Baking partners
Roman Torchwick & Ruby Rose
One-shot
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY and their characters. It's all property of Rooster Teeth.
A/N: This one-shot is dedicated to Polatrixu, my chihuahua beta reader who likes rare pairings. I don't dislike Rosewick, I kinda like it and I enjoyed writing this despite there isn't romance. I think I will explore this ship in another occasion, but it's on my list.
Expect cookies.
"Roman Torchwick, put your hands where I can see them!"
The criminal stopped and faced the girl with the red hood with a smile.
He had been persecuted since an hour ago. All because a White Fang operation went wrong in the Forever Fall forest. They had been discovered by a group of hunters and huntresses that were in the wrong place and wrong time.
Luckily, he could escape and ran into the forests while the others hunters were fighting the soldiers of the faunus terrorist organization.
But, unfortunately, some familiar little girl had been following him until the point where they had arrived.
"Little Red, you don't know when to quit, do you?"
"If you cooperate your punishment for the robberies will be reduced."
Surprisingly, Roman threw his cane to the floor and showed his hands up in the air. Ruby was surprised for how easy it had been. She wondered if his henchmen would appear from nowhere to fight her.
In Torchwick's head was a better plan to get out of that situation.
"Red, please, you can't put me under arrest."
"Why I shouldn't?"
"I have to take care of my ill mother who is almost dying."
"Wha-what?"
A mother was a sacred person for Ruby because she didn't have one these days.
"Oh, what would she do without me? She can't even move from the bed." Continued Roman.
Suddenly, Ruby's scroll buzzed, it was Blake.
"Ruby, have you found him?!" She asked breathing heavily.
Rose looked at the weaponless criminal towards her and then looked at her scroll. Finally, she grabbed it and answered firmly:
"No, he got away."
Ruby put the scroll back in her pocket under the surprised look of Torchwick. Then, she kept Crescent Rose in her back and offered her hand to the criminal.
"Nobody can know this."
A few days later, Ruby was walking in the streets of a suburb in Vale. It was late, almost midnight, but what happened in the Forever Fall forest was stealing her sleep hours. Nobody noticed her going downtown, not even her team.
She was on her way to visit Roman at his secret lair, a discreet flat. He gave her the address after she lied to her teammates and the authorities later.
After walking for two blocks, she found the building where he was supposed to be. The principal door was open; she only had to go upstairs to the third plant.
Silently, she went upstairs and knocked at the flat's door. She waited for a severals minutes and tried again. No answer again.
She suspected that Torchwick could have lied to her about his location, that was the reason she brought Crescent Rose with her. She split it up to the compact sniper rifle form and shot to the door's lock. She could have used a picklock better than a bullet, but she didn't know how to force locks.
The door opened and it was dark inside. The entrance was messy, proof that someone was living inside. Finally, she entered and looked around trying to make something out in all the darkness. She saw a hat with a feather in the hanger it was obviously Torchwick's, there was no doubt. He didn't lie to her.
Rose kept her scythe in her back and slowly walked around the place. When she arrived at a small living room, she heard something strange moving behind her.
When she turned, someone tackled her. Two bare hands were trying to knock her out. She tried to fight back, but she lacked of the ability to move in a dark environment.
The unknown person managed to strike her down and hold her wrists, Ruby tried to reach for her scythe but it was too late. Se couldn't move.
Suddenly, the lights turned on after a spoken command.
Ruby was being held down by an almost nude Roman. He was in his underwear and wearing his hat with a feather.
"Red?! It is rude to not warn if you pretend to visit someone in the middle of the night. Even the greatest villains need their beauty sleep."
He broke the grip in her wrists and got up. The girl covered her eyes without even getting up from the floor.
"Agh! Cover yourself!" Yelled Ruby.
"God, she is really childish for a huntress." Thought the thief.
He disappeared and seconds after he returned wearing pants and a t-shirt. And of course, his hat.
"Do you sleep with your hat?" For a few seconds, Rose imagined Roman taking a bath with it.
It made her giggle slightly and Roman kept staring at her in annoyance. He ignored the question and walked circling her, but the huntress wasn't feeling as if she was in danger.
"So… What are you doing here?"
"Just checking." Answered cheerily the girl.
Suddenly, her stomach made a 'roar'. She was hungry and failed to bring snacks with her.
"Do you have something to eat?"
Roman rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Ruby sat in a chair and left Crescent Rose on the table.
A few moments later, Torchwick appeared and sat in front of the girl. He had a pack of cookies with chocolate chips, but they weren't homemade as she liked.
"You know, Red? I'm a busy man and my sleep time is almost null." He yawned.
Ruby ignored him and tasted the cookies. The flavor of the artificial ingredients almost made her puke.
"Yuck! And you call these cookies?!"Asked Rose angry, pointing the offending baked 'goods' with a finger.
"Excuse me, little girl. You could have brought your own food and messaged me if you were planning on visiting at midnight." He narrowed his eyes in an annoyed scowl, glaring at her. She didn't even react at his antics.
"Next time you will taste a better recipe." She assured with a determined smile, and the redhead wondered if it would be better if he was imprisoned.
"Please tell me you are kidding, Red."
She wasn't. In her next visit, the huntress brought the required ingredients to bake cookies in a paper bag she was carrying. Roman stared at her with his eyes wide open, it was 3 am in the morning.
"Red, don't you have a bedtime?" He brought his hand to the face.
"I couldn't sleep knowing that you actually ate those disgusting things with fake chocolate chips." She answered with a genuine mortified face.
"Awww, Red. I didn't know you cared."
"Be quiet and let me in, Torchwick!" He stepped aside from the door and letting her pass to his flat, he did a mocking slight bow.
"Your wish is my command, my queen." He said in a sarcastic tone. She just plucked her tongue at him and walked away from him.
Then, she went to the kitchen and the criminal followed her shortly after closing the front door. She started to search in the stands for bowls and then in the fridge for some eggs.
"I will only accede to cook with you if the next time you come visit me after dawn, not before." He said yawning. "I swear God, Red, your unhealthy sleep habits will be the death of me."
What are you doing?! You can't mix the flour and the chocolate chips now!" Yelled Ruby, completely mortified.
When it came to cookies, the young Rose took everything with an extreme seriousness. And Roman Torchwick covered in flour was not the image of a serious person doing serious baking business.
He rolled his eyes and sighed, creating a cloud of flour in the air. Meanwhile, Ruby was mixing the dough and tasting if it needed more sugar. Torchwick did the same, sinking one finger in the sweet dough.
"You can't do that either!" Complained the girl. "You haven't washed your hands, did you?"
"I'm not the one with dust under the nails." Ruby glared at him. "Besides, I wear gloves almost all the time, Red."
It was her time to sigh and roll eyes. Roman tasted the dough and grinned. It was delicious and worth all the flour in his expensive clothes.
"It needs more sugar, right?" Asked Rose.
"You have to be kidding, do you want me to die of diabetes?! And we still have to add the chocola-..."
It was too late, the huntress added more sugar and ate another group of chocolate chips. Roman had to resist a facepalm.
"And now to the oven! Yay! Bake, my little friends."
The huntress kept staring at the window of the oven until the cookies were done. Meanwhile, Roman smoked a cigarette while observing the child. When Rose smelled the smoke, she turned to Roman and looked at him disappointed.
"Why do you smoke?"
"I like it, want to try?" Before Ruby could answer, he mocked: "Oh, no tobacco is not allowed for little ones like you."
She raised her eyebrows and stole the cigarette from his hands. Roman got up of the chair and demanded her to give it back but it was too late, Rose had thrown the cigarette into a cup full of water.
"Hey! What's wrong with you, Red?!"
"Don't make fun out of me, Roman Torchwick."
Both were going to argue when the oven bell rang. Rose changed her expression and let go a cheerful sound while she opened the oven. The baked cookies seemed delicious, a sweet smell surrounded the kitchen and soon all the apartment.
The huntress went directly with her bare hands to take the cookies out of the oven but luckily, Torchwick intervened:
"Let me do this or you will end hurt with the hot plate."
That sentence reminded Ruby of her mother taking care of her. The cookies and that delicious smell too. Roman had his gloves on and didn't burn his hands. He placed the plate on the table and got out one big dish to place the baked chocolate cookies.
They went to the living room and sat on the sofa to eat without any worries. Ruby let Roman taste the cookies first as he never ate some real homemade. The little girl waited impatiently while he was tasting her mother's master recipe, the secret ingredient was love and she added a little bit of fun too.
Torchwick smirked and looked at the huntress who was expecting an approval from his part. He didn't understand why she kept watching after him as if they were… friends. Could that word define their relationship? Those awkward interactions and mocking each other, acting as if there weren't problems outside in the world and facing each other on the battlefield? They were supposed to be enemies, but her heart was aiming for some peace.
"So…?" Asked Rose with a big smile.
"It's far much better than the supermarket ones or Neo's cooking skills."
"Neo?" The name wasn't familiar to her, she was forgetful sometimes.
Ruby grabbed one cookie and tasted it, they were in the exact point of sugar.
"Neapolitan ice cream personification."
"Oh, yeah, I know her, she almost killed my sister!"
Roman raised his eyebrows, how could she say that so cheerfully?
"Her silence disturbs me, but I prefer her instead of Mercury. His insolence makes me lose my mind." He continued.
"I know how it feels, it sounds as if you were talking about Weiss and Blake."
"Ice queen and kitty cat?"
"Yep. Sometimes the convivence it's impossible, and my sister it's unbearable with her stupid puns that only make my teammates upset."
"I would trade her for Emerald or Cinder. I don't know who's the worst. Well, I think Cinder is, she's bossy and mysterious and I feel left apart on their evil plans."
"Oh, poor Roman." Mocked Ruby.
He glared at Rose, she looked for another cookie but he had eaten them all, the dish was empty, there weren't chocolate chips left either.
"You're the new cookie monster!"
"You cooked that for me, didn't you?"
The Huntress sighed and got up from the sofa after checking the hour in her scroll. It was time to return to Beacon. Being a leader and also the youngest of the school made that secret trips to Vale seem suspicious, but no one dared to ask her about them yet.
"I have to go, it's late for me."
"Don't be awake past your bedtime."
"I never do." She joked.
"Really? Because the other day I saw you in the suburbs with other hunters."
"I saw you too, a walking carrot with a hat hiding in one of those huge buildings."
"Orange suits my pale skin, Rose. I'm not a carrot.
"That made me think fondly… What about carrot cookies the next time? Or carrot cake!"
"Do whatever except cutting me into pieces."
Then, the little Rose showed his oversized gardening tool with the sharp knife in the scythe.
"I could if I wanted to."
Suddenly, Ruby's scroll buzzed in her pocket. She left Crescent Rose aside and took the mobile out. There was Yang's photograph on the screen, she must have been wondering where was her sister.
"I can't believe it, Red. You are more popular than me."
"Nah, it's just my sister."
Roman took Ruby's hand between his and kissed it sweetly.
"Always a pleasure, Red."
Ruby forgot that strange action that characterized Roman and his peculiars gentlemen protocols even if it was only for mockery.
"Next time we will do a carrot cake!"
Rose used her speed semblance and left a cloud of dust behind her, just a few seconds later, the door of the apartment closed for the wind that she created during her speed. The dust made him cough, maybe he needed to clean the apartment… Or he could call Neo to do it instead. He really admired Rose's energy, she was always cheerful and happy whatever happened. But even the brilliant lights had dark days and the next week he would discover a new side of the huntress.
With only one sight he noticed that she was not okay. That shiny spark in her silver eyes wasn't there this time. She had a forced smile on her face, but deep down was sad.
"No carrots?" Asked Roman in the entrance of his apartment.
"Just you." Mocked the huntress.
Torchwick let in the girl in the red hood even though it was late and she promised not to come during the night. Maybe she only could come in that schedule or maybe she needed to talk with someone. The girl entered and went to the living room, then she sat to the sofa, the thief did the same.
They spent several minutes in silence, Ruby didn't know how to start the conversation and Roman wasn't good at talking about emotions. He finally decided to do the first step but when he looked at her, he noticed that she was trembling.
"Red, are you cold?"
She shook her head as Roman placed his jacket over her shoulders. Ruby accepted it gratefully and for the first time in the night, she looked at him without pretending to be happy.
"Exactly 8 years ago my mother went to a mission and never came back. I used to visit her grave, but it's just an empty stone with her name and emblem on it, no corpse."
Roman's blood turned into ice cold, he had never been in a situation like that. Was he supposed to hug her or just say some useless words to try and kill her pain? Do words really work on sad persons?
Before he could decide to say something, she leaned over his legs and placed her head on his lap. Instinctively, his hand went to her dark and red hair, stroking it.
"Don't be sad, little red. I'm sure she didn't want you to be upset."
Rose closed her eyes as Roman's hand stroked her hair, comforting her. She really missed being confronted by someone mature and not only her sister.
"Do you remember her?" Asked him.
"Barely, I wouldn't if I hadn't this picture."
She took one picture from her pocket and gave it to Roman. He saw a photograph of four people but it was easy for him to recognize Ruby's mother. She was wearing a white cape, had silver eyes and the same cut and color of hair and if the cape wasn't covering her outfit, he would say that Ruby had a similar dressing style.
"Who are the other three?"
"The man with the red cape is my uncle, Qrow. He is a teacher in Signal Academy. The blonde man is our father and the other woman is Yang's mother."
Roman thought for a moment, something didn't match.
"You are half-sisters then?"
"Yes but her mother abandoned her so we had my mother and our father to take care of us."
What a family!
"I see."
Why was she sharing those family issues and secrets with him? Nobody except her own family and Blake knew that. Weiss didn't know, was Roman a step forward of her own teammate and partner?
The silence reigned again until Ruby broke it with a dangerous and compromising question.
"Roman, are we friends?"
Torchwick's heart started racing faster, could they define their relationship as friends? That question had been always in the air but none of them dared to say it out loud until now.
"What do you mean by 'friend'?"
"People say that a good friend is the one who stays with you in the hard moments and you are doing it right now. So, this makes us friends?"
Torchwick was speechless for the first time in his life, he needed to think long.
"A friend never lies."
"Did you lie to me?"
He cleared his throat, facing the truth, if Ruby got angry for what he did, he would have to run, he wouldn't confront her.
"That night in the forest, Red. I haven't got any sick mother to take care of."
Ruby breathed deeply and then, changing radically her attitude, she said:
"Oh, I already knew that, dummy!"
Ruby Rose was a bomb of emotions, how could she be so cheery in a situation like that?
"What?! Oh, you little mischievous thing…"
"Would you prefer that I had told you that I knew the truth?"
"Well… Yeah, that would be better! You could have caused a heart attack to an old man like me."
"Oh, I'm that important for you?"
"Don't get cocky, little Red. I just appreciate my freedom."
"It could end right now." His face made her laugh. "I'm kidding again!"
She passed several minutes laughing funny as Roman was repeating himself that she would kill him if she didn't stop with that jokes. When she stopped laughing at him, she dried her tears and got up from the sofa. He got up, willing to accompany her to the exit of the apartment. Then, he got frozen in his place as she felt little red embracing him by the waist. It was a pure innocent action and sincere, something he had never experienced before.
"Thank you."
I'm going to the city, see you later!" Yelled fastly trying to escape from the dorm once more. Her visits to Roman became more often.
"Ruby, wait!"
"W-what is it, Weiss?"
"You have been going to the city very frequently and didn't tell us what you are going to do there, which is kinda suspicious."
Rose managed to create the most truthful excuse.
"I'm just going to nerd around with guns, to the dust shop and read those magazines of-..."
"I will come with you, I need ammo for my gauntlets." Said Yang grabbing her jacket.
"But you already have got a full box of it, you bought it last week." Complained the younger sister.
"It's almost empty."
"How's that possible?" Asked the heiress.
"I… practice a lot."
"You waste too much ammo, Yang. Glinda warned you once." Intervened Blake while reading a book.
Meanwhile, the girls were arguing about Yang's habits, Ruby took advantage of their distraction and managed to sneak to the corridor and as a consequence, managing to go to the city.
Soon, Blake noticed that the younger one was gone.
"Yang? Ruby's gone."
"What!? But she was here a second ago!"
"Let's try to find her in Vale!"
Ruby entered to an apartment block. Her teammates followed her without being noticed. The building was in a shitty zone of Vale, a bad suburb near Junior's club. Blake looked at Xiao Long, who was fondly worried about what could her sister be doing there.
"Let's get in."
The three sneaked inside the building and looked at the floor where the elevator was. It stopped on the last floor and then stayed there. It was where Ruby went. The three girls went upstairs to avoid suspects from Rose. While they were going up, they heard Ruby saluting someone and then the door closing.
The three girls speeded up and soon arrived at the floor where the younger one went. From the door on the right, there could be heard her voice, talking to someone.
"It won't fit, it's too big!"
Ruby was looking at the cookies' size, it wouldn't fit in the glass full of milk.
"It won't fit in your mouth either?" Asked Roman. "You are overreacting!"
Yang's eyes turned red but Blake ordered her to be quiet. Ruby's teammates kept hearing behind the door.
"Keep squishing it in until it's small enough to fit in my mouth then!"
"As you wish, my lady."
Then, Roman turned on the oven and Ruby tried to put the cookies in. She burned her fingers because of the heat.
"It's too hot to handle it!" She whimpered.
"Calm down, let me try." Offered Roman grabbing the hot plate from the counter.
"Enough!" Said Yang with fire burning around.
Blake and Weiss tried to stop her but it was too late. She shot down the door with Ember Celica and entered the apartment. He found Roman Torchwick and her sister covered in some kind of white dust.
"Great, now you spilled his milk on the counter." Complained Rose seeing the disaster that her bullet caused.
"Don't you dare to touch my baby-sister, Torchwick!" Yelled Xiao Long to the criminal.
"Ruby! What are you doing here with him?!" Asked Weiss scandalized.
"We're baking cookies."
"Are you dating?!" Asked Blake.
"No, we are just baking partners."
"Baking a 9-month cake?! How could you even speak like that while baking!?" Yelled Schnee. "You sounded as if you were…"
Xiao Long exploded in fire again. She made her way until finding Roman and grabbing the neck of his shirt.
"Torchwick, I swear to the gods that if you touched my baby-sister I will-..."
Ruby seemed to care less about Yang threatening her baking partner and with her cheerful voice said excitedly:
"We have enough cookies to eat all together. Roman, invite Neo too!"
And so, the day ended with a cookie party on Roman's secret apartment where he hides from the police. Ruby ended throwing up all the cookies she ate, Yang getting revenge of Neo and being kicked by her, Blake with her cat instincts trying to eat the small fish Roman had as a pet and Weiss so stressed that could plug her ponytail off.
Roman ended running away from the police as the neighbors had been complaining about the loud noise they were making.
So, this was a comedy fic very long to write but I owed it to my beta, who loves this rare pairing.
I will think about more Rosewick, but the next time more serious and dark *evil laugh*
All reviews will be answered via PM, read you soon!
Frozenheart7