Ruby giggled to herself as she pulled a hidden bag out of the freezer. She had been saving this snow for a special occasion, and not time seemed better than today. It was a sweltering 90 degrees outside, and everyone was miserable from the heat. If anything, Ruby was going to do her intended victim a favor.
Creeping up on an unsuspecting Weiss, who was reading something on her scroll, Ruby grabbed a handful of snow from the bag.
"Hey, Weiss," called Ruby, as she readied her arm.
Weiss lazily raised her left hand and turned around slowly. "I swear Ruby, this had better be impor-"
Weiss felt an ice-cold sensation on her face. The handful of snow didn't really drip down from her face, as most of it dissolved and drenched the white-haired girl.
The heiress was too shocked to even reply.
Only incoherent choking noises came from Weiss' throat. There were so many things not computing in her mind, that she couldn't do anything to confront Ruby.
"Surprise!" Ruby cheered as she readied another handful of snow. The air in the room seemed to go cold as Weiss calmly and silently walked past Ruby to the bathroom.
The door slammed shut. The blank look on her face made Ruby deeply uncomfortable. As soon as the door shut, Ruby could hear several unsettling things behind it. Like Weiss' angry yelling, for example; and, in addition, the sounds of Weiss knocking over a lot of stuff off of the bathroom counter.
Ruby knocked on the door timidly. A small white cake she had saved for for herself in her hand."Weiss, I got you a present to say sorry... it's... a snowball." She nervusly gave a half laugh as the door opened.
When the door fully opened, Ruby saw Weiss angrily huffing in place. Behind her, the bathroom was a mess. Toilet paper, toothbrushes, and soaps were everywhere.
With dead calm, Weiss walked up to Ruby. She took the snowball out of Ruby's hand, and hefted it a little, testing its weight. Then, cupping the snowball in one hand, Weiss held the back of Ruby's head with the other. With a swift motion, Weiss shoved the snowball into the cloaked girl's face.
Icing covered Ruby's face. Her silver eyes blinked in shock and Weiss couldn't help but feel a little guilty."I... guess I deserved that." She muttered looking down.
"Yes, you did." Weiss huffed as she stormed back to the desk to open Winter's letter. Ruby slowly walked back to the middle of the room. Dejectedly, she sat on Weiss' bunk, staring at the floor.
"S-sorry, Weiss. I just... wanted to have fun, is all..." muttered Ruby. She didn't even bother to clean off her face. She just sat there, thinking about what she had done.
Weiss sighed, "I know that Ruby. I don't think you would be able to hurt me if you tried. But we don't have time for fun when the White Fang are after us." She tore open the letter and began reading.
"I remembered; when you told us you'd never played in snow before, I mean. I thought that you'd smile and join in." Ruby said eating her own face. The memory of desperately wanting to play in the snow, combined with the almost robotic letter from her sister, didn't make Weiss feel good. In fact, it made her downright depressed. Why couldn't she just have a nice memory like that? She felt like she had been robbed of everything good.
Weiss' eyes began to water slightly. But, she couldn't let Ruby see this pain, this weakness. She tried to put on the strongest face possible for her."I'm a grown woman, Ruby. I don't need something like that," the heiress lied.
Ruby frowned, noticing Weiss had put up her wall. Usually she did that when talking about family - she guessed the letter must have had bad news."Well then - why don't we do what grown women do for fun?" Ruby smiled and took Weiss by the arm. Weiss was blushing furiously at Ruby's unintentional innuendo;"Best friends away!" Ruby declared, dragging her out.
"W-what are you doing?" Weiss stuttered. She wasn't sure which one was worse: that Ruby was making innuendos, or that the dirty part of her mind was filling in the blanks. But, maybe it was better this way. Maybe Ruby could take her mind off of the negative emotions she was feeling.
"Well you say my fun sucks - let's do your fun!" Ruby was pleased. Genius! If she couldn't cheer Weiss up, Weiss would cheer herself up!
Weiss squinted at Ruby. What game was she playing? Was she trying to ask her out on a date or something?
"Do you want to watch a movie, or something?" Weiss tenuously asked. In her mind, she figured that was the most 'normal' fun someone could have.
"Sure, what do you wanna see?" She tilted her head and smiled.
Wow Ruby was very good at putting people on the back foot. Weiss wasn't sure she liked calling the shots like this. "The Grimm Donalvido looks amazing; the ballet dancer went to my academy!"
Ruby internally cringed but chirped, "Great, let's go!"
But then, just as Ruby was going to lead Weiss out of the room, a few things struck her mind.
First of all, she had no idea about what Weiss was talking about. Secondly, if it was a good distance away, she had no idea how they were going to get where ever they were going. Ruby didn't have enough cash for a pack of gum, let alone an airship ticket and taxi fare.
"My treat, of course." Weiss smiled. If Ruby wanted to force her into this date she would make sure Ruby was miserable - maybe a meal at Le Mo Gar after their meal.
"Thanks Weiss, let's have a great women's night out!" Ruby said.'Girl's night out sounds better.' She thought bitterly.
Later that night...
"Can you pronounce this?" Ruby asked Weiss for at least the tenth time.
Weiss inwardly groaned as Ruby pointed out something on the menu. It was bitterly ironic that Weiss was the one dying inside instead of Ruby. But really, there are only so many times someone can answer that question before it became tedious.
After ordering for both of them through gritted teeth, Weiss massaged her temples. Ruby couldn't help but gush - "I'm really enjoying tonight Weiss, I'm glad we got to have your kind of fun for once."
"I'm glad you had fun Ruby." She said with genuine warmth.
"I mean that ballet? I always hated it but it was so...soo..."
"Moving?" Weiss supplied. Ruby had only said how moved she was 30 times on the walk between the show and restaurant.
"Exactly! That poor Beowulf, he deserved so much more." Ruby pouted as Weiss smiled sadly.
"You know Winter took me to the Ballet when I was 15. I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did." Weiss sighed.
Ruby didn't feel the wall between them. It was nice to have Weiss open up, but she didn't want her dwelling on sad memories either. "Did you always like ballet?" Ruby asked, hoping to make some small talk.
Weiss picked at her breadstick. She wasn't planning on eating it. She just needed to play with something while she thought."To be honest, I didn't really follow it until Winter introduced it to me... But from there, I've definitely become a fan," replied Weiss.
"So what made you pick Grimm Donalvino? Is it because of the girl you knew?" Ruby had her hands under her chin enthralled in the conversation. Weiss actively tried to repress the urge to demand she take her elbows off the table. "I've... always kind of related to Donalvino - he tried so hard to be a good Beowulf to impress the others, but when he falls in love with the human..."
"He realizes that he's a better Beowulf than they ever could be!" Ruby finished with a squee. "Like how you want to redeem your name!" She clicked her fingers.
"Exactly." She faked a smile. Torn between being sad about Winter's letter and overjoyed that she was actually opening up to Ruby. She tried to get back to the ballet topic; "What did you think of Amber anyway? She played the shepherd's daughter." She asked genuinely curious.
At that question, Ruby couldn't help but blush a little, in a low voice, Ruby mumbled, "I thought she was really pretty."
Weiss stopped picking at her breadstick and placed it on her plate. "E-excuse me?" she asked, surprised. Was... was Ruby attracted to girls?
"Everything she did was all graceful. She felt powerful... but not like Yang - but at the same time felt fragile like Blake. She reminded me a lot of you, Weiss - only tall and with black hair." Ruby began to ramble on and on.
Weiss simply blushed and tried to force this conversation back on track; "I-I meant the dancing!" Ruby grew embarrassed at her rambling.
"O-oh... Yeah, the dancing was good. I mean, the way she moved... I... damn , it's really hard to put into words! It was amazing!" she exclaimed.
Weiss sighed happily; "Anything specific?" She wasn't really expecting a real answer. She figured that Ruby didn't really have the vocabulary to express herself properly.
Ruby stammered for a minute. "She did this thing... with her arms during a turn in her first dance." She got up and perfectly emulated the dance, even managing the leap following it."This thing! It's so cool, if I do that with Crescent Rose I think even Pyrrha would be in trouble!"
Weiss tried to pick her jaw up off the floor. The dolt was a natural. "Do that again!" Weiss quickly demanded. Ruby looked confused, but did as she was told. The dance was executed as perfectly as the first time she did it. In fact, it was made even better by the little flourish Ruby added at the end.
Weiss quickly stood out of her chair and held Ruby's hands. "You're amazing! H-how did you do that so well?"
Ruby shrugged; "It's not as hard as doing a triple somersault passed a streetlight and into one of Roman's goons."
Weiss laughed a loud clear noise that seemed to ring in Ruby's ears long after it stopped, "Yeah, you're right! I never noticed how similar your fighting style is to ballet."
Ruby grinned at how animated Weiss had become all her woes seemed to be forgotten. "If you like me dancing I guess I'll have to take up ballet..." Ruby said in faux horror.
The heiress laughed; "What can I say, I love girls who can put on a show."
"I did not just say that out loud!" The heartbeat of horrified silence felt like an eternity to Weiss. Ruby smiled with a gentle blush. Soon the unpronounceable entre' arrived and they dug in with ate like a starving wolf, shoving large amounts of food and bread sticks into her mouth. Weiss at least made sure she had cut up her food properly before eating it.
"Tphish esh gewd!" Ruby exclaimed with her mouth full.
"Swallow," scolded Weiss.
Ruby made sure to swallow before repeating herself. "This is good!"
"So maybe your fun is just as good as mine... but there's one thing you forget." Ruby said with a typical lack of grace.
"Which is?" Weiss asked with amusement.
"You were just as involved with that food fight as I was." Ruby grinned and pointed, oddly reminiscent of the battle speech before said food fight.
"True." Weiss admitted
"You total-" Ruby almost fell off her chair. "D-did you just admit you were wrong?"
Weiss playfully crossed her arms. "What, do you think I'm so petty to deny the truth?" she said with an exaggerated pout.
"No, no! I didn't mean it that way!" Ruby anxiously replied, waving her arms. But, she stopped when she saw Weiss giggling to herself.
"Oh, Ruby, you're so easy to mess around with," the Heiress that she'd been had, Ruby began to laugh alongside Weiss. The pair laughed and laughed for a good three minutes. Although neither had noticed, apparently Weiss had put her hand on top of Ruby's in their mirth.
After The Meal
They decided to walk back to the school. The huge clock tower on the horizon lit up like...
Ruby laughed out loud, "You will never guess what I just realized."
"What?" Weiss asked genuinely curious. They had linked arms at some point on the walk, enjoying the closeness.
"I just now realized why Beacon is named beacon." Ruby laughed at herself.
Weiss gave her a blank look. "Because huntresses are beacons of hope?"
Ruby giggled and pointed - "The school is a giant beacon. It's guiding us home safe!"
Weiss stopped and considered it, "Huh. I never noticed that either."They stopped and stared at their school for a long saying a word.
"Thanks for coming out with me Rubes." Weiss said quietly. "I love our adventures as team but-"
Ruby shushed her, "I know." A bunch of fireflies danced around them as they cut through the Arc memorial park. Weiss had a hard time trying to find the right words to say. Ruby meant so much to her right now. She needed to say something, anything to let her know how much she cared about the hooded girl right now.
Eventually, Weiss settled on just flat out saying it. Shakily, she said, "Ruby... I... I think I... oh god, why can't say it... You mean SO much to me and I... I..."Weiss gave up and stomped off to sit on a nearby park bench. She cradled her face in her hands. Her eyes began to sting and her breath grew shallow. Why, oh why couldn't she say it? She thought she wasn't afraid to say it, but her nerves had failed her when it was the most important.
Concerned, Ruby sat next to Weiss and put an arm around her. Weiss appreciated the nice, calming warmth hat Ruby gave, but at the same time she felt it was more than she deserved. Someone who couldn't express what they felt didn't deserve something that nice.
"Weiss... I'm not too good at this. I've never been good at making friends or chasing boys or anything like that. People stuff was more Yang's department." She smiled and stroked Weiss' hair. It was so silky and soft. Her fingers flowed through it easily and the words came just as easy."I'm not going to try and use fancy words, but this feels nice. I don't know what else I can say - but we don't need to say anything, we don't need to call this anything." Ruby's voice shook every bit as much as the rich girl's body did. Weiss was clenching her fists, making them look as pale as her dress.
Ruby wanted nothing more than to hold those hands and tell her everything was fine. But she didn't know that - she didn't know if this was fine. She had never even held anyone's hand before tonight. She had never even thought of two girls... "All that matters is we have fun, right? If that means going to the ballet and laughing over dinner, that's what it is. If it means holding hands during boring movies - that's what it is." Ruby smiled but had tears in her eyes."I don't care what we call this, I just don't want to lose it." Her voice was lowered to a whisper.
Weiss was barely audible; "Could... you dance for me?" "If you really want it, I'll dance just for you," Ruby whispered back into Weiss' ear.
Standing up, Ruby wiped at her damp eyes. If she was going to make Weiss happy, then she needed to be giving it more than a hundred percent. She didn't need to be crying right now, she needed to be Ruby.
"For the lovely, lovely girl, Weiss Schnee," Ruby began to repeat the dance she had done for Weiss earlier.
Every hop, arm motion, flourish.
But, as she kept on dancing, Ruby began to improvise. The dance came to her as naturally as breathing. Soon, she was finding her own rhythm, her own style. It wasn't some imitation of a dance she had seen. It was all Ruby's- no, Weiss' dance. It was all for her, after all. Ruby lost her sense of everything else, except for Weiss. It was her that mattered right now.
With a final hop, Ruby finished her dance. Now that she was done, she made sure to give a small curtsey to Weiss. All she could hope for was that the heiress liked her impromptu performance. Though Weiss remained silent; her eyes were distant and foggy. Ruby would have given everything to be in her head then - and just drown in be able to understand her like this, to know her so completely was a burning desire she hadn't felt before.
Wait;
it was something that had been building - for the longest time she had put it down to just wanting a friend, then to latching on to her teammate. But now, she just wanted to be Weiss' world - because right now Weiss was her just stared. She had never felt more alive than right now, but had never been more terrified.
Weiss stood - her face an impassive mask. Unlike this afternoon there was no malice or hurt there. This was different - this was a feeling she hadn't felt before. All her life she had been isolated, alone. So much so, that now she was with Ruby, her brain had frozen. Her heart knew what it wanted; but her brain was coated in ice: a thick, thick ice that had been built up through countless wounds.
Winter, Father and Mother had all served to teach her that closeness meant pain."Distance is safe" Her brain said.
Her heart disagreed and it won the sham of a debate. Her lips met Ruby's - pressing against her mouth. Ruby flinched but shut her eyes, going along with it. Neither had kissed before, but just over a second later they parted. Their fingers remained interlocked on both hands.
"Weiss..." Ruby began.
"No labels, Rubes. We are us; nothing more. Don't take us away from me..." She begged.
Ruby tried to speak but instead just hugged her tight, as Beacon's light split the night in Arc memorial Park. In a way, Beacon was a very appropriate name for the school. It didn't just represent a beacon of hope in a tough world. It wasn't just a beacon to guide people safely home. No, it was more than that.
What it was, especially to Weiss and Ruby at this moment, was a beacon to find each other in the dark. Weiss had no idea that she could care about someone so much, yet a beacon led her to Ruby.
Ruby wanted to know that she could connect to someone again, after leaving all her old friends behind at Signal Academy. The beacon she had seen in the distance had led her to Weiss, and it had let her feel something she had been missing so much.
It was the beauty of it all. Now that they had found that special indescribable spark in each other, Weiss and Ruby didn't want to lose each other again; all the pain, all the anxiety and things that should have been said sooner had been let go. What they needed was each other, and nothing could possibly ever change that.
And Weiss and Ruby wouldn't have it any other way.