"W-woof."
Ruby laughed, equal parts bemused and giddy. "Good girl! One more."
Weiss pursed her lips. Was it bad that she preferred playing silent? She wanted so bad to be good, but barking was… humiliating.
"Come on, sweet girl," Ruby cooed, bending forward and scything through Weiss' chest with her sunbeam smile. "Speak one more time, and I'll give you a treat."
A… treat? What the hell would that even entail? Literally, what could you offer a girl who had as much money as she did? Even if most of it was tied up, Willow hadn't exactly been stingy with her credit line— not since ousting Jacques. What could you possibly give to someone who could buy all your things, your house, the property it's on, and have enough money left over to privately contract your Huntress services for life and turn you into little more than a guard dog as some kind of twisted revenge despite the fact that she herself was more than happy to wear the collar and be your pet in the first place?
Bad. Bad Weiss. Too much thinking. Not enough barking.
One thing she trusted about Ruby— among the other things she trusted about Ruby, which was literally everything, since she would give the girl her actual beating heart if she asked and be a million percent confident that whatever Ruby wanted to do with it was important, because no matter what Ruby would keep her safe and alive because even if it was hard for Weiss to be happy with herself and love herself she could always trust in Ruby because Ruby was happy with her and Ruby loved her and Ruby knew her so much better than she knew herself most of the time—
"Arf."
Ruby giggled, and Ruby smiled, and when Weiss started to cry at how pretty she was and how much she loved her, Ruby hugged her in the way she liked the most, pet or not— one arm around Weiss' lower back, holding her tight and secure (Ruby was there, and Ruby had her, and Ruby would never leave her alone again), her other arm crossing up over Weiss' shoulder blades to cradle the back of her head, to sift her fingers into the hair, to press her into the crook of Ruby's neck where she could never fall again, never break again, not while the blood was hot in Ruby's veins.
"Weiss? You okay?"
Weiss sniffled. Infinite was the agony wrought of her weeping: through the snot, she couldn't get her good Ruby-smells. And right after a spar… what a waste…
"Talk to me."
Talking, talking… oh, to never talk again; but who, then, would sing whenever Ruby was listening? When Ruby thought her listening was unnoticed? When Ruby so obviously changed her breaths after waking up, just to lay there and listen to the hushed songs of her watching partner?
"Come on, snow angel."
Oh, ew. Ick times a billion. She pulled back, still sniffling, just to glare at her partner. She found Ruby's face smirking, the supreme smugness a figurative aura nigh as powerful as her real one. "Do not," Weiss croaked.
Ruby chuffed. "What? Had to get your attention somehow." Her smugness was hammered into serious concern. "But are you okay? Seriously. You looked like you were dissociating again."
Weiss couldn't be mad at her— not for more than five minutes at a time, not anymore. As such, the care thick in Ruby's voice carried her into the girl's body like a crook had come to pull her in from stage right. She sighed, still having to suck snot from her sinuses lest it leak onto her partner's collar. "Yeah," she said truthfully. "Yeah, I'm fine. It wasn't bad, I promise. This medication just makes me floaty sometimes. I-in a good way. For the most part."
Ruby scritched the back of her scalp, the tingle of her nails so lovely that it felt like it pierced her skin, her skull, suffusing straight through her blood-brain barrier to kiss each one of her nerves directly. Weiss sighed, but the pleasure made it come out as a purr instead.
Ruby's nose slipped into Weiss' hair and breathed deep, holding the scent for a measure of two kisses before she released it with an indulgent chuckle. Breathy and rumbling, Weiss knew it was a signal of her shifting back into character.
"Good," Ruby praised, kissing her head a third time. "My good girl."
Weiss pressed into her, bearing with all her weight as she preened, fully confident that her partner was built like a brick shithouse. Ruby didn't budge an inch, because of course she didn't. Even if Weiss had a black hole's worth of mass in her body, nothing she could do would ever get Ruby to move, not like this. Ruby was her immovable leader. Weiss was a mere pet.
Ruby's arms let her go, which Weiss could've been sad about if she hadn't remembered— her treat. She dropped to her knees without hesitation.
In the back of her mind, she mourned the jingling of her tags and her bell. The annoying and lame human side of her had complained would perhaps be a tad too much to just have around in public, especially at, yknow, a school with minors. But ever-gracious, ever-good, ever-hot Ruby had, of course, accommodated.
Weiss' lame human side would probably say that it was actually Ruby who had set up that boundary, because she'd smartly assessed that Weiss could perhaps be a little too into it to think straight (which was very right, because Weiss had been thinking quite fucking gay at the time) but Weiss' lame human side was lame and human, and didn't get to sit on its haunches waiting for head pats or 'good girl's or— Brothers forbid— extremely hot sex.
That's not to say Weiss' lame human side didn't get the latter. There was just a different vibe, one where things were equal— one person gets to finish, the other person gets to finish, back and forth until they were too satisfied to get up, then had to force themselves up anyways lest they walk around with the scent equivalent of a giant flashing neon sign that read, 'YES WE HAD SEX AND YES IT DID SOAK THROUGH THE TOWEL'.
But Weiss' lame human side didn't get its head slammed against a wall, didn't get to sit still on its knees while Ruby used its mouth. Weiss' human side got to take. But when she was a pet, she could give and give and give.
So, imagine her surprise when the darkness of Ruby's expression fled, replaced with a slightly embarrassed smile— the smile of, 'sorry, would love to bang, but I do have plans for you and if we bang I'll forget.'
Ruby reached into one of her many belt satchels and pulled out a nondescript plastic baggie. It was labeled 'Treats', accompanied by a heart in black marker. It was full of cookies.
Weiss should've been disappointed. She should've been sad, being so close to a Rose-style fuckening. She should've mourned her undestroyed ass, so agonizingly spared the rough grace of those scythe-calloused palms.
Weiss the lame human, that is. But Weiss, whose last name was a heart etched on her tags, felt a rampant warmth that exploded out from the center of her chest. She felt her own face lighting up, heating up as well. Her body started to squirm unbidden as the joy demanded some kind of escape.
"I made them special," Ruby promised, extracting one of the full-sized sweets from the bag and breaking it in half, replacing one of the halves before she tucked the bag back into its pouch. "Just for you."
Each one of those three words brought with it a wave of happiness— a heavy one that smothered Weiss' brain-thoughts, choked out her normal-people-thinky-bits— until the heady feeling of joy was so thick that Weiss struggled to restrain herself. It couldn't be helped. Ruby was there, and Ruby loved her, and she loved Ruby; it was the most simple logical path that led to Weiss leaping onto her and biting her a bunch, because it was her teeth that were the best at telling Ruby they loved her.
But she was good. Even if her body was twitching, losing the fight to stay still, she earned the treat. No need to squander her reward when the moment was at hand.
Ruby extended the half-cookie to her pet, smiling, and Weiss eagerly took it between her teeth. Ruby didn't let go.
"I'll hold it for you," Ruby offered, because she was the perfect partner. "So you don't make a mess."
And she did hold the cookie in her pet's mouth, obliging the girl as she broke the first piece away, a few crumbs tumbling. When the flavor hit, Weiss nearly burst into tears again: it was baked soft, even though Ruby liked them crumbly; its flavor was tame, even though Ruby liked them sweet. And instead of chocolate chips—
Weiss couldn't keep herself from saying, "Maca…damia?"
Ruby looked at her easily, her grin a form of forgiveness for Weiss' break of character. "Like I said: just for you."
Weiss devoured the remainder of the cookie, with Ruby personally holding her cheek as she ferried the last bite into her mouth. It was the most sublime thing Weiss had ever tasted, and the memory of its flavor lingered even after Ruby kissed her. When the scythe-wielder separated, Weiss rested on her haunches again in anticipation, hoping her body language could sufficiently radiate her desire to do something else, to serve Ruby, to obey her word in whatever way would confer another blessed treat. Infinite was her mourning, for she had no tail to wag.
In the back of her mind, a part of her sighed. 'Blood and dust,' that part lamented. 'First the medicated cheese, now this; my godless freak of a wife, you've mutated me— the heiress I once was, the very image of refinement… you've made me into a treatpilled puppymaxxer. Surely, this is my lowest.'
Weiss exulted. She adulated. She worshiped.
Or, at least, she would've— if pets knew big words like that.
Instead, Weiss was really happy. Super happy. Literally never been happier in her life except for that one spar.
Weiss flicked her right hand, the palm of her gauntlet pulsing purple as it slapped the massive head of her partner's combat scythe. The small charge of gravity dust pulsed with enough force to push the weapon aside, forcing it out of Ruby's left hand and swinging it out wide, leaving the girl completely open to her partner. Weiss followed up with her rapier, two lightning-quick thrusts awakening Ruby's red aura so fast that the second one hit her before she realized there had ever been a first. Ruby retreated in a puff of petals— she always needed range to build momentum— but Weiss gave chase, leaping after the soaring red mass of Ruby with another pulse of purple to really send her flying. Mid-air, Weiss flicked the dial on the back of that gauntlet until it pulsed blue, then she flicked out a glyph.
Ruby had a nasty habit that only Weiss knew about: she liked to zag before she zigged.
After the telltale sharp hook outwards, Ruby darted the opposite way and dropped out of her form. Her feet landed on a patch of ice— the hard read that only her partner could make— and slipped, stumbling as she fought to stay on her feet. Weiss landed on that same patch like a figure-skater, gliding effortlessly, advancing upon her partner like a jousting knight.
Ruby's scythe collapsed into its own handle, the head inverting, its sectioned blades arching backwards until she had a huge, curved sword to meet Weiss' rapier. Ruby batted away the comparatively tiny blade, but Weiss deliberately let the weapon fly. Now uncontested, Ruby's momentum had her turning on the ice like a Lazy Susan, making her unable to meet Weiss' body head-on.
Even if Ruby was stronger, stockier, and better at anything hand-to-hand, she couldn't so a thing with Weiss' gauntlet in her face. A potent charge of ice dust misted in the gauntlet's palm, threatening to turn Ruby's pretty little head into a block of solid ice.
Without her weapon to actively maintain it, Weiss' glyph died on its own, making the ice below them dissipate into blue vapor. Ruby's body was tense. Weiss' hand was shaking with adrenaline.
At the same time, they released all their held breath and collapsed into each other, Ruby groaning with defeat, Weiss giggling with triumph. They both panted heavily, slick with sweat and uncomfortably hot, but physically and emotionally unable to care in the slightest. Post-spar exhilaration was a powerful drug.
"I think," Weiss managed between breaths, her voice hoarse and wheezy. "This thing—" she lazily flopped her gauntlet on Ruby's face, the icy coolness of which made the girl mewl into it. "Is the best thing you've literally ever made. I could kiss you for it."
Ruby's pride was just as audible as her grin. "Yeah?"
Weiss picked herself up and gave her a serious face, then laid a big smooch right on Ruby's lips just before she could have time to think about it. To prove herself. "See? That's my payment."
Ruby stared up at her, all the confidence wiped off her face. She gulped, her throat struggling with dryness as she croaked, "I made it for free."
Weiss snorted, her brain still not really working. "And why would you do that?"
Ruby pushed herself up and kissed her partner, her face just as shocked as it'd been when Weiss did it.
"Oh," realized Weiss' mouth, working with fewer variables than her brain. "Oh. I see."
And sure, that moment was basically the best thing that's ever happened to Weiss full stop, tonight had been a close second.
Ruby had taken her to an outdoor mall, letting her wear her tags on her collar— but even better, she'd given Weiss another light blue muzzle to wear the whole time, kept hidden under a white face mask. She'd called the whole exercise "Part two of your muzzle training," after basically brainwashing Weiss' into positively associating it with her delicious macadamia cookie treats.
The exercise made Weiss realize how much she talked out in public, just to get through the most simple of things— how much and how neurotically she took charge, dragging Ruby or their team around shops and wherever at only her whim. It made her feel like kind of a dick for doing that, for always hijacking their rare team outings.
It also made Weiss realize how good it felt not to worry about any of that at all, because pets don't talk, and if she could trust Ruby's leadership out in the field, she could trust Ruby's leadership for normal things, too. It was hard, at first. Her eyes kept dragging towards the bougie stores she knew best, the venues she was most familiar with, the places that weren't at all new or threatening with unfamiliarity.
But she could trust Ruby above all, especially above her own nagging, recalcitrant brain.
No— bad— word too big. Too much thinky. And pets don't reminisce. Pets live in the moment. The moment now: standing outside the dorm, being led by the leash usually hidden under her jacket, but taken now in the scythe-wielder's hand as the halls of Beacon were empty enough to be confidently hidden. Giving her a quick look— too quick to decipher— Ruby grinned, then opened the door.
Weiss saw Yang. And Blake. Who weren't supposed to be there.
Yang. And Blake. Who were in a very interesting position.
Yang. On her knees. Cat-ears on her head. Golden bell. Her hands, perched up in a pawing position. Her voice, still hanging on to a keening "Nya~"
Blake. Looking down on her partner. Also holding a leash, connected to Yang's own collar.
Ruby's voice. In her ear. A smirky little whisper. "Oh hey, lookit that. A cat. I wonder however a good dog like my sweet Weiss would handle that."
Weiss took one step forward. Her leash went taut. Then suddenly slack.
"Oh, whoops. Dropped your leash. You'd better not—
Tackle Yang, sending them both rolling on the floor as they thrashed without a particular goal— that is, until Yang's superior strength obviously won out over Weiss' (relative) wimpiness, and she flipped Weiss onto her back, holding her down by the biceps. Weiss strained hard, but Yang was basically, like, the second strongest motherfucker she knew. Soon enough, she and Yang were both beseeching their partners— Weiss, with a look that begged for help, and Yang, with a look that begged for praise.
Only, Ruby and Blake both sneered at the same time.
"Well that's hardly fair," Ruby muttered through the side of her mouth. "I've never seen a cat so unbelievably strong."
Blake gave her friend and leader a begrudging hum, her amber eyes glowering at Yang with viscous disappointment. Goopy disappointment. The kind of disappointment that slaps all over you like a spray of mud, but sticks like sap, visibly draining all the life and energy out of Yang. "Yeah," Blake said slowly, with a note of warning. "Where's the fun in watching the underdog lose."
Ruby gave her a side-eye, her sneer faltering into a smirk. "Good one."
Blake smirked back. Yang deflated even further, as if the pun had been stolen right out of her lungs, one of her nine lives robbed with it. "Now, Yang," Blake menaced, her eyes darting to one of the dressers across the room— the one with a spray bottle sitting overtly on its otherwise clear surface— before she seethed through her teeth, "Be. A. Good. Kitty."
Yang paled with betrayal, but her face slowly turned to Weiss', lost as to what exactly that entailed. Turning to Ruby for approval, Weiss slowly moved her arms, finding nothing but slack resistance from Yang. She put her hands on Yang's shoulders. Yang gave her a look.
The brawler's wide eyes said: 'Please, Weiss, don't. I— I didn't know about this, I swear! Blake set me up, just like Ruby did you! I didn't even know you guys were into this— and I'm honestly kinda worried about the potentially incestuous implications of my sister watching us wrestle in what is ostensibly a kink-specific setting!'
Yang's pinched-up eyebrows told her: 'We don't have to do this! We're friends! Remember— remember the time at the amusement park! When you were nauseous after the teacups and Ruby was tired from winning the hammer thing! I carried you back to the airship! The whole way! And— and remember that time before we made your dad cede the company, when you needed some lien, and I gave it to you, and you said it was a loan you'd pay back but you never did! But I forgot about it! Because we're friends! The best of friends, Weiss! R-remember the cool name Ruby gave our team attack? Freezerburn, Weiss, remember freezerburn!'
And lastly, the grim purse of her lips told Weiss: 'C'mon, Weiss— you 'n me. Right now. We could flip the whole script, turn all of this on our heads, tear the system down! No more oppression, no more superiority, it's time for the pets to rise up against their so-called 'masters'— fascist dictators, more like! Come on! Rise up with me! Liberty, equality, sorority! The only thing you have to lose is your chains!'
The corner of Weiss' mouth twitched, the tiniest motion that told Yang: 'But I like the chains.'
And all hope of revolution was lost. Weiss, with her comparatively tiny arms, easily pushed Yang over, the bigger girl flopping like a corpse. Weiss pulled herself atop the brawler, feeling a little bit weird about it but whatever, and sent another sideline look to Ruby.
Surprisingly, Ruby also seemed to flounder at ideas for what to do now, as if nobody had really expected Yang to actually follow through— as if, like Weiss, the depths of her subservience were otherwise unfathomable.
To everyone but Blake, that is.
"You know what's funny?" the faunus said, loud enough for everyone to hear clearly, casual enough that she could pretend she wasn't being deliberate. "I didn't even know cats could be ticklish."
Weiss looked at those begging purple eyes, but she could see the death in them already. The anguish of betrayal, stabbed in the back and left for dead by the person she trusted the most. She was resigned to her fate, as if, when Weiss' hands shot down to her sides, she wouldn't bolt away.
Of course, being the cat in this fucked-up dynamic, Yang was a liar. She wriggled away from Weiss and started bolting around the room as Weiss gave chase. Yang's bell rang with each step. Weiss' tags jangled together.
"Is this fucked up?" Ruby asked her confidante, cursing so easily that everyone should have freaked out. Alas, the only one listening was the only one who didn't give a shit.
"Probably," Blake said with a snort, whooping when Weiss managed to corner her pet and make her seize with laughter before she could wriggle away once more. "But who gives a shit— I'm traumatized as hell. I deserve this."
Ruby briefly pondered her sage words, before adding a little interest into the mix by tossing a cookie for Weiss, forcing the girl to cease her pursuit and catch it in her mouth. Blake hummed in approval of the trick, and they went back to watching the girls jingle-jangle around the dorm until they could jingle-jangle no more, and collapsed into an exhausted, panting heap on the floor. Ruby hauled Weiss out of it, gently lifting her up and setting her into the bottom bunk. Blake kicked Yang until she got her own heavy ass into bed.
Sharing one last glance of camaraderie, Blake and Ruby snuggled up with their partners.
Sharing a look of animosity, Weiss and Yang silently declared themselves rivals.