Ruby calmly walked into her room, though on the inside she was a complete bundle of nerves. She'd just had a talk with Blake about how to ask Weiss to the Yule Ball with her, and all she'd gotten was a rather bluntly said, "Just ask her", which while slightly helpful, wasn't what she was hoping for.
It was infinitely better than asking Yang for her advice though.
Ruby shuddered involuntarily at the mere thought of doing such a thing. She'd rather be stuck in one of those dreams where she went to class in her underwear, that would be infinitely less embarrassing. Plus, she could surprise Yang with it when the Yule Ball came around.
If Weiss accepted anyways.
Ruby sighed and her shoulders slightly sagged at that thought, she wanted to think Weiss would accept, but at the same time, the less confident side of her said it wouldn't. Ruby could pull it off, she knew she could.
She just needed a plan.
A cunning plan that would ensure the perfect moment to ask Weiss to the Ball. Hmmm, she would pull this off. She could pull this off!
Ruby quickly changed out of her Beowolf pajamas and into her normal outfit and prepared herself to go down to breakfast. She would think better on a full stomach.
Or at least, breakfast had sounded like a good idea when she'd originally thought it.
However, it seemed the entire school had suddenly became worried for her, someone named "Sirius Black" had escaped from a wizarding prison called "Azkaban", which apparently was a really, really bad thing. Ruby simply laughed it off. A single man without an aura attacking her? Not that she wanted to sound cocky, it was laughable that they thought she should be worried. She was a huntress (in training), he was a quite possibly insane escaped prisoner, she could take him, no problem!
However, that wasn't the only bit of annoying news that came out of her breakfast. She also learned that after the Yule Ball, the Dementors of Azkaban would be arriving to "protect" the school from Sirius Black.
Ruby didn't know much about Dementors, but then again, no one did. She had read a small excerpt about them in one of the books she'd read while studying for the First Task, and Ruby had learned that they were not creatures to be taken lightly. They were like Grimm when it came to attraction, being drawn towards negative emotions, and souls in general which they would devour if given half a chance. They also sucked away your happiness as they closed in, making it nearly impossible to muster the effort to run as they swooped in to suck out your soul. Ruby shuddered slightly at the thought of it. If criminals here were subjected to that every day, how could they not be insane?
As much as Ruby enjoyed fighting, she decided that she most definitely would not want to face one of Azkaban's guards if they did that to their victims.
However, Ruby didn't have time to contemplate the problem of the Dementors, she had more pressing matters to attend to! Like finding out how to ask Weiss to the Yule Ball and ignore the horribly depressing thought of her not saying yes!
Which totally wouldn't happen...
She hoped.
Yang walked into her sister's room where she'd been holed up for the majority of the day, she knew something was bothering her, and she wasn't coming to her with it, which meant she was either pulling a Blake and not telling anyone, including her, which would be incredibly out of character for her sister, or, and this one was far more likely, Ruby was getting help from someone else.
Yang suppressed an urge to shudder in fear at that thought, her sister getting help from someone else!? The thought was laughable, but at the same time, it was possible and it frightened Yang that Ruby didn't want her to know what was wrong. She was her big sister, she was always there for Ruby and would never abandon her! So why would she just shut her out like this?
Yang looked around the room and noticed a pile of paper sitting haphazardly on the desk next to the sleeping form of her sister, she smiled slightly, and then picked her up and gently placed her on her bed, not hearing Ruby mumble Weiss' name as she curled into the blankets and snuggled her head into the pillow.
Yang was about to leave the room, thinking Ruby had fallen asleep doing homework, but remembered that there was no way that was all homework, Professor Goodwitch only assigned four pages of writing, and that was easily twenty pages of paper. Yang paused for a moment as she was halfway out the door.
Her sister was hiding something from her, and it was her duty as older sister to look after her...
Yang slowly walked over to the desk and looked at the top page, it was homework, as she suspected, the first four pages were all Professor Goodwitch's homework, the last sixteen or so though..
It very well explained what her sister was hiding.
Yang tried her hardest not to squee as she flipped through the pages, all of them a different plan for asking out her partner to the Yule Ball, granted a lot of them were cheesy and over the top, just like the movies she had plagiarized them from, but at the same time, a few were simple, and a couple were even something she was sure the Ice Queen would find romantic, however, something was bothering her that had immediately killed her enthusiasm for the idea.
Why had Ruby hid this? Was she afraid that Yang wouldn't accept her? No, she knew Yang wouldn't care, was she scared for Weiss perhaps? No, that wouldn't be it either, she had to know that Yang was only distrustful of people she didn't know, not people she knew and talked to everyday, and would see and talk to almost everyday for the next four years.
Then the answer hit Yang like a ton of bricks.
And almost sent her into a laughing fit right next to her younger sister's bed.
Ruby was afraid she would pick on her for it!
Granted, there would probably be a few moments in the future if Ruby and Weiss were to become a thing, that she might make a joke or two, but when the question of how to ask the Ice Queen out was burning into her mind, she was far, far more tactful than that.
She was after all, Ruby's big sister, it was her job to ensure she was happy and stayed that way. So, with that thought in her mind, she leafed through the crude drawings if Ruby asking Weiss out during a multitude of different moments and scenarios, each one more outlandish than the last until she came upon the one she thought would be best and grabbed Ruby's pencil before writing a short apology note and circling the one she thought would be best. Then, with a smile and possible teasing material in her future, Yang Xiao Long walked out of her sister's bedroom with a large smile on her face.
Ruby awoke about an hour later, confused as to how she ended up in her bed before she remembered what she had been doing and immediately dashed over to the table to ensure that no one had seen her...work.
At first, it seemed all was fine, her plans were still hidden under her homework, however that thought quickly fled her mind when she saw the all too familiar scrawl right next to a piece of paper she'd written on with a huge circle around it.
Her sister had seen it!
Ruby, completely mortified, picked up the note and read it, relieved it was an apology note and that she wouldn't tease her for asking for help with her "Weiss problem" as Yang had so eloquently put it. She felt sort of bad for hiding it now, but Yang had no one to blame but herself, even if it hurt Ruby to hide it from her big sister, she really didn't want Yang to tease her relentlessly, so she'd simply let the risk outweigh the reward, she would have to see if Yang was mad at her, Ruby definitely did not want that to happen.
Ruby looked at the choice Yang had made and sighed quietly as she agreed with Yang's idea.
She'd just have to approach this tactfully.
Unbeknownst to Ruby however, Weiss was thinking much the same thing. "I wonder if Ruby will ask me to the Ball?" She asked herself quietly, before realizing what she had just thought and crushed it relentlessly. She sighed to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to get the thoughts of her team leader out of her head.
"She's your partner and leader Weiss! Control yourself! It's unethical, it's fraternizing, it's...it's...Ruby!" Of course that last thought only made her stomach twist into knots as she shook her head slightly as if trying to force it out of her head. "Ugh! I need to talk to someone about this! Yang would either laugh or punch me, Ruby wouldn't understand or she would simply turn all awkward, that leaves...Blake." Weiss nodded to herself, Blake would work, and it just so happened the cat faunus was in her room reading, which meant Weiss could get this off her mind immediately!
With that thought, Weiss hurried through the door and knocked at the one next to her.
"Come in!" Blake called quietly from insider her room, hiding Ninjas of Love behind a dust cover for a particularly long and dry novel. "Weiss?" Blake asked curiously, closing her book and setting it down, being sure to not move the dust cover around too much. "Did you need something?"
Weiss nodded quietly motioning towards the chair at the desk, and getting a nod from Blake, sat down in it, before coughing slightly into the awkward silence that began to permeate the room. Blake raised an eyebrow in impatience. "You needed something?"
Weiss jumped in her chair and shook her head slightly, mustering the courage to speak. "Well Blake, you see, I have a slight" she paused, "problem." Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, feeling like a complete dolt for having this much trouble speaking to her teammate of all people! "You see, I have..." she paused again, trying to think of a word that wasn't to strong, but wasn't to light so as to cause Blake to misunderstand the situation, "feelings for Ruby" she said, voice shaking slightly as she finally managed to say it, causing her to berate herself inwardly for acting like a love-struck schoolgirl.
Blake smiled inwardly at this, it would appear her apprehension of the situation on Ruby's part was completely unfounded. Good for Ruby, it also meant she might manage to finish her book since as soon as these almost daily interruptions to her quiet time ceased, she might just manage to finish reading her book. "Well, that's a surprise." Blake said flatly, causing Weiss to raise an eyebrow in askance.
"That's all you have to say on the matter?" Weiss asked rhetorically, preparing to get up and leave the room in annoyance when she was stopped by Blake's hand on her shoulder.
"No, it's not, I do have something to say on the matter" Blake smiled lightly, "Ruby feels the same way." Weiss blanched at this nugget of information.
"W-What!?" Weiss asked shrilly, her eyes going as wide as saucers, all thoughts of keeping her "Schnee Mask" up now abandoned as her brain stopped working for a moment, before quickly catching up and saying the first thing that came to mind. "You better not be joking with me Blake!" Weiss demanded of her raven haired teammate. Blake simply leveled Weiss with a blank stare.
"You really think I would joke about this?" She asked in a flat tone. Weiss simply turned her head away from Blake and "Harrumphed" in indignation at being wrong.
"I suppose not" Weiss allowed, "but one can never be too sure, especially considering what we are talking about at the moment" she replied. Blake smirked at defeating the Ice Queen's logic and simply nodded.
"That's why I wouldn't joke about it Weiss, Ruby talked to me about the same thing for you" she said in an oddly warm tone for someone as stoic as Blake. "I guarantee she feels the same way, if the way she stuttered and blushed through our conversation about it was any indication" she smiled again, nodding at Weiss. "I'd say your chances with her are rather good Weiss, good luck." And with that, Weiss found herself still in a slightly shocked state, outside of Blake's room staring at the now closed door.
"Uhh, Weiss? Why do you look like you just got told you're not rich anymore?" Yang asked curiously upon seeing Weiss in her current position. Weiss quickly regained her composure and coughed slightly, fixing Yang with a glare.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Yang Xiao Long" she said angrily, which was only met by a large grin from the brawler.
"Of course ya don't Ice Queen" she said with a jaunty wave, headed for the door, "see ya later!"
"Stop calling me that!" Weiss snapped at the now shut door to their suite, hearing Yang's laughter from the other side, fading as she walked down the corridor.
Ruby stood in her bedroom, trying to open the door so she could activate plan "Ask Weiss to the Ball", but for some reason her stupid hand just wouldn't listen to her brain telling it to open the door!
Of course it also didn't help that she was shaking like a leaf as she reached for the knob. "You can do this Ruby! You're a Huntress, the youngest student to ever attend Beacon Academy, and you're the leader of the best first year team in the entire Academy! You. Can. Do. This!" She said to herself as her trembling hand grasped the door knob and shakily turned it and pulled the door open. She looked out of the open doorway and noticed Weiss sitting in front of the fireplace looking deep in thought, completely unaware of her team leader's plight behind her.
Ruby awkwardly shuffled up beside the couch and sat next to Weiss, noticing her gaze not breaking from the fireplace. She coughed slightly to get her attention, causing her to shake her head and look at Ruby with a small blush, not that Ruby noticed. "Oh, Hello Ruby" Weiss said, reverting to a formal speak in her moment of embarrassment.
Ruby rubbed the back of her head slightly in nervousness as she tried to force herself to ask Weiss the question she had psyched her self up for. She took a deep breath and put on her usual innocent smile, though it looked a bit more forced than usual. "So Weiss..." she began slowly, her voice shaking as she began what would either be one of the best moments of her life, or the most depressing. Ruby coughed slightly, pulling on her hood as she she felt her face warm up. "Weiss, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" She spit this out very quickly before giving into the urge to hide and pulling her hood up over her head and looking down.
Weiss looked at Ruby with slight shock, she had thought Blake was picking on her, that she hadn't been serious and just wanted her out of her room, but it would seem she would have to apologize for doubting her. Weiss smiled and put her hand on the top of Ruby's hood, pushing it down and smiling gently at her as she pushed on the bottom of Ruby's chin with a single finger to make her look up.
Ruby watched with wide, fearful, curious, and slightly hopeful, eyes as Weiss stared into hers smiling all the while. She simply raised an eyebrow and gently said, "Of course I will, you dolt." Ruby smiled widely at Weiss' answer and couldn't stop herself from leaping across the sofa and hugging Weiss for all she was worth.
"Weiss you're the best! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Ruby said ecstatically, squeezing Weiss tighter into her embrace.
"You dolt! Stop it! Someone might see!" Weiss sputtered out, red as a tomato. This knock back to reality caused Ruby to pull back from the hug and smile nervously at her partner and ball date. Weiss regained her composure and smiled quite mysteriously at Ruby as she rubbed her hands together. "You know what us two going to the ball together means, right Ruby?" Weiss asked casually, Ruby tilted her head sideways and shook her head. Weiss smiled even wider.
"It means we have to go shopping for dresses" she said simply, causing Ruby to groan at the thought.
"We'll also be using your trust fund for the expenses" she tacked on as a tease for the small girl.
Ruby groaned even more.
Maybe she should have asked out Blake instead.
AN: Okay *vomits from writing the fluff*, I'm done with this chapter, next chapter will be shopping trip, Yule Ball, and maybe something else. I just needed this fucking chapter done so I can move through the next one and get to the fun stuff, like the next couple chapters of the second task's arc. I'll see you guys Sunday!
Also, Hi Ace, you know who I mean.