A/N: Sorry it's been a while. Things have just been kind of crazy on my end, and I'll be posting chapters pretty slowly for the next few weeks. Enjoy!
Okay, sue Weiss for wanting to have a good time and shoot things. Sue Weiss for thinking that Ruby could be invited along for said good time and shooting of things. Sue Weiss for wanting to win this bet and also get Ruby to come out of her shell a little.
"You're still whipped," Blake mutters, then dodges Weiss's attempt to smack her.
"I have a bet to win; might as well go all out," Weiss snaps back, fighting a blush that's threatening to rise. She's starting to get a faint suspicion that Blake knows more about Weiss's real feelings than she cares to let on, and she doesn't like that.
Blake shakes her head and absently tugs at her hair, staring off into the middle distance. She does that often enough, and Weiss has gotten used to the little silences in conversation. She opts to ignore Blake and work on planning out the weekend. Ruby has Saturday afternoons free; she mentioned that days ago, and it embarrasses Weiss that she remembers that. The paintball place doesn't get a whole lot of customers, so it won't be any trouble to get a reservation or even just show up. After, they can get some food, because Ruby eats a lot and Weiss can afford to buy her just about anything. Maybe they'll stop by that new bakery, the one with the wood floors and the sunlit countertop, and get something.
"You're smiling a lot these days," Blake says, and Weiss hastily tries to force her face into a scowl. It doesn't really work.
"Bullshit," she says flatly, not really having the energy to keep bickering when she'd rather daydream.
Blake frowns slightly and taps her cigarette out against the bricks, then walks away. Weiss watches her leave, feeling a little guilty but not enough to go apologize. It takes a lot to make Weiss apologize for anything.
…
Ruby is thrilled at the prospect of paintball, claiming that her family loves the game but she always loses "Just because Yang's bigger and stronger and I trip over my own feet and it's not fair!"
"I'll go easy on you," Weiss says, grinning. She won't.
"Oh yeah? Well, uh, I should be the one going easy on you, because you are about to be destroyed!" Ruby looks adorable when she's trying to be intimidating, face scrunched up and eyebrows pulled down, and Weiss tries not to laugh at her.
"All right, good luck with that," she says, then feels an impact into her chest that makes her take a step backward in shock. There's purple paint spreading across her protective gear.
Ruby tries to give Weiss an innocent smile, but it comes off like a smirk, and then dissolves into hysterical giggles. That cheater.
"You're dead," Weiss says as Ruby takes off for the shelter of the woods. She has a bet to win, but that doesn't mean she'll take it easy.
Turns out Ruby is alarmingly good at paintball, and kind of terrifying when she stages ambushes from trees. It doesn't take long for Weiss to turn completely purple, but she keeps fighting, and fighting dirty, shooting at Ruby from safe zones. Not that either of them care much about the rules at this point.
Weiss fakes a stumble over a tree root in her mad pursuit of Ruby, and Ruby stops for a moment, which is long enough for Weiss to hit her in the shoulder. Ruby gives what might have been intended as a battle cry, but comes across more as 'disgruntled pelican', and charges straight at Weiss.
Their dignified game of shooting turns into a wrestling match pretty quickly, with Ruby flailing indiscriminately against Weiss's attempts to hold her, and eventually tackling her and bringing them both to the ground.
"Get off of me," Weiss groans. Ruby stays there, heart beating so fast Weiss can actually feel it through all the layers separating them. She plants a quick, awkward kiss on Weiss's lips and tries to scramble to her feet, but Weiss pulls her back down.
They stay there for a bit too long, Weiss barely even minding that Ruby's elbows and knees keep poking her. Ruby has such pretty eyes; they're gray, kind of, but different from most gray eyes that Weiss sees. They're sparkly, for lack of a better term. Ruby is awkward and tentative and honestly just bad at kissing, and Weiss doesn't mind. She might be a little bit infatuated, and that might be a problem, but honestly Weiss doesn't even care about the bet at this point.
They get food, and Ruby eats at least six croissants, and Weiss pays for everything. Everything is a little too perfect. Even the streaks of purple paint in Weiss's hair that won't come out for days are perfect, because they match the green streaks in Ruby's hair that clash horribly with the existing dye.
"You should come to my robotics competition," Ruby says through a mouthful of pastry. "It's going to be so much fun." She coughs and hastily swallows, then stammers out an apology for her table manners.
Weiss sincerely doubts that some robotics competition will be anything remotely close to "fun", but she doesn't want to disappoint Ruby.
"Of course I'll go," she says, giving Ruby her best attempt at a friendly smile. She's smiled too much today, so her face is in pain when she tries. There are worse problems.
Ruby's grin in return is enough to light up the room, as she begins listing off her competitors, and how she's going to destroy them (metaphorically, she has to clarify, since her robot can't actually kill people yet). Weiss listens and tries to remember what she's saying, occasionally adding in her own comment. Like a real conversation, rather than one of those one-sided talks.
Weiss gets home late. Her father isn't pleased, but that's nothing new. She ignores his lectures and Klein's fussing over her hair, because her entire mind is too full of a girl with silver eyes and a glowing smile and a sort of happiness and enthusiasm for life that Weiss will never have.