For the umpteenth time that hour, sitting on the hardwood floors of her brand new apartment and trying to fit two uncooperative pieces of wood together, Weiss Schnee muttered a string of unbecoming expletives.
The flat-pack furniture was Ruby's idea, really. So too was the notion that they should put it together themselves because it was somehow more 'domestic'. And really, Weiss should have pushed for something of better quality for their first home. Or at least something she could put together without an engineering degree or a taste for forging intricate and deadly sniper-scythes.
Weiss had only agreed because she'd been caught up in the whirlwind of trying to organize furnishing an entire house between her shifts at Schnee Headquarters and completing her final internship with her father. In the past few months, she's barely had the time to eat, sleep or really breathe, let alone pick furniture or a house. It's mostly been up to Ruby, with brief Scroll-conversations and picture exchanges, to do everything. The only time they've been able to really see each other is at night, when Weiss is too tired to do more than crawl into bed, and when Ruby is home to cuddle up to her side and soothe away the stress of the day with a gentle massage.
Really, it's a miracle she'd been able to clear time to do this—although she'd much rather be doing something else, like cuddling or watching a movie or just watching someone else put together this clearly defective furniture. The weekend off was only possible because she'd promised Ruby she would make time to help her move in and unpack months ago, and she'd dutifully cleared her schedule for it then, knowing in the back of her mind she'd have to pull a week's worth of late nights or evenings in the office to get back on top of her workload.
She'd felt rather guilty leaving everything to Ruby, choosing not just the furniture but their home, and she'd been looking forward to assuaging some of the stress that's no doubt been on Ruby's shoulders. The housewarming party, planned largely by Yang but aided and abetted by Ruby, is happening later tomorrow, and ideally her guests should have something to sit on—even if Weiss can't make it, the ghost of her hosting the event demands that there be adequate furnishings, decorations and entertainment.
Still, she's starting to doubt whether it was worth it; she'd rather be in the board room, tackling contracts and lawyers and businesspeople, than here struggling to put together some cheap furniture and failing.
"Really," Weiss hissed, abandoning her attempts to brute-force two pieces she was certain were the side panels of the dresser drawer together. "This is ridiculous. What incompetent engineer built this? I've seen better engineering from children."
Ruby looked up from the opposite side of the room, where she was happily putting the final touches on a multi-armed lamp. "It's not that bad!" she grinned, setting the finished product on top of the lightly-colored wood side table she'd constructed before that. "All you have to do is follow the instructions, Weiss. It's easy!"
Weiss was practically gritting her teeth, looking between Ruby's growing pile of fully-assembled furniture and her own, incomplete and haphazardly dumped pile of parts. "Only you could make sense of these deficient instructions, you dolt," she griped, sighing deeply; the competitive part of her, the egotistical part that told her she should be able to do this, was floundering in the face of Ruby's success. "Really, I wish you would have just let me pay somebody to do this for us."
"Nope, I like this better," Ruby grinned, practically prancing over to her girlfriend. "It's a bonding experience!"
The white-haired heiress pressed an exasperated hand to her face. "It's a travesty," Weiss replied, glaring between the unintelligible pictures (there was no way A1 and B4 slotted together like that, no matter how hard she'd tried) and her partner (who was smiling at her, edged with amusement). "This cheap, substandard furniture you somehow convinced me to buy has no right being so insufferably complicated!"
"It's not that hard, Weiss. Really!"
Weiss scowled. "Easy for you to say, dolt. We don't all have an eye for engineering."
"Yeah, but this is nowhere near as complicated as my baby," Ruby came to rest at Weiss' side, so close that their shoulders brushed and Weiss could smell the sweet fruity scent of the shampoo she liked. Ruby took the instructions from her girlfriend's hands. "Crescent Rose was, like, a hundred times more complicated than furniture. Try fitting a high-impact sniper rifle barrel into a scythe, now that's hard."
Weiss, who had seen Ruby take apart and put Crescent Rose back together with her eyes shut, was somehow doubting that her girlfriend's sense of difficulty was accurate to the average person. After all, not every Huntress designed and forged their own weapon, and Weiss had allowed Myrtenaster to be put together by the best minds in weapon design, not her own. She shouldn't need to be able to put together a deadly, engineering-masterpiece of a weapon to qualify her to build some furniture.
Weiss grumbled something unintelligible and unsavory under her breath, but she felt some of her annoyance abating under the weight of Ruby's smile; it was soft, sweet, the kind of sickeningly loving expression reserved only for Weiss, and that the heiress could rarely refute.
Still, the earnest love and excitement on Ruby's face, as always, whittled Weiss' resistance down. As always, despite all of Weiss' senses screaming that she should know better, she gave in to her. After all, she was doing this for Ruby – for the home and the future she was building, together with the idiot she loved. No matter how busy she got, or how frustrated, that was worth it.
"Alright," she sighed, reaching for piece A1 again. "Let's try this again."
It took the better part of fifteen minutes to put everything together, with Weiss constantly trying to shove the wrong pieces together or trying to put them on backwards, but through the power of teamwork and Ruby's frequent corrections, the two of them were almost done. The lightly-colored wood dresser she'd picked in the store was taking shape, only the drawers remained to be put together.
"Here," Ruby said, pushing two parts towards her; two panels, one the front face of the drawer with a gleaming silver handle, the other a long side panel with the track for the roller cut along its length. Each one had an odd shape cut into the side, wooden prongs like a zipper, that, according to the instructions Ruby had cast aside, were supposed to go together.
Weiss, in a slightly less foul mood now that their progress was smoothing out and the pile of pieces was slowly coming together into furniture, reached for them. "No screws?" she asked, considering the strange shapes along the edges.
"Nope," Ruby chirped, knee bumping against Weiss'. "Just wedge them together."
There was a frown of Weiss' face. "That doesn't seem structurally sound."
"Do you know what these are called?" Ruby was looking at her, that sappy and loving smile that let Weiss know she was about to make a completely terrible and sugary-sweet gesture.
Her face was deliberately blank, the hint of mortification already building; she could feel the aura of affection in the air, thick and strong, and if she'd been in one of those dumb cartoons that Ruby and Blake liked to watch together, Ruby would have been standing before a backdrop of roses and hearts.
"They're called Dovetail Joints," Ruby replied, the hint of a cheesy grin on her face. She reached out to grab Weiss' free hand, linking their fingers tightly together and squeezing gently. "They don't need screws or nails or glue to keep them together, because they support each other, able to carry each other's weight. They hold each other tight, like holding hands, and never let go. Just like us."
Silver eyes were gazing at her, utterly lovesick and so sweet, and Weiss could feel the heat building across her cheeks and the flutter in her chest—because damn it, Ruby knew that all this lovey stuff got her embarrassed.
"Well, I…" Weiss spluttered, licked her lips, unable to meet the intensity of the gaze. Ruby knew exactly what she was doing, damn it! She knew that Weiss was still very awkward at expressing her emotions, and accepting raw affection, no matter how many years they'd been together! "You—"
Her opposite hand was wrapped tight enough around the drawer face to turn her knuckles white, contrasting with her crimson cheeks. "You dolt," she finally choked out, embarrassed by the squeeze of emotion in her throat, the pure love and yearning in her heart to be closer to Ruby still. "I can't put it together if you're holding onto my hand like that."
Most would have taken her brusque tone as dismissive, or unloving, but Ruby was nothing if not perceptive; she had become accustomed to Weiss' ways in the five years since they had first met, and the three since they had started dating.
Ruby's face was bright, the unspoken words clear in the hue of Weiss' cheeks, and she released her captive hand with a final squeeze. However she couldn't resist leaning over, pressing her lips to the burning skin, then to the corner of Weiss' lip, and then finally, when her girlfriend tilted her head to look at her, kissing her fully on the mouth, chaste but sweet.
"I love you," Ruby grinned as she leaned backwards. "You're my Dovetail Joint!"
Weiss blanched at that, but she was smiling. "That doesn't sound romantic at all, you idiot," she sighed, heart warming as her face cooled. "But I love you too. For some strange reason."
"Hey!"
"Now let's get back to putting this together," Weiss made a show of turning back to the furniture, unable to swallow the curl of her lips as she began fitting the two opposite but jointly-strengthened pieces together. "I'd like to finish putting together our furniture sometime this century."
Sitting happily at Weiss' side, watching with a warm smile as her girlfriend fit the pieces together, Ruby felt contentment in her heart. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in their unfurnished bedroom with the love of her life, it felt like her life was coming together. The future she'd always dreamed of as a girl, with a partner and friends and a house and her own family was slowly coming to life. And she loved it.
"I'll always be here to support you, Ice Queen!" she used the old nickname, just to provoke the groan. "Just like our furniture!"
Weiss huffed, predictably, glaring over her shoulder. "Ruby," she growled. "Shut up and make yourself useful. Before I kill you with this cheap, over-complicated garbage."
"I thought you liked it in the photo I sent you!"
"I liked it a lot more before I had to put it together!"