Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Co-Authored by ToxicExotic
"Ughhh, Weiiiissss!" Ruby groaned as she flopped onto the floor, her arms being tugged by her partner who seemed to finally have grown tired of being told to wait five more minutes. "It's six in the morning."
"Correction, it's six-thirty." The heiress let go of her arm, but quickly gave a sigh of frustration and stomped her foot as Ruby took the chance to use her semblance to bury herself back beneath the covers. "Will you stop behaving like a child?"
"Says you." She lifted the covers to stick her tongue out at her partner, knowing fully well that she was proving Weiss right, but not caring.
"You have three seconds." Weiss said strictly, her voice muffled as Ruby has already pulled the covers back over her head. "One!"
Had Ruby been more awake, and not exhausted from staying awake talking to Blake till two in the morning, she would have remembered what happened the last time she ignored Weiss' countdowns.
"Two!"
However, she wasn't awake. In fact she was still half asleep and completely failed to register the telltale sound of a glyph being produced.
"Three!"
As the last number was said, the memories came rushing back; but it was entirely too late. Her bed gave a massive shake as it was lifted from the ground on one side, and her entire equilibrium was thrown off as she suddenly found herself soaring through the air still wrapped in her quilt. With the thick material wrapped around her, she knew she couldn't escape it, and activated her aura just as her body slammed into the wall. She let out a groan as she slid down it, and threw off the covers as she came to rest on the ground.
Before her, was her bed; the entire thing upside down and the mattress askew. Around it was everything she had ever shoved under her bed and promptly forgotten about. Among the mess stood a giant, ghostly-white suit of armor, its head almost scraping the ceiling and one foot resting on the bed frame in conquest. In its hand was a giant sword, the tip of which was extended and pointed directly between her eyes. Ruby let out a nervous chuckle as she reflected on just how grim her future now seemed seeing that Weiss was far more proficient at her summoning.
"You've become lazy in my absence," Weiss scolded her. The sword pulled away and the knight stood up straight before it faded into smoke. "And no partner of mine will be lazy. Our training continues later today."
"Bu…"
"No buts!" Weiss said as her eyes narrowed. "And if you dare laugh about me saying buts, I will resummon my Arma Gigas and we will begin training right now."
Ruby stifled the chuckle that indeed was about to slip out, but not quick enough as Weiss saw it and rolled her eyes. She was about to reply, and get to her feet, when the door opened and a head of blonde hair poked its way in, a hand running through the messy mane while the girl's eyes were shut.
"Whut with noise?" Yang mumbled quietly as she scratched her head.
"Weiss tipped my bed over." Ruby tattled.
"Well you wouldn't get up." Weiss argued back.
"Kay, kay. Ke-ep your voices down," The blonde yawned and gripped the top of the door frame as her bones popped audibly around the room as she stretched. "Did you ignore the countdown again?"
"Uhhh… Maybe."
It was her turn to scratch her head as Yang shook hers. From behind her sister, she saw a pair of long, droopy ears appear as arms slithered around her waist. A small smile appeared on the blonde's face as Velvet's head pressed against her back and her ears folded over her shoulder. As the brute finished scratching her head, Ruby saw Yang gently scratch the tip of one of the long ears. The action earned a happy hum from the Faunus.
"I think Weiss is eager to get her gifts, Honey Bunny," She chuckled as her fingers teased the rabbit ear. "You should probably wake Coco up while I get Blake."
"Mhm." the sleepy Faunus replied and unwound her arms from the girl's waist as she moved away with a nod and a yawn.
With a final look at them, Yang shook her head and disappeared from sight down the hallway. Ruby grinned happily at her partner, but only received a scowl in return. She had actually missed the girl's morning wake-up calls.
"I left your gift for Blake in the bag under my bed," Weiss said as she pulled out some clothes from her drawer. "Now, I'm going to take a shower before that oaf steals it."
She gave her partner a nod, and looked around her room with a sigh. Before she could even think about getting dressed, she had to clean up the mess that had been made, so she let out a yawn and slowly got to her feet while stretching out the kinks from sleeping for such a short period of time.
A quick look at the clock on the bedside table revealed that it had taken her almost twenty minutes to clean up the mess that had been made, as well as get dressed for what laid ahead. In those twenty minutes, she had heard the shower turn off as Weiss exited in record time, Coco growling at Velvet as they passed the room, and a small shout from down the hallway that she was quite sure had been from Blake due to something Yang did. But finally, the room was clean and she was dressed; so with a small groan, Ruby stretched and made her way downstairs.
Yang was sat on the couch as Ruby walked towards the living room, her legs thrown over Coco's lap, while Velvet sipped on a hot chocolate next to them. The couple looked happy as usual, but she knew that they were working out their own issues behind closed doors. Blake was sitting on the floor looking grumpy for some reason, though Ruby suspected that was probably a result of the thing that caused the yelp from earlier. From her spot on the stairs, she noticed a lack of white hair and figured Weiss was occupied in the kitchen.
"Good morning." Ruby smiled as she finished walking down the stairs and joined the group proper.
"Is it?" Blake mumbled grumpily as she rubbed her amber eyes free of sleep.
"What did Yang do?" Ruby chuckled as she sat in the chair next to her dad, who had fallen back to sleep.
"Excuse me… I did nothing."
"I woke up with you in my bed," Blake snarled, not pleased with the observation at all.
"And what's wrong with that? Pretty great way to wake up, if you ask me." Yang smirked as Coco nodded in agreement. Velvet on the other hand, was so absorbed in her drink that she likely hadn't even heard what was said. "Or would you prefer it was someone else?"
"Yes," Blake hissed unashamed, causing Ruby to blush a little. "I would. Instead I got a mouthful of unkempt, blonde hair."
"Well you're the one who tried to kiss me," Yang shrugged.
"Wait... What?" Velvet said tiredly, finally alert to the conversation.
"I did not try to kiss you," Blake said with a blush. "I thought you were Ruby. Oh how disappointed I was."
"Wow, low blow, Blakey." Yang huffed at the playful spat. "You're grumpier than Coco this morning."
"Hey!" Coco scowled over her sunglasses.
"But we love you anyway." Velvet said tiredly as she took another sip of her drink and pet the equally grumpy leader's hand.
Ruby shook her head at the exchange. It wasn't unusual for Yang to wake people up in weird ways, so she knew Blake was far too used to it to actually be annoyed. In fact, by her own admission, the Faunus mostly seemed to be annoyed that it hadn't been Ruby herself that had been in the bed when she woke up. The idea that Blake would be mad that any other girl was in her bed had instantly warmed Ruby's body, and she couldn't stop the smile that pulled at her lips when she looked at her girlfriend.
However, before Blake's face could go from grumpy to smiling, a loud bark made the Faunus jump, her ears flattened against her head as her eyes turned to slits. They all turned to the kitchen door just in time to see Zwei happily trotting out with a brand new bone, quickly followed by Weiss, who did have a smile on her face as she took the only seat left available.
"Glad he likes his gift." The heiress said happily as she bent to stroke the little corgi, who had chosen to curl up at her feet to gnaw at his treat. "Happy Christmas, Everyone."
"I don't think I've seen you this excited in a while," Yang chuckled as she picked up a sweet from the bowl on the table and popped it into her mouth. "Not since that test you retook because you missed a single mark."
"You seem to forget that I missed that mark because you and Ruby were being annoying." The snow-haired girl responded. "Besides, I thought you would be happy about today too. You get free stuff; and from how you try to exploit my name whenever we're shopping, I thought that was something you enjoyed."
"Well, gotta get something for putting up with you." Yang replied and stuck out her tongue. "So when do I get my free stuff?"
"Whenever your father wakes up." Weiss sat back in her chair, finally done petting the hound and leaving him to his treat.
Before Ruby could even attempt to wake her dad, a mischievous glint appeared in her sister's lilac eyes. With the speed of a Grimm locked onto a wounded target, the blonde grabbed a cushion from beneath her and hurled it at the sleeping man; the bright blue pillow nothing more than a streak at it spun towards him. However, much to Yang's clear disappointment, Tai's hand shot up to catch the cushion and placed it under his head.
"Dammit, Old Man!" Yang growled, grabbing another from behind Coco. "Wake up. I want my free stuff."
"I'll wake up when you move faster." He yawned as he smacked away the second pillow without opening his eyes. "And stop being so predictable."
"Asshole." Yang pouted, Velvet reaching to poke her lips back into a smile. "Guess you ain't getting your gift."
"Hmm." Ruby felt her dad finally shift next to her, his arms stretched up before coming down around her to pull her into a hug. "I have such great kids… Sometimes."
"Hey… I'm always great." Ruby grinned she leaned into the man. "I never came home drunk after a night with Corral."
"That is true." Tai chuckled. "Though I'm hardly one to judge. After all, she gets it from somewhere."
"Please, like an old fart like you ever knew how to party," Yang said and stuck out her tongue as she reached behind the chair to pull out a package. "Here ya go. From me and Rubles."
He caught the package in one hand as the other pulled away from Ruby and ran tiredly through his hair. It only took him a couple of seconds to unbox it and reveal a small projection cube that fit in the palm of his hand. Though most of it was see-through, Ruby knew that the thin black band at the bottom held wiring that helped project an image, just like the newer televisions. After a quick tap, pictures were projected a short distance from four of the sides.
Summer smiled up at them from each side, one of her in a wedding gown stood next to Tai in front on the Patch gazebo, one of them all at the park, and a few others that repeatedly switched back and forth. With another tap, three larger pictures were projected from the top and slowly began to circle each other. The picture she and Yang had taken at the mall when they bought it slowly turned to show what Ruby knew was one of her dad's favourite pictures of Summer, where they were laid on the cliff he'd proposed on, the beaming woman showing off her new ring. The third was another family picture, a rather standard and organized one, but the last that had been taken.
A soft smile pulled at her dad's rugged face as he gazed upon the cube's pictures.
"We know you miss mom, and us," Ruby smiled and reached out to tap one of the sides, the picture changing to one of a young Yang exhausted after training, but a smile still on her face. "We know it's not much."
"It's perfect," he said quietly and reached out to skim a finger along Summer's laughing face. "Thank you. Both of you."
She was pulled into a quick hug and felt the man kiss the top of her head, before he rose to his feet and made his way over to Yang. Though the two always had a relationship that revolved around insults, and teasing each other, Yang was quick to embrace him and mutter some words that Ruby didn't hear. As he pulled away though, he rested a hand lovingly on Yang's face and gave her a warm smile, but finally took a step back.
"I think I'm gunna go patrol and enjoy the gift," He grinned at them all and gave a short wave. "Enjoy your day, everyone."
They all said goodbye as he left the room, and Ruby felt her smile falter a little. To say her dad missed her mom was a bit of an understatement, and everyone knew it. Yang thought she didn't remember, and while she was mostly correct, she knew he had been completely broken after her mom's death. And she knew he also hadn't moved on either. She knew he had gone on a few dates since, but those had been years ago, and he seemed to have given up with them altogether. However, before she could be pulled too deeply into those thoughts, she felt the chair move, and a hand slipped into hers. She glanced to her side to see a pair of amber eyes gazing kindly into hers.
"Morning."
"Morning," Ruby replied and gave the girl her usual morning kiss, blushing a little as she remembered Blake's earlier words. "Happier now?"
"Now that I'm sitting next to you, and not that ape? Yup."
"But Yang is always so war…
"Alright Schnee, where's my gifts?" The aforementioned girl was leaning forward and looking at the heiress with an eager look on her face. "I want my new TV ."
"Ooo! Can we keep it in our room?" Coco asked.
"Our's has been broken since Yatsu pressed it a little too hard."
"Why on Remnant would I buy you a new television when you almost throw ours out the window whenever you play that blasted game with Ruby?"
"As a backup?" Yang said hopefully, and the joke earned an eye roll from the heiress.
"Keep dreaming. Anyway..." Weiss replied as she dug into a bag by the side of her chair and pulled out the small book she had picked up at the store. "I know you generally avoid books more than you avoid non-alcoholic beer, but you should at least open this one."
Weiss tossed the book to the blonde, and deftly, Yang caught it. She quickly turned it over and read the title, her face breaking into a huge grin as she quickly pulled it open. Coco looked over at the book and let out a loud groan after a quick glance at the pages. Ruby definitely felt her pain as Yang's puns had been awful growing up, and the blonde having a new source of inspiration was definitely going to lead to even more groaning in the future.
However, Yang seemed very satisfied with her gift. "I knew you loved my puns. Thanks, Snow Angel."
Weiss gave her a small nod and her hand returned to her bag.
It was almost an hour of gift exchanging. Weiss went first as she had already begun the exchange with Yang's book. As they'd only had the mall at their disposal, they were all rather simple. She gave Velvet what looked to be a rather expensive, retractable tripod that also had the effect of quickly waking the girl up. Coco received a pair of black pants with a couple of zippers along one of the legs that seemed satisfactory, Blake received a new book, and Ruby was very happy with a brand new, top of the line barrel for her darling scythe.
Coco and Velvet were next, and the two of them had gone halves on most of the things. Blake received a box of dust while Ruby was given a bunch of weapon magazines that she was definitely going to read, Weiss a new jacket that looked amazing, and that the girl immediately put on due to the slight chill in the air. Yang on the other hand got a gift from both of them, a smile appearing on her face as she pulled a skirt and jacket from the bag that Coco handed her. A quick kiss was given too, and Coco joked about giving the blonde her real present later, a joke that earned a groan from everyone in the room and a blush from Velvet.
Yang and Blake followed, their gifts consisting mostly of weapons parts and clothes. But Ruby was very happy with her weapon parts since Blake had bought the exact ones she loved to experiment with. However when it came to her turn, Ruby began to give out her gifts and realised that a bag was missing. Of course it had to be the one that had Blake's gift, so she quickly hurried upstairs and grabbed it. She arrived back in the room a second later and handed it to her girlfriend and looked away as she opened it.
She hadn't even looked at it since they had left the store. Since Weiss had been using the bag to store her other gifts, she hadn't been allowed to touch it; and if she was honest with herself, she was a little glad she hadn't looked. She had picked it in a hurry, and it could be a bad gift for all she knew; but since there was no way to change it, she had decided it would be better to not spend the day worrying that she had bought Blake something she wouldn't like and had simply chosen not to look.
As she heard the crumple of the bag, Ruby closed her eyes as she waited for the verdict; but to her surprise, it was Yang who spoke first. "Uhhh, Weiss. Where did you take my sister?"
She felt that Blake had frozen beside her and her eyes snapped open just as the heiress responded.
"That isn't my fault. Blame Velvet for dragging us too to such a degenerate store."
Finally, Weiss had used a word to describe Roman's that Ruby understood. Unfortunately, she knew the word wasn't a good one and slowly turned her head to look at what she had bought Blake.
"I didn't think she would go behind the curtain." Velvet said, though both Yang and Coco were already giggling to themselves.
Ruby finally turned enough to see her girlfriend to see that she was a brighter red than the cape around her own neck, her ears had turned scarlet to match while the ones on her head flattened, and her amber eyes looked towards the wall in a clear attempt to not meet hers. It felt like time slowed to a crawl as her eyes roamed down to what she'd thought was a black dress when she had picked it up, and felt her own face quickly race to catch up with how red Blake's was.
The black fabric, that she had originally thought was a dress, was much less than she had seen originally; in fact, there was barely any fabric at all. Instead it was the dark brown skin of the model that, at a quick glance, blended with the skimpy outfit. The very, very, skimpy outfit. While it was still a dress, in the loosest definition of the word, the vast majority of it was see-through, except for a few small places where Ruby wasn't going to dare look for fear of turning a deeper red. But from what she could see, it fell to mid thigh and there was also a pair of underwear that her mind wondered if were included before she could stop it.
At that thought, Ruby's mind acted on its own and replaced the model with Blake, but as her embarrassment was growing faster than ever, she quickly pushed it aside. She looked up to see Blake was finally recovering from the shock, but as the girl's amber eyes met her, it became so much worse. So Ruby became a blur of petals as she wrapped herself in her cloak and hid from the room; an action that turned Yang's and Coco's giggling into racious laughter.
"Ru…"
"I di-dn't know!" She cut off Blake with a squeal that was more for everyone in the room than it was for Blake. She immediately regretted choosing not to look at the gift first.
Ruby felt her whole body heat up as she waited for the reaction from her girlfriend. So far, alongside the loud laughter coming from her sister, she could hear Velvet chuckling and Weiss tutting, but there'd yet to be a reaction from her girlfriend after being cut off.
The worries about the implications of such a gift immediately started to dawn upon her. While Blake was certainly being a lot more forward than she had been before their fight with the Syren, Ruby wasn't foolish enough to believe that Blake wasn't still holding back with what she wanted to do. She appreciated it in a way, as Blake was allowing her to get comfortable with each step they took, but what would buying lingerie do to those steps? Would it make Blake think she was ready for more? Would she have to tell her she wasn't and come off like she was teasing again? She'd already said she didn't mean to buy it, but who other than her would accidentally pick up a sexy outfit, so would Blake believe that?
As those thoughts rushed through her head, she finally felt Blake shift on the chair beside her and feared the girl was about to get up; but to her surprise, she heard the sound of metal sliding against metal and the telltale whoosh of a blade being swung. The rustle of plastic followed and Ruby opened her cloak a sliver to see Blake holding the very see-through fabric in her hands.
"This is the outfit Jade wore when she seduced Creyonne and stole his piece of the scroll of wisdom," Blake said in a smooth voice, clearly recounting a scene she liked from the book series. "It was a turning point for the faction and allowed them to win the fifty year war. I intended to buy it one day anyway, so it's a great gift."
"R-Really?" She asked from deep within her crimson cocoon.
"Mhm."
As if to further reinforce that she was telling the truth, Ruby felt herself being pulled into a sidelong hug by her girlfriend. While still not ready to emerge from her safe space, she did pull the cloak apart enough to see more than what was directly in front of her. Yang was beet red from having laughed so hard, and Coco was wiping her eyes underneath her sunglasses, but they both seemed to be calming down. Velvet's rabbit ears were laid almost completely back against her head, and Weiss had a smirk on her face.
"You could use it on your wedding day."
Yang and Coco's laughter renewed at Weiss' comment and Ruby once again hid her face. From the movement of Blake next to her and the sound of a glyph appearing, she assumed something had been thrown, but Weiss had now joined the chorus of laughter too. Much to her pleasure though, she once again heard the rustle of plastic and felt Blake lean into her a second later. A kiss was placed against her cloth covered cheek and a soft "Thank you" was muttered in her ear.
"How did you even get served?" Yang chortled ten minutes later when the laughter finally began to die down.
"The girl wasn't paying attention and put it in with Weiss' stuff." Ruby mumbled, her face finally revealed from her cloak again. "And Weiss was rushing me, so I didn't get to look properly."
"Well… If I had not rushed you then you likely would have bought nothing."
"Yeah, that tends to happen a lot." Yang grinned wickedly. "But hey, buying your girlfriend her first set of lingerie is always a fun step."
"What makes you think it's my first?"
"Is it?"
"No." Blake replied with a shrug. "I also have the one from Sky and Sowla's anniversary party."
"Wow." Coco said with quite some amusement.
"Yeah, Meow!" Yang winked, earning an eye roll from Blake.
"Stop teasing them," Velvet smiled and tapped her girlfriends on the legs before she turned to Coco. "Or I will tell everyone how you were on our first date."
Coco's smile faltered, and, for the first time since meeting the confident brunette, Ruby saw a blush appear on her cheeks. Taking note that it was definitely a story she wanted to hear one day, she felt herself smiling at the rare emotion. As the three girls grinned to each other, and Coco pulled the bunny girl into a kiss to reclaim some of her bravado, Ruby felt Blake pull her cloak down and smile gently at her as her head was finally exposed again. She hoped she was no longer beet red.
"Is the gift really okay?" She whispered nervously, tapping her fingers together.
"It's perfect," Blake replied quietly. "And I'm not expecting to wear it any time soon."
The words were said in a knowing tone, and Ruby was grateful for the reassurance that the gift hadn't been misunderstood. To show it was appreciated, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Blake in a gentle kiss that would only last a few seconds. However, before she could even pull away, they both heard Weiss let out a loud groan from her chair, and they broke apart to see her looking at everyone in the room.
"I suppose I'm just the fifth wheel now." She sighed and slumped back into her chair as Zwei jumped up onto her lap. "Or is it the sixth wheel?"
"I thought you were dating Neptune?" Velvet asked.
"Were, being the operative word," Weiss sighed. "I broke up with him. We were just for fun anyway."
"Mmm, I think she's got her eyes on a new guy," Yang said, a slight hint to her voice that said she knew something. "Did you happen to run into him in Atlas?"
"If you are referring to who I think you are, then no," Weiss replied and turned up her nose. "Nor was I remotely interested in seeing him."
Ruby knew her partner enough to know when she was being honest, and the heiress definitely was being honest. Whoever Yang thought it was, she was clearly wrong, but Ruby couldn't help but be interested anyway.
"Well he seemed interested in you."
"No, he simply wanted me to sing, and his ego wouldn't let him take no for an answer."
"Actually, Neon mentioned that he usually doesn't chase people," Blake said with a thoughtful hum. Ruby quickly put the pieces together herself, and realised they were talking about the other cat Faunus' partner, Flynt. "Said he doesn't care enough to try and change people's minds about things."
"Ooo!" Coco cooed and leaned towards the heiress. "Looks like someone got a suitor."
"Yes well…" Weiss seemed a little stumped for a second, but quickly recovered. "He can go and find another girl to pursue in Atlas. Which is where he is now, so it hardly matters anyway."
"So you didn't find him attractive in the slightest?" Blake asked and Ruby raised an eyebrow jokingly in her direction.
"Of course he was attractive. I'm not blind." Weiss retorted. "But that doesn't change that he was an ass."
"Then he sounds perfect for you." Ruby teased her friend in retribution for the earlier wedding comment and stuck her tongue out.
"Oh, go back to kissing will you," Weiss scowled, though there was no real malice in her voice. "I think I prefer the silence honestly."
"I would," Yang stretched and pushed herself off the couch, Coco pulling Velvet closer to make up for the loss of warmth. "But I should start breakfast, and get dinner cooking. That turkey is gonna take a while."
Ruby felt her stomach grumble at the mention of food and quickly found herself looking forward to whatever Yang cooked for breakfast. However, she knew it would take a little while for breakfast to be done; so as Yang exited the room, followed by Weiss and Velvet, Ruby grabbed up the gift she had received from Weiss and pulled it free of its box. The barrel was beautiful, though it would definitely need to be painted black, but the magazine she'd read said that it was designed to have better accuracy than anything else on the market.
So as she leaned into Blake, who had already picked up the book Weiss had bought for her, Ruby pointed to a bag that was on a nearby table. The Faunus happily retrieved it and Ruby quickly pulled out her maintenance kit and set about inspecting the inside of the barrel. For what was likely to be her first Christmas, as Weiss was probably going to force them to celebrate it every year, it could hardly be called bad. Sure, it had been a little embarrassing, but the gifts were certainly something she wouldn't complain about.
Just remember to look at Blake's before you give it to her next year.
Raalm's Notes
Hello everyone. Just a fun chapter full of group interaction today. There isn't really much to say other than that I hope you enjoyed the accidents and antics of the team now that they're back together. The next chapter is a doozy though, and I personally feel that it is probably the best chapter I have every written. So I hope you are looking forward to that. But I guess that's it from me. I hope you all enjoyed :)
The next update will be on the 27th.