(A/N) Here it is! The beginning of Act 3, the largest Act, and where the brunt of the story will really take place. Prepare for a lot of plot, and a lot of fluff, and a lot of action over the majority of the next year, and maybe longer. Really, I can't tell you how long this one is going to be. I've got the plot all prepared and all that monkey nuts, but the actual structure of the chapters themselves is going to take a bit of work to organize properly.

Sorry for this being late. I don't like making excuses for that, but I'm going to blame various hospital visits for this one. I'm fine now, believe me.

Also, you remember how, more than once, I would post a chapter and say "I've been waiting to post this one"? Same goes for this debut, both because of what will occur in Act 3 and how this chapter will set all that up, and because this chapter brings in one of my favorite characters from the anime. Just… MY FAVORITE BEAN CHILD is all I can really say about this one.

Lastly… Volume 5 is… upsetting me. Yeah. Let's put it that way. To be fair, I did like the ending, but I'm curious how Volume 6 is going to answer some of the questions I have for it. If nothing else, it's kind of annoying how I now have to work certain things in War of OA around Volume 5.

My murderous fury aside, enjoy this next Act, my Beautiful Hunters!

Act 3

Chapter 1

The barista had a weird look about her, and not just because she spoke only with paper signs she had prepared for her work shift. Stuff like "I'm mute" and "How can I help you today" made up her usual speech pattern, or lack thereof, but what really caught Grey's eye as he did his combat engineering homework was her heterochromia. Her eyes were different colors, and odd ones at that. Brown was a very common shade for both humans and faunus, sure, but pink?

With his attention turned to her, however, Grey found something else about this woman that had the gears in his head turning. She was tall, busty, beautiful, and had the most luxuriously blonde hair that only the gods and one single human on Remnant could maintain, and that person was Yang. In fact, despite the eyes, the mute speech, and the fact that the barista clearly didn't recognize him, even Ruby would have mistaken the two. The two looked exactly the same, even having an almost identical energy. Grey had been trying to do his homework in peace with Penny and enjoy some good coffee, but this sudden intervention had sent up a few red flags in his mind.

"Are you feeling OK, Mr. Grey?" Penny asked her friend, shaking him out of his reverie, "You have been staring at that waitress since we arrived." Grey sputtered and buried his face in his papers, trying to ignore the giggly stares Penny's lack of volume control had received, one of those gleeful looks being from Yang's clone. For the doppelganger, though, that smile was nothing less than wicked. A chill running down his spine, Grey rolled his eyes and smiled up at his friend once he regained his composure.

"How many times have I told you to call me Grey, Pen-Pen?" he said with a smile, tapping on the top of her hand with the stylus he was using on his computer pad, "Just Grey. Not Mr. Grey. Not Master Grey. Not Our Lord and Savior Grey-Kun. Just Grey."

"Alright, 'Just Grey,'" Penny returned, sharing a laugh with her comrade, "But you are looking at that waitress like she stole your danish. Do you know her?"

Grey raised his eyebrow and glanced up at the woman in question at that statement, knowing that the target heard Penny again. It was probably her disguise that made him unable to sense the change in her energy signature and emotion, the aura it took to create such a mask being more powerful than any emotion could be, but he still had an eye for body language and was able to tell by the way her jaw tensed up that this conversation was more uncomfortable for her than she was trying to show. She wasn't meeting Grey's eyes this time. Even that smirk that made her look like she captured flies and shook them until they died wasn't ripping her cheeks open.

"Not a clue," Grey admitted as a half truth, leaving out his primary suspicions. He leaned back into his chair with his eyes closed, taking a sip of his coffee and putting on an air of relaxed ease, of indifference and apathy to the barista.

"So, you're not at all disturbed that she looks exactly like Yang?" Penny continued.

Grey sighed disappointedly. Granted, Penny didn't have the best track record with picking up on subtle social cues like the man's "I don't want to talk about this" attitude, so that was on him, but now that the synthetic lifeform had made his suspicions known without even realizing it, he had to deal with it. He dreaded this type of scenario. It was better to avoid a problem altogether than deal with one as it occurs.

The barista actually turning to look at him this time with a glare that was as sadistic as her grin was manic. The not so subtle reaction made Grey realize that whoever this huntress was, she really did know Yang, and that was problematic enough even without knowing who she was or how that meeting happened. He had considered the possibility that maybe this was just some cosmological accident that he was reading too much into. There was a chance, no matter how small, that the barista had rolled the dice in just the right way when trying to disguise herself as a busty blonde that she ended up cloning a real person, but that hope was dashed with that all too clear look she gave him. Grey turned to Penny with a harsh glare, telling her to shut up silently. This time, the robot had just enough sense to catch the message and nodded in understanding, shutting her mouth.

Sometimes Grey regretted confronting Ruby about Penny's peculiarities. He knew the two were close, but he wasn't expecting Ruby's lack of an ability to keep a secret to end up revealing the girl to be the modern version of Frankenstein. Dealing with an homunculus who had no sense of humanity despite being fully human was… difficult.

The pair ended up finishing their homework and leaving a few minutes later. The moon was beginning to rise, the sky dark as the streetlights began flickering to life as the students separated from one another, following their own paths for the night, and while Penny went back to her dorm at school, Grey had something he wanted to do. Feeling like the caped avenger the internet had come to know as the "Hunts-Man," he perched himself on a rooftop overlooking the coffee shop he just left. He had questions he wanted answers too, and he was going to get them. Unless Yang had a mute twin sister she never told him about, Grey knew that the odds lining up in just the right way for this girl to be nothing more than an innocent bystander that Grey had stumbled across were impossible. She was a huntsman, she knew Yang, and Grey wanted to know who she was.

"I hope you make good use of that tracking device, Just Grey," Penny texted him, using the pet name they had ended up distractedly agreeing on, "I don't have too many of those. If she finds it or if it breaks somehow, you're going to have to make sure you can follow her by eyesight alone since you can't sense her aura."

"Thanks again for this, Pen-Pen," Grey texted back, "I know you may get in trouble with you father for this, so I appreciate it. If you happen to get caught, just send him to Ozpin's office and put it on our tab. K?" A smiley emoji was sent back in response, and Grey amusedly shook his head before turning back to his target.

Every once in a while, humans will make a single, subtle decision that they will believe has no real impact. Why would it? Maybe they left for work five minutes earlier that morning, or maybe they had pineapples in their fruit salad instead of peaches, stuff like that. Either way, no one ever expects those boring, one off decisions to have any consequence. Grey's decision to sate his curiosity, however, was one of the few that would.

He watched the Yang clone step out of the building with two other people, one of whom locked the doors, and she made sure they got to their cars safely before walking off in the opposite direction. Her hair was up in a ponytail, her work makeup rubbed off, and the stress was apparent on her face once she clocked out. She even had that post-work day sigh. Pulling her phone out of her purse and pressing the buttons faster than any basic high school girl could ever wish to, she sent a few texts off to someone, smiling girlishly at the responses as she walked towards her destination, unaware she was being followed.

Hopefully she was unaware, anyway. Grey didn't want this to escalate into a fight, and considering that this was a huntress he was following, regardless of her day job, that fight would not end well for anyone within the closest city block.

Grey bounced from roof to roof, feeling like he was Batman one second and the Hulk the next, but paying more attention to the girl than his ego, hoping he could keep his eye on her and not bothering with the tracker, hoping that that would only be a contingency plan. She was going in an odd direction. So far, this agent was walking with the kind of purpose that said she knew where she was going and would not allow herself to be distracted, but the way she was heading wasn't towards any residential area. Currently, she was crawling her way through the docks, heading towards… Was that a White Fang flag on that warehouse? Grey cursed under his breath, realizing just how much crap he may be in now. He didn't think he would stumble on something this big.

It was made even worse when he remembered that the girl he was following was human at first glance. If she was faunus, however… No matter how you looked at it, huntsman were trained and tasked with keeping the world safe no matter who the enemy was, whether that meant an invasion of grimm all the way up to the council's of the different kingdoms, and that meant that the White Fang, a terrorist organization, was their enemy. Grey's first assumption was that this girl was a huntsman. If that wasn't true, if the disguise ability wasn't a semblance but a biological trait unique to a type of faunus, that would mean that there would be an entire group of people that could very easily infiltrate Beacon's ranks.

Maybe he got distracted himself because when Grey tried to find the girl after shaking himself from his thoughts, she had disappeared. Grey scowled. This wasn't an area with any cover for her to hide, so she couldn't have gotten too far, but being able to disappear so easily… Growling, he knew he had no choice other than to pull out his scroll and try to find her with the tracker, but when he figured out where the girl was, the previous suggestions he made to who this girl was started to make sense, the puzzle pieces coming together. In the place where the device was beeping on his radar was a wanted criminal Neopolitan, the woman Yang had told him attacked her on their mission in Forgotten Vale, his teammate's description of "human ice cream" hitting the nail on the head with her.

What was this about her disguise, though? According to Yang's description of their fight on the train, he couldn't see Neo's semblance being able to change her physical appearance, but even if it could, why would she choose to look like Yang? Because she was blonde and hot? Grey saved that question for later since he didn't feel it was important now.

Keeping his eye on her ice cream hair and classy victorian outfit, Grey pushed down his nerves and decided to follow her, knowing at this point that things might be a bit more serious than he had previously thought. She was part of a major crime syndicate, and according to all of Team RWBY, was the right hand of that syndicate's leader, Roman Torchwick. This was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. This unwitting woman was about to lead her right to her leader's hideout, hopefully, and if he could find the right opportunity, then he could take out one of Vale's biggest threats for no other reason than random coincidence- not to mention how he would appreciate finishing his fight with the gangster. Taking a swift breath and cracking his neck, he mentally prepped himself and charged.

As Neo entered the shipping area of the docks, the place Grey remembered fighting Torchwick and the White Fang a few months ago during Blake's faunus fiasco, Grey followed her by jumping from the tops of the containers. He wasn't surprised to see White Fang members keeping watch and quickly dispatched them as he continued to stalk the vertically challenged girl. After a bit, Neo walked into the largest warehouse in the area. Grey wasn't an idiot and knew that she had made it to her destination, so he wasn't in too much of a hurry to get in there, this event giving him time for a quick rest and to make a game plan.

The building was built with brick and other masonry, so it would give him plenty of footholds if he managed it right. If he used his claws and kicked off it properly… Then made it to the windows above for a bird's eye view…

Grey made it to the top of the building and took cover on one of the horizontal shutters, a White Fang member clawing at his jeans as Grey knelt on the guy's neck, completely ignoring him. The guy passed out with fear in his eyes, appalled at how casually Grey was crushing his larynx, but Grey was too distracted with the scene below him at ground level, a mild sense of unease burning through his stomach.

"Aw, you shouldn't have, Squirt!" Roman said as the girl lovingly handed him a gold plated watch, "Is this where you've been the past month? Stealing this?" Linking her fingers behind her back, a huge grin on her face while she danced on her feet, Neo shook her head. "What? You actually bought this? For real? Neo…"

Grey remembered her stopping into a jewelry store when he was following her to this destination. Is that what she was doing? What was going on here…?

Roman Torchwick, crime lord extraordinaire, actually looked human for a second as a brief expression of gratitude and loyalty passed over his face. Suddenly, he brought the silently giggling girl into him, wrapping his arms around his waist as he planted a stiff kiss against her lips. Grey nearly screamed in shock. These two were together? Villains could be happy and fall in love? Sure, the answer to that is obviously yes, but he didn't see someone like Torchwick, or a complete sociopath like Neo sharing a bed with someone they actually cared about. A hooker, maybe. A victim of human trafficking? Definitely. What he could never see is the man who robbed his grandfather's store being in a loving, committed relationship, even with a violent murderer.

"This is too weird," Grey decided, and used his shield to carry him away from the warehouse and back into the shipping area, leaving the White Fang member he knocked out on the shutter. This didn't end how he expected. It started with him following a random interest he had in a dubious barista, turned into an assassination mission from which Grey expected to walk away from in a blaze of absolute glory. He wasn't expecting to be so stunned at a scene of a hopeless romance that would make him give up on his goal.

He wasn't sure how to react to it. Arrest them? He was trained not to leave people breathing and didn't have the authority to take people into custody. Should he have even confronted them? Come to think of it, even if he had, what would that accomplish? Chances were they wouldn't have been willing to talk, and after he won that fight, assuming he could even beat that tag team in direct conflict, what would do afterwards? Kill them? Grey hated that he didn't really have an answer, and decided that he got too excited earlier, unaware until he saw the pair making out in the middle of a White Fang hideout that he was out of his league. This mission wasn't going to end in any way other than him walking away like he was.

Grey halted in his path when he saw the air in front of him shimmer like it was reflecting light, then shatter into a thousand glass shards, Neo herself walking out from them with a murderous glint in her eyes, her previous giddy smile replaced with a dangerous sneer. Grey didn't even raise his hands to defend himself. The girl was unarmed and wasn't even making to attack him, and not only that, but Grey couldn't sense anyone else in the vicinity, signifying that she had approached him alone unless she knew her semblance could partially block his aura sense. How did she know he was there? Did she hear him leaving? Did she know he was following her that whole time?

Eh, who cared? The answers to those questions didn't matter. Point was she was here and she wasn't looking for a fight despite the wicked look.

"Yo," Grey greeted.

Neo dipped her head, making Grey raise his eyebrow. Something about her seemed… odd.

"I'm assuming you're not here to kill me so… can I help you?" he asked.

Neo gave him an intense look, nodded up to the direction of where the warehouse was, then her face softened from a threatening stare to an almost pleading gaze. Grey furrowed his brow in confusion, and glanced over his shoulder at the building, then back at her.

"You mean… You and Torchwick?" Grey clarified. She nodded.

"And you… what? You're happy together and you don't want me to tell anyone about you guys?" Grey meant it as a joke, but Neo's eyes seemed to twinkle as she continued to stare at him.

"Seriously?" Grey reiterated incredulously.

Neo nodded even more vigorously this time. Grey couldn't believe what he was hearing, or rather what he was seeing since she hadn't spoken once since this one-sided conversation began. Grey pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look, Neo," he started, not even bothering to try to explain or bluff how he knew her name, "If I'm being honest with you, I don't even know why I came here, and now that I know who you are and what's going on here, I do have something resembling a responsibility to report you guys to the authorities."

Neo would have growled if she could make any noise, judging by the way her lip curled, but flinching when Grey's voice and expression softened.

"But, I will admit, I'm kind of a hopeless romantic," he said with a gentle smile, "And I'm in a less than traditional relationship myself, so I can understand what it can be like trying to balance life in that regard. So… let's say that we combine those two details, and say that I may look the other way for love if given a good reason. Can you tell me one reason why I shouldn't report you to General Ironwood?"

Neo hopped excitedly, another grin splitting her cheeks, but in contrast to that excitement, she shook her head to Grey's question, making a few very specific gestures with her hands Grey couldn't comprehend. It wasn't until she nonverbally brought her hand up to her lips and expanded it outward that the young huntsman thought he understood.

"Oh, so you're mute?" he asked.

Neo nodded back to him. Grey crossed his arms and began thinking through what he was going to say so he could better communicate with the girl, but he realized it wasn't needed. Neo snapped his fingers to get his attention. When he looked up, he saw a gesture he hadn't seen in awhile. Leveling her eyes at him, Neo stepped up to him and poked his chest, swiping fingers over his sternum in an X pattern, then jumping back and disappearing in a flash of light, leaving him alone on the docks. Grey put his hand on his chest nostalgically, remembering the meaning of what she just did to him. It was an old gesture back in Mistral.

It meant "I owe you."

You're not really going to accept that are you? Black asked him as Grey snagged a taxi to get back to the academy.

It's not like I have any other option at this point, Grey responded mentally so he wouldn't scare the driver by talking to himself out loud, She disappeared when she gave me that promise, and you know how serious the X pattern is in Mistral. I can't go back on my word like that.

The X pattern was a gesture only used by the criminal underbelly in the most dangerous Kingdom on Remnant since the consequences for breaking the pattern meant death, either by one's own hand or by cosmological intervention. It wasn't a matter to be taken lightly.

You could always go back there and kill them all? Black offered,With my help, of course.

Possibly, but I'm not a death god like you are, Grey shot back with a smirk, I'm just violent. Plus, she helped me realize something.

And that would be? Black returned tiredly.

That if they can make it work, Red Ivory can. When we get back to the school, I have some work to do.

(...)

Weekends are a time of relaxation and partying, sloth and debauchery. People would spend them going to the beach, dancing all night at a shady club, or for some quieter, more peaceful souls, catch up on the reading or other hobbies they had been neglecting. It only made sense. Classes were out, people who worked a normal nine to five didn't have to work, and most people didn't have anything to do other than enjoy themselves. Sometimes that would revolve around making grand spectacles and events for groups of people, maybe a random, extravagant party or charity event, while others would simply stay home in bed all day, eat junk food and veg out on video games all day. As for Grey, he had a date to catch.

He had just come back from a pleasant breakfast with Pyrrha who demanded to know more about his budding relationship with half of his team like a giddy school girl fawning over her favorite book characters. She was treating this like it was some kind of game, or worse, like Grey had treated her relationship with Jaune before they got together. Had everyone been waiting like this for Red Ivory to get together? It was ridiculous. When Yang and Blake joined the two, Grey realized just how deep this rabbit hole of a shipping war went.

Apparently, there was some sort of bet involved with those two? Even Ruby was put off after hearing that, but she, Grey, and Weiss would make sure the pair would get what was coming to them. They had promises they would have to keep. The first thing they would need to do would be to find the scissors…

To be perfectly fair, they weren't together yet. All that was made clear at this point was that Ruby had Weiss both had feelings for Grey, Grey had feelings for both of them, and now the partners had to compete for their crush's attention. Most people would have found this to be a less than ideal situation. Grey, on the other hand, considered himself crazy for even humoring such a dangerous threesome, but he had never been one to follow common sense. He was just lucky Weiss missed when she tried to castrate him for asking Ruby out first.

Throwing a few reps of shadow boxing in the middle of the dorm room, Grey felt good. A smile was emblazoned on his face as he had his whole day planned out, this excited energy fueling his every movement. His black blazer, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows with his left wrist bearing a silver watch, he padded against Yang's palms. She praised him for his attitude. Ever since that night that shall live on in glory in Team RWBY's history, the twilight in the gymnasium that made the most famous romance authors take notes, he was so much happier, and it showed in how strong he threw his punches, how fast he bobbed and weaved, and how his feet danced in a flurry of energy. He felt like he could take on the world.

"Jeez! Slow down, dude!" Yang scolded him when he uppercutted her hand so hard she stumbled into the desk behind her. He bounced on his toes lightly and threw a few more punches in the air. Even his straight fit jeans and slick black loafers, he made boxing look easy.

"What's the problem, Blondie? Can't keep up?" he teased, "Maybe you should take Blake up on her offer and cut your hair since it's obviously getting in the way." Yang's hair was in a bun right now. Her eyes turned red as her body blazed with flame, knowing that he was talking about her bet with Blake. Yang forgot. Grey being happier meant that his sass had taken a huge boost.

Blake, on the other hand, was giggling off in the corner silently as she peeked over her book at the two. She was waiting in sweet anticipation to see if he got what he deserved. The faunus still had the red handprint on her cheek last time she brought that up.

"What was that, Slut?" Yang shot back darkly. Grey blinked at her, an awkward and terrified smile striking against his features.

"I said… Um… yeah," Grey stammered, backing into the bathroom door, "Have you lost weight recently?" Yang smiled and crossed her arms, clearly unconvinced.

"Nice save, Lover Boy," she said flatly, then waltzed over to her teammate.

"What are you- oof!" Blake flinched cautiously when she saw her partner heading over to her, but then she grunted after the much more muscular and top heavy girl collapsed on top of her, "Yang, what are you doing?!"

"Lying in my bed. You?" she said coyly.

"Flattened underneath you!" Blake squealed.

"Like I told you- I'm lying in my bed," Yang said seductively, giving the goth girl a sly look behind a smirk and narrowed eyes. Grey's blush burned hard against his cheek, steam coming from his ears. Not only did Grey have a clear view of Yang's plump booty right in his face the way she laid on the bed, propping it up in her tight running shorts, but the blonde straddling the waist of another woman was… a little much.

"And I'm done here!" He announced. The pair promptly ignored him as they bickered over Yang's overly kittenish behavior, and he rushed himself into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and trying to steady his racing heart, nearly hyperventilating.

"Are they going at it again?" Weiss asked far too casually for her own good as she expertly put on her mascara, glancing at him from the mirror. Grey smiled warmly. Walking over to her, he surprised her when he laced his arms around her sides, forcing her reflexes to pull her brush away from her lashes lest she burn her eyes out.

"Hey there, Beautiful," he muttered to her dreamily, "You trying a new color on your lips today?" She blushed when he somehow noticed something so tiny like a slightly darker lipstick.

"Yes," she whimpered, then cleared her throat, "Do you like it?"

"Your lips are like two ripe cherries. So kissable." She giggled uncontrollably as he nibbled against her neck, brushing her pony tail out of the way, then giving the spot he bit a quick peck. That line was cheesy, but it was still sweet.

"Don't you have a date to get to?" she asked, reaching up and lightly running her nails against his cheek. Grey sighed and pulled her even closer to him, nuzzling the back of her neck.

"Yeah, I guess I should get going at this point, shouldn't I?" he mumbled.

"You don't want to keep her waiting," Weiss clarified, returning to her routine, "She might think I've been cheating in this little game of ours."

A wry smile and roll of his eyes later, and Grey pushed off of Weiss, leaving her to continue whatever it is she does in the morning. Part of him wanted to stay with her, if he was being honest. At the same time, Grey was also too excited for his first real date with Ruby to remain in that bathroom any longer, and was ready to meet up with the team leader. However, he did have one more thing he wanted to say to the princess before he left. It had been bugging him for awhile. It wasn't some kind of major secret he had been hiding for her, but he was something he had been dying to tell her for a few days now. No telling why he didn't do it sooner.

"Hey, Snow Bunny?" he called out to her as he opened the door to leave, glancing over his shoulder.

"Hm? Yes?" she responded, not bothering to look up from her roost.

"I love your scar," he told her lowly and genuinely, "It's cute. It makes you unique. I hope you'll tell me the story behind it at some point." Slowly, as if in a trance, Weiss lowered her brush, bracing herself against the sink like she was going to fall over, biting her lip. She even whimpered. From where he was, Grey could see the discrete way she wiped her eyes, and then over her shoulder she gave him a small smile.

"You dolt," she simpered at him. Grey's caustic smirk returned to his face one more time as he walked out of the bathroom.

"I'll see you later," he parted, then went on his way.

Grey had been using the word a lot recently, but the whole situation with these girls could only be described as surreal. If someone had told him when he began the school year that he would end up diving head first into a polyamorous relationship with his best friend and her biggest rival whom, sure he was physically attracted to but hated with the burning rage of the sun itself when he first met her, he would have called child services since someone so naive shouldn't have been left unsupervised. However, a few months and one semester later, and he found himself thriving in that very fantasy.

However, that prosperity wouldn't last forever. The trio had agreed to give Grey until the Vytal Festival Dance to choose which one of them he would become his girlfriend, and he was dreading when that day would come. For now, all he could do was push that out of his mind. A silly grin crossed his features. Looking back over the past year, he would never have imagined getting together with Ruby nor Weiss in this threeway, but if he said this didn't make him happy, he'd be lying. It may only be temporary, but it was finally happening.

All it took for the three of them to get together was both of the girls dying before his very eyes. Definitely a very practical "how I met your mother" story.

Waltzing through the city with a slight skip in his step, he left the shuttle dock and started making his way to where he was meeting his date. If things worked out properly, she should be standing right outside of the venue, but knowing Ruby, she had probably gotten distracted and could be anywhere within a mile of the cinema. The fact that Main Street would inevitably have a crowd outside of it would make finding her even more difficult, but fortunately, Ruby wasn't the quietest personality and would most likely stand out in one way or another, and just after turning the corner he could see her accosting a dog walker by lying on the ground as each of the nine canines played with her. Grey wasn't sure what was more adorable- the dogs cuddling and licking Ruby like she was a giant piece of candy, or the way she giggled like she was going to have a heart attack from cuteness.

"Hi, Grey!" Ruby grinned as she noticed her man standing off to the side with a cheeky grin and his hand cupping his chin as he watched her fun, "How long have you been standing there?" Sitting up, Ruby ruffled the fur of the pomeranian that jumped into her lap and laughed at the Saint Bernard that licked her cheeks.

"Longer than you'd like," Grey said warmly, holding up his phone, "I did get a few good pictures, though."

In response, Ruby stood up with that laugh making her face glow red happily, bidding the dog walker farewell, and giving Grey a solid kiss on his lips, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck helping keeping her balance since she had to stand on her toes to reach up to him. Pulling away with a bright blush, Ruby's eyes glistened at her lover amorously. Grey felt like his heart was trying to bounce out of his chest just so it could hug Ruby itself, he was so excited.

Separating and starting their walk towards their destination, the pair's fingers interlocking with one another, the boy gave her a quick once over. She dressed up today. Well, normally the girl wore combat skirts and waist cinchers, so black ripped jeans, combat boots with three straps over her instep, and a bright red tank top was dressing up for her. Even more to the change was that she had taken the extra step to put makeup on today, something she normally avoided. She had taken the time to apply a generous amount of maroon eyeshadow for a smokey eye effect, painted her lips a glossy scarlet, and had even borrowed Blake's crucifix and a pair of spiral gauges from Yang. However, it was the fingerless biker gloves that really pulled the outfit together. Before they even made it to where they were heading, Grey had one thing he wanted to tell her, and leaning down to whisper in her ear, he brushed his lips against her head softly, his tone just as gentle.

"You look beautiful today, Ru…" he murmured. Ruby shivered before answering.

"Thank you," she whimpered, then immediately kicked herself for sounding so pathetic, "So, what are we seeing today?" It didn't take long for them to arrive at Vale's most popular cinema where the crowds were already filing inside.

"Oh, I thought I'd completely ignore the type of person you are and the type of movie you'd like to see and decided to go for something obnoxiously romantic like the Notebook," Grey said so confidently that Ruby wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"You can't be serious, Grey," she asked through a giggle, running her hand through her hair nervously.

"Pfft, of course not!" he chuckled, "I'd be the first to tell you that I'm an idiot, but I'm not that stupid." In one fluid motion, he took two tickets out of his pocket and handed them to Ruby, who read them and then proceeded to scream and kiss him aggressively.

"I've been wanting to see this movie for forever!" she squealed, jumping into her boyfriend-for-the-day's arms and wrapping her legs around him, making him prop her up on his waist with a grunt. Respectfully, he made sure to link his fingers underneath her so she wouldn't think he was copping a feel.

"I thought you'd like that," Grey said victoriously, "Come on. Let's go grab our seats."

With that, Grey carried the girl into the theater and picked out a rather secluded location in the back for them to sit, and as the previews rolled, Grey didn't waste time wrapping an arm over his date's shoulders. How could Ruby resist curling into his side like that? Grey wondered if the way she had her head buried into his chest like that let her feel how hard his heart was beating? He wasn't at all apprehensive about this date, however. As soon as Ruby's body pressed against his own, he simply realized with a start how much he had wanted something like this. Affection, intimacy, and romance.

He couldn't wait to hear his friends tease him for being such a sap.

(A/N) As always, My Friends, Favorite, Follow, Review, and post your theories! I know I said this last time but medical issues got in the way, so HOPEFULLY, the next chapter should be up in time. Have a good three weeks!