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Before they started, Weiss insisted on laying down some ground rules.
“First of all,” Weiss started off as the door’s lock clicked shut behind them. Ruby was so giddy she had to make a conscious effort to hear what Weiss was saying. “No marks on the neck or collarbone.”
“Right.”
A pale finger tapped Ruby on the chin, bringing her eyes back up form the aforementioned area.
“I’m serious. No marks will be left in places where the whole world and their scrolls can see. I will not walk into training practice looking like all those other hormone-addled fools.”
Ruby frowned in puzzlement.
“But, couldn’t you just wear a scarf or something?” As Ruby spoke, her hand came up to brush absentmindedly along the underside of Weiss’s finger, drawing tingling lines and a faint shiver from the heiress.
“And the first thing everyone at Beacon will do is wonder why I had the sudden change in wardrobe.” Weiss captured the distracting fingers firmly in her own. “Then your sister will wink, and Blake will smirk, and Pyrrha with nearly cripple us both with a pat on the back- I don’t even want to imagine Nora’s reaction…”
With a shake of her head Weiss aimed a determined glare at her partner.
“If we are going to do this then we keep it private. Agreed?”
Ruby’s eyes were elsewhere again.
“Ruby.”
This time she was looking at their entwined hands, her face the dictionary definition of goofy delight.
Weiss felt her lips twitch in the beginnings of an exasperated smile.
“Ruby Rose, are you going to spend the rest of the day just staring at me?”
“No.” The dolt giggled, lifting their hands and giving them a little side-to-side swing. “But holding hands is really nice!”
“Dolt, of course it is…”
Something between a sigh and a laugh left Weiss as she slumped forward to gently tap their heads together.
“… everything about being with you is ‘nice’.”
Ruby blushed and squinted up at Weiss, a little disbelieving.
“Even the times I don’t get the joke or embarrass you, or fall asleep when you try to help me study?”
Weiss didn’t say anything.
She opted instead to give Ruby a more non-verbal response.
They broke apart slowly with Ruby following as Weiss leaned back, pressing her burning face into the heiress’s slender shoulder. Her voice was a little horse when she eventually found it.
“…Are there, um, are there any other rules after the ‘first of all..?’”
Weis felt the gears in her head crunch and rattle back into motion.
“Second of all.” For some reason it now seemed more appropriate to whisper. “The first rule applies to all parts of the body, not just those previously mentioned. Not everyone wears tights as often as you do, idiot.”
It was probably the nerves that tacked on that last bit. Nerves, and the jittery way Ruby’s free hand was playing with the sash of Weiss dress.
Weiss took a breath and did her best to plow on.
“Third-“ Ruby whimpered at the increasingly lengthy list. “-talking about this with people we trust is fine, but no giving details, not even in a ‘yes or no’ situation.”
“Right.”
The brunette nuzzled in closer and Weiss found herself threading fingers through Ruby’s hair, not entirely sure if she meant to slow down Ruby or keep her in place.
Better hurry up and finish while she still had the ability to care about rules.
“Fourth and finally… Ruby, can you look at me for a second?”
Silver eyes met blue at once.
They seemed darker than usual, Weiss thought. Or maybe that was just due to the fact that the world outside was quickly sinking into evening, and they had both closed the drapes and neglected to switch on the lights.
Red circled down into Ruby’s gaze. Gold glints caught in the spokes of her iris, and the pale blue of Weiss’s own eyes gleamed like little bursts of sky- She could get lost looking into these eyes…
Actually, she rather had. What was she going to say?
“Rule number four.” Ah yes. “You have to mean it.”
Ruby smiled.
Weiss felt her own cheeks heating and suddenly discovered that, for the life of her, she couldn’t stop the words from pouring out.
“You have to mean it when we kiss and when touch. Anything you say has to be real, not just because it felt like the right thing or because the alternative is awkward.” It wasn’t fair that the red idiot could smile so calmly while Weiss’s heart was trying to smash its way out of her chest.
“If you’re here, it can’t be just for fun or out of curiosity or to keep me happy- I’m happy as long as I’m with you, go it? You need to be here, doing this, because there’s nowhere else you’d rather be…”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Said Ruby, cupping both of Weiss’s hands in her own and pressing them to her smiling lips. “And there’s no one else I’d rather be with, Weiss. Only you.”
Weiss swallowed thickly.
Ruby’s grin took on an uncertain edge when she didn’t say anything, her hold on Weiss trembling slightly.
“You, you believe me right? You’re the only one for me, Weiss. I’m not interested in anyone else- I didn’t even think I’d ever be interested in anyone untilwe met-”
She was going into one of her ‘panic and babble’ fits. They were familiar to Weiss by now, familiar as the sound of Ruby’s quiet snores or the playful glint in her eyes when she nudged their knees together under the dinner table.
Familiar enough, in this strange new setting, to make Weiss laugh.
“I believe you.” She assured her anxious dolt. “I believe everything you tell me when you talk about us, so be careful what you say.”
Weiss flashed her partner a joking smirk as she said it, but Ruby’s face stays serious.
Every inch of Ruby was trembling as she summoned up what looks like all the courage in Remnant.
“I- I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, Wiess.”
Weiss believed her.
And that, she decided, was more than enough to forgive any rule-breaking that might have occurred soon afterwards...