- - - I've Never Been Human - - -
This chapter is painfully short, and for that I'm sorry, but it serves it's purpose and I'm okay with that.
RWBY isn't something I think I'd have gotten into on my own, so I owe a friend for this fanfics existence, you'll also have to be patient with me as it's been awhile since I wrote anything and I'm still learning all the inns and outs of the series, so if I get something wrong feel free to point it out. Anyway, enjoy~
Also, thank my friend for the pairing, too. I was going to go with Blake and Ruby 3
- Introduction
RUBY
Ruby practically flew into the classroom, ten minutes late and followed by a trail of water, not to mention the soggy remains of her books as they slowly fell apart in her arms. Nevertheless she was grinning ear to ear as she finally swung her legs under the table and slid along the chair toward Weiss, splashing water up her side in the process.
"Ruby!" Weiss scolded under her breath, a look of utter horror spread across her features as she hastily began drying herself with her sleeve and groaning in frustration. Ruby began her long line of apologise, but Weiss wasn't really listening. Yang gave her the thumbs up from just behind Weiss' head, and Ruby happily excepted the 'yay, you made it' and responded with a double thumbs up 'just in time'.
Yup, her morning had gone pretty well if she said so herself, she'd even had time to stop by the cafeteria and pick up a jumbo sized muffin, which was safely tucked away in the pocket of her coat. She licked her lips at the thought of eating it, then several seconds later she was licking her lips to rid them of the delicious chocolatey substance that just seemed to get everywhere no matter what she tried.
She glanced up on occasion, pretending to listen to the teacher, and pretending to care about the disappointed looks Weiss kept shooting her, but she didn't really care about anything right now except her wonderfully amazing muffin.
Muffin muffin muffin! She thought happily, mentally singing her own muffin tune, right up until it was gone and the wonderful joys of muffins was replaced with a crippling sadness and empty feeling. Had she been looking at Weiss at the time she would have seen her roll her eyes before reaching into her pack and pulling out a small box of cookies.
Instead all Ruby noticed was the table, her soggy books, no muffin and then the wonderfulness of Weiss' hand accompanied by a mysterious box, that upon further inspection, contained more sugary goodness. Of course they didn't last much longer but by now Ruby was quite content and infinitely satisfied.
She understood how she must seem to others, childish, silly. Only her sister really knew that her quirks went a bit beyond her youth, or lack thereof. She pouted, sometimes she wished that she'd age just a little faster, perhaps not as fast as Weiss and Blake would age, but at least fast enough to suggest a few more years than she currently had under her belt. Or appeared to have.
"I'm all out." Weiss whispered, not bothering to take her eyes off the teacher. Ruby realized she probably looked like she was sulking again and she mentally kicked herself. "You eat too much of that junk, anyway."
"Do not." Ruby huffed defiantly, to which Weiss flicked her sapphire gaze at her own silver eyes, a very brief contest of wills that Ruby quickly lost, she knew never to hold the 'don't answer back when you know I'm right' look. Even if in this particular instance Ruby knew she was right, because she didn't eat too much. In fact, for her body to continue running at its optimal performance she should be eating nearly three times as much.
Aaand Ruby was thinking too much. Winter always did that to her, though.
Class went on far longer than Ruby would have liked, and she swore each time the class got just that little bit longer, and that she couldn't possibly have checked the clock six times and not have seen even the slightest movement. Regardless, the moment the teacher had excused them she was flying down the corridors towards the dorm so she could change into something a little, well, dryer, then go get dinner. Because she loved dinner, and after dinner would be desert!
"You're a spaz." Yang laughed, entering the room shortly after, closely followed by Blake and Weiss. Ruby stuck her tongue out playfully before gathering her change of clothes and heading towards the bathroom. Blake made for her pile of books and Yang and Weiss bee-lined towards the T.V, which the group has begged Weiss to buy.
Ruby shut the door firmly behind her before she practically ripped off her clothes, they wear still soaked and the clung to her like a second skin, and by the time she'd managed to wiggle out of them she was hot from all the effort. She collapsed against the sink in an overly dramatic way before lazily draping her skirt across her face, for absolutely no particular reason other than the fact she thought it might be amusing, which it was. Briefly. Then it was hotter.
Ruby has always been particularly susceptible to heat, ever since she was young, while Yang was the complete opposite. Though that was largely due to the fact they had different fathers. Neither of them had ever known their 'dads' personally, and their mother had never spoken of them, or even given them their names. Mostly it was just anxiety over being left with children she couldn't take care of.
"Hey, Ruby, did you want to-" the door swung open so quickly Ruby barely had time to cover herself with a towel and shout "Out!", which shocked Weiss, whom Ruby only identified by the brief glimpse of white she'd seen before she dove behind the shower curtain.
"Calm down, I was only-"
"Get out!" Ruby snapped again, and though she didn't know it her voice was harsh and it sent a pang of hurt and confusion into Weiss' heart. Yang's voice carried through the door moment later. "Don't worry, Weiss, she's just shy."
"Well she didn't need to be a bitch about it." Weiss snapped, turning on her heel and storming out. Yang on the other hand inched into the room and shut the door behind her, whispering to her sister.
"Do you think she saw them?"
Ruby peaked nervously from behind the curtain and shook her head. "She would have said something, but she almost did! I was completely naked and practically standing in front of the door!"
"Be more careful, then." Yang joked.
"Shut up and let me get dressed." Ruby huffed. She felt guilty for having yelled at Weiss the way she did, and she wanted to get dressed quickly and go apologize. Yang didn't need to be told and she was gone as quickly as she'd come leaving ruby once again alone in the white tiled room.
What if Weiss had seen? Just like that, everything would have been over. She shuddered, no, that was not something she should consider. She'd just have to be more careful about locking the door from now on.
WEISS
Weiss never did much like the cold, which seemed a little cliché considering ice was really her go to element. In fact most things about her could be considered cold, from her snowy attire to her chilly disposition. She smirked under her covers but not out of any real amusement, more because she was making herself feel uncomfortable.
In truth, she always preferred red, hot, toasty. The colour of love and of passion. Red was by far her favourite colour though her parents always scolded her, said red was the colour of anger, blood and war. These things she could see were true, but was blue not the colour of sadness? White, nothingness? Is that what they wanted for her? She rolled over again, pulling the blankets more tightly around her thin frame and willing the storm outside to cease.
She could hear Ruby in the bed above, snoring loudly and occasionally mumbling in her sleep. Every time she moved the ropes would shudder under the pressure and Weiss always worried it might come down on her one day. She sighed and rolled onto her back, staring up at the wooden frame and mattress that separated her from the person she wanted to look at. She never got to see Ruby sleep.
She couldn't really lie. It had hurt when ruby had yelled at her earlier, even if Weiss had been in the wrong. She hadn't considered it until now but she'd never actually seen Ruby change, it was always her, Blake and Yang. She supposed that maybe Ruby just wasn't as comfortable, she was younger after all, maybe she was paranoid about her breasts? Weiss shrugged.
In truth, she was very fond of the lunatic, excitable and happy to a fault, perhaps not as bad as Nora, but crazy all the same. She was a pain during class, and god how Weiss wished she would just pay attention, but she made things fun. Made things easier. In truth, without ruby, Weiss would have quit everything and just disappeared under a rock by now.
If it wasn't the pressure of her family, the school and the general population with their expectations unfairly high it was the fact that she never really got to be herself, never got to be light-hearted light Ruby, or quite like Blake. Never got to be boisterous like Yang or as stupid as Jaune. She never got to do a lot of things, and she never would.
She considered her life as a commoner for a moment, easy, relaxing, a little bit of hard work here and there to put food on the table. No press, not practiced speeches, no more white or blue. She could be herself, and herself could be anyone. She could be a dancer, a singer. Maybe she'd paint? She loved painting, well, she loved the idea of painting.
Maybe sculpting? She'd like to work with her hands. Her hands that were currently frozen.
"Fuck, it's freezing." Came the way too hearty voice of Yang in the bed across from her. Practically mimicking Weiss' thoughts.
At least she wasn't the only one to notice.
"Yup." A voice responded from the bed bellow Yang's, followed by the sound of a turning page.
"Hey, Blake! Wanna snuggle?"
"No."
"Aww"
"Would you two shush." Ruby grumbled.
Weiss grinned instantly at the chance to further provoke her best friend and after a very brief moment of silence she said in her best matter of fact tone. "It is very cold."
Ruby swung an arm over the edge of the bed to wave it grumpily at Weiss but Yang and Blake already knew the game and after a few seconds delay Blake said in monotone "Freezing."
Yang then replied loudly "Very, very cold!"
The room fell silent for several minutes and Weiss could do nothing to stop the grin plastered across her face. It was a grin of anticipation as she slowly took a breath and asked "Say, Ruby, don't you think it's cold?"
Ruby almost howled, her arm flailing wildly before disappearing back presumably under her covers. She rolled over, then again and then again follow by some more complaining. The room eventually fell into silence, and that was when Ruby huffed and slid out, landing with a light thud beside Weiss' bed.
"Alright, I'm up." She said grumpily, but her face quickly lit up, as it always did, and after a few celebratory insults between Ruby and her sister everyone was up and snuggled up in Blake's bed, because Blake always refused to move, watching early morning cartoons on the T.V.
Overall, it was pretty much what they did every morning, only slightly earlier, and with more snuggling because of the cold. Which was great, of course… That didn't stop Weiss from noticing that Ruby seemed uncomfortably close to Blake, or more to the point, uncomfortable too far away from her. They always snuggled up to watch T.V, had she upset Ruby that much? She didn't mean anything by it...
She sighed, maybe she was over thinking it. Yeah, that was it.