Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY in any way. I'm sure you've figured that out by now, but I'll keep putting it in anyway.
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It was early Tuesday morning when Weiss found herself running with the Oum High School Track and Field Club for the first time. It was the day after Ruby had agreed to be her 'girlfriend.'
Weiss had never been a morning person before coming to Oum High, but now she loved it. Well, not so much the getting up part, but definitely the weather. She absolutely hated the heat, so the early morning coolness was far nicer for the young Schnee.
The track was a standard quarter-mile loop of red clay encircling the football field. It was a bit low-class for Weiss at first, but like most everything else about this school, she soon learned to love it. The smell of the early morning dew was wonderful, despite the humidity. It was also the hour when the sunrise was at it's most brilliant, painting the sky with gorgeous tones of orange, red and pink. Maybe that was her favorite part in the end.
The Track and Field club was one of the larger out-of-class organizations on campus, and it boasted a proud history of several regional and one national championship. These were, sadly, old wins, but a legacy of victory is never to be shunned. This year the club was nearly full enough to compete in the official meets, but they were short by one or two extra students. Most of them didn't mind this – they were still allowed to run in the mornings without interruption. They ran in their gym outfits – a plain white t-shirt and dark blue gym shorts.
Even though the running was enjoyable (she was loathe to use the word fun), Weiss was a bit… distracted this morning. She wasn't even sure what it was, but there was something in the back of her mind, like a gentle itch she simply couldn't scratch, always there and constantly annoying her. She had hoped that, like a real itch, she could simply ignore it until it went away. It didn't. On the last lap, she realized that whatever it was, it had to be connected to her conversation with Ruby last night.
As Weiss rounded the corner, she spied Velvet standing next to a table with numerous bottles of water for the runners. Weiss had only just reunited with her old friend the day before, yet the girl was already knee-deep in the track club right along with her. She was the club's official 'water girl.' She had on a plain pair of old blue jeans and a yellow mid-sleeve shirt. Her abnormally thick glasses only slightly obscured her eyes.
Panting, Weiss greeted her, "…Morning Clark Kent…" She was still getting used to the specs and enjoyed teasing the girl.
Velvet gave as good as she got, "That makes you Lois Lane, you know." She sighed, "I'll never understand you running types. What's so bad about walking?" The brunette teased as she handed over a bottle.
"It's too slow…" Weiss grinned before gulping. The cool water felt nice on her throat.
"Well I guess I'm just not in as much of a hurry as you people are." Velvet shot back, her voice a mockingly high pitch. The two teens giggled together. Velvet's accent made the last word sound like 'ah.' Weiss missed hearing that accent.
A taller girl jogged up behind them, taking a bottle for herself. "You have good form out there Weiss. Are you sure you have not done this before?"
The girl with the platinum blonde hair replied with shallower breaths, "Yeah, I'm sure."
With her above-average height and bright shock of fire-engine red hair, Pyrrha Nikos really stood out among the juniors – heck, among the entire school. She had just arrived stateside at the beginning of summer break as a foreign exchange student from Greece. If not for the name, though, you'd be hard pressed to guess that part. Pyrrha had taken so many classes and studied English so hard that she had no accent at all. It was like listening to a learn-the-language CD or something. Strange.
The team captain greeted Velvet as well, "Good morning, Velvet. Thanks for all the hard work."
"Bah," she replied with a wave of her hand, "This ain't work. I get tired just watching you guys out there."
The redhead drank half of her bottle, then said, "I will have one more lap, then stop. Care to join me Weiss?"
She shook her head, "Nope, I think I'm done for today."
As Pyrrha jogged off, Velvet channeled Mr. Jackson and muttered after her, "Contractions, mudda-fugga… do you use dem?"
"Oh knock it off…" Weiss finished her bottle, then stopped and thought for a moment. "Hey Velvet, I have a question…"
"And I have an answer."
"The word 'girlfriend' …is it normally used for people who are just friends?"
"…And I rescind my previous statement. Are you serious?"
The next five minutes passed by with Weiss telling Velvet a condensed version of her conversation the night before, including as much as she could remember about her choices based on her logic. By the time she was done, Velvet was staring at her like she had three heads.
"Weiss, I can almost guarantee you that Ruby meant it the romantic way, not the friend way. And I don't even know her that well."
The teen sighed, "I was afraid of that. That's gonna make this afternoon awkward as hell…"
"Oh don't be like that. I saw her in class yesterday, she's cute. Why not, …oh I don't know… give her a chance? I mean after all… you asked her."
The young Schnee crossed her arms in thought, said nothing for two minutes, then grabbed another bottle of water and went inside.
The rest of the day between that point and last period might as well have not happened at all for Weiss. She was completely absorbed in her thoughts.
Velvet did have a point in that Ruby was cute, but was that enough to justify inviting her into a relationship after only knowing each other for a week? Certainly she seemed okay with it – she did reply with a yes, after all – but Weiss was not convinced. She had been completely sure that Ruby had meant the question in regards to friends and not romantic, but there was the matter of that lingering doubt. That gnawing doubt. That uncertainty of whether or not reality is what we see and not some random computer program forced upon us by our robot overlords. Besides, Weiss had never even considered a romantic relationship of any kind ever in her life, and high school didn't seem like the place to start one. There were classes to attend, homework to finish, sporting events to skip… who has time for romantic relationships anyway? And on top of all that, with another girl? It's not that Weiss had no interest in girls (she never had a distinction in her feelings between either gender), it's just that she never imagined getting close to one…
Velvet's words echoed in her head: You asked her.
And before she knew what happened, Weiss was standing in front of the Art Room door.
Well, here we go…
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And just like that, Weiss' mental preparation was thrown out the window.
Ruby Rose was home sick.
God. Damn. It.
On the plus side, they actually had something to work on today. Weiss quickly spotted a lovely arrangement of colorful flowers in a chrome vase sitting on the stage in the center of the room. They were likely fake flowers (that way they'd survive sitting in a room for a longer time), but the were much better than the crap they put up with last week.
Unfortunately, the assignment was based around the buddies within the class beginning their …self-teaching. Each member of the pair was supposed to give the other a basic lesson in a new medium. Since Weiss was on her own, she was SOL (and no, she didn't know what that stood for, she just learned it in a chat room and knew it meant she was basically screwed). Even more annoying was the fact that she, along with the only other unpaired student in the room, was not actually allowed to participate.
They had to sit in the corner. Like little kids who were in trouble. Weiss wasn't sure this day could get much worse…
"So… something going on with you and Ruby?" the girl next to her asked in a low voice.
…And it looked like she was wrong. Wonderful.
The girl (who introduced herself as Coco), had apparently seen the incident yesterday and it 'piqued her curiosity,' as she put it. Weiss didn't want to get anyone else involved in this, but upon learning that Coco was already friends with Ruby, she felt more comfortable sharing her issue. It might help to have an outside opinion, too. They spoke in hushed tones, careful to keep their conversation to themselves. They had both learned by now that Cinder Fall had very good hearing.
"So I think I might have made a big mistake last night…"
"If you didn't get blacked-out drunk, it wasn't that big."
"I assumed Ruby was using the term 'girlfriend' in a friend way, and now I think she thinks I like her…"
"I take it back. That is a big mistake. Unless, of course…" she paused, "…you do like her…?"
"No, I… well, I don't hate her… but I, uh… I don't know. I don't even know what being a 'girlfriend' even means! What are 'girlfriends' supposed to even do?" Weiss held her face in her hands and muttered, "I feel like such an idiot…"
Coco leaned back in her seat, her face slowly lifting to the ceiling. "Well it seems to me that you need to figure out what Ruby really thinks first, rather than all this assuming crap. Beyond that…" she turned to face the Schnee girl, "…I think I can help you out with the other part."
Her brow furrowed, "What other part?"
The brunette put on a Cheshire grin and purred, "Weiss my friend, it's time I take you to a whole new world…"
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By the time the bell finally rang, Weiss was the first one out the door. She was never the first one out the door. She also never had a full-face blush, and she never walked fast enough to knock down anyone unfortunate enough to be in her way.
Well, never before. Dammit Coco…
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And so, once again, Weiss found herself staring at her computer screen, willing it to tell her what she wanted to hear.
The problem was that she didn't even know what that was.
Velvet's words had continued echoing inside Weiss' head all day: You asked her.
The chat list in the corner told her that Ruby was once again logged in, so she began a chat.
… [fa11ingsn0w]: Are you feeling okay? I heard you were home sick.
There was no immediate response, but she waited. After a few minutes, a message popped up.
… [5car1ett-17]: Yeah, I'm good. A bit of food poisoning.
Why do I not believe that? Weiss thought sourly.
… [fa11ingsn0w]: I need to ask you something, but I don't want to sound too rude…
… [5car1ett-17]: Now you're getting me worried :(
Velvet's voice in her head again, like the Ghost of Christmas Past: You asked her.
… [fa11ingsn0w]: I'm not sure how best to say it…
You asked her.
… [fa11ingsn0w]: I guess I'll just keep it to the point. Do you like me?
Weiss very nearly put the word actually before the word like but didn't. That would have carried a tone of accusation, and that wasn't what she wanted to infer. The girl was simply trying to find out if there was any real reason behind Ruby asking such a question in the first place. It would give the redhead a chance to explain herself in a way that would prove that Weiss right all along. They were just friends, and they would both be fine with that. No need for any romance… right?
There was no response. She waited a few minutes.
[fa11ingsn0w]: Ruby? You still there?
No response. Almost ten minutes after her last reply, Weiss was stunned to see:
[User 5car1ett-17 has logged off]
Uhhhh… that wasn't the reaction she was expecting.
The young Schnee was suddenly slammed with the thought that maybe Ruby didn't like her after all, and she was just taken off guard when Weiss asked her to be girlfriends… that would make the most sense.
Ruby staying home fit into this theory, since she wouldn't want to face Weiss this soon after such a proclamation… how could she not see it before? The nervousness, the stuttering, the thin bead of sweat Ruby would get every time she looked at her… it was fear!
(A/N: *facepalm*)
Weiss must be terrifying to get this kind of reaction from the poor girl. The 'yes' reply must have been given in the desperate hope that Weiss wouldn't eat her alive.
You asked her.
In other words, she was the instigator. It was up to her to sort this mess out.
Okay, so we have Ruby thinking Weiss wants to be romantically involved, yet is scared to death of her. Weiss could explain herself and take back her request… but for a Schnee, such a thing was no different than admitting defeat. Schnees don't do that. No weakness. No fear. Weiss now saw as plain as day that she had only one choice before her: Continue down the path she started, like it or not, until the end. That damned Schnee pride would allow for no other course.
If Ruby Rose thinks she wants to be a romantic girlfriend, then by God she'll be a romantic girlfriend!
Weiss sat back, a massive weight flying off her shoulders and off her mind. She sighed with relief.
Now the only thing left to do is figure out how to get Ruby to calm down around her.
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Ruby's laptop remained closed, just as it had been when she slammed it shut nearly fifteen minutes ago.
Ruby herself was lying on her bed, head swimming. Part of that was from the rush of hormones and enzymes that signal a small mental breakdown… and the other part was from her long-dormant issue of high blood pressure. Funny… she was sure that was taken care of a long time ago and would pose no more problems for her. She hadn't had an episode for several years now.
She had stayed home because, as Weiss had guessed, there was no way she could face the platinum blonde. She wouldn't have been able to stand up straight, much less talk in an understandable language. It was ridiculous. Every time she even thought about Weiss, Ruby felt like she was having a heart attack. She started thinking her condition might be similar to what drug addicts feel when they've been 'off the stuff' for too long. Withdrawal, they called it.
Well, she thought, there is ONE thing I can do…
Yang was out for the evening, so that was something. Ruby no longer cared about the laptop nor about what time it was. She simply waited until her head quit spinning. It took some time, but it finally did. Once ready, Ruby grabbed a small photo of Weiss (and don't ask how she got it) and made her way into the bathroom. The door lock clicked shut behind her.
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Story Note: I'm trying to stay aware of the rating system used by this website, so I hope you'll tell me if I push the limit too far. I gave the M rating to a few of my other projects, and I'd rather not put this one in there with them. Obviously that moment at the end was quite tame compared to other stories out there, but I do push further later on. Fair warning.
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