Ruby listened to the soft thrum of the airship's engines and looked around. The cabin was mostly empty, save for the few Beacon students that were already mourning the loss of another weekend. Ruby shifted her attention to the window next to her. The giant lake passed below, the last rays of sunlight still flicking across its shimmering surface. She absentmindedly hummed a tune to herself. Even though she could have put on the headphones that were around her neck to listen a song, she chose not to. Ruby focused on the reflection on the window and saw Weiss in the seat next to her.
The heiress was sitting with her spine straight and hands in her lap, ever the pinnacle of grace. She kept her icy blue eyes forward and said nothing, undoubtedly busy being in her own little Weiss world with her Weiss thoughts. Ruby smiled and kept humming, her own mind wandering back to the café the two partners had just left.
When Ruby had walked into the café that afternoon, she only wanted to have a cup of coffee and relax with the latest issue of "Weapon" magazine. It was like fate had forced her to do so by making the day just chilly enough to make any prolonged walks outside unpleasant. So when she had walked in and saw who she assumed to be Weiss in the café, she strongly considered turning around to find somewhere else, but the cold wind had bit down to her bones, and the café was nice and warm. Besides, she had only caught a glimpse of a girl with white hair wearing white and blue clothes, but that could have been anyone.
Though she had wanted the white-themed blur to be her partner, Ruby told herself that Weiss wouldn't want to spend time with her outside of an academic setting or without the rest of the team. So the redhead had decided that the best thing to do would be to drink her coffee and read her magazine without looking to see whether it was Weiss or not. Ignorance was bliss. Ruby felt her cheeks heat up and she pressed her lips into a thin line. It hadn't been her best plan.
When Weiss had suddenly appeared in front of her at the café, Ruby was afraid that her heart would stop beating. In the span of a second, she acknowledged that Weiss had voluntarily approached her to talk, which either meant that the heiress genuinely wanted to talk or Ruby had done something to upset her, which could have led to an awkward discussion about how Ruby figured that putting a vial of dust in a microwave was a good idea. Fortunately, Weiss didn't seem to know about that incident, and Ruby planned to take that secret to the grave. Instead, Weiss had been intent on offering a friendly chat, which Ruby had been willing to go along with. That was until her stupid mouth ran off and asked if Weiss would've preferred leaving instead of staying there with her.
Weiss had displayed some hesitation at first. When she left, Ruby had felt ashamed and leaned as far as she could to watch Weiss walk up the street, unfazed by the cold winds even though her legs were bare. The redhead settled back in her chair and opened her magazine, prepared to stew in self-loathing for telling Weiss off when she was actually making a move to be friendly.
But she had come back.
"Ruby," Weiss said, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder.
"Huh?" Ruby blinked and looked at her partner.
"Come on. The ship docked." Weiss removed her hand and stood. Ruby felt an odd coldness on her shoulder, but she ignored the feeling and followed the heiress off the ship.
The lamp posts leading up to Beacon were already lit as the partners walked across the campus. There were other stragglers from the airship, but Ruby didn't notice them. She focused on the sound of her boots on the stone walkway and the icy breeze that had been prevalent for the entire day. Weiss was to her right, which she knew because the heiress' ponytail brushed against Ruby's shoulder when the breeze was particularly strong. The redhead felt a lazy smile spread across her lips.
"Did you remember to finish your homework today?" Weiss suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked at the heiress. She was met by a calculating stare. "Of course I did. Why, did you forget about it?"
Weiss sniffed. "I was done with it by Friday night. I just want to make sure you're paying attention to your studies."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "You really need to learn how to relax."
"Excuse me?"
The pair had gotten to the doors for their dormitory. Ruby opened the door and stepped in, waiting for Weiss to catch up. The heiress wore her usual frown, probably not used to having someone enter a room before her.
"I'm just saying," Ruby said as she started going up the stairs, "you need to live a little."
"Just because I like to take my studies seriously does not mean I don't know how to relax." Ruby could imagine Weiss sticking her nose just a little higher in the air, but she didn't turn around to see. It would've been a gesture that annoyed the redhead when the two first met, but as time wore on; Ruby couldn't help but find some humor in it. She wondered if Weiss ever stopped to think about how silly she acted.
The redhead refrained from answering for as long as possible before Weiss threw a tantrum. When she could see the heiress bursting at the seams in her mind's eye, Ruby asked, "Then what do you do for fun?"
"We're still having this conversation?" The heiress' words still had a sharp bite to them, but Ruby was disappointed that Weiss actually wasn't as annoyed as she had let on. They reached their floor, passing by the familiar, unremarkable walls and doors that became a blur of the life at Beacon. Ruby stepped a little closer to Weiss to see if the heiress would give an answer. Maybe she was just thinking so hard about it that she couldn't commit to a single answer. When Ruby saw their room and had not been given a response, she deflated.
Weiss stepped forward and produced her scroll to unlock the door. She pushed it open and stepped aside. Ruby was surprised to see that the heiress was smiling. She must have caught on to Ruby's attempts at riling her. Clever girl.
"So, any plans for tonight?" Ruby asked. She took off her headphones and put them on a desk.
"I am still not hungry from all that junk food we ate," Weiss said.
"Yeah, but it was good, wasn't it?"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to comment on the chocolate-frosted chocolate cookie you bought."
"I will. It was goooood." Ruby hopped onto her bed and started to untie her cloak.
"It was also the size of your head." Weiss walked around their beds to get to her luggage.
"And it was all for me," Ruby said with a yawn, "because a certain teammate wanted to eat a piece of carrot cake instead of helping me."
"Oh please," Weiss shook her head. "I'll follow your orders and I will fight any Grimm, but assaulting the calorie monster is something you will always do by yourself."
"Yang would've helped me," Ruby sang. She hung up her cloak and rolled to the other side of the bed. She saw Weiss picking up a white bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "What'cha doin?"
The heiress looked up at Ruby. Her smile was still there. "I am going to have some fun," she said, making sure to drag out each word.
Ruby knew when she was being teased. She watched Weiss walk back towards the door. The redhead felt like she had to get the last word in. "Hey, Weiss," Ruby began.
The heiress was already gone.
Ruby pouted. "That still counts," she said and fell back onto her bed.
That gigantic cookie had made her sleepy, and it didn't help that there was nothing else to do but sleep. Although she could change out of her clothes, that would require effort, and effort required motivation. All of those were running dangerously low, and the only way to refuel was by sleeping.
Ruby was robbed of a strange dream that involved Blake becoming the insane queen of the moles by a sharp poke between her ribs. She groaned and tried to get away from whoever was poking her.
"Wakey wakey," Yang sang, digging her finger into Ruby's side with the constant, gentle touch of an adult grizzly bear.
"I'm up," Ruby whined. "What is it?"
"It's time for the little leader to shower and get ready for bed!" Yang said with the same, persistent happiness that was unbefitting of the hour.
"I'm already in bed."
"And you smell like trash."
"Ugh, fine, dad," Ruby said and rolled off of her bed. Sometimes it was just easier to not put up a fight.
"That's the spirit!" Yang said to Ruby's back. "Be sure to get behind your ears!"
The redhead closed the door behind her, cutting off her sister's nagging. She stretched her arms as she walked and yawned. What time was it? The lights in the hallway were dimmed, and most of the doors were closed. She rubbed her eyes. Why couldn't Yang just leave her alone to sleep? How come Weiss hadn't said anything about all the noise the blonde was making?
Ruby shook her head. Had Weiss even been in the room? Had she ever come back? The redhead felt her heartbeat quicken. Forget showering, there was a mystery to solve! Ruby looked where she was and realized her feet had taken her to the showers anyway. "Might as well check. She could be in here."
The showers yielded nothing.
No one was in the cafeteria.
The grounds around Beacon were empty.
Ruby sat on a bench in the locker room. Yang was probably wondering where she had went, and if the clocks were all telling the right time, it was way past her regular bedtime. She covered her mouth in time for a massive yawn. It didn't help that the day had been so relaxing that she just wanted to slip back into her bed. She stood up and made for the doors when she heard a metallic clank from behind one of the doors. Ruby knew that the door led to the gym. Could Weiss be there?
The sudden development was enough for her to dispel her fatigue. Ruby jogged over to the door and silently opened it.
Beacon's gym was massive. There was enough exercising equipment to train a small army, which, in a way, was the case. Ruby couldn't see where the noise had come from and decided to sneak in. The fluorescent lights made her squint. She stopped and crouched by a weight tree in the middle of the room. Her breath almost stopped when she spotted Weiss in one of the far corners.
The heiress had decided that her normal outfit of a combat skirt, bolero jacket, and high-heeled boots wasn't enough for working out. Considering the amount of equipment in the room that begged to snag any loose fabric, it made sense. Weiss had decided to strip down to a white sports bra, which had the Schnee emblem on the back, a pair of light blue shorts, and tennis shoes. She still wore her ponytail to the side. Ruby felt as if her feet had turned to cement as she watched Weiss do ten chin-ups and get down to perform just as many push-ups. The redhead still couldn't wrap her head around the overall lack of clothing Weiss was wearing.
In all of the time that they had known each other, the heiress had been ridiculously reserved. Her normal attire always covered the majority of her body. To see the heiress dressed down both fascinated and bothered Ruby. She was fascinated to see the lean muscles of Weiss' body go through the workout that she had been going at for hours. Ruby was bothered by the fact that she couldn't look away. If Weiss caught her now, which would be easy considering the large mirrors that surrounded the room, she would be upset. Ruby didn't want to end the day of relaxed conversation in a café to end on a sour note.
"An Ursa knows more about stealth than you do," Weiss said. She dropped from the chin-up bar and added, "Ruby Rose."
Ruby hung her head and stood up. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I was just concerned because you were gone for so long."
Weiss raised an eyebrow as she drank from a water bottle. "And you decided to spy on me," she deadpanned.
"What? No!" Ruby threw her arms in the air before forcing them back down to her sides. "I just thought you'd be upset with me if I found you here. After all, you said you were going to have fun. I figured it was a private sort of thing."
Weiss sighed. "Yes, Ruby. Working out in a public gym that is provided for the entire student body is a very private endeavor. I'm glad you took my feelings into consideration."
Ruby let the sarcasm wash over her. "Well, in any event, I'm glad I found you."
Weiss crossed her arms. She didn't give Ruby the patented icy glare that she only reserved for times where she was truly upset, like when Yang "caged" her scroll. Instead, Weiss gave her the same look that she had adopted in the café. Relaxed. Content, even. She also looked like she was trying to say something that physically harmed her.
"I wasn't in any danger. But I appreciate the concern." Weiss took another drink from her water bottle. It was the closest Ruby would get to any sort of heart-felt thanks and she decided to take what she could get.
Grinning broadly, but sensing that Weiss wanted to get back to her exercising, Ruby said, "Well, I guess I'll let you get back to it. See you tomorrow!"
She had already turned to leave when Weiss said, "Hey, Ruby?"
The soft tone made the redhead stop dead in her tracks. She turned around and said, "Yeah?"
"I'm almost done here. Do you think you could stay and keep me company?"
Ruby blinked, but she only hesitated because of the odd nature of the situation. Weiss Schnee was asking her to stick around? Was she going to hear the sky falling in a few moments? The redhead nodded and plopped herself onto the closest bench. Weiss smiled and returned to the chin-up bar.
They stayed there for another hour, speaking only a few words as Weiss exercised. Ruby still felt awkward about the heiress' clothing and shifted constantly on the bench. Each time the heiress faltered and almost failed to complete the set, Ruby noticed that Weiss would look in the mirror to see the redhead's reflection and pull through. When Weiss was done and picking up her water bottle and towel, Ruby was full of questions, but she didn't dare to ask any of them. She didn't want to shatter the moment. Weiss looked at her again and smiled. The feeling was mutual.
With a nod, Weiss signified that she was headed back to the locker room. Ruby hopped off of the bench and fell in step next to the heiress. The redhead knew that all good things had to come to an end, but as the doors got closer, both of them walked a little slower to make the moment last as long as it could.