsure. Blake felt that they were going to get along sharing the room just fine.

"Hi..." she answered quietly, not moving from her spot in the doorway just yet. The boy wasn't looking at her ears yet, which she took as a good sign, but she wasn't going to try and interact with him further if she didn't need to. Slowly, she made her way over to her side of the room, gently placing down her smaller bag on her new bed. There wasn't much in it aside from her books and clothes, she would be supplied with a laptop from the school within the coming days, she knew, but other than that and her old phone which was in her pocket she didn't really own anything else.

The sound of something being laid down and the creaking from the springs in her roommate's bed caught Blake's attention and her body unintentionally tensed up. She knew he was standing behind her now, she could feel it, and despite being fine with sharing a room with the guy she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"So... the name's Jaune. Jaune Arc... I guess we'll be living together."

She developed a tight enclosed stance and became tight lipped. She lowered her head to the ground on instinct. It was always like this in conversation. She turned quickly to face him, and felt kind of happy that he was further away than he felt at first. He was extending a hand, but he looked just about the same as her. That is, he looked like he didn't at all want to talk to her, and would have preferred to be left alone to his own devices. But... still, Blake knew that if she didn't at least put some effort into becoming acquaintances, it was going to be rough sailing sharing a room.

"Blake Belladonna," she said meekly, shaking his offered hand and finding herself relishing in the human touch as much as hating it. It was, after all, a luxury she didn't get often, or at all really, but she was happy he merely shook her hand instead of crushing it like so many other would, and had, done. She turned back around after releasing his hand and slowly let out the breath she had been holding in when she heard the springs in his be shift once more.

They had no classes today, something Blake actually disliked. Or, more accurately, she disliked the reason for there being no classes. Now that everyone had gotten their dorms, the headmaster of the school apparently thought it would be a great idea to give the students a day off to get to know each other. Blake was here to learn, for she had learned long ago that her getting a friend that didn't want to hurt or use her in some way was never going to happen, so missing a whole day's worth of classes for something pointless made her annoyed. Had she been someone else she might even have gone to the headmaster to complain, but she would never dare do something like that. It could be considered disrespecting an authority figure, and Blake knew that was grounds for expulsion, especially for a faunus like her.

So, since neither she nor Jaune, thankfully, wanted to use this time to get to know one another, Blake settled for getting some reading done, or maybe begin unpacking later, and just hope tomorrow would give her more chances to learn.

She felt insecurity wash over her as she laid down on her bed. The bed was comfortable, but the atmosphere in the room was the opposite. The awkwardness of the previous exchange just then hit her, and she realized several things. One, she didn't trust her new roommate, two, she didn't know how her new roommate personally felt about faunus, and three, she didn't feel particularly safe with having a guy sleeping in the same room as her...

These were just things she was going to have to deal with it seemed. She spared a small glance back to him secretly; he was nodding his head to his music (some kind of rock music as Blake could hear with her extra sensitive hearing) and reading his comic book with a small smile on his face. He looked peaceful, and she realized he couldn't hurt a fly. Probably. Her third fear was eased at that realization.

Hopefully.

She knew how much abuse some faunus suffered, and she was beyond thankful to any and all gods watching over her that she had yet to be touched in such a way. Sure, she had been beaten many times before coming to Beacon, and, sadly, that was to be expected, but she had never been touched. And she wished, hoped, prayed, and longed for that to remain the case.

She would remain careful, like she always was, but the aura of calmness Jaune seemingly gave off lessened her fear slightly.

She reached over to her bag and unzipped it, withdrawing the first book she found. Ninjas of love 2: A forbidden tale. Her favorite. She had read it what seemed like hundreds of times, but she still enjoyed reading it. It detailed the affair between two lovers from warring kingdoms and Blake couldn't help but draw parallels between the losing kingdom and the faunus.

Sadly, the thought of a human falling in love with a faunus was perhaps one of the most laughable things in the world. Though she did see a few human/faunus relationships here and there. It was always so jarring to see anyone that wasn't a faunus treating them in such an affectionate way. She thought back to just a week before where she saw someone who either wasn't, or was pretending not to be, a faunus, lean in and place the most loving kiss possible on the lips of one, and she had accepted so readily. It seemed that some of them were more forgiving than others.

She shook herself out of her introspection and reached inside the bag again, pulling out her other books. She could feel Jaune's eyes on her, but she didn't turn to meet them. He was probably just curious about her interests and wanted to see what she had brought for entertainment, but she still couldn't help the small bit of fear from bubbling inside of her. She hated feeling so helpless and scared. But it was what she felt most of the time anyway.

"Do... do you want any help unpacking?"

Jaune speaking to her once again felt almost jarring to Blake's ears, but not as jarring as just what he had said. He, a human, had just asked her, a faunus that he had never met before, if she wanted help. And he had done so without any form of malice or condescending tone in his voice. No one had ever asked her that before. Could it be that he hadn't seen her ears? That he thought she was just another human? Why else would he offer to help her?

"W-what...?" Blake whispered shakily, her voice certainly too quiet for a normal human to hear. She didn't dare turn towards him, she didn't want to see the surely cruel smirk on his lips or the disgust in his eyes when he realized she was a faunus.

"I'd be happy to help you unpack, if you want. Got nothing better to do anyways."

"Sure," she agreed quietly, just waiting for him to turn back on his suggestion. She wasn't really one to want the help, but she disliked turning people down. She disliked upsetting anyone. She disliked saying no to people. He heard him shuffle once again, and he appeared by her side and cleared his throat.

"So uh..." He reached over to help her unpack and she flinched at the motion, he seemed startled by this fact and a realization dawned on him it seemed from the way his face went from surprised to understanding. He started again, gently. "Hey, I just want to say, I know you must be very uncomfortable with having me as a roommate instead of another faunus, or, you know, another girl, but I'll generally keep to myself if that's what you want..."

Blake almost wanted to laugh. A dry, bitter, completely humorless laugh. Why should someone care what she wanted? It didn't matter. She was a faunus, her opinion and wants were pointless in the end. One of the most common ways she was taunted when she was younger was when people asked what she wanted and then laughed in her face when she tried to answer. And now Jaune was doing it to her again...

Right?

There was only sincerity in his voice, but he couldn't actually care about what she wanted, could he? He had no reason to, she was just a faunus, he was just good at acting, right? Good at removing all trace of anything other than honest care, right? He couldn't... care, right...?

"Blake, if you don't me asking, you really like reading, right? This school has a massive library, and I can uh, show you around it if you want later. I know each and every section by now." His voice was full of hope, but the one thing she couldn't understand is why? Why is he being so nice to her? Did she luck out? Did she really get a nice, not at all racist guy as a roommate? There was no denying that he saw her ears now with what he said, so perhaps she had...

She would honestly rather stay in the dorm and read than let this stranger show her around the library but... his voice... she really needed to learn how to say no.

In the end, she nodded, feeling a lurching sensation erupt in her stomach at the prospect of having Jaune, an almost stranger to her, guide her to wherever he pleased. He said it was the library, but how could she be sure? He had no reason to actually take her there, after all, no reason to not guide her to some private corner to do unspeakable things to her, right?

Blake's eyes, previously locked on her books, turned to look at Jaune's face. Her breath caught in her throat. He was smiling at her, not darkly or teasingly. His smile held only honesty, only true compassion, something she had never before seen directed at her, and only "light". There was not even a hint of deceit within his cobalt eyes, no malicious intent. His hand was outstretched towards her, but Blake didn't even notice it, her eyes to focused in his own.

"I'm sure we can find you some secluded area where you can read in peace, if you want." His voice was soft, gentle even, and held none of the demeaning tone she was used to.

'He... he's serious... he doesn't have any ulterior motive... he actually cares what I want…?'

"Yeah... Yeah that sounds nice." Still though, she wouldn't let down her guard. She couldn't. It had been up for far too long to just go down because some guy was being nice to her, even if he was the first that didn't have any form of ill intent projected into his actions. Jaune went back to pulling things out of her bag, in total she had brought ten of her favorite books and a few of her favorite outfits. She sold the rest, figuring she could use the extra cash for food and whatnot. "I didn't bring much," she said, hoping to keep up conversation, which came as a surprise to even herself just as much as it did to Jaune.

"Neither did I, just what I wanted to bring, or felt would be useful. You can see everything I have on my shelf." She turned, not being able to help herself. She was naturally curious, which he hated. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. He just had books and a few figurines she figured he painted himself. She didn't feel like she packed too light after seeing that.

She fought herself for a reply, but she could find none. She nodded and went back to unpacking, and feeling her hand brush against against a familiar shaped object, silently cursed, her eyes widening in horror.

She thought she had lost the small plastic egg and dial, thought it was long gone, but finding it in her bag with Jaune right next to her was not how she wanted to find it.

It had helped her through many heat-cycles, helped her gain some form of pleasure in her life, and, had circumstances been different, Blake would have been overjoyed to find the toy. She felt panic grip her heart, Jaune had shown her more care than she could even remember, but she didn't want him to discover something so dirty and embarrassing of hers. It would surely disgust him.

She quickly acted and pulled out the rest of her books, picking up her bag and sliding it under her bed. "Th-thanks... we can head out whenever you're ready." Jaune smiled at her and motioned for her to follow him. She sighed in relief, and followed after him quickly as he left the room. A stray thought that she might never be able to use that thing again now that she had a roommate. She was going to have an even rougher time in life…

XXX

Jaune had lead her, on his word, to the library. It was a large building, entirely independent of the school building. He pushed the door open and held it for her. "Ladies first!"

Blake would have once again questioned just why the hell he kept doing all these things for her, but her attention was completely captured by the enormous hall in front of her. The enormous hall filled with rows upon rows upon rows of packed bookshelves. Had she been able to tear her eyes from the heavenly garden of Eden before her, Blake would have seen Jaune smiling knowingly at her as she took a few small steps forward. She had never seen so many books in one place before, and she could read all of them if she wanted to. She wasn't restricted from entering this library, like she had been whenever she tried to go to one when she was younger, and she didn't even have to pay a lien to read any books here.

"I know a place here where you can be alone." Jaune said, but Blake didn't even hear him. She only vaguely noticed that he took her hand and began leading her towards the back of the utopian hall.

When she became fully aware at what was happening, the first thing she noticed was how his hand was holding hers. It was a firm hold, and his skin was soft. So unlike what she would have guessed. It honestly felt like he moisturized his skin. And maybe he did, he wasn't exactly so masculine now that she got a good look at him. His face was just too... androgynous. Not that that was a very bad thing. It fit him and his voice.

She was enjoying the feeling of her hand in his. She had never been taken by the hand before. Never in her life. It was nice, but oh so different from what was normal in her life.

"So the first stop is probably my favorite section: Fantasy! And to a slightly lesser extent science fiction," he stated loudly. Well, loud enough to be considered loud in a library.

Seeing Jaune smiling as he talked about what books he thought were the most enjoyable reads made Blake feel odd. Her chest felt warm, fluttering in a way, and she had never felt it before. Her hand still in his felt warm too, like she was bathing in the gentle glow of a fire. It felt... nice. She had never seen someone smile in such a way towards her, never felt someone hold her hand in a way that wasn't hurting her in some way, never had someone act so... happy towards her.

She felt like she could trust Jaune. Even if parts of her knew it was far too early to make such a decision and that she still had no idea why he acted like he did towards her, Blake couldn't help herself. It had been years since she last trusted someone, years since someone showed her that they were worthy of her trust, but Jaune acted like no one she had ever met before.

Perhaps, though it was way too early to say, Jaune could become something much mor- 'stop. You're getting ahead of yourself.' And that was true. She was. But again, she couldn't help herself. She had known this man for all of, what, the last half hour? 'Dear god Blake, are you that desperate for any form of affection?' Yes, she decided. She was desperate. And why shouldn't she be? She had lived her life without it. What was hoping that she and this boy became so close that a friendship could bloom when you thought of that? There was no harm in hoping. 'No one has ever looked at me like this… never talked to me like this... he's actually really cute...'

She followed Jaune as he guided her through the next section of shelves, romance novels, apparently, but Blake wasn't really listening once again. Though, this time it was for a completely different reason.

Blake was a love starved person, someone who had never felt affection in any way, and right now her heart and mind were being overloaded. To anyone else Jaune's actions might have merely registered as a small, friendly gesture, but, to Blake, he was bombarding her with care. With compassion. With love.

Even if, deep down inside, she knew there was no real love in his actions, only kindness. Kindness that felt like love only to her. She was getting tired, this was far too much to take in all at once.

"I just figured you might like this section more than the others, seeing as how you had the Ninjas of Love books." The title of her favorite series coming out of Jaune's mouth was what brought Blake back to the world.

"What?"

"The romance section. I figured you'd want to read these books more than anything, so I was just saying, it's next to science non-fiction for some reason." He laughed lightly, making the butterflies in her stomach increase their activity.

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly as she reached out with the hand not in Jaune's grasp and took down a book at random, not even bothering to check the title. "You mentioned there was a place we could go and be alone?"

Jaune smiled at her again, making the warmth in her chest follow the butterflies' example and increase as well, taking down a book a seemingly random as well before leading her towards one of the staircases to the second floor of the building. Blake thought they were going up the stairs, but when Jaune's hand tugged lightly at hers she realized he was actually heading underneath the stairs to a, to her, hidden spot with a comfy looking couch and a Reading lamp set up.

"Welcome to my secret reading place." He said with a flourish, using the hand only holding a book. "I can leave you alone and come and find you later, if you want..."

"No," she exclaimed suddenly, increasing her grip on his hand. "I'd prefer it if you stayed, I kind if want to get to know you more- I mean we are going to be roommates from now on after all..." Jaune chuckled, and pulled her over to the couch.

"Sure. You know, I'm really glad you're friendly. At first I thought you didn't want to be friends."

Blake didn't answer at first, merely settling down next to Jaune and letting her fingers dance over the cover of the book she had picked up. It wasn't that she didn't want friends, but she had learned long ago that no one wanted to be friends with her. No one cared about her, no one ever had, at least until Jaune. She had known this boy for less than an hour and already she had felt more compassion from him than any foster parents or caretakers she had ever lived with. Not once had he even so much as raised his voice at her, and not even her faunus senses could pick up any hint of ill will from him. And she had done nothing to deserve such a treatment. Even with the people she had once considered somewhat friendly she had still needed to do something for them to actually have them act at all nice to her, or nice by her standards at least. But Jaune had helped her unpack, he had showed her the way to the library, he had helped her find books that he thought she would like, and all while giving off an aura that Blake could only describe as caring and safe. He had yet to ask anything in return for the things he had done for her.

Jaune was flipping her entire world upside down…

"I do. Let's just say I'm a very reclusive person. I wouldn't have felt bad if we didn't get roommates. I'm just a really... socially withdrawn person," she finally replied. Jaune nodded in understanding. It was so odd holding a conversation... 'Blake, just don't ruin this... when will you have a chance to have a friend like him ever again...?' She thought.

"That's understandable, I'm a bit of an introverted person myself. I already have too many friends here, but I think you all are enough for me. To tell you the truth I don't hang out with them as often as I should, but they don't seem to mind. So if you stay in the dorm a lot we might have a lot of opportunities to become best friends," he laughed. The sound of his laugh was music to Blake's ears, because she knew he wasn't laughing at her.

She couldn't, and didn't, fight back the smile breaking out on her face. It was the first real smile she had smiled in what felt like forever. She wanted to hold Jaune's hand again, the comfort that the simple action had brought was something she never wanted to lose, even if her exposure to the act itself had been brief. She debated opening up her book for a moment, but she didn't. She suspected Jaune wanted to talk more and she didn't want to appear rude, she didn't want him to leave...

'I have someone who wants to be my friend...' she thought as she glanced up at Jaune's still smiling face. 'I have a real friend... like the ones humans talk about... Jaune is my friend...'

Jaune smiled back at her. "You have a nice smile, it's really great." That simple compliment made her pause, she didn't really know how to perceive such a thing. Her smile? Was he being serious? Her face had always been so flat to her. She never really showed that much emotion, but being around Jaune made her happy. For once she was given a reason to be.

She blushed and looked down at her book. "Thanks... that means a lot to me." 'More than you could ever realize.'

From the corner of her eye Blake saw Jaune open up his own book and she watched his deep cobalt eyes move over the text on the page as he began to read. She followed his example and opened her own book, though she didn't actually start reading. She merely watched as Jaune read instead, taking in his features. He was certainly no man's man, but Blake still couldn't deny that she did find him quite handsome, nor did she really want to deny it. What her gaze couldn't seem to leave, though, were his eyes. They were like a pair of bottomless sapphire wells and she didn't doubt she could, and would, become lost within them if she looked into them for too long.

'Should I tell him I think he has pretty eyes...? He did compliment me... or is that too far...' her thoughts were interrupted as her ears caught the sound of someone making their way towards the stairs they were seated under. Someone big if the sound of their footsteps was anything to go by.

Jaune seemed to have heard it too, because he put his book down frantically and looked over at her. He blushed a small bit seeing that she was staring at him so hard, but brushed away. "You should head back to our dorm..." he said, quietly. "I can catch up with you later, but it's probably not a good idea to be here right now..."

Blake sensed the sudden change in his demeanor, and it confused her. He seemed terrified now. "Why?" Part of her felt like it was her fault, but she knew it wasn't as soon as she heard his voice.

"Oh Jaune-y, you're not hiding from me again, are you?" A somewhat deep voice called out.

"Because him..." Jaune said, sending her the biggest apologetic look in history.

From around the corner to their little hideaway came a hulking brute of a boy and Blake felt the urge to just crawl up and disappear. She didn't know the guy's name, but she recognized him. She had caught glimpses of him in classes and during the lunchbreaks, and every pour of Blake's being screamed at her to follow Jaune's advice as if it was an order. The brute was a cruel person, that much she knew, each time she had spotted him he was always tormenting someone, more often than not a faunus someone. Blake had never wanted to meet this person, and it seemed Jaune had the same idea as he positioned himself in front of her, making her, if only, slightly harder to spot.

"There you are, Jaune. I've been looking all over for you." The brute's voice was so disgustingly sweetly false it made Blake's ears want to curl up.

"Cardin," Jaune bit out as he further tried to obscure Cardin's view of Blake, but he knew by the grin on his face that he had surely noticed her. "What do you want?"

"Oh nothing much, I was just wondering how my best buddy was feeling, but then I noticed something interesting. You, Jaune worthless Arc, walking around with a babe in the library, hand in hand, and not just any kind of babe; a faunus babe." Cardin began, sending a look towards Blake that made her shiver from the pure disgust within it. "I want to say I didn't peg you as a filthy animal fucker, Jaune-y, but, honestly, they're probably the only ones willing to suck that pathetic dick of yours-"

"Shut up." Cardin was surprised by his simple retort, and so was Blake. "I mean... don't call her that, it's not cool..." Cardin smiled a toothy grin, and Blake felt like the right of it was going to make her sick because she knew what was coming next. Anyone with a brain knew. Why was he doing this? She could take the abuse, she had for years! He, on the other hand, didn't need to get involved, but he was...

'For me...?'

"Call her what, Jaune? An animal? But that's what she is, just look at her ears. A filthy animal. You got a thing for filthy animals, Jaune?" He laughed, and Jaune stood fast.

"She's not an animal, Cardin. You ar-!" Blake winced as Jaune took a punch to the gut. She screamed in her mind as he was thrown to the ground and then kicked in the same spot he was punched. But she remained silent and Cardin suddenly forgot she was there, or at least it seemed like it.

"Never," kick, "Compare me," kick, "To those," kick, "Filthy," kick, "Fucking," kick kick, "Animals," kick, kick, kick, "Again!" Cardin roared as he placed his foot hard into Jaune's stomach one last time and took a deep breath before looking down at the now squirming mess of Jaune on the ground. "Or next time, I'm coming for her. You're just lucky you're a satisfying punching bag..."

Jaune clutched at his aching stomach, feeling blood and bile rise in his throat, but he still grinned weakly as he heard Cardin's footsteps get further and further away. He made no attempt to get up off the floor, the pain in his abdomen being too much for him to fight through, but still he grinned. He was fine with taking a few beatings, breaking a few bones even, as long as it meant Cardin went after him instead of his friends.

Blake sat still as a statue in her seat, her eyes locked on Jaune's now coughing form. She saw a glob of blood fly out of his mouth and all she could think of was how the universe had to hate her. Here she had found the most compassionate and caring person in all her life, and now he would never want to speak to her again, just because she was a faunus. He got beaten up, and it was all her fault. Had she just declined Jaune's offer to go to the library this would never have happened. Had she just let him go when he asked if she wanted to be alone Cardin would never have found them together. She would have been the one who was beaten, not Jaune…

"B-Blake…?" He coughed out. Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp. She fell down to the floor next to him, worried whether he was going to be okay or not. "I think I'm gonna need some help getting to the dorm..." he laughed, and it sounded so rattled that Blake felt an intense amount of sadness go through her heart. He was beaten up because of her, and he was still acting friendly, he was trusting her for help. "I'm really sorry that had to happen," he said weakly as she helped him to his feet and placed his arm around her shoulders. "That guy has it out for me, but he would have hurt you if I didn't step in. I'm really sorry I'm so weak," he said in a small voice.

Blake was unsure of what to say to him, but she knew she had to say something. Saying nothing was unacceptable here.

"You... you protected me..." she whispered, the feeling of Jaune touching her so much making the warmth she had felt before come back and multiply tenfold.

"It wasn't as much me protecting you from him as it was me distracting him from you..." Jaune laughed quietly and Blake could feel her heart clench in her chest.

'You're not weak, you're the strongest being I've ever seen. You stood up for me, you protected me... thank you, Jaune.' Was what Blake wanted to say, but she couldn't get it out. She couldn't get anything out. Jaune had protected her, sacrificed his own well being for her, a filthy animal. She didn't know how to react. The words she wanted to say remained as thoughts, but eventually she was able to get something out.

"W-why...?"

"You're my friend." He answered without hesitation. Was that really the answer...? Blake shivered. She didn't want friendship with her to be so hard, or painful.

It took a while for them to get to the dorm but thankfully no one stopped them on the way so they made it there quicker than they would have otherwise. Blake sighed as she laid Jaune down on her bed. Hers only because it was closer to the door. Jaune smiled as he coughed up even more blood.

"I think I need to go get some help..." Jaune nodded and got a bit more comfortable. "Who should I get?"

"Get Goodwitch... I'll be fine here." She sent him a skeptical look. "I promise, Blake." He reached out for her hand and she took his, her entire body warming from the contact.

She didn't want to let go off him now. She wanted to keep the comforting warmth his touch created forever. But she knew she had to, she had to get him help. "I... I'll be back as soon as I can... and Jaune... thank you for protecting me..." Blake never saw the reaction of her words as she stepped out the door, her heart beating like mad in her chest and Jaune's lingering warmth on her fingertips.

She wanted time to think, to sort out all her feelings and thoughts, but she knew that would have to wait. Making sure Jaune would be fine was her one and only priority at the moment, anything else would have to be pushed to the side.

XXX

Tracking down Goodwitch hadn't been hard for Blake, and called down a medical team to help. Luckily Jaune wasn't as seriously injured as Blake had thought. The internal bleeding had stopped they said, and now she had the job of watching over him as he recuperated from his injuries. They hadn't moved him for fear of worsening anything... so she was trying to sleep on his bed. Emphasis on trying. Thoughts ran rampant in her mind, mainly how weird her first day with a roommate had been.

'A roommate... and friend...' her mind almost scolded her. Yes, Jaune was her friend now, and she would never forget that. He had gotten injured for her, stood up for her... Blake doubted she had even met a person who had so much as thought about defending her without some form of reward... but Jaune was different. 'You need to be careful, Blake. You can't lose someone like him, someone that actually cares for you...'

She turned to look over at her bed where Jaune was sleeping soundly and just letting her gaze wander over him made the warming comfort sprout within her. She wanted to go over to him. She wanted to hold his hand in hers so that more of the warmth would spread throughout her body.

There were so many things that felt okay now. She was in college, she had a friend, her own personal health was fine as far as she knew... she would be able to live a decent life so long as she stayed away from danger. She felt more fortunate than she had in a long time. Maybe soon she could find someone else to be her friend, maybe potentially... a lover...?

Those were far away thoughts though. She just needed to focus on two things now. Jaune, and her education. That was all that mattered.

Jaune was perhaps the main focus to her at that moment though. His friendship came fast, and it crashed into her hard. It may have been sudden, but it left such a big impact on her. She was one to go with the flow, after all. She just needed to make sure that Jaune stayed healthy too now. She shifted to get more comfortable, but paused briefly as her heightened sense of smell picked up on something intense.

Jaune cologne, and his shampoo... and his natural scent. She remembered once again that she wasn't on her bed. Jaune's scent was nice. She felt the urge to rub herself into the bed and get some of it on her so she would smell like him in the morning. Well to herself anyway. No one else would notice... she blushed as she realized fully what she was thinking of doing.

She shook her head wildly to chase the almost lewd thoughts away before realizing something. Jaune wouldn't be able to attend class the next day, he still needed to heal by resting.

'It's my fault he got hurt in the first place... I need to make sure he gets better... I need to thank him properly...' Blake had never been one to skip out on classes, she hadn't been able to afford it, but right now she cared more about making sure Jaune recovered fully... and it would give them more time to talk.

If only she could sleep. She tried to calm herself down from the events of the day and did some breathing exercises she remembered she had read online until she felt herself drift off.

XXX

When Blake awoke the next morning, she got up with a start, suddenly panicking as she remembered that Jaune couldn't do anything without her. She looked over at Jaune, who was still sleeping peacefully, and then to the clock, which told her it was only 7 O'clock in the morning.

She rubbed her eyes and got out of the bed, deciding to do something productive instead of heading back to sleep. 'Maybe Jaune would appreciate some breakfast...' she thought, her stomach rumbling and letting her know that it would appreciate some too. She hadn't really had a chance to eat yesterday…

She knew there were no classes that started before 9 AM so she hoped that the cafeteria wouldn't been too crowded. Freshening up could wait, she decided, throwing on some baggy sweat pants and shirt over her sleeping wear before heading out to get some food for her and Jaune.

Maxaro: Please, please leave a review. At the moment I'm feeling really stressed out because of some real life things and hearing you guys/gals/whatevers' opinion would really help.