Wow, this one took a long time to write. I didn't have a plan going into this specific chapter but I ended up writing three times as much as the first chapter and I'm satisfied with the results. Also, I never even realized it but after some research, I found out that there's another RWBY story here on also named White Like Roses.

Also to everyone who read my previous chapter as soon as it went up, I edited it because I didn't want to make it seem like Weiss wanted to do the dirty even though she and Ruby were not in an established relationship yet.

03. Playing a Game

Growing up, Weiss never really had the luxury of playing games nor did she really understand the appeal of them. She just never had that time and believed that all they did was distract you from what was really important and rot your brain. She didn't know why people would go out of their way to procrastinate on what really matters and harm themselves in the process only for temporary relief.

Of course, being partners with Ruby, that mentality eventually changed.

While having their "best day ever", Weiss quickly learned how much fun she could have without being so uptight. Sure, she was fascinated with the Vytal Festival and mixing of cultures of the various kingdoms, but to others that was just another academic experience. No, what she learned was what "normal people" did for fun.

Weiss didn't like differentiating herself from others, but she is well aware that not everyone had the same upbringing as herself. While status and money was a boon to have, it came with her share of hard work. It wasn't until she met Ruby, and subsequently the rest of Team RWBY, when she learned how to enjoy simple pleasures. She learned how the many games and antics her friends participated in can both be enjoyable and still hone your mental and physical skills.

After the big food fight with Team JNPR, Weiss was genuinely surprised how much of a workout she managed to achieve without even realizing it. She had so much fun doing something she would've just written off as ridiculous without a second thought a year prior. Not to also mention the board game they played in the library. Even though Weiss herself didn't really understand how the game went, Ruby and Yang impressed her with how much it sharpened their tactical thinking and strategic skills. Weiss even found herself enjoying it after witnessing Yang get destroyed by newcomer Neptune.

However, soon Ruby introduced her to the wonders of video games. And boy, did Weiss love them. She didn't possess any sort of addiction to them as Ruby and Jaune often exhibited, but she did like the concept of them. Video games just brought her into a different world where everything was new and the reality she lived in didn't exist. The variety in the library impressed her as it reminded her of a mix between a good book with the visuals of a movie and adding in player control. She loved the exploration of adventure games, the reflex requirements for action games, and (when she was alone) the deepness of various visual novels.

In time, Weiss developed a very competitive nature. Especially when it came to Ruby's various Nintendo games, namely Super Smash Brothers.

"Oh come on! Not again!" Weiss yelled as she fought the urge to throw her controller out the window after witnessing her Lucina fly off the screen due Ruby's skill using Shulk. "I totally had that!"

Ruby had to chuckle in response. "You wanna take a break, Weiss? I think you may have to calm down before another match."

Weiss sighed. "No. One more match. I can get you this time." She was glad that she could pick up things quickly. Any lesser being would be contemplating their existence or fighting off wards of insanity.

Before Ruby could even think of a witty response to the heiress's challenge, the power shuts off. The gaming console didn't have lights on and nor did the television. The room would've been pitch black had it not been for the window right near their bunks.

"Wonderful." Weiss said sarcastically. "Just when I was getting the hang of it too."

"Well, it's not all that bad." Ruby comforted. "It'll give you that break you desperately need."

"I guess you're right." Weiss said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "To be fair, we probably should've considered the fact that it's raining rather harshly outside."

Silence passed between the two. They were already dressed in their nightclothes since they started playing so they couldn't exactly leave to do anything else. From what Ruby remembered, Blake stayed behind in the library to finish up a few novels while Yang accompanied her to complete a homework assignment.

"Sooooo… What do you want to do now?" Ruby asked.

"We could always watch a movie on our scrolls, I guess, but considering how bad the rain is, it's probably best to keep them with a full battery."

"In that case, why don't we play One Lie, Two Truths?"

Weiss arched her eyebrow, confused. "And what is that exactly?"

"It's where we say three things: two things that are true about us and one thing that's a lie. The other has to come up with what's the lie. It's sort of like an exercise to see how much we both know about each other." Ruby explained.

Weiss thought about it for a moment. She didn't want either her or Ruby to reveal anything too personal if this game progressed for too long but if they were to be more in synch as partners, they had to learn more to communicate more intimately. Weiss blushed a little at that last thought but she agreed to play regardless.

"Okay, I'll go first." Ruby adopted her thinking face, something Weiss honestly found to be sort of cute. "I really love to read. I slept in the same bed as Yang until I was thirteen. The first weapon I've ever used was not a scythe. Go."

Weiss went over her choices. She knew for a fact that Ruby loved to read. Maybe not as much as Blake did, but she has seen Ruby incredibly engrossed in various fantasy novels. The second choice… seemed a lot less likely. Even though she can't say much about it, considering her rather shaky relationship with Winter, saying you still slept with your sister until you were in your teen years was an embarrassing thing to say outright. However, she can't imagine Ruby using anything even slightly different from Crescent Rose. She practically worshipped it.

After a few minutes, Weiss gave her answer. "I'll… go with the second one."

"Ding, ding, ding! Correct!" Ruby grinned enthusiastically, until she blushed a bit. "Yeah, I didn't stop till I was fourteen."

"F-FOURTEEN?" Weiss stammered. "You're telling me you slept with your sister up until right before you both came here to Beacon?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Ruby defended. "Dad got super overprotective of us when we were younger, so he made us stay in the same room every night."

"And he couldn't afford another bed?"

"It was a small room."

Weiss sighed. That was a tidbit of information she did not need to know. "Alright, I guess it's my turn now."

Thinking carefully, she came up with her three statements. "My favorite dessert is blueberry frozen yogurt. My favorite color is white. And if given the choice, I'd rather fight one horse-sized duck than one hundred duck-sized horses."

Ruby arched her eyebrow at that last statement. It was a little bizarre but she assumed that Weiss specifically chose that one to trip her up. Her first statement was rather… expected, really. Ruby knew that Weiss rarely ate unhealthy foods so of course even her favorite dessert would be healthy. Ruby never really asked Weiss about her favorite color either so she just assumed that it was white just like her own was red.

"The third one."

"Wrong." Weiss smirked, finally glad she managed to beat Ruby at something that night.

"W-What?"

"It was the second one. My favorite color is baby blue."

"Then how on Remnant did you come up with that last one?!"

Weiss giggled. "Let's just say you've been a bad influence on me."

Ruby crossed her arms and gave a small pout. "Fine, I guess I'll go again."

"Be my guest."

"I can understand and sort of speak another language. My favorite food is cookies." Ruby paused as her face began to glow a red color. "I like you and I really want to take you out on a date on our next free day."

Weiss stared at the young huntress-in-training, blushing all the while. This game wasn't some ploy to ask her out all along, was it? Then again, Weiss couldn't imagine Ruby understanding, much less speaking, another language. Then again, Yang possessed a rather foreign surname in Xiao Long. Weiss remembered Blake telling her about how the two sisters were half-sisters so the fact that share the same father with the same Xiao Long name, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. And there was no doubt that cookies were her favorite food on the planet.

"Number three."

"Sorry, Ice Queen," Yang suddenly said with her arm around Weiss's shoulder and a smirk implanted on her face. "But little Rubbles' favorite food is in fact, strawberries."

"Y-Yang?! When did you get here?!" Weiss screamed.

"Oh, I just got back. Blake wanted to stay in the library a little longer and I just finished my homework! Good thing I got back when I did too or else it would've been awkwaaaaaard~."

Before the pair had a moment to respond, Yang's scroll went off. "Oh, it looks like Blake's gonna need some cover from the rain. I'll be right back you two!" She went to grab two rain coats and dashed out the door. "Don't do anything rash!"

Silence.

"Is it true?"

"Oh that? Yeah, I love strawberries even though I-"

"Not that, you dunce. I meant about you liking me and wanting to go on a date."

"Oh…" Ruby blushed heavily and looked away with an awkward laugh. "Well, yeah. I really like you Weiss. Our first year as partners was amazing and I was hoping… maybe we could be more." Ruby glanced at Weiss again before waving her hands in embarrassment. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's fin-"

"You should've told me earlier."

"Pardon?"

"You should've told me earlier, dunce. That way we could've planned it better. Our next free day is tomorrow."

"Oh. So that means…?"

Weiss sighed for the umpteenth time that night and smiled. "Ruby Rose, you got yourself a date."

And thus the White Rose has bloomed! Thankfully, this is a great lead in to the next prompt, "On a date". If you want to know exactly why I chose those specific Smash characters for Ruby and Weiss, I might as well tell you. I gave Weiss Lucina because I felt like Weiss would be the sort of person to use Marth since he deals with tactical strikes. Since Weiss is a newcomer, I thought Lucina would a good choice to ease her into the game. I was originally going to give Ruby Robin since I heavily ship Robin/Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening, but his/her playstyle didn't exactly fit Ruby so I gave her Shulk instead because (a) he's one of my mains and (b) the Monado is red.

Also, I'd like to tell you all that I'll be spending an extra day before shelling out these chapters. I spent all day writing this one and frankly, it stumped me. The challenge is technically called the "30 Day OTP Challenge" so it sorta implies that you should meet every day with a specific prompt, but that's kind hard to do when you're stumped with a certain prompt and still have to deal with other life-related things. Thanks for understanding.

So anyway, now that lengthy author's note is done for, thank you for reading this chapter of White Like Roses and please leave a review!