Chapter Nine: The Map that Leads to You


Ruby stomped down the porch steps, ignoring the giant, fluffy brown wagging tail poking out from the tall grass, and marched straight to her car. She paused for a second pondering about what she'd do about Freddy. He was supposed to be Weiss' gift, but Ruby had grown rather attached to him. And judging by the state of Weiss' lawn, Ruby had to wonder how good Weiss was with plants. The woman looked like she'd willingly replace anything that wasn't perfect or up to her lofty standards, which, Ruby snidely figured, was still perfect.

"Just like her stupid ex-wife," Ruby grumbled as she got into her car. "Look at me, I'm Coco. I'm so sexy and confident. I can cook and pick out vegetables and speak a different language, aren't I just the best?"

The engine roared to life and purred as Ruby shifted gears. The sudden momentum jostled Freddy in his pot, scratching his scraggly branches against the cabin.

"My impression was pretty spot on, huh?" Ruby chuckled. "Wanna hear me do Weiss?" FREDDY stood stock still. "That totally came out wrong, but you're still a bit of a perv aren't ya, Fred-pear?"

The ficus shifted slightly to the right, moving with the momentum when Ruby adjusted the vehicle's path.

"Oh so now you wanna hear it?" Ruby didn't wait for her leafy comrade to comment. She sucked in a deep breath, and in the highest register her voice could produce, she said, "Ruby, you complete and utter dolt! How dare you keep making an ass of yourself before me like a child! Be thankful you're at least somewhat adequate—Adequate? That's all she seriously had to say about me? Just adequate?! God that fucking pisses me off!"

Ruby drove out of Weiss' property as fast as she safely could, not wanting to spend another minute anywhere near the godforsaken place. She sped out of the gated community, maneuvering expertly through the light morning traffic, muttering a slew of heated profanities that didn't make a lick of sense to anyone but her. She was feeling a myriad of emotions ranging from bitterness to downright furious.

"Who the fuck does she think she is, Freddy?" Ruby asked her withering ficus in the back seat. "Ughh, I shouldn't have slept with her. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!"

Even though she said those things out loud, Ruby didn't regret giving her virginity to Weiss. The older woman had kept her word and made Ruby's first time something special. She was gentle and thoughtful through it and always made sure Ruby was comfortable before trying something new.

Ruby blushed hard thinking about all the things Weiss did to her.

"God damn it, Ruby, keep it together."

It was easier said than done. By the time she was half way home, Ruby's lascivious thoughts cooled, leaving behind the ones that appreciated Weiss' icy yet refreshing beauty. She stopped thinking about the way Weiss' hand gripped her hair or how her nails raked down her scalp, and instead focused on how dainty her slender fingers looked holding her mug. Ruby couldn't help the dreamy sigh that escaped her lips when she reimagined walking in on Weiss' morning routine.

Step by step, Ruby recreated the scene as faithfully as she could. From the warm sunlight spilling in from the window to the gentle sway the steam rose from Weiss' coffee; Ruby could see it all. She especially loved the way Weiss' fluffy white hair looked in the morning light. It was fairly neat but it was still quite obvious that she had just woken up. Weiss hadn't bothered putting up any pretences, she was completely natural and in her element. It was almost as if she'd forgotten Ruby was still there or perhaps she was just letting Ruby know she was comfortable in her own special way.

The thoughts continued to swarm Ruby like a plague of voracious locusts from there on, each one taking a big chunk out of her mental fortitude, wearing her down and reminding her that anger was not the answer.

The first invasive memory was of Coco walking in with Velvet, wearing that infuriating smug grin like she owned the place. The woman had literally done nothing except exist in the same plane of existence as Weiss, and yet that was all it took to trigger Ruby's jealousy. Coco was kind, courteous, funny, and charming, an overall delight to be around. She also made sure to include Ruby in the conversation whenever possible even though she didn't have to. It's no wonder Coco managed to keep both Weiss and Velvet, she was like a big puppy with an abundance of love to give.

Ruby knew right away, from the moment Weiss agreed to a date, that the last thing she ever wanted to do was share her. It terrified her the first time she thought about it. Ruby wasn't territorial or possessive by nature. She needed freedom and plenty of room to thrive, so she refused to apply any restriction to others like what she'd done with Jaune for instance. She wanted him to be independent and do things on his own with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and whether it was with her or with someone else it didn't matter; she just wanted him happy. So when Jaune finally exercised his right to choose, Ruby never expected that he'd cheat on her with Pyrrha.

It wasn't much of a surprise now that Ruby could look back on it with a clear head. So instead of agonizing over something she had no control over, she let it go. Ruby didn't what to shackle him down if he was unhappy with her. And she most definitely didn't want to spend the rest of her life looking behind her back, waiting for the dagger to finally sink into her back. But that's what made her last relationship different from her tentative one with Weiss. There was no need for her to feel paranoid since Weiss had been forthright with her from the start. Weiss didn't need to sneak around, she could literally get what she wanted whenever she wanted and no one could stop her. Ruby certainly didn't have the strength to dissuade Weiss judging by how easily she let her take her to bed last night. Weiss just asked and she said yes, simple.

Ruby slowly ran a hand through her hair, pushing her bangs back as her fingers roved over her scalp, massaging the stress away. She was within the city, stopped before the world's longest red light.

"Freddy, what am I going to do?" Ruby whimpered into the steering wheel once she finally calmed down. She was fifteen minutes away from home, too far from Weiss' to turn around and drive back to apologize. "I can't believe I just left like that. Weiss must hate me for embarrassing her in front of Velvet and Coco."

The ficus said nothing but a leaf did fall from a branch which was a good enough answer for Ruby—terrible for Freddy though, since he didn't have that many healthy leaves left.

"You're right, I should let things settle down before I do anything," Ruby sighed.

She was five minutes away from home now with a much clearer head thanks to Freddy's sagely wisdom. Ruby no longer felt guilty for suddenly leaving, it really was for the best in the end. Seeing Weiss with Coco brought up certain things about herself that Ruby needed to figure out.

"Huh? It's a work day, why's the camero still here?"

Dread quickly wormed its way into Ruby's stomach as she parked her rover next to Yang's car. The house was suspiciously quiet, something that only happened when Blake was home alone.

"Moment of truth," Ruby said with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. "Let's do this."

Ruby got out of the car and cautiously headed towards the front door. She had the key held tightly and breathed in deep to calm her racing heart. She missed the keyhole the first, second, and third time she tried inserting the key into the lock due to her trembling, but eventually got it on her fourth try after a minute long pep talk. After she successfully unlocked the door, Ruby spent a second wondering if this was what it was like trying to get home after a long night of drinking.

'I bet Coco would waltz in with that ridiculous East Atlas accent,' Ruby thought pessimistically. 'Ou bonjour mi amore—or something! Ugh, get a grip, Ruby!'

The door silently creaked open as Ruby nervously poked her head inside to scope out the situation, her thoughts still haunting her with the imaginary look of disappointment on Weiss' face. All the lights were off and the only sound she could hear was the quiet hum of their old refrigerator and their leaky kitchen faucet. Still on high alert, Ruby entered her sister's house and flicked on the living room light switch.

"Congrats on the sex!" Yang screamed at the top of her lungs as she popped out from the kitchen. She was holding a medium sized rectangular cake with a simple frosting scheme; white base and messy red frills skirting the bottom and top. The words "Congrats On the Sex" were crudely spelled out from chopped up red licorice.

Blake stepped out from behind Yang looking dead tired. "There, she's home. Can I go to sleep now?"

"What?! Blakey, aren't you the least bit curious?"

"…" Blake sighed and made her way to the couch where she plopped down and waited. "Just a bit."

Yang's impish grin widened as she joined Blake and set the cake down on the coffee table. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!" she chanted excitedly. Ruby groaned and sat down on the recliner. "You didn't come home last night so you totally gotta dish, sister!"

"It was your typical first date, Yang," Ruby said trying desperately to downplay what happened. "We met up, had dinner, then I drove her back home."

"Aaand?" Yang's eyebrows waggled suggestively.

"She let me stay the night because it was past midnight, woke up, had breakfast, met her wife, the end."

Yang and Blake blinked in unison. "What?" the dumbfounded duo gasped.

"Yup."

"Back the fuck up and hold the phone," Yang said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Her wife?"

"Eeyup. You heard me the first time."

"She's married?!"

Ruby mussed up her hair and finger-combed it back with a sigh. "She's really her ex-wife, but they're so close they might as well still be married or joined at the hip or something weird like that."

"So they're not married?" Blake said in trying to get her head around the strange events going around her.

"Not anymore," Ruby answered with an upturned lip. "Weiss didn't go into any specific details, just said it made it onto the news. Weird."

Yang crossed her arms clearly displeased. "Did you sleep with her?"

"Uh," Ruby blinked, "the writing's in the cake."

"Okay. Right. Let me just get this all straight," Yang said, taking a moment to think, "you're upset because Hero Girl was married before?"

"No! Um, maybe…" Ruby slumped forward, her head cradled in her hands. "I swear everything was going great. I might've messed up a little in the beginning and middle of it, but I picked up my act by the time we left the restaurant—which her god damn ex-wife owns by the way! What kind of bullshit is that?!"

"Wow, you really don't like her, huh?" Yang nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. "She can't be that bad of a person if they can maintain a healthy platonic relationship. It is only platonic right? No smooshing in the sidelines?"

"Coco's got a new girlfriend who Weiss apparently gets along really great with," Ruby answered with a bitter grumble. "Velvet seems okay too, but I don't know how she can stand it. I mean, I'm not even dating Weiss yet and I still couldn't stop myself from storming out! How does she handle knowing her girlfriend lives with her ex? I mean, that's just weird!"

Blake blinked in disbelief, her mouth slightly ajar as she patiently watched Yang and Ruby argue. "C-Could you repeat that name again please?"

"Velvet?" Ruby answered, snapping her attention over to Blake.

"No… the ex. The one with the restaurant."

"Urk!" Ruby flinched, her face reminding everyone about what she not-so-secretly thought of her lover's former paramour. The look on Blake's face didn't leave any room for Ruby to weasel out of so she reluctantly repeated her arch nemesis' name. "Coco," she whispered like a curse.

"Adel?" Ruby nodded, Blake balked, and Yang squealed. "Hero girl—Weiss… you, uh, never told us her last name."

Ruby felt a strange giddiness take over her when her thoughts shifted gears to the beautiful woman. "Schnee. Weiss Schnee," she answered.

"Uh, Blake?" Yang quipped, her eyes darting back and forth between the two most important people in her life. "Did Ruby—"

"Sleep with your celebrity crush's ex-wife?"

"Yeah. That."

Ruby blushed and buried her face in her hands trying to disappear from existence.

"Eeyup."

SMACK!

Surprised, the three women looked at their living room window and saw a familiar face pressed comically against the glass.

"Guy, guys, guys!" A boyish voice chanted excitedly. "LET ME IN! LET ME IN! I have some seriously big news!"

"No!" they yelled in unison.

"Sun, it's my day off!" Yang screamed in frustration as she menacingly stomped to the window. "Tell me in the morning. After my coffee. And definitely not before I get into the office!"

Sun wriggled on the spot conflicted between blurting out his message or waiting like he'd been asked to. He watched haplessly as his temperamental co-worker reach for the pull cord to shut him out and, at the last second, he caved in.

"We just landed a million dollar contract!" he screamed.

Yang stopped. "What?" she blurted out. "Did I hear you right?" Sun nodded his head vigorously.

"Neptune's still hashing out the boring details with the client, but it's looking like the solid million plus whatever funds we need to get the job done!" Sun explained through the glass window. "We can probably ask for all new equipment like cutters and shit."

"We are running low on fertilizer…" Yang mumbled in deep thought.

"We'll also get free food and drink!"

"Why didn't you start with that?!" Yang screamed angrily. "Ruby let him in. Now!"

Ruby rolled her eyes and obediently did what she was told. Yang's roof; Yang's rules.

Sun wasted no time getting into the house and stealing Ruby's spot on the small couch. He noticed the congratulatory cake right away and asked about it before his brain could properly process the writing on it.

"Can I have some of that?" he asked, eyeing the thick white icing hungrily.

"Dunno, ask Ruby. It's her cake."

Sun looked to the redhead pleadingly. "Please?"

"Go right ahead, Sun." Ruby smiled at him wryly wondering if he bothered to read the writing.

"Oh, gratz on the sex," he chimed in with a mouthful of cake. "Was it Penny? Because finally! That girl's been crushin' on you since she was in middle school."

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed, her eyes bulging.

"What?" Sun repeated after swallowing.

"S-Since middle school?" she gasped. Sun nodded his head and cut another slice. "Was I seriously the only one that didn't know?" Everyone in the room nodded their head. "Oh god damn it!"

"How could you not know?" Blake asked. "She followed you around like a lost puppy."

"I thought she was being friendly!"

"Ruby, that girl was hella gay for you," Yang chuckled beside Blake. "I was honestly rooting for her until you met Weiss."

"Ughhhhh!" Ruby threw herself at the door dramatically. "No wonder she's so pissed at me!"

"How would you know? You haven't spoken to her in days," Blake added dryly.

"So it wasn't Penny?" Sun asked Yang.

"Naw," she laughed, "but let's just say Ruby beat Blake in terms of who fucked the bigger celebrity."

"I didn't know you counted as a celebrity," Blake teased.

"Baby, I'm a superstar and you know it!"

"True."

Ruby buried her head deeper into her hands, groaning loudly, praying for her torment to end. What she did with Weiss wasn't worth this attention—it was private! She didn't go around asking Sun about the latest notch on his bedpost or bothering Blake and Yang about what they did in their room, so why anyone would bother going to these lengths just to gossip was beyond her. Her family was weird, Ruby concluded with a defeated sigh.

"So who was it?" the boy asked eagerly between bites.

"Weiss Schnee," Ruby answered begrudgingly, rolling her eyes at the incoming jibes.

Sun's fork clattered on the floor. "This just got a whole lot more awkward," he said scrunching his face at the lovingly crafted word on his cake.

"Why?" Yang asked upset that her floor had been sullied. "You're cleaning that up by the way."

"Yeah, sorry… but, uh, I think she's our new client," he answered awkwardly pushing the licorice spelling "Sex" off of his cake with his reclaimed fork. "I don't think I'll be able to look at our new boss without thinking about this."

"Yet you're still eating it," Blake said with a tired smirk.

"Why wouldn't I? Yang's cakes are the best!" he exclaimed taking another big bite to punctuate his remark. "So good…"

"I won't take all the credit," Yang said bashfully. "I got the recipe off my favourite cooking show."

"You watch the cooking channel?" Ruby asked genuinely intrigued.

Yang nodded her head. "It's on super early so I record it and watch it before bed. Coco's a genius in the kitchen, I love her! What's she like in person—I mean, crud, I'm sorry."

"No it's alright. I really shouldn't be this upset. Coco's, well, she's," Ruby paused and sighed in defeat, "… great. You'll probably run in to her from time to time."

"You've been to the jobsite?" Sun asked.

"Why do you think you're eating that cake?" Ruby shot back sarcastically. "But yeah, I've been to the site. You guys are going to have your work cut out for you. Rosewood Mansion looks like a haunted house with how overgrown it is. The front yard alone might take a couple of days to clean and rescape."

"What about the backyard?" Yang asked this time around.

"A literal forest," Ruby answered. "Weiss owns a portion of Forever falls and the land leading up to it is just, if not worse, like the front."

"I'll let Nep know when I head back," Sun said digesting both Ruby's words and her cake.

Ruby smoothed down her hair and sighed.

"You're doing a lot of sighing there," Sun said being the first one to notice. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know," Ruby replied anxiously. "Today's just been a little…"

Blake cut in with an understanding, "Taxing?"

"Yeah," Ruby nodded.

"I guess that's my cue to get out of your hair," Sun said with a soft smile. "Thanks for letting me in guys."

Yang patted Sun on the back and got off the couch to lead him to the door. "Call me with the details when you see Neptune," she said pulling him in to their usual bro hug.

"Will do," Sun returned the hug and waved at Blake and Ruby. "I'll catch you guys later and thanks for the heads up about the site, Ruby. We're probably going to need your help again soon."

"Y-Yeah…" Ruby said waving back weakly.

Once Sun was gone Ruby took back her spot on the couch, plopping face first into the cushions, her forehead comfortably rested on Blake's lap. Blake let out a soft chuckle as she stroked Ruby's hair and watched Yang take Ruby's old spot on the recliner.

"Yang looks like she's ready to burst with questions," Blake said, her teasing smile drawing a blush out of Yang. "Can she ask them or no?"

Ruby weakly nodded her head. She honestly didn't want to talk about Coco or even think about her for the next fifty years, but Ruby could understand Yang's excitement. Being a chef and owning her own restaurant had always been Yang's dream. She took to the kitchen like a fish took to water, but culinary school was expensive and time consuming.

"He… didn't clean up the floor!" Yang screamed as she shot out of her chair and knelt down to pick up the debris.

"We did kind of kick him out before he could," Ruby said feeling a little guilty.

"Doesn't matter, I'm going to murder him!"

"I still find it hilarious that people think I'm the neat freak in this relationship," Blake said unable to hold back her laughter.

Ruby scoffed at Blake. "At least you didn't have to deal with her growing up. If you think she's bad now, you should have seen her when we lived with Dad."

"Oh, I can imagine," Blake continued to chuckle.

"I'm going to strangle his stupid beefy neck," Yang continued to grumble. "He'll rue the day! Rue it I tell ya!"

Shaking her head in exasperation, Blake lovingly called out to Yang.

"What?!" the blonde snapped, her eyes seeing red.

"You missed a spot."