A/N: Made for Shiranai Atsune. For the rest of you, if you haven't read Compromised Composure, you might want to read that first. This is just a short introduction, the next chapter will be longer.

Warning: The following story contains Male!Weiss, Male!Pyrrha, and Fem!Jaune. This is not a fetish fiction, it is not a futa-fiction. This is primarily a fluff, with some havoc on the side.

Retracted Resolve

Bubbles foamed and frothed, a luxurious sea of white that felt heavenly to the skin. Hot water lapping away the pains of an otherwise terrible day. Weiss had just got himself spick and span after being covered in all sorts of dust residue. The unfortunate byproduct of hard training, and ludicrous notions of endurance matches. Weiss Schnee found himself befuddled beyond belief, and not because he couldn't endure long matches of skill.

It was simply that, he found the tactic degrading. Why drag out a match? Why not attain a swift and elegant victory?

These were questions that Glynda Goodwitch had brushed aside, shooing Weiss away to join the rest of team RWBY as they took on every opponent willing to stand up to them. He sunk further into the hot bath water, hissing as it drenched a sore spot in its warmth. Contemplating the harsh lessons of the day, he closed his eyes.

Nora, Weiss had belatedly discovered, was not someone he could counter defensively. Not that it rightly mattered, because Ruby had also seen fit to engage Nora in a skirmish. A tactic that was at best, ill advised. The sooner the young leader put her allergies first in combat, the sooner Weiss would be free of dust related mishaps.

The bath worked wonders though, Weiss could easily attest that. He really needed to start doing this 'being lazy' thing more often. If only for his sanity.

Scratch that, he needed to start obtaining more time alone each and every day. It was for his own good, he decided, as his scroll blared with an annoying little ring tone. Signaling that his time in the bathroom was almost up. In the next few moments, one of the girls would be pounding on the door, demanding to be let in. He couldn't do that of course, not naked and sudsy. He rinsed quickly, draining the water and wrapping a robe around his body.

He barely had his long luxurious hair in a towel before Yang very nearly broke down the door.

"Do you mind?" Weiss deadpanned, fully expecting his brawler of a roommate to make a ruckus.

"You've been in there for well over an hour." Yang protested, already on her way in, and pushing Weiss out. "Share the love…"

"Not to mention the aggravation." Weiss half complained as Yang slammed the door in his face. "Four people to one bathroom is just not feasible."

"Maybe not for you two." Blake said with a roll of her eyes. "You do realize the community showers really aren't all that far down the hall, right?"

"The keyword being shower." Weiss said as he grabbed his clothes and hid behind one of the desks to dress. It was the only way to do so without showing all of his glory to his roommate. "I was taking a bath for once. A nice long, hot, bath. Then Yang decided to make my relaxation into a catastrophe." He looked around, the resident cookie fiend was no place to be found. "Where's Ruby?"

"Being the only logical one." Blake said as she rolled over onto her side. "Why? Are you going to scribble romantic phrases in that personal notebook of yours?"

He rubbed his eyes. "I thought you promised not to bring that up…"

"I said I wouldn't mention it to Ruby and Yang. You were never part of that agreement." The cat Faunus grinned softly then. "So, are you going to tell Ruby soon?"

"Once I figure out how, then yes." Weiss nodded. "The problem is, I haven't the slightest idea of how to go about doing it."

"The easy way." Blake noted. "It would be best."

"I know that your suggestion of that luxury bakery is probably the best answer, but it just seems sooo…" He searched for the word, but lacked one dearly. "Inadequate, I suppose." He climbed into bed, pulled out his notebook and began to check his lists. He had so many ideas, but, ever the perfectionist, none of them seemed good enough.

"You could literally confess to her on the roof, with nothing to offer her besides your heart." Blake chided softly. "You need to understand, Ruby isn't as superficial as a few bags of premier cookies. Although, if you really wanted to, at least a half-dozen wouldn't hurt."

"Therein lies the problem…"

"How so?"

Weiss sighed, looking up at Ruby's empty bunk. "I know how I would want to be approached, if a suitor were to approach me. What's acceptable by blue-blooded individuals such as myself. The problem is, none of that lines up with Ruby's tastes. She's not from Atlas, and she probably doesn't care about fancy gifts and prolonged overtures."

"I'd say not…"

Weiss sent Blake a dry, withering look of disappointment. For a long time, nothing more was said. Yang hogged the bathroom, and Ruby still hadn't returned. "If those things don't truly matter to her, then what does?"

"You, stupid." Yang came out, towel drying her hair, trying to manage the unruly tangles of yellow. "Weiss, we've been over this almost a million times. If you like Ruby, just tell her. Don't get complicated, don't do the weird suitor-with-gift thing...just tell her that you like her. Let things go from there. You can worry about dates and stuff after she's said yes…"

"She is going to say yes, right?"

"Oh for the love of – yes, Weiss!" Yang groused, very nearly pulling her hair with the wide toothed comb. "She's going to say yes because she would be an idiot not to. She's got the hots for you." Her comb snagged again, this time before snapping in half. The forth comb in a week. "You two are going to be the death of me, I swear…"

"Don't mind her, Ruby's been doing the same thing now for a really long time now. She's kind of been driving Yang nuts." Blake reported, still smiling in spite of her girlfriend's frustration.

"Which is why you need to man up." Yang told Weiss. "Just tell her like it is…do it before I actually do cram the both of you in a closet someplace."

"You'd really do that?" Blake asked.

"What's he gonna to do, Blake? Blush so hard he faints? It's not like he's going to perv on my baby sis. He can barely muster the guts to say he's got a thing for her." Yang rolled her eyes before sighing. She plucked a new comb from her stash in the drawer, and went back to preening in the mirror as her words of wisdom flowed over him. "Weiss, listen, I know you're worried about it, but you have nothing to be afraid of. You could go out there, right now, and confess to her right in the middle of that hallway…in fact, if it were me, that's exactly what I would do."

"Somehow, Yang, I doubt that."

"Oh…really?" A blonde eyebrow raised in suspicion as she grabbed a slender wrist and shoved Weiss out of the room. "Tell her, or you're both sleeping in the hall." The door closed, the lock clicked into place, and then some squealing from the other side indicated a large piece of furniture being moved.

Weiss jiggled the handle, but it was no use. His scroll was still inside and he was locked out. He'd have to wait for Ruby to unlock it, and even then, something was in the way of the door. With a longwinded sigh, Weiss Schnee closed his eyes, fighting a frown.

Three little words had bested him, they were just so hard to say.