I'm so happy... Why am I so happy? Ruby couldn't keep her thoughts inside, she let out an occasional squeak as she squeezed her pillow. After Weiss had run off to the bathroom, Ruby had escaped to her own room. She'd been rolling on her bed hugging her pillow for the last half hour. But, she heard Zwei bark.
Ruby jumped up, running back to the front room. Zwei had done his 'human is returning!' Bark. He could always tell somehow before Yang even knocked that she was back. Even at their old house. Ruby went to the door to greet them, scooping up Zwei and shoving him in Yang's face the moment the door opened. "Fwahhhg! Fluff attack! I call foul, I have groceries!" Yang claimed in a dramatic fashion.
"All is fair in love and war!" Ruby said right back, without missing a beat. Yang pushed through the wall of corgi and managed to set down the groceries. She glared at Ruby playfully "If I'd been holding the eggs, you'd have died where you stood."
"I play the vampire card!" Ruby raised a hand enthusiastically.
Yang scoffed. "You and your vampires."
Ruby saw Blake setting things down as well. "Hey Blake!" She waved.
"Hey." Blake stretched like a cat lying in the sun.
Ruby looked at all the bags. "Hey Blake... How'd you manage to help carry the groceries? Yang usually takes them all before I even get a chance to look at them, just to prove she can."
Blake chuckled, then cleared her throat. "She definitely 'offered', but I grabbed some before she could get them all."
Yang looked sheepishly to the side. "I don't always do that.."
Blake turned her head and saw Weiss sitting on the couch, looking at the trio. "Is that the friend Yang mentioned?"
"Hm? Oh yeah! Her names Weiss, come on Weiss this is Blake, Yang's girlfriend! Oh, sorry can I call you that? Im not sure what, uh, level your guy's dating is at yet.." Ruby said, as she grabbed Weiss's hand. Weiss seemed to visibly relax at the mention of the term 'girlfriend', Blake saw. No one else seemed to have noticed.
Blake then smiled at Ruby's thoughtfulness. "I think 'girlfriend' is appropriate at this point." Ruby beamed. And Yang pumped her fist in the air and hissed "YES" in a whisper.
Yang put her arms around Blake's neck from behind. "Can I kiss you?" She asked cutely, making Blake's cheeks turn a faint shade of pink for a moment.
"...How about when your sister's not right in front of us?" Blake glanced at Ruby.
"Oh, I forgot you were here." Yang said in monotone.
"Yang!" Ruby said in an offended voice.
"Kidding, kidding!" Yang laughed "I wouldn't've bought this much stuff if I'd forgotten about you."
Ruby laughed and looked again at the stuff. "Wasn't all this stuff... Expensive?" She asked cautiously.
"Hm? Well, more then usual, but that's not a big deal. Its a party tonight! Lets live it up! I got sparkly nail polish that'll chip off in less then a week! And chips!" Yang pumped her fist in the air with a big grin.
Ruby shook her head playfully. "I don't know how you keep yourself afloat while working at a clothing store!"
"Hm? Uh, Ruby, I quit working there a year ago. Right when i moved out, remember?" Yang tilted her head.
"What?"
"Yeah, I work part time at a bar now, and do amature boxing. Uh, you did know that right?"
"Wha, well, I knew about the boxing but, you get paid for that? I thought it was for fun! I'd fight villains for fun.." Ruby pouted wistfully as she said that last part.
"Well yeah its, real fun. But even more so when they give me cash to have fun! Its like I'm just playing all day!"
Ruby put a hand to her chin, and looked puzzled. "But when did this bar thing happen?"
"A little before I moved out, and again I only work partime. Where did you think I was all those nights I stayed away overnight?"
"...On dates."
"What? Ruby, sis, even I don't stay out on overnight dates that often. The bar is a nice place to see cute girls and guys though. I met Blake there."
While Ruby and Yang spoke, Blake held out a hand to Weiss. "Blake Belladona, nice to meet you Weiss."
"Weiss Schnee, it's a pleasure." Weiss shook her hand.
"Woa woa woa wait, Schnee?" Yang piped in, abandoning her pervious conversation. "Seriously? Ruby!" Yang turned to Ruby, "You forgot to mention that sis!"
Ruby seemed taken aback. "What? I did! I told you she was super rich!"
Yang mime clawed her own eyes out. "Rubyyyyy ahhhggg this is what happens when you stay inside all day!"
"What? Wait what happens? Huh?" Rubys mind was going in circles.
"Shes like, a pop-star! She wrote, she SANG your favorite song!" Yang explained.
"–wait, WHAT?" Ruby looked over at Weiss, then back to Yang. "Wait you said to act 'chill' around her does that still apply?"
"Oh yeah totally." Yang looked at Weiss, "Just because you're and international pop-star singer doesn't mean you get extra desert or anything. Everyone's equal under my roof! Unless you're a molester."
"Not a murderer?" Blake asked curiously.
"Well yeah. Murder can be OK in the right circumstances. But you don't just 'accidentally' molest someone." Yang shrugged.
Weiss glanced at Ruby guiltily for a second. Was she worried about what had happened earlier..? Oh! OH RIGHT! Ruby had forgotten about that, they KISSED! AHH! WHAT! Ruby's cheeks went red suddenly.
"Hey sis, you OK?" Yang asked motheringly, noticing Ruby's rapid change in mood.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah! Totally fine! Just uh, remembered something embarrassing.." Ruby shook her head. No! No, she was not going to let those thoughts ruin her evening! Ruby was going to have fun with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, eat pizza, watch movies, and talk about girl things! Fun stuff! FUN!
She nodded to herself, pushing her confusing feelings down for the moment. "I'm great!"
Blake looked Weiss over. "You look.. Burned." She observed.
"Yeah she just got bombed." Yang said nonchalantly. "Oh shoot, sorry, was that a secret Weiss?"
Weiss put her hand to her face. "Sigh, its alright." She clapped her hangs. "OK! I'm alright. Its not like it isn't all over the news anyways."
"The news?" Blake inquired.
Yang nodded, talking while sticking things in the fridge. "The white fang blew up her house. She barely got out alive, probably."
The bow on Blake's head twitched. Ruby payed it no mind.
The four girls talked, and set up. They had The Princess Bride playing, nail polish out (Blake must have made appointments at the nail salon regularly, everyone agreed, seeing as how her nails were sharpened to fine points, that looked almost effortless and not even noticeable unless you looked closely. Blake neither confirmed nor denied these suspicions.) Sleeping bags, and a pizza with four different topping styles. Ruby loved meat, so things such as sausage, pepperoni, ham, and bacon covered her 4th. Blake loved fish, and you could hardly see any cheese under all the anchovies on hers. Yang, despite appearances, liked going simple with pizza. Extra cheese.
Ruby and Yang gasped in horror and disgust as Weiss requested pineapple as her only topping. "I thought you had a sweet tooth?" Weiss asked when she took the first bite upon its arrival.
"Yeah, but not on PIZZA!" Ruby inched away from Weiss dramatically. But by the middle of the movie, Ruby had moved to cuddle against Weiss like a puppy without realizing it.
Everyone slept on the floor that night. Yang had had 4 sleeping bags in a closet at the end of the hall, and broke then all out for the occasion. Blake curled up into a ball and snuggled into Yang, and Ruby snuggled against Weiss in her sleep. When she was little and would crawl in bed with Yang, Yang had always let her hug her arm. So Ruby unconsciously hung onto Weiss's arm the entire night, making it quite difficult for Weiss to sleep that night.
After that initial awkward first day, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang got along pretty well. Blake visited about every other day, so it was like she was part of the family too. Weiss learned the house rules, or apartment rules, And followed them expertly. Even though Weiss was technically hiding from the media, she still went to events and concerts while staying with Ruby and Yang. Yang also noticed there was an ongoing online hunt for where Weiss was staying while her house got fixed, but no one had seemed to realize she'd been staying at a random apartment in the middle of the city with some girls she'd just met. Good.
Weiss had been with them for three weeks. She'd just showered, and was wearing some old band t-shirt Yang'd lent her until the most recent washing machine load, which was mostly Weiss's stuff, was done. She walked out to see Ruby holding her phone at Zwei, cooing softly and telling him to roll over. Weiss hid a smile behind her hand. "What are you doing?" Weiss asked curiously, walking around Ruby to get a better look at her phone.
"Oh, hey Weiss." Ruby smiled, and stopped recording. "Just taking a video for my youbtube channel."
"You have a youbtube?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. Ruby didn't seem like the type who'd spend all day editing a video. In fact, Weiss hadn't even heard of Rubys so called "YoubTube" until just now.
"Well sorta'" Ruby put her hand to her chin, still lying on her stomach in front of Zwei. "I mean I use it to watch videos and stuff, but like, I also use it as my Zwei video storage."
"...I don't follow."
"Well you see, Zwei is..." Ruby looked at the magnificence that was, Zwei. "ZWEI. Like he's so cute, I used to take so many videos of him, and my phone would always be out of storage space. But now when I take a video, I just upload it to Youbtube, and as long as I have wifi I can watch any of them whenever I want. I don't know if other people watch them. Well I think Yang does sometimes.. But other then that I don't really pay attention to it." Ruby shrugged, then sat up. "Wanna see?"
Weiss and Ruby sat next to each other on the couch, while Ruby showed her some quality Zwei videos. Some were of Zwei doing tricks, him barking, play attacking Yang's various limbs, or even just staring cutely. In some of the older videos, Weiss noticed Zwei play attacking someone other then Yang.
"Who's that, if I may ask?" Weiss pointed at the blonde hairy leg Zwei was cuddling to death in the video.
"Hm? Oh, my dad. We lived with him just a little while ago."
Weiss continued watching the video. Ruby's dad laughed, and his hand play tackled Zwei for a little while. Weiss touched the scar on her eye.
"Are you ok? We can, stop if something's bothering you." Ruby said. Lowering her phone.
"Hm? Oh no, its fine, I'm.. Fine." Weiss looked away, her hand abandoning her scar. She looked at Ruby, seeming a little.. Sad, maybe? "You really love your dad, don't you?"
"Yeah, he's great! I'll make sure to introduce you when he gets back. Maybe I can meet your dad someday too" Ruby said, like it was natural.
"NO." Weiss immediately said when her dad came into the conversation. Ruby seemed a little taken aback. "Sorry, its not that I don't want to, he just.. Doesn't think much of anybody with a social standing anything bellow Hollywood famous."
"Ah. So little ol' peasent me would be pretty under the radar, huh?" Ruby joked. "What about your mom? Oh, uh, if she's still.." Ruby looked to the floor. "...here."
"Alive? Yes. But here? Not really, she's an alcoholic. I, hardly have any memories of her without a bottle in her hand." Weiss furrowed her brow and mumbled to herself. "None of them even care anymore..."
This was getting... Heavy. Ruby wanted to lighten the mood, but how? "So uh.. Do you have any family members you actually like?" That was the WRONG thing to say Ruby! Ruby mentally yelled at herself before seeing Weiss's face light up.
"I have an older sister, Her names Winter! She's in the military, a commanding officer –" As Weiss gushed about her older sister, Ruby sat and listened. This was nice, Weiss was smiling, sun poured in through the window onto their feet, and Zwei was strewn across their laps. Just like.. When they kissed.
Ruby had randomly been remembering the kiss a lot more often the past few days. She, wanted to do it again to.. do it again kiss... Do it.. Again. Did, Ruby like girls? But when she looked at Weiss, so happy someone was asking her about her sister, Ruby couldn't do it. She felt like moving closer to Weiss would almost, taint her? She suddenly recalled the dream she'd had week ago, the one where she was red, and Weiss was white, that had red marks anywhere Ruby touched her. Ruby stayed smiling, listening to Weiss, and interjecting when she thought appropriate.
She didn't move an inch closer to Weiss, nor back away. The distance between them was only a foot, but Ruby couldn't close that distance. Though, that was OK. Ruby was content with this relationship. She wanted to be Weiss's friend, just that was OK. Ruby ignored the small twang of hurt in her heart, and continued talking with Weiss. Never widening the distance, never closing it.
She stayed perfectly still.