Chapter 6 - Ice on a Rose

It was a peaceful Saturday at noon. After Weiss' tutoring with Ruby was over, Ruby got dressed in her red hoodie and black jeans for the 'date' with Winter. Though, she didn't think of it as a date. Weiss stared at Ruby running out of the dorm room.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late!" Ruby yelled.

Even though Ruby and Winter only decided to meet right in front of the school, Ruby was barely making it. Even with the help of her semblance that is. And that was all thanks to Weiss, who wouldn't let Ruby go for a good while, saying that she wasn't going anywhere until the work was done. Thankfully, Ruby got the work done just five minutes before the 'date'.

"Woah! Sorry for the wait!"

Ruby yelled as she stood in front of Winter, who was already waiting for her in front of the school. Winter was wearing a pair of white pants and a blue sweater. She was a little startled when Ruby used her semblance to rush over here. Because, to Winter, it looked like a red ball was flying over to her as rose petals spread everywhere. However, if she was surprised, she didn't show it.

"Don't worry. You're just on time."

"Weiss wouldn't let me go until all work was done, so yea."

Ruby giggled awkwardly as she scratched the back of her head. Though, she wasn't complaining. She knew where Weiss was coming from. She did have to get all the work done so she didn't worry about her work today or tomorrow while she hanged out with the Schnees.

"Is that so? Well then, shall we go?"

Winter suggested to which Ruby agreed. Ruby stood right beside Winter, walking to the restaurant she mentioned before. When they arrived, they could see the line of people waiting outside of the restaurant as well. When Ruby was about to go to the very back of the line, Winter grabbed onto her wrist softly and led her into the restaurant. Then when they entered, one of the employees noticed Winter and immediately gave them a seat by the window.

"Did you make a reservation?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes, I did. I heard that you had to wait up to two to three hours to get a seat here."

"But how...? The reservation here is always full."

Ruby tilted her head. It wasn't that she tried to reserve the place before. But there were two problems with it: 1) Making reservations costed extra money at this place, and Ruby could not afford it. 2) All possible reservations were almost always full.

So she never got to eat inside the restaurant before. And now this woman, Winter Schnee was telling her casually that she has made a reservation that Ruby couldn't make for the past months.

"Well, as I told you, I have my ways."

Winter answered with a smile. Then Ruby noticed. Of course, she's a Schnee. Of course, the restaurant would take her reservation as one of their top priorities. Ruby nodded as she finally understood what was going on.

"Oh, then now we can spend more time after eating since we consumed waiting time!" Ruby cheered happily.

The waiter came with the menu, and both Winter and Ruby started to look through it. Winter ordered a cream pasta, and even after Winter was done choosing a menu, Ruby was still struggling to choose.

"Hmm. Ack, I don't know what to eat, they all look too good!" Ruby shouted quietly.

"Well, you can order whatever you want. This lunch is on me."

"Huh? No no, you don't have to!"

"Do you think I'd let a student of mine pay for their food at a restaurant like this? Even when I'm the one who asked you out?"

Of course, when Winter said 'asked you out' she did not mean it in a way that most other people would think. She simply meant she was asking Ruby out to hang out with her. Or more like, that was what Winter thought to her self.

"... Alright, but I'll buy whatever we have to buy after this!"

Ruby declared and happily ordered a salmon steak. And yes, that was more of a menu that Blake would've liked, not Ruby.

"I've been trying some menus with fish these days because Blake's obsessed with it. I wanted to know why she liked it so much. And they're pretty good!"

Ruby explained as she gave the menu away to the waiter. The waiter went away with the menu after taking their order. And Winter smiled as she nodded and listened to Ruby talk until the food was served. Winter and Ruby each took a bite from their food.

"Mmm! These are good!"

"They sure are."

Thankfully, the food seemed to satisfy both Winter and Ruby. The two talked-and it was Ruby mostly talking-as they ate the food. It was just like after training. But the difference was that it was lunch instead of dinner, and they were eating expensive, fancy food instead of some cheap cafeteria foods.

After they finished their meal, they even got a dessert. Winter ordered butterscotch fudge and Ruby ordered a strawberry crepe.

"Oh hey Ms. Schnee, do you like sweets?"

"I suppose I do."

"That's so unexpected!"

"I get that often."

"And it's so cute!"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you look like the type to eat steak and drink wine at a fancy restaurant, of course, I'm not saying that this restaurant isn't fancy but anyway, that's not the point. You liking sweets is so unexpected and cute at the same time!"

"... I'll take that as a compliment, thank you."

"It is a compliment! You and Weiss are both so cute despite looking like a pair of Ice Queens! Oh actually, Weiss is the Ice Queen. You're more like... I don't know, Ice empress."

"Is that any better or worse than Ice Queen by any chance?"

"Eh, I don't know. That's just the vibe I got from you two." Ruby giggled as she took a bite of her crepe. "This is good." She said with a smile on her face which Weiss would've called her a dork for sure if she's seen Ruby right now.

"Butterscotch fudge is pretty good too. Would you like to try?"

"Ooh, can I?"

"Sure you can."

Ruby quickly took one cube of butterscotch fudge and brought it to her mouth.

"These are good too! And now you can try my crepe as well!"

Ruby said as she used a fork and knife to cut a piece of strawberry crepe of hers. Of course, she would've just picked it up with her hand and ate it if she wasn't at such an expensive restaurant. But they served the crepe on a plate and she sadly couldn't pick it up for the convenience.

Winter hesitated, but soon leaned her body towards Ruby and took a bite out of the crepe.

"I must say, the crepe is pretty good as well."

"I know right?! They're really good!"

Winter said quietly. She started to feel a little weird around the tiny girl. And she didn't know what was making her feel so weird. Everyone at Beacon knew that Winter was favouriting Ruby in one way or another, unlike how Winter first declared. Winter was more... well, nice. She would always smile more to Ruby and talk to her with a caring voice. Though, no one complained since it wasn't like Ruby was getting extra benefits other than training. And they wondered if they could call Winter's hardcore training as a benefit. Also, it wasn't like Winter was the actual professor in school marking the students. Since there really was no benefit in Winter's favouritism, all students decided that it was best to keep their mouths shut on the matter.

Anyway, the point was that everyone in school knew that Winter favourited Ruby over any other students in Beacon. Some even said that she may like Ruby more than Weiss. But no one knew the reason for it.

The other thing they also didn't know was that Winter Winter has been feeling funny around Ruby lately. She'd find the girl cute as she was looking at a small animal. Winter also expected Ruby to do better and better, but weirdly didn't get disappointed when Ruby wasn't doing as good. Winter always wished the best for the girl. She even took the girl out on a 'date'! However, it was pretty clear that Winter didn't know what was causing her to feel this weird when she was with Ruby. She wanted to know, but it wasn't like she could ask anyone at school. She was clueless on this matter. But the reasons for those funny feelings didn't matter at this point. She was enjoying her moment with the little red riding hood and decided that she will not spend her time just thinking about her weird feelings.

"So, is there anything else that you'd want to do?"

Winter asked as they left the restaurant after they've finished eating. And yes, it was Winter who paid for the food just as she said that she will. Ruby tilted her head and was now in deep thought. Hmm, what else could they do?

"What do you usually do in your free time, Ms. Schnee?"

Ruby asked as she took out her scroll to check the time. 2:38 P.M. It was still a bit too early to go back to school. At least to Ruby, that's how it felt.

"I either train, write reports to send back to General Ironwood, or read."

"That's... such Weiss thing to do."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. She only reads, studies, and trains. But that's why I bothe-urr, I mean talk to her and play with her all the time!"

"Well, I greatly appreciate your care for my sister. She can be a little... stubborn sometimes, I'd say."

"She is! But that's what makes her cute!"

And now this made Winter wonder about what exactly Ruby's standard was to the description 'cute'.

"Anyways, that will do no good today. I suggest we can take a walk around the city and see what we can do!"

Ruby suggested with her typical puppy eyes. And Winter wasn't about to say 'no' to that face. But then it wasn't like she was ever planning to say no to Ruby's suggestion anyway. Her suggestion was pretty good after all.

"I suppose that can do."

The two walked around the City of Vale and chit-chatted as they were at it. They didn't do much. All they did was go into stores that looked interesting, look around, and come back outside as they carried on their conversation. Winter was quite amused by how Ruby was keeping her pretty occupied. She never thought that only walking and talking could be enjoyable. It was almost as if they were on a tour or something.

"So Ruby, do you do this often?"

"This? Oh you mean like, walking around the city and all that?"

"Yes."

"Well, not so often, but I do sometimes go out for a walk with my sister when I get the chance. It's a good opportunity to talk and catch up with each other, you know?"

Ruby answered. But was there anything that Ruby and Yang had to catch up to each other?

"But Yang always tells me how one day I may be doing this with someone I love."

"Huh, does she?"

"Yea, she always talks about one day I'll grow up and get someone I love, and that I will be on a 'date' with them."

Ruby said as she playfully gagged. The idea of dating someone didn't amuse Ruby as it did any other high school girls.

"Interesting, I didn't know Yang was the type to encourage you on dating."

Winter hummed. If anything, she expected Yang to be the overprotective sister who didn't let her baby sister date anyone.

"Oh, she doesn't. She only says that to tease me because it annoys me a lot."

Ruby screamed as she sighed. It wasn't like she was planning to date anyone soon, and it annoyed her when Yang would talk about dating and all that even though she wasn't into anyone anyway. She always teased Ruby with love whatever and all that. She was doing very well in pissing off Ruby though.

"Is that so."

The two walked, and sometimes sat at a nearby bench and talked. But they only mostly talked and walked the whole day. And to Winter's surprise, she enjoyed it. Winter has never done anything like what she has done today in her life. Just walking around and chatting, spending time meaninglessly? That was something Winter would like to avoid the most. However, she did have to admit how enjoyable it was to not worry about work for one day and just have an easy-going day.

It was over eight, and Winter decided to take Ruby back to school before her overprotective sister came to chase after her. And yes, they did stop by at a nearby restaurant(that was also fancy) to eat dinner. It was Ruby's idea to eat there, so she tried to pay but Winter paid for Ruby as well even before Ruby has noticed. Ruby pouted and yelled that she will pay for the food if they were to hang out again, and Winter couldn't help but smile and nod.

"Well then, I will walk you by to your room."

"You don't have t-"

"I want to."

"... Okay then. Thank you."

Ruby opened the dorm room and there stood Yang, who was ready to go out right now at an instant.

"Why aren't you picking up your calls?"

Uh oh, Yang was angry. Her eyes were red as a pool of blood and she had her arms crossed. It looked like she was about to leave the room to go find Ruby.

"Err, sorry. My scroll died. I forgot to fully charge it last night."

"Jeez, I thought something had happened to you!"

"Sorry."

"Make sure to fully charge your scrolls next time. You worried me."

"Okay, okay."

Ruby walked into the room, turned back to face Winter, and showed her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. My sister's... a little overprotective." Ruby whispered.

"That's alright. I should've walked you back earlier after all."

"Well then, good night, Ms. Schnee."

"Good night to you too. Oh, just one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Call me Winter."

"Is that okay?"

"Do you think that I would've suggested you call me by my first name if I wasn't okay with it?"

"Good point. Okay then, good night Winter."

"Good night Ruby."

The two whispered to each other so that Ruby's teammates wouldn't hear. The door closed, and Winter was sure that her eyes met with Weiss' right before the door closed. Eyes that did not seem so happy to see her sister, that was. Winter was a little confused and tilted her head as she walked back to her room, but concluded that it was best to not care too much about it.

A/N. I am so sorry for the late update. I am currently in grade 12 and you know, with Covid-19 and everything, I just couldn't afford enough time to sit peacefully and write down the next chapter and whatnot. My updates will be slow, but I will be continuing with this. Once again, I am really sorry for the late update!