Weiss had grown used to Ruby doing rather outlandish things as declarations of love. If she were honest with herself it never really surprised her to begin with given Ruby's personality and nature of being, but it had still taken her some time to adapt to the sometimes rather ridiculous lengths Ruby would go to to show her affection.
She had made the mistake of thinking that it was something her girlfriend would grow out of the older she became. In fact, the more Ruby aged, the more extreme her displays of adoration became. It was all rather tiresome yet…endearing, though she was never quick to admit as much.
So it came as quite a shock when Ruby offered her just a single white rose on the night of their third annual anniversary.
Gingerly she took the flower, stem absent of thorns, and cradled the head of the flower, the petals soft under her fingertips. It was newly bloomed, a perfect circle of interlacing white silk that wafted a strong, airy fragrance. It would began to wilt within the evening, even if Weiss hurriedly placed in a a vase with water, but for now it was perfect and Weiss briefly wondered how Ruby was so lucky to catch the rose at the peak of its beauty.
"Thank you," she mumbled softly, bringing it to her nose, deeply inhaling its scent.
Ruby smiled shyly, a pink hue dusting her cheeks - adorable. It was moments like this that Weiss remembered why she fell in love with the dork, despite her troublesome nature and obnoxious tendencies. She was beautiful and so eager to please, but most of all she cared deeply for those she held dear and Weiss liked to believe she was held dearest of all.
"It reminded me of you."
Weiss hummed and twirled the stem between her fingers, an amused smile creeping on her lips. "And how is that? The color?"
Suddenly Ruby grew nervous, her teeth digging into her bottom lip and silver eyes averting away. "Something like that."
Weiss quirked an eyebrow at her strange behavior and leaned forward, trying to capture Ruby's attention once more. "Is there more to it?"
There was a brief moment of hesitation, the stubborn defiance of a child that Weiss was sure still rested inside the 22-year-old woman, but finally she broke and Weiss found herself under the gaze of silver once more. The dim light from the candle between them made the color glimmer and shine, resembling starlight shooting across the night sky.
The eyes of her protector. Of everyone's protector.
"Well, uh, it's a white rose, ya know?" she stammered out and Weiss was quickly brought back to their back patio, memories of a distant past behind her and the quiet night they were sharing. When she said nothing Ruby visibly gulped and pulled at the ends of shirt sleeves - a nervous habit she had picked up dust knows when.
"I mean….your name is Weiss, right?" Regret instantly flashed across her features when she saw Weiss' reaction, a mixture of amusement and incredulity.
"It's only taken seven years for you to realize apparently, but yes. That is my name," she said, struggling to hold in her laughter. Years ago that comment may have irritated her, but time had given her the graces to accept Ruby's babbling, even as far as to be entertained by it.
"No like….it's Weiss. Which is German for 'white', isn't it?"
Weiss nodded. "A running theme in my family, considering our last name translates to 'snow'."
At this Ruby brightened, a burst of confidence gained by Weiss playing along with her ramblings. "Yeah! Exactly! So…White Rose?"
Weiss blinked slowly and the brunette realized that the pieces still hadn't been connected. She broke out into a furious blush and mumbled something under her breath, chin tucked to her chest as she muttered to her lap.
"Ruby speak up. I can't hear you."
A few seconds passed where Ruby didn't move and Weiss almost repeated herself when uncertain eyes glanced up to her, freezing her on the spot with their vulnerability.
"My last name is Rose." Whispered so softly that Weiss almost didn't catch it, she furrowed her brow over the vagueness of the statement. As she pondered just what Ruby was trying to get her to understand, her eye caught a glimpse of the rose she still cradled in her hand and she gasped softly, eyes wide in sudden realization.
White Rose.
Her head snapped up so quickly she was sure that she'd suffer from some sort of muscle pain later, her mouth parted in a gentle 'o'. "Ruby are you…?" she trailed off breathlessly, hesitant to say the words lest they not be true and she suffer the humiliation for coming to such a drastic conclusion.
Ruby shuffled in her seat, more nervous than ever now that Weiss seemed to have come to some conclusion. She rolled her shoulders and blinked - a sign of guilt that Weiss picked up on over the years they'd been together.
"I haven't had time to get a ring since I've been back but I wanted this night to be special and I had been thinking about this a lot lately so this isn't just one of my impulse decisions although it was kinda impulsive when I decided to do it tonight while I was away on my mission which is why I don't have a ring so I'm sorry if this isn't how you imagined it or whatever but I felt if I waited I would've backed out and also like I said I thought tonight would have been as a good a night as ever to do it and - oh god Weiss please don't cry I'm sorry! I really should've just waited I really screwed up didn't I?"
With tears trailing down her face Weiss broke out into laughter, shaking her head fervently as she stood from her seat, placing the rose down gently on the table before crossing over to where Ruby sat, a bundle of bumbling nerves, and taking her face between both of her hands and gently pulling her face to her own, their lips meshing together with a twinge of salt. Ruby relaxed immediately into the kiss, her nerves quelled by Weiss' obvious lack of anger or discontentment, and even dared to rest her hands on the heiress' hips, holding her in place.
They parted after just a short moment and Weiss blinked away more tears, her blue eyes shimmering and bursting with happiness when she whispered one word.
"Yes."