Chapter Ten:
"So," Ruby said as she and Weiss walked through the hallways of Beacon, "How are the dance preparations coming along?"
"Oh, they're all done," Weiss said, waving her free hand. "Everything is set for tomorrow night, thankfully. I'll finally be able to relax. What about you? What have you been doing today?"
"Nothing much, really," Ruby replied, looking around. The halls of Beacon seemed to be extra empty tonight. "I was just practicing walking in heels again. I don't fall over now, but my feet are killing me."
"Oh, I know that feeling," Weiss said, laughing a little, "I remember when I was first learning. My feet didn't stop hurting for weeks."
"How old were you when you started learning?" Ruby asked. Weiss never really talked about her life before Beacon. It was a welcome change in her, being open like this.
"About…seven, I think," Weiss said, and Ruby blanched.
"Seven?" Ruby asked, incredulous, "Why would you need to learn to walk in heels at seven?"
"My father insisted on it," Weiss said, her face going a bit dark, "So I could appear at parties and look like I belonged there." Weiss stopped talking at that point, and Ruby didn't pry any further. They walked in silence for a few minutes, long before they finally arrived at one of the smaller classrooms on campus.
"Is this it?" Ruby asked Weiss as she looked at the door. She'd never been in one of these classrooms. It was mainly the older students that got to use these classrooms. Ruby wasn't sure what Weiss had planned
"It should be," Weiss said, pulling a piece of paper out of her jacket, "Yep, this is it."
"Do we go in?" Ruby asked. "Or are we waiting for an escort?" As if in answer to that, the door opened and Jaune appeared, wearing a very nice suit that almost looked too new for him. A big smile was plastered on his face, and Weiss and Ruby were a little concerned that he was a bit too happy to see them.
"Good evening, milady," he said, bowing at Weiss, "Milady." He bowed at Ruby, before offering his arm. "May I take your coat…and hood?" Weiss and Ruby stood still for a second, both of them weirded out by this cheerful, slightly smarmy Jaune. Then, they handed over their coat and hood, and Jaune draped them both over his arm before standing out of the way and bowing them inside.
Weiss and Ruby were blown away by what JNPR had accomplished. Red and white drapes hung over the entire classroom, which was only lit by the candlelight emanating from a small circular table covered with one of Weiss' tablecloths from the dance hall. Plates and cutlery were already placed on the table. An empty vase was waiting for Ruby's bouquet.
"How did you get all of this?" Weiss asked, turning to Jaune, who had somehow disappeared from sight. Weiss and Ruby looked around and just as suddenly, Jaune reappeared with Pyrrha to escort them to their table. Pyrrha gently took the bouquet of roses and placed them inside the vase while Jaune very gentlemanly helped both Ruby and Weiss into their chairs. Once they were seated, romantic violin music began to play softly from…somewhere, filling the room with sound. Weiss was impressed with what JNPR had done, and Ruby was almost crying with happiness from how beautiful everything was.
"Dinner will be brought out in…" Jaune looked at Pyrrha who held up a hand, "Five minutes. Until then, we bid you adieu." Jaune and Pyrrha walked away, leaving Weiss and Ruby alone.
"Oh, wow," Ruby said, putting her hands over her mouth, "This is amazing. How did you put all this together?"
"I didn't," Weiss admitted, "I was so stuck for ideas on what to do that Jane offered to plan it all."
"Really?" Ruby asked, surprised. "And you let him? I mean, this is amazing, but I thought you didn't like Jaune that much."
"I don't," Weiss said, taking one of Ruby's hands in her own, "But I do like you, and I want tonight to be perfect. I'm not so proud that I won't admit I was a little out of my depth in this."
"Well, you've done very nicely," Ruby said, leaning forward and kissing Weiss softly, "I love this." Weiss smiled widely, kissing Ruby back. The two shared a longer, passionate kiss. Weiss was suddenly seized by a plan, as well as a fierce desire to pull Ruby close and never let go. Ruby had a similar reaction, her hand going behind Weiss' head and holding firm while her other hand rested on Weiss' waist. Weiss placed a hand on the small of Ruby's back, her other hand dropping to Ruby's thigh. Ruby's body shuddered under Weiss' touch as Weiss' hand slowly moved from the clothed part of Ruby's leg and to the bare skin of it.
Suddenly, it was like their brains kicked back into gear and they broke apart, Weiss' hand leaving Ruby's thigh. Both of them were breathing a little heavily, faces still slightly touching.
"What was that?" Ruby asked, confused as to the reactions of her body.
"I don't know," Weiss said, reaching up to stroke Ruby's cheek, "But I kinda liked it."
"Me too," Ruby said, kissing Weiss again. This time didn't get too heated, as Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren came in and interrupted them with the best smelling food either of them had smelled in a long time. Two separate plates of steaming…chicken, Weiss thought, with vegetables, prepared in such a way that it looked like a professional had done it. Ren had been holding out on everyone.
"I hope you enjoy the meal," Ren said, hands behind his back as the food was placed in front of Ruby and Weiss. "Dessert will be served in an hour." With that, JNPR left, leaving the couple to their meal. Ruby was the first to try a bite of it, and her mouth exploded with flavour. Ren had been holding out on everyone if he could cook this well.
"Oh, my god," Ruby said through a full mouth, before swallowing her mouthful, "This is amazing! Here, try some," before Weiss had a chance to respond, Ruby had cut a piece of chicken up and held up to Weiss. Weiss hesitated, but bit the piece of chicken off of Ruby's fork, and had a similar reaction. Weiss' eyes widened and she made a pleased sort of noise.
"I've never had food this good," Weiss said, losing her propriety for a moment and talking with her mouthful, "Not even in Atlas." The couple dug in to the meal, and before long it was finished.
"Man, Ren missed his calling," Ruby said, patting her belly. "He should've been a chef."
"I can't wait to try his dessert," Weiss said, smiling, "I haven't had a meal that good in ages."
"Not since Atlas, right?" Ruby asked. "What's it like there? You never really talk about it."
Weiss hesitated for a second, her defences on the rise before her brain processed what Ruby was asking. Ruby wasn't asking about her family, she was asking about Atlas. Like Weiss had asked about Patch, back in that café.
"It's…cold," Weiss started, thinking carefully about what she wanted to say about it, "Being so far north, it's all ice. Almost no green, except what you can find in the greenhouses."
"Isn't Atlas under control of their military?" Ruby asked, wanting to keep Weiss talking. Even though they were together, Ruby still did most of the talking. She wanted Weiss to open up more, but Ruby wasn't going to force her.
"No, not like that," Weiss said, shaking her head, "It's different than Vale. The military, the Atlas Academy and the government are all one unit. They're not separate like it is here. That's one thing I can't get used to here: everything's so…different."
"How?" Ruby asked, "I mean, apart from the military thing."
"The people here are so…friendly," Weiss said, "In Atlas, at least where I grew up, the people are standoffish, rude and completely insufferable. But no one acts like that: they all smile and shake your hand and say nice things to your face and then say what they really think behind your back. Not like here, where people are genuinely friendly and nice."
"Well, at least I know why you were so crabby when we first met," Ruby said, smiling and poking Weiss in the shoulder so she knew that Ruby was joking. Weiss faked indignation for a second, before shaking her head and smiling.
"I only just realised I never apologised for being so rude to you," Weiss said, taking Ruby's hand in her own. They did that a lot, almost afraid to let go. Almost as if they'd drift too far apart if they weren't connected.
"You don't have to apologise," Ruby said, adoration on her face, "I get it. I'm just glad we got past it."
"Me too," Weiss said, kissing Ruby again. "So," Weiss said, after the kiss broke off, "Something I've been wondering: why a scythe?"
"That's a weird curveball in the conversation," Ruby said, "Why so curious?"
"It's just," Weiss tried to phrase her words properly, "It seems…strange to me that you'd pick such a large weapon. I'm not arguing with the results, I was just wondering about it."
"Well, it's because of my Uncle Qrow," Ruby explained, "He was my main teacher at Signal, and when he took me under his wing I wanted to be just like him. So I built Crescent Rose, all on my own. His is much cooler though."
"I find that hard to believe," Weiss said, and Ruby blushed a little. Before the conversation could resume, Ren appeared, holding a plate with a very decorative cake placed on it. Weiss' eyes lit up: it was an Atlesian pudding, one of her favourites. It seemed unlikely Ren got lucky.
"Here you go," Ren said, retrieving their plates and setting the cake down, "One Atlesian dessert. I hope you like it, Jaune said it's your favourite."
"How did Jaune know?" Ruby asked, eyes shining at the dessert. If there was one thing she liked, it was dessert food.
"Some interview Weiss gave when she was touring Atlas," Ren said, "I hope you enjoy."
"Ren," Weiss said, getting his attention, "Thank you for this. We really appreciate it."
"More than happy to help," Ren said, as inscrutable as ever. Then he left, and the couple was alone again. Weiss used a dessert fork to carve off a piece of cake and offered it to Ruby, who gobbled it up with almost no pause in movement. The cake was so sweet, Ruby's head felt like it was going to spin around. They devoured the cake, and found themselves competing for the last morsel. Weiss and Ruby were giggling like children as they duelled with their forks over the last piece of cake before Ruby got to it. Before Weiss could protest, Ruby had cut it in half before claiming her part of it. Weiss was surprised when Ruby scooped up the other half and offered it to Weiss. Weiss smiled as she ate it, savouring it as long as she could.
"Well, now that that's over," Ruby said, wiping her mouth gently with a napkin, "What did Ren mean when he said you toured Atlas?"
"Oh," Weiss was surprised: she was sure that some of her music had made it to Vale. But then, Ruby didn't seem like a huge music fan. "I was a singer when I was younger. My father insisted that I tour Atlas to 'spread the tenderness of the Schnee family'. Mostly he just wanted another source of revenue."
"You sing?" Ruby asked, "I never knew. Can you…no, never mind."
"What?" Weiss asked. "What were you going to ask?"
"I was just going to ask if you could sing something for me," Ruby said, a little embarrassed, "But I thought it might be a bit rude."
Weiss shook her head, before thinking about what she could sing. Maybe her song, with a couple of modifications…
"Mirror, mirror," Weiss sang softly, cupping Ruby's cheek and looking deep into those silver eyes, "Tell me something. Tell me who's the loveliest of all? You're the loveliest of all…"
Ruby was almost crying from how beautiful the song was. They shared another kiss, and all Ruby could think about was how much she enjoyed this dating thing.
"We have to do this again," Ruby said, "But maybe next time," Ruby jerked her head towards the door, "We could do without the audience." For the first time, Weiss noticed JNPR, minus Ren who probably found the whole thing a bit unseemly, were secretly watching everything that was going on.
"Think you can speed us away?" Weiss asked Ruby.
"Where to?"
"Maybe where we first met?" Weiss said casually, "I want to see if you can still make out the crater you left."
Ruby grinned like a cat, and in a burst of speed, Weiss was caught up in a burst of rose petals and Ruby sped them out of the classroom and right past JNPR, who fell over in a heap as they went by.
****
"And that's when I jumped onto the roof," Ruby was saying as they walked back to their room, "And ran after him. He tried to blow me up with a Dust crystal and that's when Glynda showed up and saved my butt."
"What happened then?" Weiss asked. They had started talking about when they had first gotten to Beacon and Ruby had started talking about how she got into Beacon in the first place.
"Glynda took me to the police station, and I met Professor Ozpin. I'm still not sure why he let me into the school."
"Well," Weiss said, gripping Ruby's hand tightly, "I'm glad he did. Otherwise I might have never met you."
"Well," Ruby said, blushing. "Maybe we would have still met up, somehow."
"Maybe," Weiss said, "But I'm glad it's now."
"Yeah," Ruby said, looking at Weiss with love in her eyes. "So am I."
Ruby wasn't so worried about the dance anymore. If this was how much fun a date could be, a dance had to be just as much fun. Hopefully.