A/N: Happy HanuChristmaKwanza from mine to yours and I hope you're enjoying this so far. I just want to take the time to say thank you because I wouldn't be writing if there was nobody there to read.


Ruby

I don't think I would've imagined that this day would come a year ago. Alright, maybe I would've imagined it, but I would never have acted. Blake agreed to go out with me, and sure there's fine print, but that won't matter if we have an awesome time tonight.

After struggling for a few moments to zip up the back of my dress, I get it done. Now for the leggings. I sit down on the toilet seat and feel soft and very expensive fabric between my calloused fingers and thumb. The odds that these are actually going to impress her aren't very high, but they are pretty comfortable.

I attach the garters connected to my dress to the leggings and look myself over in the mirror. Turning a few times, I nod in satisfaction. Weiss did a great job with these. They look pretty cool on me.

My opinion isn't what matters though.

I quickly send a message to Yang, letting her know that Blake and I should be there in five minutes or so. Then, bundling the rest of my clothes, I step out of the bathroom and nod shyly at my companion, who lounges on Weiss' bed comfortably. I doubt that she would mind, since she's busy moderating the dance or something.

The sight of her makes my heart quicken, though not as much as her comment. "Ruby, you look wonderful." She offers a quick smile and gets up, smoothing off her own dress.

It takes all of my strength to keep my jaw from dropping. She's one to talk. The way her slender, yet toned frame fills her purple summer dress. The way her eyes shine with beautiful amber light. Just everything about her is perfect. There's no way I could even compare.

"Vale to Ruby. Are you just going to stand there? Or . . ."

"S - Sorry," I stammer, offering her my hand, but dropping it. "You look incredible."

She senses my nervousness and instead offers me her arm. With gratitude, I loop my arm through hers and open the door with my free hand, awkwardly trying to keep it open as we walk through.

"Ruby, can I tell you something?" We walk down a flight of steps to the ground floor, turning right at the next intersection. "I might be more nervous than you are."

That one hits me like that truck that would've hit me last year if Penny hadn't been there.

"What? Why are you nervous? Compared to you, I'm just a little girl." I look up to her incredulously.

She looks at me like I'm crazy. "Well," she begins, removing her arm and adjusting a strand of loose hair from her forehead. "I haven't had a really serious romantic relationship since before Beacon and this," she motions to the both of us without saying anything more.

I nod wordlessly and walk alongside her, still unsure of how I should act. Should I be more of a listener? Should I talk? If so what should I talk about?

My thoughts are broken into by the music from the ballroom and I look to Blake. She offers me her arm again and we walk through the doorway together. The steam on the floor, which I recognize from their freezerburn combo attack, tells me that Weiss and my sis have been busy.

"Wow, Rubes, you look so cute!" Yang squeals, and I can tell from the way that she's holding herself that she's trying her hardest not to pick me up like she always does.

"Yang!" I whine, my face probably turning as red as the highlights in my hair.

She smiles at me, biting her lip to stifle a laugh. A list of things that are "not ladylike" according to Weiss scrolls through my mind. I can't decide what I should call her later for embarrassing me on what might be the most important night of my life.

"Good evening, Ruby, Blake. Come in, as you could probably already tell, the dance will be starting shortly," Weiss says politely, sweeping her hand to show Blake and I the not full, but not empty dance floor.

The room buzzes with a nervous energy, kind of like the energy released when I pull Crescent Roses trigger. All that it needs is a spark. I'm guessing that the spark is going to be good music. Yang's got great taste and I hope that she'll go with Jeff Williams at least once. He's an instant classic.

"Thank you," Blake returns in a similar manner, before steering me to a couple of chairs by the window.

This may be silly, but every time that I step foot into this room I remember the first night that I spent here at Beacon. The spot that she chose here is directly across the place where we first had a conversation. Where I shared my dream of helping people, of being a hero. In fact, I can feel the same fear and nervousness that I felt then now. The context is just a little bit different.

Ok, it's a lot of bit different. That doesn't mean I won't be able to tackle it the same way I always tackle an obstacle. Dad always called it the "Rose stubbornness". He said that mom was the same way and it made me so happy to be like her. It still does.

I look down and see Blake massaging her ankle, openly wearing irritation. Why is she massaging her ankle?

"Blake, are you ok?" I ask, plopping down beside her. The last thing I need is for the girl who I want to be my girlfriend to be hurt on a night out with me. I'll feel guilty even if I had nothing to do with it.

She jumps, like she forgot that I was there until I spoke up. The irritation disappears, becoming a smile quickly. "Yeah, Ruby. Sorry, these shoes hurt my ankles. Is it alright if we take breaks from dancing occasionally?"

I nod vigorously, hard enough to make my head fall off. "Yeah, of course. I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable - we don't even need to dance if you don't want to," I say genuinely. I just want her to have a good time, even if going to the dance doesn't mean dancing.

"Oh, no, Ruby Rose. This is your - this is our night and we're going to dance."

The quiet intensity that's coming off of her must be the same feistiness that Yang always talks about when she and Blake come back from a mission. I have to say that I like her more than words can say. If I was a writer, I could just put it in a book and change the names and it would be easy. She would know and I would know and it would be something that was completely ours.

"Promise to tell me when you need a break?" I ask, extending my pinky.

Blake chuckles, recognizing the international signal for a pinky promise. She extends her own and locks it around mine.

"Well with that settled, do you want to go grab a spot before the floor gets too filled?" She asks, motioning to the dance floor.

"Nothing would make me happier," I respond truthfully.


We take our places on the floor, mingling with the other students, most of their faces familiar to me and some new. By the looks on some of those faces, I can tell that Ruby Rose was the last person that they expected Blake Belladonna with or vice versa.

Maybe some of them thought that my only love was my scythe. That was true once, and this might sound cheesy, but that was before I met Blake.

When the music finally starts, it starts in a quick dance beat of a familiar tune that Yang has taken on as her anthem, with good reason. It's like Jeff Williams wrote the song about her or something like that.

This is like a mosh pit. I've only ever been to one concert. The Achieve Men came to Patch once and Yang made sure that she had a ticket for the both of us. Yes, we were in a mosh pit. It was incredible then, but right now all I can think about are Blake's poor ankles. Jumping in heels can't be comfortable.

She did promise that she would tell me when she couldn't take it, and I'm going to trust her. Like dad always told Yang, "What is a relationship without trust?" He wasn't talking about a romantic relationship though. Yang took out her Bumblebee after curfew and of course dad had to ground her only to un-ground her later that day when he needed her help bringing in groceries. I guess the Rose stubbornness isn't specific to just mom and I.

After two more songs, Blake whispers that she needs to sit down for a second, and asks me to help her off the dance floor. I drape her right arm around my neck and help her walk to the two chairs that we claimed. It probably looks like I'm carrying an injured teammate off of the battlefield and that is pretty much what's happening. Last year, Ozpin told me that I couldn't spend my entire life on a battlefield, even if I wanted to, but even now on a dance floor I'm on a battlefield.

"Ah," Blake exclaims as she sits, lifting her feet up off the ground. "I'd rather have the weight on my legs than my ankle."

"Here, let me help," I respond, reaching for her heels as she tries to get them off.

With the deft hands that it takes to use a weapon like Crescent Rose, I have her shoes off in seconds and although she didn't ask me, I rub my palms together to generate heat and press them on the back of her heels.

"Ouch," She winces, and I instinctively remove my hands.

The last thing that I want to do is hurt her.

"No, Ruby. That feels good, keep doing it," she asks, wincing again as I touch her feet. The pained look fades away quickly and is replaced by comfort, and I can't keep from smiling.

If we start dating, I know what I'm going to do for her after every mission.

A couple of songs pass by before she asks if we could get back out there. We do, and just in time for the DJ to yell out "This one's for you, Blonde dude who was in a dress last year," before blasting Shine by Jeff Williams. The floor pretty much clears for Team JNPR as they replicate their dance from last year. The energy picks up quickly as the other dancers figure out the steps.

It's not long before Blake and I join in the line dance and dance through to the end of the song twice because of the crowd's demands for an encore. The whole time we dance, I stare at Blake, drinking in every detail about her body, her movements, the way that she laughs - I could go on forever, but I won't.

After that dance, I'm thirsty and need a glass of punch or maybe four or five.

"How's the night so far?" I ask Blake over a shared glass. She insisted that we share, not wanting to make to have to keep track of two cups.

"So far? Better than I expected. I feel pretty comfortable. The foot rubs certainly help," she replies playfully winking at me.

"I'll remember that," I say happily, having already decided to remember it earlier in the evening.

A flash of white makes me glance over her shoulder, and sure enough, Weiss is there, casually sipping from a glass.

"Hi, Ruby, Blake," she sings, humming a song under her breath. I don't think I've ever seen Weiss this cheerful before. It's kind of scary actually.

"Hi, Weiss. Are you . . . alright?" Blake asks, glancing at me with amusement in her eyes.

I take her glass and walk to the bowl that Weiss hovers over, downing the rest of mine and filling it with the punch in that bowl. Just one sip sets my sugar senses off. There's more in this stuff than I've had the whole week, and that's saying something. Weiss is my partner and I'm not sure how much more she can have before falling into a sugar coma. I turn back to Blake and nod my head towards Weiss' cup, a silent request.

She understands what I mean and walks to the smaller girl, all but wrenching the cup out of her hands. "Weiss, you need to let go now."

After a brief struggle, it's as if Weiss remembered who and where she was, and quickly walks away.

Blake and I share a gaze and burst out laughing. "That was weird, wasn't it?" She asks, spilling Weiss' drink in a nearby garbage can.

"That probably would've surprised me once," I reply, taking a drink of the supercharged punch. "But it's Weiss, you know?"

"True, I've learned to expect anything from her," Blake says nonchalantly. "Could I try some?" She points to our glass.

I hand it to her, but expect the worst. My body has pretty much built up immunity to sugar. The sugar high's a part of who I am now.

"This is . . . really, very not good," She sticks out her tongue after barely taking a sip and hands the glass back to me.

"Yeah," I agree, pouring the rest of it into the trash can.

"Do you want to go get some air?" She asks, motioning to the balcony with her head.

My heart quickens again. It'll be the first time we're alone together tonight. Unable to form a word, I nod.


The atmosphere outside is warm enough, but not unbearably warm like inside. The view overlooking the city of Vale is beautiful, arguably more so than the view from the airship when we arrived.

The open air also definitely helps. If Blake was in a good mood inside the ballroom, she's over the moon now.

We stand close together without saying anything for a while. It's still hard to believe that any of this is happening. Every so often, I glance over to her, just to make sure that she's still there.

Finally, after what feels like an hour, she turns to me. What looks, to me, like curiosity flashes in her eyes, but that might just be the moonlight.

"If we were to date, hypothetically, what exactly would your intentions be?" She looks at me - no that's wrong - into me a though reading my thoughts.

The answer to this question of course is marriage and a family, but I don't think that I should lead with that. What's a way of saying that without using the M word or the L word?

"Well, companionship and comfort for as long as possible."

"But ultimately marriage, right?" She asks, seeing through the front that I put up.

"Yes, marriage."

She nods wordlessly and looks out over the city again. I wish that I could read her like she can read me even though that would make the relationship boring. The more that I can learn about her, the better. It should make for good talks.

"Ok," she says, smiling at me. "You realize that I'm not as into you as you are to me, but we're both looking for the same things. If you're willing to try, I would be willing to."

My aura soars, and all that I can feel is excitement and happiness.

"Well -" I begin, searching my mind for words to show how happy I am.

"Provided that we start slowly," she says, speaking slowly and clearly. "From what Yang told me, this is your first relationship and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you didn't get to enjoy every moment of it."

That's weird. It sounds like she's talking from experience. I know that she dated Sun briefly, but that never really got off the ground.

Just as I'm about to speak, I'm interrupted again. But it's not Blake this time.

"Ms. Rose, Ms. Belladonna. What Have we here?"