Pairing: White Rose
Summary: Part 2 of Rock 'n Roll AU
"How many do you think will show?"
Heading towards the band rooms with Yang and Blake, Ruby thought back to a few days earlier and how many people seemed legitimately interested in auditioning for their band.
"A handful. Maybe four or five?"
"Guess that's better than nothing!"
It was better than nothing, seeing as how a band without a singer was closer to an orchestra than anything else. The three of them could sing, mostly, but they were more suited for backup roles than the focal point of any song. They needed someone who could sing. Someone whose voice captured attention and elevated their music to another level.
For some reason, Weiss popped into Ruby's mind with that thought. Which was dumb. Having an attitude problem didn't make Weiss a lead singer. It made her...kind of a bitch, actually. A really pretty, sharp-witted, also kind of funny one, but a bitch nonetheless.
Ruby hoped Weiss didn't show up.
Except not really.
After spending the last few days replaying their conversation in her head, Ruby realized that she missed so many good comebacks. If they ever saw each other again, she was determined to do better. She expected better of herself. She was Yang Xiao Long's sister, after all, and being Yang's sister meant knowing how to make a good comeback.
"Hopefully one of them's halfway decent…" Yang added as they walked into the building and towards the room they reserved for the afternoon.
"They'll at least be better than you," Blake replied with a playful smile, and Ruby laughed while Yang pouted.
"She's got you there, Yang," Ruby agreed and, rather than argue, Yang smiled and shook her head.
"Guess that's why they put the drums in the back."
Laughing at the subtle admission of Yang's less-than-stellar singing voice, Ruby pulled open the door to the band room and walked inside. Her laughter ended the moment she spotted Weiss sitting in one of the chairs near the small stage in the room. Her heart decided to skip a beat instead. Maybe a few beats. And she even smiled.
She was going to be called stupid again, but she was pretty damn happy about that at the moment.
But, tempering her smile, she walked over and mentally prepared herself for the conversation to come. This was it - time for her A game. With an audience too - even better.
As soon as Weiss noticed their entrance, she stood and made a show of checking the time on her phone before shaking her head and tsking.
"I'm not late," Ruby immediately said, jumping to her defense even though Weiss hadn't said anything.
"You aren't early either," she replied in that dismissive tone Ruby hadn't been able to get out of her head. "It's not proper etiquette to let your attendees arrive before you."
"Usually I'd care, but you're the only one here."
It had been all of three seconds, but Ruby's mind was firing on all cylinders already. She was ready - she was excited - and she smiled in the face of Weiss' scoff.
"Oh, is this the girl?"
The question drew Weiss and Ruby's gazes away from each other, and Yang grinned while wrapping an arm around Blake's waist.
"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said while extending her hand to shake Yang's. "And you are?"
"Yang. Ruby's sister."
"It's nice to meet you," Weiss replied with a polite shake of Yang's hand. "But I must ask - did you inherit all the intelligence in your family?"
Even though Ruby scowled at the question, it was hard to feel hurt when she already knew the insult was coming. Yang, however, laughed.
"You're right," she directed towards Blake. "I like her."
"At least someone does," Ruby interjected. As soon as those beautiful blue eyes snapped back to her, a rush of energy surged through her veins. "Did you scare our other potential leads away?" she added while gesturing towards the empty room, and Weiss' gaze followed the path of her hand before settling back on her with a hint of a smile.
"No, I told them to leave."
Ruby had been distracted by Weiss' almost smile, but that caught her full attention in a heartbeat.
"You...what?"
"I told them to leave," Weiss repeated with a smug expression. "Since you don't seem capable of making the best decisions, I decided to help by narrowing down your options."
"But what if they were better than you?"
"They weren't - trust me."
The confidence in Weiss' words made it extremely difficult for Ruby to be upset about what just happened. Because she'd met all of the people who'd expressed an interest in joining and...she already knew that Weiss was the most...compelling...option.
And her consternation completely disappeared when Weiss' gaze slowly roved over her - from her shoes to her pants, her shirt, her hair, then back down again.
"Don't you have something for me?"
That look was seriously distracting, but Ruby sprang into action at the question. She'd hoped that Weiss would ask. She'd hoped for a lot of things, actually, and that was one of them.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget?"
After swinging her backpack off her shoulders and setting it on the floor, she unzipped the main compartment and pulled a handful of flowers from inside. The walk over here had crushed them pretty good, so a bunch of the petals had fallen off, but they still looked somewhat like flowers. They were at least green.
"These are for you."
When she extended the world's worst bouquet to Weiss, another hint of a smile appeared. But she couldn't decide what Weiss was most amused about - the fact that Ruby remembered the flower comment, the fact that she actually brought them, or the fact that she'd clearly tried to make it as unromantic as possible.
"You call these flowers?" Weiss asked while taking them from Ruby's hand and looking them over.
"Wouldn't you?"
Hearing Yang chuckle at the interaction, Ruby grinned. If Yang thought this was funny, that meant Ruby was winning. She didn't know what she was winning exactly, but she still wanted to win.
"Where did you even get these?" Weiss asked, finally recovered enough to re-engage.
"Snapped 'em off places around campus." Ruby shrugged at the response, but Weiss scoffed.
"So, basically, you stole these from school to give to me."
"Well I didn't want to waste any money, you know. I'm a cheap person - hope you weren't expecting a fancy date." When Ruby winked, Weiss met her gaze with that same subtly-amused expression.
"So instead of wasting money, you wasted your time."
"I wouldn't call it wasting time," Ruby argued. Although, if she really thought about it, it was a waste of time to run around campus looking for the prettiest flowers to give to a girl she cared nothing about. In fact, she cared the opposite of nothing about Weiss. Or the opposite of everything about Weiss.
She didn't care, basically. She only wanted to have a great piece of banter in case Weiss showed up.
"I believe my family has a compost pile these can go on..." Weiss mused while setting the bunch of flowers on top of her bag. "Now, shall we begin?"
When Weiss waved towards the stage - everything in her posture and expression suggesting she expected Ruby to get up there - Ruby scoffed.
"In case you've forgotten, we're the ones looking for a singer, so we're the ones doing the judging."
"Yes, but you're the one who wants to use my name in your 'band' -"
"Hate to break it to you," Ruby interrupted while raising one hand, "But we couldn't give a shit about your name."
The room stilled after the response, and she suddenly worried that she went too far. She even considered apologizing - for like a split second - but then Weiss smiled. A real smile.
"Well," she replied with a small huff. "I'm not joining anything without knowing the qualifications of the members."
"Which means…?"
"I want to hear you play."
Sensing that Weiss was serious, Ruby scoffed and glanced towards Yang and Blake, who'd taken seats nearby and were watching the conversation with great interest.
"We don't have to audition for you."
"No, not them," Weiss said with a dismissive wave towards Yang and Blake. "I'm sure they're both highly skilled musicians. You're the one I'm most...concerned about."
"It's sweet of you to be concerned about me," Ruby teased, which made Weiss cross her arms over her chest.
"Don't read too much into it."
"I'm reading a lot into it."
"I'm surprised you can read social cues at all."
Ruby rolled her eyes at the dig and opened her mouth to respond, only to pause and furrow her brow.
"Wait - that means I'm right."
"Are we going to do this or not?" Weiss replied with an impatient motion towards the stage. "I don't think you can play a guitar with your head so far up in the clouds - prove me wrong."
The opportunity to prove Weiss wrong about anything was immediately appealing. But this was Ruby's band. As in, it was her idea to start one, and she was the one who came up with the name and idea to search for a lead vocalist. Trying out for her own band seemed ridiculous.
So she turned to Yang and Blake for backup. Unfortunately, they were nodding along.
"It sounds like a good idea," Yang said with a grin. "It's been a while since we've tested your skills." She winked with the remark, meaning she was joking while casually throwing Ruby to the wolves, as any sister would do.
"I agree."
"You too?" Ruby whined, and Blake smiled.
"You can use one of the loaner guitars over there," Blake added with a nod towards the other side of the room. After glancing over, Ruby glared at her bandmates and former friends.
"And you want me to use those pieces of crap?"
"A true musician -"
"Save it," Ruby cut in before stalking to the other side of the room. She brushed close to Weiss as she passed, and noticed the smug expression following her to the loaner instruments. She didn't like but also really liked that expression, which was frustrating and exciting at the same time.
Fortunately for her, she was quickly distracted by the state of the poor instruments free to be used by anyone who rented the room. They were just as beat up as anyone would expect. But, as Blake had been about to say, a true musician didn't let their instrument get in their way.
The saying was bullshit, of course. A crappy instrument absolutely got in the way, but Ruby was pretty positive she could make any piece of crap work well enough to wipe the smug look from Weiss' face.
"Probably hasn't been tuned in ten years..." she grumbled while trying to tune the strings. Once it sounded as good as it would probably get, she hopped onto the stage and gave Weiss a fake smile. "Alright, I call this one 'Weiss Schnee Can Bite Me.'"
Weiss raised her brow at the title, but Yang burst into laughter.
"Suggestive," Blake pointed out with a smile.
"Love it!" Yang added with several enthusiastic nods.
"You guys are the worst..." Ruby muttered before taking a deep breath and focusing on the strings. They didn't actually have a song called 'Weiss Schnee Can Bite Me,' but she should write one. That might help get all of these strange, conflicting feelings out of her head.
But, since that would take a few days, she would play one of their other songs instead. Something fast and impressive so that Weiss took her more seriously.
Who was she kidding. She could be the world's best guitar player and Weiss still wouldn't take her seriously. The only question was...did she want Weiss to take her seriously?
After catching a wink and thumbs up from the peanut gallery, she met Weiss' gaze and realized that yes, she wanted Weiss to take her seriously. So she picked out the first chord and set off through the beginning of the song at a quick pace. Once she settled into the rhythm and familiarity of the song, she didn't even need to look at her hands anymore. Instead, she watched Weiss' reaction to her acoustic rendition of one of her favorite songs.
Was Weiss actually impressed? She looked vaguely impressed, although it was hard to read past her neutral expression. The way her eyes moved from Ruby's face to her hands and back again suggested something not altogether negative. From the girl who ate lemons for breakfast, Ruby would take that as a huge positive.
As soon as she strummed the last note of the song, she quickly silenced the strings and hopped down from the stage. Taking Yang's over-the-top whistles and Blake's polite clapping as proof that she just nailed her 'audition,' she grinned and turned to Weiss.
"So, what do you think? Am I good enough for you?"
She knew she opened herself up for criticism with those questions, but her mind was already fired up waiting for their banter to resume. Weiss would insult her, then she would shoot back a witty retort, and they were off again.
Instead of doing that, however, Weiss merely shrugged and walked over.
Ruby hadn't noticed until now, but Weiss had some swagger to her steps. And...well, Ruby was a little more clear-headed before noticing that.
"Someone must've taught you how to play," Weiss remarked once close enough to take the guitar from Ruby's hands.
"I taught myself how to play."
"She's really good with her fingers," Yang chipped in before laughing. The comment made Ruby blush, but she didn't shy away from Weiss' gaze. That amused smirk was back, but it was the added sparkle in those blue eyes that made her more than willing to continue the topic Yang just supplied them with.
"I am good with my fingers," Ruby agreed, and smiled when Weiss blinked at the brazen comment. "But what I want to know is..." Taking a step forward, she leaned close to Weiss' ear and whispered "are you good with your mouth?"
By the time Ruby pulled away, Weiss was already smirking.
"I'll show you," she quipped and, with a flip of her hair, took the spot on the stage where Ruby had just been. Determined to look uninterested and bored - and not at all turned on by the response - Ruby sat next to Yang and prepared for whatever came next.
It was hard to look disinterested while leaning really far forward and waiting on bated breath for what Weiss decided to do next. Would she sing? Would she launch into an impassioned speech about how badly Ruby played guitar? Really, Ruby didn't know which she wanted more.
No, she knew what she wanted more. She wanted to hear Weiss sing. If Weiss was going to be haughty and hot about everything, she had to back it up at some point.
After closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth...and started to sing.
Ruby's jaw dropped at the first smooth, beautiful note, and remained open when Weiss followed up with another, and another. She opened her eyes and, upon spotting Ruby's dumbstruck expression, continued with a smirk pulling at her lips.
Ruby hardly even picked out the words because she was too busy being mesmerized by the sound of Weiss' voice. She sounded like...like...an angel.
Yang and Blake were just as awestruck as Ruby was, and no one so much as moved before Weiss fell silent. She didn't stay silent for long, however, as she stepped off the stage and smirked at Ruby.
"Am I good enough for you?"
That was the perfect opening for the perfect burn, but Ruby came up empty-handed. All she could do was nod dumbly, which made Yang laugh from beside her.
"You're hired!" Yang proclaimed. After turning to Blake for a concurring nod, she grinned and slapped Ruby on the shoulder. "Holy shit, you've got a voice. Only question is...can you scream?"
"Scream?" Weiss asked while Yang winked at Ruby.
"Oh nevermind. Ruby's gonna find that out for us."
Ruby blushed at the comment, but Weiss scoffed.
"Your sister doesn't have a chance with me in a million years."
When Ruby saw the sparkle in Weiss' eyes, she managed to untie her tongue and stand up. She was taller than Weiss and loving the height advantage right about now. It forced Weiss to look up to meet her eyes, and gave her a bit of power that she would use to her advantage. She definitely needed an advantage right now, because Weiss quite literally just took her breath away.
"I have no desire to be with you," she said, but Weiss smirked at what felt increasingly like a lie.
"That'd be more convincing if you weren't drooling over me."
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I get some on your designer shoes?"
"These aren't even designer," Weiss huffed, not backing down even when Ruby stepped closer. "I'd never waste a good outfit on you. Not that you'd know a good outfit if it wrapped itself around your waist."
The look Weiss gave Ruby implied that her outfit was horrible. It would have been more convincing if Weiss didn't lick her lips while slowly roving her eyes over Ruby yet again.
"Like what you see?" Ruby teased, bringing Weiss' gaze snapping back to hers. "Maybe you're the one who'd like to be wrapped around my waist."
"It's cute that you think you could handle me, but you really can't."
"Pretty sure that's what I just did," Ruby replied with a wave towards the stage. She moved her hand right by Weiss' ear when she did so, and smiled when Weiss didn't so much as flinch. "If you don't agree, you will - because I'm your new lead guitarist."
"Who said I want to be in your band?" Weiss shot back.
"Uh, you did. By being here."
"What if I only came to see you?"
Ruby opened her mouth but paused when the words sank in.
"Did you?"
"Of course not." Weiss rolled her eyes but didn't offer another explanation, which kind of made Ruby think it was a lie.
"Ok, guys."
Catching motion in the corner of her eye, Ruby turned and watched Yang and Blake stand up.
"We're gonna leave you two alone, if you know what I mean." When Yang winked, everyone knew what she meant. "Weiss, welcome to the band," she added while shaking Weiss' hand one last time. "Ruby, good luck."
After sending another wink to Ruby, Yang pulled Blake out of the room, but Blake put her hand on the door and turned around before leaving.
"The room's reserved for another hour, by the way," she pointed out with a barely concealed smirk. "Just make sure to lock the door."
When Blake pulled the door closed and left the two of them there alone, Weiss scoffed.
"I know," Ruby replied to Weiss' unspoken statement. "They think they're real funny."
"It's easy to think of something clever when you're not part of the conversation."
"Exactly! But that wasn't even clever."
"Agreed."
Realizing at the same moment that they just agreed on something, they gave each other quick looks before turning away.
That felt...weird...but not altogether bad. Just...weird. And what were the chances of something like that happening again?
After a few seconds of silence, Ruby cleared her throat and spoke up.
"We practice Tuesday and Saturday nights, unless we're busy. And if you're actually interested."
Weiss scoffed again, but the sound lacked most of the harshness from before.
"Unlike you, I don't waste my time with pointless endeavors," she said with a gesture towards the flowers lying across her bag.
"I see." Ruby nodded at the implication and shrugged for good measure. "You're right - if those were pointless, so is joining our band."
When Weiss didn't outright reject the statement, Ruby felt something along the lines of hope - or maybe excitement. Anticipation. Because maybe...
"Fine," Weiss eventually snapped. "I might as well join since you're so desperate. Besides, my father will hate it."
"Ah," Ruby replied with an understanding nod while internally jumping with joy. "Well, feel free to use me to get back at your dad as much as you want. And, you know, however you want."
When Ruby threw in a wink, Weiss almost laughed. But a soft chuckle was all that made it out before she caught herself and shook her head instead.
"You're joking, but he would hate you too."
"Sounds like I'm the perfect one to help you get back at him then," Ruby mused before smiling. "What're the chances?"
For a long time, Weiss just looked at her and mulled over the response. The lack of a quick rebuttal piqued Ruby's interest, but she didn't interrupt the quiet and waited for Weiss to speak.
"Yes...what are the chances," she repeated before picking up her bag - and the flowers from Ruby - and moving towards the door. Sensing that their time together was quickly coming to an end, Ruby grabbed her own bag and hurried after.
"So I'll see you around, I guess?" she asked, realizing that Weiss never made a firm commitment to make it to practice tomorrow.
"What do you mean 'see me around?'"
"Uh, typically it means that we go our separate ways now, but we'll...see each other around. As in, later."
Ruby grinned at the sarcastic response, but Weiss pursed her lips and motioned for Ruby to open the door. She did so on instinct, then silently cursed herself for falling for it the moment she saw Weiss' smirk.
"But we have a dinner reservation," Weiss added while walking into the hall.
"We...what?"
"You're the one who called it a date," Weiss replied, not even pausing while Ruby scrambled after her. "I don't know about you, but my dates typically involve dinner."
"See, that's where we're different. I usually just give them some shitty flowers and they'll sleep with me."
Again, Weiss nearly laughed, but caught herself and smiled instead.
"You'll have to do far better than that."
"Good thing I'm an overachiever."
"Everything you've done points to the contrary," Weiss replied before glancing over. "But maybe you can prove me wrong - over dinner."
"You know…" Pausing to draw out the response, Ruby waited for Weiss' gaze to return to her before smiling. "Proving you wrong is my new favorite thing to do."
For a split second, it looked like Weiss would actually smile, or laugh, or in some way show that she enjoyed the response. Instead, she forced a neutral expression - with just a hint of a smile hidden beneath the surface.
"How would you know when you've never done it?"
Ruby probably could've come up with something clever or snappy to say. Instead, she laughed - because that retort was far more amusing than she should have found it.
"Alright then," she teased while following Weiss away from the building. "Bring it on."
She hadn't had any plans, but apparently she was spending Friday night proving Weiss Schnee wrong.
She liked the sound of that.