A small wintery White Rose fic trade, based loosely off of Kuma's cute art~! Check it out on her blog at kumafromtaiwan,tumblr,com/post/132735006886
You can think of this as a normal life AU.
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Coat For Two
Weiss tapped her foot impatiently on the cold cement sidewalk, and bits of flurrying powder flew up at the movement.
All of Vale was covered in a thin layer of snow, the first one of the season. It had snowed overnight as the town had been sleeping, unaware, leaving them to wake in surprise to a world coated in dazzling white.
Despite the cold weather, Weiss' plans for the day hadn't been thwarted.
Ruby had called to make sure at 6AM sharp, setting Weiss' cellphone off at the ungodly hour to check and see if they were still going to have their date today as they'd planned.
The second Weiss had groaned and fumbled in the darkness to find her phone and answer it, squinting at the brightness of the screen, Ruby had already been speaking a mile a minute. The conversation had gone something like this:
"Ugh... Ruby-?"
"Weiss! Ohmygosh have you seen what it's like outside yet?"
"No. It's 6 in the morning, Ruby. Unless the apocalypse is upon us, I really don't care-"
"But it's sooooo pretty, Weiss! There's snow everywhere! It's suuuuper pretty! Everything's all white and silver and sparkly and magical and-"
"That's very nice, Ruby," Weiss had muttered hoarsely. "Unless the streets are covered, I'll see you at noon. Go back to sleep."
And with that, she'd hung up with a long-suffering sigh.
Part of her had hoped that the snow would melt by the time she'd need to be awake, but it didn't.
So she'd eaten a small, light breakfast, dressed herself in long, comfortable pants and fashionable snow boots, slipped herself into a soft, blue blouse, and then went to her closet to seek appropriate outerwear.
She'd selected a large, white trench coat – too large – she thought. But it had been Ruby's birthday gift to her, so she could hardly complain about it.
After pulling that on over her shoulders, struggling with the excess space in the coat left between itself and her body, she'd fixed her hair a bit. Knowing the breeze would be cold today, she'd left her hair down so it may shield the back of her neck – the trench coat buttons reached high enough that she shouldn't need a scarf.
She'd set a winter hat atop her head, and then had been off to the designated meeting spot in town to wait for Ruby.
And now here she was, standing on the sidewalk beside the snow-encrusted street, tapping her foot as she buried her hands in her oversized coat pockets. She cursed herself for having forgotten to think of gloves, and she knew her fingers were turning red, as were her nose and ears.
A gust of wind blasted by, ruffling her hair, and the rush of air from the passing cars didn't help either. She shuddered and sneezed, then turned her back to the wind, sniffling miserably.
But her misery thankfully didn't last much longer.
After another few minutes had passed, a distant call of her name alerted her, and she turned slowly to look across the street.
On the opposite side of the crosswalk, amongst a crowd of tired, serious-looking people dressed in blacks and grays, was a splash of vibrant red.
Ruby bounced up and down in her place, waving excitedly as she called out to Weiss. Her pale red coat matched the scarf around her neck, and despite the temperature, she was wearing her usual dress and leggings.
Weiss peeked up past her bangs and extracted one of her hands from the pockets to wave back and acknowledge that she'd seen her girlfriend.
As soon as the cars stopped and the crosswalk permitted the people to cross, Ruby bounded instantly to the head of the group. Weiss watched her with a smile, though she tensed a bit when Ruby neared her side of the street.
"Please don't trip..." she muttered.
Of course, Ruby almost did just that when she stubbed her shoe on Weiss' side of the sidewalk, but Ruby was nothing if not a fast-reacting girl. Instead of falling, she used the shift in weight to spin herself around, regaining her balance with ease and a grin.
Weiss sighed in relief, then headed over to her.
Naturally, Ruby came charging towards her at much greater speeds, so quickly that Weiss stopped short and feared the girl would plow right into her and knock them both over.
"Weeeeiiissssss!"
With arms spread wide, Ruby raced towards her not unlike an excited young child.
The older girl opened her arms and braced herself for the inevitable impact.
But it wasn't heavy at all. Ruby slowed herself down just in time to make the embrace gentle and relaxing, throwing her arms around Weiss' shoulders and lightly colliding with her.
"I'm sorryyyyy!" she mumbled against her coat. "Did you wait long for me? Sorry I was late, I realized halfway here that I forgot my phone at home so I had to go back!"
Weiss let out a long sigh, and it turned white in the air. She wrapped her arms around Ruby's back, thankful for her warmth now.
"So that's why you were late and didn't call..." she mumbled. "I was getting worried."
"Sorry!" Ruby nuzzled her face against her girlfriend's neck in apology. "Ohhh, Weiss you're so chilly! And you're shivering! I'm sorry I made you wait so long out here! Here, lemme help!"
Ruby took a step back, and Weiss almost pouted at the temporary loss of heat. But she watched the brunette with curious blue eyes as she unwound the red scarf from around her own neck.
Ruby kept half of it in place around herself, then reached up to loop the other half around Weiss' shoulders. She was careful with moving Weiss' hair, positioning the scarf underneath it so the material could rest directly against her cold skin.
Weiss shivered again at the change in temperature, but it was very much welcomed.
Ruby tied a loose knot in the scarf's ends, then grinned cheekily up at her girlfriend. Now, the two of them were bound together, made to stay close with only a few inches in between themselves.
While it may have appeared to be awkward and senseless, Weiss surprisingly had no complaints at the moment.
"There!" Ruby beamed, her round cheeks rosy and florid. "Any warmer?"
"A bit. Thank you, Ruby."
Weiss reached out her frigid hands and found Ruby's with them. She'd neglected to wear gloves today too, apparently.
But as soon as their bare skin came together, cold fingers curling against colder fingers, a tiny bit of warmth started to spread.
Ruby was about to say something, but Weiss stopped her, leaning down for a gentle greeting kiss. Ruby suddenly forgot about everything else in the world for a moment as she kissed back, pushing softly against those familiar, chilled lips.
Once they pulled away, a mutual puff of white rose up between them. Ruby kissed Weiss' cheek and giggled, and Weiss returned the gesture. She also murmured to Ruby to close her eyes for a moment, then proceeded to hold a ginger kiss over each of her girlfriend's eyelids.
When their little moment ended, Ruby remembered the cold hands in hers. She brought Weiss' hands up to her own chest and clutched them against her coat.
"Oohhh, Weiss! Your poor hands!" Ruby rubbed them vigorously between her own, trying to get some semblance of heat back into her girlfriend's fingers.
Weiss chuckled a bit, admitting to herself that it was actually helping a bit.
Ruby then kissed each of her hands multiple times in rapid succession, purposefully making loud smooching noises as she did so. She kissed all along her fingers, the backs of her knuckles, over her palms, and then along to the undersides of her smooth wrists.
"There!" she exclaimed. "How's that?"
"Again, much better, thank you." Weiss kissed the bridge of her nose appreciatively.
"Heehee, you're wearing that coat I got you!" Ruby noted. "Do you like it?"
"I like it plenty," Weiss said. "The question is whether or not it likes me. It's awfully large and it keeps letting the cold air slip underneath."
Even as she spoke, another breeze traveled by, causing a shudder to rake her body.
Ruby frowned and was silent for a moment, pondering. What she was thinking about, Weiss didn't know, but she had the feeling she'd soon find out.
And she did.
"I've got an idea!"
"Of course you do..."
"Here, here, lemme!"
Ruby stepped back a little bit, as much as the scarf allowed her to. She gave each of Weiss' hands one final kiss before letting them go.
Weiss watched her now, interest admittedly piqued.
Ruby's gaze was focused on her girlfriend's torso. She reached down and started to undo the buttons of Weiss' trench coat one by one.
Weiss' brow furrowed in confusion, and she simply had to speak up.
"Ruby? What in the world are you doing, you dunce? Are you trying to make me freeze to death?"
"Nope! Just the opposite, silly!"
Ruby flashed her a smile that ensured she knew exactly what she was doing.
Heaving another sigh, Weiss stayed still and accepted whatever the girl planned to do to her.
Ruby undid every button from bottom to top. She fiddled with the last button nearest Weiss' chin for a moment, then finally freed that as well, exposing Weiss' blouse to the cold air now.
Weiss couldn't help but hug herself, now colder than before without the coat secured up her front.
"A-And how exactly is this supposed to make me stay warm...?"
Ruby gave her a look that said 'I'm glad you asked'.
"Like this!" she declared out loud.
She took a few steps forward, quickly erasing the space between them. She moved the ends of the white coat to the sides, then slipped her arms around Weiss' waist, pressing close against her blouse.
The embrace was much more direct than before without the thick coat in between them. Ruby squeezed her tightly, nuzzling into the crook of Weiss' neck, her cheek cushioned by the scarf they were sharing.
"There!" she said proudly. "Now you can be suuuper warm, Weiss!"
The white-haired girl was still for a moment, surprised by what her girlfriend had done, but knowing she should've expected nothing less.
Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Ruby's back, tucking her into the excess space of the open coat. Ruby was just a lump hidden inside her coat, but neither of them cared about their outward appearance right now.
Inside the coat it was warmer than anything.
Ruby held her close, feeling the little shivers that were shooting through Weiss for a few minutes. She rubbed all up and down her girlfriend's back to try and keep her warm, and Weiss did the same for her.
It would've made much more sense to go inside a shop or restaurant to get warm.
But this way was more direct, more genuine, without heaters or fireplaces to do the work for them.
Now, they just used their own body heat against the elements, and they could still enjoy the fresh, crisp winter air and snowy scenery around them.
Ruby stayed close for a moment, humming happily, which transferred little vibrations onto her girlfriend's chest.
Weiss closed her eyes calmly, already dreading the moment when she'd pull away. In an effort to keep her there a bit longer, she kissed Ruby's hair.
"Are you warm enough?"
Ruby nodded enthusiastically against her collar.
"Mm-hm! I'm super snuggly!" she announced.
"I'm glad."
Ruby sighed, shifting her head downward a little bit, nestling herself against Weiss' chest. She hummed some more and pulled her in by the small of her back, her tone a little lower now, more private.
"I can hear your heartbeat, Weiss. It sounds so nice~"
Weiss had little else to say by means of response to that. So she merely hugged Ruby tighter and mumbled into her hair.
"Dunce..."
She didn't want it to end, so she relished every second for all it was worth.
Ruby kept close with her eyelids down, cuddling Weiss as if they were lying in a warm bed rather than standing outside on a public sidewalk in the freezing cold. Weiss' heart thumped steadily beneath her ear, and it almost lulled her to sleep while she was still on her feet.
Weiss got lost in their shared warmth as well, only keeping herself alert by holding multiple lazy kisses to Ruby's hair and temples. She breathed in slowly, savoring that familiar velvety scent of roses.
At long last, the shivering subsided, and both girls were perfectly warm.
Only then did Ruby pull herself away. She fastened Weiss' buttons back up to preserve the heat, then hopped up to kiss her lips again.
"Better now?"
Weiss rolled her eyes.
"How couldn't I be after that?" She returned the kiss sweetly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Ruby beamed. "Now if I'm not mistaken, we've got a date to go on! Let's go, Weiss! We can go to the movies and then grab some lunch and walk around the park..."
As she started listing off all the things she longed to do, Ruby took Weiss' hand in hers and started walking.
The red scarf was still around both their shoulders, so they stuck close to one another, side by side.
And as she followed her bubbly warm girlfriend with the florid red cheeks, Weiss felt she didn't resent her oversized coat or the cold so much anymore.
A/N: I'm always a sucker for writing some White Rose. And that little incident where it actually said "white rose" in the fic wasn't intended, but when I realized it had happened, I smirked and absolutely had to keep it~
Again, thanks to Kuma for doing the trade with me and for always sharing her incredible artwork with us!
If you like my work, you can support me on as Kiria Alice!
Please review!