"Tell them twenty percent or no deal... Absolutely not! That figure is insulting."
Blake rolled her eyes behind the book she was reading. Or attempting to read at least. It was slightly difficult to do while her girlfriend was shouting into her scroll the next room over. The Faunus was just a bit peeved that Weiss had taken the call at all, since it had interrupted the dinner Blake had spent hours preparing. When Weiss had left to take the call, scroll in hand and an apology on her lips, Blake had assumed the it would not take very long and they would be able to continue their meal once Weiss had hastily tortured her assistant of the week.
This assumption had of course been made nearly an hour ago. Blake had long since wandered away from the small table near her modest apartment's kitchen and retrieved the novel she would be reviewing that week. The book review column wasn't her priority assignment, but rather a once temporary undertaking that had become popular among readers of the paper Blake worked for as a political journalist.
This column was actually how Blake and Weiss had meet, ironically enough. Blake had been covering the Schnee corporation and the business dealings of the Schnee family for most of her career. They always seemed have a hand behind every major political event in Atlas for the last forty years, sometimes more blatantly than others, but always leaving the scent of lien in wake. Despite this, Blake had been brought into contact with the heiress to Schnee Industries when Weiss had written a scathing email to Blake, responding to a favorable book review the Faunus has penned.
In this email, Weiss had referred to Blake as a tasteless buffoon, but nonetheless it began a correspondence that blossomed into friendship which soon became a romantic relationship when, as Blake's best friend Yang put it, 'the amount of useless lesbian energy reached critical levels'.
Blake now closed the book with a sigh, fingers pressed against the glossy cover. She had really wanted to spend quality time with Weiss tonight. It was very difficult for Blake to not feel as if her partner valued work over her, like she was a distraction to be brushed aside. Maybe she should have expected something like this to come up, it always seemed to these days.
What she could not expect was the darkness that suddenly fell across the room. Blake blinked allowing her eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. The power must have gone out. This had not happened before, however Blake wasn't very surprised. Her building was not exactly state of the art to say the least.
"...I'll call you back." Blake's Faunus ears swiveled to hear an out of sight Weiss say. "Blake?"
Blake head the soft pad of footsteps approaching but did not respond. She stood up and opened the window curtains, allowing the moon to cast dim luminance into the room. Her human lover was grateful for this as she switched off her scroll's flashlight.
"Looks like the entire block is out." Blake said, turning away from the window towards Weiss.
"How long until backup generators kick in?" Weiss questioned.
Blake shrugged, a gesture that was visible in the soft outline the moonlight had formed around her. "I'm not sure if there is a backup."
The space between Weiss' brows wrinkled a bit at that, but she did not comment, although knowing for a fact her penthouse style apartment was supported by three different auxiliary power sources if a situation as this one were to ever arise.
"But..."
Weiss watched the sharpening of Blake's features that appeared when she was uncertain or hiding deeper frustrations.
"I have candles. Would you like to finish dinner?"
The other women blinked. Something felt strangely. "I- Yes. Of course."
Blake knew she had a box of matches somewhere, but could not produce them in a quick search of her kitchen. She opened a desk drawer in the living room area. Laying within was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The cigarettes weren't hers, neither was the lighter. Both had been left by her friend Sun who made an effort every few months to quite smoking before falling off the wagon again. These particular articles had been stashed in the drawer when Sun had dramatically demanded Blake take them away from him and "feed them to Yang's evil snake pet for all he cared". Not wanting to harm any reptiles, she'd put them in the drawer to be forgotten about until this moment.
She then carried the candle back to the table, hand protectively cupped around the small flame. Then, Blake used it to ignite the other two candles' wicks.
"Well, I don't suppose you would care for some wine to add to this candlelight affair?" Weiss asked, voice softened by an undertone of trepidation that did not belong.
Blake appraised her girlfriend, a curious engagement of her eyes searching the Schnee's bright blues. There was a distance there the Faunus couldn't identify. "...Sure."
Blake sat down, now cold pasta and chicken (because Blake had noticed Weiss preferred poultry to the seafood dishes the Faunus treasured) still occupying their previously abondonded plates. By candle light, the table's landscape felt fuller, space that before had been empty now claimed by the fickle shadows that constantly collapsed and rose with the candles' flames.
Weiss soon returned with one of the bottles of red wine she had stored weeks ago in an empty bottom cabinet. When she had begun this miniature stockpile, the only wine cellar Blake's tiny apartment could withstand, Weiss had told Blake that she would be thanking her later even if Blake seemed uncertain at the time. Blake now both thanked and blamed Weiss, first for supplying the best wine Blake had ever tasted and secondly for ruining the cheap wine that someone with Blake's salary could actullay afford.
Weiss poured their glasses and took her seat across from Blake. There was a moment of silence before Weiss said, "I'm sorry. I realize now that I've been an idiot."
Blake tried not to let the surprise show too strongly on her face. Apoligies from Weiss were of seldom and difficult birth. "Oh?"
Weiss took a sip of wine before making eye contact. "Yes. I should not have let work come between our time together... again. Especially not on our anniversary."
Blake reached the short distance across to take one of Weiss's fidgeting hands into her own. "I thought you had forgotten."
The shame in the other's face tripled. "I- I had. I'm so sorry, Blake. I'll try and make it up to you."
The Faunus's heart fluttered fondly at the vulnerability Weiss was displaying. The wounded feelings she had begun harboring in her chest since she first established her lover's forgetfulness suddenly began to dissolve. "I'll be honest, I was a bit hurt at first. I'd been looking forward to tonight all week."
The look across Weiss's features was pained. Blake continued, " But it's okay. You already are making it up to me."
The disbelief that fell upon the blue eyed woman's expression made Blake smile.
"You are. By being here now. Even if it took a city wide black out."
"At most, it was one street-"
"And... I will happily give you many more oppurtunites to make it up to me tonight." Blake finished, the gleam in her eye more pronounced in the warm lighting.
Weiss felt her stomach flip as her girlfriend used that voice.
"After we finish dinner of course."
"Of course." Weiss replied with great practicality showcased in her tone, even as her fair skin was beginning to color with images of all the ways she might redeem herself.
And she did.
A/N Shoutout to S30M4NVOG3L for letting me know I'd uploaded the wrong doc. Sorry bout that, y'all. Feedback is always appreciated.