Disclaimer: We own nothing. This is for entertainment purposes only.
A/N: Happy Friday! Though, since I'm working twelve hour days and weekends up through the end of tax season (CPA), weekends don't exist.
On the other hand, enjoy more WR goodness.
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All's Fair in Love and… Well… Love
Chapter 9
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Within the first five minutes of breakfast, one of the toasters catches fire, someone's oatmeal explodes in a microwave, and there's an uproar when it is discovered that there is no more soy milk in the refrigerator.
In other words, a typical morning in the Schnee Dorm.
Fifteen minutes later, however, one face in particular still has not appeared.
"Where's Ruby?" Weiss snags Katt's attention. "She's usually ready by now."
Katt shrugs, munching on a pastry. "Ruby said she wasn't feeling well." She talks with her mouth full, spitting crumbs. "I think she's gone back to bed."
"Want me to check on her?" Professor Ansel offers, hearing their conversation only through proximity.
"No." Weiss is quick to quash the suggestion, but refrains from sprinting up the stairs. "She's in my dorm. I'll go." She instead heads calmly for the door, suppressing anything that could be interpreted as an undue amount of concern.
With forced nonchalance, she climbs the staircase and enters the dormitory, finding Ruby groomed, but not dressed, lying face down in her bed, naked beneath her cotton pajamas, the cheeks of her ass outlines clearly behind the thin, pale fabric.
"What's the matter, Ruby?" Weiss unbuttons her jacket, shrugs it off her shoulders, and draps it over the cubicle wall. "Are you feeling sick?"
Ruby groans, but doesn't move. "Sorry, Weiss. I'll be up in a minute."
Hesitating at the yellow line, Weiss takes one look out into the hall, makes certain that the cannot hear any footsteps, then breaches the cubicle boundary.
"Can you tell me what's wrong?" She perches on the edge of Ruby's bed.
Ruby groans again, turning her head to peer at Weiss through the corner of her eye. Then she rolls onto her back, wincing.
"Um, girl stuff. That's all."
"Cramps?" Weiss sympathises, leaning over her. "Can I get you anything?"
Ruby shakes her head. "No. I took some painkillers. Just kinda waiting for them to kick in."
"There's nothing I can get for you?" Weiss presses the back of her hand to Ruby's forehead, then her cheeks, checking her temperature. "Maybe a hot water bottle?" She then moves her hand down to Ruby's belly, applying pressure.
Surprisingly, Ruby hisses, jerking and tensing from Weiss' touch. She attempts to turn away, but Weiss' suspicions drive her to grip her shoulders and hold her to the bed. She reaches down and yanks up Ruby's pajama top, revealing the angry purplish bruise on her lower ribs.
Weiss gasps in horror. "What happened?!"
"It's nothing." RUby says quickly, grimacing as she tries to get comfortable.
"Were… were you fighting?" Weiss grazes Ruby's injured torse with her fingertips. "Please tell me you haven't been getting into any nonsense."
Ruby shakes her head. "Nope. No nonsense here. I promise."
"Is this the reason your bed-ridden?" Weiss caresses Ruby's skin just above her abdomen. "I have to make a note in the dorm accident and injury book." Her mind whirls through protocol. "And I have to inform your parents."
"I wouldn't," Ruby warns her. "My dad'll go apeshit, and I don't want to cause trouble."
"If you haven't noticed, trouble seems to find its way to you." Weiss says gently, her lips twitching in mirth. Then she sobers. "Have you seen the nurse at least? Visits with her are confidential. I can write you a note for your first class so that you can go straight there."
"I don't want to cause a fuss." Ruby mutters again.
"You're not causing a fuss. I'm causing a fuss. And you're going to do as you're told. Is that understood, Miss Rose?"
Ruby smirks, clearly amused by the authoritative tone in Weiss' voice, and she erupts into giggles. Her laughter is quickly interrupted by a wince and slight hiss of pain.
"You dunce." Weiss bends down low to press her lips against Ruby's bruise. "You have to go see the nurse.
As her lips make contact with skin, she feels Ruby's fingers slip around the back of her neck, tugging her forward and enticing her to continue. Murmuring her willingness to do just that, she plants kisses around Ruby's belly button, flicking her tongue inside it before moving her mouth higher, finally pausing at the hem of Ruby's bunched-up pajama top, toying with the buttons.
"Go ahead," Ruby breathes, as if she can read Weiss' thoughts. Maybe they are her own, after all. "You can if you want. I'm not wearing anything underneath."
Weiss falters.
"Here-" Ruby undoes the buttons herself. "Let me know you." She peels back the cotton of her top, filling Weis's vision with the milky white skin of her naked breasts.
"Fuck," Weiss whispers in a hushed voice, her eyes traveling all over Ruby's body. Her nipples are pink, rigid and swollen, begging to be kissed. Her breasts are full and round; two small handfuls perfect for Weiss.
Trembling, Weiss trails a finger down Ruby's chest, between both delightful mounds and over soft, silky skin.
"I kinda wish they were bigger," Ruby mutters, looking down at herself. "LIke my sister's or something." She pauses thoughtfully. "But then I may have some serious back problems."
"Oh, no," Weiss coos softly. "They're perfect, Ruby."
She scoops one into her hand, gasping at the sensation of Ruby's firm, warm flesh, and quickly dips down to bring her mouth to the other. She sucks the nipple into her mouth, pulling on it, nipping it, swirling her tongue around it.
"I need you," she mumbles, kissing her way back down Ruby's body. "I want more of you." She reaches the waistband of Ruby's pajama bottoms. "I can't resist you." She gives one sharp downward tug on the elastic, baring the very top of Ruby's shaved mound.
She drops a kiss there, gripping the pajama bottoms with both hands as Ruby raises her hips and lets out a strained whimper, urging Weiss to do with the clothing and just fuck her already - or, at least, that is how Weiss interprets it - but then…
Voices herald the unwelcome return of girls, and Weiss recoils like a frightened animal. She stands up, abruptly and unexpectedly revealing her presence to the perplexed students. Not only is it a shock to see her there, but to see her inside someone's cubicle, presumably on the bed, is a shocking sight indeed.
Flustered and horribly aroused, Weiss strives to regain her poise. "If you're not sick, you have to get up," she snaps while trying to straighten her blouse. "No more moping, Ruby."
Her cheeks burning, she snatches up her jacket and strides toward the door, the three girls staring at her, struck silent by the heavy tension in the room.
"What are you three staring at?" she snarls at them. "What do you want?"
All three shakes their heads and look away.
"Hurry up and get ready, or you'll be late!" Weiss warns, walking out of the dorm room without looking back.
She locks herself away in her study, but does not get any more than ten minutes alone to compose herself before she is required to perform her morning inspections before the girls leave for class.
As is now routine, Ruby takes her place at the back of the line, catching Weiss' eye and winking, flashing her sly smiles. When her turn finally comes, Weiss straightens the younger girl's collar and makes sure she looks presentable, but does not offer any kisses. Instead, she takes a quick look around for Professor Ansel, then checks her watch.
"Would you like to join me in my study for a few minutes?"
"Why?" Ruby blinks, feigning confusion. She then smirks. "Have I been a naughty girl?"
Rolling her eyes, Weiss takes Ruby by the hand and leads her away. "Let's not start that."
She flings the door to her study open and stops dead in her tracks. Professor Ansel is sitting at the front of her desk, looking right at Weiss and Ruby - and at their entwined fingers.
Weiss drops Ruby's hand. "May I help you, Professor?"
"It's the fifteenth of the month," the older woman says evenly, wiggling a notebook towards Weiss. "We need to go over the dorm ordering, and I need your co-signature to call a plumber. There's a broken tap in the younger girls' bathroom."
Trying her best to appear unfazed, Weiss takes a deep breath. "One moment, please," she commands Ruby to wait, then crosses to her desk, fills out a hall pass, and hands it to her. "Be sure to see the nurse before your first class like I told you, alright? No more dilly dallying."
Intent on keeping up their ruse to the end, Weiss leans forward and gives Ruby a quick peck on the forehead before sending her on her way.
"You're going to far with her," Ansel says once Ruby has left the dorm.
"I would kiss all my girls here," Weiss shrugs it off. "If they ask it."
"And everything else your doing with her?" Weiss has to admit; the woman definitely is not stupid. Not that she every thought she was.
Weiss sits at her desk, her jaw tight, taking a moment to answer. "It doesn't mean anything."
Ansel regards Weiss closely; the girl's shining eyes, her clenched teeth, her tight lips, her hands in tight balls on her desk… it is as if she is trying to physically hold all her emotions inside, and Weiss knows it.
"Are you…? Not again…" Ansell shakes her head despairingly. "Weiss, you can't do this to yourself. What about..."
Weiss bites her lip and looks away. "I'm not. I can't. It-"
Ansell steps around the desk to look down at Weiss. Her voice is softer, quieter. "What happened to Nikos was a tragedy for everyone. Maybe you most of all. I know you want to move on, but this is the wrong way. She's just a child."
"Ruby's-"
"She is seventeen." Ansel says simply, her voice hardening. "And it's Atlesian law. There is no leeway at all. She's a child, you are an adult. You know this."
Weiss is silent for a long moment, then she sucks in a breath. "She won't be sevente-"
"And you're her teacher! You can't have her."
That one hits home, and Weiss buckles against the desk. It is true; even if Ruby was eighteen, and therefore legal by Atlesian law, Weiss would still be a teacher; a de facto legal guardian of these girls and therefore the responsible party in this relationship.
The fact that Weiss may in fact lose her position because of this - temporary though it is for the moment - followed the first blow with a second, nearly causing Weiss to collapse in her chair.
"It's a lapse, that's all." Weiss finally says, reaching to a random pile of papers and shuffling them to distract herself. "I'll fix it."
"See that you do." Professor Ansel lets the heavy silence drop. "I'm sure you don't want to see this one end up like that last one."
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Weiss is sitting alone in her office, no sounds but that of a softly ticking clock and the creak of her chair as she shifts to open her computer. Accessing Atlas Academy's student records, she types the name 'Ruby Rose' into the search field and brings up the girl's class schedule.
Right about now, Ruby is in a history lesson with Professor Ansel.
In half an hour, she has a free period.
Clicking the link for student contact information, Weiss scrolls through Ruby's home address, her parent's home and scroll numbers - only her father is listed -, other emergency contacts, and then finally comes across Ruby's email address and personal scroll number. Retrieving her own scroll from a pocket in her jacket, she types out a quick message.
Come to me after class. I'm in my office.
W.S.
She sets the scroll down, not expecting to get a response. A second later, is buzzes.
Okie dokie.
Scowling, Weiss responds.
Don't text during class.
The prompt reply:
Don't distract me during class ;-3
Smiling for the first time since her conversation with Professor Ansel, Weiss sets the scroll aside. Unfortunately, her cheer is short-lived. She can't help but things about all the things she should say to Ruby when she arrives. Starting with: "I'm sorry. We can't keep doing this. I've let it escalate much too far, and I shouldn't have. I let myself get carried away with you, and it has to stop."
Then: "None of this can happen again. You must find a way to be happy with things as they are, or I'll have to insist that you be transferred to another dorm."
Even as she things it, she knows the words will never leave her lips. She pushes them away from her mind, losing track of time as she battles with her conscience, and long before she is ready for it, there comes a knock at the door.
"Enter!" She looks up as Ruby enters, her heavy thoughts lifting upon first sight of the girl. "How did it go with the nurse this morning? What did she say?" She invites Ruby to sit in front of her desk.
"She says I have a cracked rib, but says it's nothing to worry about unless I start having difficulty breathing." Ruby dumps her bag on the floor and plonks into one of the available chairs, ratting a bottle of pills she pulls from her cardigan's pocket. "She gave me some hard-core painkillers and told me to take it easy for six weeks."
Weiss clicks her tongue. "Is there anything I can do for you?" She gets up from behind her desk and moves to the chair beside her favorite student.
"Well, now that you mention it…" Ruby shifts to face Weiss. "There is an exercise the nurse told me about, to help make the pain easier and speed along the healing process. She said I could do it myself, but it's better if I can find someone else to do it for me."
"Of course," Weiss says, stroking Ruby's arm. "What is it?"
"It's simple. First you put your fingers together like this-" she shows her index and middle finger held firmly together, then curls them upward. "and then you slid them up into my-"
Weiss gently snacks Ruby's upper arm. "Very funny." She rolls her eyes.
Ruby snorts a laugh, clutching her ribs. "Hey, it was worth a try."
"You're incorrigible," Weiss scolds her. "And I wish you'd tell me how this happened." She lays a hand over Ruby's bruise. "What it a bully?"
"I'm not being bullied," Ruby reassures her. "Some people are just sore losers."
That gives Weiss pause. She blinks. "This was a game?"
Ruby turns to fully face her. "Not to me, it isn't."
Though still concerned, Weiss accepts that some matters simply would not benefit from the interference of a teacher - indeed, it may even make some worse - and lets the subject go, turning her mind to a more positive topic.
"I have something for you." She dials up her smile and bends over her desk, rummaging through loose papers. "It's here somewhere."
She hears Ruby giggle. "Don't mind me. Take your time. The view is nice."
Weiss smirks, craning her neck around to see Ruby staring unabashedly at her read end. "Oh? You like this?" She gives it a teasing little shake before resuming her search. Finally, she find it. "Ah!" She plucks a sheet of paper from underneath her computer. "Sign-ups ended a month ago, but I've made special arrangements for you."
"That sounds suspiciously like an exception." Ruby smirks slyly, taking the proffered page. Weiss' smile widens when Ruby discovers that it is for the after-school music club.
"I know I said I wasn't going to make any exceptions," Weiss says, returning to Ruby's side. "But one more could hardly hurt, and I want an excuse to hear you play the piano again."
Ruby is quiet for a long minute, and Weiss wonders what she is thinking. Was this too much? Does Ruby not want to play music anymore, and the yesterday was a fluke? Did Weiss make a mistake by hoping Ruby would be interested in such a thing?
"I have something for you, too," Ruby finally says, breaking the silence. She reaches down to fish through her backpack, pulling out what looks to be a writing assignment bound in a plastic folder. "Will you read this over for me? It's my literature homework. My creative narrative."
Weiss laughs, but takes it from her.
"What's so funny?" Ruby frowns.
"Nothing. It's just I'd much rather with I wasn't you-" she stops herself, a sudden sadness invading her mind like an unwelcome guest. "That is, I'd prefer it if my obligations to you were different. You understand?"
"Acutely." Ruby places a hand on Weiss' stockinged knee. "Do you want me to drop Music? Would it be easier for you if you taught me less?"
"Oh, Ruby. Trust me, if these feelings of ours endure, and the time comes for one of us to make a sacrifice, that one will not be you. The burden of responsibility in this is mine, and mine alone."
"That hardly seems fair." Ruby works her fingers beneath the hem of Weiss' skirt.
"It's as it should be. But in the meantime, we'll continue as normal and let things play out." Weiss steals a peck on the lips. "After all, we haven't done anything too terrible." Another peck. "Yet." And another. "So I'll read your homework this evening." One last, lingering kiss. "And I'll give you my notes in the morning. In my study."
Ruby hesitates before murmuring, "What if someone catches on?" Her tongue makes an appearance to swipe across her lips, and Weiss has to force herself from catching it and taking the whole thing into her mouth. "Other teachers, or something?"
"Who? Professor Ansel?" Weiss shakes her head. "Don't worry about her. We'll have to be more careful around the dorm, but generally speaking, I learnt a while ago that the more you struggle to conceal something, the more obvious it becomes. So just relax and don't worry about it, and neither will anyone else."
"Spoken like a true repeat offender." Ruby grins toothily.
It is meant a a joke, but the words dull Weiss' cheer enough for her to pull away from Ruby.
"I know it goes against all good sense and reason for me to let this happen. But I don't want to stop being close to you. Ruby… I-"
Whatever Weiss is going to say is lost as a sharp knock on the door jerks the pair further apart, and Ciel barges in the room without waiting to be invited, stopping in her tracks when she sees Weiss and Ruby sitting together.
"Ciel!" Weiss barks, standing. "Where are your manners?" She recovers quickly enough, making sure to inconspicuously straighten her skirt and still appear in control. When Ciel doesn't answer, just looks between her and Ruby silently, Weiss sighs heavily and retreats behind her desk.
"Thank you for this, Ruby." She sets the girl's homework on her desk in front of her. "We'll speak later about your attendance."
Ruby accepts the brisk dismissal with a sharp nod and no complaint, and stands, walking past a glowering Ciel and through the door.
As the door shuts, Weiss has a distinct feeling Ruby's thoughts mirror her own:
Just what was she about to say before Ciel interrupted them?
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End of Chapter 9
A/N: Happy Easter, everyone!
See you all on the next chapter!
***Will work for glomps***
