#rwbyremnants

“Wait, what are you doing?” she asked as she drove out of town. “This isn’t- are you kidnapping me again? Gosh!”

“Just be patient,” Yang laughed over her shoulder as their hair flapped on the breeze. By now, the delicate arrangement Weiss had put hers into was unravelling into a mess, but she was alright with it; the pictures had all been taken, dances done. Definitely time to let their hair down.

Her surprise was more like realization when they pulled up in front of a motel. It wasn’t a ritzy place from downtown, but it wasn’t the grody fleabag motels on the very outskirts of Vale, either; that made sense of their long drive. These were probably more affordable because they weren’t close to the city. Yang wasn’t exactly wealthy and probably had to borrow the money for this from Kali or someone.

“You really think I’m so easy,” she muttered with a small smile.

“You are. My Easy Peasy Princess.” Slipping an arm around her waist, she began to guide her toward the rooms along the side. “I already checked in earlier and set everything up; man, did I burn a lot of gas for this, but I think it’s gonna be worth it.”

The hotel room was about what Weiss expected. Because she expected magic from Yang; underestimating her was always a mistake. Rose petals were scattered across the bedsheets. A bottle of champagne was chilling in a bucket of ice - and Weiss had no idea how she had arranged for that to be ready, or how she could get it sent there despite their still being school-aged. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe… she didn’t want to break this beautiful spell.

Hands came up to peel the leather jacket from around her shoulders. “Is… it okay?”

“Okay? Yang, it’s wonderful!” She turned to grasp her by the lapels of her own jacket, dragging her down for a huge kiss, which was returned warmly. “Golly, how long have you been scheming to do this?”

“A week or two,” she admitted shyly, grinning from ear to ear. Weiss had to kiss her again. “Hey, hey, there’s plenty to go around, Schnee. Pace yourself.” Then she began to shrug out of her jacket as she went to lock the door. “So I checked in on Nebula for you.”

As she picked up a rose petal, twirling it in her fingers, she asked, “Yeah? She really wanted to talk to you after what we pulled?”

“Nah. Just snooped around while the whole group of ‘em were standing by the punch bowl. Pretty shaken up and wasn’t saying much, and they were all trying to crack her like a walnut; no dice. So I think you and Blake are probably right, that she’s gonna fall on our side of the fence.”

“Oh. Well that's… good. Isn't it?”

After stepping out of her heels, Yang walked over to slide her arms around her girl. Her homecoming date. “Yeah. Blake mentioned you were kind of feeling weird about it.”

“A little. Like, I know we told her so many times she could stop us, asked her if she liked what we were doing, but… I still couldn't help remembering that fear I felt when Blake and the others were doing it to me. So I guess I felt guilty.”

“Hey, that's a good thing.” When Weiss looked over her shoulder at her in surprise, Yang offered her a soft chuckle. “Feeling guilty, worrying that you might go to far… keeps your actions and your motives in check. Your conscience, right? Jiminy Cricket. The little voice that helps you remember to do the right thing. And you always do, Weiss.”

Her eyes looks down at the bed covered in rose petals. “Then why do I feel like some kind of tramp for kissing at least three girls tonight? It should just be you.”

“Maybe, in some fairytale romance. But this ain't a fairytale. And I promise you, I don't mind sharing you as long as I get the biggest slice of this calico to myself.” She kissed the side of her head.

“Mmmhh…” Yang let her go and reached for the champagne. “You're so good to me. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”

Violet eyes crackled with precocious interest as she popped the cork; Weiss jumped a little, prompting her to grin wider as she poured it into a couple of flutes. “Pretty damn lucky, yeah. You got me. And tonight, I'm going to make you feel like more than a princess, Princess. You'll feel like a queen.”

“Oh, you silly brute, I already do.” They raised glasses and clinked. “To a perfect homecoming.”

“And a perfect after-homecoming. Cheers.”

After taking their sips and laughing at how the bubbles tickled their noses, they set the flutes aside and Yang produced a couple of turkey clubs she had dropped off along with the bubbly. Weiss’s face was all smiles as they nibbled and chatted, filling in little gaps in what each other had missed during the evening. She felt so strange, sitting side-saddle on a bed of rose petals with a sandwich in one hand and champagne in the other, wearing an elegant white dress, talking to one of the leaders of a biker gang.

Her life was bizarre. And she loved it that way.

“You really saw this? Not just imagined it?”

“Nope,” Yang laughed as they finished off the last sips. They were a little goofy but not too bad; it was only one bottle. Weiss had a sneaking suspicion Yang could have scored them plenty of her mother’s liquor, but the idea had been to celebrate, not get completely soused.

“Blushing? Like really blushing, red in the cheeks?”

As Yang nodded, she adjusted her position so that her legs were out to one side instead of crossed, as they had been for the last few minutes. “I think Ilia’s gonna have her wrapped around her finger by the end of the week. Not like she’s really trying to, but I could see it happening.”

“I’ve been hoping,” she gushed with a big grin. “Can’t believe it worked! After she got so snippy - well, she was right to be snippy, I made her so embarrassed by bringing it up in front of Blake - I really thought she was done with both of us. But now, everything’s coming up roses!”

“You’re so cute.”

“Huh? Oh, I am not.” When Yang set aside her glass and crawled toward Weiss, she bit her lip shyly. “Nnn…”

Stopping just so their noses were touching, she pecked her lips. “Hi.”

“G-good evening.”

“I have another surprise for you.” When Weiss only raised her eyebrows, she took her flute and set it next to the other one, then turned back, cheeks warm and her entire demeanor nervous. Yang, nervous? “It’s… okay, I had this whole big production in mind a week ago to show it off, but now I don’t think I should do it that way. Because of… things.”

“Yang, I don’t know what we’re talking about,” she laughed. “What is it?”

But Yang certainly didn’t seem mollified by her attitude. So she reached into the small suitcase standing by the sink and brought out a little cloth sack, ferrying it back to the bed.

“It can go right back away, Weiss. No big deal. But I thought… well, something special, if you wanted to try it. I guess. I dunno.”

Why was she so nervous? It was beginning to spread; Weiss found herself worried about whatever was in that bag without any real reason to be. “Come on, it can’t be that bad. You’re just pulling my leg.”

“It’s not bad. But I’m… well, it’s here if you want it.”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” she snapped, snatching up the bag and yanking out-

What was it? At first, the bewildered Princess thought she was looking at some kind of rubber banana. It was pinkish with a wide base - which kept it from sliding entirely through a metal ring. Around that ring were tied some fabric straps, connected to each other through a couple of buckles. Her head cocked to one side as she held it up by the straps, watching it swing from side to side.

“Okay… I give up,” she finally muttered. “What is this thing?”

“Well…” Clearing her throat, she reached over and guided Weiss’s hands down until the wide base of the rubber banana was resting in Weiss’s lap. And that made it very clear:

It wasn’t a banana.

“OH! Oh, it’s- wait, how would you…” Then her cheeks filled with redness. “Oh.”

Grimacing, Yang said, “I wanted this for tonight. But after what we talked about, during the game? Maybe it was a dumb idea. Never want you to feel uncomfortable because of me.”

Normally, Weiss would already have been reassuring Yang about the matter of her recent trauma. But she was a little distracted. This was a penis. Not a real one, it was made of rubber and looked a little silly, but now there was no mistaking the shape. How could she have missed that when she first took a gander? And it wasn’t exactly small; not that she was some kind of connoisseur who knew the difference, but considering where Yang intended this to go…

“S-so… you want to put this…” She picked up the straps, loosely wrapping them around her own waist. “And th-then when you’re wearing it, this would go…” One index fingertip landed on the tip of the phallus itself. “Wowie ZOWIE.”

“Like I said,” Yang hurried to assure her, looking for all the world like she was about to run from the room in a panic, “w-we don’t have to do anything. But I already bought it before… well, before. So I figured, hey, might as well show it to you, and let you… let you decide… for… yoursel-”

“Yang,” she told her firmly, reaching up to cup her cheek. The blonde swallowed so hard she saw her throat working to accomplish it. “Everything’s fine. I’m not upset. It’s… wow, I don’t know what I’m feeling! But this was a sweet gesture, and I’m not going to let you think you’re making me angry with it.”

“B-but I don’t want to remind you of him!” she hissed, finally letting a tear slip past her guard, teeth clenched. “It makes me angry to think about, a-and when I flipped your skirt… I just don’t want to ever do that again. Not even by accident. Ever.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Weiss threw herself into a hungry kiss that they both needed. Hands slid up backs, tangled into already tangled hair. It was easy to get completely lost in that moment, so they did, only coming up when breathing made it necessary.

“Phwoo!” Yang let out in a shaky voice, grinning again. “Really laid one on me!”

Grinning, Weiss kissed both of her cheeks before pulling back again. “I love you, Xiao Long. Don’t you think for a second I don’t.”

“Got it.” They both heaved deep breaths to calm themselves a bit. “And, um… y’know, we could do something else. Hang onto this for another time.”

As one, they both looked down at the implement still lying in Weiss’s lap. How innocent it looked there, on top of her white dress. But its position gave her an idea.

“You wanted to take my virginity tonight, huh?”

“Huh? Oh… w-well, yeah.” She scratched the back of her blonde head with a big grin. “You see right through me, Schnee. But I kinda figured, if you did wanna try this… a special night like tonight’s the best time.”

“Hmph. Typical brute.”

“What?”

Smirking just a little, she turned and presented her back to Yang. “Could you please unzip me?” Yang only remained confused for a moment before she obeyed, helping her take the dress off afterward and lay it carefully over the back of a chair. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Wanna get me next?”

“No.”

“Huh?” Suddenly, Weiss pushed Yang down on the bed and kissed her again, then drew back and snatched up the strange contraption. “Oh, yeah, get that out of the-”

Her voice died when she saw Weiss was looking at it quite carefully, turning it over and examining the ways the straps worked. Then she began to step through them, pulling them up to hitch around her waist and thighs. It wasn’t as if Weiss was some sort of imbecile; the device was not that complex.

“There,” she sighed once it was in place. Then she looked up to see…

A very, very surprised and flustered Yang Xiao Long. Of course, she was handling being flustered a lot better than she herself would have been, or a lot of their other friends for that matter. Still a strong woman who had very little to fear from some wispy, white haired paper shaker. But seeing the rubber cock jutting out from over her girlfriend's underwear was filling her cheeks with color, shortening her breath.

“Hey there, little girl…” Weiss bit her lip, feeling a little silly but wanting to commit to her performance now that she had begun. This was better. This was something she knew she could handle, regardless of her lingering fears. And if Yang could handle it, then they were all set. “The dance is over. Ready for the real party to begin?”

At first Yang laughed, and Weiss thought that she was going to blow off her attempt at playing this game. But then she fluttered her eyelashes and clutched at the hem of her dress.

“Golly gee, that's a big friend you have there.”

Her hips swayed a little as she approached the side of the bed again. “You got that right. Would you like to touch it?” She wasn't sure if this was how men normally were or not, having no true frame of reference - other than a recent, regrettable encounter. She was making it up as she went.

“Can I?” Meanwhile, Yang's imitation of a virgin straightie was pretty good, and also a little amusing to watch given how far removed she was from her own virginity. They both were, by this point. Even how hesitant her fingers were as they reached up for the rubbery length.

“Go ahead.”

Watching Yang stroke it changed the atmosphere. It had been light and playful before, but now there was a new seriousness somehow related to the tacit agreement that they stay silent while Yang touched, explored with her fingers. As if it were real. For that matter, Weiss could almost swear that she could feel something wherever those fingers touched.

“It's so big,” Yang purred up at her as she stroked. “Can I… give it a little kiss?”

“Why on Earth would you want to k- um, I mean, yes. Kiss it.”

And she obeyed. This was even stranger, because she couldn't imagine what either of them got out of this activity… yet it was turning her on. Watching that pair of perfect lips wrap around the tip of the false cock was a hypnotizing sight that brought heat to her cheeks. And elsewhere.

“Mmmhhhhh,” she moaned against the rubber for effect. And that, Weiss could feel - the vibrations echoed through the length, the base, her underwear. Right into her own clit, which was grateful to have some kind of stimulation - however distant - given how enticing the display before her was turning out to be.

“V-very good,” she finally said, voice hoarse. Then she pushed Yang back by her shoulder. “But that's not where this is supposed to go, is it?”

Sparks of pure desire were flashing in her girlfriend's violet eyes as she reclined on the bed, pressing her thighs together beneath the orange fabric of her dress. As if she hadn't decided whether or not to let Weiss between them.

“I don't know,” she breathed, twirling a golden ringlet around her index finger. “Show me.”

Something about this new, coquettish Yang was driving her wild, fanning the flames of her needs much faster than she could have expected. Her mind wandered back to what her mother had said about Yang; about her being brutish, muscular, and more like the men her mother had dated. If she could only see how she looked there, draped in the middle of all those rose petals and looking like the daintiest girl in the world - in spite of the muscles lying just beneath soft skin.

And it seemed to awaken a need in her. A need to take on the role her girlfriend normally assumed. She bent down and picked up one of Yang's legs by the ankle, pulling it up to press her lips against her toes through her nylon stocking.

“Huh? Weiss…?”

“Like this,” she rumbled as she began to pull the leg off to the side. She had never heard her own voice like this in her whole life, and it was strange, unnatural. Yet it seemed to suit the moment perfectly. Then she repeated the process with the second leg, earning a little “oh” at the kiss… and a louder, deeper one when she realized that her legs had been parted so easily without her even realizing it was going on.

“Damn,” she whispered, as if it weren't exactly part of their ‘play’ together. “Smooth; I should be taking lessons from you, Schnee.”

Weiss smiled as she held a finger to her lips. “Shhhh.” They both shared a grin before she cleared her throat and slid her hands up Yang’s calves, kneeling on the bed. “You are such a pretty girl, and you look so good tonight.”

“Th-thank you,” she breathed, a hand falling against her chest as if to soothe a racing heart. “You really think I'm pretty?”

“Yes. You're beautiful.” That part had not been acting. But then she was positioned right between her lover's strong thighs, ready to do something neither of them had tried quite yet. What would a boy say under these circumstances? Probably something very uncouth.

“But you're going to look even more beautiful in a minute.”

This blush was definitely not feigned, and Weiss felt her own heart skip over a beat to see Yang looking so vulnerable. “O-ooh… I… Weiss…”

It was at this point they ran into a little snag. Weiss had pushed up her dress to see her lacy underwear - which also made her heart jump into her throat, her Yang had gone to all this effort to make tonight sexy for her - and they both reached a sudden realization.

“How… do I do this exactly?” Weiss stage-whispered.

“I don’t know, either!” Yang admitted in the same quiet voice. “First one of these things I’ve ever had! I mean, a couple fingers did the job until now, so…”

“Okay! I’ll just kind of… play it by ear!” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment, putting herself back into the proper mentality. “Ready for me?”

The gulp was pretty theatrical, but the eagerness and uncertainty were not. Yang really wasn’t sure if she would like this. “Y-yes. Be gentle?”

Weiss gripped the length of rubber by the base just above the ring of metal. It was pretty rigid in the middle; she wondered if it was wrapped around wood, or something else. Then she began to grind it against the wetness she could only imagine for now, lying just on the other side of her panties.

“What if I don’t want to be gentle?”

“What?”

Weiss smirked darkly as she ground the tip from side to side. “What if I want… to make you scream for me, sweetheart?”

Those words left Yang speechless - but not for long. Weiss was already pushing the fabric to one side, moving the head into place between those soft petals she knew so well. Her eyes flicked up to check Yang’s readiness, and she seemed to be ready… even if she was also very quiet. Probably still worried about how it was going to feel to take this in for the first time.

“Tell me you want this.” She ground it up and down, prodding just a little at her clit - earning a sharp breath inward. “Do you want m-my cock?”

The violet eyes swung up to lock onto Weiss’s, sharper than before. Curious. But after a moment of indecision, she did manage a nod. So Weiss began to guide her hips forward, paying close attention to make sure this new toy of theirs went exactly where they wanted it to go.

“O-oh, I- OH! SHIT! Weiss, it’s pretty big, I’ve never- ohhhhh, wow!”

More fascinated than anything else, Weiss watched as she did this with her own hips. Bizarre-looking, but also one of the most erotic sights of her short life. More - she wanted more, they both did. She shifted forward, hands falling to Yang’s hips to hang on.

“Wait, I- ow! Weiss, too much, too- WAIT!”

She held still, eyes wary as she scrutinized Yang’s sweating face. There was some very real pain there, and a little bit of uncertainty. “What? Isn’t it supposed to… hurt a little? The first time?”

“No!” she hissed. “I’m not a virgin like that, I already poked through that a long time ago!”

“Oh. Then what’s the problem? Can’t take the heat, Xiao Long?” At Yang’s dumbstruck expression, she rolled her hips - not really pushing in more, just sending a little vibration into her.

“NH! Weiss?”

“Such a big, strong girl,” she teased as she rocked her hips. “I know you can take it.”

There was something about Yang’s expression that she kept trying to figure out as she shifted forward, deeper into her lover. Yes, she slowly began to relax, but there remained this wariness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Yang’s mouth fell open to gasp in mingling pain and pleasure as she made it all the way inside, and Weiss felt her own sex throbbing, wishing it could participate. But it would have to wait its turn tonight.

“So quiet,” she finally hissed down at her when she slid her hips back. The idea was supposed to be to thrust, right? That’s what they had done with fingers - and what her mother described to her mortified young brain so long ago. “Normally you have the gift of gab. What’s wrong, little girl?”

But Yang didn’t respond. Just squeaked at the feeling of her walls being teased by the thick, rigid mass. Weiss waited a second, then gave up and started to thrust forward…

And she couldn’t. Something was wrong, even if everything seemed fine. Yang wasn’t protesting… she wasn’t saying anything. Which was the problem.

“I said, what’s wrong?” Still no answer. “Yang?”

“Can…” Yang’s voice was too low. Weiss leaned down closer, trying to get her to speak up. “Can you kiss me?”

“This ain’t that kind of square dance, sweetheart,” she chuckled - but this time, she saw Yang flinch at her words, and she blinked. “What is it? Do… you really need me to kiss you?”

Her lip trembled as she breathed “No”, which was what made Weiss take her lips gently. It took a moment to really get going, because for the first time in her entire memory, Yang felt like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to kiss back. Even if it only lasted for a single terrifying second before she melted, kneading back hungrily, desperate for more. And Weiss gave it to her, gave her everything she wanted. She would always do that whenever possible.

“What did I do?” she whispered in a very soft, very fragile voice once they parted. Yang shrugged. “No, don’t do that. Talk to me.”

Yang’s eyes were misty and she tried for a smile. It looked awful. “I-it’s not important. Sorry. Um… we can keep going now.”

“Hey! You don’t cry over just anything!”

“Weiss, you kinda have a plastic banana up my dress where the sun don’t shine. Let’s save the talking for aft-”

“Yang!” Her breath hiccuped, and she kissed her lips. “Was it… that crack about you not being able to take the heat? Too far? J-just tell me what I did, I’m sorry, I’ll… yeah, I could just go, i-if that’s what you want!”

Rolling her misty eyes now, she grunted and said, “It’s stupid.” But one glance at Weiss’s face told her this wasn’t going away. “Okay, okay! Chee! I just…”

“Just?” she prompted.

“It wasn’t you.” Her face already looked haunted, but her tone of voice was clearly a woman trying to get something over with in a hurry. “So it started out fun, but when you said things like ‘then what’s the problem’, it really didn’t sound like my Princess. A-and it felt… bad. Wrong. I don’t know, it’s really stupid, and I feel stupid; obviously it’s you, I can see you right there. Why did I flip on you like that? It was like I couldn’t figure out how to tell you I felt bad, and that just made it worse! Talk about being a wet rag.”

Now she got it. And Weiss got even more than Yang herself did. She was being pushy, and unconcerned with Yang’s welfare. Ready to take what she wanted like a man would.

Like one specific man would.

“No,” she breathed when it hit her like a truck. “I… why would I do that? No, please, no, I- Yang, I love you, and- and i-if you wanted to stop me, all you had to do was… was punch me in the face! UGH! NO! Don’t ever do that again, okay?”

Now Yang was confused. “Do what? I didn’t do anything!”

“That’s what I mean! You did nothing! Just let me talk to you like that, a-and I thought we were… playing some kind of game or something, while you felt awful because I was so… being disgusting! Don’t you ever let me do that again if you don’t like it, okay? And there’s no reason you should! Ugh… I just… I’m going to take a shower or something, I can’t believe what a terrible thing I almo-”

Yang’s lips were capturing hers with even more desperation than before, fingernails stabbing into the back of her neck to stop her from escaping this moment. Weiss literally threw herself into it with the abandon of a woman on death row. When they parted, she saw Yang’s eyes were still wet but she was smiling.

“Keep going, Princess.”

“What?” She thrust a little, just to see if that was what Yang meant - and got a moan for her efforts. “That?”

“Yeah. Fuck me.” The shaky breath she took showed she still clearly wasn’t back to her usual self, but was getting there, and determined to do it faster for the sake of her lover. “Give me that full ‘prom night experience’.”

“It’s homecoming.”

Yang shrugged, biting her lip at a fresh wave of pleasure. “Same difference. If you can… will you keep going?”

There really wasn’t much of a choice to make. Hanging onto Yang’s shoulders, lying flat on top of her, Weiss began to roll her hips… and saw it change her lover. In the same way Yang had been thrown off by seeing her try on the role of dominant male, Weiss didn’t quite know what to make of watching her godlike paramour turn into such a delicate flower. But she liked it - both seeing her look so sweet and vulnerable, and that Yang loved her and trusted her enough to let down her shields.

She would never take advantage of that. Not even on accident, as she had almost done moments ago. Then and there, she swore to herself that whatever had been messed up in her brain was going to stop affecting other people - especially Yang.

“Oh!” Yang finally called out when she was getting close. “Weiss! More, c-can… you go harder?”

“Yeah!” she grunted as her speed ramped up even more, falling to wrap her lips and teeth around the side of Yang’s neck. This was hard work, and it felt really strange to be doing it while receiving no pleasure herself. Well… Yang had pawed at her breasts a couple of times, and the base of the “banana” bumping against her mons did deliver some dull shockwaves, but Yang was definitely the one getting most of the benefits. And after making her feel like dirt earlier, that was all that mattered.

The instant she heard the moans of pleasure rise in pitch, felt the writhing turn to haphazard twitching, she knew her lover had reached her heights of pleasure. God, she looked so good in that moment! She had always thought so, but this was on another level, seeing her relinquish all power and let Weiss take the wheel. Yang had become an utter mess, writhing and screaming and fully open. Pure elation.

It only made Weiss fall more in love with her.

Leaning down to capture her lips, Weiss came to a stop when Yang did, and they poured all of their feelings into that point of contact. Weiss drew back to smile down at her.

“How was it?” she whispered excitedly. “I mean, when we started…” Time to eat crow. “When I stopped doing it wrong.”

But Yang was already shaking her head, leaning up to kiss her chin. “Not wrong. Just… weird, for me.”

“Wrong, Yang. But I want to know how it felt. What’s this like? Are we missing out on anything from boys?” They both giggled a little.

“Nah. Well… it was really different, and felt pretty great once I got used to it. But the problem is those things are usually attached to boys.” More laughter, which helped to ease the churning sickness in Weiss’s stomach that she had been trying to ignore. “So you wearing this is Fat City; all the benefits with no drawbacks.”

Nodding as she thought about that, Weiss slowly slid backward - and heard Yang gasp as she pulled the rubber phallus out. Then she asked, “Better than when I use my mouth? Well, obviously I’m not very good at that, anyway…”

“Are you kidding? You’re amazing at that!” Once Weiss rolled onto her back, gazing down at the glistening implement, Yang curled around her and did the same. “Wow, that’s so weird. That thing was in me.”

“You really think I’m good at, um, drinking from your cup?”

Yang’s hand drifted up and down her bare stomach, playing over the little pink scar for an instant. “If I went the rest of my life with just your mouth getting me off, I’d be completely okay with that. Bet on it, Weiss.” Then she nuzzled her neck. “Now… you gotta stop beating yourself up.”

“What?”

“For the dirty talk getting out of hand. Don’t even try it,” she cut her off when Weiss opened her mouth to argue. “I can tell you’re still thinking about it.”

Swallowing hard, she leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I think… I did something really bad. But I didn’t mean to do it! Just kind of happened, and by the time I figured it out, you already looked so… I hope I never make you look that way again. It scared me.”

“Scared you?! I was freaking out!” When Weiss winced, she hugged her closer. “Not mad at you. But nobody’s ever made me feel like that before, and it wasn’t all bad, okay? Just new.”

“I made you feel like a victim.”

“NO. You made me feel like I was really… not the one in control for once. It was nice, but it was kinda scary, too. None of that’s bad but it’s weird for me, that’s all.” She searched for the proper words for a second, and Weiss tried to be patient, to just let her think. “You’re so hot when you take charge like that.”

“Really?!”

Yang rolled her eyes. “Yes! Chee, you always act like you’re some kind of boring, hideous beast, when you’re not! What’s your tale, nightingale? Is it your dad who made you feel like you ain’t good enough? Because I mean… I hope now that he dug his own grave, we can get started making you feel like you’re the bee’s knees.”

That whole onslaught of deep insights from Yang, who normally acted like she didn’t care about much besides sex, hanging out, and her motorcycle, took Weiss by surprise and made her fall silent. But it was all true. She found it awfully hard to completely believe that she was worthy of love, that her own confidence was well-placed. On some level, she did know it was because of how her father treated her, but had never examined it fully - or had just assumed she deserved it.

“You’re right. I… whoa. I’m… wow, he really messed up my brain.”

“All our parents do. How do you think I feel, with one of mine barely putting up with me and the other running off like I’m yesterday’s trash?”

“Hey,” she told her firmly. “I’m sure your father loves you. He just…”

“Yeah, yeah, Summer died, and he couldn’t handle it.” She shrugged. “I understand. Still hurts to be dumped.”

Settling in for a longer discussion about parents, Weiss turned to snuggle her a little closer. Yang snickered at the feeling of the rubber against her leg and she smirked back. “That’s why your mom is so tough, and she probably wanted to make you just as tough, right?”

“Got that right,” she sighed as she kissed the side of her girlfriend’s head. “But I already know that. Looks like you’re just kinda figuring it out, huh?”

“Yeah. I… well, mine always made my mother and I feel so inferior. Why didn’t I ever realise that it wasn’t just changing how I felt about him?”

Yang shrugged hard, though she was clearly getting more comfortable. That flash of anxiety was long gone, which was a huge relief. “Because we don’t think about it, I guess. Headshrinkers do. But you shaking me up about Ruby and Qrow… I kinda got thinking about stuff like that afterward. How I was still feeling let down and wanted to take it out on them. Didn’t have a choice but to figure things out anymore, and… yeah. Thanks.”

“Why are you thanking me? I was just sticking my nose where it didn’t belong, like I always do. Just ask Pyrrha, or Blake and Ilia.”

“You mean the Blake and Ilia who danced together tonight, looking so cute and happy that I could gag? The Pyrrha who got to go with the boy of her dreams – and cut a rug with Cinder besides?” When Weiss smiled, Yang tickled her just a little to make the smile bigger. “Yeah, there you go! You did that! Pat yourself on the back, it’s okay!”

Finally broken out of her funk, she snuggled even closer, Yang enveloping her in her strong arms. And she felt the freedom to mention, “You know… you looked really good.”

“I did? In my dress? Aww, shucks!”

“Well, yes, of course you did. But what I meant was… just now.” She had to clear her throat to make herself finish her thought: “Seeing you spread out below me was so sexy.”

The deeply-blushing blonde grinned into Weiss’s shoulder. “You’re gonna make me turn into a tomato.” When Weiss kissed the top of her head, she sighed and whispered, “But I guess I don’t mind it. When it’s you.”

The next morning, they peeled themselves up from the bed after a while and showered together. Hands wandered quite a few places. Yang teased Weiss once or twice about wishing her mother were there, but after the retaliatory pinches she left the topic alone. Eventually, they got dressed in the spare clothes Yang had packed.

“I can’t believe you were this prepared,” Weiss chuckled as she buttoned up the plaid shirt. It was a little bit “country” for her refined tastes, but it did seem to suit the jeans rather well. “You keep doing these gentlemanly things that make me want to reconsider what I told my mother.”

Looking up from where she was shrugging on her leather jacket, Yang asked, “What did you tell her?”

“Oh, it's nothing.” But when she glanced over again to see her girlfriend was waiting with arms folded, she relented, “She tried to tell me that you were basically my boyfriend, just because you're a little taller and a little stronger. I told her it wasn't quite the same.”

That got the Dragon chuckling. “Yeah, I would hope you know that after last night, especially. Really made an honest woman out of me.”

“You're ridiculous, Xiao Long.”

“I'm serious. Even if it was rubber, that was… that was my first time. With one of those.”

Weiss dropped her heels on to the bed to walk over and catch her lover by the elbows, holding on. “I guessed that. You looked like it scared you, putting yourself in that position. Even if you ended up liking it later.”

“Pshhh,” she grunted, rolling her eyes… even though her cheeks were turning redder. “Wasn't scared.”

“Yes, you were. And so was I. Both about the idea of you doing that to me and me doing it to you. Always have been about boys.”

With Weiss having admitted that much freely, Yang let her gruff attitude and wry smile fall away. “Fine. Yeah, I was, uh… it was weird. Didn't ever see myself letting that happen to me for anybody before. And if I'm being honest, I still don't see it. Like, last night feels like this crazy dream. Doesn't it? Or is that just me?”

“Not just you,” she reassured her.

“Guess I always pictured myself being the one doing that once I bought one of those things. Since I'm kinda ‘manly’, like your mom said. Barely ever even let any girls finger me. But then…” The way her breaths began to quicken, her eyes staring off into the corner, was a little worrying to Weiss but she kept listening. “Last night? It felt so good. Really different, and wrong, but good, and seeing you above me like that… I hated it but I loved it, and I don't know what that means!”

Gentle kisses began to help the big strong Dragon fight down her building anxiety. It really only took a few seconds, even if it felt like a short eternity. Then Weiss pulled back to cup her cheeks gently as she saw Yang start to smile again.

“Hey, you jolly blond giant. If it makes you like this, I'm never going to put that thing on again. I promise.”

“What? Really? Oh.” She swallowed and then shrugged. “Guess you don't have to.”

“But…” Carefully keeping her voice casual, neutral, she added, “If you put it on me, we could try it again sometime. Since then I'll know it's what you actually want, instead of just… not being sure.”

Yang's smile could have lit up the entire town of Vale. “Cheeeee. I don't know how you do that all the time.”

“Do what?”

“Know exactly the right thing to say. It's like, you're some kind of Martian with a secret power. Real gone.”

Laughing, she threw her arms around the taller girl and squeezed, earning her a squeeze in return. “You're actually pretty good about that, too. I think you and Kali are the ones who usually don't have to try very hard to make me feel better.”

“Wow, holy cow. You're comparing my skill level to hers? That's a high compliment, cuz she's really good at that.”

“Yep.” They shared a quick kiss before she sat down to start pulling on her heels. “And you're even better than her because if you can't make me feel better with words, we can always…”

For a second, the blissfully happy Yang just stood there waiting for Weiss to continue. Then a sly grin began to spread across her face.

“Sure can, Princess. Any blessed day of the week.”

-----------------------------------------

   Since there wasn't really anything else to do on that Lazy Sunday, they rang the well-guarded number for Salem's manor. Though the threat had passed, Blake and her mother were going to remain behind there for a little bit longer until they could square away everything and make sure no loyal flunkie on Jacques Schnee’s payroll holding a grudge might come for them.

The diner was pretty packed by the time they made it there, Teresa Brewer blaring out of the jukebox and a couple of kids cutting a rug. How fitting, given Weiss’s attire. Luckily, Blake and Ilia had managed to snag a booth in the corner since they were so much closer on this occasion than the two calling from an out-of-town motel were.

“Hmm,” Blake purred with a playful little smile as Yang dropped into the seat across from them. Ilia only waved meekly.

“Hmm? Hmm what, Belladonna?”

The raven-haired girl looked down into her cola as she stirred it with her straw. “You look different today. That's all. Like you two had a big night.”

Weiss could have predicted Yang wouldn’t know what to say about that, and she was right. Her tough-as-nails girlfriend looked like a blushing bride the morning after the wedding - which was close enough to what happened that it might as well have been true. The reaction actually startled Blake enough that she stopped almost-smirking, amber eyes wide.

“Wait, I was kind of teasing, but now you have to spill the beans! Did you guys try something new?”

Ilia looked between them, mystified. “What? What happened?”

“Let’s just say,” Weiss began in a haughty tone, coming to the rescue, “that I made Yang feel really good last night. And I’ll thank you to leave her alone about it.”

“Cheeeeeee,” Blake breathed, still stunned as she watched Yang clearing her throat, tugging at the collar of her shirt, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “If you can do that to The Dragon, maybe I should be chasing you into bed a little sooner than I planned.”

“As if you haven’t had plenty of your own fun last night,” Weiss teased back. “Present company included.”

“Nothing like that happened. So you can cut that out.” Ilia frowned a little, but didn’t make a big deal of Blake’s reaction beyond that. “And you can also stop trying to push us together like a couple of bookends with no books, you know.”

“Hey! I am not doing that, you take that back!”

“If the Ruby Slipper fits, Dorothy…”

Before Weiss could bluster a response, Ilia spoke up in a gentle tone, “Actually… last night was great. Blake just walked me to my room and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It felt like a nice end to a nice homecoming. Kind of… magical, I guess.”

Weiss and Yang cooed “AWWWW!!!” so loudly that a few of the other diner patrons looked around, and then burst into laughter at the way Blake folded her arms over her chest and sighed. But her cheeks were a tiny bit pink; not the full rosy explosion of Yang’s, but there were emotions being suppressed.

“So cuuuuute!” Yang teased.

“You two need to take a long walk off a short pier,” she finally grunted.

“Honestly, that’s really wonderful,” Weiss told them to cut off any further ribbing between the almost-siblings. “I’m glad. Just don’t forget the little people, like me, who helped you get there.”

Ilia’s gasp was actually offended. “Of course not! I mean, I still want another dance. And I can tell you Blake still wants another of everything else.”

“Yeah,” Blake laughed, who had seen Weiss’s humour for what it was and clearly had no concerns. “I’ll have a whole heap of whatever you did for Yang last night.”

However, the Princess turned to smile at Yang, a private, warm smile. “Hmm… perhaps. But I think we’ll save that one just for us. How do you feel about that?”

“Eh. Your call; Blake’s your ‘special friend’.” But despite her feigned indifference, it was obvious Yang was privately incredibly pleased that her girlfriend had offered to devote that activity to them and only them. Weiss squeezed her hand under the table to show that she noticed, and that they were on the same wavelength.

“Is that how we’re using those words? You’re my girlfriend, Blake’s my ‘special friend’?”

Giggling into her cola as the waitress finally arrived, Blake said, “There are worse things to be called, I guess.”

-----------------------------------------

   From there, they ordered and ate and chatted. No matter how frequently they goaded the two, Blake and Ilia only reaffirmed that their evening had been quite family-friendly; a little hand-holding, and that chaste goodnight kiss, but it was mostly like two friends starting to get familiar with each other. Weiss thought that was actually probably for the best. Sometimes, she privately wished she and Yang had the chance to hang out and discover what kind of friends they were before she was whisked off to bars on a motorcycle and kissed in abandoned train depots - but on the other hand, it had all been so exciting and life-changing! And given the end result, she wouldn’t trade it for the world.

They were still laughing at some dirty joke Yang told - one that Ilia didn’t quite get but politely chuckled at anyway - as they spilled out of the diner an hour later. Blake cuffed her around the shoulder, and Yang caught her in a playful chokehold with one arm as they moved to their bikes.

“Your mind is absolutely filthy,” Weiss was chuckling. “But I guess I love it, anyway.”

“You guess?!” Then she looked down at her motorcycle. “Ugh… speaking of filthy, look at this thing. Damn highway out to that motel.”

“So wash it,” Weiss laughed. “I’ll help.”

However, that scheming look had already crept into her violet eyes as she stroked her chin. “You know… I don’t think so. Seems like somebody owes me the pleasure.”

“Owes you what?” But the minute Blake finished speaking, her eyes rolled upward. “Ugh. No. No, you’re not actually holding me to that bet, you clod!”

“I am. In fact… you never offered, so now I think you gotta sweeten the deal.” Her eyes were sparkling with that old malevolence yet again when she added, “And I know exactly how. Weiss, you wanted to help her, didn’t you? I think that sounds real neato.”

All Weiss replied with was, “Oh really?” She was only half-listening, thinking about how cute Ilia was while hugging Blake from behind. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad.

-----------------------------------------

   A couple of hours later, Weiss was regretting her indifference.

“In what way is this part of the bet?” Blake was grumbling.

“Come on,” Yang coaxed gently in a cloying voice as she kicked back in the olive green lawn chair, sunglasses in place. “Wearing towels wasn’t part of the deal.”

Weiss had both hands on her hips - over said towel. “And what was this ‘deal’ exactly? Refresh my memory.”

“You two give me a little show and I let Blake off with just cleaning my bike one time instead of for a month. And c’mon, it’ll be fun! Just get all… wet and wild, start splishin’-and-a-splashin’!”

Though her companion looked no more thrilled about it than she did, she was equally resigned. “Alright, fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Blake’s towel fell to the grass, revealing an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka dot bikini. Weiss did the same, her own red and a solid tone but no more conservative. She was at least thankful that it was in the back yard rather than the front; having the entire neighbourhood see her so scantily clad outside of an actual beach would have mortified her beyond belief - and even then, she had always worn a one piece bathing suit. At least Ilia had decided she would go home – once Blake made it clear the last thing she wanted was yet another spectator.

“You are a PIG, Xiao Long!” she snapped out of nowhere, her entire face and neck red. Blake wasn’t nearly as flustered, but she was trying to focus on getting the soap and bucket, carrying them to the faucet on the back of her mother’s house.

“Yeah, but a pig with a view.” She had even put a second lawn chair down to prop up her feet.

So they got to work. Really, neither of them minded too much, other than how annoying the labour was; Yang was a demanding taskmaster, ordering them not to scratch the paint job, to pay closer attention to scrubbing certain areas. By the time they really got going, it was quite warm work, and Weiss found herself glad of the bikini after all.

“The stupid thing is, I’m kind of flattered,” Blake whispered as they were washing the other side of the bike, away from their audience. “I know Yang is teasing us, but, well… at least once she wanted to see my body. Pretty pathetic, isn’t it?”

Weiss let her barely-covered hip shift over and bump Blake’s. “Hey, it’s a great body. And maybe it’s a little pathetic, but I understand. It’s hard to have a crush and try to just make it ‘go away’.”

“But I’m happy right now. Really! You’re my ‘special friend’, and this new, um, courtship with Ilia… or whatever it is. It’s pathetic to still hang onto an old crush. But I guess it’ll just take time to pass.”

“Exactly. You’ll get there.”

However, now Weiss had a fun little idea. Stupid, and liable to get her sucker punched, but fun. Once done on that side, they turned around and worked to get the last bit of the back while Yang was calling out more lewd comments, laughing all the while. Weiss started laughing with her. At first, Blake just rolled her eyes at both of them, but when it kept up she was understandably a little confused.

“SHAKE THAT CABOOSE!” Yang cackled. Weiss was starting to worry she was suffering from sunstroke – or had snuck something from Raven’s liquor cabinet.

“Alright,” Weiss laughed. “You finish up this while I hook up the hose, alright?”

“Sure,” Blake sighed, doing exactly that. As she ground the soapy sponge against the back of the Harley, Weiss trotted over and screwed the hosepipe’s connector into the faucet, then quickly dashed back to the nozzle before anyone could figure out what was up.

Then she took aim and fired. “AAAAH!” Blake burst out as the water doused both bike and washer, dropping the sponge in shock. “Weiss!”

Seconds later, she looked like a wet cat, hair pasted across her face and neck and shoulders. Not much better could be said for the polka dots. By the time Weiss turned off the stream, she was soaked to the bone, shivering in the mid-Autumn air with her arms around her middle and glaring at her through the curtain of hair.

It was Yang who spoke first. “Well… didn’t see that coming.”

“You give me that, Schnee,” Blake growled, taking a step forward. Weiss took a step back. “Are- seriously? You just hosed me down, and you’re running away?!”

“Listen! We can discuss this! NO!”

So around and around the bike they ran, fighting over the hose. Weiss kept trying to nip it upward so it didn’t actually wrap around the handlebars - which was her undoing, because she wound up faceplanting into the damp grass, getting the tiniest bit of mud on her front.

“AH!” she giggled, and by then Blake was doing the same - mostly because she had the hose aimed at Weiss now. Yang was joining them from the sidelines. “Nooo, you monster!”

“Surrender! Go on, say ‘uncle’!”

But Weiss couldn’t say anything with the water making her gargle constantly. When she started hacking and coughing, Blake finally did turn off the hose and helped her up to pound on her back. “You’re okay. Come on, breathe.”

“I’m fine!” she finally grunted, wiping mud and water from her face. “Ugh… okay, okay, that was… maybe not my best plan of all time. And now we're both all muddy.”

“Yeah, we are. We can shower inside; Mom didn't pack the soap or anything, it’s still there.”

Weiss smirked. “We could. Or…”

“Or?” But when Weiss picked up the bucket and pulled one of the sponges out, Blake's eyes narrowed. “Don't make me turn this hose on you agai- oh!”

The gentle slap of soap across their stomach silenced her well enough. After giving her a moment to get used to it, Weiss began to massage in a gentle circle, easily washing away the negligible dirt. Blake still looked the tiniest bit surly, but she wasn't all that upset now that she knew her special friend wasn't going to do anything worse.

“What are you doing?!” she finally hissed under her breath as Weiss moved down to her thighs.

“Getting the mud. Or did you already forget?”

“Ha, ha. Very funny. Now… n-now cut that out.” She couldn’t help the vibration that crept into her voice when Weiss was caressing her thigh, and the way her eyes fluttered closed was very telling.

From the lawn chairs came a hearty, “OooooOOOOoh, I could get used to this!” That only made Blake surlier.

“Just relax,” she whispered as she moved around to her back - which definitely didn’t need soaping.

“But what are you trying to do? I mean, I’m really not comfortable doing this in front of Yang…”

“Come on, think about it. This might be your best chance to show her how sexy you can be. I know you are already, but Yang doesn’t see you as a woman; just a sister, or something. Maybe this can help open her eyes a little.”

Glancing over at the blonde, who was still just laughing at what she perceived as a silly game they were playing, Blake hissed urgently, “But I’m fine with that! Really! It’s great being her sister and best friend, and I’ve put the other stuff in the past. Can’t we just leave it alone?”

“Have you really, though?”

“Yes.” But the washing was clearly getting to her. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because…” Well, because it was kind of thrilling. But that wasn’t the main reason, and certainly not the one she was going to tell Blake. Might as well go with the truth. “Because I think just once, we should try. If Yang still doesn’t think you’re her kinda gal, then we know we tried, and… and we can really put it to rest. But if you want me to stop, I will. It was just an idea.”

And to make sure Blake saw she was serious, she stepped back and lowered the sponge. Yang lowered her legs from the other lawn chair, concerned with how serious the other two looked now.

“Don’t stop now! She’s going to figure out something’s up!” Immediately, Weiss started washing again, but just on her side; the bare minimum. “Just wash me off and hose me down again and get this over with.”

“Okay. Um… okay.”

When Weiss kept washing in silence, Blake finally sighed and pet over her head when she stood up after finishing off her legs. “Sorry. I’m sorry for getting snippy, but you really went too far.”

“I know I did - I just… I think Yang could like you that way if she could see y-”

“I don’t want her to anymore.” Weiss blinked in surprise as she shrugged and looked away. “Well… okay, I do, but at the same time I think it could mess things up between us the way they are between me and my mom. So… since Yang already seems so sure that I’m ‘just her sister’, maybe that’s for the best.”

Biting her lip, Weiss stopped to hug her tightly, caressing over her back with the sponge. “I got it. You might be right, you might be wrong. But either way, what you want is more important than what I think, so I won’t try this again. I promise.”

“What the hell are you two doing?”

Both of them jumped when they realised Yang’s voice was right next to them, instead of halfway across the lawn. She had ditched her leather jacket at some point, and her biceps bulged very slightly under her shirt sleeves. Weiss sheepishly yelped, “Nothing!”

“Nothing, huh?” Her eyes narrowed, sweeping between Blake and Weiss. “Doesn’t feel like nothing. But fine, fine, keep your damn secrets.”

“It’s nothing,” Blake insisted with a small smile. “She was just being a germ, we had to kind of talk about it, and now… all’s well that ends well. Honest.”

For a minute, it really seemed like Yang was going to argue with them or insist that she be told what was going on. Then she snatched up the hose from the ground and turned it on both of them.

“AAAAAHHH!”

“Get your free showers here, ladies!” she cackled, grin huge while they skipped back and forth, alternately trying to flee from the spray and to run toward Yang to stop it at the source. “What’s the matter? Hey, don’t run away - I just wanna help get you all clean!”

But around the time they had finally been rinsed clean, both of them running after Yang to catch her and smother her with affection - and soak through her clothes - they heard another voice across the lawn shouting, “WHAT are you girls DOING?!”

Of course it belonged to Kali Belladonna. She was dressed in a smart olive green dress with matching pumps, hands on her hips and handbag dangling from her wrist as she watched them frolick. Embarrassed, Weiss came to a skidding halt - and Blake crashed into her, Yang crashing into both of them and sending them to the muddy grass immediately.

“Girls!” Walking carefully over to them, she bent slightly to inspect them as she laughed, “Good God, I don’t know what’s got into you.”

“Nothing, Mom,” Blake laughed as she squirmed under Yang’s weight. Which she certainly didn’t seem to be trying to shift off of herself very fast. Weiss decided to be kind enough to refrain from mentioning she had noticed. “But what are you doing here? I mean, we just came to wash Yang’s bike.”

“Yes, I see that,” she snorted. “Great job staying on task.”

Finally getting up, Yang grunted, “You moving back, Mrs. B?”

“Not yet. However… there is something else that requires your attention, Weiss. I thought I would let you know immediately, even if nothing can be done about it until tomorrow afternoon.”

“What’s happening tomorrow?” she asked Kali as they finally righted themselves. She tried to focus on that instead of the raised eyebrow from Blake’s mother at their attire.

Well. Blake’s dick certainly seemed a lot bigger when it was mere inches from her face. Big, and firm, and thick… and even while she goggled at it, there was a little pulse that made it jump a fraction of an inch.

“H-hey, watch that thing!” she hissed. 

“My mistake,” she laughed softly as she turned to sit in Raven’s lap, facing away from her. “I’ve heard a lot of guys in here want to do it this way, so they don’t have to look at it the whole time. Makes them feel less… well, not that it matters, I promise. No one here is going to judge; just relax.”

God, now she had Blake sitting on her. Why did girls keep flinging themselves into her lap tonight? The warm weight was just as welcome as it had been before with Neon - moreso, now that whatever strange magic the booze and music were weaving had heightened her physical interest. She found her hands moving to rest on Blake’s fishnet-covered thighs. Just to make sure she didn’t fall over. 

Only for that reason. Really.

“Wow, this is… nice,” she breathed, shifting around on Raven’s thighs and making her grit her teeth - as if it would make her stop blushing so hard. At least it was dark in there and nobody could see that. “But I don’t feel you poking me yet. Performance anxiety?”

“What? No! God, get over yourself.”

“Oh, excuse me,” she snorted - but there was the tiniest edge to her voice. Raven respected that, since what she said had been insulting, even if she didn’t really mean to be. “You’re saying it’s my job to get you hard?”

“I’m pretty sure this being a strip club is what’s saying that.”

That time, Blake really laughed, even if it was harsher. “You’re a mean old man. That’s alright. You don’t have to be nice for me to make you moan. And I promise, I’m ready… for… for, um, anything.”

Kali's daughter's confidence clearly took a hit when she leaned back and felt the squish of breasts against her back. Raven froze in place, feeling mild shame - stupid as that was. She knew she was a woman already; it was Blake that had made assumptions.

“Something the matter, Shadow?”

“Nope,” she breathed, turning to look over her shoulder. She could see Blake’s wide golden eyes watching her as the disco lights played over them - mentally fitting together the scattered glimpses of her face until she had a better mental picture of what she looked like. “Oh wow.”

“What? Not ‘old man’ enough for you?”

“Way less old man than I expected, yes. But who said it was what I wanted?”

“Huh? You lost me.”

“I’m bi,” she explained with a shrug, rolling over to straddle her lap. “And you’re really… wow.”

“Spit it out,” she grunted. “I can take it.”

Blake rolled one shoulder and bit her lip for a moment as she moved closer. “Let’s just say… I’ve always had a thing for MILFs. Older men are okay; I can tolerate them, some of them are even attractive. But older women?” She let out a low purr, one Raven felt more than saw. “I promise, I’m not just teasing or laying it on thick; you really are my ideal. Hot women around twice my age can get it anytime.”

Raven had to fight down all of the awkward noises of flustered feelings. Which she was normally good at; she had learned long ago to hide her emotional state from everyone. Men, women, her own child… nobody really needed to know what she was feeling. Nobody cared, no matter how much they claimed they did. POTluck had been helping to undo some of that self-conditioning, to at least add some peepholes into the walls she had built around herself. But they remained in place. No one was getting close to her heart ever again; it had been broken enough.

Lips on her own lips made her reconsider. Just for a second, being kissed by the second woman of the night completely blasted past all her defenses and shot straight to her needy core - she was so alone. Being kissed again was like magic. She almost leaned into it, almost grabbed this lithe young dancer and showed her just how many things her tongue was capable of-

And abandoned that thought. She instead pushed her back by the shoulder and said, “The hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What?”

“I didn’t say you could kiss me!” 

“Oh. You were looking at me… so I thought…” Blake sighed and looked down. “I’m very sorry, miss…?”

“Miss Nevermind,” she provided with a grunt. “Doesn’t fuckin’ matter. It might be your job, but you suck at it if you don’t even wait to make sure I’m ready for what you’re sellin’.”

Blake looked dejected for a second. Not that she crumpled completely; just that she shut down, staring down and off to the side instead of at Raven. Was she about to get mad at her? Or cry? Raven wasn’t sure which outcome would be worse. She had said the right thing, had voiced her feelings, but she also knew this girl didn’t deserve the way she had gotten her point across.

“Listen-”

Blake suddenly stood. With a muttered “Sorry”, she turned to head for the stage.

“Wait.” Catching her by the wrist, she pulled her back to her side, standing as well. “Hey… I was… I didn’t mean to be that harsh about it.”

“But you’re right. I suck at this, I don’t… know why…” She cleared her throat. “Um, Rosebud’s getting the refreshments; I can tag her in if you think she’ll suck less. Or maybe she’ll suck better, or whatever.”

Damn. Raven just had to hurt the feelings of a jaded little emo girl. That was the term, wasn’t it? Yang had used it once, she remembered. “Nah, I don’t… want… I’m not into any of you, alright? That’s not why I’m here.”

“Really?” Blake asked, with genuine surprise. She had half-turned back, so Raven could see her profile - and damn, that dick was still hard, even though she had hurt her feelings so thoroughly. “Then why are you here? In the back room of an exotic dance club, paying like, a thousand dollars to have us all to yourselves?” 

Double-damn! This could be really bad! “U-uh…” What could she say? There had to be something! “I’m here for my friends, not for me. They wanted to come, and I… I’m supporting… whatever.”

Blake glanced over at the other mothers. Yet again, she could practically cry with gratitude for the low blacklights and disco ball, making everything hard to see; from that distance, she couldn’t even recognise Kali and her daughter, much less the others further away. 

“Oh. Yeah, I guess… that makes sense. Um, if… do you want to… go somewhere and talk?”

So the two of them took up a spot on a bench along the wall Raven hadn’t noticed before; it almost completely blended in with the walls. While they weren’t talking, she could hear an occasional sound from the others, but the music mercifully drowned out details.

“So hi, I’m Shadow,” she began again, with the tiniest of sly smiles.

“Hi, Shadow, I’m Raven. Wow, we really sound like some kind of goddamn metal band.”

“Yeah,” the girl laughed softly, and Raven relaxed. Just a tiny bit. “Um… I really apologise for getting upset and trying to bounce. I tend to do that a lot.”

“Bounce what?”

“You know, leave?”

“Oh.” She took a breath and leaned her elbows against her knees. Her friends often accused her of adopting “masculine” poses or stances, and tried to use that to insist she was gay. It was hard to even disagree with them; she just had grown up having it drilled into her head that any kind of queerness was something to be ashamed of. A sickness. Just because she accepted Yang with open arms didn’t mean she wanted to be that way herself; it was more about treating her daughter with kindness to make up for her failure as a parent. “It’s cool. I was a bitch.”

“You were. But… I should have been trying to be smarter, working to get you into the mood… it’s supposed to be my job, right?”

“You tried. I mean, pretty hard, to be honest.”

Shaking her head, she drew one fishnetted leg up onto the bench, wrapping her arms around her shin. “Not like that. It was the wrong way to go about it, and I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Yeah.” Just uncomfortable in a way she was growing less and less uncomfortable with. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not. I tried to jump-start you instead of doing the work, like you said.”

“I forgive you, or whatever. Just… just don’t, anymore.” Why was she always so bad at feelings? “And you were working me pretty good, I promise. I’m just not an easy fuckin’ project.”

Blake smiled again. “Thanks. I’ve just been really worried I made the wrong choice.”

“Oh.” Thinking about how Blake wound up sitting on her instead of her own mother, she quickly said, “Y-you didn’t. I mean, we’re all bitches, pretty much.”

“Not that,” she laughed easily. “I meant with taking this gig. I like parts of it, but people… I’m not good with people. Especially strangers. I only came because Yang and I…”

The girl’s brow furrowed, and Raven felt her pulse leaping up into her throat. This was about to be something she might not be able to handle, but she had to know - whatever it was. “Yang?”

“Shit, didn’t mean to say that. Um… forget it.”

“You can tell me. I mean, we ain’t even wasting time; you already got paid, and I’m… fine with talking. Just bad at it.”

“I know how that goes,” she snorted. Then hesitated. Then… “My friend wanted to try this job, because the pay is so good. Right? And we both wanted to make more money to… maybe take care of bottom surgery.”

“Your ass looks great, honey. N-not that I was looking.”

With a wan smile, she said, “That’s not what I meant.” Then she reached down and flicked her arousal so that it bounced up and down. It was funny - but Raven’s libido had already been activated for the night, so she found herself gulping and trying not to think about it more than laughing. “This thing.”

“It’s… I mean, I’ve been around the block, and I can say yours beats out most of them.”

“Yeah. I just don’t know if that’s what I want.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking back up at her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I’m supposed to be saying that my dick is amazing, and you’ll think it’s amazing, and I love letting you play with it… the sales pitch.”

Raven let out a gruff laugh as she nodded, staring over at the other chairs for a moment. The alcohol was keeping the panic at bay, so even when she saw a flash of a wild blond mane she was able to just look away and pretend she hadn’t. “That’s fine. You don’t have to do that shit with me.”

“I’m kind of figuring that out,” she giggled, as subdued as the giggle was. Nothing like the very bubbly rollerblading tart she had played with before.

“So listen,” Raven sighed as she sat up a little more. “We don’t, uh… we don’t have to do anything else, if you wanted to head out. Unless it’s gonna get you in trouble to leave. Damn, I just wish there was a side door I could sneak out to get another drink, or have a smoke.”

“There is, but I’d have to take you through the back rooms, and… yeah, we’d probably get noticed. It’s a big no-no.” 

“Fair, totally fair.”

“I um, I could get you a drink though. What do you want?”

Perking up, she said, “Jack? No… Maker’s Mark.” They were already having the most insane night of her life; might as well request the good shit this time.

“Rocks?”

Trying not to think about Blake's 'rocks' - which she could see right now, nestled beneath that gloriously thick shaft - Raven grunted, “One cube. A triple, though. Or just fill the fucking glass, whatever.”

“You got it. Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”

It took Blake a lot less time than she expected to come back with the drink. She looked a little more confident than when she left but also more relaxed; not putting on airs at all anymore. But she noticed something that couldn’t slip by without being mentioned.

“Here you go. Bucket o’ bourbon.”

“Thanks. Cheers.” Blake just smiled as she raised the glass and took a sip, letting out a satisfied sigh afterward. “So I gotta ask about something.”

“Go ahead. I mean, I might not answer, but you can ask whatever you want.”

“Huh. That part of the manual? One of the waitresses said pretty much the same thing…”

Blake’s smile was wry. “I mean, it’s there for our protection; guys come in here, throw money at dancers, and think they’re in love. Then they think they own us because they like us and want to wrangle information out of us that can tighten their nonexistent leash. I kind of get it, but it’s on them to not be stupid and treat us like real humans who have our own feelings and desires. We just have to do what we can to give them less they can use.”

“Right, right. That’s no way to live.”

“It’s really not.” She leaned back, even though her hands were fidgeting a little on the seat of the bench. “What’s your question?”

“After all that shit… how are you still rock fuckin’ hard?”

The laugh that came out of Blake was real, and full, and genuine. Raven found herself smiling; maybe it was because the girl had been so sullen before, and it was nice seeing her enjoy herself. Maybe she just liked her. Whatever.

“That’s our little secret. But you can probably guess; we just can’t confirm or explain.” 

Right. Of course it was drugs. For a wild moment, Raven had wondered if she was just so attractive to Blake that she couldn’t contain herself; how stupid that was. Even if she meant what she said about liking older women, anyone who owned a dick would have gone soft after a near-argument and going off to mix a drink - without chemicals to compensate, that is.

“Huh. That legal?”

“Is any of this legal?” She gestured around at the dimly lit room. “Like, you know what you agreed to; nobody knows you’re here so you won’t get in trouble. Same goes for us; we don’t want to go to jail any more than you do.”

“Sure, sure. I guess I just don’t get why… you need it.”

Now Blake looked a little more awkward. “Well, um… it’s… you see, hormones… I don’t think you really want to know about this.”

“Yeah, I do. Really.” Not just to satisfy her own curiosity, either. Part of POTluck was supposed to be understanding the world their daughters inhabited, so they could be a better support system for them. Raven was just dismal at it, but she wanted to do better if she could.

“Well, a couple reasons. More than anything, some girls like me can’t get it up when they’re on female hormones; it interferes with the natural arousal process. Most of us still can but it takes us being in just the right mood, or constant stimulation, or…” She shrugged. “A little outside help.”

“Ohhh… huh. Learn something new every day.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, man.” Then she sat upright. “I didn’t mean it like- I call the girls ‘man’, too. It wasn’t… damn, I really fucked up.”

Blake relaxed and said with a small smile, “It’s alright. I’ve been called worse.” But Raven hadn’t failed to notice the way her entire body language had changed - become tight, guarded. Reserved.

“No, it’s not alright,” she insisted, resting her hand on her shoulder. “You’re a beautiful girl and you deserve to feel like one, too.” 

“Thank you,” she told her a little more earnestly, patting her hand. “Anyway, uh… the other reason is this show specifically. There are some events where the girls are supposed to be hard, others we stay soft, and some where it doesn’t matter. Since we’re doing ‘Fresh Meat’, our boss wanted to show us off this way; leans into the ‘chicks with dicks’ angle of the club a little heavy, but I mean, that’s how we make money.”

Raven hummed in acknowledgement of hearing her, glancing down at the dick in question. If anything, it might have been even harder than before, but that could also have been a trick of her imagination. “Whatever works, I guess. It’s not… uncomfortable to walk around with…?”

“Of course it is,” Blake laughed. “But I’m starting to get used to it; we’ve tried this before. During, uh, during classes.”

“You have classes?!”

The girl walked her through what it was like backstage at Club Futopia for new talent. Apparently, they learned pole dancing and stage dancing, catwalking, sweet-talking, giggling, and hugging - all of which were done in very special ways to make the clients feel enticed but not necessarily entitled to more. Then, once they showed they were really committed - and wanted a little more of the action - they started learning kissing, fondling, handjobs, blowjobs, and the final step was anal training. Raven didn’t want to think too much about that one.

“So you and your, uh, friend you signed up with. You practiced beejays?”

Now Blake was blushing hard, even though she could barely tell in the lighting; it was mostly her body language again, how she fidgeted, fiddling with her fishnets… how her cock twitched hard enough to be noticeable. “Yeah. I mean, we had to learn how, and it’s way smarter than trying it on clients and being terrible.”

“Explains when you tried the dick pills before.” Blake nodded, and Raven took another long pull at her half-empty glass. Then she passed it to Blake. “Was it fun? I mean, you two…”

“Um, I can’t,” she whispered, pushing the glass away. “Working.”

“Who’m I gonna tell?”

After a brief hesitation, a few glances between Raven’s face and the glass, she took it and swallowed down a mouthful. Then she coughed. Raven rubbed her back until she was able to recover - trying to focus on helping her, not how soft her skin was.

“Sorry!” she wheezed.

“It’s fine,” Raven chuckled. “You didn’t have to have any, wasn’t trying to be pushy.”

“You weren’t.” She swallowed again, then sat back - trapping Raven’s arm behind her. Around her. “Mmm… I’m a little dizzy.”

“Relax, you’ll be fine.” 

“It was nice.” When Raven just tilted her head, she elaborated, “Me and Yang, I meant - not the booze. That was fine. I, uh… I know Yang doesn’t really… I don’t think she would want to be serious with me like that, and I don’t even know if I would want it, either. But she was great; I came so hard…”

How terrible it was that her pussy throbbed at that thought. Weirdly, she also felt a little proud that her girl was so good at giving head; like mother, like daughter. But all she said was, “That’s good. Might as well have fun if you have to do it anyway.”

“Exactly.”

“You alright?”

“Mm, lightheaded. Didn’t eat enough.”

“Oh?”

“They, um…” She blinked and shook her head out, turning to curl around Raven a little more - sending her heart jackhammering even harder now as that shaft was pushing into her thigh through her jeans, and ramping up the heat inside them. “They tell us not to eat for a while before we’re gonna do this. In case we get fucked.”

That made perfect sense, though Raven didn’t enjoy thinking about the reason. In fact, thinking was just about impossible with all that whisky in her, but she was doing her best to focus. “Got it. We really oughtta get you some food; I mean, I’m obviously not gonna use something I don’t have on you.”

“We will later,” she said with a lazy smile, cuddling her. Cuddling. Again with this; she felt like the victim of some kind of sexual prank.

“I wouldn’t have given you a sip if I knew. I mean, between an empty stomach, and all the blood rushing to this thing…”

They both froze when her hand came to rest on the soft skin of Blake’s shaft. It was warm, smooth, and as firm as any she had ever felt. The girl’s fingers curled around the lapel of her leather jacket. 

“Sorry,” Raven whispered.

“It’s fine. I really…” Blake hesitated, then licked her lips and clearly was forcing herself to continue, “I want it. I told you before, I have a few types, but… badass women your age are right at the top.” 

“I thought that was part of your sales pitch.” Blake shook her head, and she had to swallow down her whimper of distress. “Wow… you’d really wanna fuck some old woman?”

“I’d want whatever you want, Raven.” She had even remembered her name. She leaned up to kiss her - and stopped herself. “Oh. I…”

That distressed look in her eyes was enough to make Raven turn and mash their lips together, immediately swiping her tongue over her bottom lip. She had to prove that Blake wasn’t making a mistake this time - that she wanted it, too. Even though her brain was screaming the question “WHY?!” at her the entire time. 

Her friend’s daughter fairly melted as soon as she felt her advances being accepted. She turned more to kiss as deeply as she was being kissed, grasping at her collar for leverage as her knee slid around Raven’s thigh and pressed into the bench between that and its mate. Very close to a core that was burning brighter with each advance, each tease they delivered to each other. She pressed a hand into Blake’s back and another into the back of her thigh to keep her steady as their tongues explored each other, feeling the strings of the fishnets cut into her fingertips.

The worst part was that it was amazing. Part of her had been hoping that kissing a girl - even one with equipment she had experience with - would be terrible, so she could get it out of her system. Forget about Neon, forget about Blake, and embrace being a testy old single woman for the rest of her life. That was not in the cards. Try as she might to dislike this, she knew by now that she wanted more.

Eventually, when she felt Blake’s hips starting to shift impatiently, her hands switched their positions. The one on her thigh moved to her ass, gripping firmly - and prompting a fresh squeal. The other moved down to curl around that smooth, thick implement, letting her thrust into it freely.

“Oooh,” Blake finally breathed when their kiss broke. “You… wow, but… I could use this… on you instead…”

“You could,” she hummed, very tempted by the idea. But she knew it wasn’t right - for more than one reason. “But I got this feeling you haven’t practiced on a pussy yet.”

“Not yet… but you could be my first.”

Throb. Both from the cock between her fingers, and from her own dripping wet need; she loved the sound of that more than she could say. “You’d really…?”

“Absolutely. I think I’d be lucky if you were. Do you want me in there? Would that be alright, even though I don’t really know what I’m doing?”

Yes. A thousand times, yes. But she made herself say, “No, I… don’t think we should.”

“You sure?”

“Mmm, your first time should be somebody more special than me, Shadow,” she breathed against her neck, raking her teeth along the skin - leaving a trail of goosebumps in her wake. “I’m just a drunk old bitch who ought to make better life choices. But I could jerk you off, just like this. Or… I could make you cum hard again, the same way you did last time.” 

“You’d blow me?” Blake asked, panting and distracted. In heat, Raven couldn’t help thinking. 

“Yeah, you bet. Wouldn’t be my first time.” 

“Hmm…” She was still thrusting; couldn’t seem to stop. “Nnhh, well, what if we… both do it? I still need to make you a satisfied customer.”

Raven smirked. Unable to believe the words coming out of her own mouth, she said, “Sixty-nine it is. Not that you really have to, I swear.”

“Are you kidding?” And Blake’s smile was as lascivious as many adults had worn in her life when hitting on her. This girl was beyond her years. “I’ve been waiting forever to bury my face in MILF-snatch.”

Raven’s laugh was bawdy and harsh. Blake didn’t seem to mind at all; in fact, she was grinning, thrusting a little harder. Then she was stepping back, standing over Raven. The older woman gave her needy cock a quick little peck before Blake was gently moving her shoulders to the side, laying her back on the bench. And she let her. She felt insane, and very drunk, but she fought the instinct to resist and just allowed herself to be moved into position.

“Let me take care of these,” Blake said as she started to unzip her jeans. Before she could finish, her thigh was being dragged over. “AH! R-Raven!” 

She had forcibly pulled the girl down on top of her, swallowing her meat like she did it every day. She had, once upon a time; she had a husband once, other boyfriends. Ones with whom she had wild, passionate, near-abusive wrestling-sex that had resulted in broken mirrors and bedframes. Foreplay was fun, but her brand was not gentle. 

But she had never done this and heard such cute little whimpers before. For now, Blake’s thighs and hips were squirming all over the place; she knew it was a matter of time before she adapted. Taking advantage, she bobbed her head, wanting more and more. How did she miss this as much as she did? Honestly, she had thought she wasn’t that type of woman who wanted to be used by a man - and she wasn’t. She had always taken control, given them a blow on her own terms. No less than she was doing now.

Blake’s hands became desperate as she struggled to push those jeans off, or at least down enough to get access. Had she washed today? Yes. How thoroughly? Raven tried to put that out of her mind; there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it now, even if she was musty as hell - not that she was. At least, probably not. 

The groaning and enthusiastic “Oh GOD yes” seemed to suggest Blake liked whatever she smelled, so it was a moot point. Then the girl was diving down and leaving open-mouthed kisses all over her. Which she handled fine. She didn’t handle it quite as well when Blake paused to speak again.

“You’re so wet. Must really… have needed…!”

God, she felt like an old idiot. Was she some schoolgirl, getting sloppy, dripping wet from the mere prospect of sex? She moved her own mouth faster, taking Blake into her throat over and over in an attempt to escape thinking about how ashamed she was of her needs, and how obvious they were to the little girl on top of her.

There was no escaping it when Blake really started in on her in earnest. Her thighs fell open for the tongue sliding up and down along her folds, prodding her clit occasionally - causing her entire body to come alive as she gripped the girl’s ass cheeks and practically rammed her into her own throat. She only had to do that for a moment before Blake seemed to take over by instinct, thrusting into her mouth as she devoured her pussy with mounting hunger. Not once in her entire life had she experienced a sixty-nine that legitimately felt this perfectly nasty, this hot.

And it wasn’t going to last much longer. She could tell both of them were almost there; Raven had been turned on from hanging out with the attentive Neon, and Blake had been hard for at least thirty minutes solid by now. Plus she was fucking her throat - full-out ramming into it, and Raven found it was somewhat of a struggle to stay relaxed enough that she didn’t gag. She was just so thick . Not that she didn’t love every inch of that cock; she only wished she could get it deeper.

While her aching clit was being teased over and over by a quickly-learning tongue, prompting more and more whimpers and her own hips twitching from side to side, something came back to her. She wasn’t even sure why… maybe it was because she had opened her eyes, and above that soft sack resting against her face over and over, she could see two plump cheeks bouncing up and down in the semi-darkness. Blake’s ass training. She had apparently been fucked there before… did she like that? Did it do something for her?

Curiosity overtook her hesitance. One hand inched further inward until she could prod a finger between those inviting cheeks, just to see what would happen.

“NNHH!”

“MMHHHGH!” 

Honestly, Raven wasn’t sure which of them had made what noise. Blake had cried out from being teased somewhere she clearly had not expected - and Raven from the very sudden influx of cream into her raw-fucked throat. For the first time in a few minutes, the shame came back, but it didn’t last long; she had always seen swallowing a man’s cum as a sign of her mastery. Not something that said she was a whore, or any other loaded terms men used to put women in their place; it was just proof she knew her way around a cock. She had snared one and brought it low with pure skill, gulped down mouthful after mouthful of seed as thick as the shaft that had produced it, and done it all with a smile. Why should she be ashamed of that?

She came right then, while riding the high of getting Blake off - with the pulsing phallus still resting comfortably inside her throat. Her thighs tightened around Blake’s head and she heard the girl squeak, but she went right back to work eagerly, making sure she rode out the finish instead of leaving her out to dry. At least she was far better than any man in that respect.

When they had finally relaxed a little, taken a breath for a minute, maybe more, Blake finally turned her head to one side. “What… what did you… your finger…?”

Raven chuckled - and the girl groaned, since it was still all around her extra-sensitive dick. With another hum, she slowly pushed Blake’s hips up and let the presence slide from her lips, giving it a little kiss at the tip. “That was amazing.”

“Yeah. Mmm… oh God, it was more than I ever… wow.”

Kissing her thigh, she then said, “I don’t know why I did that. With my finger.”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to have to remember it. Yang and I didn’t try that one. Well… not on each other.”

Good. Somehow, she felt a little better that she hadn’t done the exact same things as her daughter; made things less gross, in her mind, even if not by much. “Like I said, learn somethin’ every day, right?’

“Right. I’m learning a lot. ” Recovering a tiny bit, she got off the bench, wobbled, and turned so she could lay back down on top of her - rightside up. Raven felt her recently-lowered pulse increasing a little again as the trim figure of the girl curled around her, the well-coated, half-hard cock grazing over her pubic hair. “Mmm, that felt nice…”

“What, my pubes?” Blake nodded sleepily. “Mmm, well… glad you could get somethin’ out of it. I just didn’t think I had any reason to clean house when I got up this morning.”

Chuckling a little, she snuggled in harder. “Didn’t think you’d get a trans girl to eat you out? Wow, unprepared.” They both chuckled for a moment as Blake caressed over her chest, fingertips playing over each ridge in the leather. “Honestly, me either. I just… am really, really happy about it.”

“Guess the feeling’s mutual. You did great, kid; I mean that. Blew my mind, and that’s not easy to do at my age.”

“Yeah?” The earnest joy in her features, that huge smile, made it impossible for Raven not to kiss her again. It was tempting to try to get her going a second time, to go further… but they shouldn’t. Even if they could, physically, she knew it was smarter to just enjoy the moment. “Mm… you’re so sweet. Thanks for coming tonight, Miss Nevermind… even if it was just for your friends.” 

“I tagged along for them. I came for you, little Shadow - pretty much just you this year. It was damn good. I’ll rate this place five stars, for sure.”

Theia Nikos often found herself endlessly grateful. Moments ago, she had been equal parts terrified and intrigued to see her own daughter aroused and fully on display, but not even that could make her lose sight of what mattered. Sure, she was having a difficult time knowing her little girl had taken off that much in front of her, and that she didn’t hate the sight of that tower of pleasure jutting up from her hips. But she was a widow with needs, and there had been four other erections in play, as well; she couldn't help the way her lonely body reacted. Besides, there were far worse fates. 

The years had been long and her bed cold without Peleus. They had a wonderful marriage and a wonderful family, and they had been everything to each other. There were fights, nights on couches, and even a few weeks in which Theia moved into the guest room. That never meant they didn’t love each other - only that they had to figure out how to love each other properly. By the time the heart attack claimed her husband, there were no non-medical problems in their marriage whatsoever. Just love that turned to loss.

That had already been a lifetime ago. Her friends might have teased her about needing to get back out there, and it wasn’t as if she never considered it before. Many times. She had signed up for dating apps only to delete her profile, tried singles mixers - widow and widower mixers. Even tried just porn and a vibrator. No matter what, she came back to the same realization: she had already been with her one great love, had her perfect family. Nothing else could compete, or even come close to giving her that same satisfaction. The Nikoses didn’t believe in settling for second-best - not with anything that important.

So she had learned to live alone. Pyrrha came by often, and she cherished those times - and more recently, the hours spent with her new social circle, thanks to POTluck. But outside of that, she got used to finding hobbies, reading quietly in her den. Crying. Loneliness really was the silent killer, even above and beyond everything else, but having Pyrrha and her new friends in her life staved off the loneliness for the most part. They just couldn’t do anything about the cold, empty side of her bed where Peleus once snored softly, and curling around a pillow instead of his barrel chest just wasn’t the same. She would give anything to have someone warm in her arms - someone she could truly love.

In the here and now, however, Theia was grateful, because she watched with mounting apprehension as her tall, glamorous daughter slunk confidently toward her, that enormous, rigid cock barely visible in the disco lights… and then right on past. Even though it felt strange to see Pyrrha approach Willow a few feet away, she was definitely relieved; better her friend wind up with a lapful of her daughter than to deal with it herself. No matter how lonely she was, that would involve far too many bizarre feelings. 

“Hello there, Daddy,” Weiss purred in a low voice as she straddled her lap and slid her hands up Theia’s arms. One speck of light revealed the girl was smirking. 

“U-uhm…”

“Relax, relax. You’re so tense. You can touch in here; I know it’s frowned upon in the main room, but we aren’t in the main room, are we?”

While the girl massaged her shoulders, Theia tried to scrape together a couple of thoughts. There weren’t any to be found. The entirety of her brain was focused on keeping her eyes away from two places: what was going on in the chair next to her, and something pointing straight up at her from this waifish princess’s lap. So she just let her hands come to rest on that trim waist.

“Mmm, better, Daddy. Now… are you ready to tear up my cute little bussy? I can work you up to it, if you want, but… I’m ready, I promise.”

Unable to help herself, she found herself whispering, “Your cute little what?”

“Bussy,” she repeated with a giggle.

“I didn’t think… well, I just saw you had a… this.” She barely grazed the arousal with her thumb - and instantly felt her own heat spike. Hard. That had been a mistake, no matter what her reason. 

“Oooh, hello… but no, no, not a pussy; I definitely don’t have one of those.” When Theia didn’t answer, she leaned forward to whisper, “Boy pussy, backdoor pussy - bussy . Not that I’m a boy; I’m all the girl you’ll ever need, Daddy.”

Dear God. This girl still thought she was male, and was about to- NO! Suddenly glad the lights were so low to hide her furious blush, she whispered, “I- I couldn’t do that!”

“Hey, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Weiss told her - a little playful, but not as snarky as before. “I can just take care of you with my mouth, or… you can play with me? I don’t have to do anything to you at all.”

“Well,” Theia began, trying to think again. Something about the atmosphere, the music and that scent in the air, the alcohol in her system and the tingle of mint lingering on her palate, made everything so hazy… “I don’t… really… I don’t know if I should…”

Now Weiss was quiet for a second. Her hips shifted as she adjusted her position, and she leaned in a little closer. “Are… are you a Mommy , Daddy?”

“What? Oh, I’m… yes, actually. I have a child.”

“Oh. I mean, um, that wasn’t quite what I meant, but I… I bet they’re really lucky.” All that bravado and playfulness had disappeared. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting…”

When the silence lasted for a few seconds, Theia said, “A woman?”

“Yeah! Sorry! I know that’s really stupid of me, we have plenty of female clients! I just guess I expected… well, most of the ones who would want this kind of show to be men. Sorry - I can’t even believe it took me this long to notice, and… well, Salem just kept saying 'they' about your group; she didn't specify you were men. I guess that's what I get for assuming.”

“That’s alright, I understand,” she breathed in slight relief, still holding onto her waist. Though it was interesting that Salem had been so cryptic with her employees, she couldn’t bring herself to focus on that right now. “My friends and I came here to…” Find you. “...to see if… well, to see what goes on in here.”

With a slight chuckle, Weiss said, “Well, you know what they say about curiosity.” But instead of the traditional saying about dead cats, she finished with, “Always give in to it.”

Giving in was becoming harder and harder to resist. There was no way she could - not when this was her friend’s daughter. Half her age! Dancing in a strip club, waving her pretty little cock around for everybody! She was a middle aged woman who had only ever been with one man, and definitely did not consider Weiss to be the wisest of follow-ups. 

So in the absence of knowing how to move forward, she tried to get herself back on track. “Okay. Um… how long have you been dancing, W- uhh, Snow Queen, was it?” That was close.

“Yes,” she sighed, caressing up and down her neck now. Seemed she was hoping to coax her into accepting what she was paid to do in this situation. “And just a month. We haven’t actually done anything for customers, we’ve just been training - me and the others.”

“Training? What… what kind of training?”

Weiss cleared her throat - and Theia had the sense she was about to lie. She wasn't sure why she sensed that, or if there was any validity to that notion. “Well, mostly pole dancing; it’s really intense. Other dancing, too, but that’s easier to pick up - especially for someone like me who’s taken ballet.” She squirmed a little, and Theia noticed her hips roll; probably fighting down her body’s instincts to fuck whatever was nearby. She couldn’t believe this girl was still so hard without even being touched. “And there’s like, demonstrations of how to take it off and make it fun to watch for lucky people like you.”

“I see, I see,” she breathed. Her eyes darted to the side when she heard a chuckle from her daughter - but she snapped them back immediately. Even if she couldn’t see anything in the near-dark, she didn’t want to see anything, anyway. “And what about… um, your ‘bussy’, I think you called it?”

That one got a little more of a reaction from Weiss. She bit her lip and tensed slightly, and she saw that pretty cock throb below. This time, she couldn’t ignore it completely, but she tried to drag her eyes back up. At least now she was focusing on her slight chest beneath her pale blue bra; it wasn’t as difficult to process. Theia thought she noticed movement to her far left, but the girl spoke again before she could turn to investigate.

“Um… a little of that. I can’t tell you… I shouldn’t.”

“Who am I going to tell?” Her three friends, one of whom was her mother… but Theia had already said it, even if she felt guilty for the lie of omission.

“Well… maybe it’ll help you loosen up if you hear a story. I suppose that makes sense.” She even cleared her throat before leaning down to whisper in her ear again - and grinding herself against Theia’s stomach in the process. Heat coursed through her body, but she tried to focus on the words instead.

“Y-yes, go on…”

“Alright. I’m sure you can guess that not all of the girls here will go that far with clients, right? Not very many at all. But my friends and I happened to join around the same time, and um, we heard from some of the other girls about the… extracurricular option. It’s all completely under the table, and nobody’s ‘recruited’ for it. The owner of the club doesn’t normally extend it to new dancers because she feels like it’s too much, too soon. But we can make a lot more money this way, and faster, so we kind of begged her…”

When Weiss cut off for a few seconds, too busy humming in distant pleasure from what was going on against Theia’s abdomen, the flustered older woman asked, “And? I assume this means you’ve been admitted into the… the side program?”

“Sort of. Like, we’ve trained for this, obviously, but um, only with… being penetrated, and some other things. You understand. She said she would see how this went first before deciding if we were ready for more; it was supposed to be a nudie show, and if they paid enough, the dancers might jerk each other off. No real touching for the clients, maybe some ass-pats. But then you and your friends came in with all that money, and she asked us if we felt ready enough for a trial by fire - which thank you , by the way! That’s really going to help us!”

“O-of course. It was Wi…” 

“It was what?” Weiss prompted when she didn’t finish.

“It was worth it,” she finished, unable to think of anything else that would fit what she started to say aside from the girl’s mother’s name. She really wasn’t used to this kind of thing! Even without a beautifully firm cock playing across her stomach, she would have had trouble coming up with easy lies. This just wasn't in her nature.

“Awww, you’re so sweet. Mm, what do you want me to call you? Mommy, or… or do you have a name you want me to use?”

“Um… Theiaki…” But the instant she said that, a hot flush crept up her cheeks and regret almost blotted out her arousal completely. Anything but that - it was only for her and Peleus! “Wait-”

“Theiaki? Is that Japanese?” 

Tears beginning to prick her eyes, she whispered, “I’m sorry. That isn’t… I didn’t mean to tell you that.”

Weiss leaned in again and her lips brushed against her ear. “I can call you Theiaki if you want.” 

“Nnnhhh…” She had meant to say “no”. She really had. But by this point, she was so wound up that couldn’t think straight at all anymore; all she wanted was for Weiss to keep going, to nail her to that chair. 

“Good, very good,” she breathed, kissing her lobe now. “Do you want to tell me what it means? Maybe that will help you relax.”

“It’s Greek,” she found herself confessing as her hands slid up and down Weiss’s sides, over her hips. The fact that her fingertips grazed over her firm little cheeks added a fresh flutter in the pit of her stomach. “Just means ‘little Theia’.”

“Oh, Theia’s your name?” She nodded, and Weiss nuzzled the side of her neck in a way that set her on fire. “It’s beautiful.” 

“Thank you.” Desperate to stop thinking about how she had given something so precious away that easily to a girl she barely knew, she asked, “You trained with penetration? Did… I hear that right?” 

“Mm, yeah,” she sighed as her hips moved more, and steadily higher. Only when she felt the prodding against the underside of her breast did Theia realise it was probably because she kept squeezing Weiss’s ass unconsciously. “Being penetrated, not doing the penetration. We started with plugs, then worked up to Salem-”

The girl broke off, slapping her hand over her mouth and pulling back to look at her with wide eyes. So she wasn’t the only one capable of slips of the tongue. To mollify her, Theia smiled up at the girl and caressed her face. “We met Salem. It’s alright, we already know she’s the owner of the club.”

“Well… we weren’t supposed to say…” She glanced down at her cock, then back up at her client. 

“That’s fine. No one can hear us. So plugs? What’s that mean?”

“Oh, um, it’s a special toy,” she relented as Theia played her hands over her back. When she bumped over the bra strap, Weiss reached back to unhook it automatically - and was speaking again before Theia could protest, tell her she hadn’t really intended for her to take it off. “You put it in your back door, and it just stays in there and trains you to get used to having something inside you. I was very intimidated at first, but figured hey, if I’m ever going to have a serious boyfriend…”

Theia let out a distant “Right” as she watched petite little buds come into view in the dancing lowlights. They were definitely natural, because they were mosquito bites, but at least they were Weiss’s alone - and still of a decent size for a trans girl. 

She had stared too long, because Weiss smiled up at her. “You like my itty bitty titties?”

“What? Oh - no, I was just… they’re cute, and I was thinking about…” She didn’t want to say what she was thinking about, in case it made her uncomfortable.

“About if they were real?” Weiss guessed, arching her back. “They are. Not as impressive as some girls who got their hormones at the right time and grew nice chests all on their own, but I’m proud I have something without any surgery necessary.”

“I’m sure you are.” Theia knew that all too well; her own daughter was one who had such a “naturally grown nice chest”, because they had started her on blockers at a very young age, and female hormones as soon as was legally possible. 

“Go on,” Weiss urged her, arching her back so they were filling her field of vision. “I promise, I don’t mind.”

Why not? Theia didn’t even have the wherewithal to protest anymore, not really. She leaned in and kissed over the soft flesh, feeling how baby smooth the skin was. By the time she got to one of the tiny peaks, she looked up to watch Weiss as her lips hit home. 

“Mmm, you’re really getting me going,” Weiss sighed as she leaned into the first kiss. So she got another, and another. “Wow…”

Theia pulled back to look up at her. “I’m getting you going? You were already… very, um…”

“Oh, I know. It’s just such an exciting idea. But, well… even though I hadn’t thought that much about women before, I’m starting to think I could have a lot of fun with you.” 

The feeling was mutual. But Theia also wasn’t ready to just throw herself to the ground and get drilled by the first incredible cock waved under her nose; she just wasn’t that kind of woman. Even if she was starting to feel like one tonight. Distantly, she also knew the girl's identity was a big part of the reason it would be a mistake to continue… but that was getting harder and harder to remember.

“You’re still nervous,” Weiss guessed. Theia nodded; no point in avoiding it. “What if I let you really explore? You might feel more comfortable then.”

“Explore?”

Oh, how she wished she had said “no” instead. Or maybe something clearer, such as “I’d like to know what that means before we continue”. But her question had been open-ended enough that it made perfect sense when Weiss stood, leaving one heel perched on the arm of the chair… and leaned her hips forward into the customer’s face.

'It's so pretty,' Theia couldn't help thinking as she got an eyeful of that trim shaft, the rosy head - even the soft sack dangling below was adding to the appealing aesthetic. 'Weiss might be a girl, but any woman would love to get their hands on this, regardless of their sexuality. I'm sure of it.'

And that wasn't all. No amount of perfume in the air could disguise the musky scent that suddenly filled her lungs. Thick and heady and intoxicating. Yes, Theia had only ever known one man, but Weiss's scent wasn’t so drastically different that she couldn’t recognise it again. She breathed deeply, and felt her entire body coming alive - trying to urge her to give into its needs, to take what she wanted and damn the consequences.

“Guess it’s not just my titties you like,” Weiss giggled. 

“No, I…” She felt her nose bump the tip, and tried not to lose her mind then and there. Just being near one again after so long… “Your cock is gorgeous.”

OH. That had not come out on purpose. She felt like the sluttiest old woman on the planet, lusting over this young package simply because it was there. But Weiss only laughed and reached down to caress over her hair. 

“Thank you. It seems to think the same about you, Theiaki.”

Damn that nickname. It still held so much power over her, even after all these years. The rush of desire that it stirred in her made it inevitable that she would lean forward and take the tip gently into her mouth.

“Oooh,” Weiss breathed shakily as she felt her needy arousal being tended to at last. Theia couldn’t even fault her; they had all been hard for about five minutes on stage even before this after-show began. Her hand drifted up to grip one of the girl’s asscheeks as she began to move her head slightly, eyes sliding closed and letting the savory, thrilling taste join the scent in her pleasure center - overtaken by their newly combined efforts to turn her into a complete whore.

It was so good to go down on a dick again. She had never minded it at all, but she hadn’t stopped to realise that she really missed this over the past few years; you never know what you have until it’s gone. 

“O-ohhh, wow, Theiaki,” the little dancer began to pant as Theia took her deeper and deeper into her throat. “You’re… you really seem to know wh-what you- WHOA!” 

So clearly she appreciated the addition of her tongue to the play. Good to know. 

Somehow, what Theia felt most ashamed of was that she was getting used to this so quickly. The combination of the beverage she had reluctantly accepted, the lights, the bass beats vibrating through her already-inflamed body… and the feeling of that perfectly tapering shaft sliding into her throat, all made it so easy to keep going, to enjoy herself to the fullest. 

“W-wow, you… I really didn’t expect this to be so… mmhh, Theiaki, you’re fantastic!” The girl's voice was still fairly low, but she was already throbbing against her palate, hips starting to thrust as if they couldn’t keep still. Which they probably couldn’t; Peleus had always claimed she could “suck the chrome off a bumper” whenever he had a few too many. He would stop when she smacked him across the bicep - for a while, anyway. But that didn’t make it any less true.

Within the next minute, she could feel Weiss getting close to her end. That fast, thanks to her level of expertise. The dancer’s delicate fingers grasping at her hair definitely wasn’t making it any easier to resist; by now, her reasoning center was buried deep beneath a growing layer of lust in her mind. All she wanted was to keep going. In fact, she wanted more than this… but was glad they were already doing something. It meant she had an easy excuse to ignore her body’s other impulses.

“Theiaki! I-if you aren’t careful, I’m… I’m going to- are you sure you want- mmhh!”

All she could manage was an “Mmhmmh!” of reassurance. Moving forward at lightspeed seemed to be the only way to avoid making this lapse in judgement so, so much worse. 

Thick, silky seed burst into her throat over and over. There was a very brief urge to gag but she could turn it aside almost immediately; it was all coming back to her easily, like an old friend. One she had missed more than she ever admitted to herself. She worked to swallow everything Weiss was giving her, lips and tongue coaxing yet more from the pulsating shaft. Incredible. Every second felt like a dream come true, despite the burning shame squeezing her heart.

When Weiss was finally done, she pulled back with a shaky sigh, the completely coated cock glistening every time a speck of light flashed past its girth. For a moment, Theia could only watch it move, kissing it a couple of times. Appreciating the beauty of the second one she had ever touched. Then she finally forced herself to look at its owner.

Weiss was all smiles. They were much more bashful and earnest now than the smirk she had worn like an accessory on the stage; she had really gotten off hard, and was amazed that it could feel that good. 

“Better?” Theia asked, voice thick from the cream still in her throat. 

“Yeah,” she panted shakily, swallowing as she tried to come back down from that sudden high. “Mmm, I honestly… I didn’t expect to like that as much as I… wow.”

“Are you alright?” she asked with a slight chuckle, bemused because the girl was so overcome. It helped assuage her guilt; at least they were both in uncharted waters, in a way. 

Licking her lips and breathing hard, she sank down sideways in the chair. Her mostly-hard cock flopped to the side a bit now that it had been properly seen to - and Theia had to fight down the urge to play with it anyway. What was the matter with her?! “Well, I’ll be honest: this is sort of giving me a crisis of faith I didn't expect to have. See, I was intending to work here for a year or two and use my earnings to pay for surgery.”

“Surgery? Are you alright?” Then she closed her eyes in embarrassment. “Gender surgery. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s alright,” Weiss laughed easily, petting over Theia’s neck. She looked up to see the girl smiling down at her sweetly, and had the sudden realization that she wouldn’t mind revisiting this situation. “But now you’re giving me second thoughts. Like, I still want a vagina, but I could see myself keeping what I already have a teensy bit more than I could five minutes ago, that’s for sure.”  

“You should do what makes you happy, honey. That’s what matters the most.” Now she fondled her slick anatomy again, and heard a soft sigh as a result. “This is fine. A vagina is fine. What’s important is what’s going to make you feel most like yourself.”

The girl nodded. “I know. But thank you. I just was one hundred percent sure a minute ago, and now it’s more like… eighty? In favour of the pussy,” she clarified.

“That’s still a pretty high ratio,” Theia laughed, and they shared a smile. 

“Um… you know, I’ve never seen one up close and personal. Do you maybe want me to…?”

Once she got it, the middle-aged mother suddenly felt another hot rush of shame to her cheeks. Absolutely not. She couldn’t! For about a thousand reasons! But the one she said was, “Oh, I haven’t… trimmed…”

“Oh,” Weiss said, clearly not having expected that. Her own hair was basically nonexistent; a tiny silvery snowflake shape above the base of her shaft. But she hastily recovered, “And that’s fine! All bodies are beautiful, I’m sure I…” She began to pet up and down her chest, voice growing huskier; turning on the charm. “I’m sure I can make yours as happy as you made mine.”

When fingers prodded her very erect nipples through her blouse and bra, she looked away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Weiss smirking - and she had to look back at that smirk, because she also noticed a lot of movement in the chair off to one side. Even just knowing that Pyrrha was “moving” with Willow was too much; she didn’t want to keep watching and chance actually seeing anything.

“Seems like you’re just denying yourself,” Weiss accused.

“I… I am. I’m not ready for what I want.”

The phrasing seemed to hit Weiss hard, and she frowned a little. “It’s okay,” she whispered, moving her hands to her shoulders. Thank God. “Again, there is no pressure. But if you change your mind, I promise, I’ll be happy to try. As long as you don’t hold it against me for never having done it before.”

“I would never,” she told her with a soft smile. “Thank you. Come here, honey.”

Weiss leaned down, and instead of claiming her mouth as she somewhat wanted to try, she kissed her soft forehead. The girl let out a quiet sigh of gratitude, and she suddenly found herself pulling her in for a very real embrace. Cradling this trim little girl who apparently needed cradling. 

“Oh,” Weiss whispered. She stiffened very briefly, then melted into the warm, soft presence beneath her, clinging harder than Theia expected. As if she had wanted to be this close to someone for a very long time and never had the chance. "I'm… w-well, thank you, Theiaki. I don't… know what to-"

“It’s alright,” she whispered, even though she wasn’t certain what she was doing was alright. Only that she would do her best to make sure it was. "I've got you, Snow Queen."

“I… don’t know,” she had to admit with a shrug of her shoulder. “Yang is my girlfriend. You’re my friend… but also someone I… feel things for?”

As flushed as Blake already was, she seemed to flush yet more with each word either of them spoke. “Is it okay if I feel like… you’re already my girlfriend? It can only be me; that’s not what I’m asking.”

“AAAAHHH!” Weiss half-squealed into the pillow, and Blake giggled. “Why is my life so crazy?!”

“I’m just glad I snagged you out from under my mother,” she joked, and Weiss’s scream turned into a groan.

“Ugh…”

“Only kidding.” Her lips pushed into Weiss’s forehead, and the girl held completely still when she felt how soft they were, how earnest. “Or well, I am glad. Just don’t think she was ever serious; she rarely is.”

Sliding a little closer, she kissed her chin in return. Each time one of them took action, the other reacted as if they had been shocked by an electrical outlet. It had been like that all night - which was a good portion of the reason they had yet to do much more than this. Both women were skittish at the idea of sneaking around behind Yang’s back, even if that wasn’t entirely the situation.

“Still don't know why you're bothering with me when you have her,” Blake whispered. Though at least she was smiling shyly, not looking sad or stressed about it.

“Because you and Yang aren't the same person, you cube. Why are you settling for me when you want to be with Yang?” She got a pinch for that one. “Hey!”

Glaring, Blake whispered, “Don't ever say that. You are nobody's consolation prize.” When Weiss only smiled smugly, she rolled her eyes. “Right. I get it now.”

“So smart.” She kissed her nose this time, and Blake looked like she wanted to melt. “And cute.”

“You know, sometimes I think you were a ringer, Schnee. Some experienced lesbian disguised as an innocent cheerleader. You really seemed to wrap both of us around your little finger and you barely had to try.”

Turning a bright tomato red, Weiss whispered, “HEY! Stop, I'm not- I'm the one who can't believe any girls want to kiss me, much less two of the prettiest I've ever seen!”

“Yang and who else? Are you three-timing us?”

“Stop that.” They shared another kiss - that was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Ah!”

“Up and at em, darling!” called Kali's voice, muffled due to the thick oak. “School day!”

Only hesitating a second, she groaned out loudly, “Fine, Mom!”

“And if you have Weiss in there with you, the same goes for her! Also, don't you dare skip breakfast - we must replenish our fluids, girls!”

They were both still staring at each other in horror as Blake's mother moved off, giggling merrily. Blake dragged herself out of bed as she groaned, “You know… sometimes, she makes it really hard to love her.”

---------------------

The ride to school was quite awkward, and not just because Blake was still blushing about her mother accurately guessing how they had spent their night. It was also because Ilia was riding with them. She elected to sit up front with Kali and away from the other two girls; apparently, she hadn't earned her own bike yet, either. Blake had wanted to take hers, but her mother insisted she drive them in because she had to run into town, anyway…

Though Weiss suspected that was a smokescreen. Perceptive as the Belladonna matron was, it was far more likely that she had sensed the tension at the breakfast table. Ilia had sat between Sienna and Kali, completely silent. Weiss and Blake didn't try talking to her, either; the waves of negativity rolling from her tensed shoulders made that seem like a fool's errand.

“So, Ilia,” Kali began in a casual tone. Too casual. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Huh? I mean… I'm sorry, I don't- why?”

“Just making conversation. Any plans?”

Ilia turned to look out the window again. “Oh… I don't know.”

“Sure you do. Go on, just say what you're already thinking; there's no wrong answer.”

“Well, I guess… I want to…” Weiss could see her eyes flicking back and forth in the reflection from the window pane. “I've thought about trying to enlist. Like that girl May. More and more girls are joining the army now that it's not just ‘men's work’ anymore. And I'd really like to do something good.”

Weiss wished she could mention her sister, but knew the words would be unwelcome from her at present. Meanwhile, Kali's voice was clearly pleased. “That's a wonderful idea. Even if you don't wind up going, I think it says a lot about what kind of woman you are - that you want to help serve your country.”

“I'm just not very good at anything,” she laughed bitterly. “So…”

“That's not true!”

Both Kali and Weiss had said it at the same time. The latter winced and fell silent, but Kali didn't allow for that.

“I was going to say she plays the piano beautifully. What were you going to say?” When she only nodded her agreement, Kali frowned. “Alright. I don't know the identity of this elephant riding with us, but it seems pretty heavy if it has you two so quiet. Especially Weiss.”

“Are you calling me a Chatty Cathy?”

“You know yourself better than I, little Schnee.” As they rolled up to a stop sign, she looked over at Ilia again, then glanced into the rearview mirror at the other two. All of them were stone-cold silent. “Is this another matter of the heart?”

Blake let out a harsh little chuckle. “Can't be if I don't have one.”

“Blake,” Weiss whispered.

“Doesn't matter.”

“Clearly, it does.” Kali pulled over and parked in the lot of an abandoned gas station; the remote location meant it didn't see enough traffic to have stayed afloat during the Depression.

“What are we doing?” Ilia asked nervously. “We’ll be late for school!”

“Talking things out. Because whatever is going on, I have a feeling I'm riding in a coffin because of someone's unresolved feelings - no matter whose, and no matter what they happen to be.” Her back straightened, and she looked so prim and proper that Weiss almost could laugh. Almost. “Who would like to start?”

Ilia sighed, and Blake flinched. Weiss only looked smaller, as if she wanted to seem less significant. Finally, she said, “Ilia has every right to be mad at us right now. Please don't put her through this, Mrs. Belladonna.”

“Through what? It's not as if I can understand instinctively what we're talking about if no one will tell me what it is.”

“Fine.” Blake rolled her shoulders as if to rid them of a persistent weight. “The whole problem is that I'm a jerk, and Weiss was trying to clean up my mess for me. And like she said, Ilia is upset. No reason she shouldn't be.”

“You're not making this any-”

“Kali?” When she fell silent, Weiss smiled. “Believe me, I feel really bad for saying this to you, because you've been so good to Mommy and myself. But can you drop it?”

Kali considered that for a moment. Then she turned to Ilia, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Would you rather I drop this, sweetheart?”

“I… y-yes. Please.” The whisper was so quiet they almost missed it.

“Alright. I'm sorry for making it worse, if I have.” As she pulled back into the lane, she added, “Though you're all good girls. I think you should talk things through sooner rather than later.”

Blake snorted. “You think we're ‘good’, huh? Sure, sure. Gangsters are always ‘good’.”

That really did seem to kill the conversation. The rest of the ride was spent in contemplative silence - and Weiss definitely felt the contrast of what it was like to go from the high of waking up in Blake's arms to this all-time low.

---------------------

After classes, it was pretty difficult to get into the spirit of cheer practice. Pyrrha did her best to help shake her out of it, but there seemed to be nothing doing, so she finally pulled her off to the side of the gymnasium.

“Okay, what's the matter? You've never had any trouble with the pyramid before.”

“Oh… a lot. Too much to go into right now.” She flashed the redhead a tight smile. “Sorry. You're right, I need to focus.”

“Are you sure?”

“GIRLS!” snapped Ms. Goodwitch, clapping for their attention. “The homecoming game is in four days! If we don't have these routines down, we'll make a fairly poor showing! Back to work!”

Groaning, they did as they were told.

Practice didn't take very long, even if it felt like it did. Afterward, Pyrrha offered to take Weiss to their favorite diner for a soda and a chat. Knowing it was long overdue, she didn't even fight her. Though she had been doing her darndest to keep her best friend in the loop, there had just been so much that happened - and a lot of it in the last twenty-four hours.

By the end of it, Pyrrha was wide-eyed and stunned. All she had to say was, “Oh.”

“I know. Mondo strange-o.”

“You're living with Salem now? And kissed Ilia, and…” She shook her head out, as if trying to rid it of stray thoughts to focus on one at a time. “And you and Blake! Yang really doesn't mind?”

Cheeks reddening, Weiss stared down into the dregs of her milkshake. “She says she doesn't. And I think she means it, but… it's pretty hard to believe, isn't it? If she and Blake were the ones kissing, I know I would be jealous. Blake is so pretty!”

“She's a beautiful girl,” Pyrrha agreed. “But… well, I still don't know what to think about you dating Yang! So I don't feel very qualified to comment on the rest.”

“I understand,” she laughed nervously. “It still seems insane to me, too.”

“And now, Ilia…”

Weiss waved both hands quickly. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! No. I'm not interested in Ilia that way at all! I like her and think we could be friends, but my only other interests in her are helping her patch things up with Blake, and maybe performing with her.”

At those words, Pyrrha smiled again, head tilting to the left a bit. “Awwww… do you remember our fifth grade talent show? You were so adorable.”

“Oh my gosh, I do! And you were, too - and so strong! Nobody really expected you to throw that full-grown man over your shoulder!”

“And you sang beautifully! Ohh, I do hope that if you and Ilia make up, I'll get to hear you perform. I've always loved your singing.”

“I hope so, too.” But her laughter was subdued. “Do you… think she'll forgive me?”

The taller girl came over thoughtful for a moment. “I don't really know. Of course, I know you to be a wonderful person, but that's because we have been friends all our lives. It can be… difficult when it's a person you do not know well. As with Cinder; at first, I believed her to be a horrible, frightening person. And she still is in some ways.”

“True,” she snorted.

“But over time, I came to understand that… she is a woman in pain. Always has been. The pain got worse when she was caught in that fire, but it wasn't new - it only caused her to further withdraw, and lash out at her friends to protect herself. And once you understand that…”

Pyrrha trailed off, waiting for Weiss to pick it up and finish the thought. “Once you understand that, you understand she's… not so bad?”

“Exactly. Ilia just needs to understand you and Blake better. The same way Blake needed to understand Ilia, and I needed to understand Cinder. We have to communicate and truly listen to each other.”

“Cheeeee. How did you get so wise? You're like some kind of… of… mystical medicine man.”

Now her friend had a tinge of pink in her cheeks. “Oh, you do go on.”

“No, I'm serious, you're so smart! And cool, and beautiful, and… wow, maybe I should leave Blake and Yang.”

“D-don't even joke like that!” They both giggled, and Pyrrha looked down toward her lap. “But I am flattered. If only everyone felt that way.”

Drooping as much as her friend was, Weiss asked, “Still no invitations to the dance from a certain boy?”

“Afraid not. Though Cinder did say she would save me a spot on her card.” Heaving a sigh, she stirred her straw around in the near-empty glass. “It's alright. I still think homecoming will be swell! And the decorations look so nice already!”

From there, the conversation meandered until Yang showed up with her books in tow. They were supposed to meet at Weiss's house, but that didn't truly exist anymore. Between the two of them, they were able to drill a little more knowledge into the brute’s head before the proprietor shooed them out because they weren't buying food or drink at all by that point.

Once the topic of Ilia came up, Yang sighed and stuffed her hands into her pockets as they loitered in the parking lot. “Ahhh. Figured that might blow up at some point.”

“You did?” Weiss asked in acute shock.

“C’mon, how blind do you have to be? That girl's real gone on Belladonna; was ever since she first walked into our turf. Even got initiated just to get closer to her. I mean, it's not like she had much else going for her, anyway.”

Her expression darkened. “Xiao Long, I'm surprised at you. How can you say that about one of our own? She's a bright, talented young lady!”

“Hey, hey,” she laughed nervously, holding up both hands in surrender. “Cool it. I meant she's like me; poor kid, nothing to her name. Except she's got no parents and I still have one… even if it is Raven.”

“Oh. Well… alright, I'm sorry for snapping.” Yang waved the apology off as Weiss chewed on her lip. “Hmm… well, if you knew, why didn't you say anything to Blake?”

“HAH! You really think I'm some kinda Cupid? I barely know how to get one rich princess to give me the time of day.” At Weiss's bashful smile, Yang bumped her with her elbow. “Anyway, it's… not my place. But I did try to give her some advice once.”

“Yeah? I take it she didn't give Ilia a second chance?

Yang blinked, then laughed. “No, I meant Ilia. She just got branded, was part of us, and I could tell she wanted to go talk to Blake. Like, plain as the nose on her face. So I told her to just be confident and give it her best shot. Never know unless you try, right?”

Pyrrha and Weiss exchanged a look. As Yang looked back and forth between them, Pyrrha breathed, “Well… whoopsie.”

“What? Guys, what is it?”

“Yang, I can tell you meant well,” her girlfriend began gently. “A-and it is advice that might have worked, under different circumstances, or… um…”

Pyrrha picked up the slack when it became clear that Weiss wasn't going to be able to finish. “You said ‘confident’, but I believe your friend interpreted that to mean ‘haughty’. It really is no one's fault; she was inexperienced. But what Weiss is trying to say is that when Ilia spoke to her, she was so overconfident that she offended Blake without meaning to, and that's what has caused this… rift between them.”

A long moment passed as Yang tried to process what they were telling her. She ran a hand through her golden mane. “Oh, perfect.”

“Like Pyrrha said, it's nobody's fault,” Weiss was quick to follow up. “At least you tried! And I think I did even worse damage when I stuck her and Blake in a room together and made them talk. She…” Her eyes gazed downward at the blacktop beneath their feet. “I've only seen one other person look that much like they didn't want to be in a room. It was my mother when my father was trying to beat her. So… thinking I did that to-”

“Let's not exaggerate the situation,” her best friend cut her off. “You did nothing to hurt her physically. And I'm sure in time, she will realize you were trying to help.”

“Yeah,” Yang sighed, still looking like a candle that has been snuffed out. “And… it sounds like I should at least apologize for giving her some rotten advice. Damn, why do I ever open my mouth?”

Weiss slid her hands up Yang's shoulders and held on, drawing her a little closer. “I can't answer that in mixed company.” When something resembling Yang's usual smile came to her lips, Weiss pecked them. “There's my big, brave Dragon.”

“Sit on it, Schnee.”

“What, your hand? I know you like that.”

“Ooookay,” Pyrrha laughed nervously as she backed away. “I have some training to do, so I believe I'll leave you lovebirds to it. But you might want to remember that you are in public right now.”

They both ducked their heads. “Thanks for the tip, Nikos,” Yang called to her before she got in her car and drove away. Then she turned back to look at her girlfriend. “Lookie here - alone again.”

“Yep. Well, other than the other diner patrons staring at us.” It was true; nearly every face inside the diner was pointed in their direction, some of them with mouths hanging open. One man lost the tomato off his cheeseburger due to inattention. “Shall we retire to someplace a bit more private?”

One of the bruiser's hands came up to stroke at her chin, as if this were a particularly difficult problem from their studying. Then she leaned in to press her lips against Weiss's ear and whispered, “The lake?”

If Yang had intended to make Weiss break out in a full blush, she had accomplished that goal with relative ease. The formerly-rich girl pushed her away and playfully slapped at her shoulder. “Cad! You know I meant the depot. I’m not as much of a nudist as you.”

“Hey, I'm not assuming anything,” she chuckled, slinging her arm over Weiss's shoulder and leading her over to her bike. “Whatever you want to do right now, we'll do it. The night is yours.”

As they started to saddle up, helmets in place, Weiss tried not to think about what else might be happening that night. Not about an angry Ilia, not about poor, mopey Blake. Not about the fact that by this time tomorrow, her father might be…

No. She wanted to be with Yang and pretend nothing was wrong. Just for a while. That didn't seem like too much to ask for.

An hour and some change later found the two of them entwined on the couch in the abandoned depot, bodies sheathed in sweat as they gasped for breath. It wasn't quick and dirty, but neither was it a slow, drawn-out session; a happy medium.

Very happy.

“Jiminy Christmas,” Weiss finally managed to sigh as they gazed at the crumbling ceiling. “That was… intense.”

Yang's smile was so lewd that she couldn't help giggling bashfully, even though they were the only two in the building. “You bet.”

“Wow, do I ever love you!” She hummed again when Yang kissed her cheek. “Can't believe how you just know every little nook and cranny of my whole body.”

“I'm learning; it's a lot more fun than our homework.” Her voice dipped to a tantalising rumble. “And you found a couple new ones on me tonight.”

Sputtering, she had to take a moment to find her words while Yang grinned that infuriating grin of hers. “I told you that wasn't on purpose! You moved, I didn't expect you to move!”

“Didn't say I hated it, Princess.”

“I… oh. Wait, you really aren’t opposed to- oh, stop teasing me, you germ!” Her hand collided with Yang's bicep.

“I'm not!” When Weiss only puffed out her cheeks, she laughed and kissed each one. “Dead serious, baby. It was… interesting. Never done much back there before.”

The princess's scandalised face only seemed to invite more laughter from her confident partner. “But… but that's a… do you know what that's for?!”

“Wow, Weiss, I know you think I'm dumb but I'm not THAT dumb.”

“But it's- and hey, I don't think you're dumb.” When Yang only laughed, she glanced down pointedly. “You liked that, huh?”

Holding up a hand, she rolled to face her a bit more directly. “Let's not go crazy. I said it was interesting. Why, you want me to poke you there, too?”

“Certainly not.” She kissed her cheek. “But maybe next time I'll poke you there again and see if you change your mind.”

“Why wait until next time?”

“Yang…” When her girlfriend raised both legs upward, opening herself up a bit more, Weiss quickly averted her eyes. “That is obscene.”

“OooooOOoooh. Bet Blake doesn’t get this raunchy for you.”

Weiss simply stared down at her for a long few seconds. Yang was waggling her eyebrows, her face was as coy as ever. Totally typical behaviour for the bruiser. But something about that vague comment bothered her. It took Yang a few seconds for her to notice the change in her girlfriend’s expression, and for her own to get more serious.

“What was that?”

“I… it wasn’t supposed to mean anything,” Yang said, swallowing. “I really was just playing around. Sorry.”

Sighing, she looked away. “It’s okay. You were trying to tease. But that situation is… strange, and new.”

“Seriously,” she reiterated as she sat up and reached for Weiss’s shoulders, kneading into them with firm, rough fingertips. Weiss melted under the touch. “The Dragons play around like that all the time; you know that. I really mean it, I wasn’t trying to give you grief over… whatever is going on with you two. A-and I’m not gonna say what it is, since you haven’t got it figured out yet and I don’t wanna step outta line. But… I…”

“I meant it when I said it’s fine, Yang. Better that you joke about it a little than hate me.”

Her head dipped to one side, fixing Weiss with the intensity of her violet eyes. “I could never hate my princess. Because I know you, and I know what kind of heart you have. It’s a good one. Bet on that every time.”

“You really feel that way? That I’m…” Her laugh was weak, disbelieving. “I’m not perfect. Not even close.”

“Didn’t say you were. But you’re a good egg, and I trust you.” They shared a soft kiss before Yang went back to massaging in earnest. “And a good lay, too.”

Weiss shivered. Then snorted. Then she pressed a hand to her mouth to try and hold back the giggles. “Does that mean you just… laid an egg?”

Ilia now looked like she wanted to throw up. She hurriedly pushed to her feet, wiping her palms on her jeans. “Sorry, I'm sorry. You were just so nice to me…” She shook her head violently. “No. You don't owe me anything. I got caught up in the moment, like you said, and…”

“And that's it.” Weiss was able to stand up and catch her elbow just when she was about to bolt for the door. “That's all it was! As long as we both understand that, then it's fine! Nobody was hurt, nothing bad happened. Please don't feel bad, okay?”

“I j-just feel so alone all the time. And I see Blake every day I come to these meetings, when we would hang out at Shopkeeper’s, and I would just think to myself… ‘If only she would turn around and see me looking at her the way I do.’ But the only times she did, she looked disgusted. Offended that I thought I was entitled to ask her out, to be with her - even though I wouldn’t, not even in my wildest dreams! Like, I already knew from before that there wasn’t any point! But I couldn't correct her b-because that would mean talking to her, and she kept glaring at me. And I liked that! It just made my crush on her even bigger! What's wrong with me? Am I some kind of… of low-grade moron?!”

Somehow, Weiss managed to hang onto Ilia's arm while she forced her own brain to do some quick calculations. The problem wasn't Ilia being shy - or it was, but that was only a small portion of the problem. And it certainly didn't have anything to do with how nice Weiss was being; that was a minor bump in the road. But they weren't going to get anywhere if they kept ignoring the true root of this girl's continuing hell on Earth.

“Come on,” she suddenly announced as she started striding for the door.

“Huh?! Wait, I'm- where are we going? You're hurting my arm!”

Ignoring her protests - except to relax her grip on Ilia's arm very slightly - the Schnee princess marched a few doors along and knocked, trying to keep it down so she wouldn't wake any parents. Or Salem. That would certainly be a disaster that she desperately hoped to avoid.

When a bleary-looking Blake finally answered, she felt her captive try to make a run for it, but managed to dig in her heels and keep her struggling on the spot instead.

“What? Weiss?” Then her amber eyes sharpened. “And Ilia? What the f-”

“Can we come in for a minute?”

Blake relented. It took some effort to coax Ilia over the threshold, but once she was in the room she seemed too embarrassed to put up much more of a fight in front of her crush.

“Okay,” the Italian Dragon sighed once they were all standing in something of a loose circle. “What did she do?”

As Ilia cringed from that bite of accusation in her tone, Weiss held up a hand to forestall them both. “Nothing. I promise, nothing's wrong. But… I think it could be really important for us to clear something up right now.”

“Weiss, please,” Ilia begged of her, expression scared and still nauseated as she could barely bring herself to glance at Blake out of the corner of her eye.

“You've been pretty rotten to this girl, Blake. And I don't think you meant to, you just really haven't given her a fair chance. I've seen the open hostility you regard her with and it just isn't fair. Do you agree?”

Caught completely flat-footed by the accusation, Blake folded her arms tightly over her chest. “Uh… no. I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Every time she came in the room or talked to you, you acted like she was an annoying waste of space! It's very rude!”

“What, that?” She scoffed and looked away. “She just came on way too strong, Weiss. And then she started doing that mopey puppy thing after that. I don't need any mopey puppies; I've never been much of a dog person.”

At the moment Blake had mentioned her coming on too strong, Ilia had begun to shrink away. When nobody said anything else, Weiss finally prompted, “What do you mean? How did she come on too strong? She's barely ever talked to you.”

Ilia couldn't speak, couldn't do anything but stare down at her bare feet, breathing shallow. So Blake supplied the necessary information.

“It was right after her initiation. Which was already pretty weird, because she tried to join the gang out of nowhere. Then the instant she had the brand, the next day she comes up to me like some slick greaser, leans against the wall. Then she said-”

“No,” Ilia breathed desperately, shame clearly eating her up inside.

“She said, ‘So, now that that initiation’s over, how would you like to help me with a different one?’ And she winked. Like she was the top dog.” As Ilia seemed to actually diminish in size, Blake let out of harsh laugh. “I'm not as easy as everybody thinks I am. And I didn't have any interest in her, so I just laughed and shook my head, and walked away.”

Well, that certainly answered more questions than Weiss even knew she had. That had been what Ilia meant when she said she already knew it wouldn’t work ‘from before’. She nodded very slowly, processing how that scene might have gone. How it would have looked to both of their perspectives; Ilia flushed with her minor success at becoming a Dragon and hoping to prove herself further to the woman she had fallen for, and Blake simply hearing a very poor attempt at a pick-up line and misinterpreting that as meaning Ilia didn't think much of her.

“After that, she started playing nice, acting like a wounded puppy because I called her out on trying to be slick with a senior member. And like I said… I wasn't interested. Her learning her place didn't make me more interested, either. And that’s been it; we don’t really have anything to talk about, anyway, so what am I supposed to do about it?”

As the girl in question shook like a leaf, Weiss tried to figure out what to say next. It was all a really ugly misunderstanding, but how could they correct it? Blake was technically right. It would be really hard to argue with that.

“Can… you do me a favour?”

“What?” Blake sighed wearily, already resigned to performing some annoying task.

“Look at her. Just for a minute; a full minute.”

Her laugh was even more harsh. “What am I supposed to be seei-”

“Please? For me?” When she got no answer, Weiss put her hands on her hips. “Blake Adriana Belladonna, I can't believe you are being so pig-headed!”

“Don't,” she said warningly. “I hate it when my mom does that, and I really don't want to hear it from you!”

“Fine. Do what I asked you to do or I'll do it again. And I’ll call you ‘sweetie’.”

The warning seemed to be enough. Shaking her head as if she’d never found a situation more ridiculous, she turned to stare at Ilia. The girl literally flinched when she realised the object of her affections was openly gazing at her, and she began to shake harder. Her fingers twisted into knots as she gazed somewhere to the left and down from Blake’s face, and her chest was rising and falling rapidly.

“Did she put you up to this?” Blake asked, about thirty seconds in. “I really don’t see the point.”

“You have to start over now,” Weiss snapped angrily - and Blake was surprised at her tone, but she barrelled ahead, “I’m serious. Start over.”

“Fine.” And she did. By now, Ilia was glancing toward the door, as if trying to figure out how to slip around Weiss and run. But Weiss took a step to the side, just to show her she was ready for such an attempt. So the specimen shook, and clenched her fists, and hiccuped once before she could find her voice.

“I hate you.”

Well, that definitely wasn’t what the princess expected. “What?”

“I… I c-can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” Ilia whispered as a tear ran down her cheek. “Was it really that terrible?”

Blake looked between them, confusion beginning to replace her displeasure and annoyance. “What is this?”

“Weiss!” Ilia snapped, looking up at her with furious, bloodshot eyes. “Let me GO! Did you have to make it worse? I-is this fun for both of you, making me sweat it out?!”

Unfortunately for her escape route, Weiss backed up toward the door instead of moving away from it. “No! I didn’t- that’s not what I was trying to do!”

“Oh, sure! You j-just really thought, what? That you would tell Blake to look at me and sh-she’d suddenly like me, instead of thinking I’m… I’m…” Her voice broke, and she scrubbed at her eyes. “STUPID! I can’t believe I let this happen, and now I really do look s-stupid, and now… oh, let me OUT of here!”

“Wait…” Blake did glance at Weiss again first, but then she took a step toward Ilia. “Are you really this broken up about me shooting you down? What kind of- I mean, it’s just not going to work because I’m not interested in you. Go date somebody else; there’s plenty of other Dragons. I don’t owe you any pity-dates.”

“I never asked for a pity-date! I never even got to ask for any date! I just…” For just a second, it looked like she was really going to get angry with Blake. But then she saw Blake looking offended and all the fight left her. “I want to go. This already turned into the worst night of my life. A-and you don’t even know why, so me hanging around is just… just making it worse and worse, and I can’t…”

Weiss cleared her throat. “Ilia, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, I guess I thought- please, I promise you that I had no idea it would go this way!”

“Shut UP.” Her face transformed into anger once again now that it had a target other than the woman she desired. “I really bought that- that thing about singing with me while I play. And wanting to help me. But if this is the kind of help you’re giving, I r-really think I need to stay far, far away from you.”

As Weiss felt each those words like a series of arrows straight into her heart, Blake finally spoke up again. “You really were into me.”

“Blake,” Weiss said in a pained voice. “Don’t make it worse.”

“No… no, I mean… that first time. When you came on so strong.” Ilia flinched as if stabbed, and Blake’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“I really would like to get out of here, Weiss,” Ilia hissed in a tense voice. “If you don’t move, I’m going to move you. And don’t think I can’t.”

As Weiss stepped away from the door, scared of upsetting Ilia any more, she whispered, “I’m sorry” again - knowing it wouldn’t mean a thing. It was too late. She had done damage that she didn’t even think her actions could do. Ilia pushed past her and grabbed the doorknob, storming out of the room with a slam.

After an extremely pregnant pause, Blake hesitantly crept forward to stand next to Weiss as they stared at the closed door. Then she whispered, “I… I didn’t know.”

“What?”

“I didn’t, Weiss.” When Weiss turned to look at her, Blake looked so meek that she felt her stomach roil. “I thought all those mopey looks were because… I shot her down. Bruised her ego. High and mighty new blood had to learn her place instead of being cocky. But all that time…” Her eyes were desperate and pleading. “It wasn’t that bad, was it? Me ignoring her? I never attacked her or anything, I just didn’t…”

“Just didn’t acknowledge she was alive,” Weiss finished coldly. The instant she saw Blake seize as if struck, she sighed. “Okay, maybe you didn’t mean to treat her that way. But… now I’m not really any better. I really thought just getting you two in the same room would somehow fix everything.”

Her raven-haired head hung down as she gazed at the carpet. “No… you did the right thing. A weird thing, but it was…”

“Was what?”

“It worked. You made me take a good, long look at her and I saw… me. The way I look at Yang.” Her voice cracked as she covered her face. “God, I’ve really been an idiot.”

Weiss shrugged, defeated and completely resigned. “So it worked on you. But I really think I hurt Ilia in a way that… that I never wanted to hurt a friend. So much for me being a princess.”

“Oh? So princesses can never hurt anybody?”

“They aren’t supposed to! They’re supposed to… talk to enchanted frogs, or let their hair down from tall towers! Not treat friends like they’re some kind of, of test subject!”

Nodding weakly, Blake rested a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. Or… I think it will be. You can patch this up with Ilia once I talk to her.” She took a step toward the door, then hesitated. “How… bad was it, really? The way I treated her. I didn’t think it was that bad, but clearly I’m not the best judge of what I was doing.”

“She did use the word ‘disgusted’ about how you looked when she was in your line of sight.” Blake’s frown deepened so much more than should have been possible. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s my mess; I’m going to go clean it up. I’ll be back.” And she was slipping out into the hall.

----------------------------

Weiss waited anxiously in the foreign room for about five minutes. It was even more foreign than her own; nothing was familiar and even the few belongings crammed into it weren’t her own. But she noticed a few small items that reminded her of Blake’s old room, which helped ease her discomfort.

A stricken Blake returned alone. The look on her face was full of guilt and sadness when she glanced at Weiss before quickly turning away.

“Well?”

“She wouldn’t let me in. And… and she was begging me to leave her alone, there wasn’t anything I…”

Sighing in annoyance, she walked over toward Blake - only to see her withdraw jerkily. “What?”

“No, you don’t have to make me feel better. I was a jerk. I’ve been a jerk to her for months and months, and I was too caught up in my own little world to notice.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I mean, she kind of brought it on herself by trying to be such a hot dog, but… I could have eased up after that. She’s a kid, she shouldn’t have to get it right on the first try. I could have seen she was trying to impress me, and… well, I just should have done better.”

“Yes, you could have.” When she looked up in surprise, Weiss shrugged. “What? If you want me to disagree with you, then you’re going to have a long wait. The rest of us could tell she really liked you.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s still not my responsibility to like her back. If I can’t have that from Yang, then why should I owe it to Ilia?”

“But Yang hasn’t been treating you like a pile of… well, something very unpleasant.”

Blake rolled her eyes. “Priss. Can’t even say ‘shit’.” But when Weiss only waited, she slumped over toward the bed. “You’re right. Again. I treated her like something very unpleasant, and now she probably thinks I just want to make it even worse. I’d send me away, too.”

The room went quiet for a minute or two as they thought about the whole situation. Weiss knew they had bigger worries, but it felt like they had to take care of this one first before their minds could wander. At least it was something that could be fixed, possibly. So she approached Blake and touched her shoulder from behind - and this time, she let her.

“You do that a lot, you know. Take out your frustration on people, or on yourself. But you never really hurt them the way my father hurts people; it’s… it’s just your way of trying to protect yourself, I think. Or maybe I’m wrong.”

“Probably half-right, half-wrong.” A little chuckle sounded in her chest. “Well, this should make things a lot easier for you, at least.”

“What?”

“I mean… my feelings. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t worry about some crabapple like me when you already have Yang. It’s probably lucky this all happened before you did something you would regret.”

Taken aback, Weiss’s hand jerked away. She hadn’t even been thinking of it in those terms. “Oh, Blake… do you really think this makes me hate you?” When there came no response, she folded her arms over her chest. “Wow. I didn’t know you thought I was so shallow.”

“What?! Don’t be ridiculous, this isn’t about what you… it’s about me. I’m the one who’s been really making a mess lately.”

“Yes, lately. One or two things. That’s not the full picture of who you are, Blake. Besides… everyone makes mistakes. Your mistake was hearing what Ilia said that first time - and you were a little right about that, she was treating you like a butcher treats a cut of meat - and never giving her a second chance. You didn’t owe it to her exactly, but…”

When Weiss never finished her thought, Blake shrugged. “It’s… I remember her face when I shot her down now. She was shocked. I mean, at the time I just thought, ‘Wow, you really thought I was just going to fall into your arms, didn’t you?’ But now… I guess… I guess she probably was really hoping it would work. Or that I at least wouldn’t stomp on her heart so bad. And she blew her one chance. It’s not like I don’t know how that feels.”

“Can’t say I do,” Weiss laughed weakly. “Yang got to me before I could even think about asking anyone out on my own.” Blake laughed, too. “So you understand her better than I do, and better than you thought.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t matter anymore; I think we both shot ourselves in the foot.”

“Is that one of our foot, or both? Or a collective foot?”

“It’s every foot in the universe,” Blake grunted in annoyance, and Weiss giggled. “Ha. Anyway, do you think… if I tried to talk to her at breakfast, she might think I’m just being… I don’t know, insincere? Or would it be worth trying?”

“Worth trying, for sure. Just don’t expect too much.” As Blake nodded somberly, she reached over and wrapped her arms around her. “I know who you are, Belladonna. You really care about the people who are close to you, and you’re kind of… protective. And that does get to include yourself. So you saw her being a letch and you said, ‘Oh, here comes someone worse than Cinder’.”

That did get a real laugh out of the amber-eyed girl. “You really do get me better than I thought you could. I mean, with us only knowing each other a few months.”

“Yeah.” They shared a look - a powerful one. But Blake broke it first, and Weiss frowned. “Blake?”

“I meant what I said. You really should just worry about Yang; she’s so perfect, and you two are made for each other. And this really isn’t me trying to mope and throw myself a pity party.”

“Well, if it looks like a pity party, and it sounds like…” Blake’s sigh made her abandon the teasing. “I’m not skedaddling on you when you’re this down in the dumps. And no, I don’t think you’re ‘bad’, and I’m not giving up on you because you accidentally hurt some girl you barely know. Because… I know you’re going to do the right thing. We both will, because we both failed to treat her as well as we could have.”

Very slowly, the angst seemed to fade from her posture, and she leaned into the embrace. “Fine. Only because you’re also guilty; otherwise, I’d say you’re too good for me.”

“I am. But I can also choose who I want to spend my time with, and for some dumb reason, I’m choosing you right now.”

Blake turned to smile up at her. “Schnee… you really are hopeless. But I think I love that about you.” Her cheeks bunched with a shy grin as she looked away. “God, someone stop me from babbling nonsense.”

So Weiss did. She gave her a quick peck on the lips that quite stole every last word she had been about to say. A thrill of danger accompanied that; they were cheaters, doing something terrible… but Yang had already told her she didn’t mind. Practically encouraged it.

“Weiss…” Another soft kiss, fleeting but warmer. And another. Then she broke away. “Wait… I don’t know if… we should…”

Nodding her understanding, Weiss leaned her head against Blake’s shoulder instead. “It’s okay. This whole day’s been a little loopy; we shouldn’t… yeah, it might be smarter if we go to sleep.”

“Alright, yeah… I agree with that plan.” She gave her a slight squeeze. “See you tomorrow?”

“What? Oh, I- weren’t we going to…”

Blake pulled back and blinked at her for a second before it dawned on her. “Oh… you wanted to… go to bed together.”

“Yeah. Only, um, it’s a little weird in this place, and I’ve gotten used to sleeping with… with s-someone.”

“With me.” Her correction was accompanied by a tiny smile, somewhere between bashful and smug. But instead of goading her more, she looked away and whispered, “I have, too. When you knocked… I had just barely started to feel tired. It’s not the same sleeping without you.”

Swallowing hard, Weiss kissed Blake’s cheek - earning her a little sigh. “I want to be with you tonight. Just next to you. But if you think it’ll be too uncomfortable for us, we could always-”

“NO! I mean, um… I don’t deserve to snuggle with a Schnee tonight. But if you’re really offering, I’d also be a fool to say ‘no’.”

Eyes full of each other, Weiss managed to back Blake into the sheets, sliding in after her. Watching each other’s eyes, trying to tell what they were thinking without saying another word. The bed was big enough that they could maintain some space between each other if they so chose.

“Weiss,” she said as they moved toward Blake's motorcycle to head to class. She stayed back.

“Yes, Kali?”

“I trust you… slept well.” Her eyes were still discerning, stabbing into her as if she had x-ray vision.

“I did. Thank you for asking.” When the silence was growing stale, Weiss prayed that her cheeks weren’t pinkening as she asked, “Was there something else?

Kali shook her head, a half-smile hitched into place. “No. Just be careful. As you've been learning, this world of ours… has a lot of hidden pitfalls. Don't make a mistake that you'll wind up regretting. But I'm probably worried about nothing, right? You're a smart girl. Just don't forget to be smart.”

With those ominous parting words, Blake's mother went back inside and Weiss went back to Blake herself.

“What was that about?” she asked while handing over her spare helmet.

“Oh, nothing, I suppose. But I think your mother was trying to warn me not to make out with you.”

“Mm.” Only after their helmets were on and they were both seated on the bike did she burst out, “WHAT?!”

-------------------

That day at school was very strange for Weiss. As if she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed - which, in a manner of speaking, she did.

As had become usual, Yang spent a lot of time making eyes at her in the hallway, finding excuses to touch her. They didn’t have actual classes together, but the rest of the day found her slipping a hand down below the hem of her skirt and teasing her thighs before drawing it away, making sure nobody would notice. That was normal - though it had lessened during certain points where one or neither of them were in the mood, or were in the hospital. After their fun on the lakeshore, Yang was back at the top of her game, and it was almost more relief than exhilarating.

Now, however… it wasn’t just Yang. Though she didn’t get nearly so bold, Blake was also winking at her occasionally, finding an excuse to whisper something into her ear that probably could have been said out loud without anyone caring. She never did it in front of Yang, but it still happened. Weiss didn’t respond as favourably to her, but neither could she seem to completely ignore this new attention.

She felt like a cheap floozy. It wasn’t fair to herself, and she knew it mentally, but her emotions were another story. So what if Blake let off a little steam? Technically, she didn’t even help her directly; just encouraged her to take care of herself. But she knew her more prudish friends might not see it that way, even if it was all that had transpired.

After classes, Yang took her to their spot at the abandoned depot. They did kiss for a little while, but it wasn’t quite the same; Weiss felt that morning hanging over her like a dark cloud, threatening to crack open and pour down on the whole situation.

“I’m sorry.”

To Weiss’s surprise, she hadn’t been the one to say it. She pulled back to ask, “For what?”

“There’s just so much happening, y’know? With your dad, and…” Yang sighed and reached up to caress over Weiss’s neck. “It’s dumb, but I keep thinking about Ruby and Qrow.”

“No, it’s not dumb. But what have you been thinking about them?”

“That it’s all my fault we got so… so- I mean, I shoulda known they didn’t hate me. Seems pretty obvious now. But I let myself get all wrapped up in my mom’s anger, and…”

Her girlfriend looked so stricken that Weiss couldn’t help leaning up to kiss her forehead. “You didn’t know. Weren’t you a little girl when this all happened? It is dumb to expect a child to understand what’s going on when she’s already dealing with losing her mom. Or step-mom.”

“Yeah.” She nodded very faintly at first, then a little stronger. “You’re right. I only wish I knew then what I know now, I guess.”

“Mmhmm. Was there something else? You still seem…”

“Well, yeah, there are a couple of things. Like your dad, and you and your mom having to shack up with Mrs. B., and Cinder still not being back in class… it’s just so much. Feels like we can’t catch a break lately.”

Guilt fluttered in her stomach. And here she had been about to add to Yang’s worries by asking about that “free pass” to try making out with a few other girls. As if she even needed to, really! “I’m sorry. So much of that is my fault, in a way. Your life just got more complicated when I came along.”

“Complicated in good ways, too,” she said with a half-smile. But Weiss didn’t return it, so she tilted her head a little. “Hey.”

“Huh?”

“Something’s off with you. Did you and Blake have a fight? She’s been acting weird, too. Pretty much… all day. And I saw you two whispering a lot.” Weiss didn’t even have to answer; the way she looked away biting her lip was enough. “Nnnnnot a fight. Got it.”

“Yang-”

“It’s okay, everything’s boss. I’m hep.” But she didn’t look it. Weiss didn’t think she had ever seen Yang so confused and out of sorts before. She wasn’t angry, or scared; just highly confused and maybe a little sad.

“This isn’t what you think,” she tried, knowing that only made it sound worse. “Blake… she just has been really lonely lately. Nothing happened between us, exactly. But I did…” She felt like she would be sick. “I did help her a little.” Her face was burning, definitely, and maybe even her ears and neck. “Mostly I just watched… and told her she didn’t have to stop. Th-that was all.”

Yang forced a smile that only hurt both of them. “Didn’t I just say I’m fine? And… I never said you had to pin me, and I haven’t pinned you. Neither of us is wearing handcuffs, neither of us is committed. You can do whatever you want with her.”

“But I don’t! I want to be with you, Yang! She just… like I said, she’s been so lonely, and I helped her out a tiny bit. That all. And trust me, I’m not the one she wants to be with - but I can’t go into detail.” Yang didn’t answer. “Do you trust me?”

She still didn’t answer - right away. But when she glanced up and saw Weiss looking as if she had just been shot, she relented. “Of course I trust you! Sorry, I'm sorry, Princess. I just… haven't had to think about…” She swallowed hard and reached up to grasp Weiss's shoulders hard. “I've never had a steady girl before. Ever. So this is all brand new! But I think… maybe I really would be alright if you and Blake-”

Weiss's hand came up and pressed very gently into Yang's mouth. “Don't say that right now. Okay? Just, um, just think about it for a while and get back to me later. You have a lot on your plate, and… I didn't even know how to bring this up to you. It seems cruel when you're already dealing with so much. But it's way less important to me than making sure you and I are hunky dory.”

Before Yang even nodded, she was already kissing the fingertips. Weiss felt her knees go weak and was glad for the old couch they were seated on. The lips kneaded more and more against her fingers until they ran up to take the middle one inside, tongue swirling around it teasingly. It didn't completely distract her from their conversation… but went a long way toward doing so.

“We're hunky dory all the time,” the Dragon finally told her without a hint of hesitation. “And… I know how we feel about each other. I've just never had something I could lose like this before.”

“The only way you'll lose me is if you don't want me around anymore. That's it. Even if things get rough, and my father tries to take me away, and a million other girls want to turn my head, I promise I will find my way back to you. Bet on it, Xiao Long.”

Nothing could have kept the two apart after that.

-------------------

A little while later and they were heading back to the Belladonna house, physically sated even if they were still a little emotionally frayed. Once they parked and started to dismount Yang's motorcycle, she reached out to stall Weiss from heading up to the house.

“This thing that Blake's dealing with… whatever it's about. Or whoever. Should I tease her to make it seem less big, or is it too big even for teasing? Just don't want to make the wrong move here.”

Weiss had to fight down a surge of panic. “Nooooo, no, don't bring that up, at all! Please? You're her best friend and she would be really embarrassed if you found out from somebody else. And if you hint that you know part of it, she might accidentally say the rest and then we’ll all feel awful.”

“Right, okay: I don't know anything. I'll be cool.” A little grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “But I'm glad you're looking out for her, even if it's frustrating not knowing what the hell is going on. She's a good friend.”

Privately, Weiss cringed on Blake's behalf at that last line. And because they were slightly dancing around the notion of opening their relationship up to outside parties. But there was no time to lament such things - especially with Yang standing right there, focused on the situation.

The instant Blake looked up from setting the dining room table and saw the two of them there, her face went through a few quick transformations. Anger, annoyance, sadness, embarrassment. Jealousy in spades. But there was a more pure form of longing there, as well. And that quickly, it all vanished, replaced with an honest gratitude to see her two friends.

“Hey, girls. Mom says it’s almost ready - cacciatore tonight.”

“Great!” Yang glanced at Weiss, her eyes full of an intense question: ‘What is going on with her?!’ Clearly, now that she knew to look for it, she had seen the same transformations Weiss had. But she kept the question in her eyes only, and even that faded away before she turned back to Blake. “Um… so… what’s new?”

Weiss wanted to groan, but it would have been a dead giveaway. Blake blinked and said, “Huh?”

“Seems like I haven’t talked to you much lately is all.”

“Nothing, really. I mean, my news is the same news as your news. By now, you know about Weiss’s dad, right?”

“Yeah! Ain’t that kooky?!”

The rest of the dinner was taken up with chatting about Weiss’s father, and other Dragons goings-on. Kali turned out to have one or two ideas for a new base of operations, even if they weren’t currently workable; she had been ruminating on the problem. The solution just might take time.

“Blake, finish your beets. They’re good for you.”

“Mom, I’m enjoying the chicken,” she sighed weakly. “Don’t ruin it with those red tiddlywinks.”

Weiss may have been the only one to catch the knowing glint in Kali’s eyes as she said in the same casual, matronly tone, “You looked a bit flushed this morning. I’m worried about your blood pressure.”

Instantly, Blake was choking on the bit of beet she had reluctantly nibbled. Yang was quick to go pound her on the back, even though Kali was there nearly as quickly. Weiss was at the far end of the table with her mother, so though they both rose to their feet that was as far as they got before Blake was breathing normally again.

“You aren’t supposed to breathe them!” Kali was chuckling gently, still rubbing up and down her daughter’s back. “Calm down, I only said you looked like you were a bit… strained.”

“MOM!” Blake gagged in annoyance. Everyone laughed, and she looked even more mortified.

“Alright, alright,” Weiss finally said with a wave of her hand. “Lay off her.”

“You laughed, too, Princess!”

Yang smirked and folded her arms over her chest. “Hey, I thought I was the only one that got to call her that.”

“Since when?” Weiss asked.

“Since forever!” When both Blake and Weiss looked at her curiously, Yang laughed again, going back to her chair. “I'm kidding; I don't actually mind, you know.”

“Oh…” Plopping back down, Weiss picked up her fork again. “Good. But don't worry, I still like hearing it from you the best.”

This time, the retching sounds from Blake were feigned, but her mother still turned back to her as if it were a real crisis. That started the laughter again, especially from Willow who saw much of her own parenting reflected in the other mother - even if she had taken an extended leave of absence, thanks to her husband and hundreds of bottles of wine.

Following dinner and dessert, they were relaxing in the living room in front of the TV when they heard a car pull into the drive. “I’m not expecting anyone,” Kali said.

“Me, either.” Blake glanced around at everyone else, then back to her mother. “Is Salem back? Already?”

It certainly wasn’t Salem. When they gathered on the porch to see what was going on, they found themselves staring at none other than Jacques Schnee, leaning on a diamond-topped cane that he had certainly never needed before with his hair and mustache a little too perfect. He was standing in front of an actual squad car, with two actual policemen in the front.

“Porco cane!” Kali hissed under her breath, eyes narrowed. But she made no other sudden movement.

“So this is where you two have squirreled yourselves away,” he sighed in a disinterested voice. “How very… pedestrian. Is it even up to code? I wonder if I could have it condemned…”

“What do you want here, Jacques?” Willow said in as even a tone as she could manage. It wasn’t fiery, and it wasn’t firm. She was terrified that he had found them - as was Weiss. Though she was content to stay in the background of the encounter for as long as possible.

“Why, honey, I thought that would be obvious. I wish to reunite my family.” His smile was genial, like he thought he was Santa Claus. “Whitley misses the both of you.”

While she was trying to come up with a reply for that, Weiss found her voice. “We have a family. Right here.”

“Oh, is that what you call this? Such a random collection of rabble - a couple of black-haired dago greasers and some chink girl? That passes for family to you now? My, my… how the mighty have fallen.”

Kali nearly lost it. In fact, she took a single step forward, but Blake managed to hold her back at the last second. The gentle pressure on her arms reminded her of their situation, of the cop car waiting just behind the enemy, and she brought her temper back under control.

“You see?” he laughed harshly, gesturing with a hand. “Animals that can scarcely control themselves. Come home, Willow. We’ll sort this out later.”

By now, the Schnee matriarch’s anger was starting to overtake her fear, even if marginally. “Come home? So… s-so you can spank me as if I were a spoiled little girl? We have had this discussion, Jacques. I will never sleep under the same roof as you again.”

He only wasted a few seconds digesting her words, glaring daggers at the woman he had claimed to love when he married her. Then he grinned darkly. “Never say never, my dear.” His fingers snapped toward the car, and one of the officers exited to stand next to him. “Fetch the bitch.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Yang drawled out, cracking her knuckles. “She ain’t done anything wrong. You can’t just go sticking people in handcuffs for no reason.”

“Ah, but they can, and they will. Who’s going to stop us? You? If you resist, we will claim that you were shot in ‘self defense’ - and who will the judge believe?” His hand pressed into the center of his chest. “A respected pillar of this community, running for the office of mayor? Or an unfaithful wife who runs away from her problems and into the waiting arms of a handful of thugs? None of you have a leg to stand on.”

“You’re right,” Kali announced, eyes narrowed and blazing with hate. “But first, you would all have to make it back to the station in one piece.”

Then her gun was aimed at Jacques. Weiss hadn’t even noticed her produce it - and neither officer had theirs out yet. The one already out of the car went for his piece-

BANG! His hat went flying from atop his head, spinning off over the car and toward the ditch that lay between the Belladonna’s front yard and the street.

“Ah, ah, ah,” she said in a dangerous tone. “I actually don’t want to kill a police officer. But that doesn’t mean I won’t if given no alternative.”

“You are committing a serious error in judgement, miss,” the officer said, speaking for the first time. “We could have you locked up on counts of-”

“Spare me. What you are doing is immoral and illegal, even if no one else ever finds out about it. And you will have to live with that for the rest of your life. Now…” Her eyebrow rose as she lowered the barrel, just enough to be noticeable from a distance. “Do you want to spend the rest of that life being able to make love to your wife, or not?”

That definitely got him to gulp, and he raised his hands up over his head. By this time, Blake reappeared - when had she left?! - and had another pistol aimed at the two men, sliding along to the end of the porch. Jacques rolled his eyes skyward.

“You expect me to believe this pipsqueak knows how to use that? We ought to run you all in for harbouring too many dangerous weapons and putting them into the hands of children.”

“I’m not as good as my mom,” Blake admitted easily. “I might miss the cop and hit you instead. Now, take out that piece nice and slow - two fingers. That’s it… toss it on the grass. Cock it before you do and I’ll take you off here and now.”

She hated to admit it, but Weiss was impressed. The Belladonnas didn’t mess around. Once he had disposed of the gun, she nodded sideways at Yang, who dropped down and crawled over to pick it up by the trigger guard with her pinky. Once backed out of firing range of the two women packing heat, she stood again, holding the gun the same way.

“Isn’t she a great shot, too?” Jacques teased irritably.

“I don’t believe in guns,” Yang snapped. “I’d rather have a clean, honest fight any day. The other guy - he can toss us his gun, too. And the keys.”

They obeyed. Jacques looked hopping mad, but he didn’t protest as Yang caught two guns with the same pinky, then circled around the squad car with a wide berth before she unlocked the trunk. At this point, Jacques tensed as if he was going to try something stupid, but Blake cocked her gun and he went still.

“You wouldn’t. You might hit the blonde.”

“We’ve all been shot before,” Yang answered for her. “Or stabbed. But you know all about that, right?” She locked the trunk again with the guns inside, then circled around to the passenger’s side. “Pop that glove box, will ya?” He did, and she tossed the bullets inside. “Good boy.”

“Now,” Kali announced as Yang rejoined the others, tossing the keys in through the driver’s side window. “You’re going to get back into that car, and vacate my property. And don’t bother seeing if this firearm is licensed; it is. I have a legal right to bear arms under the constitution. You don’t want anyone to know what you were doing here any more than we wanted it to happen, so you won’t push this matter. Get back in that car and go away. And if you ever set foot on my property again without a warrant, or an actual legitimate police reason, I won’t be so welcoming.”

“Listen to them!” Jacques snarled. “As if they have the right of w-”

“And if you ever come here again, you will meet your death, future Mayor,” she snarled, and Weiss felt her blood run cold at the level of fury she had reached - especially considering she was smiling, fierce and vicious. “I told you that you shouldn’t thank me. But I doubt you even remember that now.”

His white eyebrows twitched together. “Remember what?”

“GO.”

“What about my hat?” the officer asked.

“You’ll get a new one.”

That seemed to be that. However, Jacques couldn’t seem to resist a parting comment. “You’ll regret this, Willow. Mark my words. You’ll rue the day you ever crossed me. I made you, and I can unmake you. Watch your back.” Then he sneered at Weiss. “That goes for you, too, Junior Hooker.”

Yang pounded one fist into her open palm to emphasise that they were wearing out their welcome yet further. They sped away.

“I can’t believe that,” Willow breathed in shock. “What he called my Weiss… his daughter…”

But Weiss could barely spare any thought for that. She was still shaking from having heard a gun go off so close to her ears, and aimed in the general direction of a family member - no matter how terrible he turned out to be. It had taken a lot of concentration to keep from wetting herself again. Maybe she had some kind of bladder problem. Passing a hand over her eyes, she turned to blink at the others, seeing her shock only truly reflected in her mother’s face.

“You’re not a hooker,” Blake provided instantly, and Yang nodded firmly. Kali merely looked drained from the confrontation, but satisfied with the results.

“I… I know I’m not.”

“Yang,” Kali finally said with a sigh, “would you… be a dear and fetch that hat for us? We’ll need to burn the evidence that they were ever here, and I fired at an officer of the law. Then we need to hide Blake’s piece again; just because my gun is licensed doesn’t mean the other one is.”

They got to work. As they went about trying to erase all indication that their pleasant evening had been interrupted, Weiss reflected that her father had accomplished exactly what he meant to do: he had brought a family closer together. Now, all five of them acted and moved as one, making sure to occasionally touch each other on the shoulders or flash a smile of reassurance.

Ruby sometimes managed to give Winter a shy wave. There was still no sign of Penny just yet. But while things were up in the air with Winter, she assumed that was for the best. They could talk soon.

"You know," Winter said to Neon as she leaned to one side so they could speak more easily, "you two did quite a good job on this spread. If you ever get tired of performing, you could probably try your hand at party planning."

Blowing a loud raspberry, she smirked back toward her. "No way! Any nimrod can spread some mayo on bread’n add some tuna or ham. I just needed to do it a few hundred times!"

"Well, I might think about it! I'm sure as hell still not used to going out and people recognising me on the street, like I’m somebody." Grabbing a few of the cheese sandwiches and some potato chips, Yang looked toward her little sister from across the table. "Don't worry, I put Penny's vegan stuff to the side so she'll have plenty when she gets here. Made it special!"

"Oh, great! She'll really like that!" Ruby grinned straight back, having just put a bratwurst on her plate and adding more chips. "They're still held up, I think… traffic must be bad."

"Sometimes it gets pretty congested," Weiss agreed as she popped a devilled egg into her mouth. "Flying out of Nashville is as miserable as LAX. But you get used to it."

"This tuna is excellent," Blake commented with a smile. "You really went all out."

"Seconded! I'm surprised it hasn’t summoned the real cat yet." Taking a few of the tuna sandwiches for herself, Neon then looked back to Weiss while she prepared her own and some of Fènleng's food. "Hey, where is Xu-Xu anyways?"

But while they had their light, aimless conversations, it seemed Ruby was zoning out for a moment. She had got her food, and simply stared blankly at her plate as she began to eat. Dwelling on Penny being late would do no good for her mood, so eating was a good solution.

And so was something else going on under the table. About a third of the way through her bratwurst, Ruby could feel a sensation sliding up her calf. It was very light, but definitely present; a teasing. As it did so, she could hear Winter answering another question Blake had asked.

"Oh, I'm not much of a pet person. But I might be persuaded to take in a rescue." Her eyes flicked between both her and Ruby. "Perhaps a cat and a dog, if they could play nice with each other."

Swallowing the meat in her mouth, Ruby shuddered with both a mixture of shock and pleasure. She could feel very easily it was Winter's soft foot, teasing her with those pedicured nails. And it began to rise! Then it hit her: Winter's ultimate payback for what happened with her father. She wasn't finished with her just yet, but could balance their debts by winding her up in front of all the guests.

"Really?" Blake was laughing with a wider smile. "Maybe find a cat who wouldn't mind being cat-sat by you until you could adopt one of your own. I could help you with that."

The elder Schnee sister hummed her agreement as the teasing went up to Ruby's knee, tracing tiny circles as it went. "You know, that might be nice. Test if I'm really ready to take on a pet full-time."

Again, her eyes went back to Ruby. Now biting her lip, Ruby waited for what was coming. She had to maintain a mask of calm, not show that she was really flustered. She never considered all these factors when doing it to Winter. No wonder she wanted to get back at her in this way; it would teach her not to underestimate how hard this was to do on the receiving end.

"Ahem!" Sun ejaculated toward Winter in regards to her comments. Assuming they were intended for Blake, he leant forward. "'Ix-nay' on the 'Et stuff-pay', alright? These people are super vanilla!"

Leaning forward herself, Winter's foot disappeared during the action. "Nobody would pick up on what we meant if you weren't drawing more attention to it, Monkey Boy," she hissed. Though she was still smiling; not at all upset, just mildly bemused that Sun had let himself get so easily flustered.

Looking downward got his plate and groaning in annoyance instead, he murmured, "Just shut up and eat your sandwiches."

But Ruby was finally sighing with relief, going back to her sandwich. She assumed that Winter had stopped taunting her, thinking she realised how mean it really was in front of people. That she had enjoyed her revenge.

"Aww, it's okay," Blake was murmuring to Sun very gently, petting his shoulder to soothe him. "But Winter is right in this case; we were just talking about pets. No big deal."

"And a well cared for pet is a happy pet," Winter went on, as her foot resumed its upward progress - this time, starting at the knee and working inward. "Don't worry, I've done a lot of pet-sitting in my time."

"Oh really?” Yang put in. “We'll have to get you to cat-sit Xu-Xu for us, Winter. See, we wanted to take Fènleng to Disneyland sometime soon-"

Yang was immediately cut off by Neon. "Kids her age can barely go on anything!"

"Who said it was just for her?"

But the host's little sister was distracted once more. Forced to release the sandwich which dropped to her plate, she froze up once again. Winter was continuing to wind her up in plain sight. She only hoped that no one was going to notice, somehow.

"Wouldn't mind it a bit," she was saying serenely while pushing her foot further and further between Ruby's thighs, underneath the meager protection her skit offered. "Though Neon does have a point. It might be more fun if you leave Fèn with one of us and just go to Disney yourselves."

"I could never do that!" Weiss gasped out, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder for emphasis. "My little girl, alone, for days at a time?!"

"Babe, didn't you wanna go back on tour for a couple of months next year, though?" Yang laughed. Looking back to Neon and Winter, she smiled. "For her, it would mainly be for pictures. We wanna build lots of memories and make some scrapbooks and stuff. You know, stuff to embarrass her with in front of her friends, or when she brings a date home."

Once the foot pressed home beneath the skirt, however, there was a harsh thud at the table from where Ruby jumped in surprise, knees impacting with the surface above. Either way, it got quite a bit of attention - the opposite of what she wanted. Already her cheeks were glowing.

It was remarkable how real the look of confusion and concern on Winter's face was as she asked, "Are you alright?" Even as the toes resumed their progress, getting so close to the mark again, she was laying her palms on either side of her plate, as if pretending she was about to stand.

"I-I… U-Uh…" By now, Ruby could feel her right up against her panties, pressing inward and taunting her fragile flesh. How was she supposed to respond to that with everyone looking? She didn't have as much self-control as Winter did!

There was nothing else for it. As much as she didn't want to give up and accept her fate, she found herself having to move her chair back slightly. He blush was completely red, enough to give Winter a big enough hint that her efforts were not fruitless. Once out of the foot's reach, she shot an apologetic look over toward Weiss.

"S-sorry, just need the bathroom. Where, uh, was it again?"

"There's one right here on this floor," Weiss said in some confusion. "And downstairs and upstairs, of course. You've been here before, haven't you?"

"Y-yeah… I… Sorry, I forgot. I'm being dumb. E-excuse me!"

And barely even managing to tuck her skirt back down in time, Ruby dashed away from her chair and straight to the bathroom, leaving their guests very confused. Winter had to play it cool. Even with the guilty thrill that shot into her stomach, she had to at least pretend that she had no idea that anything was wrong with Ruby. However, after a full minute had passed, she withdrew her phone from her bosom and sent a quick message.

R u ok?

"Your sister's kinda crazy, Yang." Neon was heard commenting as she went to grab more tuna sandwiches.

"Yeah, but at least she's in better moods now." Yang admitted, looking toward the eldest Schnee with a bright smile. "We got Winter to thank for that."

But after a short moment, there was a buzz through to Winter's phone. A message back.

Fine! I guess I deserved that. But I knew I was gonna end up moaning so I had to leave quick! D:

"Oh, I just… did what I could," Winter said evasively as she began to type back.

You could have stopped me and said it was too much, I just thought it would be fun ; ) I'll help you moan more later

"My sister's so modest," Weiss said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. But she was smirking. "She's so good at reassuring people. The same sister who once convinced me that if I ate a caterpillar, I would have a literal butterfly in my stomach."

"That was ONE time!" Winter said in exasperation as she laid her phone down to take a drink of water. "And I was five, you can hardly blame me!"

While everyone chuckled, Weiss said, "Can't I?"

"Oh, that's bush league compared to the stuff I did." Yang laughed, holding up the hand with her sandwich to gesture along with her story. "When we had our first dog, Ein, Ruby would always try and run around on all fours like him. I told her if she did absolutely everything a dog does, she would be able to turn into one."

"Oh my God, please tell me she didn't whiz on any fire hydrants!" Sun was already laughing halfway through Yang's story, but then came another vibration from Winter's phone.

Honestly I haven't felt up to doing anything so long it's so tempting just to go to town on myself in here o//o

"Nothing like that!" Yang could be heard continuing. "But I looked away for two minutes, then suddenly both Ein and Ruby are rolling in a pool of mud! Dad was so pissed when we got home!"

With a knowing glint in her eye, Blake said in a deceptively-casual tone, "Wow, maybe you should look after Ruby when you look after Xu-Xu, Winter."

"Oh? Oh, I- perhaps so!" Now Winter could feel her own desires returning, but she was well practiced at maintaining a façade; no one else would know she was turned on. Even as she began to casually type…

Not yet. Please? I want to help more… directly. Tell me where to meet u

Here? Really???

But Yang quickly gave Blake a rather playful glare. She might have been oblivious to what Blake was talking about, but assumed it was something else instead. "What are you saying, my sister's a furry or something? Gross."

Another vibration. Ruby had added to her last reply before Winter could type her own: My car.

"Nothing against furries, but if she likes rolling around in the dirt, might be better to have someone putting her on a leash." Again, Blake glanced at Winter with a smirk.

"Well, I think this conversation is taking a turn for the strange," Weiss observed as she reached for another handful of chips to add to her plate. "My sister walking my sister-in-law like a dog! You're weird, Blake."

"Weird, yeah," Blake was muttering while Winter replied to her texts.

Slip out the back and around the house, I'll excuse myself when I can

"Some people are into that," Neon spoke up with a small smirk. In fact, she looked toward not only Weiss who started the conversation, but also occasionally to the woman sat opposite her. The ever-silent Inu.

"For real? People get off on being treated like a dog?" But the more Yang commented on it, the shorter Inu seemed to become as she sank down in her seat, cheeks reddening. Contrary to what the three people at the table who had prior experience in the Clamp assumed, it seemed there was yet another who shared those sorts of interests among them!

But Winter would have to miss that conversation if it went on. She had just received another message:

I'll text Weiss just to tell her I'll be on the phone. Should buy us enough time. I'm headed to the car now, don't keep me waiting or I'll have to start without you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Feeling her heart speed up into her throat, Winter let out a long, beleaguered sigh. Then she texted back a simple “Ok, be there soon” before pushing her chair back, finally putting on the shoe she had dislodged to tease her poor sub.

"I am sorry, I have to take this after all; some business can't wait. Don't worry, I'll just nip out front and take care of it. Excuse me."

But Blake's amber eyes were focused entirely on Winter as she stood. "Well, have fun." It was said flippantly, as if she were being sarcastic, but they both knew she was serious.

"Hurry back!" Weiss bade her as she strode from the table and out the front door. "All this food isn't going to eat itself!"

Due to how much closer the front door was to the car than the back door, Winter actually made it outside first. Therefore, she spent the time slipping off her cardigan and draping it over one arm, strolling lazily toward Ruby's car. Her heart was pounding with excitement, but she didn't dare show it. Not when there was a slim chance someone might glance out the foyer window and spot her dancing like a giddy schoolgirl.

Before Ruby was in sight, the car could be heard unlocking as the lights flashed. Then came one more vibration from the phone.

Just getting my shoes. Get in, seats can be lowered and there's a blanket in the back, be two seconds ; )

Winter blinked down at the message, then pulled the door handle, sliding into the passenger's side. As she closed the door, she began to message back - because it had to be asked.

Where were your shoes before??

I took them off when I first came over. She always keeps the garden clean so I never bothered to put them back on!

But finally, Ruby was in sight walking around the building. She had managed to avoid the gaze of the other guests as she made her way to the car. But just before she got there, she sent one last teasing text.

Surprised you didn't notice actually ; )))))

Biting her lip, Winter wrapped her phone in her cardigan and put it in the back seat, then grabbed the blanket to pull over herself. She waited until the driver's side door opened before she spoke.

"I had other worries on my mind. But… now that you mention it, I do seem to remember spotting some cute little piggies dancing along the floor…"

Quickly shutting the door behind her and locking it, Ruby grinned just as giddily when she looked back to Winter. She could barely even contain herself as she lowered her seat, attempting to create a more comfortable area for their activities.

"I wasn't thinking about it! Not till you started teasing me with yours. You total asshole, by the way!"

"Just thought I'd pay you back," she said with a grin, sliding the blanket so that she could throw it over Ruby, as well. "A little. Not really make you too uncomfortable - at least, I hope I didn't."

"No, it didn't," she assured her. It wouldn’t do to wound their barely-established relationship with misunderstandings. Scootching slightly toward Winter, she shuffled off her own jacket, tossing it to one side. Then started to undo one or two buttons to give Winter more of a view. "Like I said… I'm just so pent up you were about to make me lose my cool. So I'd rather you do that here, in private."

Now that she had been reassured, it seemed Winter wasn't above more teasing. As she watched the buttons open, she muttered, "Didn't want to let on to your big sister that you were all hot and bothered? I can imagine…"

It was certainly helping the situation, making her growl with desire as she felt deep heat brewing between her legs. But that need was becoming more of a priority than any small talk. It had been too long; not only had she enjoyed no sexual contact with Penny since that time in the car, but she had felt no motivation to take care of her urges on her own. But now that they were back with a passion, all she could do was look her dead in the eye.

"Quit teasing me and make me scream already."

As Winter's smile slowly began to fade, she reached over and grasped Ruby, pulling her across the space to lay atop her. A shoe clattered to the floor while she ran her hands up and down her sides, over her hindquarters.

"Ruby, I missed you so fucking much," she growled needily, past the point of caring how it sounded. Her hands were already gouging into the backs of the girl's thighs, digging in as they worked their way closer to her centre.

Several shaky gasps fell from from the younger woman’s lips. Still wearing an elated smile, instinct was already starting to take over. No longer did she care about their sub or Dom roles; this time, it was a case of doing whatever each of them wanted, trusting their intuition. Already Ruby felt her hips pushing forward against Winter's needily, desperate to get anything she could of her and push back against those hands in addition. Her arms wrapped around Winter's shoulders, keeping her close as she pressed her forehead against hers.

"I missed you, too." A hand dived into her hair. "I'm so happy you're here."

"I know how we started," Winter began as one hand slid around Ruby's hip to begin hiking up her skirt, to rub against her through the thin material of her underwear. "But now it's so much more than just training you. I… I have thought about you every single day since the last time we saw each other!"

"Nhhh! God, I'm so glad I'm not the only one!" Already she was so warm – and all over! No doubt Winter would be able to feel just how wet she had been, it was soaking her undies already. Looking her dead in he eye, she whispered, "So what are you waiting for? Fuck me." And without hesitating any longer, she crashed her lips up against Winter's.

As she kissed back, harder than ever before, Winter wasted no time. Ordinarily, her hands would have been doing a thousand things, taunting flesh and ghosting up thighs. In this instance, she jerked the crotch of Ruby's soft cotton panties aside and began to rub up and down her dripping folds, fingers moving with practiced ease.

Finally, Ruby could do just as she wanted to in the presence of everyone in that room. And she didn't hold back, moaning contentedly into their kiss as she continued to thrust her hips forward into the slender fingers. Even if she was glad they could do as they wanted, Ruby was able to come up with one downside to their impromptu session: they didn't have an artillery of Winter's wonderful toys to use. If only they had somehow anticipated this reconciliation.

Not that she was complaining. Slender fingers would be able to bring her to just as satisfying a finish. She knew that deep down. And she was so desperate for it she couldn't hold back any of the needy thrusts.

Clearly, the girl was ready for more. Not wanting to be conspicuously gone any longer than they had to be, she plunged her middle finger straight into Ruby, curling in with great relish as her tongue began to do the same with the beautiful mouth atop her own.

"HMMMHH!"

What a loud and needy sound that fell into Winter's mouth. Yesss, that’s the spot right there, Ruby thought. She continued to push herself forward against Winter's hand while she worked at that sensitive spot inside, feeling the slender and thin finger buried inside her. But one wasn't enough. Oh no. To be truly satisfied, she needed more than that. Ruby’s hand dove down toward where Winter was working and tapping at one of her other fingers with hers lightly. Just enough to give an undoubtable hint.

But it seemed that even now, Winter couldn't be satisfied with doing this the usual way. Pausing their kiss, she panted, "You want another? Go ahead. Add another." As she said this, she switched from middle to index, pushing the rest of her hand as far out of Ruby's way as she could manage.

Trying to keep her volume down by habit, she looked down at Winter wide eyed. That wasn't something she had heard of before; born of them working together to push her to orgasm. But the way Winter was so casual about it excited her so much! It was worth a try. Holding her hand right beside Winter's, she pushed a finger inside, trusting Winter to follow.

She did, keeping pace with the entry. Of course, it wasn't quite so easy to pull off as only one of them using two fingers, but it turned out to be just doable. Having two hands in such an area forced Ruby's legs further apart, but she was young and flexible; it wasn't impossible.

"Oooh," Winter cooed as she felt a foreign digit sliding over her own, both of them buried deep in the waiting sex. "How does that feel?"

For some reason, this made Ruby shudder even more. It was one thing not to be fully in control, it was another to hand it completely over. But to share? How many times has Winter done this with others, she wondered… "S-so good…" she breathed needily, even pushing herself up against the hands right at her welcoming warmth, trying to welcome them further in.

"Yeah?" Panting heatedly, she began to move her finger at the same time as Ruby's - but she couldn't quite get the rhythm. That seemed to make her partner undulate and buck even more than she would have done under ordinary circumstances. "Mmm, you look like you're losing yourself in it… I hope it's in the best of ways."

"Nnhhhh, yeah, it d-definitely is," she assured her, holding still for a moment as she tried to sync herself up with Winter's hand. Each time it wasn't quite matched, she shuddered a little more, even squealed on top of things on occasion. She could feel her toes beginning to curl in her shoes already. Why didn't she get off inside? It would have made things more of a challenge, at least.

Winter's lips found their way to Ruby's neck as she felt her began to buck atop her, as she tried to curl at the same speed. She was also just able to get her thumb right up against her clit as she did so, hoping the slight friction from their movements would be enough to help send her into the stratosphere sooner rather than later.

Continuing to buck and twitch as her neck was kissed, the moaning was unfortunately increasing in volume. She couldn't help it one bit, it was such a strange sensation! At times when Winter would curl her finger, Ruby would in another direction, which made her feel her inner walls very slightly stretched out. That was more filling than anything. She could feel her heart beginning to race as she grasped Winter's shirt with her spare hand, and felt the few stray quivers that informed her it wouldn’t be long now.

"C-close… I-I'm close already! F-fuck! What are you doing to me?!"

"Let it happen! Oh God, Ruby - you sound so good!" Winter flexed her finger faster than ever, inwardly loving the feeling of Ruby's sliding over hers; it felt so foreign and new, added an intriguing dimension for her. Clearly, it was doing way more than for the smaller woman atop her. "Cum for me! Cum hard for me, Lady!"

God had she missed that petname. Finally, she was pushed over the edge. When Winter curled her finger one more time, and she did too, she felt them hit that sweet spot just right. That in addition to Winter's play with her clit, and she was done for. Shuddering on top of her, “Lady” moaned one more time as loud as she was able, feeling her inner walls clenching around the digits inside her. She felt her fluids getting out of control again, sprinkling Winter's leg and the seat very slightly.

But they had done it. In the car, at WEISS’S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

"Ohhh, wow," Winter breathed, gazing up at hey affectionately. "I wasn't thinking about your ejaculation problem. But… it's so hot…" Drawing away, she left a light kiss on her lips. "You'll never know how much I missed that these past few months."

For a moment, she just lay on top of Winter's front, gasping for breath and smiling with glee as she gradually came down from her high. That was something she missed for a long while. It felt like a relief to regain waht they had lost. But they were still on the clock. After a minute, she was pulling out her own and Winter's finger so she could descend. "Your turn."

"Oh… oh, that isn't necessary, Ruby," she told her earnestly as she watched the girl sink to the floorboard. "I just wanted to follow through on what I promised at the dinner table. You don't have to…"

But already Ruby was crammed into the footwell of the passenger seat. She still made sure the blanket was covering her up, but she began to brush her hands up and down Winter's thighs needily. While Ruby first needed to get off, she needed Winter as well. She needed to be the one to hear her moan again. Hitching up her skirt with each brush, she smirked.

"But I didn't get to eat yet."

While watching her down there, Winter couldn't help but sigh and smile gently at the face between her knees. After a beat, she whispered to her, "You're the most beautiful woman in the entire world."

"Hmm… Nope!" Without elaborating, she made sure to tuck the blanket over them both to keep the area covered. Anything else, Winter would just have to feel. And first thing was first, she would kiss the insides of her thighs, making her way upward toward her underwear rather quickly. While she knew Winter needed the teasing, they had a limited time-window.

And the elder woman didn't waste any time in allowing her eyes to close, to relax into the gentle motions. She was going to enjoy it, of course, but if she fought against the tiny ripples of pleasure, it would take much longer than if she rode them out.

Lady managed to nudge aside her panties with her nose again. She had a feeling it would be preferred by Winter to do so, as a gentle reminder of their play from before. One that, since Yang mentioned the dog story, was starting to make sense why she enjoyed! She at first delivered a single, small kiss before she opened her mouth wider against the folds, and went in for the kill.

If the kiss had made her sigh, the actions that followed made her moan. Winter's legs raised up to drape over Ruby's back as she opened herself up to more stimulation, more attentions from the ravenous tongue of her lover.

Lover… The title sounded accurate now. Justified. Even the strange things they had put each other through, the worries and the uncertainty, hadn't been enough to stop them from being together. All she wanted was to see that through, to become one with the only person she had ever cared about beyond friendship. To see where things led.

And right now, they were leading further and further toward Winter's finish. That tongue hadn't lost its talent, and lapped at Winter's sex readily and needily. In particular, she focused on the clit, kissing it on occasion over and over again. But she knew to add more. And a hint of that was coming as she parted the lips further with her fingers, the other hand still stroking her inner thigh.

"Ohhh, yes," Winter panted obscenely, pushing a hand into the side of Ruby's head as her back arched very slightly. "Ruby, please - more! It feels so good, I can't help it, I n-need…"

Ruby would absolutely deliver more. Keeping the lips apart, she finally gave her what she craved. Aware it would be awkward for Winter to join her down there, she entered her body with two fingers. In unison with her licking, she pumped in and out of her body with them. All the while she was smirking as she listened to the sound of her new lover.

Her other partner in addition to Penny. It was a dream come true.

The fingers instantly had Winter screaming, curling her stomach as her hungry sex tried to clamp down on them, hold them inside. It hadn't been as long for Winter since she orgasmed, but it being Ruby was enough to get her within a hair's breadth very quickly. Her lips stretched wide and her head fell back completely as she let the feeling wash over her, as a few more good thrusts sent her spinning off into an explosion of pleasure unlike any she had enjoyed in months.

Though it wasn't just the swift orgasm that ended their spontaneous session. It was a small, but sharp knock on the car window. One that made Ruby's head jerk up from under the blanket.

What she saw was a freckle-cheeked ginger smiling in at them. No one else was standing outside her car, luckily enough; only Penny, looking pleased as could be to see her girlfriend. She waved, being that the windows were up and it would probably be hard to hear her through them.

"Holy shit Penny!" Eyes snapping wide open, Ruby was quick to remove her fingers from Winter's body and pull her panties back into place. Even if Penny couldn't hear them, she still waved back, talking nervously. "U-Um… Hi! I… I meant to message you about this!"

"What?" Penny called back. "Hi!"

"Oh shit," Winter was whispering, blinking at the redhead. Even though she was clearly in a good mood, she still felt awkward that there had been no time to discuss things with Penny directly… before such an unfortunate moment!

"U-Um… Uh…" There wasn't any way to talk to Penny without yelling aimlessly in the car ,or finding her keys to start the engine and roll the window down. Even if it wasn't the most convenient of moments, she couldn't let things slide without saying a word. Resigning to it, Ruby opened the door very slightly, just enough so Penny could hear her talk. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to… to walk up and… U-Uh…"

But Penny simply flung the door wide, squatted down and embraced her girlfriend, even having to crane around Winter's leg the way she did. The genuine warmth and affection in the action told Ruby that she wasn't doing it merely for show; she had just missed her that much.

"I love my parents, but I love you, too," she breathed into Ruby's sweat-dampened hair. "So good to be back."

"W-Wha?!" More shocked than anything at first, Ruby looked at Winter with a look of confusion for a moment, until she finally embraced Penny right back, locking her arms around Penny's shoulders. Although about to grasp her, she held back with one of the hands. Penny would not appreciate that on her back!

"Awww, I missed you, too! I'm just so sorry I couldn't tackle hug you or something! This is… is awkward."

Once Ruby said that, her partner drew back with a slight pinkness in her cheeks. From experience, she knew it was more that Penny was embarrassed than that she was "turned on," of course. "Right. Well, I saw you while I was walking up to the house. Luckily, Taiyang and Qrow didn't notice, so I told them I wanted to get something my suitcase." At last, she spared Winter a bashful glance. "Hello."

"G-good to see you," she murmured, her own face redder than either of the other two.

"Still, I did want to talk to you." Drawing back from their embrace, Ruby looked toward the emerald eyes she adored so much. And then to Winter, as well. The two women she loved, both in the same place. And oddly without a single hitch. How lucky she truly was to have them both, even if it was an awkward circumstance.

"Penny, I'm sorry I’ve been such a sad sack the past few months," she told her, partially explaining for her and Winter's benefit, especially with the next line. "It was my fault for not trying to solve this sooner and letting myself mope. Honestly, I don't know how either of you put up with me sometimes…"

Both of them moved to hug her, but Winter held back when she noticed Penny was doing the same. The latter said, "Sorry, you can go first if you want."

"No, it's… Penny, I'm sorry we haven't spoken properly about this before now." Her eyes flicked toward Ruby and back. "This is an unusual situation, but not unheard of. But clearly we both care very much about Ruby. So… well, it's her decision in the end, but it seems only honest for me to ask you directly, as well. Are you sure you don’t mind? Since you and she had the pre-existing relationship."

"And please don't make a choice solely because of me," Ruby insisted, making sure Penny was looking at her while she said it. Stroking her arm gently, she went on, "Because I want you to be happy, too. I need you to be happy. I don't want you to agree with this but be hating every moment of it."

"But I'm fine." When Ruby only kept looking at her in concern, she sighed and petted her neck. "Okay… I was upset when you first told me you wanted to start going to the club and trying things with other people. But not with you. I… was more frustrated with myself for not being enough for you. For not being wired the way that most people are and not being able to give you everything."

"But you give me everything I need!" She quickly took her hand – and then in addition, took Winter's. She simply made sure Winter's was the hand they'd been doing things with, just so it didn't disturb Penny. "You both do! I don't need sex at the end of the day. It's just… fun! Like going for a walk, or to a convention, it's not a need, it's… almost a hobby! What I need is what you both give me. Love and care, and good times. And that's what I have from you both. And I love you both for it!"

After a moment, Penny smiled and told her in a gentle voice, "I know. I got over that frustration pretty quickly; it was an emotional knee-jerk response. You being happy is a lot more important, and once I realized that you would be, and it wouldn't 'cost' me anything, the rest was pretty easy to process."

"You really don't mind?" Winter asked her, voice steady despite her obvious fear. "One hundred percent sure?"

"Not at all. You have treated Ruby well; even in the story she told me about your argument, I could tell you were very distressed about what she had done and who she had done it in front of. She never said you hit her, or called her a bad person; you were just upset and trying to handle those new feelings. And other than that one incident, she has never had a bad thing to say about you."

"And I kinda blamed myself more, anyway…" Ruby began to sit upright, adjusting her position for ease of movement for Winter. "Anyway… I guess we better head back inside. They'll be wondering where we are."

"Not just yet," Penny said. "Winter, come here a moment."

Bewildered, the taller woman leaned down, taking the moment to right her seat as she did so. It was going to squeeze Ruby a bit, but she was small enough so that she could still easily extract herself. "Yes? Oh!"

"I love you," Penny told her gently as she embraced her. "I have never hated or resented you. What you can do for Ruby is very important because she's important to me. So I don't want you worrying about me; I know you're going to keep treating her well, so I have no reason to be worried, either."

Smiling gratefully, Ruby looked back and forth between both her girlfriends. This was all she could ask for; her two favourite people being okay with one another's company. It would certainly make things easier. Giggling to herself, she suggested, "Maybe one day we can all have a cuddle pile. We’ll need a bigger bed, of course."

"You're welcome to move in with me," Winter told them easily. "Either to all sleep in the same bed, or I could convert my office. But I'm sure you'd rather have your own apartment."

"That would be preferable to me. Not saying we couldn't sleep over at your place." Penny drew back from the hug so she could lay one of her hands on Ruby's shoulder, even as the other remained on Winter's back. "On evenings when you two don't want to have sex, of course; I wouldn't want you worrying about what I'm going to do with myself while you do."

"Well first we'll need to tell dad." Finally getting out from the small space, Ruby took the blanket to finally clean her hand, passing it over to Winter for her to do the same once Penny had let go. "He'll probably be all weepy that his kids have finally left, but he'll help us move."

"Very true." Then Penny beamed at her, cheeks bunching. "Ohh, I'm so happy - you look so much more like yourself than you have the past months!"

Penny threw both arms around her and went in for a big, affectionate kiss. She kissed back gratefully, allowing a moment to open her mouth a little wider to kiss deeper. "MMM!" She suddenly pulled back before Penny went too far, laughing nervously. "That… uh… that’s not a good idea right now. W-we just…"

But the ginger was already smacking her lips in vague confusion. "Oh… right, now I remember what you were doing before I knocked. Well… I guess that's my fault for forgetting, isn't it?" Her cheeks were getting rosier, but her smile was no less satisfied at their circumstances. "Um… I hope she doesn't mind."

"Me?" Winter asked, smiling herself now. Even though it was odd knowing her essence was on this more-or-less stranger’s tongue now, it wasn’t exactly the first time that had happened. "No, not at all! Why should I mind? I just- well, if you're asexual, I didn't… that wouldn't have been something I wanted to happen. But if you're not upset about it, why should I be?"

"You don't taste that different from Ruby, really. No need to be worried." Then she turned back to Ruby and made an even bigger show of kissing her right on the mouth. "It's who I'm kissing that's important, not where their mouth has been. Unless it’s on someone who has been sick, because I don’t want to catch their germs."

Blushing rather deeply, Ruby smiled back at Penny bashfully. She always was able to leave her a giddy mess, even if it was through flattery.

But worried that they really would be missed if they stayed any longer, she finally made an effort to unfold herself from the car, soon followed by Winter. Penny and Ruby headed inside first to avoid suspicion. At least this way, she had the excuse that she was waiting for her when she left to go to the bathroom. Then a few minutes later came Winter, who had “just finished her business”. Yang slid Penny her diet-specific food, along with a few sandwiches and snacks for Ruby and Winter before Qrow and Taiyang could stuff their faces.

"Goodness, Winter, that took forever," Weiss observed from where she was showing one of the women from Fènleng's daycare a photo album. "Business or pleasure?"

"A little of both," she hedged. "How's the party going? Did you get everything you wanted?"

"I did! Thank you for the music box, I didn't know they sold them with any of my songs."

At that, Winter had to smile. "They don't; it was a custom job." God bless Etsy. When Weiss broke away from the other woman to give her a hug, she laughed and hugged back. "Happy birthday."

Smiling contentedly at them, Ruby mostly stood by Penny or hung back by herself, with the main people she knew all busy talking to other party guests. Still, it was the happiest she had felt in months. As she watched her lovers spending time with friends and family, she relaxed back against the wall with her punch. Everything was copacetic.

Until a hand landed on her shoulder. "Hey there, Red."

Nearly jumping out of her skin, Ruby looked straight around to the source. "U-uncle Qrow! Sorry, I forgot you were coming!"

Her uncle laughed confidently, lowering his hand as he stood to one side of her, also leaning back against the wall. "Yeah, Yang sorta insisted. And I kinda needed the day out. It's nice to see the inside of somewhere other than the same old same-old."

"Yeah. I can imagine…" Unable to help it, Ruby was already growing nervous again. She hadn't even discussed anything with Qrow since finding out his living situation – and more. She was too afraid to in case it made things awkward, and lead to awkward questions. But that wasn't helping here at all when she realised she had nothing to say.

But Qrow beat her to it. "So, you and Snowbird sorted things out yet?" When Ruby blinked up in surprise at him, Qrow cut her off before she could speak. "Yeah, I know. Not only did she talk about it, but I saw a beady li’l eye watch me head to my room. You've never been the sneakiest of kids, Ruby."

"Great," the redhead muttered in embarrassment. While looking down at the floor instead however, she did add, "But yes… we talked it out. A-and… it went really well. Everything’s cool."

"Good to hear." Taking a sip of his drink, he sighed easily. Never was one to have ruffled feathers. "Maybe this means she'll be less gloomy. I mean, I tried to cheer her up, but there was only so much I could do."

"Please don't tell me how." Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to push the mental image of her other girlfriend with her uncle back out of her mind. Nobody needed that in their life. "I-I know it was selfish of me… to get mad over such a dumb reason. I think it's because you're more or less a second dad to me."

"You got that right," he laughed. "But, yeah, I wouldn't wanna imagine my pa doing anything with my girl, either. And I guess that's what first came to mind for ya." Though after a while, he cleared his throat, looking with a contented smile toward her. "I really am happy for you both, though. Winter's a special gal, anyone could tell you that. And I can't think of a better match for her than you."

"Qrow…" Against her will, she could feel her eyes beginning to well up. She had expected the conversation to be awkward with him, especially since he clearly enjoyed Winter's company as well. Managing to hold them back, she nodded. "Thank you… I just hope I can do right by her and Penny. Gonna be interesting figuring it all out."

"Kid, you get two birthdays and two Christmas presents now. But I guess that goes both ways." Giving a small pat on her shoulder, he smirked. "Say bye bye to your money."

"Ah, but Ruby is my sub," Winter muttered as she snuck up behind them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Typically, I'll be buying her the gifts. And Qrow has seen the one you gave me hanging up in my 'special' closet."

"The one I-" Although immediately her eyes opened wide when she realised what that was, Qrow could only laugh at her reaction. “You put that on your wall?! But it was just a doodle!”

He mussed her hair slightly. "Don't look so shocked! When I first saw it, I thought she had it done by a professional. Had no idea it was you, squirt!"

Smiling gently, Winter leaned a little closer to Ruby, but still spoke in a tone they could both hear. "All teasing aside, it’s one of my favourite things. You’re really talented and I hope you keep it up."

Then, so quickly that none of the other guests would spot it, she left a tiny kiss behind Ruby's ear. But of course one did, and rolled his eyes. "God, you two, get a room. I'm gonna hang out with Tai and Jacques, see how they're getting along. Grumpy Old Men sequel over there. Take it easy."

And finally he left them on their own. Probably for the best, seeing as the smaller sub's cheeks were glowing red with their typical embarrassment. A side effect of all the affection she would have to get used to. The moment Qrow was well out of earshot, along with the rest of the party, Winter changed the subject.

"You're mine again. We'll have to think of some new fun things to do with you. How about… next time I take you for a walk at the Clamp, we see about slipping a pair of vibrating panties under your suit? Wouldn't that be fun?"

The blush only intensified even more at that idea. The walk alone was enough to do that! "Maybe…" She swallowed nervously. "It'd certainly be… interesting."

"Maybe we'll both wear a pair." Another furtive glance, and she ghosted a hand over Ruby's hind end. "The car was a preview of… coming attractions. There's a lot more in your future."

And with even more of a red blush, Ruby was beginning to sink further and further down the wall in embarrassment. She would be quite a sight for the rest of the evening, but didn't wish for anything else.

"I hope I can get used to this again…"

"Get used to what?" Penny asked as she walked up to them, sliding her hands around Ruby's waist and kissing her gently on the cheek. The action pushed Ruby's behind into Winter's hand again, which squeezed it very slightly.

Lady couldn't wish for anything more under the stars than surviving the embrace and love of her two favourite women. But clearly, history had proven she wasn't afraid to try.

                = End =