Ruby sighed contently into the kiss, leaning into the warm palm that cupped her cheek just so. Sun was always so careful with her. She wouldn't mind it, if only he wasn't so skittish. It wasn't any question as to why. She didn't exactly have a lot of experience in relationships, and of those, a large majority had been of the negative sort. She had the scars to prove it, and she could see the clear upset in Sun's eyes every time he saw them.
Like every huntress, she was used to injury though. When his thumb caressed one particularly long scar, she laughed, breaking the kiss. "That tickles." She murmured, nose to nose with him as she sat on his lap.
"Sorry." He said quietly, his words almost choked.
Ruby just shook her head. "Sun, that one was from an Ursa. And the one just above it was because I fell out of tree. I was four, didn't have my aura back then."
His eyes sparkled softly with understanding. "Oh, whoops." He very suddenly felt foolish.
"Not every scar I have is because of Scarlet." Ruby told him gently, knowing that Sun still felt guilty about that fact that his now ex-teammate had intentionally hurt her.
He'd taken it as a personal betrayal, never thinking Scarlet David could do such a thing. "Yeah, I know, but-"
She kissed him quick, but then replaced her lips with a finger. "Nu-uh…" She scolded, though her voice was unbelievably soft. "Nope, you're not allowed to do that…" She leaned in, kissing him again, this time lingering. Her arms wrapping around his shoulders. His touch felt good to her. It felt safe. "I trust you, and that's all that matters, okay?"
He nodded, not trusting his mouth to behave. He really, really wanted to apologize for the umpteenth time. To hold her in his arms and protect her from anyone who might ever try to harm her ever again. It was too soon to say the other set of words on the tip of his tongue. In fact, he was afraid to say them. Afraid that if he did, he'd doom himself to losing her.
He sighed into her shoulder, laying kisses along her collar, coming across a very brutal animalistic looking gash. It was old, that was for sure. "And this?"
"Oh, that? I don't really remember. Yang gets this guilty look if she stares at it for too long, though." Ruby looked down. "Yang says she took me exploring when that happened. Beewolves are all over in Patch. They attacked us, I guess."
He'd erase it if he could, but he couldn't. He settled for kissing that damnable scar, trying to make it into something happier, something safe. He'd kiss and caress all of them better, make his love for her into a balm that would chase all of the terrors of Ruby's past away.
"Sun…" Her breath hitched
The way she said his name, music to his ears. "Hmm?" He pulled away to look at her.
"I'm not glass." She said, a little smirk pulling at her lips. "You don't have to be so careful all the time."
"Yeah, but I like to be." Sun blushed deeply.
"Condom?"
Licking his suddenly dry lips, he nodded. "Left vest pocket."
"Then what are you waiting for?" She asked, her troublesome little smile melting any and all of his inhibitions.
He always held himself back for her sake. She was always the instigator of their bedroom frolics, or as it had been occurring most recently, the forest at the back of the manor. Wrapped up in thick thermal blankets among the Atlas chill. The moonlit sky their only light besides the twinkling stars. The outdoors were second nature to them, and for Ruby, there was nothing better than feeling Sun's warm body pressed against hers.
He was aroused, and she knew it.
There was no way to ignore that fact. Not with Ruby straddling him, wiggling her hips tauntingly. His breath was fleeting as he swallowed hard, his arms wrapping around her more fully as he flipped them. Carefully resting her body on the thick warm blanket below, he pulled the one wrapped around them more snugly. Satisfied with their cocoon, he kissed her deeply then, letting his mind sink into the moment…
"Has anyone seen Ruby?" Yang asked, clad in her pajamas. "I've looked everywhere."
"She went out shopping for camping supplies with Sun. They were going to have dinner someplace after." Weiss supplied. Just what they were likely to be using those supplies for, Weiss could only speculate. It wasn't any of her business anyway. That area had been strangely devoid of small woodland Grimm as of late. An interesting little detail, surely, but one she wasn't going to bother Ruby about.
"Still?"
"Very likely."
Yang thought about that. Zhu was already asleep, curled between Blake and Weiss on the sofa. His little tail was wrapped around Blake's wrist. As always, at this time of night Yang was off duty, and Weiss made sure her own weapon was on hand. The blonde took in the sight with distance amusement before she checked her scroll. "Kind of late to be eating, isn't it?"
"They probably stopped in at the pub." Blake shrugged. "You know Ruby's been bored out of her mind around here. She's probably enjoying her night out."
"So long as she doesn't wake up with a hangover." Yang shrugged, plopping down on the floor in front of the fire. "I've upped the security around here. We're going from two guards at every station to three. At the corporate office it'll be four instead of two."
"Isn't that overdoing it just a little bit?" Blake asked.
"Nah…" Yang muttered distractedly. One of the maids walked by, meeting up with one of the household guards. Yang's gaze following the leggy dark skinned woman as she greeted the man. They both winked at Yang before waving and heading off to their own bed for the night.
"You have no shame, do you?" Weiss grumbled.
"Oh please, it's just off the clock flirting…I've never done anything with them." Yang said, being completely honest. "Besides, he's one of my best shooters. I got to keep morale up somehow."
"Hmm." Weiss considered it. She never did understand Yang's overtures.
"Oh, come on, it was just harmless flirting!"
"You still haven't learned your lesson." Weiss told her, wagging a finger. "All of that in-house skirt chasing will catch up with you eventually."
"Ruby's got a social life outside of this mansion." Blake noted softly. "You should have one too, Yang. When was the last time you went out on the town?"
"I've got everything I need." Yang brushed off, flopping across the floor, stretching exhaustedly. "I've got enough to do without leaving the Schnee grounds. Besides that, why go looking for dates when I can casually share a drink with any of my single co-workers?" She rolled over, resting on her back. "It's just like Beacon. Plenty of good people, and new ones coming in all the time. Never a dull moment, really."
"You make it that way." Weiss sighed at length. "At least half of the pandemonium is your fault."
"And I do manage to fix it, most of the time. Besides, you can't say I don't mix it up." In fact, that's what bothered Yang about Ruby. "I mean, yeah, Ruby goes out and stuff, but it's only with the people she knows. Outside of the friends we went to school with, can you honestly name one new buddy she has?"
Weiss and Blake tried to think about one, but they had no new names to add to the list. There was a list of people that Ruby tolerated, but she didn't call them just to chat. She never invited them to go someplace for fun. The silence dragged on.
"See what I mean?" Yang asked smugly. "Ruby's still the wallflower she's always been."
"It's not as if that list is small by any means." Blake defended with a soft laugh. "Some of us aren't inclined to befriend everything that moves."
"A shame, really. Plenty of friends to have, she's just got to ask." Yang shot back. "Toss me a pillow. Designer carpet looks fine and all, but damn it's hard to lay on."
"You could use the other sofa like a normal person." Weiss tossed her one of the throw pillows nearby.
"Ah, that's the ticket." Yang sighed, fluffing the baby blue square of cloth and feathers. "Just like Patch…"
Weiss rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. Yang and Ruby only seldom journeyed back to their homeland by themselves. In part, it was due to work, but that wasn't the only factor. The distance was a drawback too. With Ruby's adventures carrying her deep into the mountain regions of Atlas, she had been gone more often than not. It was impossible to leave her behind, but now, that was subject to change.
Weiss didn't say it out loud, but she was largely considering a vacation at the Xiao Long household.
Footfalls approached from the main hallway, and everyone inclined their heads towards the door to see Sun and Ruby. They were still bundled for the warm weather as they greeted everyone quietly. "Sorry we're late." Sun replied, looking down at his young boy. "We lost track of time."
"Don't worry about it." Weiss replied. "I've prepared a room in the same hallway that Yang and Ruby board in. You're more than welcome to stay the night."
"I…wouldn't want to cause any trouble." Sun replied, hefting Zhu into his arms. To his credit, the kid slept like a rock, and didn't mind being flopped around. "We're not too far away from the Schnee Inn. Neptune and I are staying there...immaculate place, by the way."
"Thank you." Weiss said, taking pleasure in the compliment to one of her newest ventures in real-estate. "However, you really shouldn't be doing that. I live just up the road. We have the space for you here, Sun, utilize it whenever you need."
"It's no trouble." Ruby added.
"No trouble at all." Blake agreed quickly. The smell was wafting so thickly, that she couldn't dare miss it, even if she had dearly wanted to. She gave Sun a knowing little glance, but didn't murmur a word about it. Instead, she remained pleasant and inwardly amused. "Besides, it's ridiculous for you to have to walk in the fall weather. There's almost a foot of more snow coming this way."
"She's got a point." Yang chirped from her place, none the wiser. "A few more huge storms are going to be hitting us soon enough."
"Well, I mean, if you're sure." Sun laughed...
"I'll show you to your room then." Ruby said, a happy little note in her voice, as she led Sun out of the room.
Weiss and Blake shared a knowing look, wordlessly placing their bets on whether or not the guest room would be used. Sun was a crafty guy, and he was one of the few able to give the guards the slip. Chances were good that Ruby would likely sneak him into her room. Wisely, neither one of them commented.
It was Ruby's choice to tell Yang, and they wouldn't force it.
"I think I'm going to crash out, too, actually." Yang said as she picked herself up off the floor. She put the pillow back on its respective furniture. "Thanks to all of the schedule shuffling, I've got to make sure the armory is all figured out…tomorrow is totally going to suck, no two ways about it."
"If it'll be too much for you, just ask the armory to send up the supply report themselves."
"And risk getting sloppy results?" Yang asked. "Weiss, come on, we hired my Signal buddies. Not saying they're not great at their jobs and all, but ask them to put all of that stuff on a spreadsheet? You've seen what happens…"
"Indeed." Weiss replied all too unhappily. "They are not suited for the office. That much will always be true." The people down in the armory were some of the best of the best. Trained by Qrow, vetted by Ozpin. You couldn't ask for a better team of rag-tag weapon enthusiasts. "If you're going down there anyway, bring back the ballistics reports for that new high caliber dust round."
"Under one condition..."
"And that would be?"
"When my gear headed sister wants to play with the rounds, warn me." Yang grinned, but there was more than just a bit of truth to that statement. "I don't wanna be anywhere near that blast radius...night Blake, night boss. Catch you tomorrow."
"Yang if you call me that one more time, I'm going to use you as my practice dummy."
"Yeah, yeah…" Yang waved over her shoulder. "Night guys..."
"Goodnight." They called, allowing Yang to get some distance before Blake turned to Weiss. "How long have you two been keeping Yang in the dark?"
White eyebrows lifted playfully. "Are you implying that I'm taking part of Ruby's elaborate subterfuge?"
"The implication is still wafting around the room." Blake supplied with a laugh. "How long's it been, one month? Two?"
"Since Octavia passed on, actually." Weiss said, noticing her wife's golden eyes grow wide. "Oh, no, don't misunderstand." She corrected quickly explaining herself. "Not the liaisons. That happened later, but my involvement started much earlier. In fact, it was my idea, unfortunately."
"Your idea?" Blake frowned softly, concerned. "How so?"
"Well, after the funeral, Neptune called me. He said he couldn't get Sun out of the booze bottle for the life of him." She leaned against Blake, her lips forming into a thin frown of their own. She recalled the situation at hand. "Naturally there was nothing I could do about his drinking habits, but, I suspected Ruby might. So, I sent her on a few seemingly pointless scouting trips."
"And she always calls Sun and Neptune for those…" Blake bit her lip. "Which is why you outright demanded that Ruby only hire one hunter. You wanted her to take Sun."
"Indeed, the only problem was, it worked too well. The next thing I know, she comes home a blushing, giggling mess. A few months later, the northern mines are being overrun by Grimm. She calls Sun for those too, and one night in the office, I get a call from Ruby."
"Let me guess, it wasn't related to work."
"She told me she had unprotected sex with him." Weiss pulled away then, but only far enough to reach her glass of water. The ice clinked in her glass as she lifted it to her lips. The sound seemed so much louder than it actually was. "She was…worried to say the least."
"Of what?"
"That I was going to judge her, or fire her. I don't know how many insane notions I dispelled that night. We talked, a lot, before her worries could do any real damage."
"Why hasn't she told Yang?" Blake asked softly.
"For the same reason I didn't tell you. They needed some time to themselves." Weiss answered honestly. "This isn't an ideal start to a stable relationship. She wants to be with him, but we've talked a lot. She's worried that this might not be the best time to make everything public. I must say, I agree."
"Well, can you really blame her after last time?" Blake left the question hanging in the air.
Weiss stayed quiet for a moment before giving Blake a guilty look. "Sun's one more emotional disaster away from diving right back into his drinking binge. He's not as strong as he looks, Octavia's death proved that…and Ruby…I know she cares about Sun."
"We all do…" Blake pressed. "No one wants to see him at the bottom of the bottle."
"Yes, that's true." Weiss agreed, a forgone conclusion in her tone. It wasn't a happy one. "Although, it takes a special kind of person to love someone who's already lain with another."
"Before you, I'd been with Adam." Blake supplied softly. "That didn't stop you from being with me."
"That's not what I mean, honey."
"Then, if that's the case…" Blake lifted Weiss into her lap, wrapping her arms around the woman. "What do you mean?"
"This situation pulls at her heartstrings in a way you and I would never be able to really fathom." Weiss began, her words tripping over themselves in a waterfall that could only come from the complexities that was, inexplicably, Ruby Rose. "She's filling a void in Sun's life. Think about it though, that's not the only hole she's trying to come to terms with…"
"Oh my god…" Blake had been worried about that, but not from Ruby's perspective. Faunus logic had clouded over human emotion. "Ruby's on the other side of the coin now. I didn't think of that."
Weiss nodded. "It's an easy, ready-made family. One complete with all of the baggage Ruby grew up with. She knows that life like the back of her hand." Her words quiet and uneasy. "For Sun, it's raw, painful and new. For Ruby, it's a comfortable set of personal demons."
"Then why do you sound so guilty?"
"We've all heard about the pedestal that Summer Rose was put on." Weiss shrugged, it was hard to explain. "Zhu doesn't have an older sibling to look out for him, and Sun's not nearly as well put together as Taiyang…I just..." Blue eyes looked over to the frames on the mantle. Pictures Weiss with her own sister. Photos of the Schnee family as it had once been. Photos of what it was now. Ruby, Yang, they were part of it. "I suppose, I don't want Ruby to bite off more than she can chew."
Blake hissed at the implication, hot air slipping passed her teeth. "They have us, sweetheart. The amount of love and support they have…they're not alone in any of this."
"But does Sun know that?" Weiss asked. "Innocent until proven guilty has never been my strongest suit. It most certainly isn't Yang's when it comes to Ruby's safety."
That question took Blake a while to work out. On the one hand, the answer was yes. Sun would easily be accepted, no question, but then Blake slowly started to fathom Yang's perspective. "You mean, because of before…with Scarlet?"
Weiss closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side. "I'll be honest, when Ruby told me she had unprotected sex, I wanted to beat the daylights of him. Part of me still hates the idea that Sun didn't formally ask for Yang's approval first...but that's just my upbringing." She wrapped her arms around Blake. "The only reason I haven't told Yang, is because Ruby's found some measure of catharsis in all of this. If they want time to sort this out on their own, it's the least I can do."