Mornings were becoming a new favorite for Blake. The raven-haired girl had easily slipped into her new routine, one that gave her a certain satisfaction that the rest of the day would progress quite nicely.
After her usual morning necessities, she'd exit the bathroom to greet Weiss in a more coherent fashion, now that she was feeling more like a Faunus rather than a houseplant. Then, of course, came her favorite part. She'd stand up on her tiptoes and gently shake her girlfriend awake.
If there was anything more adorable than a sleepy Ruby when she first wakes up, she had no idea what it could possibly be.
Sometimes Ruby would peer at her blearily before grabbing her hand and trying to use it as a teddy bear. Sometimes she'd slip it under her head and smile softly. And then other times, like this morning for instance, she'd just gaze back at her with a certain wonder in her silver eyes as if she wasn't quite sure if she were dreaming or not.
"Come on, sleepyhead," Blake said softly. "Rise and shine."
"Can't I lay here and just stare at you a bit longer?"
"No, you can't. Shower time."
"Awww… but Blakeyyy…"
"Do you want Weiss to wake you up?"
That was the point where Ruby usually quit her adorable attempts to cajole more bed time out of the Cat Faunus, but today she got a big smile on her face and held her arms out to her.
Blake just blinked her eyes uncertainly. "Um… What?"
"Carry me."
"... You're serious?"
"Yep!"
"Oh my Oum, Ruby," Weiss huffed irritably. "Will you please just get out of bed already?"
And then Ruby turned on the Secret Weapon. The one she rarely took out of her arsenal, a weapon so powerful it would reduce mere mortals to a quivering pile of submission.
The pout.
Her eyes got as wide as saucers, her lower lip trembled (and that was something Blake was trying not to focus on this close, thank you very much), and then the finishing move, the coup de gras, the ultimate final attack…
"Please?"
Blake sighed, maintaining a neutral expression by sheer willpower alone though her defenses were otherwise completely in disarray by this point.
"Okay."
"Yay!" Ruby cheered quietly, wiggling out from under her covers. Blake scooped her up with one arm under her knees and the other around her waist, while Ruby wrapped her own small arms around her neck and burrowed her face into her shoulder.
The sensation of having her that close to her, feeling her warm breath on her skin, made her blush furiously. All she could do was stare down at the red-tipped hair that lay against her chest.
"Blake."
She glanced down at a smirking Weiss, who had an eyebrow raised. "Are you going to stand there with her in your arms all morning?" she asked humorously.
Blake blinked her eyes, realizing that she'd been standing there motionless for a couple of minutes now. "Oh. Yes, right."
She took several steps over towards the bathroom, halting in front of the door.
"Okay, Ruby, I'm putting you down now."
No response.
"Ruby?"
Finally a soft snore came from the vicinity of her neck, causing her to sigh softly.
"Well, I could have told you that was going to happen," Weiss said levelly, though her smirk was still firmly in place.
Ever so carefully she set the small girl down on her feet. Ruby stood there, peering about blearily before she lurched back into Blake again, wrapping her arms around her waist in a tight hug.
"Ruby…" she sighed affectionately. "Go get a shower."
"Did you already get one?" she mumbled into her chest.
"Yes, I did."
"Pity." With that Ruby staggered into the bathroom, grabbing her stack of clothes for the day on her way in, and closed the door behind her.
Meanwhile, Blake was once again frozen in place, this time doing her best impression of a goldfish.
"Hey, you okay there kitten?" Yang called out curiously as she sat up in bed and stretched. "You look kinda flushed."
"Yeah," Blake. "Flushed. Just… yeah."
Only Ruby could reduce her to nonsensical incoherence like this.
How does she even manage to do that? Does she actually realize what she's saying when she does that, is it all just an innocent act?
She'd considered herself fairly world-experienced, having had not only a lover, granted one that had ended disastrously, as well as a few romantic relationships. But nothing had prepared her for what Ruby was capable of, a sweet and bubbly exterior that hid what might be a particularly devious side.
The brunette had managed to convince two girls to date her at the same time, for Oum's sake. That in and of itself was an impressive feat, and she was one of those that had been convinced!
"Oh," she murmured absently as she walked back over to her bed. "And don't call me kitten."
The next part of her new routine involved the first stop the group now made once they exited their room. Instead of proceeding directly towards the cafeteria for breakfast, Ruby would immediately march up to JNPR's door and knock quietly (just in case one of them was sleeping in).
As was usual now, Pyrrha opened the door immediately as if she were waiting behind it. Which, Blake thought with a small grin, she likely was.
"Good morning," the redhead greeted Ruby warmly.
"Heya, Pyrrha!" the brunette chirped, wrapping the much taller girl up in a hug. "How'd you sleep?"
"Well enough, you?"
"Eh, not long enough, but that's nothing new."
Yang and Weiss stepped forward a few paces to wait for them, but Blake closed the distance between the pair and herself.
"Good morning, Pyrrha," she said with a soft smile.
"And good morning to you, Blake," the redhead smiled back. "Ready to go?"
"You bet!" Ruby giggled, grabbing hold of both girls. "The rest of your team coming?"
"Not just yet," Pyrrha sighed. "There was an incident involving Nora and a hair dryer. Jaune and Ren are still… cleaning up."
"Ohhh," Ruby winced. "I'm guessin' it got ugly."
"Oh, yes," Pyrrha shuddered. "It would be best not to ask."
As they started down the hall, Pyrrha sent a tense-looking glance her way, which caused her to pause. There was obviously something else on the tall girl's mind, and it would seem that it involved Blake.
She quirked an eyebrow questioningly, which for some reason made the redhead blush slightly.
"Um, Ruby," Pyrrha began hesitantly. "Can I… speak with Blake for a moment? We'll catch up with you."
Ruby sent an inquisitive glance at Blake, who gave her a reassuring smile in return.
"Okay, then," Ruby said cheerfully. "Don't be too long!"
She gave another quick hug to each of them, not that Blake minded really as getting Ruby hugs were the highlights of her day, and then skipped ahead to join Yang and Weiss, chatting with them cheerfully about what might be on the breakfast menu, and whether or not cookies would count yet as said breakfast (which Weiss would likely shoot down immediately as she always did).
"Is there something wrong, Pyrrha?" she asked curiously. They walked slowly and side by side, though Pyrrha's hands were clasped in front of her, displaying her nervousness.
"Blake," she began in a whisper. "Do you know what day it is, three days from now?"
"Um… Friday?"
"No," Pyrrha sighed. "Well, yes, technically. But… it's Valentine's Day."
Blake stopped in her tracks, looking at her friend with an expression of abject dismay. "Oh my Oum… we are the worst girlfriends ever…"
"I was worried it was just me who forgot," Pyrrha admitted quietly.
Blake put her arm around the other girl as they began to walk again. "If I had known, I would have said something about it to you, just as you did with me. So, what should we do?"
"Has she mentioned it at all?"
"No, not a word. I'm guessing it's the same for her as it is for us, just not a holiday she normally pays attention to."
"Well… I had a thought."
"Do tell," Blake grinned.
Pyrrha unclasped her hands and slipped an arm around Blake's waist as well, giving her a friendly squeeze. "What if you and I got together and planned something for the three of us?"
"That… is brilliant. Shall we tell her?"
"I think so, yes, just so she doesn't try to plan anything herself."
"Right. Well, let's go give her the news."
Ruby was suitably appreciative, if the high-pitched squeals of joy and crushing hugs were any indicator.
"You guys gonna hang out this afternoon then?" the bubbly teen asked, her excitement still causing her to bounce in her seat restlessly.
"I have nothing else to do," Pyrrha mentioned, turning to Blake.
"Neither do I," she replied. "Sounds like a plan, then."
"Well, while the two of you conspire, I'll just hang out with Yang or Weiss," Ruby declared cheerfully. "We haven't gotten to do that in awhile. Whaddya say, partner? You wanna go hit the town this afternoon?"
"Oh, I'm not sure," Weiss hemmed. "I have some studying to do…"
"You always have studying to do," Ruby complained with a roll of her expressive eyes. "C'mon, I'll take you to the ice cream stand…"
Weiss' eyes lit up. For some reason the heiress had never had ice cream while growing up, and the simple treat of a vanilla cone was like a decadent dessert for her. "I suppose I could postpone studying for a little bit," she conceded.
"Yang?"
"Sure, Rubes, I'm always up for Weiss cream."
"Yang," the white-haired girl sighed. "I really will hurt you one of these days."
"Okay, it's settled!" Ruby cheered. "Operation Ply Weiss With Ice Cream is a go!"
"I'm being plied?" Weiss asked worriedly as they headed for their first class of the day. "That sounds painful."
Later that afternoon, Blake and Pyrrha agreed to meet in the courtyard outside the dorms to begin their planning. They walked together over towards a bench and sat facing one another, each clutching a piece of paper with their ideas they'd jotted down beforehand.
"Would you like to go first?" Pyrrha asked politely.
"Certainly," Blake replied. "This is in no particular order here… The first idea I had was a restaurant. Banal, but difficult to go wrong."
"Hmm, I suppose it would depend on the type of restaurant," Pyrrha mused. "Also, many of the nice ones will be booked already."
"Yes, I did think of that, but the kinds of food Ruby likes isn't necessarily on the 'nice' end of the spectrum."
"True enough," Pyrrha giggled. "I was thinking the same. Is she as fond of pancakes as Nora?"
"Pyrrha, nobody is as fond of pancakes as Nora," Blake deadpanned. "But yes, she does like them. I just…" She sighed softly. "I wanted to do something romantic, you know?"
"I do, absolutely," Pyrrha nodded rapidly. "Er, what other ideas did you have down?"
"Well… a walk along the edge of Forever Falls forest to watch the sunset…"
"Oh, I like that one!"
"Thank you. I'll put a check by it, we'll come back to it later. Now… what about a boat ride?"
"Can we do that?" Pyrrha asked.
Blake shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure, but we could find out."
"Alright then, let's make that another possibility…"
After a few hours of discussion and tossing ideas back and forth, as well as a few calls placed (in which they discovered that yes, there were boat rides, but they were rather outside their budget), the two of them had a fairly short but comprehensive list.
"So, which of these should we do?" Blake asked, chewing on her bottom lip.
Pyrrha leaned over her shoulder to read what they had. "Well… as much as a field trip to Forever Falls sounds nice, we won't have time for much else really… What if we combined these two?"
"That... sounds plausible. Wait," Blake glanced glanced behind her and into the emerald green eyes of her friend. "Do you want to do all of the others here?"
Pyrrha shrugged. "Why not?" she grinned.
"Why not indeed…" Blake murmured, turning back to the sheet. "Alright, then. Let's do it."
"This," Pyrrha proclaimed softly, "will be grand!"
A/N: Hmm, what could the duo have in mind for Ruby? Stay tuned to find out tomorrow! So these three consecutive chapters are the ones I've been eagerly anticipating, revolving around Valentine's Day. They're gonna be a little longer than most of the others so far, especially the third (chapter 15). But worth it, I hope!
You guys continue to amaze me. So this story, just a week old, has just surpassed in hits my opus from the Firefly fanfic (which was 450k words and written exactly a year ago). I'm still stunned, thank you all so much for the attention and follows (127 of you guys? Seriously, you're awesome!), and I hope I continue to entertain on this lovely little crack ship voyage!
SirAlcain: Welcome! I'm honored that mine is one of your initial fanfic reads, and very happy to provide a dose of lightheartedness!
THB4: It's true, I'm pulling a bit from how I assume Pyrrha might act if she weren't trying to build up Jaune's confidence and all, letting him deal with things on his own.
DustGremlin: If Yang had been involved as well as Blake and Pyrrha… Yeah. There wouldn't have been enough pieces of Cardin left to scoop up with a shovel.
growlscout: As far as Ch11 goes, I think Yang would just give Blake a hard time because she couldn't 'handle' her girlfriend on her own. And Yang is always looking for excuses to tease those she loves (teammates included). And I'm sure Yang has years of experience in dealing with Ruby that she'd be able to subdue her easily. Post-sugar-crash cuddle pile can be easily insinuated. So for the last chapter, I'm so glad you enjoyed Ruby's conversation with her brain, I enjoy writing characters arguing with various aspects of their body. Maybe because that's how my own brain works. Also, yep, I'm hoping I'm not taking too much liberty with Pyrrha 'cause I honestly feel that this is how she might be in an established relationship, very protective so long as they were capable of standing up for themselves in the first place. She's very loyal. Oh, and I don't think Ren can ever stay mad at Nora for too long…
Stay shiny!