Pairing: White Rose
Summary: Ruby comes home to an unexpected scene.
Today was a great day.
Scratch that. Today was a fantastic day! Not because anything important happened. Nothing really happened, actually. The only thing Ruby did was go on a hunt with Yang and kill a few thousand Grimm. Then they met up with Blake, killed a few more thousand Grimm, got back, ate way too much food, and said their goodbyes for the evening.
It was a pretty normal, boring day, but it was still fantastic because now she was on her way home to see Weiss. And seeing Weiss made any day a fantastic day. Doubly so now that they lived together!
After staying as a team for a bit after graduation, Yang and Blake decided they wanted (or needed) their own place. So it seemed only right that Ruby and Weiss would find their own place too. They were dating, after all.
At least, that's what Ruby thought. Weiss went off the deep-end worrying that it was 'too soon' or 'what if they ruined their friendship' and blah, blah, blah. They'd already found a place and were unpacking boxes by the time she realized it would be ok.
Flash forward a year, and coming home to Weiss was still one of Ruby's favorite things in the world. Their house was small (she liked to call it 'Weiss-sized') but comfortable and...it felt like home. And today, because Ruby was an extra awesome girlfriend, she brought dinner back for Weiss. She'd felt a little bad that she stuffed her face, but hopefully Weiss was hungry too!
Humming a tune while whizzing up the front steps, Ruby nearly dropped the bag of food on the ground while trying to find her key. She didn't - and she balanced it more carefully in her arm while unlocking the door and pushing it open.
"I'm ho - ly crap."
Eyes wide, Ruby crept into the entryway and stared at the scene in front of her. It looked like the living room had thrown up all its possessions in the hall. Like literally, just picked everything up and threw it out the doorway. Same with the kitchen, which had tossed a bunch of miscellaneous kitchen tools outside the door.
Now...one of the first things Ruby had learned about Weiss (many, many years ago) was that Weiss was neat. She liked things in a specific order - or any order, really, rather than a mess.
Had Ruby made a mess in her sleep again? She didn't remember...but Weiss was going to flip out when she saw this.
Unless she didn't see it. Unless she didn't see it at all, because Ruby cleaned it up super fast. That's what she would do. She'd put everything back in place so Weiss didn't have a heart attack.
Setting the food on the hall table, she started with the living room first. That room was the most obvious scene of destruction, with the cushions turned upside down and half-opened boxes strewn everywhere.
Using her semblance (she'd clean up the petals last), Ruby worked as fast as possible while also striving not to let the excessive wind knock anything over. She turned the cushions right-side up, put lids back on boxes and shoved them underneath the sofa, re-folded several blankets, and put books onto the bookshelves. She couldn't remember the exact order the books had been in, but hopefully Weiss would believe that she just randomly wanted to re-order everything. (She'd done stranger things before.)
When the living room was finished - or at least, a more tolerable mess - Ruby blazed into the kitchen and started over. Closed the drawers, put all the equipment and utensils and randomly opened boxes of food away.
Once that room was also done, she sighed and wiped her brow.
Everything was covered in red petals, but that was much better than a mess. She could always pull off the petals as attempted romance, if needed.
Walking into the entryway to retrieve the bag of food, she stopped when she heard a drawer close somewhere upstairs, followed by a bit of mumbling that might have been swear words.
"Weiss?" Ruby asked herself, leaving the food and heading upstairs. She hadn't thought Weiss was home - not with the Grade-A mess downstairs. But either she or a ghost was talking to themselves, their voice coming from behind the door of Ruby and Weiss' bedroom.
Crossing her fingers and praying it wasn't a ghost, Ruby opened the door and immediately froze at what she found.
If downstairs had been a Grade-A mess, they needed a different scale to categorize the current state of their bedroom. Their bedsheets sat in a crumpled pile in the corner with pillows tossed on top. Almost every drawer or cabinet was open. Clothes were everywhere. And Weiss currently had her head stuck under the bed while muttering under her breath.
This must be what it felt like to have an 'out of body' experience.
Weiss was the culprit, not Ruby. Weiss Schnee - the girl with three different methods for organizing groceries - was making a mess.
"Uh...Weiss?"
The moment Ruby spoke, Weiss retreated from under the bed so fast that she hit the back of her head on the frame.
"Are you ok?" Ruby asked, hurrying over while Weiss rubbed the spot with a frown.
"You're home early," Weiss replied instead of acknowledging her injury. "I thought you'd be gone for another few hours."
"Yeah, me too! But Yang destroyed like the entire forest in one go, so...it went faster than expected."
"Oh. Ok. Well, good." Standing up, Weiss dusted off her legs and smiled. "Welcome home."
When Weiss kissed Ruby on the cheek and gently squeezed her hand, she felt her confusion grow.
"Uh...are you not going to mention this?" she asked, gesturing towards the room and watching Weiss look at the mess with slightly pursed lips.
"I decided to do a little reorganizing."
"Really? Because it looks like you're looking for something." Ruby gasped when another explanation popped into her head. "Did you lose something?"
"I didn't lose anything. I...temporarily misplaced something."
That sounded an awful lot like losing something. And Ruby wanted to tease Weiss about it, but decided to cut her some slack instead. Weiss didn't like being human and doing human things like forgetting or not knowing or tripping, but Ruby loved when Weiss did these things.
And, she didn't want to brag, but she was pretty good at making Weiss feel better about messing up.
"What did you lose - I mean, misplace? I'll help you look for it!"
"No, it's ok. I'll find it later. Aren't you hungry?"
Weiss tried to walk towards the door, but Ruby stepped in her way.
"I already ate. And are you seriously going to leave the room like this?"
"It's ok," Weiss replied with a shrug that didn't quite match the way her eyes darted around the piles on the floor. "I'll get back to it later."
"So you're just...going to leave this pile of clothes here?" Ruby gestured towards the jumble that had once been in the closet. The pockets seemed to have been turned inside out on most of the pieces, which only further suggested that Weiss was looking for something. A lost something.
"It's fine. I'll finish it later."
Ruby knew - knew - that the mess would drive Weiss insane in under fifteen minutes. So why would she voluntarily leave everything in this state? She was willing to risk her sanity rather than let Ruby help?
Now she was extra curious.
"What's going on? What're you looking for? And why are you being weird?"
"I'm not...'being weird,' I just..." Weiss thought about something for several minutes before sighing. "Ok, why don't you help me? And if you can find it, then...I'll know where it is."
Ruby giggled at the response, which seemed a little redundant, but she was also determined to help Weiss find whatever she'd lost - misplaced. Because Ruby was helpful like that. And she loved Weiss like that.
"I'll find it super fast!" she guaranteed. "What is it?"
"It's...a small, blue box. About this big." Weiss used her hands to show the dimensions for a little box.
"How important is it to you?"
"Very important, which is why I can't believe I can't find it."
Weiss looked relatively distraught, but Ruby was going to make this better in a heartbeat. No girlfriend of hers was going to be sad about losing - misplacing - something!
But first...she needed to think of all the places Weiss would put something important to her. The more important it was, the closer it stayed to her side. In a pocket, or a purse, or bag...but all of those were already open and discarded on the floor.
"Where's the last place you remember seeing it?"
"In that bag, right there." Weiss pointed towards one of her most-used handbags, which had been emptied onto the bedspread.
"Hmm…" Even though it seemed pointless, Ruby walked over and peeked inside the bag to confirm it was, in fact, empty. "So it's not there…" She tapped her chin while thinking of alternate places it could be hiding.
"Oh! Did you check the medicine cabinet?"
Without waiting for a response, she hurried into the bathroom and found that all the drawers and cabinets had already been opened or emptied. Weiss appeared by her shoulder and sighed.
"Yes."
"Did you check the dresser?" Before Weiss answered, Ruby flew to the bed and looked over the collection of items already emptied from the drawers. No small box to be found.
"Yes, I checked there too."
It was a mystery. A messy mystery, but Ruby liked having something to solve! All she had to do was get into Weiss' mindset and remember where she put the box.
"I'm gonna retrace your steps!"
Grabbing Weiss' handbag and sprinting downstairs, Ruby skidded to the stop by the front door and pretended she was Weiss. Dainty, poised, and beautiful, she walked further into the foyer and stopped by the mirror to look at herself.
Right now, she was Ruby, but she was also Weiss. And Weiss looked at her reflection before heading upstairs at a far-more leisurely pace than Ruby ever did.
It felt really slow, but eventually she made it to the landing and walked towards their room. She still had the bag around her shoulder, so she still had the mysterious, misplaced box with her. When she walked into the room, the real Weiss watched in amusement while Ruby went directly to the desk and set the bag on top of it.
Now, if there was something important in the bag, Weiss would take it out and put it in the desk drawer. So Ruby, as Weiss, opened the bag, pretended to remove the box, then opened the drawer -
"Aha!"
Spotting the small, blue box exactly matching Weiss' description, Ruby spun around and held it up in triumph.
"Found it!" she proclaimed, briefly noting Weiss' slightly-tense expression before giving the box a closer look. "You didn't look in the drawer?" she asked while she popped open the box. "You usually -"
Ruby froze when she looked inside the box and saw that it held...a ring. A sparkling, silver ring with a diamond on top.
"Now that you've found it...will you marry me?"
Hearing the question, Ruby looked up with wide eyes and found Weiss watching closely. There was a small smile on her face, but Ruby could tell that by her hesitant eyes and slightly-wrung hands that she was nervous. But what could she possibly have to be nervous about?
"You knew I would help you look?" Ruby asked, watching surprise and confusion flicker through Weiss' eyes before a bit of triumph appeared.
"Yes," Weiss replied with a single nod.
"So you made a mess of everything on purpose?"
"Yes."
When Weiss' smile grew a little bit, Ruby felt butterflies flutter through her chest. She'd known this day would come eventually, but now that it was here...she didn't know if she'd ever been happier.
"You love me that much?" she asked, feeling an unstoppable smile appear on her lips. "That you'd make a huge mess for me?"
"Yes."
"This was your plan all along?"
"Yes."
"Then you know my answer?"
"Ye-"
Weiss froze midway through the word, her eyes widening when she realized what she was about to say. Ruby, on the other hand, started bouncing up and down with excitement while Weiss looked at her.
"Yes?"
"Hell yes!" Ruby exclaimed before pulling Weiss into a big hug and giving her a long, excited kiss. "I can't believe you did all this for me!" Pausing for a second, Ruby looked around their room, which was a wedding-grade mess. "Wow. You must really love me."
Laughing in relief, Weiss kissed Ruby on the cheek before tenderly taking the box from her hands.
"I do," Weiss said while removing the ring from the box and motioning for Ruby's hand.
"But you'll love me even more if I help you clean up?" Ruby asked, wiggling her fingers once Weiss slid the ring into place and giggling when she sighed in relief.
"Yes, please. This is driving me insane."