Co-authored by ToxicExotic
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
The Ladybug's First
Ruby considered it unfortunate that Remnant had chosen that night to remember that Vale was nearly a full month into winter; because as she stood at the gate that lead out of Beacon's campus, goosebumps began appearing on the smaller girl's exposed arms at the slight chill in the breeze that permeated the night air. A faint fog had already begun to cover the campus, the orange glow from the surrounding light-posts causing it to take on a more eerie visage that made her happy that she still had Crescent Rose under her cloak.
She had been waiting for a little over twenty minutes for her date, though admittedly that was because she had arrived much earlier than they had arranged; but with each minute that had gone by, she had found herself shivering more and more. While she knew it was mainly the cold that was causing it, there was a degree of nerves that she just couldn't shake. This was her first date and as she had been getting ready, with Yang's teasing being a little less than usual, it dawned on her that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing.
She knew fighting, combat with Grimm, she excelled in mechanics, and was apparently even a competent leader; yet a small thing like hanging out with someone she saw everyday was completely baffling to her. What did she say? How did she act? Were there good and bad things to do? She had no idea. Yang had talked about going on dates many times in the past, but Ruby had never listened, never thought she even needed to as her sister always made it feel like it was the most effortless thing in the world. It was only in the face of her first date that she realised that Yang may have, unsurprisingly, not been completely honest.
I wonder if Blake is feeling the same right now, Ruby thought to herself, rubbing her hand up her arms in an attempt to warm herself up a little. The young Faunus was due to arrive any minute, and Ruby had been checking by peeking down the path that led to the dormitories ever since she had looked at the time on her scroll to see it was only five minutes until Blake should arrive. Pulling out her scroll to check it again, she saw that there were only two mor…
"Ruby?"
Caught off guard by the sudden familiar behind her, Ruby couldn't help but let out a squeak of surprise and spun quickly to see her date standing there in a rather beautiful, black dress that cut off around her thighs. What looked like thick tights covered the girl's legs and thing shawl covered her shoulders. Is if she didn't already have enough worries about how good of a date she could be, Ruby suddenly felt under-dressed and questions whether she should have gone for something a little more fancy than the same outfit she had worn to fight Torchwick and his mech; or as she had taken to calling it, Mecha-Torchwick.
"Ahh," she breathed, her thoughts of not quite knowing what to say coming true almost immediately. "H-Hey, Blake. I didn't see you arrive."
"Sorry, I took a different way around," the girl replied quietly, the slight hint of nerves in her voice oddly making Ruby feel a little better.
"Oh, that's fine."
Ruby knew that the path she had been staring down was by far the quickest way to and from the dorm room, so for the girl to have taken another path showed that she too was clearly just as nervous. So feeling herself relax, just a little bit, she let out a foggy breath and gave Blake a small, albeit nervous smile that was returned in kind.
"So," the Faunus replied after a couple of seconds, taking a slight step back. "Are you ready to go?"
Giving the girl a small nod, Ruby joined her side as the Faunus began a gentle stride towards Beacon's gate. With Blake's long legs and how effortlessly she usually walked, Ruby would normally have to quicken her pace a little; but thankfully, the girl seemed to be walking a little slower than she often did. Though even with her slowed pace, Blake still seemed to glide through the night like a ghost, making Ruby feel like she was stomping in comparison.
"So how was your afternoon?" Blake asked just as they cleared the gate and began their trek down the dark road that led to Vale.
"It was okay, I sparred with Yang a little," Ruby replied, purposely leaving out that her sister had suggested it to take her mind off the date. "How about you?"
"I hung out with Sun and Neon a little bit."
"That's cool," Ruby smiled as she remembered an earlier conversation with Blake about that other cat Faunus. "Are you two getting along now?"
"Huh?" Blake said in a slightly confused for a second until her eyes widened a little in realisation. "Oh that. It wasn't that we didn't get along, we just see things differently is all."
"In what way?"
"Well, have you ever met someone who doesn't acknowledge the severity of a problem because they have never faced it themselves?"
"Hmm."
She had in fact. While she had been training to be a huntress for years, she had met a couple of people who had regaled tales of their time and the atrocities they had seen, but she had also met groups of people who didn't believe the danger Grimm presented. Her father told her that the comforts of civilisation had a tendency to make people a little more complacent, and that it wasn't uncommon to find those kinds of people among those who had been raised within the walls of a city. But he had also taught her something else.
"I have," she replied with a nod. "But isn't that something that should be celebrated? So long as those who do face hardships aren't forgotten, doesn't every person not facing those hardships mean we're taking the right steps forward?"
"I guess," Blake said after a second of thought, in which they passed a few second year students who gave them a small wave that they both returned. "But for every one that doesn't, a hundred do. It's just kind of frustrating to hear her say Faunus are too miserable."
"I guess that would be kind of annoying," Ruby hummed with a nod, and glanced into the dark woods that lined one side of the road. "But I don't think you're miserable."
"Really?" Blake smiled, though Ruby noticed the girl's bow twitch slightly towards the direction they were headed. "Your sister seems to think I'm something called an emo."
"What? Nah," Ruby scoffed and gave Blake a wave of her hand despite knowing Blake did indeed show many of the same traits a self-proclaimed emo student from Signal academy had. "She calls me a goth all the time, just a thing she says."
"Fair enough," Blake replied with a small smile, and this time she was certain she did see Blake's bow-covered ear twitch this time as the girl gave a scowl.
Turning to see what Blake was listening for and reaching back for her scythe, Ruby scanned the horizon for any red eyes or white armor but saw nothing. However, off in the distance she heard a scream of terror that sounded strangely familiar, a couple of seconds passed and the frantic scream echoed through the night again; this time Ruby instantly recalled the memory of Jaune flying through the air on initiation day. Stopping in her tracks, Blake following suit, she listened intently as it got closer, almost as if he was running towards them. Suddenly, both of their heads turned to look at the sky to see a rather unique sight rising into the night sky. While at first Ruby mistook it for one of their rocket lockers, as it drew closer and burning brighter, she saw that it was actually a flaming porta-potty soaring some forty to fifty feet in the air somehow. Enraptured by the sight, she had almost missed the realisation she just had. It's coming straight at us.
After jumping back and out of range, their attention was yet again pulled to the edge of the woods where Jaune emerged, his face sweaty and panicked as he ran straight for where the toilet was going to land, only to be pulled out of the way at the last second by a blur of red and gold. Exactly where his foot had been about to land, the large, plastic box slammed hard into the winter hardened mud and exploded on impact. While random flying objects were not an uncommon occurrence at Beacon, Ruby could honestly say she had never seen a flying toilet, so was slightly intrigued at how such a thing had happened.
Fortunately, the pair that she guessed were responsible were sitting on a nearby bench, Pyrrha maintaining a safe distance, as, even from where she stood, Ruby could see that the boy had not fully escaped what had exploded from the port-a-potty. Suppressing a smile at the boy who was holding his hands above his head as if to help not get anymore of him, she gave Blake a look, earning a shrug in return and headed over to see what had happened.
"Hey Pyrrha," she said happily, still suppressing the chuckle. "Having fun?"
"We were," the girl replied with a deep sigh. "Just picking up some dust, but Jaune decided to put the fire dust in with the lightning dust."
"Well how was I supposed to know that would happen?" He asked with a pout and pulled some leaves off the tree to wipe himself down. "Or that the toilet would turn into a missile?"
"We learned it two weeks ago in Dust Application," Blake said quickly with a raised eyebrow. "The dust thing, not the toilet thing."
"Oh," he said, stopping his actions as he clearly began to think back. "Well I forgot."
"I should get him back to the school to clean up," Pyrrha said sadly, Ruby knowing that the girl would have preferred a night with Jaune to end on a different note than what they had just witnessed. "Have a good night."
Pyrrha stood up and motioned for Jaune to follow her back up the path towards the school, and once they were finally out of sight, both she and Blake finally let out the laughs they had been holding in. Simply stood there laughing, Ruby felt her nerves fade away slightly as she knew that nothing she did could compare to the night Jaune was having.
"I swear," Blake chuckled after they had finally stopped laughing. "I have no idea how she has so much patience."
"He's not all bad," Ruby chuckled along side the girl who had slowly turned to continue walking down the path. "He is the one who comes up with the strategies that beat us half the time."
"Well I guess everyone excels at something," Blake smiled with a shake of her head as they started to walk again.
"Yup," she said happily and quickly caught up to her date. "He's not the best fighter, but he's a great leader."
Receiving a short hum in response, Ruby began to see the lights of the food court in the distance. Looking up at the girl walking beside her, she noticed her nose twitching slightly and felt a knowing grin pull at her lips. It was good to know that even through the quickly receding nervousness of the date, Blake's love of seafood had the same reaction it always did.
"Good to know that I'm not the only one that drools when I smell my favorite food," she joked, trying to get a little revenge for the joke Blake had pulled on the roof.
"I'm not drooling," Blake replied with a small chuckle and a roll of her amber eyes. "Unlike you, who actually did drool when you last made a batch of cookies."
"Well they smelled so good," she countered happily as they drew closer to the food court and the smells of various delicious foods caught her nose. "So why do you like fish so much?"
Watching Blake look up at the dark sky, Ruby saw a small amount of longing float across her eyes as her nose flared again.
"It reminds me of home," the Faunus girl replied in a soft voice.
"Menagerie, right?" Ruby asked, remembering hearing Blake say she had been born there. "What's it like there?"
"Hot, and crowded," Blake said fondly, wrapping the shawl around her shoulders a little more. "But nice and peaceful since everyone there is tired of fighting."
"Sounds perfect," Ruby said wistfully, looking away from the girl for the first time in minutes to see that they had almost arrived at the food court.
"It's nice, but it does have it's issues," Blake hummed as they walked into the parking lot. "It's a little cramped since there isn't much space, and crops don't grow very well so we mainly rely on seafood; but my mom makes an amazing seafood paella, so it works out."
"Ahh, so that's why you like fish so much."
"Mhm," the girl replied with a short nod as they reached the doors that opened for them, the smell of food increasing and making Ruby's stomach rumble slightly. "So what was it like growing up on Patch?"
"It was fine," Ruby shrugged, not quite sure what to say about the nondescript island that lay just off the coat of Vale. "It was pretty quiet I guess, our house was in the middle of the forest so we didn't really have any neighbors."
Walking through the door, Ruby squinted slightly at the bright lights; but once she had adjusted, she took a look around the bustling eatery. The area was actually quite large, easily able to fit half of Beacon's student body in it at the same time, maybe more, with basic chairs and tables littering the centre of the building. Along the walls were numerous different concession stands, each one dedicated to a different type of food from around the world; Mistralian, Atlesian, things from smaller settlements that had gained popularity, whatever someone would want to eat, they could find it at one of the stands.
"Were Grimm not an issue?"
"The occasional Ursa or Beowolf," Ruby replied with a small shrug as the two made their way towards the order screens on the left side of the building. "But dad's a Huntsman so they never really gave us too much trouble. Did break down the wall of Yang's room once fighting an Ursa Major though."
"I bet she wasn't happy about that?" Blake chuckled in reply, her amber eyes twinkling a little from the amusement.
"Nope, it kinda just appeared and dad didn't have time to warn us so she was still in there and got wood and dirty all over her hair," Ruby laughed, remembering how red Yang's eyes had been. "She was so mad that she even threw small pieces of wood at it as dad fought it."
"That sounds like Yang," the Faunus girl laughed as they got into the line behind some students. "Has she always been like that?"
"Hmm," Ruby hummed, thinking back as far as she could, and though vaguely memories of her sister's crying being heard through the walls tickled the surface, the memories of Yang smiling and laughing went back as far as she could remember. "Pretty much, she even knocked out a Beowolf with a rock when we were kids."
"She told me about that," Blake smiled, her voice carrying a happy tone as if she were recalling a fond memory of her own. "That was the first time you told her that her eyes turned red, right?"
"Kind of, I remember them getting darker before, but that was the first time I saw them actually change."
"What was it like?" The girl asked in a curious tone, the two of them moving closer to the screen as the line moved. "I've met a lot of people, but none of them had eye colours that changed."
"Oh," Ruby replied, not quite knowing how to respond to that question. "Honestly, I've never really liked them when they're red."
As she had expected, she received a genuinely confused look from her date and was forced to look away.
"Do you mind if I ask why?"
"Well," Ruby said thoughtfully, trying her best to think how to word it. "I love when Yang is happy; but even though she never talks about them, I know she has those sad moments too. Her red eyes just always reminds me of how there's a whole other side of her that she doesn't want me to see, a side that she deals with alone."
Once she had finished explaining herself, a small silence arose between them as Blake mulled over what Ruby had just said. As she waited for the girl to speak, she moved forward ready to order since there was only one person left in front of her.
"Sorry," she heard Blake say, her cautious voice finally breaking the silence. "I suppose I never thought about it like that. Have you ever talked about it with her?"
"Yeah, but you know how Yang is," Ruby shrugged, knowing that she would have to wait until Yang was ready before anything progressed in that regard. "I'm guessing she doesn't talk to you either?" As expected, she received a shake of the head. "Well, hopefully she at least talks to Coco and Velvet."
"So do I, she seems to really like them," Blake said with a small smile as they finally moved to the screen. "So what do you want to eat?"
"What?" Ruby said in surprise, halfway to pulling out her own scroll as she looked her date. "I can pay!"
"It's fine," Blake smiled and tapped her scroll against the screen, causing it to buffer for a second before pulling up the selection of different stands that were in the building. "I was the one who asked you out, after all."
"Well I'm paying for the next one then," she replied with a smile at the fact that Blake had indeed been the one who asked her out.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Blake grinned in return, causing the blush on Ruby's cheek to deepen slightly. "You can put yours in first."
With a slight nod to her teammate, Ruby quickly tapped on the screen. Ordering her usual plain cheeseburger and fries from the RemBerger menu, she moved aside and watched as Blake quickly pressed a few buttons to order some sushi from the Kuo-Shi menu. With everything ordered, the total popped up with their Beacon discount and Blake quickly pressed confirm.
"Thanks," Ruby smiled as her and Blake began to walk over to a spare table, Blake pressing the scroll against a sensor in the centre of it to register it as their and let the stands know where to bring the food. "So do you have any brothers or sisters?"
While Ruby liked to think she knew quite a lot about her team, Blake had always been a mystery to them all. Not only was she rather secretive about her time in the White Fang, but Ruby had noted she never really talked of family much. Not that she seemed against it, just that while Weiss often spoke of her father, and Yang occasionally spoke of their father, the first mention of the Faunus girl's mother Ruby had heard was earlier that night.
"Not that I know of," the girl replied slowly, the answer doing nothing but confusing Ruby. "I actually haven't really talked to my parents in some time, so I don't really know what their lives have been like."
"Oh," Ruby said awkwardly having heard the small hint of sadness that had entered Blake's voice. Not sure how to reply to that information, she tried for the easiest choice that she was certain she knew the answer to. "Do you miss them?"
"A lot," Blake sighed with a nod, removing her shawl and placing it aside. "Honestly, I doubt they would even pick up if I called."
"I'm sure they would," Ruby replied, knowing that even Weiss' father picked up when she called, although Weiss did say that wasn't a good thing. "You're their daughter."
"I dunno," Blake said with a little uncertainty to her voice. "I didn't exactly leave in the best of ways. I said a lot of things to them that I regret."
"Did you leave because of the White Fang?" The moment Ruby asked the question, Blake closed her eyes and she knew it was a silent indication that the girl didn't want to talk about it. Taking the hint, Ruby quickly backtracked. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Blake said softly, her eyelids opening to show the shining amber orbs behind them. "It's just not a very pleasant subject, one I don't really want to talk about when I would rather be enjoying myself."
Stupid Ruby, she thought to herself as she gave the Faunus a small nod of understanding, tapping her fingers together under the table as the thought of anything else they could talk about instead. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, in which Blake gave her a kind smile, she finally managed to find a subject that she considered a little safer.
"So… umm," she said hesitantly, hoping that it was okay to ask. "After you left the Wh… your old life behind, why did you choose Beacon?"
"It was the best choice," Blake said simply and moved aside as a waiter put some drinks on their table. Picking up her cola, Ruby quickly took a sip. "I doubt I would fit in very well in Atlas, Vacuo huntsmen and huntresses are treated with… quite a bit of skepticism; but Beacon and Haven are actually rather respected. Since Haven was a little too close to headquarters, Beacon was all I had left."
"That makes sense," Ruby hummed, taking another sip of her drink before putting it down. "I'm glad you chose Beacon though, I don't think any of us could imagine this team without you."
"Well I am glad you enjoy having me around," Blake said in reply, both of their cheeks turning slightly red at the implications. "So what about you? I remember you saying you always wanted to be a huntress, that's quite a big dream for a child to have?"
"Hmm," Ruby hummed again, thinking back to when she had realised it. "I dunno, I think a lot of kids dream about being the hero who saves the day; but for me it never just felt like a dream."
"Whenever Yang would read me the stories, she would always tell me what our mom would have done to the bad guys, she'd always tell me that she would kick their butts and save everyone there. She knew how much I missed mom so whenever I asked if I could do that one day, she would always tell me I could do whatever I wanted. She would even start to change the stories so that me and mom were saving the day together. When I grew up a little, I realised Yang was trying to make sure I understood what mom thought was worth fighting for. She didn't want me to be mad at her for not being able to be there, but to understand why she couldn't be."
Taking a small breath, Ruby looked at her date and gave her a wide smile.
"So it really was never a dream for me," She shrugged. "My entire family help people, even lay down their lives so that people can continue to live theirs. And I'm proud to continue that."
Seeing Blake staring at her a little wide-eyed as she finished, Ruby felt herself blush a little and quickly picked her drink back up to take a big gulp. As she did, she watched Blake's face break into a small smile as the girl looked down at her lap.
"Wow," she exclaimed with a soft chuckle and leaned back in her chair slightly. "I knew you were dedicated, but not that much. Wish I was that sure about what I'm doing."
"Well I just want to keep people safe," Ruby countered easily. "I know how to do that, but what you want is much more difficult to do."
"I guess," Blake sighed with a shake of her head, though she was still smiling. "Just that some days it feels like I have no idea where to start. How does one person change things after so many years of hate?"
Thinking for a second on that question, Ruby found herself stumped. She knew how tough the goal Blake had set for herself was, and while she was determined to help in anyway she could, she had never actually thought on how to do that. She could help to save them, but if the fighting between humans and Faunus continue, it would only cause the Grimm to become more prevalent than they were already becoming.
"I don't know," she finally said, deciding that honesty was the best answer she could give. "But I know you don't have to do it alone. You have a team now, and we have your back."
"I know."
As Ruby watched Blake give her a genuine smile that made her blush slightly, the waiter arrived once again to place their food on the table. The smell of cooked meat that she had become adjusted to instantly renewed its assault on her nostrils and Ruby felt her stomach grumble slightly. Reaching out, she pulled her burger and fries towards herself as Blake reached out to take her sushi, albeit more gracefully than she did.
"She did not!" Blake laughed as she pushed her spoon into the sponge cake that was in front of her.
Catching her breath, she placed the sponge in her mouth as Ruby talked excitedly. Blake had smiled much more than she thought she would have during the past two hours of listening to tales of the girl's time on patch and at Signal; but the last ten minutes, Ruby had been regaling her with tales of her sister. The whole experience had been very foreign to Blake at first, still not being used to the casual atmosphere of hanging out with someone, but the longer it went on, the more she had found herself at ease.
There was something about Ruby, a sense of effortlessness that the girl seemed to exude whenever she was lost in her stories, that helped Blake's nerves slide away. As she watched the girl excitedly tell her stories, she had seen the beautiful silver eyes glint in the same way as they had when Ruby found the pack of cookies Blake had snuck into her bag. Every time she saw it, she felt her lips tug into a small smile that only seemed to egg the girl on further, creating a magnificent circle of excitement and smiling that Blake had no interest in stopping.
"She did!" Ruby replied happily, stirring the remaining ice cream left in her ice cream sundae. "The fire singed her hair so much that she had to have it cut and she looked so weird."
"You know, I don't think I could imagine Yang with short hair if I tried," Blake chuckled and took a sip of her drink.
"Well it only came down to her shoulders, but it was still a bad look for her," Ruby giggled, spooning some melted ice cream into her mouth. "But she looked so lost while she waited for it to grow back and refused to go back to the forge until she unlocked her aura."
"Now that I believe," Blake grinned as she recalled the trouble the team had every morning. "It's been six months but I still can't believe she takes thirty minutes for her hair alone."
"That's nothing compared to when we were at home," Ruby hummed with a small shrug, the spoon dangling from the side of her mouth. "I lost count of how many times I had to run to school early to use those showers because I'd have ran out of time if I waited."
"Wow," she grinned and ate the final piece of her cake. "And this whole night you almost convinced me that I was jealous I don't have any siblings."
"Sorry," Ruby chuckled nervously and stirred the ice cream a little more until all the final lumps turned to liquid. "I guess I talk about Yang a lot."
"It's fine," Blake said with a shake of her head as Ruby picked up the tall glass and tipped what had to be nothing but sugaring milk at that point into her mouth. "It's nice that you two are so close."
It was true. Over her entire time at Beacon and being part of Team RWBY, the relationship between Ruby and her sister had been one Blake had paid special attention to. Having never had siblings, she had no idea what would be considered normal sibling behavior; but she was fairly certain that they were much closer than your average family, to the point where Blake often mistook Yang's actions to be more motherly than sisterly.
It wasn't uncommon for Yang to have to remind her sister to eat, and for the blonde to confiscate cookies and treats until said food was finished. It also wasn't uncommon for Yang to track the younger sister down, whether Ruby was hiding in the kitchen, in the workshop, or even one time when she had been hiding in the back of an unused classroom. It was basic knowledge to the entire team that if Ruby was feeling down, Yang would drop everything to comfort her and do whatever it took to cheer her up. However, for as much as there was a motherly feeling to the relationship, the two were undeniably sisters.
Through all of the motherly tendencies Yang showed, their was still an unmistakable immaturity to how they often acted towards each other. From minor falling outs that would be resolved within an hour, to the inside jokes and teasing that usually had that laughing to each other while they played their video games; Blake could see very clearly that neither would let anything happen to separate them.
"Well, she's always been there for me," the red reaper said matter-of-factually after peering into the now empty glass and putting it aside.
"Now that I do believe," Blake chuckled and pulled her shawl over her shoulders. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure," Ruby smiled back, and pushed her chair back before he eyes widened a little. "Actually, I need to grab some cookies from Gooey Chooey, wanna meet me outside?"
Not one to stand between Ruby and her cookies, Blake gave the girl a small nod and watched as she took off in a slow jog towards the small stand on the furthest side of the building; and after shaking her head to drag her eyes away from her, she gave an inward smile and made her way to the door. Unfortunately, as she watched the door open and the chilling breeze nip at her face, she knew that date was coming to an end; and while she had certainly enjoyed herself, she had purposely left most of the talking to Ruby.
As painful as it had been to remember them, Blake had been more than happy to answer Ruby's questions about her parents. Despite how she had left Menagerie, she had plenty of happy memories with them and was always happy to relive them, but as the conversation inevitably turned to why she left, Blake knew the conversation would have dragged down the tone of the evening. However, having taken that subject off the table, she had realised just how little she had to talk about.
Whether she liked it or not, the White Fang was a huge part of her past. She had been born into it, seen it grow and change, changed with it. Like Ruby, who's entire life had been about slaying monsters, the entirety of hers had been about fighting for what she believed was right; but those topics weren't date topics. Conversations about rallies where she held signs for hours wasn't an enthralling tale, and all of the ones that did have some excitement were likely not stories Ruby would want to hear. So letting out a deep sigh that caused mist to obscure her vision, she sat down on a bench and pulled the shawl around herself a little tighter.
Why couldn't I have just had a normal life? Blake thought to herself a little bitterly. Why did I have to be born fighting?
It was a question she had asked herself a lot over the last year. She imagined what it would be like to have been simply able to live happily and have fun with friends, to not have been tagging along with her father for rallies; not that he had ever pushed her to join him. No, that choice was hers. Every past choice she'd made was hers. She had chosen to join those rallies, chosen to abandon the hope of friends who didn't understand why they were so important. And when her parents no longer understood, when the time had come for more action to be taken, she had chosen to leave them behind too.
Sure, her admiration of Adam and her desire to make him happy had been a part of that, and those had been the things he manipulated to make her stay so long, but the choice to initially join him had still been hers. Every time felt there was injustice, she rose to fight it; but in doing so, she often tossed aside what she considered unimportant.
However, her time at Beacon had changed that. The more she interacted with her team, the more she found herself having that normality she began to crave, the more she realised how important those things she had once unimportant really were. Her parents, her friends, her childhood, she missed all of them more than she had ever thought she would.
"Blake?"
So wrapped up in her own thoughts, Bake didn't notice that her team leader had already exited the building and was standing next to the bench looking at her with a slightly concerned look on her face.
"Are you okay?" The younger girl asked cautiously. "You look sad."
"No," Blake replied with a small shake of her head, only to realize how that answer might have come across. "I mean, I'm not sad, just got caught up in my own head again."
"Oh," Ruby sighed, her body visibly relaxing. "Do you wanna talk about it? You listened to me talk all night, sooo…"
"It's nothing, I'm just lamenting over the fact that talking about my life isn't really date talk, and wishing that I had other things to talk about like you do."
"Oh, but then you wouldn't be you," Ruby shrugged and sat down on the bench. "I know that your life wasn't exactly pleasant, but I do know you always believed you were fighting for what was right; so not all of your stories can be bad, right?"
"I suppose," Blake sighed looking at the girl who was sitting beside her and receiving a smile. Knowing the girl was patiently waiting to hear one, Blake quickly racked her brain for one that might work.
"Well, I had this friend, Ilia, we would hang out quite a lot after I ran away. She was probably one of the toughest people I knew, always the first to prove herself, but she was terrified of snakes. One day we were all sitting around a camp that was actually ran rather well, and a snake slithered over her hand and in seconds she had jumped into a tree; and because she was a chameleon Faunus who could change her colours, she had turned completely pink from embarrassment, even her hair. She hated pink."
"I remember it was the first time I actually laughed since I left home," Blake said with a smile as she looked down at her lap. "She even refused to come down until it was safe, so I joined her on the branch for the rest of the night."
"That sounds like you when Zwei first arrived," Ruby chuckled, causing Blake to groan at the memory of pouncing onto Ruby's bed when the small corgi had dropped from the parcel; something that Blake still considered to be an exceptionally odd occurrence. "But it's good to know that even there you had some fun things happen. Uhh..." The last sounds was hummed rather cautiously as Ruby pressed her fingers together a little awkwardly. "... C-Can I ask something about Faunus?"
Curious as to what the girl could possibly have to ask that made her nervous, Blake gave the reaper a small smile and a short nod.
"So umm… I haven't really know many Faunus as there weren't too many Patch, but you don't like dogs and really like fish, Sun likes bananas and climbing trees, and you said your friend was a chameleon Faunus that was scared of snakes who are natural predators to chameleons. So is liking and hating things the actual animals like or hate a normal Faunus thing?"
"Hmm," Blake hummed at the question that was asked with such genuine nervous intrigue that Blake could help but smile a little. "That's kind of a tough one. I wouldn't say it's a normal thing, but definitely not rare. It might be some instinctive remnants from whatever made us evolve differently, but I knew plenty of fish Faunus on Menagerie that hated water, and some wolf Faunus who hated meat."
"Ahh, okay," Ruby exhaled with a relieved sigh. "Th-That wasn't an insensitive question, right?"
"It was fine," Blake chuckled and stood up, turning to face the girl and offering her hand out to help Ruby up. "At least you asked, and didn't assume."
Blushing slightly, the team leader picked up the bag she had placed on the bench next to her and accepted the hand. Helping Ruby to her feet, Blake knew she probably should have let go, but feeling a rare surge of braveness rush through her, she turned to face the road and took a tiny step forward. Her own blush rose to match her date's as the younger girl took a step forward without dropping the joined hands either, though her face was pointedly looking anywhere but her direction.
A gentle, yet awkward, silence came over them as they both adjusted to the feeling of the new level of intimacy, both occasionally looking at the other only to look away again with their faces a deeper scarlet than they had been. To add to the awkwardness, Blake was pretty sure she could hear a pair of girls a short distance behind them giggling over the blood pumping in her ears; but if Ruby could them, the girl gave no indication. Instead she simply moved her hand slightly so that their hold was a little more comfortable.
"C-Cookie?" The quiet voice was obviously racked with nerves, the small catching a cracking enough that Blake doubted even a deaf person could mistake it. Turning to the stuttering silver-eyed girl, she saw a bag being offered in her direction. "There's p-plain ones."
"Sure," Blake replied, trying to keep the awkwardness from her voice.
Reaching out, she pulled the bag open to look inside and saw a bunch of smaller bags, each holding five cookies, as well as one that looked to be a pack of four small treats covered in pink icing that she knew were for Yang. Pulling a plain cookie from one of the small bags and covering it back up, she felt it try to bend in her hand from how soft the baked good still was. Taking a small bite, the taste of delicious sugar filled her mouth and she let out a soft hum.
"These are really good."
"Yeah," Ruby said quietly with a small nod and dug a double chocolate chip one out of the bag. "They are much better when they're warm."
"Hmm," Blake hummed, a question springing to mind as she noticed the gleeful look that pushed through the nervousness as the little reaper took a large bite out of the cookie. "So what is with the cookie obsession?"
With a mouthful of biscuit, Ruby turned to look at her before quickly chewing and finishing what was in her mouth.
"The cookie obsession?" Ruby repeated thoughtfully and looked down it the bag. "My mom used to bake them when she returned from missions, and we would sit and eat them. At least, Yang said we did. I kinda remember Mom making them, but not much else."
"Oh," Blake replied, remembering a conversation where Yang had said Ruby didn't remember much about their mother. "Do you remember much about else about her?" Knowing it was a very personal question, Blake quickly backtracked a little. "If you're okay talking about it, I mean."
"I don't mind talking about my mom," Ruby smiled widely, her head turning away from the road they were walking up so that Blake caught the glint of silver as they passed under a street lamp. "But not much really, I know she was amazing. When I really think about her, I mainly remember laughter, Dad smiling as he left the kitchen with her. I know mom was the reason we moved out to Patch because she loved the island. But everything else, it's so faint that I don't even know if its real."
"I can't imagine how that must feel," Blake said quietly to the girl, genuinely trying and failing to imagine what life would have been like had she known she could never talk to her mother again. "Do you at least have things to remember her by?"
"Yup," Ruby said with another smile, taking a small bite of the cookie she was still holding and reaching around to the length of red cloth she was rarely seen without. "She made me this cape to grow into, and Dad let me have a couple of boxes full of her old clothes. We look a lot alike so they all suit me, with a couple of my own additions of course."
"At least that's something then."
"Mhm," Ruby hummed and she finished the cookie. "Plus Yang, my dad, and my uncle all tell me stories about her, so it's not like I don't know anything about her."
Not wanting to voice that she suspected that all three of them likely only ever told Ruby the good things, Blake gave the girl a small nod with a smile and turned back to the road. In the conversation, she had completely forgotten that there was a foreign warmth on her hand, but as a shrill pinging sounded from Ruby's direction, Blake was quickly reminded as the girl looked around for somewhere to place the sweet bag to answer the phone. Before Blake could even offer to take it, Ruby extended a pair of fingers from the joined hands and used them to hold the bag's strings so that she could pull the Scroll free and put it on loud speaker. Almost immediately, the joyous voice of their blonde-haired teammates issued from the small device.
"Hey lovebird," The blonde said gleefully, causing Blake to roll her eyes even though she knew Yang couldn't see her. "Hows things?"
"None of your business, Yang," Ruby pouted and shook her head. "What do you want?"
"I got a call from dad and he said he is going on a mission tomorrow afternoon," Yang explained quickly, the sound of music starting up in the background. "It was last minute so he didn't have time to send Zwei over, so we have to go pick him up early tomorrow morning. So don't stay up too late, alright?"
"Got it. Are you still staying in CVFY's room tonight?"
"Yeah," Yang replied with a stifled yawn. "But we'll be leaving around seven-ish so we can pick up some breakfast downtown."
"Alright."
"Well I'm off," Yang said, however Blake picked up that the blonde's voice had acquired the mischievous tone she often found herself dreading. "Before I go, Rubes. So you have an excuse to do it, give Blake a kiss goodnight for me wil…"
After a second of stumbling after that request, Ruby hung up the phone; but not before Blake heard the sound of cackling laughter from the other end. Resisting the urge to smile as a blush crept up Ruby's pale cheeks, Blake reached and plucked the bag from their hands while Ruby scanned her scroll against a panel on the side of the gate to Beacon so that it opened for them.
"She really likes trying to embarrass you, doesn't she?" Blake said cautiously, still trying to suppress the giggles as Ruby gave her a tired look.
"Unfortunately," Ruby sighed as they walked through the gate and took the small path to the dormitory building. "She's always done it. She says that she has to make up for all the people that aren't allowed to make fun of me because they don't love me enough."
"That is certainly some Yang logic," she replied, letting out a chuckle and using what Ruby had just told her to mask the real cause.
"Yup," the little reaper sighed again, though Blake noted that the sighs weren't sad, but more accepting.
Once again, a small silence settled over them as they made their way towards the dormitory and pushed their way through the doors. Since it had just turned half past eight, Blake could hear the sounds of chitchat flooding from the common area; and determined not to end their night in a crowded, noisy room where they couldn't hear each other, she turned away from it and carried on down the hallway that lead to the elevator. Hoping that Weiss was done with what she needed the room for, Blake pressed the button to call the elevator down.
Unfortunately, Blake had not thought about her actions enough, so as they stepped into the small space, she became exceedingly aware of how close Ruby was to her. As she noticed it, she also became more aware of how sweaty the hand in her was, and that it was shifting slightly. Curious as to if Ruby wanted to let go, she slackened her grip slightly and was a little surprised as Ruby slipped her fingers between her own, entwining them as she returned the pressure back to what it was. Feeling her stomach do a small flip at the small gesture, Blake happily reapplied the pressure she had eased up on and felt a small smile pull at her lips.
"B-Blake?" She heard Ruby say quietly as the elevator began to move.
"Mmm," She hummed in return, unable to do much more.
"I…" Ruby paused, blushing a bright red as she looked away slightly and continued in a very quiet voice. "I really enjoyed tonight."
Her eyes widen slightly at Ruby's confession, and in that moment, she felt the fear that her natural withheld nature had made the date boring wash away. Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she gently applied a little more pressure to the girl's hand and let a smile overtake her face.
"I did too."
With her own confession said, the atmosphere in the elevator seemed to ease up a little; and enjoying the silence as they rode the elevator, she felt the side of Ruby's head lightly press against her arm. Unfortunately, the moment could only last so long as the elevator gave a loud beep and the door opened to their floor, but a feeling of loss quickly came over her as Ruby's head moved from her arm and the girl made her way out of the small space. Though she really would have liked to have pulled her back and taken another ride to enjoy it a little longer, Blake followed her out and they made their way back towards their room.
As they approached the door however, Blake remembered what may be going on behind the wooden slab, and not having any interest in walking in on that, she stopped and reached out her hand and gave a short, sharp knock.
"You can come in," the familiar voice of the heiress called from inside, as Blake let out a sigh of relief as she pushed open the door.
The sight of Weiss lying on the bed greeted them, the snowy-haired heiress wrapped in Neptune's arms and a blanket thrown over the both of them, as they watched some movie Blake didn't didn't recognise from the small projector that had been placed on the foot of the girl bed. The moment they entered, Weiss' eyes surveyed them until they finally came to a stop on their hands, that were still holding each other.
"Well then…" The girl said, slight amusement in her voice as she sank into Neptune. "I guess I don't have to ask how the date went. Looks like its a couples night now."
Avoiding the girl's knowing eyes, Blake gave Ruby a small smile and both of them finally let go of the other, the feeling of emptiness in her hand almost enough to make Blake correct that decision. However, having never been one for public display of affection, which sat holding your dates hand and watching a movie with a close friend most certainly was, Blake let Ruby go to sort out her stuff. Though, she certainly knew she wasn't going to let too long go by until she next had Ruby's hand in hers.
A/N
Hi, Raalm here. I believe Toxic is still asleep so just a quick note from me saying I am slowly working my way back into writing again. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.