a/n: Another song assignment before you read on... Ms. Seductive by Jeff Bernat. Enjoy the chapter after my rude, long absence.
While Weiss sat on the ground cuddling Zwei with all her strength, Blake sat on the bed, confused and slightly upset.
"I can't believe you're here! How'd you get here, my little prince? Oooh, you're so adorable!" Weiss' praising never ceases with Zwei around.
"Yeah, so.. So adorable, ahah ha," Blake commented offhandedly.
A familiar voice sounded from the doorway, "Such a greeting for Zwei, dear, but not for your own mother?"
In the doorway stood Weiss' mother, Argent. As elegant as ever, her grown figure still successfully tossing a slight blush onto Blake's face.
"M-Mother!?" Weiss stood up immediately, patting herself down to rid her clothes of any extra dog hair. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"What a silly question, Weiss. Zwei and I took the speedboat here, of course! We went for a scenic route for a change of pace. I just wanted to see how you all were doing, and how everyone liked our summer home."
Suddenly, the image of Argent standing in the back of a speedboat while Zwei sits at the helm flashed across Weiss' mind, stirring up some interesting questions she thought she should ask, but decided that she wouldn't. Was it really a silly question…?
"I-I, uh, I suppose it was silly of me to ask. Of course. Anyway, does Winter know you're here?"
Argent reached down to pick Zwei up, "Yes, she let me in the cabin. Why aren't you and Blake downstairs with all your friends? They look like they're having fun in the hot tub… Or, have I interrupted something a little personal, perhaps?"
Blake jumped in at this, eager to defend the both of them, "N-No, you're not. We, I—We were just reading our books. Weiss was feeling a little tired, so we both skipped out on the jacuzzi, unfortunately."
The older woman let out a gentle chuckle, "Oh, I was just teasing you two. In any case, Weiss, please come down soon enough! I believe Winter and Cinder are preparing a dinner for everyone, and I'll only be here for the night. Now if you'll excuse me…" She started to walk off, but poked her head back into the doorway one last time, "I'll leave you two to your nightly activities!"
"Bark!" Zwei agreed.
And with that, both she and Weiss were gone before Weiss had the chance to retaliate.
An embarrassed Weiss covered her eyes and shook her head, turning to face Blake. "I am so, so sorry about her."
Blake laughed it off, despite feeling a little heated under the collar, "It's fine, don't worry. I didn't expect her to make jokes like that, I thought she would have stayed the part of the 'upstanding woman' portrayal and hardly ever find humor in some things."
"Oh, no Blake. No, no no," Weiss begins to extrapolate on her mother's more quirky nature, "She may have seemed tame when the two of you first met, but to be quite honest, she's a total sucker for stupid jokes, innuendo and bad gag gifts. One time, for my birthday, she hid a pair of those stupid glasses with the nose and mustache on them in a sweater. It was literally the dumbest thing and nobody laughed except her—Actually that's not true, Winter likes those kinds of things too, so she ended up laughing up a freaking storm—But I felt obligated to not hurt my mother's feelings, so I went along with it." Weiss rolled her eyes remembering the event. Seriously. Winter would just never shut up.
Blake sat back down on the bed, relaxed after hearing such a story about Weiss' mom and sister. "That's really funny. Like mother like daughter, right? I mean you sort of look like the type to appreciate a good gag as well. Just too much of a stick-in-the-mud?"
Weiss feigned offense and scoffed, placing her fingertips on her chest, "Um, excuse you, I think I am better than a tacky joke gift, thank you very much!"
The pair laughed momentarily, finding the situation a lot funnier than it actually was. Weiss joined Blake on the bed, sitting right next to her while checking her phone for any missed texts.
Weiss sighed as she scrolled, locking the phone and tossing on the bed, "Well, I suppose we must make our grand entrance sooner or later. I'm sure my sister won't like it very much if we kept the group waiting to eat, although I imagine Yang and Winter would both indulge themselves without our presence."
Blake decided to quickly check her phone as well, not wanting to keep her hands idle at the moment. "Sure. I'm a little hungry anyway. If you're still not feeling up to hanging out with everyone, we can always come back up here and continue where we… Left off."
Blake's thoughts lingered for a moment, casting her eyes to the ceiling before slowing looking at Weiss' face. The Schnee girl was bright red, lips pursed and staring at the floor.
Panic shot through Blake. "L-Left off with the book! We can continue reading, that's what I meant!" Her insistence only aided in her own fluster, remembering briefly that she and Weiss were indeed, despite apparently all the forces in the universe working against them, about to kiss once again. And who knows what else.
Weiss stood up promptly, unusually rigid in posture, even for her, "No, that's quite all right! I think we've done enough reading for tonight, let's just, uh, let's just stay downstairs and not come back up here for a while, okay?"
Blake was taken aback by the movement, but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah. No problem."
Weiss stomped off out of the room without waiting for Blake; the girl could follow her down whenever she so pleased. Walking down the hallway and to the stairs, Weiss couldn't shake the imposing thoughts from her mind.
'That damned Belladonna… Why would you—HOW can you bring something like that back up!? We were just about to… RRGH I can't even think about it. What's more, I don't even understand why it's so difficult for us to talk about the p-possibility of garnishing some sort of romantic affair. What the hell are we, a romantic comedy cliché!? Ooohh, I can't stand this!'
Frustration is always present within Weiss Schnee. Tonight, however, that frustration is currently reaching an all-time high.
Back from their jacuzzi excursion, the group was now gathered around the large dining table offered by the Schnee cabin. On the menu was a spread of homemade pizza, and—
Well, looks like pizza was the only thing on the menu. Far and few between are those that enjoy pizza more than the women of the Schnee family, so Winter had gone through the trouble of preparing an array of different pizzas to cater to all tastes, allergies, preferences, walks-of-life, what have you. She didn't want to leave anyone out of the loop when it came to the cheesy masterpiece.
Weiss came into the kitchen, soon followed by Blake, and cast her eyes down the table at the display of godliness.
"There you two lovekittens are! We missed ya!" Winter called from the far-end of the table. "I hope you're hungry, oh baby sister of mine, clearly you can see that I made your fave."
Put in a much better mood thanks to the appearance of indeed, one of her most favorite foods, Weiss smiled at her sister, "Yes, I can see that. Thank you, Winter." Weiss took a seat at the table next to her sister.
Blake, still reeling from the term "lovekitten," turned to Weiss, "You really like pizza? That's surprising."
"I've had enough of your being surprised at my ability to enjoy common things, Blake. Just because I'm wealthy doesn't mean I don't have taste buds. Now hush and take a seat somewhere."
Blake did as she was told, not wanting to spur any further aggression from the girl. She pulled the chair from the table next to Yang, who was already having her way with three slices. The blonde turned her attention to the downtrodden Belladonna.
"Mama Schnee catch ya doin' the nasty?" She commented in a hushed tone only Blake could hear.
Blake fumbled with a slice of pepperoni she took, the ceramic plate clinking softly. She retorted in an equally hushed tone, "No, that's not it! I.. I don't even know."
Yang took a large bite of one of her slices and looked over at Weiss, "Hey Chilly Pants, how come you didn't join us for the hot tub? Did you do some hot tubbin' of your own with Blake?"
Under any other circumstance, Weiss would have shot up from her place at the table and tromped over to the countertop to make some coffee as an excuse to escape the situation. Either that, or she would have snapped back harshly, considering the mood she was in. But this was pizza we were talking about. She couldn't call herself a lady of class if she'd left it on the plate, all by its lonesome. Her eyebrow knit, though her neutral expression remained unchanged. "We were just enjoying some of the book we're reading together as well as trying to get to know each other more. Thank you, Yang, for voicing such unsavory inquiries at the table."
Cinder cut up another piece of her own slice—it drove Winter absolutely nuts when she ate pizza with a fork and knife—curveballed the questionable sentence. "Getting to know each other? Haven't the both of you been dating for quite a while, Weiss?"
Everyone at the table looked to Weiss, eager to hear her reply. Zwei even looked up from his bowl, though his look was still goofy and unknowing. Or maybe he did know. Either way, he couldn't tell anybody.
The piece of pizza she'd been chewing lodged itself in Weiss' throat, causing the girl to cough in an attempt to clear it. 'Crap, CRAP! I was careless! Okay just, don't panic Weiss. We can fix this. Just—Argh, this stupid pizza piece!'
The dinner table exchanged looks of concern at one another, while Weiss continued trying to clear her throat. Winter pat her back gently, shaking her head at Cinder.
After the silence, a cheery voice came from across the table. "Whether or not you've been dating for a week or for a year, do we ever really stop discovering new things about our partner?"
It was Argent. She had also been cutting up a slice—it was an inside joke with Cinder that whenever the three of them ate pizza together, they could only use utensils in order to spite her—when she decided to step in and save her daughter from explanation.
Or. Well, that's probably what happened, but it was equally as probable that she made the comment genuinely, without concern for Weiss' embarrassment or otherwise. No one could really tell with Argent.
Cinder smiled inwardly, picking up a doughy piece with her fork, "You're right, Argent," Winter cocked her head at Cinder, commenting in the background, "Wait, you call my mom by her first name?" But Cinder continued her exposition, ignoring her wife. "It was shortsighted of me to assume. Sorry, Weiss."
Weiss, who had long gotten the piece of pizza dislodged, was flitting her eyes back and forth at her family's strange.. Really strange actions.
Argent simply smiled at her daughters, and subsequently everyone at the table. She apparently wasn't done with her reasoning, "We learn something new every day, and that goes doubly for those we care about." She turned to her left, where Pyrrha was seated, and moved a few stray strands of hair from her face, tucking them carefully behind her ear, "Wouldn't you agree, Pyrrha?"
Weiss inwardly gawked. 'What.. What the hell!?'
The usually composed Pyrrha Nikos suddenly stumbled finding her words. She was confused, among other things, as to why she called on her, "Oh, I—Yes, I agree, Mrs. Schnee. No matter the circumstance, there are always opportunities to learn. That's one of the nicest things about love, one would suppose."
Argent turned back to the table, the smile never leaving her face. "Well, don't just sit there staring, eat up, everyone!" She giggled as if she didn't just single-handedly wipe everyone's expressions blank and slapped up a look of utter confusion.
Sun and Neptune simply shrugged the strange exchange off, continuing with their three slices, while Ren silently plated another slice for Nora, who seemed wholly unfazed by the conversation. She placed a slice of vegetarian on top of a meat-lover's slice, readying it for consumption. Jaune was nervously looking at Pyrrha, who'd ultimately gone pink in the face. He asked her if anything was wrong, she could only really tell him no. Coco and Velvet stayed quiet the entire time, but Coco had the most hilarious look of bewilderment while Velvet seemed to actually enjoy the conference. Yang had long since pinched the bridge of her nose, probably thinking something along the lines of 'That was the weirdest, single most awkward thing that has happened to us' and Ruby sat there, reclined in her seat trying to figure out if any of that was normal. At all. She chuckled to herself after accepting that her group of friends were always the farthest from normal anyway.
Blake tried her hardest not to let a chuckle fall out. Sure, it was admittedly a roundabout flurry of questionable communication, but she supposed she'd have Weiss' mother to thank for taking the attention off the truth about her and Weiss' relationship. Blake picked her gaze up to Weiss, who, after trying to decipher her mother and sister's expressions, shook her head slightly and laughed. She locked eyes with those distant ice blues, and for a moment, Blake thought of looking away; but she smiled instead. Weiss returned the gesture with a flash of scarlet on her cheeks. She looked to the side and propped her elbow on the table to cover her smile with her hand.
Blake's heart thumped twice in succession intensely at this.
"Alright kiddies, movie time! Uh, I don't really know what everyone likes, so I'm just gonna let you guys fight over Netflix, okay?" Winter announced from her spot next to Cinder on one of the loveseat couches.
Both Sun and Nora jumped up to snatch the remote off the table—Nora was just a little quicker, so she shooed Sun away while she tossed the remote slightly into the air a couple times.
"This is how you know I'm Queen of the Castle, Sunny boy. But here ya go!" She tossed the remote to him anyway.
He whipped around, "Wait, what? You don't wanna choose the movie?"
"Nah. Just wanted to grab the remote first. Choose away!" She plopped down next to Ren and Pyrrha.
Energized once again, Sun took center stage. "Okay. Since I've got reign here, we're going to be watching Kill Bill, AKA one of the most awesome cinematic masterpieces of the early century."
Neptune stepped in, "Kill Bill, seriously dude?"
"Dude. Dude. Chiaki Kuriyama. Lucy freaking Liu! C'mon man, you can't tell me you don't think they're cute."
He sighed and reclined on the couch, "I guess so. Whatever, just play it."
The room snickered at the exchange while Sun pressed play on the movie. Everyone was settled.. Well, almost everyone.
Blake was on one of the couches, next to Yang and Ruby, noticing that a certain someone has yet to join them once again. She drummed her fingers on her thigh, trying to be subtle about looking around the room for the missing Schnee girl.
Yang noticed the sly actions and smirked. Ruby also peered at Blake from her spot next to Yang, and while the two smiled at each other, Yang lightly slapped Blake's shoulder to get her attention.
Blake was pulled from her nervous trance and turned her attention to the blonde, "What's wrong?"
"Uh, what's wrong with you? I know you wanna check on Weiss, Blake. Just go do it already."
Ruby chimed in, "Blake, you know that she's probably waiting for you to go up to her, right?"
Blake bit her inner lip. "No, I.. I don't want to be rude and miss out on the movie."
Yang snorted. "You've already seen Kill Bill, right?"
"No, I haven't."
"Oooh, liar!" Ruby quipped.
"… Okay, yes I've seen it," Blake admitted.
"Then what'cha waitin' for, playa? Just go talk to her. She might still be low-key upset about whatever was eating her," Yang paused for a moment, "… Were you the one eating her?"
Blake wouldn't dignify that question with an answer, and she left her spot on the couch to head toward the stairs.
The entire room watched Blake leave, but no one stopped her. The looks on their faces said they already knew where she was going.
"Wait, where's Blake going?" Jaune sometimes had a hard time taking the hint.
"Bark! Arruff!" Zwei voiced his opinion to Jaune. He was a bit disappointed with the dense boy.
He earned himself numerous stares after that statement, and he slinked back with a blush, "Uh, s-sorry. Yeah. I figured."
Step after step, Blake climbed the stairs to the hallway to their bedroom. She wasn't exactly being cautious, but she couldn't really figure out why Weiss was always retreating from everyone's company.
'Did I do something wrong? It seemed like she was in a much better mood during dinner, but.. I suppose I still don't know this girl very well.'
Her heart was heavy at the thought, but her footsteps were light as she approached the door. It was cracked open and she moved her hand to knock, but she stopped after hearing that voice she's becoming accustomed to so well.
Blake could feel her heart beat faster as Weiss' notes flowed through her ears once again. She listened closer to try and decipher the song..
"'Cause youuu.. There is just somethin' 'bout youuu.."
Blake couldn't help but smile at the song. She wasn't familiar with it, but its sweet melody calmed her nerves, and she listened closer.
"Maybe it's the way you walk, giiirl, but I just could not figure out~ Why you give me buuutterfliiies when I… Simply just look at you, why must I fall for you…? Oo-oo-oo~"
As Weiss dragged her words out in the song, Blake couldn't help but hope that by some chance, those words were for her. By some crazy, totally off chance. She reflected on their relationship, and she knew that it probably wouldn't work out. After all, Weiss wanted to break off the deal once they were back home. But you know.. If only for a momentary bliss, it was fine for her to wish for that, right?
"Or why I can't think of words when I.. Simply approach you, I don't knowww what to dooo.. Oo-oo-oo~"
Blake turned her back away from the door and pressed herself against the wooden frame, sliding down to sit on the floor. She tucked her knees in and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on her forearm as she closed her eyes to listen to Weiss a little longer.
"Is it those eyes? Or those lips—Oh god, those lips! Ahaha.. Or the way you sway those hips?"
Blake let out a gentle chuckle at Weiss' conjecture during the song. She had to bury her face into her arms out of embarrassment.
"Or maybe your hair… How it shiiines… Miss Seductive, I can't help but tryyy~"
Blake was falling. If nothing else, she was definitely falling into a heavy sleep after hearing the serenade, which may or may not have been for her ears—
But, you know. A girl can dream, right?
a/n: I had something different planned for this chapter, but I decided to break it up into two chapters. So that next one is coming soon, I freaking promise.
Please let me know how it was. I feel out of touch!
edit: you know it's funny, i completely forgot about coco and velvet and i threw them into the chapter just now lmfao i am ashamed