Ruby sighed softly as she entered team RWBY's dorm, tossing her backpack into the corner near the makeshift bunk bed which they had fashioned as a team. The dark-haired girl shook her head to herself, believing herself to be alone in the dorm. She knew for a fact that Yang and Weiss had business elsewhere, which led her to expect Blake to be busy as well. The fact that the black-haired Faunus girl could be in the room with her didn't cross her mind as she slumped down against the door, groaning softly and stretching out her limbs. For the first time since she had gotten out of bed that morning, the normally quite energetic girl had a chance to sit still, relax, and shut her eyes for a short bit.
“Rough day?” asked a soft voice from the far corner of the room inquisitively, followed by the gentle turn of a page. Ruby responded to her teammate almost automatically, without even realizing that she wasn't alone in the room.
“You have nooo idea...” Ruby muttered softly, running a hand through her relatively short black hair. As she dropped her hand back down to her side, she not only realized that she was speaking to another member of her team, she also came to the realization of just who was in the room with her. “Blake?” she asked hesitantly, opening one eye and meeting the gaze of the tall, black-haired Faunus sitting cross-legged on her bed. “Oh, hey Blake... I didn't realize you were in the room.” Ruby said under her breath, pushing herself up from the ground and walking over towards her own bed. She made sure to be careful as she climbed the ladder, so as to not disturb the pristine condition which her partner had left it in. Mostly due to not wanting to have to experience another of the lectures given by the aptly nicknamed “Ice Queen”. Lifting herself up onto the top bunk, Ruby allowed herself to sprawl out, pushing the miscellaneous books out of her much-needed relaxation space. Out of all of her teammates, Ruby for certain was the one with the messiest bed. Weiss of course kept her's perfect in every regard, with Blake keeping her bed relatively neat as well. Yang's bed wasn't much better than Ruby's but she at the very least made an attempt at fixing it up every morning. For the life of her Ruby couldn't understand why, considering Yang had never cared about that sort of thing back home.
The young leader pushed those thoughts from her mind as she shifted her position on the bed slightly, just enough so that she could comfortably turn her head to look across the room at Blake. “Blaaaaake~?” Ruby called over to her cat-eared friend in an attempt to break the silence.
“Hmm? What is it, Ruby?” Blake asked, lifting her gaze from the pages of her novel and slotting a bookmark between the pages and closing it as she allowed her amber eyes to shift over towards the younger girl. With Yang seemingly preoccupied with this, that, and the other thing, Blake had served as a sort of confidant to Ruby as of late. She had almost begun to look forward to the conversations she had with Ruby after arriving home each day. Though they weren't much of conversations, what with Ruby being so talkative as opposed to Blake's quiet demeanor, but Blake honestly didn't mind. She would never admit it, but she found it somewhat charming how casual and genuinely happy Ruby was most of the time.
Ruby gazed away from her amber-eyed teammate, if only for a moment, before asking her question. “What do..” the silver-eyed girl hesitated, unsure of how exactly to phrase her question without coming off as nosy. “Why do you think Weiss and Yang have been so busy lately?” she asked, letting her silver eyes slowly travel back to meet with Blake's.
Blake chuckled softly, a small smile playing on the corners of her lips. She too had noticed that Weiss and Yang had been going out much more frequently lately, but she had also realized that inside the dorm they seemed to act somewhat awkward towards each other. All this evidence added up to only one conclusion for Blake, which apparently Ruby hadn't been able to see. “To me it seems like they may be dating.” she said rather calmly, though she couldn't help but laugh a bit when she saw Ruby's face light up in a mixture of surprise and intrigue. “Really so surprised? Considering how close you and Yang are I'm surprised you didn't figure it out first.”
“Lately I've barely seen her...” Ruby said, looking somewhat saddened by the fact as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and crossed her legs. She couldn't help but smiling, giggling even, as she realized the weight of what Blake had said. “You really think they're dating? Weiss and Yang?” the younger girl asked, lowering her voice somewhat childishly, as if their two teammates could hear Blake and Ruby gossiping. Blake had to lift a hand to her mouth to try and stifle her laughter at seeing just how excited Ruby was over the prospect of Yang and Weiss being in a relationship. “Though that would explain why Yang has been tidying up her bed..” Ruby mused, trying to think of anything else strange she had noticed about the white-haired ice queen and her blonde, hothead of a sister as of late.
Blake blinked a bit as she tried to think about what Ruby had just said. “Wait, Yang has been cleaning her bed?” she questioned, even she hadn't noticed, so she was somewhat surprised that Ruby had. She leaned over the side of the bed and gazed down at her partner's noticing that it had, in fact, been tidied up. Marginally, but now that she had a chance to look, it was in fact noticeable. She presumed that if her assumption about Yang and Weiss had been correct, then the only reason her stubborn partner would budge even slightly would be a request from Weiss. “Huh. I guess she did. Anyway, have you really not noticed how weird they've been acting towards each other lately? Avoiding eye contact, any contact really?” Blake asked, honestly somewhat confused as to how Ruby hadn't noticed.
Ruby simply shrugged. “I mean, they didn't really talk too much before.. But now that you mention it, you're right. Like, yesterday morning...”
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Ruby yawned, stretching her arms a bit. She'd just woken up not five minutes ago, but she was already starving for breakfast. Weiss had happened to be awake as well, and so against her better judgment, the Schnee heiress had decided to walk with her less-than-graceful partner that morning. Now that they were on their way back, however, she was regretting that decision.
Ruby hadn't been watching where her arms were swinging when she decided to yawn, knocking Weiss's coffee cup from her hands and sending it spiraling to the floor, dirtying not only the floor itself, but Weiss's sleepwear as well. “Ruby, you absolute - !” Weiss began, however she shut her mouth almost immediately as she heard a familiar voice call over in their general direction.
“Hey Ruby!” the tired redhead's sister called, hurrying over without seeing what had just happened. Looking over at Weiss, the blonde-haired girl also grew somewhat more quiet, or at least less excited than she had been just moments before. Weiss was evidently deflated to the point where she no longer felt like yelling at Ruby. Not for lack of trying of course, as she continued to stammer a bit as her gaze flitted quickly between Yang and Ruby.
“Ugh!” was what Weiss finally settled on, in fact it was probably all she could manage as she stamped her foot down and stormed off away from the dorms. Ruby, thoroughly confused, gazed to Yang looking for answers. What she got instead, was her sister standing there rather awkwardly. The older girl ran a hand through her own blonde hair, following Weiss with her eyes for a moment before she was snapped back to reality by her sister's curious voice.
“Um, Yang?” Ruby asked, lifting herself up on the tips of her toes in a rather comedic fashion. “Hello? Earth to Yang~?” Ruby waved her hand in front of her sister's face. “You alright, sis?”
“Uh, yeah. Fine, Ruby.” the blonde said, a response which seemed to satisfy her sister. It was at the very least enough to keep Ruby from asking any more questions, as the silver-eyed girl seemed to rush off in the direction of their room. Yang sighed to herself, shaking her head before she headed off to go find where Weiss had run off to.
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“I see..” Blake stated, nodding her head gently as Ruby finished her tale. “That would also explain why Weiss had a change of clothes sitting on the end of her bed with a note on top.. She was quick to hide that away as fast as possible once she got back yesterday, and if I had to take a wild guess I'd say it was left by Yang.”
“Aww, so romantic~!” Ruby exclaimed teasingly, laughing a bit at the brilliance of her own teasing remark. “I wonder if they've kissed yet!” Ruby wondered with a gasp, causing Blake to raise an eyebrow and tilt her head at the rather excited girl across the room from her.
“You seem awfully interested in Yang's escapades. Any particular reason?” Blake questioned, opening her book back up and beginning to read from where she left off while still keeping her ears focused on Ruby. She also gazed up at the other girl occasionally, though she couldn't discern why she felt the need to do so.
“Well, when me and Yang were younger, we'd always joke about how sappy that sort of stuff seemed.. In fact, we sort of made up a little contest back then, and whoever got their first kiss first was the winner.. Childish, yeah.. I doubt she even still remembers.” Ruby explained, running a hand through her short red and black hair, a slight smile playing on her lips as she reminisced about how long ago all that seemed now that she was at Beacon.
“Childish, maybe... Definitely cute though.” Blake commented with a soft chuckle, her focus on her book preventing her from seeing the pink color which her teammate's cheeks adopted at her comment. Blake didn't realize exactly how what she had said could be taken, that is until she gazed over and saw how Ruby's face had lit up red as a result.
Flustered somewhat by Blake's comment, Ruby was just barely able to stammer out a response. “Y-you think I'm cute..?” She rubbed the back of her head somewhat awkwardly, trying to act cool as she saw Blake gazing at her. She barely registered that Blake's cheeks gained a slight blush as they locked eyes somewhat awkwardly. As if on cue, both of them looked away from each other and muttered to themselves.
“Sorta, yeah...” Blake finally stated to break the silence, her left ear twitching slightly as she moved her now closed book out of her lap, knowing for a fact that she'd probably not get any more use out of it that day. “I mean, yes.. Yes I do.” she said, gazing back over at Ruby as she regained her composure. For the first time, she found herself unable to clearly read how Ruby felt from just the look on her face. Seeing this, Blake felt a knot in her stomach, though she couldn't exactly figure out why.
“Do you, you know..” Ruby finally spoke up, though it was more of a squeak. Her voice lowered to a whisper, of course easily heard by Blake's heightened Faunus hearing, as she continued. “Do you like me the same way Yang and Weiss like each other?” Ruby gulped as she asked the question, fearing for her friendship with Blake as a result of the situation they'd found themselves in.
“I mean, I haven't really thought about that.. I mean, I guess I do, I just never really realized..” Blake explained, unsure if /she/ even knew how she felt about her leader. Did she really like Ruby in that way?
“So, should we like... Date, or something? Maybe?” Ruby asked, feeling her face heat up with every word she spoke, and as she gazed over at Blake she knew that the black-haired girl was feeling the same awkward unsureness, just from how red Blake had gotten while trying to ignore it. “I mean, I really like you too... You're cool, you always manage to stay so calm.. We both like books, I think you're really pretty, your weapon is amazingly cool, you're smart...” she said, feeling a lump in her throat which felt like it grew with each trait she pointed out about Blake. More and more as she spoke, she realized that she really did like the cat-eared girl as more than just simple friends. “And now I'm rambling, which is never good and I should probably just shut up now but then it would be really awkward, and now I'm all out of things to say soooo...” the silver-eyed girl's voice trailed off, the silence saying more about the tension in the room than words could describe.
“Ruby... Wait, Ruby.” Blake said, calling after Ruby as she got a whiff of the familiar rosy scent which indicated that her leader had used her semblance, and as she gazed over she saw a trail of rose petals in the air which led out of the now open door. A few moments later, Yang came running into the room with a worried expression on her face. “Blake? What's up with Ruby?” the blonde-haired girl asked as she entered the room. Blake rubbed the back of her head, not sure what exactly she could say to Yang.
“Things.. Stuff, it's fine, Yang, I just... I just need to go talk to her.” Blake stated as she hopped down off of her bed and walked towards the door. As she moved to walk past Yang, the blonde grabbed a hold of her arm, watching Blake's face. Blake could see just how worried Yang really was about her sister, which further confirmed for her just how close the two were. As they met gazes for just a moment, there was a sort of understanding between them, a trust of sorts.
“Go get 'er tiger.” was all Yang said to Blake before letting her go to run after Ruby.
Blake followed the sparse trail of rose petals through Beacon's halls, the petals and their scent fading as she walked alongside them, tracking the one person who could have caused them. The cat-eared Faunus felt the knot in her stomach begin growing again as she realized just how long she had been walking, how long she had been following Ruby's trail. She shook her head, having to reassure herself that everything would work out, that she would be able to work things out with Ruby. She certainly had her doubts however, considering that she had been the one to get herself into this mess.
The cat-eared Faunus stopped for a moment, gazing down the hallway ahead of her as she realized just where the trail was leading. She had seen Ruby there before, back when Weiss still hated her, after a particularly harsh tirade on Weiss's part sent Ruby running out of the room. Blake had been the one who had to go looking for Ruby, since Yang had been out at the time. In fact, Yang had only found out about that situation after it had already passed, and had been impressed with how Blake had been able to calm Ruby down. This was the same trail she had followed Ruby along before, so she knew where Ruby was. With this in mind, she broke into a run, heading in the direction of the library. Sure enough, that was exactly where the trail led. Unfortunately for Blake, the entrance to the library was where the trail stopped. Looking around, she frowned slightly to herself. “Ruby?” she called, hoping for any sort of response from the silver-eyed girl she was looking for. Having no such luck, Blake shook her head as she began to search between the shelves.
Ruby looked around, tears forming at the corners of her silver eyes as she sat there, curled up in the corner of the library. It was the most secluded and least-used part of the library outside of exam weeks, a perfect spot for her to mope all she wanted without interruption – or so she thought, at least, until she heard Blake calling her name. She'd forgotten that the black-haired girl knew this hiding spot. She could barely stop herself from calling out for Blake in this instance, from clinging onto her just as she had before. Burying her face in her knees, she tried to simply block out the world. She wondered how long she had actually felt like this about her teammate. She thought long and hard, looking back on all their time together as teammates, and realized that she'd fallen for Blake the moment they'd met. Blake didn't talk down to her or hate her like Weiss did at the time, and she didn't treat Ruby like a child like so many others had, including her own sister. She thought back to the last time she'd had to come here, after being thoroughly berated by Weiss. She was brought out of her apparent daydream by the feeling of a calm hand on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, and the first thing she saw captivated her. Amber eyes, filled with worry, gazed back at her.
“Ruby...” Blake said softly, locking eyes with the younger girl as she knelt down beside her, a hand on the girl's shoulder. She saw the tears at the corners of Ruby's eyes, a slight frown coming to her lips as she lifted her other hand to wipe them away. “Don't cry, Ruby.. What's wrong?” she asked, gently rubbing her teammate's shoulder in an attempt to console her. She drew her hand back slightly however when Ruby shook herself to remove it.
“Go away..” Ruby mumbled as she tore her gaze away from Blake, as hard as it was for her to do considering how much comfort she felt in them.
“Ruby, just please tell me what's wrong.. I'm here for you, please.” Blake pleaded, moving to grab Ruby's hand gently in both of her own, rubbing her finger gently across the girl's knuckles. “I can tell something's bothering you, you wouldn't have run off to come here otherwise..” Ruby could hear the worry in her friend's tone of voice. Looking back up at the girl, Ruby blushed softly after realizing that, technically, the two were holding hands.
“Um.. It's just.. I don't know..” Ruby sighed, confused, as she squeezed down tightly on Blake's hand. Under her breath, she spoke to herself, a whisper barely audible even to Blake's own hearing. “Please don't let go...”
“Ruby – “
“God Weiss was right, I'm such a clumsy dolt!” Ruby said, not intending to interrupt what Blake had to say. “Sorry for making you worry about somebody like me, Blake...” Blake felt Ruby's grip on her hand loosen, bringing a frown to her lips.
“Ruby, you don't need to apologize, you did nothing wrong...” Blake whispered softly, leaning in to press her forehead gently against Ruby's. She felt her cheeks burning with a blush, something she saw reflected on the younger girl's face. “You're not a dolt, either.. You're one of the best people I know.”
“But.. You're so, well, perfect.. And I'm not...” Ruby felt tears welling up in the corners of her eyes again, and as she blinked she could feel them start streaming down her cheeks. “It was stupid of me to think you actually liked me, I mean –”
“Ruby.” Blake said, interrupting Ruby before she began rambling again, knowing that it definitely wouldn't help the situation. “I'm definitely not perfect, but you're an amazing person in your own right. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. First of all, you're cute..” Blake gulped before continuing, feeling her cheeks grow hotter. “You're funny, you're an amazingly skilled fighter, and you're a great leader...”
“Do... Do you really mean it?” Ruby asked hopefully, gazing into the girl's amber eyes. As she saw just how serious Blake was, she knew in her heart of hearts that Blake spoke the truth, even if she didn't truly believe that she was really all that amazing. She was certainly flattered that Blake cared enough to do this for her, in fact she couldn't help but smile a bit despite the stains that the tears left on her cheeks. “Thanks, Blake...”
Seeing Ruby smile warmed Blake's heart, and she returned the smile in kind. She kept Ruby's hand firmly held in her own, threading their fingers together as she lifted the other hand gently to her friend's shoulder. As she leaned forward further, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she realized what she was doing, and that she was too far in to stop as she felt her lips gently press against Ruby's. Just as soon as the kiss started, it had stopped, both girls gasping slightly as they got a chance to breathe.
“Did we.. Did we just..” Ruby placed a hand gently to her lips, gazing down at her fingertips for just a moment before staring back into those beautiful amber eyes. “We just kissed, didn't we.” Ruby said, realization donning on her as she squealed happily.
“Yes, Ruby. Yes we did.” Blake spoke softly, caressing Ruby's cheek and smiling at how excitable she was.
“Does that mean we're dating now~?” Ruby asked, tilting her head and staring at Blake, who was rendered completely unable to resist by the power of Ruby's puppy-dog eyes, which the girl how to use so well.
“Yes.” Blake replied simply, feeling her heart flutter when she saw how Ruby's eyes lit up. She realized in that moment just how much she disliked seeing Ruby unhappy. “Just, please do me a favor, Ruby.”
“Yeah? What is it, Blake?” Ruby questioned, tilting her head in the opposite direction curiously.
“Please, don't ever lie to me about your feelings. You know I'll always listen to whatever you have to say. And if you have a secret, my lips are sealed.” Blake said honestly, her eyes widening with surprise as she felt Ruby's arms close tightly around her waist, the smaller girl pulling her down into a hug.
“Do we tell the others?” Ruby asked, staring up at Blake.
“I mean, I don't see why not. You know how much Yang is going to tease us though, right?” Blake stated, chuckling a bit. She knew her partner well, and she knew that they would pretty much never hear the end of this.
“Eh, I'm used to it. Of course, if you're right about her and Weiss, I can just tease them right back!” Ruby exclaimed, giggling mischievously.
“We should probably get going back to the room.” Blake reasoned as she stood, pulling Ruby up with her and grabbing hold of her hand. “Yang seemed really worried about you when she saw you running off.”
Ruby smiled softly. “Yeah that definitely sounds like her. She always worries about me whenever I'm anything but happy.”
“Probably because it's so unlike you to mope around.” Blake said as she started to walk towards the exit of the library, leading Ruby along by her hand. The silver-eyed girl blushed softly, but followed along without complaint.
As they arrived back at the closed door of their room, Ruby and Blake both looked each other in the eyes for a moment, each taking a deep breath as they prepared themselves for the inevitable taunting that they both expected from their blonde-haired teammate. When they opened the door however, they were greeted with something that they hadn't expected to see with their own eyes. A romantic moment between Weiss and Yang, who were sitting on Yang's bed mid-kiss. They were apparently each too distracted by the other to notice Ruby and Blake entering the room.
That is, until Ruby squealed with joy at the sight, causing the formerly lip-locked girls to both snap their gazes in Ruby's direction. Upon seeing Ruby, and the taller black-haired girl standing beside her, their faces both turned a deep red. It was much more noticeable on Weiss' rather pale complexion of course, but Blake couldn't help but chuckle at how embarrassed Yang was that they had been caught red-handed, as well as red-faced.
“Hey.” Blake greeted as she shut the door behind her, blushing softly as she saw exactly why the two girls on the bed were staring at her and Ruby. Other than, of course, the fact that they had just interrupted a moment. Yang and Weiss both had their eyes locked on Blake and Ruby's interlocked fingers. They looked to each other, knowing exactly what it meant.
“So, I guess you two worked things out?” Yang teased, not even needing a verbal answer from either her partner or her sister. She saw how red they got from her teasing, and she knew exactly what had happened. Or at least, she knew her version of how she assumed things went down.
“Yeah. And you two, you're...?” Blake goaded, if only to see just how embarrassed one situation could make the Schnee heiress sitting beside Yang.
Apparently, the answer to that question was simple. Very, very embarrassed. Weiss's face turned even redder, if that was at all possible, as Yang put an arm around her and replied to Blake's question with a simple “Together? Yup.” The blonde then looked to Ruby, a bit of a grin on her face. “So, little sis, who do you think won our little contest from way back when? Because I'm pretty sure I did~!” she teased as she leaned over and kissed her white-haired girlfriend on the cheek. “So, what are you two going to do now? Read a book together or something?” Yang joked, knowing that both girls had fallen asleep reading several times in the past. Ruby had a long history of doing so, going all the way back to when Yang used to read the younger girl fairy tails to lull her to sleep.
“Yaaaang!” Ruby complained, causing Yang to laugh. Blake had to stifle her own soft chuckling at how close the sisters were that they could joke like this, and she noticed that even the ice queen cracked a smile.
“Well, all's well that ends well this time around.” Blake stated. “Don't you think so, Ruby?”
Ruby leaned up with a smile, standing on her tip toes to give Blake a small kiss on the cheek. “Duh.” she replied rather bluntly, giggling softly as she saw how she made Blake go red.