He was floating. No, strike that, he was standing on his feet. He was on a cloud. No, this was his castle in the clouds. Ah yes, he knew the place well. With its wondrous gardens, and the world sprawling below, all its worries and troubles far beneath him. He'd had this dream before. He was very familiar with how it went, and it was always a favorite of his. Here he was the king of his own perfect little world.

And there was his princess. Cute and kind, from a far away land, she awaited him in one of the many comfortable rooms of the floating palace. In a lovely rose-red dress that matched the tips of her otherwise black hair, plus a pendent that brought out her silver eyes. He embraced her, holding her close. She hugged him back, wriggling a little in his arms. He rolled over, pining her under his weight. She let out a squeak, like the air had just been knocked out of her.

That was a little odd. Normally she giggled at that point in the dream, not squeaked. But he ignored it, taking in her sweet scent from her soft hair. She wriggled and writhed, her hands pressing against his chest. How strange. She was saying his name too, but not the way she normally did in his dreams. "Clark, Clark get off. Clark, you're crushing me," she groaned, her voice sounding strained. He furrowed his brows. Why did his body feel so heavy? His vision was swimming, his princess's face becoming indistinct as a darkness consumed.

His eyes opened a slit. He blinked, lifting his head in confusion. This wasn't his bed. Why was he in his living room? And who was that underneath him? He raised his body up, balancing on his elbows, and looked down.

Ruby gasped underneath him. "Sheesh, why are you so heavy?" she breathed. He couldn't respond, a sort of paralysis coming over his limbs as the situation slowly dawned on him. She gave him an apologetic smile, glanced down with a blush, then looked back up at him. "Good morning, I guess."

He practically threw himself from her, falling to the ground between the couch and the coffee table. She sat up, but he was already crawling to his feet and moving away from her. "I'm sorry," was all he said before disappearing in the bathroom and locking the door behind him.

Ruby ran her fingers through her hair, straightening it out. "Well, that could've gone better." Then she spotted the presents under the tree, and remembered what day it was. She smiled, and went over to them.

Meanwhile, Ozpin was still freshening up in the bathroom. He splashed cold water in his face, trying to clear his mind. I shouldn't have done that. The fact that he was half-asleep was no excuse. In fact, he shouldn't have fallen asleep without first sending her home in the first place. How could he have let his guard down and let her stay the night? And worse, sleep on the couch with him? It was bad enough that he was a man, even worse that he'd been having those dreams and thoughts about her on a regular basis.

He threw more water in his face, letting it drip through his hair and get on his clothes. He slouched over the sink, and looked up at himself in the mirror. His 5 o'clock shadow looked dark in the faint morning light. He'd messed up. It didn't matter that he could take care of the problem in a matter of minutes. He'd messed up. Would Ruby break up with him on the spot? Lovey dovey optimist that she was, even she had her limits, surely. Maybe that was for the best. He rubbed at the back of his neck, and stood up straight.

He stepped back out of the bathroom. "Happy Natiuiteo!" Ruby greeted him, sitting on the floor by the tree, a couple presents already unwrapped and set to the side. "C'mon, come join in on the fun."

He didn't approach. "Ruby," he said. She paused in the middle of undoing a ribbon to look at him. "I am so sorry. For getting on top of you this morning, I am so very sorry. I was half asleep, I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry for allowing that situation to even occur. I-"

"Oh it's fine." She dismissed it with a wave of her hand, and kept unwrapping presents.

He gave a moment of pause. "I'm sorry?"

"It's fine, I could tell you were still dreaming." She smiled at him, and shrugged. "You just surprised me, that's all. It's no big deal. And besides, you weren't that heavy." She grabbed another present, looked at the label, and put it to the side. "That one's yours."

Somehow, he found that he wasn't all too surprised by her response. But he was still cautious. "I'll... be with you in a moment." He turned for the stairs, rubbing at his jaw. "I have to go shave."

"Kay. Though I kind of like the beard."

He froze, one foot on the first step. "You do?"

"Mm-hm. Makes you looked kinda rugged, like some action movie star. Or like a character from a video game."

He was stupid. He knew this. Slowly he moved his foot off the stair, and turned back towards Ruby.

She looked back over her shoulder at him. "I can understand you shaving to look professional, but you don't have work today, right? You don't have to shave if you don't want to."

What a moron. He walked over to her, and sat a few feet away from her, well outside of arm's reach. She twisted in her seat and retrieved his glasses from the coffee table, handing them to him.

She tossed a present to him. "Well go on, see what loot you got."

He turned the present in his hands, watching her for a moment. He then began to unwrap the present. Scraps of paper were organized in a pile between them, while their gifts were put into separate piles. Her paper was usually left in scraps, while his were left largely intact, with creases here and there where the paper was folded. Socks and sweaters and ties and books composed their gift piles. When Ruby encountered a light blue-striped box, Ozpin spoke up, "Oh, that one's from me."

"It is?" She held it up to her ear, giving it a little shake.

"Careful, it's fragile."

"Oh, sorry." She slipped her finger under the paper fold, ripping the tape. A small green box lay underneath. She removed the lid, and cooed. "Oh, it's so pretty." It was a hairpin, with opals arranged to resemble the sun.

"It was your mother's."

She looked up at that, her eyes going wide. "What?"

"I called in a favor from an old friend, who knew your mother well. I thought you should have it."

For a moment, she couldn't speak. She looked back down at the hairpin, and carefully lifted it from its cotton bed in the box. The opals caught the light, a rainbow swirl against a backdrop of cream. She slipped it into her hair, pinning her bangs back. She could feel a lump swell in her throat, and blinked back tears. "Thank you so much. This really means a lot to me."

He gave her a kind smile. "No problem."

She beamed. "I have something for you too." She dove under the tree and retrieved a hand-wrapped present with a crimson ribbon. She held it out to him. "I made it myself."

He exchanged a look with her before taking the box in his own hands. The paper was taped somewhat clumsily together, though the ribbon was in a pretty knot. He took his time with it, causing Ruby to shift impatiently in her seat.

"C'moooon, it's just paper! Just rip it open."

He suppressed a chuckle, almost taking even longer to unwrap the gift. Under the colored plastic paper was a plain box, and in that a few layers of tissue paper concealed a round object. When he let that all fall away, he raised his eyebrows at what he held. It was a music box, red plates of metal folded around each other to resemble a rose.

"Ta-da!"

He looked between her and the music box. "You made this?"

She nodded. "Took me a couple months, but I think it came out pretty good. Open it up, listen to the song."

First he turned it over to expose the little turnkey, and twisted it round and round. Once sufficiently cranked, he pulled back the lid of the music box. A small figurine popped out on a spring, a somewhat crude yet endearing carving of two ballet dancers, spinning around together while a haunting melody played. A man danced a pas de deux with his partner, their images reflected in a mirror set into the lid of the music box. "It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." Without him noticing, she had scooted closer to him. He moved a couple inches away.

"I can't believe you made this. I had no idea you were so talented. I mean, I knew you were talented, but this is artistic."

"It's not so different from when I made Crescent Rose. I just couldn't include any weapon functions." She shrugged.

Clark set it to the side, letting it continue playing. "Thank you very much. I'll treasure it for as long as I live."

"Really, it's no big deal." Her hand moved out of habit to brush her bangs back, only to find that her hair was already out of her face, and instead her fingers bumped against the hairpin. She smiled, and looked up at him.

He wasn't entirely sure whether or not he liked the look she was suddenly giving him. Then she started to lean towards him. No, he didn't like that look in her eyes at all. Such looks were dangerous. He leaned back, hoping she would take the hint. But she was undeterred, and started to crawl on her hands and knees towards him. "Um, Ruby." He leaned away even further, but soon found that he would be in danger of losing his balance if he went back much more. And still she pursued him, that same dangerous look in her eyes.

He shrank back into himself, his eyes locked on her as she was soon mere inches from his face. Finally she paused, her arms bracing herself on either side of his waist. She lifted one hand, brushing his bangs back and tucking some hair behind his ear. Before he could say another word, perhaps to bring her back to her senses, she occupied his mouth.

His whole body tensed, a heat rushing into his face. He needed to stop her. They shouldn't be doing this. This wasn't like last time. Oh, but she smelled so nice. All he had to do was back away, and it would end. Oh, but there was such a pretty pink blush in her cheeks. This was dangerous, he knew. It was a slippery slope. Oh, but her lips tasted so sweet. His eyelids started to drift shut, though more rational parts of his mind tried to remind him of what was at stake. Oh, but this was so much better than any of his dreams.

His eyes shut, and he kissed her back. He raised a hand, tangling it in her hair and tilting her head. It was already late in the morning, the light stretching across the room, though the tree cast a dark shadow on them, Natiuiteo lights ever so gently glowing.

There was a knock at the door.