Monday mornings were the worst. The absolute worst.

Having had little sleep during the weekend due to her constant thoughts on a certain heiress and her late night activities, Ruby Rose had finally joined the ever growing mass of people who dreaded Monday mornings.

Ironically, she had been quite the morning person prior to all of this.

Ruby slumped forward in her chair as a steady stream of students chattered loudly while walking into Professor Peach's first period Chemistry class, silver eyes drowsy with sleep. Maybe Yang was right when she said going out every night wasn't the best idea. It was of no surprise that the redhead still wasn't used to the late nights and early mornings her new schedule demanded. Other than Weiss' thug problem, she hadn't really encountered any baddies during her late night runs as a new superhero. There were an alarmingly large amount of stray cats stuck atop trees and little old ladies that needed help, however.

Ruby frowned, not knowing how to feel about that.

She liked helping those stray kittens and the elderly, but…did that mean she wasn't looking in the right spots for crime? A superhero had to stop bad people from doing bad things, after all. That and keep their identities a secret… which she had already failed at.

Yeah. She was still patting herself on the back for that one.

Ruby needed to talk to Weiss about what had happened on Friday night as soon as possible. How she'd do that in a room filled with thirty students or so… the redhead didn't know. Maybe she should invite Weiss over to her home? Would the heiress even agree to talk to her after what had happened? It wasn't as if Weiss had reacted badly, from what she had gathered. If anything, Ruby thought she looked more irritated at having had her evening ruined by wannabe kidnappers than having been carried through Vale by her dorky cloak wearing lab partner.

Not that her costume was dorky, or anything… she wore a cloak and a mask! That was the epitome of a cool superhero!

…but maybe Weiss didn't think so?

Oh god, what if she had seemed even more like a dork than usual, even by her standards? What if the heiress decided she wasn't worth her time and decided to ignore Ruby for the rest of the school year? What if Weiss hated her for… for acting 'uncouth' and – accidentally – touching her thighs?

A voice in the back of her mind sounded quite bewildered as it questioned her priorities for being far more afraid of the pale heiress hating her rather than fearing for her identity's secret.

Clearly, Ruby reasoned, the voice didn't understand the paramount weight of having one's crushing hating them, so the voice should kindly buzz off and let her panic in peace.

Right.

Back to panicking about Weiss.

Maybe she should just flee the country like Yang suggested? She could still help people in different ways... she didn't necessarily have to be a superhero to do that.

Ruby groaned before burrowing her head in her arms, shoulders slumping. "I could always try opening my own delivery gig. Ruby Rose's delivery service, fastest delivery guaranteed," she muttered to herself.

"In that case, you can perform your first delivery by handing me the rough draft of the paper we agreed upon." A voice beside her suddenly said, jolting Ruby from her slouched position on her desk.

Ruby turned in her seat to face Weiss who was now settling into the seat beside her. Like usual, the girl made sitting down and taking out her books look elegant and proper. Which Ruby thought was totally unfair. Not only did the heiress look like a princess, but she had to move like one too? The part of Ruby that had adored fairytales and fantasy books since she was a child couldn't help but be enchanted as she stared, wondering not for the first time how someone could be so… well, pretty.

…she probably had a dumb look on her face, didn't she?

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her silent staring, most likely waiting for her response.

"…r-right!" Ruby quickly reached for her book bag, trying to ignore the heat she felt in her cheeks. She dug around the mess of school supplies for the binder she kept for this class. Somehow, she had a feeling Weiss wouldn't appreciate a crumbled piece of paper with hot chocolate stains on it for a report even if it was a rough draft.

Not that all of her papers had hot chocolate stains on them. Just… some. Yang's special cinnamon hot chocolate was really hard to refuse, after all.

The redhead pulled out the rough draft she had written sometime during the weekend. Definitely not her best work, but considering the events she had gone through, Ruby believed she could cut herself some slack. That, and at this point, all she cared about was making sure Weiss didn't think she was a lab experiment gone wrong and maybe sleep in for a day or two.

"Uh, there might be some mistakes, but here you go…" She turned to offer it to Weiss and trailed of when she noticed the pale haired girl looking at her intently with sharp blue eyes that trailed over her form, not unlike how Yang had done when Ruby had finally returned home that night.

Ruby blinked.

Was Weiss… checking on her to see if she was injured…?

Ruby didn't get to ponder more on that thought as the heiress nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with what she saw before reaching out to take the papers from Ruby's hands, slender fingertips brushing against her own.

And.

Well.

…it was really hard to concentrate on any form of thought after that.

"Well, you certainly did deliver." Weiss said as she read over the rough draft all the while Ruby tried to somehow get her brain to function.

"Y-Yeah. That's… Ruby Rose's delivery service for you. Fastest delivery guaranteed!" The redhead blurted out, not knowing how else to respond. She had honestly expected Weiss to find some faults with the paper, the heiress' need for perfection in school work positively legendary. However, the pale haired girl only raised an eyebrow at her statement before putting the rough draft into her own binder, a hint of a smile gracing her lips.

Not that Ruby noticed that last part. No, she was too busy being mortified as she realized what she had said.

God, was it even possible for her to be normal in front of Weiss Schnee?

Ruby sighed at that depressing thought, already knowing the answer. She steeled herself for the topic she would be bringing up, deciding it was now or never to talk to the girl.

"Listen, Weiss… about Friday night-" Ruby didn't get to finish as Weiss pressed a slender finger to her lips, shushing her quietly while pointedly looking around the room with her eyes as if to remind Ruby exactly where they were.

"Might I suggest you not blurt out things you'd like kept secret in a room full of students?" Weiss murmured quietly so only the two of them could hear. "We'll discuss things properly after class." She said before pulling her hand back calmly, as if she hadn't completely short-circuited Ruby with that one move.

Ruby barely heard what her lab partner had said; too busy trying to remember how to do a simple, everyday function like breathing. Because having air in her lungs was sort of important. And she was like, ninety-five percent sure she needed it to live.

Maybe ninety-seven…? That sounded about right.

But really, Weiss' action had certainly caught the redhead by surprise. And now that she was slowly getting oxygen back into her bloodstream, Ruby finally took notice that they certainly weren't alone in the room. Luckily, most of the students were too busy talking to their peers about what they did on the weekend to pay too much attention to them. A few eyebrows were raised, however. There would certainly be some rumors about them flying around, Ruby was sure. As the heiress to a multibillion Lien company, Weiss must have known that performing such an action would have garnered attention, especially with how high school students tended to be in regards to gossip. But Weiss didn't even seem slightly bothered by the whispers that were now part of the background noise in the room.

If Ruby didn't know any better…

She crushed the idea before it went further. The redhead knew what her chance with Weiss was and it certainly wasn't high enough to even consider. Her life couldn't possibly be as cliché as those superhero movies. There was just no way.

For now, she would just focus on talking to Weiss about her secret and forming some form of agreement that didn't end with fleeing the country or being put under a microscope. Despite her best attempts at reassuring Yang over the weekend, Ruby had caught her older sister looking at plane tickets for some backwater town in Vacuo. Sometimes, she both admired and feared the lengths to which Yang would go for her.

"Right," Ruby finally managed to respond, her voice miraculously not cracking. "We can go to my place and talk about it there, if you want?" It seemed some form of higher power was looking after her if she could string together a sentence without messing up. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

Weiss simply nodded before taking out a pencil to write with just as Professor Peach finally entered the room and called for her students to settle down.

"Good morning, class! I hope you all had a wonderful and productive weekend," She greeted her class cheerfully while placing her bag on her desk. "Remember that your lab report papers are due this Wednesday. I hope you're all working diligently on them seeing as how they're ten percent of your final grade." A few students shuffled nervously at the mention of their grades.

"Today we'll be using the Bunsen burners for our class, so do keep in mind the proper safety procedures on how to use them. We wouldn't want a repeat of… last year's incident."

Ruby ducked her head and used her bangs to cover her grin. Last year's incident had involved a Bunsen burner, her sister, and the entire fire department being called in. Thankfully, nobody had been hurt and the school had re-opened only a day later. While her sister had gained almost legendary status throughout Beacon High, just the mention of Principal Goodwitch's name still brought a shiver down Yang's spine.

"Alright, now get together with your lab partners. The instructions on what we'll be doing are on board. Make sure to ask me if there's something you don't understand," Professor Peach called out as everyone started to get up to gather the equipment they would need.

Ruby chuckled quietly and stood up from her desk to help Weiss gather everything. She certainly wouldn't let her sister live that incident down.

Honestly, Yang could be such a klutz at times.

"Hey Weiss, I finished heating up the unknown. What now?"

"Alright, now we just have to cool it after- wait, don't put it in-!"

The sound of glass shattering suddenly filled the room, followed by a commotion of shock as the students caught sight of the shattered glass and blood.

"Oh my god, is she bleeding?" Someone asked as they took in the scene.

"You dunce!" A panicked cry paired with concerned blue eyes. "Give me your hand; we have to stop the bleeding."

"I-It's really not that bad Weiss-"

"Ruby just – shut up or so help me I'll – Professor Peach!"

Suddenly there was a flurry of motion across the room as students parted for the professor who quickly took matters into her own hands. After last year's incident, she could handle practically anything.

"Make sure to hold this down over her cut to stem the flow, Miss Schnee. Miss Rose, we have to wash your hand to make sure you didn't get any of the liquid in your wound. Both of you follow me to the Nurse's office. The rest of you, stop for now until I get back. Miss Nikos, please clean up the glass and make sure no other student gets near it." Professor Peach nodded to her class helper before leading her two students out of the room.

Ruby ducked her head as they quickly followed Professor Peach into the hallway. Weiss pressed the cloth firmly against the cut on her palm to lessen the bleeding.

"I wish I could say I'm surprised by this," Weiss sighed and glanced at Ruby before looking back down at her hand, cool fingertips cradling the redhead's hand almost tenderly. "Next time, don't put hot glass into an ice cold bath without letting it cool at room temperature first. You should know this by now."

"Right… sorry about this," Ruby muttered, unable to look Weiss in the eye. The cut on her hand stung painfully but having the heiress' hands on hers certainly kept her distracted.

This was… not how she had imagined their first time holding hands would be like. Their (imaginary) first time would have been somewhere nice, maybe walking through a park and enjoying each other's company? Or maybe at some fancy restaurant more to Weiss' standards…?

Still, Ruby was (sort of) holding Weiss' hand! She just had to ignore the bleeding part and it would count, right?

Besides, what sort of handholding didn't have a little bit of blood spilling here or there?

…

…

…Pretty much all of them, Ruby admitted to herself.

Professor Peach sent her an amused look over her shoulder. "You aren't the first person to get injured in that lab, Miss Rose, and you certainly won't be the last. Why, it was thanks to your sister that we hold a monthly meeting for these scenarios."

Ah.

Right.

Somehow, she just knew Yang would hold this one over her in retaliation for her previous teasing. At least she hadn't burned anything and caused mass panic.

Ruby's shoulders slumped.

Monday mornings were the worst. And she hadn't even finished first period.

Writing this chapter involved a lot of blank staring into an empty word document. It was painful.

So yeah! Chapter three. I wanted to somehow get this out before I left for my trip tomorrow (read: today) to Orlando since I wouldn't be able to put up a chapter during Christmas or until Sunday.

Right then, on to the thanks for everyone's amazing support!

; u; Waaah! Seriously you guys, thanks for the amazing reviews and the amounts of follows/favorites and so on! I've even had people stumble over in my Tumblr to tell me how much they liked this silly little au. So yeah, you guys are honestly killing me with kindness. It's wonderful. OTL

As for what happened to Ruby (sorry if I didn't make it clear enough) – After heating the beaker, she didn't wait to let the glass cool down enough at room temperature. Instead, she placed it in a cold ice bath (a tiny tub/pan filled with water and ice). This caused the glass to contract and shatter due to the sudden difference in temperatures. So yeah, safety first, kiddos.

This chapter was a bit harder to write, in terms of humor. I know the next one will have Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all in the same room (they better or I'll be eating my words, lol) so expect some stupidity from all three (mostly Yang, really). I honestly can't wait to start writing that one up.

Let me know what you guys think about Ruby and Weiss in this chapter (Especially the WhiteRose parts. ; u; I'm so nervous about writing them)! I took everyone's helpful comments into consideration and I'm definitely more inclined to a funny/dorky superhero au that gains a bit more seriousness during some later aspects. (Hint: Ruby taking on her first real baddies, not just glassware and irritated cats stuck in trees).

Thanks again for being awesome, guys!