Hallway; just after a class
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Yang asks.
"Huh? Us?" Cyanea asks.
Carmine gives her a quick nudge with her elbow. "Just wanted to make sure," Cyanea mumbles.
"Carmine," she says.
"I'm Cyanea," her sister adds, now smiling.
"I see you two everywhere, figured I'd find out your names. And uh, I'm Yang," she responds.
"Nice to meet you," Cyanea says.
Yang suddenly looks as if she's lost in thought. "You two look similar. Like, really similar," she says. The twins' faces are alike, the same even, barring the current shapes of their mouths. Cyanea is smiling, while Carmine simply has a neutral expression. Their faces are their only notable similarities however, as Carmine appears slightly taller than Cyanea. Carmine wears thick plate armor, all of it cleaned to an almost reflective finish. Cyanea wears what appears to be a thick shirt and cargo pants. However, bulletproof plating is placed in rectangular sections throughout both pieces of clothing. The front of the shirt is also covered in pistol magazines, clearly more than anyone would need in a single sitting.
"Yeah we're uh…" Cyanea trails off.
"Identical twins, but also a little more," Carmine finishes.
Carmine rubs the back of Cyanea's hand, which relieves the nervousness she seems to have built up.
"A little more?" Yang wonders aloud.
"A story for another day maybe?" Carmine suggests.
"Yeah, yeah. Definitely," Yang responds, nodding quickly.
Cafeteria; lunch
"Carmine! Cyanea!" Yang says as she waves us over to a table.
"I guess now is that other day," Carmine sighs as she taps Cyanea to get her attention. They both walk over to the table and sit down.
"So, mind telling me that story?" Yang asks, smiling widely.
"We said we would," Cyanea responds. As the rest of the people at the table look up from their meals, Cyanea starts shrinking in her seat.
Carmine puts an arm around Cyanea's shoulders and says, "I think you might want to introduce your friends first. Unless they'd like to do it themselves?"
Each of the people sitting at the table introduces themselves. After listening to all of the names, Cyanea has returned to her normal self. "So, you want to know what I meant by 'more than twins'?" Carmine asks.
"Yeah, I'm really curious," Yang answers.
"This sounds as if it could be interesting," Ren says.
"So," Carmine says," We're twins. Technically. We're obviously two people, but we're not exactly different people. We're two halves of the same person. We… pretty much share a brain. It's really noticeable with our personalities. She's the shy, kind one. I'm the outgoing, slightly meaner one. Our semblance though, merges us. We become the person that we're each halves of."
"It's kind of awkward though," Cyanea adds, "We'd do it more often, but being about ten feet tall isn't exactly manageable indoors."
"So… you're two people, but also one person?" Yang wonders.
"Yes, Yang, that is what they said," Weiss responds.
"Yeah, but how does that work?" she asks.
"Uh…" Carmine and Cyanea both say.
"Oh, I know," Cyanea says, "Think about it like a cake. Whether it's in halves or not, it's still cake, right? And if you put the two halves together, they're still the same cake."
"I... guess that makes sense," Yang responds.
"That aside, I understand the broadsword that Carmine has, but, Cyanea, why do you have two pistols?" Weiss asks.
"Well, it's combat school, so I obviously need some kind of weapon," Cyanea answers, "The way I see it, gunpoint can resolve an argument as easily as it could create one. By that I mean, if two people are arguing, this makes me a bit of a more effective neutral party."
"That's… strange reasoning," Blake says.
"You'd be surprised how often it works," Cyanea mumbles.
Several days later
Hallway; just after class
"Hey, Carmine. Can I talk to you?" Yang asks.
"Yeah, sure. What do you need?" Carmine responds.
"It's kinda private," Yang mumbles.
"I'll uh, see you later, I guess," Cyanea says.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Carmine asks. Her armor makes a thud as she leans against a wall.
"I wanted to ask if uh… you'd go out with me. Like, this weekend maybe?" Yang asks, losing some of the confidence she seems to always have.
Fuck, Carmine thinks.
"Yang, I'm kind of already seeing someone," Carmine says.
"Oh, ok. That's cool. Who is it?" Yang responds, then hastily adds, "If you don't mind my asking."
"I… can't really tell you," Carmine says, beginning to walk towards the cafeteria.
"Oh come on, it's not like it's the end of the world if I know, right?" Yang continues.
Now in the cafeteria, at their table
"Hey Cyanea," Carmine greets, sitting down next to her.
"Alright, just tell me if it's a guy or a girl," Yang pleads.
"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake asks.
"Just trying to find out who Carmine's dating," Yang answers casually.
"Did she…" Cyanea whispers, now looking down at the table.
"Ask me out? Yeah," Carmine whispers in response.
"Cyanea, will you tell me?" Yang asks, now sounding desperate to know.
"What do I do?" Cyanea asks, worried.
Carmine tips her head up, and leans on the table to look at her. "Just... tell them," she says, "We'd have to eventually."
Blake and Ren have clearly gotten the message, and turn away from the conversation.
"Ok, seriously? What am I missing?" Yang wonders aloud, noticing Blake and Ren's behavior.
"It's me," Cyanea says.
Almost all of the faces at the table drain of color. The exceptions being Blake and Ren, who picked up on it first, and Ruby, who now looks more confused than ever.
"Uh…" Ruby says in her confusion, jaw hanging open.
"That's-" Yang says, but gets cut off by Weiss.
"Disgusting!" she says, "You're sisters, twins even!"
Carmine begins holding the now scared Cyanea and says, "What the hell! You don't even understand why!"
"What possible reason could you have for something so revolting!?" Weiss questions.
"Weiss, please stop," Yang says, growing uncomfortable at the sudden argument.
"You know what, I don't have to justify this to you," Carmine says, standing up, "You have no idea why we chose this."
"Care to explain then?" Weiss says, a smug smile on her face.
"You asked for it," Carmine says, smiling even wider.
"I'll start at what I think is the beginning. So, back when we were in Atlas, I tried my hand at dating. Every time I asked someone, one thing stopped me. They couldn't get around the fact that Cyanea and I were the same. To them it was like they'd be dating two people at once. It happened over and over, and eventually I just gave up."
She pauses for a moment, then sits down and continues, "I tried talking to my parents. To see what they thought. I wish I hadn't. They didn't like the fact that I was gay. They weren't aggressive about it, but they said they didn't want to know any more than I had just told them. So when I found out Cyanea was gay and was trying to ask girls out, I told her not to talk to our parents. She handled the first few rejections well, but eventually it hurt her. She'd come to me about it, and I became the shoulder she cried on."
Cyanea cuts in to finish the story, "Eventually we both realized it wasn't going to work with other people. Although, it did take a bit for each of us to work out how to suggest that we should get together."
"That was kind of funny," Carmine replies.
"Hmmph," Weiss says, "I still see no justification."
"Yeah well, I guess you'll just have to deal with it. It's our relationship, not yours," Carmine says, growing a little annoyed.
"So..." Yang says, "What did your parents think?"
The twins smile awkwardly before saying, "We uh… haven't told them."
"After the whole 'not wanting to know I'm gay' thing, we didn't think it was a good idea," Carmine adds.
"But we're happy anyway. Aren't we?" Cyanea asks, leaning into Carmine.
"Yes," she replies, laughing a little, "We are."
Like a week later
Cafeteria (Isn't this setting so convenient!)
"So, I've been wondering," Yang begins.
"This can't be good," Weiss mumbles.
"Is it like masturbating?" Yang finishes.
Anyone in the middle of eating or drinking immediately begins choking, and Carmine and Cyanea look fairly confused. "Uh…" they say.
"What?" Carmine asks, understanding what Yang means, but wanting clarification.
"You know, between you two. You said you're basically the same person," Yang replies.
"We've never had sex, if that's what you're getting at," Carmine says, a bored look now on her face.
"Why would you ask that while we're eating!?" Weiss exclaims.
"Though I would imagine that no, it isn't," Carmine adds.
1-2 months later, school break or something
Just outside Beacon; morning
"Come on, it's our first break. Mom and Dad probably want to see us," Carmine says.
"I know, I'm just... worried. What are they going to say when we tell them?" Cyanea says.
"Hey," Carmine says, kissing Cyanea on the cheek, "It'll be fine. No matter what, we've always got here to come back to, right?"
"I'm still nervous, but yeah, you're right," Cyanea answers.
At their house
They open the door and enter, calling, "Hey Mom! Hey Dad! We're home!"
"In here!" their dad responds.
"How's everything going?" Carmine asks as she and her sister enter the room.
"Why are you asking me? You two have been at combat school for the past few months," their dad says.
"It's been fun," Cyanea says as the two sit down.
"But classes aren't the greatest," Carmine adds.
"Although the look of surprise when everyone sees a ten-foot tall woman with a giant sword walk through the forest never gets old," Cyanea finishes with a laugh.
"I can imagine," their mother says, suddenly appearing in the room, "So, anything besides destroying grimm and sitting through classes?"
Carmine and Cyanea look at each other for a second before realizing that now is probably their best chance to tell their parents what is happening between them.
"Mom, Dad," they say, "We're… dating."
"I thought we said we didn't want to know about your love life," their mother says.
"Well, we figured you would want to know that your kids are dating each other," Carmine clarifies.
Both of their parents' jaws drop. Neither knows what to say. Their mother gets up and leaves the room, but their father chooses to speak. "H-how long?" he stutters.
"About six months now," Carmine says, stern-faced.
"So… those times I saw you sharing a bed…" their father mumbles.
"Oh relax, we haven't had sex or anything," Carmine replies.
"Wait, wait, wait. You saw that?" Cyanea asks, surprised.
"I guess I wasn't too far off," their father says.
"How are you so okay with this!?" their mother asks after returning to the room. Her eyes are red, presumably from crying, "And Cyanea! She never even told us what she is!"
"I wouldn't say that I'm okay with it, but let's be honest, what could I do about it? Tell them to stop?" their father asks.
"Yes!" their mother answers, clearly still upset.
"Alright, suppose I did," their father says, then turns to the twins, "What would you two do?"
"Keep going," Carmine says.
"No matter what," Cyanea adds.
"See," he says, getting up to comfort his wife, "We can't control them."
"I just want what's best for them," she says between sobs.
"Look at them," he says, shifting her around, "This is exactly what's going to make them happy. We can't just decide for them."
"I just… I just... want to sleep on it," she says.
"I'm going to take your mother upstairs," their father says, "You two… get comfortable or something."
As soon as the parents leave the room, Cyanea says, "That went… better than expected."
"I'd say so, yeah," Carmine responds, "Now come over here. He said get comfortable."
Cyanea gives a small giggle, then moves over to Carmine, laying on top of her, with her head just below Carmine's chin. By the time their father returns, they've fallen asleep.
"Hmm," he says, "They do make each other happy."