Work Text:
Ruby Rose was not known for her subtlety. She was cheery, sweet as sugar and quick as lightning, racing through thoughts and notions, coming to conclusions and making decisions before most could even take in a breath. Her sister and friends blamed it on her semblance, her father and uncle said otherwise; apparently her mother had been the same way, not that Ruby would have known. It was a useful skill on the battlefield, the ability to look at the situation, assess it, and come up with a strategy that will keep everyone alive and well almost immediately. It also proved useful in social situations. While it had taken her a while to become comfortable enough with people to begin to recognise patterns in behaviour, it was a skill that was worth the effort of learning, and it had ultimately made her a wonderful leader; if her team were off in any way she could spot it and figure out potential issues well before her sister could (which was an incredible feat in her eyes, as her sister had been her social guide for years).
Yang was proud of the leader and person Ruby had become and took great satisfaction in broadcasting this pride whenever Ruby did almost any small thing well. It was endearing, if not a little embarrassing at times, and Ruby could never truly fault Yang for it, given that it was her sister who had raised her for a long time after their mother had passed. The only drawback to these new developments was that Ruby could be just as stubborn as Yang when she was decided on something, perhaps even more stubborn much to everyone’s surprise and chagrin. So, when one day she noticed something seeming off with her partner, she decided to find out what.
Weiss had brushed her off, citing a lack of sleep and exam stress as her reasons for acting strange, but Ruby was not convinced. She knew ‘grouchy because I’m tired’ Weiss and she knew ‘I have so much work to do, leave me alone’ Weiss, and had encountered them both frequently over the years at Beacon; this Weiss was neither of those Weiss’. This Weiss was skittish, jumping whenever people entered the room, and often she was distracted, lost in her own world until she was called from it. She had been avoiding people, mostly Ruby herself the red caped girl noted with a flash of hurt, and had also been speaking to her sister more frequently, often receiving calls that she ‘can’t possibly ignore’ during team practises or downtime.
Ruby Rose was not known for her subtlety, but this required delicacy and finesse, so Ruby Rose would learn.
The first step in Ruby’s master plan was to get Weiss somewhere on her own, somewhere she could feel safe and secure. The last thing Ruby wanted to do was frighten her partner, however, so she needed to have a reason for the outing; simply requesting a stroll through the Emerald Forest wouldn’t be sufficient and she was likely to be refused… The movies! If Ruby asked her to come to see a movie with her, Weiss couldn’t possibly decline! Not unless she wanted to seem like a bad partner. Ruby wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea of manipulating her friend like that, but if it allowed her to get to the bottom of the problem and help her then it would be worth it. Nodding to herself as she went over her plan, she began the search for her partner. First, the dorm rooms. Empty, aside from Blake, who informed her that she had no idea where Weiss was, when Ruby asked, and suggested she check the library. A quick ‘thanks’ and ‘goodbye’ was dropped as Ruby sped off to the library, careful to not trigger her semblance and leave a mess; no one was her fan when they walked out into a rose-petal-littered hallway for some reason. The not-so-young-anymore leader reached the library in good time and began her search for Weiss. A few moments later Ruby found her. Her partner was hunched over a CCT-style terminal having a hushed, but harried, conversation with what appeared to be her sister. Reluctant to interrupt, but not wanting to lose her partner once she was done, Ruby hovered nearby, bouncing slightly on her toes. It was that movement that was spotted by the older Schnee, who appeared to smirk slightly before saying something to Weiss. The heiress snapped her head around so fast that Ruby was worried she might have damaged something, but before she could say as much, Weiss spoke.
“Ruby! What are you doing here? How long have you been there?”
Ok, ‘spoke’ was a generous term. Weiss had almost shouted, but she didn’t sound angry, just startled so Ruby had given her the benefit of the doubt!
“Hey, Weiss! I’ve only just got here, I was looking for you. Sorry, I just didn’t want to interrupt your conversation with your sister.” A pause and then a timid wave and smile. “Hey, Winter.”
“Hello, Ruby. You were not interrupting anything, I actually need to get going. Remember what I said Weiss. Good day to you both.”
Ruby and Weiss had barely gotten their goodbyes out before the screen clicked and the terminal went blank. Weiss didn’t move for a moment, and Ruby had enough time to see her look a little nervous and afraid, before she sighed, schooled her face and turned to her leader.
“So, what did you want to ask me?”
“Weeeeelllllll…” Ruby shot off her most powerful puppy-dog look before continuing. It was a priming strategy that she had used often to get what she wanted. The only member of Team RWBY it didn’t work for was their feline friend (which was completely unfair in Ruby’s humble opinion). The heiress simply raised an eyebrow.
“I was wondering if you would come with me to watch that new awesome Grimm Slayer movie that just came out? Jaune went to see it and said it was awesome and I was thinking we could maybe go and see it together? As partners, y’know?”
This was only a half lie, there was a new Grimm Slayer movie out, but as far as Ruby was aware, Jaune had not been to see it. She would need to corner him later to inform him that, if Weiss asked, he had seen it and loved it. Weiss’ sigh brought her back to the present as the heiress gave Ruby her most unimpressed, deadpan stare.
“Really Ruby? You came looking for me just to ask me to see a movie with you? A Grimm Slayer movie, no less? Why didn’t you ask Yang? That’s far more her speed than mine.”
Was Weiss blushing slightly? There seemed to be a slight pink hue to her cheeks, Ruby noted as she prepared to deliver her final blow to Weiss’ refusal.
“Well, yeah, Yang likes those movies too, but I want to go with you! It feels like we haven’t hung out in ages! I figured we can go and watch the movie that I like and then afterwards we can eat at that fancy little café place that you like. Then we both get to have something fun to do tonight!”
Though she was pouting externally, inside Ruby was doing a jig. The moment she had mentioned not hanging out as much, the heiress bit her lip in guilt and Ruby knew she had her. The bit about the dinner afterwards was just to secure the deal, and if Ruby was truthful she very much enjoyed seeing Weiss so happy and in her element in those fancy places, even if Ruby herself didn’t feel like she fit in all that much. A happy Weiss was a beautiful sight, in Ruby’s personal opinion, which is why her behaviour recently had been so concerning for Ruby. The increase in phone calls with Winter was intriguing. Ruby had to fight a frown at that moment, so as not to arouse Weiss’ suspicions, but if Jacques Schnee (or Jacq-ass Schnee as Yang liked to call him) had done something to upset Weiss again, Yang would have to get in line to break him into pieces, because Ruby would be first in line. Weiss seemed to have been avoiding calls with her father far more frequently than usual recently, and Ruby had never known Winter to call as often as she had.
Weiss’ sigh and resigned ‘fine’ broke Ruby from those thoughts and she allowed herself a little dance and cheer, quietly revelling in the smirk that Weiss tried and failed to hide at her silly antics. At eighteen years of age, the red-caped leader was aware that it was a little childish, but her entire team seemed to find amusement when she behaved like this and she was overjoyed when she could make them all happy. She could be serious when it was necessary, so why not be goofy when she felt like it? Lunging forward, she grabbed Weiss’ hand and shot off, not caring about the reprisals she would likely get for leaving rose petals everywhere, nor for the protests she could hear from her partner. Tonight, she would get to the bottom of what was bothering Weiss and hopefully they could have a good time in the process.
They arrived at their room in record time, Ruby bursting through the door, dropping a red-faced, blustering Weiss on her bed and rushing to her closet. As she chose her clothes for the evening she steadfastly ignored her partner’s ranting about semblances and was buried far to deep in her closet to notice the smirk that Blake was directing at the heiress, who was still blushing deeply. Finding an outfit she liked, she spun around with a triumphant ‘aha!’, brandishing it at Weiss and asking for her opinion. The heiress begrudgingly gave it and with that Ruby shot off to change, telling Weiss to pick something and get changed quick. The last thing she heard before the door closed behind her was her partner’s deep sigh.
The movie was terrible, even by Ruby’s very generous standards. She frowned as she thought of all the cookies she would have to bribe Jaune with to convince him to say it was a good movie. With the way Weiss was ranting about it, the blonde leader would likely be receiving a very wordy explanation on why his taste in movies was so poor. Briefly, Ruby wondered if she should text him to apologise in advanced. Before she had the opportunity to, however, they arrived at their dinner location for the evening. Contrary to what she had made Weiss believe earlier, she actually liked this place. They had eaten here a few times before, and even though it was undoubtedly posh, it was just homely enough to set Ruby at ease. The rustic décor was apparently part of the finesse of the place, as Weiss liked to say when describing it. All Ruby knew was this was the only fancy restaurant with actual prices on the food and the waiters here didn’t all look down their noses at her like they did in some of the other fancy places Weiss had taken her to. After Weiss flashed her fancy, shiny card to the guy at the front (the manatee, or something like that, Weiss had called him) they were quickly seated and provided with a menu. Another benefit to this establishment is that all of the fancy meals had descriptions under the otherwise unidentifiable titles. Ruby ordered the Paccheri with Lamb Ragù (which was totally just a fancy lamb lasagne) as well as a Mockmosa (she couldn’t get drunk if she wanted to figure out what was bothering her partner). Weiss ordered the Smoked Pork Jowl with Pickles and, taking lead from Ruby, ordered the Nojito. If her partner didn’t plan on drinking then she wouldn’t either. With a bow and a promise of quick service the waiter departed, leaving the two young women to their devices.
“Okay, I’ll admit it, that movie was pretty bad.”
“The movie wasn’t just bad, Ruby, it was horrendous.”
“Yeah, okay, so not their greatest work ever, but come on! There were some good parts! And Jenny and Sarah finally got together in this one, I’d been waiting for that for ages!”
Weiss was as pale as her namesake at that. She cleared her throat subtly and decided to probe. “Oh? I didn’t know you wanted them to be in a relationship?”
Oblivious, Ruby ploughed on. “What!? Of course I did! They had been dancing around each other for the past three Grimm Slayers! It was getting to be ridiculous. Them getting together was the saving grace of this movie, the literal only reason I would ever watch it again. Honestly, I am disappointed, I thought this would be a good…” The red-caped leader trailed off as she noticed Weiss’ intense stare. “Weiss? You okay?”
“It doesn’t bother you? That they’re both women, I mean?”
“What? No? Why would it bother me? Wait, does it bother you?” If it did, things would get pretty awkward between team RWBY, given both Ruby and Yang’s preferences.
“No! I- No of course not! I just, I-I didn’t know you- What I mean to say is-I-"
Pained to see her teammate so clearly uncomfortable, Ruby reached forward and took Weiss’ hand.
“Weiss? What’s wrong? Listen, okay so I have to tell you something… Jaune didn’t actually suggest this movie, I kinda wanted to ask you so I could talk to you.” Weiss seemed to hold her breath for a reason unknown to Ruby. “You’ve been acting… odd lately. Like ‘Blake with the Fang’ odd. Is everything alright? You know you can talk to me, don’t you?”
At least it’s out in the open and she didn’t have to bribe Jaune, Ruby thought, while waiting for her partner to gather herself. The heiress let out a rush of air and opened her mouth to speak, right as the waiter returned with their drinks.
“The food will arrive shortly, but perhaps you would like some flowers to set the mood for your date, young miss’?”
Weiss’ hushed, startled “We’re not on a date!” and snatching back of her hand took Ruby aback, but she composed herself quickly.
“Sorry, you misunderstand sir. My friend has been going through a hard time recently, we’re simply here because she enjoys this establishment and I wanted to cheer her up. The flowers will be unnecessary, but thank you for the drinks.”
The waiter nodded and bowed shortly, before scurrying off as quickly as possible. Ruby looked over to find Weiss sitting with her head in her hands.
“So… want to tell me what that was all about?” She saw, more than heard, the full body sigh Weiss let out at that. The heiress lifted her head, and Ruby was concerned to note that her lower lip was trembling, but before she could comment on anything, Weiss drew in a deep breath and seemed to steel her nerves. Nodding to herself once, Weiss spoke.
"Ruby, there is something I have to tell you. It has come to my attention recently that I… Well, I am not as I thought I was. It was not a realisation I was prepared for, and I was hoping to process it without worrying you or Yang or Blake, but clearly that did not work, seeing as we are here. I-Um, well, I’m gay. And I like someone. A lot. That’s actually how I figured it out and that’s why I have been taking so many calls with Winter. She has been… coaching me on how to approach father with this new information. I am very reluctant to do so, but I obviously can’t keep him in the dark forever. I was also unsure as to how I would inform our team. Your, uh, your opinion means a great deal to me, so I wanted to be confident before I told you all…”
Weiss had gotten quieter and smaller as she spoke, shying away from Ruby and curling in on herself, which sent a pang of hurt for her friend through her. Weiss was scared of how she would react. Well, Ruby thought to herself, that wouldn’t do at all. She reached over and grasped Weiss’ hand again, happy to see she didn’t resist the movement, but instead looked up at Ruby through her lashes with hopeful eyes. Ruby’s voice was soft and reassuring as she spoke.
“Hey, Weiss that’s okay you know. First of all, if it makes you feel better I’m also gay. And Yang is pansexual. Honestly, I’m pretty surprised you didn’t know that, she’s pretty blatant with her flirting. I don’t know about Blake, but she’s spent most of her life being oppressed because she’s a faunus so do you really think she’ll treat you poorly for being gay? If anything, she’ll like you more, you know she loves a good social justice protest.” The light humour did its trick, drawing a small smile from Weiss and causing her posture to relax slightly.
“As for your dad, well I don’t know about how that’ll go down, but your sister is clearly fine with it and you know that Team RWBY will always have your back! You can relax Weiss, the only thing that’s going to change is Yang will make inappropriate comments about girls instead of boys to you now.” She paused for a moment in thought. “Oh, and she’ll probably make super weird shower room jokes and stuff. That’s what she did to me when I came out to her. You know how I never use the showers if Pyrrah is there? Yang is the reason for that.”
Ruby does an exaggerated shudder and its enough to crack the remaining tension in Weiss’ frame, as she giggles. The waiter arrives with the food and ‘a complementary bread basket as an apology for the earlier mistake’ and the pair eat mostly in silence, occasionally talking about various school stuff or complaining about the movie. As they finish up and decide to pass on desert, Ruby speaks up once more.
“Oh! So who is it?” Weiss raises an eyebrow in confusion at the sly smirk Ruby is sporting, but waits until after the meal is paid for and they’re leaving to reply.
“Who’s what?” Impossibly, Ruby’s smirk grows into an even slyer cheshire-cat grin.
“The girl. The one who helped you figure everything out.” In a millisecond Weiss’ pale face floods scarlet as she begins to stammer. Ruby nudges her with her shoulder as she wriggles her eyebrows suggestively at the heiress. Finally, Weiss manages to form some intelligible sentences.
“I don’t think that’s very important right now. I don’t want to tell you that.” Ruby pouts.
“Oh come onnn! You can tell me, I won’t tease you or anything! Is it someone I know?” Somehow Weiss goes redder and begins to silently, yet rapidly, shake her head.
“Come on, tell me! I wanna know!”
“Ruby, please…”
The whine is so uncharacteristic that Ruby is taken aback.
“Is it really that bad? What, is it Yang or something?” she shudders at the thought, “oh god. Okay, if it’s Yang that’s weird, because I’m pretty sure she thinks of you as a sister, but I’ll totally support you because you’re my best friend even though it’s totally weird that you’re crushing on my sister, but that’s okay because you can’t help who you like and-”
She’s cut off by a swift, firm, yet soft kiss.
It happens so fast that even Ruby, with all her speed, can’t respond fast enough, yet somehow feels like it lasts a lifetime. When Ruby comes back from her daze she spots Weiss, curled in on herself, arms folded protectively and looking everywhere but at Ruby. “It’s not Yang, it’s you.” It comes out as barely a whisper, but Ruby can hear it as clearly as she can hear the blood rushing through her veins. Her lips buzz, thrumming with need to be connected once more. Instinct, raw and primal, forces her forward into Weiss’ space before she can so much as flinch and suddenly their lips are connected once more. This time Weiss is too stunned to respond, but Ruby continues knowing she will once the shock subsides. When she does it’s electric.
They separate, breathing hard, lips swollen read and eyes dilated and wide, staring hard at each other. Weiss speaks first, clearing her throat.
“So I guess that means you like me back.”
It’s not a question, because she already knows the answer. Ruby nods anyway, licking her lips and not missing how Weiss’ eyes follow her tongue.
“We should head back, or we’ll miss the airship.” Ruby’s voice has a raw, low quality to it that wasn’t there before and Weiss hates and loves how it sends shivers down her spine. She nods and they set off together. Somewhere along the line their hands connect and small smiles bloom on both of their faces. On the airship they sit close and if you asked her, Ruby would never admit to the sheer joy she felt at something as simple as Weiss resting her head on Ruby’s shoulder and dosing slightly on the flight.
When they land at Beacon, it takes them far too long to get back to their dorm room. They giggle together as they chase each other under the moon in a lovers game of tag, kisses marking captures and tickles as they tackle each other, young and playful and full of love. As they reach their door, both flushed and wearing the dopiest of smiles, Ruby takes the opportunity to kiss Weiss long and deep, and when they part and rest their foreheads together Weiss whispers into the space between them “Will you be my girlfriend?” And Ruby grins impossibly large and nods and scatters kisses all over Weiss’ face as she giggles and blushes deeply.
They all but fall through the door, but find the room empty, which isn’t that strange to them. Weiss requests they change (separately, of course) and then they both crawl into Weiss’ bed and prop a scroll between them to watch some cheesy movie that neither remembers come morning, and they kiss and they kiss and they kiss. They fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms wearing small, contented smiles. When Yang wakes them in the morning with jokes about partners and the meaning of words, Ruby grins bright and large and dips Weiss, kissing her soundly and laughing at the shock on her sister’s face and the bright crimson she paints onto Weiss’ face. Blake smirks and whispers something into Yang’s ear, causing her to frown, grumble and place a twenty lien note into Blake’s hand. Weiss yells, Yang laughs, Blake smirks, and Ruby watches it all with a sickeningly fond smile. She loved this silly family and she wanted everyone to know, after all Ruby Rose was not known for her subtlety.