Weiss felt so tired as morning started showing its head. Ruby had, thankfully, slept soundly through the night. Her breathing stayed steady as she lay against Weiss' chest. Weiss almost couldn't believe this peaceful sleeper was the girl who had ran to Weiss' house in the middle of the night while having a misery filled breakdown. She almost didn't want to remind herself of it. That was a sight and memory that caused a pain in her chest. Even the feeling of running her fingers through Ruby's hair wasn't too much of a distraction from that.
It was finally morning though, which meant her job of keeping her safe was completed for now. Now it was time for her to rest her own eyes…
When Weiss woke up she immediately felt a lot colder than she remembered despite the new blanket that had been draped over her. Another second of shaking the sleep away gave her brain enough time to realize why she felt like it was colder. Ruby was missing.
She sat up quickly and threw the blanket to the ground before craning her neck around, hoping to quickly find Ruby. The girl wasn't anywhere in the living-room as far as Weiss could tell. "Ruby?" Weiss called out in hopes that Ruby would respond. She heard something metal fall from the direction of her kitchen.
"Weiss?" Was the response that Weiss received. Weiss felt relief rush through her at that sound. She started on her way to the kitchen, slowly picking up the scent of something cooking. After rounding the last corner Weiss found herself looking at what some might consider a mess. Ruby had flour on her hoodie that she almost always seemed to wear, even while she was dressed for sleeping it seemed. There were bowls that had batter dripping down over the sides, occasionally landing a few drops onto the normally pristine counter tops. Weiss could even see a few blueberries on the floor that hadn't been picked up yet.
Weiss would normally be a little upset with such a situation if she wasn't so confused on why it was happening. It helped a little that Ruby was giving her that shy smile that Weiss was absolutely weak to. "What are you up to?" Was all Weiss asked.
Ruby, still smiling, waved her hand over the mess she had accumulated. "Well, whenever Yang or I felt bad, we would make pancakes for ourselves or each other. Yang wasn't here so I went to do it myself…" Ruby explained. Her face turned a little red. "Plus, you were still asleep when I woke up. Sorry… about falling asleep on you like that.." She apologized.
Weiss raised a brow at Ruby's apology. "It's not like you haven't done it before, Ruby." Weiss said with a matter of fact tone. "Plus, you were so upset last night that there was no way I was going to push you away or anything of the sort." Weiss watched the shine in Ruby's eyes dull a bit at the mention of last night. That pain in her chest returned.
To help distract herself, Weiss grabbed clean rag and started cleaning what she could of the mess Ruby made. They continued with their self-imposed tasks until Ruby had a stack of pancakes half as tall as her head. A smile plastered on her face as she took in her creation and showed it off to Weiss, who couldn't help but smile at Ruby's enthusiasm. It was obvious that Ruby wanted to start eating them so Weiss gave up on her cleaning and instead grabbed the essential utensils that would allow them to actually eat them like civilized beings. She almost couldn't keep up with Ruby as she sped off back to the living room.
As Weiss finally caught up, she could see Ruby sitting down on the couch, carefully placing the stack of pancakes on the coffee table. Weiss sat next to her, handing over Ruby's share of the utensils. Ruby gave her a quick smile and started picking up her share of the pancakes. An amazing four whole pancakes were slapped onto a plate the barely had the diameter to hold them. Every single one was going to be eaten without hesitation if Weiss knew Ruby well enough. That left Weiss with two for herself. It seemed Ruby knew Weiss' eating habits as well.
"It's not too much is it, Weiss?" Ruby asked. Weiss smiled at Ruby's worry and proceeded to cut a piece out of her stack and popping it quickly into her mouth with a smile. Ruby put on a big grin before she put some of her attention to her own pancakes.
Weiss had managed to get through half of her stack before a body slumped against her side. Ruby's head landed on her shoulder, making her look over at the problem. The sight of Ruby's pancakes not even being a quarter of the way eaten made Weiss nudge the girl's head with her shoulder. "What's wrong, Ruby? I've somehow managed to eat more than you and we both know that's not how this works."
Ruby chuckled at Weiss' rare attempt at humor. "I know. I guess my feelings were bigger than my stomach this morning…" She explained.
"Still thinking about last night?" Weiss asked.
"Kinda.." Ruby replied. "I guess it takes more than some pancakes to stop feeling like crap."
The pair went quiet for a bit. Weiss knew she had no experience dealing with people's emotions. Especially when it was someone like Ruby who wore her's on her sleeves. All Weiss had ever known was to keep them guarded. The problem was that she had promised last night that she would do what she could to be there for Ruby when she needed to be. So, she decided to follow through. "Talk to me, Ruby. What are you thinking about?" Weiss asked quietly.
Ruby attempted to shrug her shoulders despite her slumped posture. "I was thinking that today must be one of my down days.."
"Down days?" Weiss had never heard that phrase from Ruby before.
"I've never really talked about it." Ruby started. "Every now and then, there are days where I just don't feel like being the happy me."
This was not how Weiss was expecting things to go. "Everyone has those days, Ruby…" Weiss explained. "Even I have those days. They don't last forever."
Ruby huffed in response. "Are they supposed to last for weeks though?"
And just like that, the feeling that pushed Weiss to comfort Ruby last night was back. Weiss turned her body to allow Ruby to slide onto her lap and wrapped her arms around the girl. She gave Ruby a comforting squeeze. "This isn't just about Yang seeing her mom, is it?" Weiss asked.
Ruby shook her head, causing some of her hair to tickle Weiss' chin. "It is but not really." Ruby explained. "I think it just caused everything to be worse. That or maybe it just keeps getting worse despite that. I don't know anymore…" Weiss didn't say anything and instead waited for Ruby to continue. "You know Blake, right? Yang's friend?"
Weiss almost nodded despite Ruby facing away from her. "Yeah. She's that dark haired girl that Yang goes to see in the library at lunch. What about her?"
Ruby slightly readjusted herself and held out her arms. "Every time I see her she has these ribbons wrapped around her wrists. They're usually black but every now and then they'll be red ones. They were like that the other day when I saw her between classes."
"What does her fashion choices have to do with anything?" Weiss asked, currently confused on why it seemed that Ruby changed the subject.
Ruby continued on despite Weiss' interruption. "I overheard Yang's conversation with her a week or so ago. I guess Yang didn't think I could hear her talking on the phone from our kitchen while she was in the living room. From what I heard, Blake hurts herself…"
Weiss could guess what that meant but she still needed to ask. "So you think she.."
"She cuts herself, yeah…" Ruby confirmed. "Those red ribbons are Blake's way of letting Yang know that it happened again." Ruby pulled her knees up so she was basically a ball of a person being pressed into Weiss.
Weiss had to ask again. "What does this have to do with you?"
"Last night, before I came over. I was just completely gone for a bit. I didn't know what to do. These feelings kept getting worse and worse. Then I thought about Blake… what she does to herself… I thought.. I thought maybe…" Ruby was struggling so hard to speak at this point. Weiss panicked though, immediately grabbing Ruby's arms and lifting them. "Weiss wait!" Ruby quickly shot out, but Weiss didn't wait. She pulled the sleeves of Ruby's hoodie down without hesitation. Ruby's arms were clean.
Weiss breathed out like she was holding a breath for hours. "Thank god.." She said without thinking.
Ruby yanked her arms free and pulled them back into her body like she was trying to protect them. "I didn't do it, Weiss." Ruby said shakily. "The only other thing I could think of was you. You had been there for me so much this last month that I called you as a last hope. If you hadn't answered…" Ruby finished, the implication of what she might have done to herself hanging in the air. Weiss was almost shell shocked. Ruby wasn't saying anything else. Probably because Weiss could hear the signs of crying coming from this obviously hurting girl in her arms. The only thing she could think of was to continue doing what she did best and proceeded to grab the forgotten blanket from the morning and wrap it around Ruby's form and herself. "W-what are you doing?" Ruby asked through her sobs.
Weiss pulled Ruby as close as she could under their shield from the outside world. "I'm terrible with feelings and talking and everything like that." Weiss started. "But I know at this point that I have to get over it." Weiss leaned her head down into the crook of Ruby's neck. "You needed me to be there for you."
"You always were, Weiss." Ruby started. "All those times we were together.."
"No!" Weiss interrupted. "We spent time being intimately close together and all, but we didn't talk about what we were feeling, Ruby. Why you were always wanting to be comforted by me or why I willingly went along with it despite everyone else knowing me as a frigid, stuck-up ice princess. We need to actually tell each other how we're feeling and I'm going to be the first one to say something."
"You don't have to…" Ruby tried again.
Weiss didn't want Ruby to brush this off though. "After these last few weeks, I started to feel like I made a real connection. That you made me feel like I was wanted. That's how I felt then. Now, I'm scared of what could have happened last night. What you could have started… But at the same time, I'm so relieved that you did call me. Happy that you trusted me that much. Please let me be that connection for you too, Ruby. So that you don't have to go through it all alone again.."
Weiss had bared her heart completely for the first time in her life. She felt completely vulnerable. That vulnerability ate at her as Ruby continued to cry, not responding at all to Weiss' confession. Her chance was rewarded though. Ruby turned herself around and began what felt like an attempt to bury herself into Weiss' own heart. "I will Weiss! I promise… I promise…" Ruby finally answered. Before Weiss could tell herself to do it, she wrapped Ruby up again in a matching embrace. Tears were pricking at her eyes thanks to the struggle of her own confession of her emotions. This was the first of many times in the future where Weiss and Ruby cried together rather than choosing to fight their own battles alone. Protecting each other despite whatever life tried to do to them.