Penny

As Weiss was walking out of her final class of the day, she could hear the telltale laugh of her best friend Blake running up to her. A smile and a quick shoulder nudge later, the two friends left Beacon University campus on the way to their first stop of the late afternoon.

After three years of near daily visits, one would assume that the barista at their favourite coffee place would know their orders by heart. Sadly, that was not the case.

"Iced coffee, with an extra shot of espresso and half the milk, cinnamon and caramel topping, but no whipped cream. Oh, and soy milk." Blake smirked as Weiss barked out her order.

Weiss looked over to her friend with an eyeroll that clearly said, 'see what I still have to deal with?' As if the fault was on the baristas for not remembering such a long and complicated order.

"I'll have a coffee, one milk and sugar, please," Blake gave in her own order, smiling at the barista's obvious delight at not having to put in such an order again.

Weiss paid for the two of them, it was her day after all, and the two sat down at a free table, taking the firsts sips of their drinks. Weiss frowned into her coffee.

"They forgot to half my milk in this."

Blake snorted, "at least they remembered the soy milk. I'd hate to be within ten feet of you if you had any more than a sip of it."

Weiss slapped her friend's arm, "I'm not that bad! It just upsets my stomach a little."

"Weiss, you have the worst case of lactose intolerance I've ever seen in my life. I feel sorry for whatever girl catches your eye. There's going to be very little milk in their future with you."

"Hey, at least I'd allow them to have one meal that doesn't include fish," Weiss shot back with a smirk of her own.

A thin finger was pointed at her, "Yang's coming around to see the light eventually. It took a few weeks, but she's willing to try sushi now."

"Wow, must be your perfect woman. When am I going to get a chance to meet her?"

"Probably sometime this week. She said she was heading home to visit her little sister. Might even bring the kid up for a few days."

"Aww," Weiss whined adorably. "I love little kids. Don't worry, I'll babysit while you two enjoy a night out."

"She's like a year or two younger than us. And, from what I've heard, she's smarter than all of us combined."

Weiss let out a whistle, "I'll believe that when I see it. Come on, let's head back to my place. I could use some more coffee."

"Like anybody would call what you drink a coffee," Blake laughed as she stood up.

The girls disposed their finished cups in the nearby receptacle and waved goodbye to the baristas as they left. The walk was short, only ten minutes, and the two caught each other up on the day's events. There was much discussion about nothing of relevance, but that's what tended to happen after so many years being so close.

So, when Blake suddenly stopped just before they crossed the final street leading to Weiss's apartment complex, Weiss knew what to expect.

"You don't need to think it over, just pick it up."

Blake continued to look down at the tiny penny that was laying on the curb. "It's a lucky penny," was Blake's intelligent response.

"No, it's only lucky when you pick it up. Right now, it's just a penny."

"Should I… should I pick it up?"

Weiss groaned. It was going to be another one of these things. "Just pick it up already. We're wasting daylight just standing around."

"But what if it's not as lucky as it could have been?"

"What does that even mean?! Look Blake, you know I love you, but you do this every time. It's just a stupid penny."

Blake knelt down-

"Finally, thank you."

-just to get a better look at it. "Yup, it's head's up. That means it's a lucky penny."

"Just do it already!" Weiss was starting to get aggravated.

"You pick it up." Blake said, eyes flicking up to the girl.

"Wha- me? Why? You know I don't believe in such silly nonsense." Weiss waved Blake off, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Then why not pick it up anyways? Free money and all that."

"Blake, I'm loaded. You could use the extra pocket change more than me anyways."

"Would you want to risk me getting richer than you? When that day happens, I'll tell everyone it was because I picked up this lucky penny that you refused to. This shall be the start of my wealth surpassing the great Weiss Schnee."

"Like that will ever happen."

"Do you want to risk it?"

"Yes. Yes I would."

"Just pick up the damn penny already!" Blake and Weiss's staring contest held their concentration, the friends falling into competitive silence.

"Why are you so adamant about me picking up this penny?" Weiss finally whispered out.

Blake shrugged, still refusing to break eye contact. "Maybe it's because I've been doing so well with Yang that I thought you might need a bit of extra luck on your side."

Weiss sighed, closing her eyes, and rubbing her forehead. "Fine, if I pick up this penny, will you stop turning every future penny into an argument?"

"No promises, but I can try."

"Good enough." And with that, Weiss knelt down and picked up that small penny, rolling it in her hands. She grimaced at the sight of dirt on it. She knew she'd have to wash her hands well after just touching the near worthless coin.

"AAHH! Sorry! Umph-" A careless voice rang out as it barreled into Weiss sending the two girl stumbling over one another and down onto the cold sidewalk ground. Weiss groaned as she lay on her back, prepared to have some very vocal words with the cause of her discomfort.

"I'm so, so, so super duper sorry! I was just so late, I was going to surprise my big sister by coming in early and then I got lost on my way to her house and then my dad said she was about to leave to come get me and-" The girl's ramblings ceased for a second as she went to take a breath.

Weiss opened her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. Someone was on top of her, holding herself up over her with her elbows. Short red and black hair framed Weiss's face, blocking out all vision but of the one above her.

"A-" was all she was able to let out, as her brain managed to take in as much of the girl as possible.

Blue eyes locked on to sparkling silver.

"Hi, I'm Ruby."

This was written with a prompt from the Whiterose Schneenanigans Discord Server.