"Is dating a girl just another way to rebel against your father?"

"That might be a factor, but it's certainly not one of my primary motivating factors."

"And dating a faunus girl?"

"Blake..." Weiss began in exasperation, but switched to a humorous tone as she continued, "I have to admit, I am delighted by the prospect of giving my father aneurysms over my dating life, but that's just icing on the cake." Weiss leaned forward with a piercing blue gaze. "What about you? Is dating a major stockholder of the SDC some sort of Trojan Horse ploy so you can sabotage its operations from the inside?" she asked in a teasing tone. Her smile grew as she extended the allusion. "Whose voice should I try imitating to draw your secrets out?"

Blake played along. "You know it wouldn't work." Her mouth twitched into a smirk. "Say, if you adopted Trojan dress, would that make you a Phrygid Ice Princess?"

Weiss slapped at Blake's shoulder. "That's awful. And those caps look awful, too."

The smirk softened into a smile. "But, I suppose, you are the most beautiful woman in the world..."

"Does that make you Menelaus?" Weiss made a facetious grimace. "I think the House of Atreus actually puts my family to shame. At least we've never engaged in cannibalism or incest."

"That you know of," Blake couldn't help adding before pointing out the glaring omissions: "but murder and adultery?"

Weiss shrugged wryly. "I can't be sure," her countenance darkened, "but I wouldn't put it past them."

Seeing the shadow clouding ice blue eyes, Blake knew she needed to lighten the mood. With some quick mental substitutions, she started reciting in a measured cadence, "Weiss, sit with me and love me so we'll laugh at all the sour-faced strictures of the wise. This sun once set will rise again, when our sun sets follows night and an endless sleep—"

Almost by reflex, Weiss continued the recitation. "Kiss me now a thousand times, and now a hundred more, and then a hundred, and then a thousand more again, till—" with a jerk, she broke off the recitation and snapped out of her trance.

Blake was trying her damnedest to curtail a face-splitting grin, but she did manage to speak without laughing. "Please, don't stop on my account." She lost the battle against her grin as she leaned forward. "Or..." her amber eyes took on a predatory glint and she traced a finger along Weiss' jaw, stopping under the point of her chin, "did you want me to do what you've so beautifully asked?"

Weiss was stock-still as she struggled to process what she'd just said and what was happening right now, but she didn't cringe at the touch, nor did she pull away.

Blake could see those pupils dilate until the light blue eyes were light no longer, but Weiss still made no outward response. It seemed like her conscious mind hadn't quite caught up with her desires. Time for a little mischief. Blake shifted her hand to fully cup Weiss' flushed cheek, fingers dipping into the snowy white hairline. She pulled gently as she moved forward to close the gap between them, leaving a tantalizing sliver of space between their mouths. She held the precarious position for several hot breaths before continuing past Weiss' lips and stopping within nibbling distance of her ear. "Till with so many hundred thousand kisses you and I shall both lose count..." she sighed in a sinuous, sultry voice and grinned as it elicited a full-body shiver.

That finally broke Weiss out of her reverie. She captured Blake's wrist at her cheek. "Are you trying to seduce me?" She didn't sound angry, but she didn't sound particularly seduced either. Her pupils, however, were very dilated.

"I do believe you asked me to kiss you." Blake didn't laugh aloud, but her amber eyes danced with amusement.

"I was quoting Catullus' poetry! That you'd started reciting!"

The best way through Weiss' defenses wasn't with a direct siege, but rather a tunnel under the fortifications and sapping the walls from there. "Okay, so you don't want me to kiss you." Blake began to turn away.

"Arg!" Weiss tightened her grip on Blake's wrist and walked her backwards into the wall. Given her limited vertical reach, Weiss had to settle for pinning the wrist at shoulder height.

"Oh, is that how we're doing it?"

"Stop talking, you idiot, and kiss me!" Weiss made good on her demands and tangled her free hand into black waves, tugging Blake's head down far enough to reach with her lips.

After several long, breathless moments, Blake pulled back with a bit of effort. "Are you sure you want this?" she asked with remarkable clarity, given the fact that her bottom lip was still firmly trapped between Weiss' teeth.

"Do I look like I'm dithering?" Weiss growled with slightly less clarity. As it turns out, "dithering" is quite difficult to say when your mouth is full of someone else's lip.

"Just making sure."

"I can't believe we're having a conversation like this."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Whose fault is that?" she asked, twitching her still-trapped lip.

"Fuck!"

"That's getting way ahead of yourself, heiress."

Blue eyes narrowed at that.

"I'm sorry. Let me try that again: 'That's getting way ahead of yourself, beneficiary-and-trustee-of-a-beneficiary-controlled-trust-containing-a-substantial-portion-of-SDC-stock.' Did I get that right?"

"I can't believe I'd fallen for you," Weiss huffed.

"I bet it's making you wetter," Blake snarked back. "But seriously, can you let go? It's very uncomfortable."

That was the last straw. Two can play the escalation game. Weiss did let go of the lip, but followed up with a furious kiss and slid her thigh between Blake's legs. She was too short to get a good angle, but she reveled in the momentary flash of surprise in those amber eyes.

The surprise was quickly followed by a smirk. Blake rocked forward, bringing their bodies flush against each other. "I think," she drawled as she ground down slightly, "there's a highly inappropriate joke about founding Athens here."

"Making you Hephaestus."

"You're the one who put your leg there. I think we can share the blame."

"Fine," Weiss sighed, "but discussing chthonic semi-deities makes for lousy pillow talk."

"Shall I conjugate—" Blake nipped at Weiss' ear, "some verbs instead? Amavi... amo... amabo..." Each word was punctuated with a kiss. "Better?"

"Amemus," Weiss continued, "because the subjunctive is clearly sexier, and two is better than one."

Blake smiled in return. "Of course we may."


Author's note:

Amavi: I have loved; first-person singular perfect active indicative.
Amo: I love; first-person singular present active indicative.
Amabo: I will love; first-person singular future active indicative.

Amemus: We may love; first-person plural present active subjunctive.