The First Meeting

If one looked up the definition of a nervous train wreck, Ruby was rather certain that at the moment, she'd be the accompanying picture. She'd had more concern for the weather than she did her studies, often scrawling only a few words before glancing out the window to make sure that the rain had remained steady. Weiss, Yang and Blake had all noticed, as had team JNPR, and the group had pushed a few questions as to the cause of her skittishness, but she brushed it off as uneasiness about exams. Jaune and his team had accepted that, however her team was still very skeptical. She didn't blame them; her excitement was far from contained.

The thought of meeting Roman at the park shouldn't have made her so happy. After all, the endeavor in itself was a risky one, and with how fidgety Ruby had been all day her friends were sure to at least try following her. But that didn't change much for her. She wanted to see him, regardless of the consequences. This was why, by the time Ruby finished the first half of her homework, she'd immediately left the library under the guise of 'going on a walk'. With dusk quickly approaching, Ruby strolled leisurely down the halls of Beacon. She stopped by her locker momentarily to retrieve Crescent Rose—she might not have expected trouble but she didn't want to be caught unarmed (or draw attention with the deployment of her locker to her location). Upon reaching the main entrance, Ruby lifted her hood and stepped out into the rain.

She paused a mere moment, hesitating slightly before breaking into a full, semblance-aided sprint in an effort to lose any possible tails. Not trusting her team mates didn't sit well with her, but the thought of them catching her with Roman caused a sickening flip in her stomach. The depth of her feelings for him only made it harder to speak of, and despite the fact that Yang and the others would inevitably learn about this, she still wished to hide it. Ruby reached the streets of Vale in record time and pulled out her scroll to look up directions to Summershade Park. As the screen loaded her gaze darted around to verify that she had not been followed. After confirming that she was indeed alone, she followed the route her scroll presented to her until she found herself at the entrance to a very empty park.

Ruby's eyes scanned the area until she spotted an enormous willow tree whose vine-like branches had formed an unbroken blanket flowing all the way to the ground. This had to be the tree Roman had described, as it sat conspicuously at the very far edge of the park and was easily the largest bit of foliage in sight. Ruby hesitated once more, a knot tightening in her chest as, for a short moment, the thought came to mind that this was all in her head. That, like the many times before, it wasn't real. Ruby shuddered at the prospect but pressed forward, her footsteps slow and steady. She caught herself struggling to breathe, and her eyes trained solely on the willow tree before her until she stood in its shadow. She swallowed hard, her hand trembling a bit as she pushed away the canopy and stepped into the naturally occurring room behind it.

Despite previously drawn out expectations, she still found herself frozen from the sight before her, for there he was, seated on a picnic blanket at the base of the tree. His bowler hat and jacket sat next to his cane, discarded as he fiddled with his lighter in an attempt to light the cigar between his lips, swearing under his breath here and there at the disobedient thing. Ruby snorted at his predicament, and his gaze shifted immediately to her, his lighter flipping closed with a small click as he threw it aside and placed the unlit cigar back in his jacket pocket. He smirked, the uneasiness that had been apparent only moments before all but forgotten.

"Hello Red."

oooOOOooo

Roman had managed his excitement well over the course of the day, especially since Neo had been there to nudge him when he became a little too over-zealous. But now that Ruby was standing right in front of him, he was having a little more trouble with restraint. His eyes travelled across her momentarily, noting quickly that both her cape and her scythe were present.

"I can see that you brought your weed cutter along," he remarked as he gestured to the collapsible weapon.

"And you brought your cane."

"Touché."

Ruby walked towards him hesitantly; his eyes followed her as she found her place next to him and pulled her hood down. Roman leaned back onto the tree base and resisted the urge to dive towards her lips right away. Seeing her in person only made the fantasy of the dreams more apparent. He lifted a hand up to her cheek, his fingertips brushing her cheek lightly before her hand rose to his and pressed his palm flat against her skin. His breath caught in his throat for a moment—every nightly encounter preceding this could not begin to compare with how much better this simple action felt in reality. In a dream, the touch would've felt fleeting, the softness and warmth of her skin only registering on the surface of his palm as his brain loosely connected the gesture to a loving thought.

But here, the feeling lingered—instead of dulled sensation of smooth warmth, Roman felt the heat of her cheek burn against his palm until the temperature of her skin settled to match his. He leaned towards her, anxious to feel her lips against his as his hand traveled back to tangle into her hair. She slowly followed suit, and as their lips pressed firmly against each other, Roman could've sworn that Red had never tasted sweeter. He growled a little in his throat as he deepened the kiss, his hand pulling her closer while she tilted her head to the side in an attempt to reach his lips better. After a long moment they broke apart, breathless as they shared the small expanse of air between their parted mouths.

"And I thought kissing you felt good before," Roman let out a small hushed laugh, and Ruby gave him a small, dazed smile.

"You're telling me," she whispered back before leaning into his lips for more. They continued, the string of kisses growing hungrier with each passing moment as Ruby's small stifled moans rang in his ears and his hand tangled into his tresses. Roman felt the heat in his body rising as her hands balled into fists around the fabric of his shirt sleeves, and he resisted the strong urge to pull her body flat against his own. If he did that in this moment, he might lose himself to his own desire. It was a few minutes before they parted again, both of them panting as all contact slowly ceased.

"That was far too much fun," Roman mumbled as he leaned back onto the willow tree's trunk. Ruby only managed a small nod in agreement. "Oh come on, Red, at least try to remind me that I'm supposed to hate you."

"Do you want to hate me?"

"God no," he chuckled, his eyes fluttering closed as he leaned his head upwards. "That's half the problem right there." Roman smiled as he felt Ruby move towards him and undo a portion of his shirt.

"Undressing me already, are we?"

"You wish."

He chuckled as he felt her hand run against a familiar patch of skin in an attempt to dry it before he heard the sound of a marker being uncapped and sensed the felt tip trace her initials in their usual spot. "Now I suppose there's the question of where I'm going to write on you…it'd be bad form if we took the time to keep this a secret and let your team see my initials on your shoulder." Roman's eyes traveled across Red's body thoughtfully as the girl in question flushed bright pink. "Do you trust me?" he inquired after a moment.

"Depends on what you want me to trust you with…" Ruby replied cautiously.

"If I asked to unbutton a small section of your blouse would you let me?" Her eyes narrowed at that and he raised a hand in his defense. "I've no intention of feeling you up, by the way."

After a pause, Ruby sighed and managed a meek nod. "I'll trust you. Just don't make me regret doing so."

Roman smirked and leaned towards her, his fingers slowly working at the buttons of her blazer, then her vest, and finally he undid the bottom half of her blouse to reveal the skin on her stomach. He absentmindedly tugged the high waist of her plaid skirt down slightly to make the small patch a little larger, soliciting a small squeak of discomfort from Red. He glanced up at her and did his best not to laugh at how blatantly anxious she looked—Christ she was modest. Roman instead put on a reassuring smile just as she closed her eyes, and he took the marker from her and quickly wrote his initials onto her upper abdomen. Afterwards he buttoned up the blouse, vest, and blazer before leaning in and placing a small kiss on her lips.

"You really are sinfully innocent," he remarked as she opened her eyes and glared at him.

"Shut up."

"Ah…my dearest Red, whatever will I do with you…" Roman chuckled and leaned his head on her shoulder. She pouted and pretended to ignore him. They sat in silence for a moment before he spoke again. "How much longer do you have?"

"…A few more minutes at best," she replied quietly.

"Do you want to do this again?"

"Yes."

"Hm." Roman planted a small peck on Ruby's neck before pulling away and retrieving a slip of paper from the pocket of his trousers. "Do you have your scroll on you?"

"Of course."

"Type in that number under that name on your contacts." Roman held the note out to Ruby, and she took it and squinted at it.

"…Prankmaster?"

"I figured that'd be a touch better than 'Crimelord'," he remarked with a smirk.

Ruby shrugged and pulled out her scroll. "We should come up with codes," she spoke up as she entered the number. "So we know when it's really us and not someone else."

"My thoughts precisely. Text me the code you want to use."

Ruby made a small nod without looking up from her scroll, and Roman felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and snorted at the message.

{Beat your high sco-ore~}

"You know, just for that, you are going into my phone as 'Little Sore Winner'."

"Hey!"

"Sending a message back now."

Roman smirked and typed in a short phrase to work as a code.

{Guess what horrible thing I did today}

Ruby glared at him for it, but he simply shrugged as he rose to his feet and picked up his jacket. "What? If you taunt me, I'll taunt back." Roman slipped the white coat over his shoulders and straightened out his dress shirt and tie. "Your place tonight?"

"Yeah," Red stood as he replaced his hat onto his head and buttoned his coat.

"Hm." Roman picked up his cane and lifted the picnic blanket into his arms, folding it quickly before resting it over one fore arm. He smirked and leaned in once more to kiss her.

"Until tonight then."

oooOOOooo

Rosewick trash Peeves reporting in to tell you that dear god this chapter was hard to write. The college visit was awesome guys [it just left me kinda wiped] and I got to learn a lot about the school I'll be attending in spring semester. Moving on quick to review responses for those of you that I didn't hit up via pm…

I realized that in the last endnote I didn't address the question of how long this fic will be. Tbh…I've no fucking clue. Still working that out.

Regarding the second comment on the punching of Flynt…Roman would know better, I think, especially if he cares about Ruby. Besides the fact that he's never struck me as needlessly violent [save for that one time with the giant robot], he cares about her by that point in the story and is smart enough to know how upset she'd be if he raised a hand at any of her friends.

Regarding Yang 'acquiring' info…not quite sure whether or not you're implying that she'd find out because of Junior or walk in on them, but if it's the former then as I've previously stated, for this fanfiction, Junior is willing to lie about his relation to Roman if he thinks it'll put either of them in danger to be up front about it. In other words he'd be able to keep Roman and Ruby's relations a secret from Yang. I do have something in mind for how team RWBY finds out though, don't worry.

Sorry if I sound grouchy, I just need some shut eye.

Rosewick trash Peeves out until next chapter.