Don't look at Weiss.

Don't. It's not worth it.

Do not. Don't even think about her.

She's literally awful. The worst, even.

So don't look.

No. Stop it.

God-dammit.

Like flies to honey, Ruby's eyes drifted to her partner.

Weiss strode beside her, hands stuffed in the borrowed hoodie's front pocket as she walked, borrowed navy cargos covering just below her knees, with her soles cushioned by her own dingy white canvas shoes.

Why had Ruby assumed she'd be rich? Or regal? She walked without stiffness, looking around less with tourist-wonder and more with genuine wonder, as if she'd been locked in a shipping crate her whole life and this was the first time she'd seen the sun. She was relaxed. There wasn't anything hidden behind her expression, just a gentle almost-but-not-quite-smile on her lips.

And she had her hair down. Ruby hadn't seen her with her hair down. It's always been tied in her signature braid, bangs covering her mangled eye, but now it was free. White locks spilled past her shoulders, contrasting so brightly with the dark hoodie that they looked almost blueshifted, tucked behind her ear to casually display the milky, damaged left eye.

Ruby was slightly taller and already dressed mostly in baggy stuff (or hand-me-downs that barely fit on their own) so the borrowed clothes almost fully swallowed Weiss. She looked like a baby swaddled in dad's bathrobe, her loose sleeves drooping from where her arms crooked into the front pocket, all the fabric folds shifting and bouncing freely with each step or each gentle push of the breeze.

And Ruby stared. She couldn't help it. Weiss looked…

A few years ago, Ruby and her family (two moms, two uncles, plus the singular Yang) had gone out to celebrate Summer's birthday. They went to a nice sushi place, Ruby and Yang were seated with Tai, with the other three across the table from them. It'd been a really great night— the first time Ruby was allowed to try a little alcohol, a heated wine apparently made from rice— and the only one who didn't get at least a little tipsy was Tai. He only ever drank at home, and Yang said he never got drunk-drunk at all.

They'd all been helping themselves to the giant sushi-ship Qrow had graciously bought for the birthday-lady. Ruby really enjoyed the spicy rolls, so she had to engage in ritual chopstick combat repeatedly to defend her precious rolls from mom and Yang. The other adults had pulled Raven into a conversation for which she was immediately and inordinately gripped with childlike giddiness, a side Ruby had never seen, thus never realized it was one of many things Yang inherited from her.

There had been a lot of laughing, a lot of gesticulation from Summer, and a generally pleasant vibe. Raven had offhandedly snatched the hot rice-wine bottle from the table and drained a substantial fill of it, then set it down with a huge sigh. Nobody had objected, nobody had found it interesting or special, nobody had noted it. Nobody but Ruby.

She'd seen her Uncle (Tai, since Qrow didn't usually earn the capital 'U') stop laughing, his face going slack as his gaze fell on Raven. His eyes had taken a gleam, such tranquility in his expression, his lips a ghost of old love remembered. He had looked at her like…

Ruby almost always woke up at the same time as her mom. No alarms, no clocks, just an instinct that had to be another Faunus trait shared between them. At 4:10 every morning, Ruby and Raven would sit at the small, circular dining room table together. Ruby would eat cereal and scroll through her phone. Raven would just sit there and sip her coffee, staring at the adjoining hall like Summer was about to burst in and deliver a fresh tirade. They wouldn't talk for fear of waking mum up, but talking wouldn't feel right anyways.

Then, minutes or hours later, Summer would step through the hallway into the dining room, clad in a robe or a onesie or her wife's shirt and boxers, and she'd do a big stretch and yawn her friggin' lungs out. Raven would stare, her always-consternated look smoothing into something too deep and warm for her face. Once, Ruby had heard her say 'My wife' under a sigh and halfway into her mug, a tone of wonderment in her voice as if she'd briefly forgotten she was married. She'd look at Summer like…

About four months ago, Ruby had picked out a squat bottle of honey-colored whiskey for her uncle's birthday. Qrow had taken his gift without much fanfare, rolling his eyes fondly when he saw her name, recognized the shape of the gift-wrapping, and only with his eyes asked her moms: 'You really let Ruby get me booze?'

Then he'd opened it, and Ruby guessed she'd accidentally picked something familiar, because his old, tired eyes eased into a look more gentle than she'd ever known him to be capable of. He'd stared at that bottle like it was Tai, like it was something familiar and beautiful, like he wanted nothing more than to hold it, to kiss between its brows, to know it.

Ruby shook her head furiously, trying to banish the thoughts, but that got Weiss' attention. She turned to Ruby, one white eyebrow raised, but not frowning even though she really should be. She was going to say her name, ask what's wrong, and Ruby would have to stumble over herself to explain why she'd gotten so deeply lost in memory.

"Ruby?"

A needy twinge stung in the back of Ruby's neck— right where skull met spine— appearing reactively as if hearing the wrong name had summoned it. "Florabel," Ruby tried to correct, cranking her neck back to hit the spot, but now the nerve of her name was awake and battling the one at her neck. She tried massaging the spot, but that only made both of the needs rage in dissatisfaction. She repeated her name, grating out the 'Flor' and leaving 'abel' as an afterthought, because she knew that was the sound she needed. That was the unfilled slot.

"Florabel?" Weiss repeated, sounding unsure, as if she couldn't tell if Ruby was ticcing or if she was trying to correct her, not realizing the correct answer was both.

The sound didn't help. It reminded Ruby of the scratch she couldn't get, which only made her neck feel more enraged, demanding more strain. "I'm fine," Ruby insisted incorrectly, now repeatedly wrenching and un-wrenching her neck uncomfortably, her hands fisted down at her sides. "Fff— Flor—"

Ruby could feel the attention of the passerby, their eyes on her as their boring commute was livened by some crazed street-Faunus, a show-animal trained only to repeat its own name and and try to break its own neck. Ruby screwed her eyes shut against the attention, but she kept feeling their gazes like freeze-dried hands on her skin.

It was supposed to be a normal day. No hurt Weiss, no kissing, no public fuss, a normal relaxing C-day where Ruby could get some time to herself while staying productive. Where was the mistake? Where had she messed up?

"Florabel."

Ruby kept her eyes shut as if it would help. She was firmly rooted in the middle of the sidewalk, now. She couldn't move.

"Florabel, make way, people art—"

Ruby felt someone brush past her— a stiff suit jacket against her own hoodie— and she couldn't tell if the 'animal' she heard was a real whisper or a memory. She went even stiffer regardless, her own name babbling fruitlessly out of her mouth, striking precisely no nerves as her straining neck achieved the same.

"Florabel."

Weiss, not her. Hers sounded the way Ruby wanted her own to sound— she could picture how Weiss' larynx would align for it— as if to taunt her. Weiss' fork-on-porcelain voice scratched all over her ears, awful, scraping, hateful. She hated Ruby and Ruby hated her, but at least her hate was real. Her hate touched Ruby, looked upon her, switched her quantum state to 'yep, this exists' just by casting that baleful gaze her way.

"For god's sake, Florabel, avail these peons the damn-ed sidewalk!"

Another person brushed— no, barged into her, making her stagger. At least Weiss' hate was real. At least Weiss knew her and decided to hate her, at least Weiss considered her, rather than all the 'casual' hate that pushed her away in broad, thoughtless strokes.

"Oi! Watch thyself, troglodyte! Oi! Hey! Flor… ugh, Florabel!"

Hot, gross, and clammy— a hand took Ruby's, tugging her light body along with ease, bumping her against people with neither remorse nor care. Her arm was yanked hard, throwing her in a way she wasn't ready for. Dizziness pooled behind her eyes, leaking up into her brain and cutting off control of her legs, buckling her, but her fall was arrested. One hand roughly clutched the front of her hoodie, the other left her arm and grabbed around her waist. Ruby's vision swam like hell, but the mess of white in front of her was enough to know it was Weiss.

Then she was pulled up and steadied, and Weiss looked at her in a way that made Ruby screw her eyes shut. There was warmth, lips on hers, and the pull had all of Ruby's edges going soft.

But then Weiss left. Her lips just pulled away; she stopped kissing Ruby, and Ruby was surprised to find herself chasing after her nemesis' lips. Ruby straightened, catching herself, but Weiss stayed there. Her right hand was still on Ruby's hoodie, her left arm was still around her waist.

Weiss let her hoodie go. Weiss put that now-free arm around Ruby's back. Weiss hugged her.

Scraggly Weiss, with all her scraggly bones full of heavy bone-stuff, hugged her. Then she separated, looked at Ruby, frowned, and hugged her again even tighter.

There wasn't a pull or anything, just short, hueless, scraggly Weiss, hugging her. Ruby touched Weiss' head, making her separate again, her blue/silver eyes looking at Ruby's expectantly. Ruby kissed her chastely on the lips, pressing their mouths together for all of a few seconds before separating. Ruby furrowed her brow.

Why the hell did she do that?

Worse, she hugged Weiss back, both of them about as stiff and comfortable with the gesture as one would expect— as in not at all— but neither pulled away. Weiss kept her arms around Ruby, and Ruby kept her arms around Weiss, until eventually it felt (somewhat adjacent to) normal.

Weiss' voice vibrated into Ruby's left shoulder. "Florabel?"

"Yeah?"

Weiss adjusted a little, but only seemed to do it to snuggle even closer. "I still hate thee. Beast."

Ruby snorted. "Good."

A moment. "Thou hatest me, yes? Still?"

"Sure." Ruby let another long beat pass. "Weiss?"

Weiss hummed.

"Could we kiss again?"

Weiss pulled away, just enough to look at Ruby without pulling out of the mutual embrace. "Why?"

Ruby fumbled for something, coming up with: "To make sure I still hate you, obviously," and adding "Idiot." just in case Weiss got the wrong idea.

Weiss looked at her, appraising, meanwhile Ruby checked their surroundings— a brick-walled alley beside the sidewalk, sandwiched between two rusty dumpsters— before Weiss' voice made her jump.

"Aye."

Ruby blinked. Her hoodie felt too hot, despite the autumn season sweeping summer away with wind and chill. "R-right. Okay."

Weiss dutifully nodded, her expression inappropriately grave, before closing her eyes and tilting her chin up towards her partner. Ruby stared at her lips. Her horrible lips. Disgusting. Wretched. Sluice gates for the flow of racist bullshit. Ruby hated them. She hated their narrow shape, too thin to kiss without getting a mouthful of chin or philtrum. She hated their color— redder than spilt blood— how it made the rest of her face look sickly in its paleness. She hated how they were smooth, not chapped and scabbed like hers, since Weiss' siphoning healed her more completely than Ruby's Aura cared to. She hated how soft they were, and how she knew how soft they were, because she shouldn't know how soft someone like Weiss Schnee's lips were.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.

She wanted to kill her. She wanted to kick her teeth in. She wanted to punch Weiss in the face. Really hard. Super hard. So hard it… knocked her… stupid lips off… or… something…

Hate. Hate.

Ruby leaned forward hatefully, hating, hate on her lips like poison. She put her mouth on Weiss 'Hey remember all those awful things I said about you and also I hate you' Schnee's mouth. Flesh-to-flesh. Soft lips, pillowy against Ruby's own chapped and mangled ones, awful, awfulawfulawful. And seeing Weiss' face relax as Ruby kissed her? Just terrible. The worst. Disgusting, really, which is why Ruby's hands flew up to cup her partner's cheeks— to hide the face. Obviously.

The kiss was chaste at first. Ruby was good and innocent and she hated Weiss, so she definitely didn't sweep her partner's lips with her tongue, bidding them open. And even if she did, Weiss was obviously a huge slut, because she totally opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, her head levering up whorishly as her lips parted. And Ruby, once-faithful of the Second, did not take her hands from Weiss' face, moving one to cup the back of her neck while the other trailed down until it rested on Weiss' disgusting, bony hip.

It was awful. She hated it so much. That was why she had to keep going, to uncover the depths of her hatred. Her hand shuffled under the hem of Weiss' hoodie, her fingers trembling over the skin of Weiss Schnee's waist. Agonizingly slow, she convinced her hands to slide further north, at least until she knew how much she really hate—

"Well, sal-u-ta— oh!"

Weiss scrambled, her limbs splaying out as she whirled and drew nothing from her hip, having left her sword at school. Regardless, she placed herself in front of Ruby, arms wide, weirdly protective for someone who was all squishy, easily-wrecked meat without an Aura.

"Have at thee!" Weiss yelled— god knows why— waving her hand in the air like her sword was actually just invisible.

The person— a very ginger girl in a white and green traditional-looking dress— cocked her head. "I'm sorry. I thought I heard the sounds of copulation, but clearly you two prefer privacy. Have a good day, Miss Schnee."

The person turned. Ruby reeled. "Wait, copu—"

"Halt!" Weiss yelled, leaping for the girl. It was a terrible jump, and Ruby couldn't keep herself from laughing when Weiss landed face-first like an idiot, about a lifetime away from the ginger. "A-await my rise," Weiss mumbled into the dirty concrete of the alley, one hand flapping weakly towards her partner. "Florabel, help."

Ruby helped her up before the unrotted parts of her brain told her to kick 'er while she's down. Weiss leaned against her for support and sighed, wincing, 100% faking an injury, but Ruby allowed it like the stupid enabler she was. "You know her, Miss Schnee?"

"No?" Weiss answered unsurely. "Do I?"

"No!" the person answered. "I am Penny. It is lovely to meet you."

Ruby started casually inching towards the mouth of the alley. "Lovely to meet you—"

"I did not say it was lovely to meet you," Penny objected, addressing Ruby. "But it is! What is your name?"

Ruby cringed, but kept shuffling herself and her partner back to the street. "I'm, uh…"

She sent her partner a beseeching look, hoping to ascertain whether or not it was safe to give this person her name, only for Weiss to blurt out: "This is Ruby Florabel Branwen Rose, she is my nemesis."

Penny's eyebrows went high. "Oh my. That is something."

"So if thou'rt here to challenge me," Weiss continued boldly. "Thou wilt first be faced with her."

"I didn't agree to that!" Ruby hissed.

"Thou'rt my nemesis! Such a lofty role hath expectations!"

"E— expectations? I just thought we were supposed to beat each other up!"

"Is that what you two were doing?" Penny asked sweetly. "Beating each other's mouths up? With your mouths?"

"No!"

"Nay!"

"So you two were kissing?"

Weiss growled. "Thou'rt deluded to think I would…" her eyes drifted hatefully to Ruby, but all the fire turned to ash the moment their eyes met, and she seemed to have some grand internal conflict that forced her gaze back to Penny. "Er… of course not. Never. Not I."

Ruby couldn't stop herself from snorting. Weiss jabbed her with an elbow.

"Florabel," Penny said slowly, trying the name on her tongue. Ruby cringed.

"Uh, just Ruby," Florabel corrected. "I don't know why she calls me that."

Weiss jabbed her again, hissing, "Thou'st told me to call thee Florabel. Multiple times."

"You started it." Ruby whined.

"And thou'rt perpetuating it!"

"Well sorr-ee if it's friggin' weird now! It's your fault."

Weiss hummed sarcastically. "Mmm, blaming thine own discomfort on others. What more to expect from a Faunus?"

Hearing plain ole racism from Weiss now was honestly just funny, considering how far Ruby's tongue had been…

Ruby coughed, her face rapidly reddening. "Shut up, Weiss."

"Oh, thou'rt stumped?" Weiss mocked, peering at her partner. "Stunned by facts and logic?"

"Why yes, Penny!" Ruby grumbled through her teeth, pulling Weiss tighter to her side. "Yes, we were kissing! Romantically! Sexually!"

"For god's sake, Flora—"

"Yes, Penny! You heard me, don't listen to Weiss!" Ruby locked her arm around Weiss, laying a disgusting kiss on her racist cheek. "My girlfriend is just a massive prude!"