AN: Hey guys, this is the first story I've made on FF. This was based on the healing prompt for the pretty much dead WhiteKnight Week (may it rest in peace). Hope you enjoy!

Beta: PotatoBlaster

The early morning rays seeped into one of the many Atlas Academy common rooms. Linen drapes covered the frosty window, trying their best to hold in the natural alarm clock, but alas. The soft light made its way onto the couch, tickling the couple currently in slumber.

The boy was the first to wake. Letting out a big yawn, he went to stand only for a weight on his chest to keep him down. He looked down. It was her. His dark blue eyes widened at the sight. Before he could even think of what to do next, he heard the blanket shuffle. Ocean met ice. Both waited for the other to move, to do something.

But neither moved.

Seconds turned to minutes as they gazed at each other. His hands were still holding her sides. Hers were clasped onto the fabric of his hoodie.

"Uhh...," said a flabbergasted Jaune, trying to get something, anything out to break the silence. "Good morning?"

The girl on top kept her face still, before a smile creeped onto it. Then, a short burst of giggling. "Good morning…" She moved a stray strand of hair from her vision, turning her head away shyly, yet never leaving his eyes.

"Sorry…" said Jaune. "I'm just… not good at small talk... I guess." His embarrassed smile seemed to give a bit of confidence to Weiss. "I suppose I'm not the best at it either," she chuckled. She turned her head, facing him fully once again.

Jaune furrowed his brows and made a small grin towards her. "I thought you needed to know these sorts of things, Miss 'Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company'."

This remark earned him a slight punch on his shoulder. "Oh, ha-ha, very funny," Weiss said dryly.

The silence returned, only this time it wasn't as awkward.

Although both felt it, neither said it. This moment between them was electrifying. For the first time in a while, Jaune hadn't felt guilty about Pyrrha, and Weiss didn't feel like she was alone.

It was just them on that couch, in that room.

The victory at Atlas had been their first real victory since Mistral, which had only been five months ago. Leaving Haven, the group detoured to Beacon after Glynda had made contact. It was here they gained the Relic of Choice, but lost the Relic of Knowledge. They soon found themselves in their original destination of Atlas, where they were not only able to save the Relic located at the academy, but also get Weiss her position as Heiress back.

It had been a long night of celebrating. Yang and Neon made quite the partying combo. Flynt provided the music. Nora was able to redeem herself by not spilling punch all over her in front of Ren. All in all, it was a nice night. The first in a while really. After clean up, the two teams and their other companions went off to bed. At least, that had been what was planned.

After twisting and turning for an hour, Jaune sighed and leapt up from his bed. Looking around the room, he saw the dozing faces of his teammates. Even with her mouth open, drool escaping to the covers, Nora looked peaceful. Ren was more organized, ramrod straight with his hands crossed. Quietly shuffling to the door, Jaune made his exit.

Upon entering the hallway, he noticed a light flickering between a multitude of colors from the common room. Guess someone left the TV on, he thought. With nothing better to do, Jaune made his way to the source of the light.

Entering the common room, he noticed Weiss, in her sky colored pajamas, on the couch blankly staring at the television. Milky hands positioned over one another in her lap, as her petite frame was slightly slumped. The headphones on her head were slouched back, like no care was put into them being straightened. Noticing the blonde in the hall, she sat upright, carefully removing the black audio device and looking over in his direction.

"Oh, sorry," he said. "I saw the light and thought someone had left it on. I'll be out of your hair." He turned to go back to his room.

"No," Weiss called out. "Stay. I insist." She motioned to the empty seat beside her. Jaune lets out a small smile before sinking down beside her. The two sat in a calm silence, allowing the screen's light to wash over them in the otherwise dim room.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Jaune asked.

Weiss shook her head. "I suppose not," she said with a little smile before turning back to the now captioned television.

Jaune smiled back, but he could sense that something was wrong. "Hey," he said. "If anything's wrong, you can talk to me about it."

Weiss flashed him a confused look. "Everything's fine Jaune, what are you talking about?"

Jaune crossed his arms before snickering. "You've been training me three times a week since we left Mistral," he said, lifting up his fingers to showcase his point. "Staring at nothing, wanting company only to not talk, changing the way you presented yourself once we made eye contact. I think I know when something's up."

Weiss looked away in silence for a brief moment, before crossing her arms and leaning back into the couch. She let out a tired sigh. "What if it takes over?" she asked. Her eyes shifted, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Jaune sent her a confused look. She let out a groan before continuing.

"The workload Jaune," she explained. "What if work at the SDC takes over and becomes too much? It would mean me staying in Atlas… being left behind."

He'd never seen her so torn. Even after getting speared, she hopped up and acted like nothing happened. Now, her face resembled that of the huntsman they found outside of the destroyed town. He could feel a twinge in his heart. She shouldn't have to think like that, he thought.

Without even thinking, he reached out and took Weiss' hand in his. "We'd never make you feel left behind Weiss," he told, staring directly into her eyes. "Everyone was split up once. We- I, won't allow that to happen. Not again."

Weiss looked down at his hand. "Still though," she tried, "if it becomes too much-"

"It won't," Jaune said firmly, "because you won't allow it to. You're Weiss Schnee. The only thing that could defeat you would be a clone of yourself." He paused. "Or maybe Ruby on a sugar high," he said shuddering. "Nora still has nightmares."

A slight giggling came from his side. Weiss held her free hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the escaping laughs. It was contagious. Before long, both were quietly chuckling in the compacted room.

"I'm happy to see you like this again," Weiss said, looking downward. "Serious Jaune is impressive, but, and I thought I'd never think this, it's nice to have awkward Jaune back from time to time."

"What are you talking about?" Jaune gasped, dramatically placing a hand over his chest. "I'm not awkward. I've always been serious!"

Once again Weiss let out a light chuckle before her eyes fell on their held hands. "How are you," she sighed. "Really?"

The purple of the current TV commercial danced on Jaune's face. "I don't think I'll ever be a hundred percent," he admitted. "I mean, how could I?" A soft smile graced his face. "But, I've accepted that though. She… Pyrrha… wouldn't want me to be like this, and I want to be happy. Plus, as the only Arc boy of the bunch, dad would kill me if I don't continue the lineage."

Weiss let out a snort. "Still…" she said quietly. "I'm glad."

She began to unconsciously run her thumb on the other side of Jaune's hand. He thanked Oum that the commercial dimmed, allowing his deep blush to go unnoticed.

They remained like this until the smaller of the two let out low yawn.

"I guess I should go get some rest…" Weiss hesitated.

Jaune took notice but failed to say anything. He felt the warmth of her hand leave his as she got up and turned to the hallway. She stopped halfway before looking back towards Jaune.

"Thanks for the talk," she said quietly. "It… it helped. More than you know."

Flashing him a genuine smile, she moved back to the dorms.

"You don't have to go!"

Weiss stopped in her tracks.

Jaune slapped his hands over his traitorous mouth.

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap he thought.

"What was that?" asked Weiss, unmoving.

"I- I- uh- um-" Jaune stuttered. "I- I said that- uh, I said… and by that, I did- didn't mean… not that I thought you would ever… um…"

Seconds ticked by in complete silence.

"You know what?" Jaune all but shouted. "Sleep! Sleep sounds good! Yup! In fact, I'm gonna head to my room right now! Goodnight, Wei-!"

Before Jaune could get up from the couch, darkness had consumed him.

So this is what it's like to be dead huh? he thought. It feels somewhat cozy. Kind of warm even… Is this Hell?

The darkness disappeared, revealing that the room was now pitch-black. The only light was from the scroll that Weiss was using, illuminating her blushing face. She set the scroll on the end table behind Jaune and promptly turned the brightness down.

Before Jaune could comprehend what was happening, Weiss hoisted the blanket up (so that was what it was), sliding in so that she was now laying top of Jaune. With her head on his upper chest, she let the blanket fall back down. She was covered from the neck down. Jaune was covered from the torso down.

Weiss moved her arms underneath him, hugging him close. Jaune remained unmoving, worried that the tiniest of actions would send her running. He also felt like fainting. He didn't know if that was from the situation, or from the heat that he felt engulfing his face.

Weiss nuzzled into the fabric of his hoodie. "Goodnight to you too Jaune," she yawned, while letting out a contented sigh.

Jaune tested the waters. Slowly, he brought his hands to her sides. When there was no retaliation, he moved them so he was holding onto her back. Weiss shifted more to accommodate the new embrace. Jaune soon returned to breathing normally, allowing himself to get relaxed.

Once the stigma of Weiss laying on him wore off, Jaune started to become more aware of his surroundings.

The smell of lavender shampoo filled his nose.

He could feel Weiss' chest moving in and out with each tranquil breath.

The sound of her breathing brought him a feeling of relief.

Relief that she wasn't leaving.

Letting out a tired sigh, Jaune tightened his grip around Weiss and let his eyes drift shut. The sound of her light snores filled his ears before sleep overtook him.

Jaune slowly moved his hands up and down, caressing Weiss' back. Her eyes were shut. Her breathing was low and content. She rested her head on top of her crossed arms, using her fingers to trace tiny circles on his chest.

For such an intimate moment, Jaune realized that nothing felt sexual. It hadn't felt normal either. It was just… comforting.

The two stayed like this a while longer before Weiss begrudgingly made an effort to sit upwards. She crawled a bit forward so she could grab the scroll she toyed with last night. Putting in her password, she was met with the LED screen of an alarm clock.

"6:45," she sighed. "Fifteen minutes before the alarm I set goes off. Maybe while we're still ahead of the clock, we should go back to our rooms before our teammates wake up."

Jaune sensed it again.

Hesitation.

"Why would we do that?" he asked. "You said it yourself, we still have fifteen minutes."

Weiss looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before sending a smirk down to Jaune. "It is a bit chilly out," she breathed. "I suppose curling up under the blanket would be the best solution to warm up. Wouldn't want to get sick, now would we?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Sick, huh?" he said. "Didn't you make a big show of how cold weather doesn't affect you when we first got here?"

"Hmpf." Weiss grabbed the blanket and began pulling. Before long, darkness surrounded them, cutting off the outside world. "I was referring to you, lunkhead." Weiss moved up somewhat, burying her head in the crook of Jaune's neck. Jaune moved to rest his head on top of hers.

There was no more talking, no worrying of what was to come out of this. For now, It was just them. The only audible noises being the occasional shifting of bodies, fabric from their clothes being ruffled, and relaxed breathing.

The world they lived in was cruel.

They weren't guaranteed tomorrow.

Neither were their friends.

That's why they could take solace in brief moments like this.

Bundled up under a blanket, on a cold Atlas morning.