The smell of her perfume permeated the entire apartment. Everywhere she went, be it the bathroom or the closet, the overpowering scent of smashed flowers would be waiting. Call her crazy if you'd like but Blake was at the end of her rope. She was damn near about to wrap day-old socks under her nose just to breathe better.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"Hm?" The petite woman looked up from her magazine, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.
If Blake hadn't known Weiss since childhood she'd have fallen for the 'who, me?' vibe. As it was she merely blinked, unimpressed, and shot her a look so flat it could've ironed her dress while she was still in it.
"Don't act coy with me," Blake rolled her eyes, "I'm certain you know what I'm talking about."
"No, I don't." The magazine was shut with a snap and placed on the coffee table. The headlines on the glossy front page revealed it to be about high-brow fashion, which funnily enough, made her eyebrow twitch.
"This is the tenth time this week that you're slacking off in my apartment." The dark haired woman stressed the word with all the strength she could muster, as if trying to emphasize the absurdity of the situation. "Why?" She asked, even though she already knew.
Weiss huffed and twirled a strand of white hair around her finger. "I'm merely spending time with one of my friends." A finely trimmed eyebrow rose. "Which happens to be you, Blake."
"Weiss, we spend upwards of eight hours together at work. I scarcely imagine you'd want to see me after hours in this dingy, poorly ventilated apartment." Blake said, using the exact words the other woman used the first time she visited.
Though insulting, she knew Weiss had meant well. Living in the wealthier parts of town where people fretted over pressed suits and poodles meant that it was no surprise she was unaccustomed to anything less. Her bedroom was larger than Blake's kitchen, a fact that never ceased to amuse and amaze.
"Stop selling this place short," Weiss scolded gently, making Blake mime gagging on a peanut, "Your landlord would be upset if he caught wind of it."
And there it was. The reason why she'd been coming over so frequently and filling the air with smelly designer perfume. "I know you like him, so please just ask him out." The bow wearing girl begged from her seat at the dining table. "For both our sakes."
Desperate for some air, Blake raced towards her windows to throw it open. She stuck her head out and took a deep breath of the musky, city air filled with all sorts of carbon, and sighed gratefully. It was wonderful.
Weiss spluttered. "Y-You..."
"Why are you so shocked?" Came the exasperated voice from the head outside the window. "You weren't subtle with the staring and the dreamy sighs. I could've been blind and still guessed it." Six stories below, a car on the road honked. The sound of it causing a chain reaction of other honks that had air vibrating with varying levels of honkiness. It was pure madness. But it was still preferable to the stink inside her apartment and Weiss's stuttering. "Go for it or so help me, I will–"
The doorbell rang.
Weiss ignored her friend's surprised gasp and leapt out of her seat. Checking her reflection in the mirror hanging by the door – it was strategically placed there for a reason – she smoothed down the wrinkles on her dress and cleared her throat. With a faux dignified air about her, she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and twisted it.
The creaky wooden door with flaky paint slowly opened to reveal the man Weiss had been actively crushing on these past few months.
Rayeth Rose, or Ray for short, beamed at her with all the sparkling brilliance of a supernova.
"Oh! Hey, Weiss!" He chirped.
"Hello, Rayeth." She swallowed and offered him a smile of her own. "It's been awhile since I've seen you." Stay calm Weiss, stay calm.
"Three days, to be exact. How have you been? Good, I hope!"
She observed that he was wearing the cutest checkered vest she'd ever seen. The man suited black and red as much as she did white, which meant a lot. "I've been fine, thank you. And you?"
"I've been great!" He laughed.
Weiss giggled at his energetic reply. "So… what brings you to Blake's apartment today?"
"Right, right." Rayeth handed her two envelopes streaked black lettering. "Here are the invitations to the housewarming party. I've already given one to everyone else. It's a tradition to hold one whenever someone moves in, though in the past people usually invited themselves." He added, as an afterthought. "It's been awhile since someone moved in so I thought it would be nice to make it official."
Weiss glanced at the names on the envelopes and couldn't stop the small smile that crept onto her face. "There's one for me?"
He nodded, starting to bounce on the balls of his feet. The action would've looked downright weird if anyone else were doing it, but on Rayeth it just seemed utterly natural. She also found the way his bangs flopped about to be unspeakably adorable. "That's if you want to come." He added quickly, "I didn't mean to assume."
"I'd love to."
"Great!" Weiss returned his smile and ran a hand through her hair. It seemed to have the desired effect of having him pause to stare at her for several seconds, but the moment was over as soon as it came because Blake's yelling was getting too loud to ignore.
Rayeth glanced over her shoulder to stare at his tenant, whose head was currently stuck outside the window. He wondered if she was okay.
Weiss coughed into her palm to get his attention.
"Oh, and you don't have to bring anything to the party, if you were wondering." He said, scratching his cheek. "Ren and Nora volunteered to bring food."
There stood there, staring at each other before Rayeth averted his gaze.
"Well… I'll be seeing you." The smile he gave her was surprisingly shy. Weiss forced down the urge to get down on one knee, and instead waved goodbye as he disappeared down the hallway, presumably to his office downstairs.
Blake shut the window with a soft click and turned to look at Weiss, who wore a dreamy expression as she floated back to the sofa. Her lips quirked up into a small smile. A small step forward was better than nothing.
She snatched an envelope out of her hand and fell onto the open space beside her. She could hear Weiss carefully tearing it open as if it were made from origami paper. Blake had just torn open her own and unfolded the letter inside to read it when a shrill squeak echoed throughout the apartment.
"I-It's…" Weiss choked. "It's…"
Blake sighed and turned to look at her. Or more specifically, the paper in her hands. She whistled, amber eyes widening when she realized what she was looking at.
It was a written invitation identical to hers, with the exception of the string of numbers at the bottom. Blake found herself grinning widely at Weiss's expression and folded her arms.
"Well it's about time." She muttered, as Weiss regained sanity and began flailing about. There was going to be so much to do before the party.
A/N:
This was supposed to be an angsty whiterose one shot set in highschool but somehow… it turned into this fluff filled thing. Oh well. The addition of platonic monochrome made the overall story funnier, in my opinion. Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to write Blake hating on Weiss's perfume!
In any case, I hope you enjoyed this short fic. Let me know what you think!