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"Well he was interesting."

"Here it comes."

"For a man who gave you hardcore drugs until you blacked out."

"There it is," I sighed.

"What did you expect?" Weiss wondered up at me. And she looked gorgeous doing it. "That you could do super strong drugs and there would be no consequences?"

"Well, the general hope was that I wouldn't have to deal with them."

"But then you had sex with Neapolitan."

"I didn't. I did not."

"Do you promise?"

"..."

"'Sure, Weiss, I promise,'" she managed to mock me. "That's what you should have just said just now. But you didn't. Huh. Poignant."

"Listen…"

"And you know the Malachite twins. The main event of the evening so to speak. What's the actual story to that?"

"Does that really mat-"

"I'll decide if it really matters."

"I don't know? We shared a drink in their bar in Mistral. I may have drank a bit."

"Enough that you don't remember?"

"Enough that I was slurring and it's a little fuzzy. We definitely didn't bang. Or kiss. Or anything."

"Did you flirt?"

"What is flirting?" I made my voice sound deadpan genuinely curious. "I've never intentionally flirted in my life. Well, maybe once or twice with Ruby. And if you want to count what I did with you at Beacon as flirting, then that."

"That doesn't count. I want to know if you flirted with these girls."

"Maybe? They giggled a whole lot. They did this cheeky thing with their drinks that really stands out to me. The white one ordered a red drink and the red one ordered a white drink. Then they swapped part of the way through and said 'we don't mind sharing things.' Or something like that."

"And you took that…"

"Stupidly?" I supplied. "I remember feeling fucking dumb."

"They were flirting with you and you muddled through from the sounds of it."

"Look, darling…" I started.

"Seriously don't 'darling' me when I'm mad at you."

"I'll probably never see them again."

"Well hello." A woman's voice came from behind me. A white gloved hand appeared on my shoulder and the body attached to it made its way around me. It was Melanie Malachite with bright green eyes and dark black hair and a flowing white dress.

"Look who it is Melanie." Another woman came around my other side and I took her in. Same green eyes and black hair but she was all in red. She was bringing her hand around my waist from the other direction.

"I know. He got a haircut."

"I told you he would look better with a different haircut."

"The lady killer."

"You two even remember me at all?" I wondered. I stepped away and towards Weiss. Weiss had a frown for a half second with narrowed eyes before it totally vanished from her face. It was… terrifying to watch the frown slide from her face like it was unable to find any purchase.

"Of course we do," Miltiades took a sip from her flute.

"Tall, blonde, huntsman."

"A little bit scraggly."

"A little?" Weiss pressed. "He used to be very scraggly."

"I'm still scraggly. Thank you very much," I cut in.

"Well the look suits you now," Melanie pointed out.

"He took it to the other extreme and made it work out for him. Look at him now. All spikey. You committed. We told you to commit."

"I just want to run my hand through his hair. Is this natural or do you gel it?"

"It's natural… I can't believe you two even remember me."

"You tore up our bar with Neapolitan. You came in with Qrow Branwen and performed a hit," Miltia pointed out.

"You were easy to tease which was fun. I'm glad that hasn't changed," Melanie continued.

"I heard you're going by a different name now."

"And you've been using it ever since you started tearing things up in Atlas. If not a little earlier."

"It's Strife. Cloud Strife," Weiss intoned.

"And you're Schnee."

"Weiss Schnee." Miltia finished for her sister.

"The former Heiress."

"Cut out of your family."

"No true loss there," Weiss pointed out.

"Except for money." Melanie pointed out.

"I make plenty of money," I sliced in. "Like, seriously so much fucking money. Melanie, Miltiades this is the future Mrs. Strife."

"Oh did you hear that, Miltia?"

"Hands off, Melanie."

"Please and thank you," Weiss deigned. "And I'm only one of the future Mrs. Strifes. Ruby Rose will be joining the two of us as Ruby Strife. You may as well introduce her that way, Cloud. You know she'll say 'yes.'"

"I can't assume that she will say 'yes' even if it's probably true. Do you see why?"

"Not really. You know she'll be ecstatic."

"But I still can't assume that. That would be crossing the line."

"Sounds like you've done quite well for yourself," Miltiades pointed out.

"I was actually already dating Ruby when I met you both in Mistral."

"Ah," Melannie gasped.

"That explains it," Miltiades decided.

"Explains what?" Weiss asked.

"We're twins," Melanie said.

"That's on most guys' bucket lists," Melanie explained.

"And we put it on the table," Miltiades pointed out.

"But he wasn't interested in Mistral," Melanie went on.

"We thought maybe you were gay."

"I'm not gay. I just slow," I defended myself but not really.

"So you would have taken us up?" Melanie asked at the same time Miltiades said, "So you would have taken us down?"

It seemed so rehearsed that I looked between the two of them for a moment as though dazed.

"I didn't say that. I'm more than content with my current arrangement." I put an arm around Weiss's waist and she didn't immediately slide away like she could have so she couldn't be too mad at me? Besides, psh, twins, what kind of guy thinks of that? Ridiculous. Never in my life would I… Anyways I'm happy with Ruby and Weiss. No regrets.

"Well aren't you a lucky lady?" Melanie informed Weiss.

"A little," Weiss was content to agree. "Ruby is quite the catch." There it was. A little cheek. "And this dumb blonde isn't so bad either." Ah. My ego could live to die another day. "He's just a shade dense but that's fixable."

"I don't know…" Miltiades trailed off.

"We've seen dense but not like this."

"Hey…" I tried. "I…"

They were all three waiting for me. They all seemed content to wait for me to finish my thought. Which really wasn't fair because I really didn't have a thought to finish. Weiss even gently quirked an eyebrow. And she gave me this slender smile which let me know that she knew that I knew that she knew that I didn't have shit.

"I got nothin'," I finished. "I got lucky. I can barely tell what flirting is when it's directed at me. I couldn't identify water if I was drowning." I brushed a hand back through my hair and sighed.

"So does it feel good to play with his hair or not?"

"You seriously don't use gel?"

"It feels pretty good. I won't lie," Weiss smirked at them.

"Quite the powerhouse couple you two make."

"You've been the talk of the town."

"Quite the young Professor."

"Slaying really old Hydras and serial killers."

"You didn't tell me you fought an old Hydra." Weiss smacked me. "How many heads?"

"Does that really matt-"

"I'm in charge of what matters."

"Sixteen. It was pretty old."

"You dumb blonde. What are you doing fighting something like that?"

"Councilor Agustine personally begged me to kill it. He also paid me two and half million Lien," I defended.

"Everyone's talking about your Atlas power ratings," Miltia chimed in.

"The Brute and Striker levels are high," I agreed.

"We've seen your Breaker state," Miltiades didn't disagree but she was drawing emphasis away from the big numbers.

"When you fought Neapolitan in our bar. You glowed blue and changed."

"You're faster when you're in it."

"Fast enough to out speed a teleporter."

"And we'd wager you're stronger with it too."

"Breaker and Trump," Melanie pointed out. "Trump powers are so rare."

"What does your semblance really do for you when you change?"

"It makes me better. At everything," I answered.

"At everything?" Melanie asked.

"Everything I've ever tried."

"Even sex?" Miltiades wondered.

"You know… I've never tried sex while I'm in my Breaker state. I'd… sort of be scared of hurting someone."

"Hurting someone how?" Militia asked.

"You know… I go to flip her over and toss her through a wall. The whole world becomes glass when you're that strong. And I only recently found out that the clitoris has as many nerve endings as an eyeball. That's delicate and when you're strong enough even really durable things start breaking."

"The human vagina is very forgiving," Melanie disagreed.

"It can take a lot of punishment," Miltiades agreed.

"Sure you don't have to be rough to get the job done."

"Sometimes that hurts the overall goal, even. Being rough wrong is bad."

"But sometimes being rough properly is so good," Weiss cut in and agreed. I glanced at her. "What? They're right. It's like leverage. It depends on how you use your strength." She took a swallow of champaign. "I can't believe we've never tried sex in your Limit Breaker state."

"For all we know I ejaculate at the speed of sound while I'm like that. You really want to try it?"

"Well, it has potential upsides," Weiss gave me a dainty shrug.

"It probably won't be super gentle but sometimes gentle isn't how a girl wants to be treated," Melanie pointed out.

"How many books sell super well where a guy dominates and hurts some young girl sexually and she likes it. It happens all the time. There are a million books like that and they're super popular. "

"And it happens for a reason."

"I don't get it. Am I supposed to be gentle or rough?" I asked.

"Both," Melanie and Miltiades said at the same time. Weiss gave this little bobbing half nod of agreement as she took another gulp of champaign.

"Is this one of those 'yes and no' situations?" I wondered.

"Well, yes and no," Weiss smirked.

"You're going to drive me crazy. Can't a guy get a straight answer for once?"

"Sometimes the answer isn't very enlightening," Weiss informed me.

"And with the whole denseness thing. It wouldn't be a problem if girls didn't like to play games and drop hints."

"But games are fun," Melanie said. "Dropping hints and making guys think and work is fun."

"What sport would there be if we just came out and told you we liked you? You have to be able to dance," Miltia agreed.

"Yeah but then it's not like you stop playing games even after you've got a man. You like to tease us and draw us out. You like to make us chase you."

"That's the point. Come get us," Miltia affirmed.

"We want to make you work. We want to see you sprint," Melanie continued for her sister.

"We want to know that a: you want to chase us, and b: we're worth chasing to you even though we're not going to make it easy," Weiss cut in.

"Those are the exact same thing. And you could just make it easy for me."

"But we won't," Weiss informed me brutally. "And we want you to want to do it anyways. Sometimes I have to lead you by the nose to the conclusion I want you to form. And then you do your diligent duty and start chasing me."

"But if you just tell me what you want I can make it happen. For example, do you want me to treat you more roughly in the bedroom or more gently?"

"It depends!" Weiss and Melanie said at once.

"Dumbass," Miltia added.

"Sometimes we want you to devour us and sometimes we want you to savor us. Sometimes we want you to be rough and just take us and sometimes we want to be handled with care. It depends," Weiss lectured.

"Will you at least tell me what you want when?"

"No!" They all three said at once. I glanced at Weiss. Her face was a little rosy from the drink.

"Dumbass," Melanie supplied.

"Read our aura. Do something," Weiss interjected. "Do some legwork. Read my mind, damn it."

"If we want you to just take us apart we don't want to have to tell you to take us apart. That would ruin the point. You're supposed to want us that badly," Miltiades informed me.

"And when we want it gently you're supposed to know what we can handle and softly guide us along to what we want."

"It sounds like you yourselves don't know what you want," I pointed out.

"Yes, exactly, you're supposed to show us what we wanted all along."

"No, he's not listening. He's supposed to be able to figure it out from our body language and hints."

"Sometimes," Weiss agreed with me. "Other times we know what we want and we want you to figure it out. Puzzle it together. When I teased you at Beacon when I first arrived and made you hungry for me that was perfect. And when you were super gentle my first time that was also good. You need both. You have to be able to figure out when we want something and you have to be able to tell us what we want without actually telling us what to do. Don't tell us what to do except when we want you to dominate us. It's not complicated."

"It sounds really complicated, very ambiguous, and with a lot of potential for mistakes."

"I'm marrying you. You dumb blonde. Make some fucking mistakes with me. I'll walk it off and set you right if you're really wrong. You'd have to fuck up very badly to get out of this thing now."

"Somebody has got him wrapped around her finger," Melanie giggled.

"He hangs on your every word. It must be love," Miltia agreed.

"If I asked him to jump do you think he'd ask how high while he was already in the air?" Weiss wondered with an eye roll.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"Yes and no!" Melanie and Miltia almost shouted at me.

Weiss smacked my chest hard with the back of her hand in a quick angry flick. "He doesn't listen except when he totally does and then he gets the wrong message." Weiss took a long drink. "It's like pulling hair with you. Sometimes we want you to do what we want when we want and sometimes we want you to tell us 'no.' And no, we're not going to tell you when you should tell us 'no' or tell us what to do yourself, you should just know. Gods, it's like you weren't even listening."

"Okay." I managed. "Alright. Okay. Um…" I trailed.

"This had better be a good question," Weiss warned.

"How am I supposed to know which one of you to spoon at night? Do we just do alternating nights?"

"Both or neither." Melanie and Miltiades supplied at the same time.

Weiss just glared. "Alternating nights, you think that's a good solution? And what do I do when it's not my night? I just turn on my side and sleep in the cold? Is that what you want?"

"Um...How do I spoon both?"

"Figure it out."

"Dumbass," Miltia called me again.

"Listen. I might be stupid. But I'm not dumb."

"You really would have done the whole alternating nights thing. Wouldn't you?" Weiss pressed. "Just let us both have an arm and sleep on your chest. There. You got a straight answer. Are you happy?"

"So…"

"Yes?" Weiss demanded.

"I only promise to try."

"That's all we really want. We want you to try really hard," Melanie showed mercy.

"We want you to fail sometimes. We want to watch you when you fail," Miltia picked up.

"We want your successes to be worth something. We can't just give those out for free. There's no such thing as a free lunch."

"And we'll probably bail your asses out of really hot water when you're in it."

"Like she just did. Just now. When you thought the alternating nights thing was a good idea."

"But," Weiss emphasized and I could tell that she had had a little. "But, you have to try anyway. Or what's the point? I want to see some effort and some sweat on your brow. I want to see some tears. That reminds me, while I'm thinking about it. On god, if you don't cry when Ruby and I walk down the aisle, I'm warning you, there will be hell to pay."

"Weird thing to do," I intoned. "To demand that I cry over you. Kinda weird. I certainly don't want to see you cry."

"He doesn't get it," Miltia said.

"So fucking dumb," Melanie agreed.

"But sometimes he's so smart. And he reads into things. And he reads me," Weiss pressed a hand to her forehead. "But then sometimes he's so dumb and he hasn't got a clue. I really have no idea what to make of it and I'm starting to think he's just guessing his way along. Don't get me wrong. He does fine in the bedroom. He picks up hints and body language and signs that he should go harder or faster or more rough. But then sometimes he just misses it. And I'm left wondering if I need neon signs."

"Junior is the same way," Miltia agreed. "I think that's just guys."

"It took him forever to realize we would have sex with him if he just asked or took it," Melanie supplied.

"Cloud would never have figured out that I liked him if I hadn't told him explicitly. Never. But then when I got here I just teased the idea of staying with him at him and he ran with it. I have no clue. It's so frustrating but at least Ruby will be there to suffer with me. I love you. To death. You're so smart. But you're so dumb. But you're so smart."

"What are sister-wives for if not for dealing with their husbands?" Melanie wondered.

"Share the burden," Miltia agreed. "Guys are so dumb."

"And you two are comfortable sharing Junior like that?" Weiss asked. "For me and Ruby it's a touch different. Since Cloud is also sharing Ruby with me and me with Ruby. But Ruby and I aren't sisters."

"We both explored one another forever ago."

"In a way we added Junior to us. We own him."

"It's the same with us," Weiss agreed.

"Speaking of Junior, he has come to us with concerns…"

"Yeah? How do we stop your husband from killing ours?" Melanie asked.

"Or setting that mute psychopath on us?"

"Good question. Honey?" Weiss addressed me. "How do we keep you from having to manhandle Junior or having to resort to Neapolitan?"

"Odd choice of words," Melanie mumbled.

"On both accounts," Miltia agreed.

"Look, nobody wants to resort to Neo. Nobody. Junior and I can be good friends. He just has to never try and kill me and give me information on people who might try and kill me. Like the Engelberts. I'll pay him well enough with favors if he does that. It'll be super profitable. I make for an excellent hit-man. On a scale from one to ten, I'm pretty unstoppable."

"That's it?"

"That's all you want?"

"Pretty much. Maybe money sometimes and drugs."

Weiss hit me.

"No drugs. Just money."

Weiss hit me again.

"Neither money nor drugs. It turns out. This just in, I'll get a job."

"You have a job. You're going to keep working that nice, safe, cushy, Beacon job," Weiss ordered.

I waggled a hand. "The council sometimes has work for me. And somebody has to kill my dad. And since nobody else is stepping up it has to be me. We'll see if I can keep the Beacon Professor gig."

"Damn it, Cloud. Now is not one of the times where you're supposed to stand up to me."

"Too bad," I decided. "Who knows. It might become a trend now that I know you sometimes like it."

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-WG