A/N And we're back. This was supposed to be out on Monday but... ah, I don't want to get into it. I just hate this time of year (Thanksgiving to New Years) with every fiber of my being. That and I just killed one of my fics. But whatever, this fic raises my spirit a bit so... Read on and enjoy~
This got a lot of follows pretty quickly. So thanks guys, it means a ton.
Decorators
After a solid hour of on-her-knees begging; Ruby was barely successful in her quest to convince Cinder to let the dog -now named Zwei- stay for the night. Cinder had asked for a lot. The majority of it revolving around the bedroom. (And the deletion of certain recordings)
So after dinner, a movie, and a night of intense cuddling; Ruby awoke the next morning completely refreshed and... a little sad.
After quietly slipping out of bed (dressed of course) and leaving her slumbering girlfriend behind, Ruby tip-toed to the smaller of the two bedrooms and slipped inside. To keep Cinder's adorable allergy at bay, she had put the small dog in the spare bedroom for the night.
"Hey..." She whispered to him. The small bundle of fur jumped down from the guest bed and right to her legs. The crimsonette knelt down and rubbed him between the ears. As she looked into his beady eyes, an idea popped in her mind...
Just because he has to go today, doesn't mean she can't have a little fun in the meantime.
Ruby stepped back towards the closed door. And promptly opened it.
"Go, go, go." She gestured for Zwei to run into the short hallway and towards their room. With a bark of glee, Zwei took of down the hall and-
"Agh! Not you again!"
Ruby cackled as she heard Zwei leap onto the bed. The muffled 'thud' that followed made it impossibly clear that Cinder had fallen out of said bed. "Red!"
She sauntered back in it their shared bedroom and grinned at the sight of Zwei barking at Cinder while she huddled on the floor; using the bedsheets to retain any and all decency.
"And that's for all the 'puppy' jokes." She tutted before walking off.
"Wait. You're just going to leave me here? With this- this thing?"
Wait for it...
"Ah-choo!"
There it is.
######
"Aw, man..." Ruby winced as the door to the apartment slammed in her face. After getting one last kick in; Cinder cut Zwei's stay in the apartment short and told Ruby to take him upstairs already!
Sighing in defeat, the girl made her way down the hall and towards the stairs. She wrapped the leash tighter around her fist and continued to walk Zwei. Ruby felt a little strange as to why Cinder had a dog leash and a choker at the ready, but it was probably best not to ask those questions right now...
Shrugging that thought off, Ruby, along with Zwei, reached the top of their short stair climb and turned to face the first door on their left.
The abode of Yang and Neo.
The two had met during senior year at Signal High, all throughout High school; guys and girls swooned over Yang for her good looks. But the blonde would turn every request, plead, or beg down. You could say she had grown accustomed to it. Then Neo came along, one of the few who didn't bother with swooning, and whether it was luck or pure interest; Yang had pursued Neo over the select few who didn't, and tried everything in the book to try and get her attention.
Of course Neo had liked Yang from the start, but loved playing hard to get.
After numerous gimmicks and asks, Neo finally said a word to the blonde, and that was enough to get them to where they are today.
The scarlet girl heaved a sigh and gingerly knocked on the door. Zwei running around in circles as she waited.
Ruby perked up a little as the muffled pitter-patter of footsteps sounded from beyond the door. The sound of the deadbolt unlocking followed by a couple of other clicks made Ruby raise an eyebrow before the door suddenly opened.
The figure swung the door open and stood in the doorway. "Oh, Ruby, what's up?"
"Can I come in Neo?"
"Sure!" The girl stepped out of the way and gestured for Ruby to enter. As Ruby strolled in with Zwei she took a quick glance at Neo. Her pink and auburn hair was tied back as per usual, and she was dressed in an ensemble consisting of white jeans, a black tank-top and a pink bolero.
The apartment layout was identical to her own, just with the kitchen and living room reversed.
"What's with the dog?" Neo pointed out. At the gesture; Zwei began to lick Neo's feet and ankles eliciting a squealish laugh from the girl.
"Well..." Ruby paused to let Zwei off his, or rather, Cinder's leash. "Can he stay with y- wait where's Yang?" She inquired, glancing around the room.
"She went out for a bit, something about 'Getting into the Christmas spirit'? I don't know." Neo shrugged.
"But December just started today." Ruby tutted.
"It's Yang remember?" She giggled. "So who's this cutie?" The multi-colored girl grinned.
"I found him out in the parking garage yesterday, his name's Zwei."
"Zwei?"
"Yeah, Yang and I had a dog just like him when we were kids so- I gave him the same name." Ruby explained. "I was wondering..."
"Hm?" Neo tilted her head in interest.
"There was some, uh, issues with him and Cinder... so can he stay here?" Ruby tried to keep her sentence in a regular tone. Deep down, the girl was practically begging for Neo to say yes, as there was no way in hell she let the little dog back into the garage. She knew if it were Yang she was asking and NOT Neo; her blonde sister would say yes without question.
"Why not!" Neo squeed, "Yang won't mind."
"Oh thank god..." Ruby sighed in relief, glad she could still see him.
"So, why didn't Cinder want him around anyway?" Neo questioned, she walked over to the small black fridge and tossed a Coke to Ruby.
She stifled a laugh, "Well I could show you..." Cinder may have forced her to delete the recording of her embarrassing attribute, but Ruby's phone automatically backed-up any and all files in the cloud. Making sure there was always duplicates.
'Thank, you, Google' She silently praised. "Okay, you gotta listen to this." She pulled her phone from the depths of her jeans and opened the backup file. Neo assumed a position next to Ruby as they listened.
"Do it again."
"Ruby I'm no-ahh- Ah-choo!"
"Got it!"
Neo burst into a fit of laughter. "Pfft, is t-that-"
"Yep."
"Ahahahaha! Play it again." Neo almost demanded. Ruby played it again, and this time Neo slumped backwards onto the couch and continued to laugh. "She- ha, finally does something adorable."
Ruby crossed her arms, peeved at how everyone thinks Cinder can't be adorable. "She can be when she wants to." Ruby huffed, standing up for Cinder.
"Oh yeah?"
Ruby blushed and continued to look away. Before she could fire back; a loud thud came from the doorway. "I'm back!" A familiar chipper voice shouted out. Both Neo and Ruby looked to the source, and smiled at the boisterous blonde entering the room, dragging an ominous box behind her.
"There's my crazy." Neo chimed.
"Hey sis." Ruby waved, shoving her phone back in her pocket.
"Rubes!" Yang made haste towards her younger sister and enveloped her in a hug.
"...Ahem."
Yang set Ruby down at the sound of her girlfriend clearing her throat. "Sorry babe." The blonde sheepishly replied. Yang swayed over to Neo and enveloped the significantly shorter girl in a tight-knit kiss. The simple touch escalated quickly as tall and short assaulted eachother's lips, hands running up and down their backs. Ruby's cheeks flushed red as Neo shoved Yang down onto the couch -a little surprised that Yang let Neo do such a thing.
"Uhm."
"Mhmm, ah, sorry Rubes." Yang gasped from her downed position, pushing Neo off of her, she stood back up.
"Oh come on!" Neo slumped into the couch . "Every time she's here..." She whined.
"There's plenty enough to go around, guys." She shot Ruby a sly wink, leaped up from the couch, and wrapped her sister in a tight hug. "Grah, Yang! St - Stop it!" Ruby said from somewhere deep in the blonde's shoulder.
"Pa-lease, don't give us that Ruby." Neo smirked. "You live below us; with the most provocative person in the whole city." Her grin grew devilish. "Don't think we don't know what goes on down there."
"Damn." Yang said in awe. Ruby simply crossed her arms and looked away -totally not denying the truth.
"So what's in the box hotshot?" Neo eyed the tall box.
"Check this out." Yang gestured to the tall box behind her. "Can anybody guess what this is?" the blonde swung the box around and placed it in the center of the living room. She tossed off her leather jacket and proudly stood by said box.
"A...coatrack?" Ruby guessed.
"I'm just wait for you to-"
"A Christmas Tree!" The blonde cheered, cutting Neo off.
"No way!" Ruby squealed. She marveled as Yang opened the top and pulled the three pieces out one by one.
"So that's what you meant by getting into the 'Christmas Spirit'." Neo mused. She grinned too. "God, Christmas at my house when I was a kid was ridiculous."
"Same here!" The red and yellow girls said in unison.
"But isn't it early?"
"Not for us." Ruby spoke matter-of-factly. "Christmas at our house was the biggest thing of the year. We'd always start right after Halloween." She continued. All the while helping Yang assemble the artificial pine. In literally a matter of seconds the three sections were placed into one another and each branch was unfurled. The three of them, along with Zwei, stood back and eyed the 7 foot tall object.
"You got decorations?" Neo questioned, watching as Zwei took off to the back rooms.
"Sure do!" Yang went back to the same box and pulled out another; smaller box. She ripped it open, revealing all kinds of ornaments in a gold and silver theme. She set the box on the couch's armrest and handed a few ornaments to both Ruby and Neo.
"Just... go nuts!" Yang proclaimed.
And go nuts they did. With their combined effort; the tree was clad in numerous lights and ornaments within a matter of minutes. Although it didn't look even, or planned, they were proud of their work.
"Alright, one, last, thing." Yang turned back to the box once more, this time, she produced a snowflake resting atop a narrow point. "Neo, you wanna do the honors?" Yang asked, handing the topper to her.
Neo tilted her head and nodded. She grabbed the object, turned to the tall tree and-
"Pfftt, oh my god! I can't, hahaha, I ha..." Yang broke off into a fit of laughter.
Neo was mid-reach when she realized she'd fallen for Yang's joke. "Very funny." She blanched. Her face twisted into a glare as Yang continued to laugh. "Hey! It's not my fault I'm so short. A-And why do they make trees so tall!?"
"You're so adorable when your mad." Yang cackled.
Before Neo could fire back, the door suddenly opened. The three girls all swiveled around and bore into the door as it swung open.
"Ruby, what's taking so...long..." A familiar velvety tone spoke.
Cinder eyed the mess in the center of the living room. Pieces of several boxes littered the floor, along with a few broken Christmas ornaments and Styrofoam pieces. Her amber eyes traced upwards -towards the oddest looking tree she'd ever seen.
"Hey Cinder." Ruby sheepishly waved.
"Hey Long Legs!" Yang waved, albeit with much more cheer.
"Cin." Neo nodded.
"What're you fools doing?" Cinder questioned still awed by the odd sight.
"We're uh, decorating a Christmas tree?" Ruby replied. Seeing an opportunity, Ruby snatched the tree topper from Neo's hand and tossed it to Cinder -the tallest of the four.
"You want me to..."
The latter three nodded.
Cinder shrugged. She was never a big fan of Christmas, and not once in her twenty three years on Remnant had she decorated a tree but;
There's a first for everything.
Ruby watched as Cinder sashayed over to the tree, slowly reached up, and placed the object perfectly on top.
Cinder felt a little odd. "That was anticlimactic..."
The four of them eyed each other, "Well we're all here. Now what?" Neo spoke up.
"I have an idea..." Yang almost whispered. "Everyone is all in for a real... tree-t!"
"Oh no..."
A/N Ironically enough, I don't actually celebrate 'Christmas'... kinda... Idk, this was fun and there'll most likely be an actual Christmas-y chapter later on.