To say the ride home had been somewhat awkward and quiet would be an understatement.
"Can we talk about it when we get home?"
"Are- are you sure, Weiss?" Blake asked as they got in the car and started the drive home.
"Yes, I'm sure."
What was she thinking? Just blurting that out. Was it off base? Not really. But the timing was atrocious. Maybe her lunch with Coco had gotten in her head. Who knows.
As soon as the car stops, Weiss has the door open and is making her way to the apartment.
"Weiss, slow down." Blake trots after her, backpack bouncing on her shoulder.
She catches up with her midway through the kitchen.
"Did you mean it?"
When Weiss turns around, the looks on Blake's face looks hopeful, but also like she's bracing for the impact of being wrong. The crack of her own voice surprises her when Weiss speaks.
"Of course I meant it. And I don't just think I want to, I know. And I know I have been foolish and scared. Unable to let you in when I should have, because I don't want to turn out like my parents. I don't want you to ever feel like that, not for one second. And I don't know, maybe I thought that if I kept the unloveable parts of me hidden then I wouldn't have to worry about you thinking less of me or realizing that you don't love me like you thought you did." The tears that started to fall are more from frustration and embarrassment than anything else.
"You deserve to be loved. Without having to hide the things about you that make you feel unloveable. Because I will still love you anyways. There is not a single thing about you that I don't love. Even if it drives me crazy, like how you fold my scrubs or put your coffee in the same cabinet as my tea leaves. But even then, I will always love you. And I will never give up on that. I never want you to feel like that."
"You don't like it when I fold your scrubs?" Weiss murmurs into Blake's shoulder as she pulls her in and hugs her.
"I love that you do your best to help me with the laundry. But they get creases if you folder them."
"I knew you were just trying to help so it was worth having to iron them."
"At least now I have a valid reason to refuse to do laundry."
"It's okay, you don't have to stop. It's not that big of a deal."
"No Blake, I really hate doing laundry."
She looks up and the expression on Blake's face is soft. The nervousness and anxiousness that had been racking her mind starts to fade away. And she doesn't want anything else other than to try and count all the little golden flecks in Blake's eyes.
"Fine. I guess you can take a break from the laundry for a while. But you have to do all the dishes instead."
"Deal." She leans up and kisses Blake on the cheek.
"And no hiring a housekeeper to do it for you." Weiss playfully pushes herself a few steps away from Blake.
"How dare you suggest such a thing. I would never." Quickly she dismisses the idea. Because she totally would never do that, no not at all.
Weiss wanders over to the kitchen and starts looking for the things to make herself a coffee, and starts the water kettle to make Blake some tea.
Blake has been silent for about a minute and when Weiss looks over toward her, she finds her with her elbow propped up, with her chin resting in her hand, casually watching Weiss as she goes about her business.
"Should we get married?" It's enough to make Weiss stop stirring her coffee.
"Is that something you want?"
"I think I would've married you when we were still in school."
"All the way back then?"
"I don't know when the exact moment was, but I think there was a day where I just woke up and I knew."
"That you wanted to marry me?"
"Not necessarily get married. But I knew that if I was going to spend the rest of my life with someone, it would be you."
"Good to know."
"Good to know? Now now Miss Schnee, you can't just say 'I think I want to marry you' and then just me with a 'good to know' an hour later."
"You're in luck, because there is nothing in this life I would want more than to spend the rest of it with you."
"But?"
"But, I also share the sentiment that we don't necessarily have to get married for that to happen. But if it happens, I wouldn't be sad about it." She places Blake's tea on the counter beside her and wraps her arms around Blake's neck.
"For now, I'm perfectly fine just like this."
"And how is that?" Weiss whispers into the closing space between them.
"Loving you with every beat of my heart, knowing that you love me just the same."
"There's a word for that, you know."