In RWBY's Shadow

Therapy and Friends

"Ugh!" Lilly grunted as she stumbled through the door, tossing her bag across the room. It landed just on the edge of her mattress, only to slide off and thud onto the floor at the last moment. "I didn't think Port could get any worse!"

"Tell me about it," Smit grumbled as he followed his team into the room, letting the door slam behind him. The moment he reached the foot of his bed, he released his sack of textbooks and fell face-first onto the mattress, bouncing once before coming to rest in his typical post-Port position.

Lilly sat on the edge of her bed, leaning down to set her bag upright. "The guy has to know we weren't paying attention. I mean, most of the class was asleep by the end. Even I dozed off once or twice!"

"I don't know," Honey disagreed as she piled her books onto the desk. "I saw quite a few people still awake at the end. Even Jaune!"

Considering Jaune managed to fall asleep from time to time in Oobleck's class, it was odd to see him paying even the slightest bit of attention to the insane ramblings of their Grimm Studies professor. The first few weeks of his non-stop, boisterous voice had let them grow accustomed to him. As each student slowly built up a tolerance to his storytelling, they began to drop off one by one. Honey was pretty sure Weiss, Lilly, and Randi – well, Weiss and Randi now – were the only ones to not doze off at least once. She couldn't be sure, considering the number of times she had succumbed.

Smit groaned as he extricated himself from his mattress, finally propping himself up into a seated position courtesy of the wall behind him. "Yeah, but he was only awake 'cause he was busy asking Weiss out." Smit chuckled as he recalled the scene. "Ice Queen shot him down in epic fashion."

"He's hopeless," Lilly said. "That boy can't seem to take the hint that Weiss just isn't interested. Worse, he's still oblivious to the fact his partner keeps waiting around for him."

It really has gotten pretty pathetic, Honey thought to herself, reflecting on the last few weeks of school. Pyrrha had been content to subtly try to get his attention through training last semester, but it seemed the champion's patience was starting to wear thin lately. She would bring up the dance all the time when he was around, only to be saddened by Jaune's continued devotion to his reluctant target. She followed Jaune around constantly, watching for any crack in the Friend Zone barrier. Her latest attempts seemed to focus on suggesting they go as a team. Of course, with Ren and Nora already together – but not together-together, whatever that means – it would pair her with Jaune by default.

A skilled fighter she may be, but Pyrrha really stinks at relationships.

"Gotta give the imbecile some credit for trying, at least." Honey's thoughts faded away as Smit, of all people, tried to defend Jaune. "He spent all of last semester lurking around, too scared to even talk to her half the time. The whole 'pining from afar' routine was just sad."

"Like how you continue to carry a torch for Yang?" Lilly questioned. Honey tried to stifle her snicker, failing completely.

"Whoa, what that's supposed to mean?" Smit demanded, suddenly wide awake as he abandoned his defense of Jaune in favor of himself. "I'm nothing like that loser!"

"You're right," Lilly conceded, letting Smit relax a little. "You're much worse."

And just like that, Smit was back on the defensive. "Worse? No way! I'm man enough to act on it!"

"But dumb enough to ignore her repeated rejections."

"She's never rejected me!"

"She sure hasn't accepted, either. Blowing you off is just as bad."