Co-authored by ToxicExotic

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Dressing To Impress

"Out."

"What?" Ruby whined at the direct order from her sister as one hand firmly held her shoulder while another held Blake's. "Why?"

"Me and Weiss need to talk."

"No we don't."

"You talked two days ago," Ruby countered as Yang's strength succeeded in getting both her and the quiet girl with her out of the room. Once they were out, she turned on her sister and gave her a serious look. "Are you two fighting again?"

"No, but you want her to go to the party, right?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Great," Yang replied with a smile. "So give me an hour to do my big sister thing and I promise I will get her to go. While I'm at it, you two can go have an impromptu date and cuddle in the corner of the library or something."

"Yaan…"

Before Ruby could reply and say they should at least try and convince Weiss together, the door was closed in their faces and the sound of the chain sliding into place told her that it wouldn't open again until the battle inside was won.

"The library did get a new supply of books today," Blake said from behind her, Ruby's attention quickly switching back and forth between helping Yang and the fact that Blake was actually talking about doing what Yang had suggested.

"But what about those two?" Ruby said feebly, struggling to decide which of the two things she wanted to do more.

"They sorted out their issue the other day, and Yang knows she messed up," Blake replied with a small shrug. "Do you really think Yang will fail to get her to go?"

"I… Well, no," Ruby admitted, awkwardly pressing her fingers together. "But she's my partner, shouldn't I be the one convincing her to have a good time? Like Yang did with you."

"Maybe," Blake said thoughtfully and leaned back against the wall. "But as her friend, you should also know when someone else can reach her in a way you can't. Getting her to agree to go will be an argument, one Yang is willing to have. Are you willing to fight with her over something that is, for all intents and purposes, not that important to her?"

Thinking over the question for a second, Ruby also leaned back against the door while Blake waited patiently. It was true that the party really didn't mean much to Weiss, and it was more that Ruby and Yang wanted her to take some time off from the work she had been so invested in lately, but Ruby did feel strongly about her taking a break. However, she also knew she had a habit of caving to Weiss' annoyance and dropping things. When the girl had become frustrated with Flynt in the workshop, Ruby had completely abandoned her efforts to convince the heiress to attend the party.

"If you want to go back in there and help Yang, then I'll join you," Blake said softly, her amber eyes glinting kindly to match her tone. "But it doesn't make you a bad friend, partner, or leader to let Yang handle this."

A deep sigh escaped Ruby as she pushed herself off the door. Though Yang had locked the door, her Scroll could easily unlock it; but Blake was right, Yang had it handled. To go in and gang up on her was likely to make Weiss fight against it harder; so resigning to let her sister handle things, Ruby took a step away from the door to indicate she was willing to go to the library. Receiving a smile from the Faunus that only made the decision easier, she watched Blake join her side and begun the short walk to the library.

It wasn't particularly late, but the nighttime chill still hung in the air as they stepped outside causing Ruby to quickly stuff her hands into her pockets before her fingers froze off. Silence filled the darkening courtyard, a silence Ruby wasn't particularly fond of as she thought they should be over them already. So racking her brain for a topic, she easily found what seemed to be an obvious one considering what was happening soon.

"Sooo…" She said slowly and turned to look at Blake beside her, the only clue that the raven-haired beauty wasn't gliding being her hips that were gently swaying with each step she took. "This party. Is there a dress code? Or is it just whatever we want?"

"It's Neon's party, so I doubt it," Blake replied while putting her own hands into her pants, that were in turn tucked into what Ruby considered to be a very hot pair of thigh-high boots that only accentuated the girl's long legs.

"Gotcha," she smiled, dragging her eyes away from the boots and focusing on the building ahead of them that they were making their way towards.

"Are you nervous?" Blake asked carefully, Ruby spotting the amber eyes flicking over to her.

"About the date?" Ruby hummed despite knowing exactly what Blake was referring to, but receiving a nod nonetheless. "A little. I mean… I am looking forward to it, but I know you don't like crowds. I'm fine with a movie, you know?"

"I know," Blake smiled, the action bringing a smile to Ruby's own face. "But like I said this morning; I might not like the extra attention from people, but I like having fun with all of you. Especially you."

Even though she had heard it that morning, the admission still filled Ruby with a gentle warmth. Feeling a rush of braveness filled her at the words, she slipped a hand from her pocket and let it hang at her side as she silently let herself close the distance between her and Blake. Fortunately Blake saw the hints, and it only took a couple of seconds for Ruby to feel the girl's long fingers slip between her own. With happiness joining her bravery, Ruby let herself sidle a little closer until her forearm grazed against Blake's.

While Ruby still had the urges to go a little further with the girl, she had been keeping them in check. Something that had proved very difficult in the past few days. The day before, she had received a totally unjust lunch-time detention that had mostly been Yang's fault for making her laugh; but when it had finished, she'd exited the classroom to find Blake standing there with lunch for her. The two of them had then proceeded to eat together in the corner of the empty classroom for their next class. Ruby had actually really enjoyed the lighthearted conversation, and only realised how close the two had begun to sit near each other when other students began to pile in. Needless to say they had quickly rectified that, but Ruby couldn't help lament the fact that she had missed out on what felt like a golden opportunity.

"Me too," she mumbled, letting the heat radiating from Blake hand wash over her a little. "With you, I mean."

"Good to know that I haven't bored you yet," Blake chuckled in response as the two of them pushed their way into the library, the warmth of the room immediately enveloping them and pushing away the icy chill that had clung to their skin.

"You're not boring," Ruby grinned at the girl as they quickly made their way to the New section near the counter. "A little mysterious, but I like it."

"I thought you didn't like mystery novels?" Blake joked with a smile, her shoulder bumping into Ruby's as she moved aside so that another student could get past.

"But you're not a book," Ruby laughed.

"All people are books, Ruby," Blake teased as they entered the shelves that held the new collection and began to leaf through them. "We all hold stories that someone can only learn by progressing further into who we are; and as with books, there are many times where we must read between the lines to find a meaning."

"But books don't change, people do," Ruby countered, feeling smug for having something to counter Blake for once.

"Or have they just not yet finished being written?" Blake retorted quickly, pulling a thick novel from the shelf and giving it a brief glance before putting it back. As Ruby struggled for a comeback to that one, Blake face split into a grin and Ruby realised Blake had been messing with her.

"Pfft," Ruby breathed humorously and pulled a weapon manual off the shelf one she had already read, but it never hurts to have a refresher. Fortunately the time she took to retrieve it gave her enough time to think up the perfect comeback. "I should have known you would never compare people to books. You like books."

The amazing sound of Blake's laughter filled her ears as she stuck out her tongue at the beautiful girl. With the sound, a glint of gold passed over Blake's amber eyes as she seemingly spotted a book high up on the shelf which she reached out to grab and hide behind her back before Ruby could even see the cover. Though admittedly that was mostly because Blake had stretched to retrieve it and Ruby had quickly become distracted.

"I like some people," Blake chuckled turning around as Ruby dragged her eyes away from Blake's form for the second time that day. "So, you got a book?"

"Yup," she replied, holding up the book slightly higher than necessary to hide the slight blush. "What about you?"

A slight mischievous grin formed on Blake's face as she slowly moved the book she had retrieved into view for Ruby to see. She recognised it immediately. The large man covered in brown fur wearing a blue waistcoat and the smaller girl in a yellow dress were forever imprinted on in her memory, and the only acknowledgement she could give that Blake would be willing to read a book she had mentioned was a brief nod of her head. Thankfully it was enough and Blake gently began to pull her along to a spare table, where Ruby knew she likely would be unable to focus on her own book.

The gentle sound of metal sliding against metal rang through the tiled bathroom as Ruby sat in her chair, a towel wrapped around her shoulders to protect her from falling locks of freshly dyed, red hair. While her usual hairdresser normally cut it first and then dyed it, Coco insisted on doing the opposite so that she knew where she was cutting to make her hair look the best. The process had actually been a long one, with most of it spent in the bathroom, and Ruby had been half worried that she would make her team late for the party; but thankfully her sister's girlfriend had assured her that she was almost finished.

Looking into the small mirror that Coco placed in front of her earlier, Ruby inspected the work so far and had to admit to herself that she really liked it so far. Though she'd told the older girl to simply trim it so that the annoyingly long hair was no longer in her face, Coco was quickly to silence her with a wave of her hand and plonk her into the seat. The result so far was that many parts of her hair were shorter than usual, but not to a weird degree. While her fringe stopped higher than she usually liked it, her fellow team leader compensated by leaving the right side a little longer and making it gradually shorter as she moved over to the left side, which fell just below her ear. Many places were cut at what Ruby had considered odd angles at first, but the longer Coco worked, the more sense it seemed to make.

A couple of minutes ago, Coco paused what she was doing to ruffle her hair slightly. And along with a small shower of stray hairs, it showed Ruby exactly what the woman was going for. With less than a little effort, the hair had immediately looked windswept; like she'd ran a mile using her semblance. It was an effect that Ruby really liked, and made her really glad Coco had agreed to help her.

"So, Red," Coco said teasingly and gently snipped away another small lock of hair. "Almost done. You excited to show it to your date?"

"Yep," Ruby said truthfully; however her tone quickly faltered as while she really was excited, there was still something bugging her from the last date. "Coco, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," The girl replied, holding up another piece of hair and carefully snipping the ends a few times. "What's up?"

"Well… Umm," Ruby paused. What she wanted to say had the potential to come off in a way she didn't mean and imply something she wasn't ready for yet; so after taking a second to think, she finally found the words she needed.

"Well, when you and Velvet first started dating, How did you… How did you handle going back to a shared room after a date? I mean… wasn't it awkward when you got back and wanted to do… more, but couldn't?"

"And what exactly is it that you want to do?" Coco replied carefully and dropped the cut pieces of hair to the floor.

"Not that," Ruby quickly rectified, stunned at her own ability to mess something up even after having thought it out. "I just mean… I want to maybe go a little further than hand holding…"

"Like kissing?"

"Yes," Ruby sighed. "But when we got back, it still felt like we were on the date and if we kissed then things might be misunderstood because we are on the beds in the room and Weiss was there and it just felt very weird because I didn't know what to do."

"So you wanna know how you can tell if the date is over or not when you are back in the room?" Ruby gave a small nod. "Well then, first off, both of us know Blake isn't expecting anything from you that you're not ready for."

"As for knowing when the date is over, me and Velvs are hardly a good reference. That girl looks innocent, but she's… Well I'll spare you the details," A small giggle escaped Ruby at Coco's words as the older brunette continued to work her hair. "But honestly, I think the right answer is never. You two aren't going on dates, you're dating. That means every second you have together is practically a date because you're trying to get to know each other more and enjoy yourselves. That doesn't end with the closing of a door, or leaving a restaurant. So no matter what the moment is, whether you have just had a romantic meal, an average conversation, or even a sweaty dance in a room filled with classmates; If the moments feels right for you to progress further, take it. And if the room is filled with people, all that means is they get to witness one of your happiest moments."

"Doesn't stop it being embarrassing though," Ruby sighed, though Coco's words had helped some.

"I guess not for the first time," Coco laughed, giving the scissors in her hand one last flourish along Ruby hair before spinning them on her finger and tapping her shoulder. "But with time you will learn not to care who sees."

"So long as they don't see too much," Ruby jabbed at the older woman, who had once walked out of their bathroom in nothing more than a pair of shorts.

"Ahh, I see Yang inherited all the adventurous genes," the woman teased back and pulled the towel away, holding up a mirror to the back of Ruby's hair to show the amazing job she had done back there too. "Alrighty, all done, Red. Give it a quick rinse to get rid of the stray hairs and then you can go show off to your girlfriend."

"Thank you for doing this for me."

"No problem. Now I'm gunna go say hi to my girlfriends, and maybe catch a sneak peak of them getting dressed."

Letting out a laugh at Coco's joke while the woman gave her a wink and slid on her sunglasses, Ruby watched her go to leave the room and quickly put her hand out to stop her.

"Coco," though the dark shades now blocked her eyes, Ruby could tell an eyebrow was raised as she turned to look at her questioningly. "Umm… I'm glad Yang found you and Velvet. She seems really happy."

Coco looked at her for a couple of seconds, the shades blocking any reading Ruby could do of the woman's face; but finally a smaller, more coy smirk that Ruby had never seen Coco wear before overcame her face.

"She makes us happy too, Rubes. She was there for us after everything that happened at Lower Cairn, and I don't think either of us can let her go now."

Nothing more needed to be said, so the two girls exchanged a simple smile before Coco finally left the room. Letting out a sigh of relief at how much lighter her head felt with the excess hair removed, Ruby looked in the mirror and mimicked Coco's earlier action of ruffling her new haircut. A few more strands of hair fell away, but the result was the same windswept look from earlier and a wide grin spread across Ruby's face as she turned the shower on and prepared to wash it.

Ten minutes later, Ruby slipped her belt strap through the double-pronged buckle to fix her skirt into place before looking in the mirror. The outfit she had chosen was one of her favourites for colder weather as the material was deceptively warm. A warm grey blouse covered her upper half, her black cincher worn over top to push up her bosom a little, and on her bottom half was a bright red skirt that hid the pair of connected shorts beneath. A pair of tights dark fussy tights covered her legs and was tucked into one of her favourite black, steel-toed, thigh-high boots. As usual, her cape was affixed to her back. A brief glance in the mirror showed her that the look worked well on her; so running her hand through her now dry hair again and adjusting her fingerless gloves and bracers, Ruby gave herself a smile and walked towards the door to show off her newest look.

"Sooo!" Ruby said happily and walked out of the bathroom with her eyes closed. "How do I lo…"

Opening her eyes was a huge mistake. Perhaps the biggest mistake she could possibly made in her current situation. Though she had already knew it, the sight that greeted her once again proved that she was dating the most beautiful girl in the world. Blake didn't own many clothes, clearly a byproduct of her being on the move so often with the White Fang, but yet she had still somehow found an outfit for the event that Ruby had never seen on her.

A sleeveless, chocolate brown tailcoat was the most prominent article, the material fastened just under the girl's bust by delicate looking strings. At the bottom of the coat section was the tail, it's hem obviously frayed on purpose to add style. Beneath the regal looking coat was an equally regal looking white shirt that was also sleeveless judging by the small golden pauldrons that covered her shoulders; the only fabric visible in the area being some bandages that were clearly for show. The things that made Ruby warm up inside the most however was Blake's legs. Each one was slipped into a long thigh-high, heeled boots with laces running alluringly from the toes all the way up the front. Underneath were what Ruby assumed were a long pair of black socks, the top of them connected to the girl's gold hemmed, white shorts by a strap that Ruby could swear would torment her should she stare for too long.

The entire outfit was wonderful, keeping the ninja aesthetic Blake was fond of but adding in a large dash of warrior princess that was dangerously close to making Ruby's head explode should she look much longer. So it was with a huge struggle that she dragged her eyes away from the Faunus's legs to look into her eyes, only to find Blake staring at her with just as much wonder. All of her confidence vanished despite the look, and she nervously reached up to twist a lock of much shorter hair around her finger. Fortunately, Blake was the first to break out of her stupor and take a step towards her.

"Y-You look great," Blake whispered, her voice clearly struggling to form the words as her eyes darted up to Ruby's new haircut. "Your haircut looks… Amazing."

"Th-Thank you," Ruby squeaked nervously, feeling her face heat up when the amber eyes caught hers again as Blake reached up to touch the tip of one of her spikes. "Y-You look incredible too… L-Like a Faunus princess."

A large smile stretched across Blake's face and Ruby felt the tiniest amount of skin graze her cheek after leaving the strands of hair behind. She could tell immediately that Blake could feel how hot it was.

"W-Well.. I kind…"

Before Blake could finish her words, the moment was interrupted as the door swung open and Weiss walked in, looking just as amazing as she usually did. Just like the rest of them, Weiss had opted for one of her more formal outfits.

The light blue dress that petered off at the front only to flow out at the back was very fitting her her tone and contrasted well with the dark blue coat that only covered one side of her chest and white belts that stretched across her stomach. Long, black gloves adorned each arm up to the elbow and similarly long white boots cover her legs up to her knees. She had also done something that was exceedingly rare and switched her ponytail into a long braid that reached her lower back, the thick top and thinner bottom of the braid somehow showing just how much longer the silken strands would be had it not been contained. If Blake only had hints of a warrior princess look, then Weiss had most certainly taken the rest.

"Finally!" She said immediately upon seeing her, her back straightening as an eyebrow raised. "We have five minutes to get there."

"Uhh…" Letting out a slight cough as she recovered from the earlier moment with Blake, she turned to her partner. "The party won't get started properly for at least thirty minutes."

"And yet it starts in five," Weiss argued stubbornly with a hand on her waist. "It is you lot who want me to go to this thing, and I refuse to be late to anything. Even if it is… Fashionable."

"Alright," Blake sighed with a nod and moved back a little, reaching over to grab her wallet from the desk and slipping it into her coat. "What about Yang?"

"She is meeting us there with Coco and Velvet."

Without further word, Weiss left the room, her braid making a loud thud as it struck the wall.

"Welp, guess we are going to be the first ones there," Blake said before giving Ruby a charming smile. "Are you ready?"

Biting her lip, Ruby held out her hand and gave a slight nod. With a much wider smile this time, Blake took it with her own and the two of them left the room together. Ruby had no idea what would happen during the party, but if she knew that if she didn't kiss Blake by the end of the night that it would forever haunt her.

Raalm's Notes

Real quick before the notes for those you might not know it. While most of the team are Wearing their V7 outfits, Blake's didn't feel very party-esque so the outfit Blake is wearing to the party is actually her original design which I personally love. I will leave a link here just in case you haven't seen it.

imgur com/a/pJ56c3i

As for the actual notes, there isn't really much to say. The party is next and while it does focus around Blake and Ruby, Weiss and Yang will be a big part of it too so we wanted to give them a small little private scene here. We also wanted to have Coco interact a little more for coming stuff, and it felt right to have Ruby ask her that question about dating someone you share a room with, so we hope that was good too. But that's really it for me I'm afraid. Again more background stuff happened and I will explain why next chapter; but again, nothing important will happen off page. mainly just cute randomness and we will always reference it.

Toxic's Note

Ya'll ready for the fluff of the next one?