#schncc

“Yo, Belladonna! You home??” Raising a fist to knock and throwing on his most winsome smile, he prepared himself for the usual lecture of using the front door.

Ruby: So...

Ruby: Weiss

Ruby: Weiss!

Ruby: Weiiiiissssss~

Ruby: you cant ignore me forever

@schncc

Checking herself one last time in the mirror, Ruby shrugged on her leather jacket as she spun around to check it from each angle, making sure it still fit. She was honestly feeling a little nervous about her night out with Weiss. Sure, they’d gone out to eat before since they’d started dating, but they’d done that when they were friends too! This was Valentine’s Day, the day where any pair seen eating together were considered a couple! Which was one of the reasons she’d picked one of the least fancy restaurants with decent food she could find. Outsiders were much less likely to view it as romantic that way.

And Ruby would be able to pay.

And then of course there was the surprise for after. While they were at dinner she’d hired a company to leave a trail of rose petals from Weiss’s front door to the bedroom, and the completely cover the floor of the latter. She hadn’t been entirely sure on the size of the room, and there was no way for Ruby to measure it without Weiss getting suspicious, but using the companies calculator and judging based on the room having a bed and a couch with plenty of room left over, she thought 1,000 cups of petals should be enough. She hoped. At least the rest of Weiss’s gift wasn’t too uncomfortable underneath everything.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Ruby smiled as she checked the time on her scroll. How her girlfriend was consistently on time, to the second even, was beyond her. According to her friends, the redhead had a tendency towards tardiness. Tossing on a scarf as she walked to the door, a necessity lately thanks to the blonde’s newest habit, she practiced smiling like she wasn’t a nervous mess. Taking a deep breath to calm herself before throwing the door open.

@schncc

Walking through the woods between her house and the nearby cliffside, Ruby tried to focus on how well the morning had gone rather than the crushing guilt of being late, or her anxiety over what she was doing. It was funny to her how happy seeing her dad again made her. She saw him every week through the computer, but something about it just wasn’t the same. She’d missed coming home and having him mess up her hair, no matter how much she complained, and asking how her day was. Missed helping him cook, badly, then doing the dishes together. But mostly, she’d just missed his hugs.

Introducing Weiss to her dad had gone well enough, he’d been friendly and hugged the blonde every bit as hard as he had herself after she’d introduced her as her ‘super bestie better than the restie.’ The look on her face had been priceless, even better than Blake’s reaction to finding out that Taiyang Xiao Long was a hugger. In all her life, the only person Ruby had seen that could rival her father’s hugs and loud nature was her sister.

 She was glad he hadn’t mentioned anything about Ruby crushing on her, the closest he came was saying how great it was to finally meet the friend he’d heard so much about, with way too much emphasis on the so. And a raised eyebrow at her scarf that she thought she’d never live down. She could honestly say she was not looking forward to their next skype call, but she could at least make sure he didn’t get her alone before they left.

That had been a few hours ago, before having breakfast and taking a quick shower. She’d even shown Weiss her old room! And Ruby could never thank her dad enough for cleaning it at some point after she’d left. The thought of what could have been growing in there was enough cause nightmares. The old posters were a little embarrassing, but it was fun getting to show her girlfriend where she came from. That didn’t mean she hadn’t rushed the heiress out the door as soon as her dad mentioned something about baby pictures.

The walk itself was pleasant enough. Patch never really experienced temperature extremes, and this area didn’t see too many Grimm. Not that that had stopped her from bringing Crescent Rose. She wouldn’t go looking for the beasts, but it had been far too long since she’d really gotten to go all out. If the opportunity arose, she wanted to be ready. And she knew Weiss would find it impressive, her ability to wield the giant scythe was one of the few things she was confident in.

Finally breaking free of the trees, Ruby froze at the site of the grave, latching onto Weiss’s hand for support. She was scared. She’d never done this before, brought a girlfriend to meet her mom. Sure, she’d brought Blake last year, but she was just a friend. It’d stink, really stink, but in the long run, it didn’t matter if the goalie thought any less of her for talking to her dead mom like she was there. She’d just know not to bring her around again. Weiss was different. She needed her approval. She didn’t want her thinking she was foolish or stuck in the past or something. She couldn’t handle the older girl judging her for this once a year for however long she’d be able to put up with her.

Ruby checked her reflection in her scroll for the third time since arriving, she was past the point of being able to do anything about her hair and makeup, but she needed to make sure her ears were on straight! It was the first time she and Weiss had spent time one-on-one since she’d spent the night at her apartment, and the redhead was being a little neurotic about making sure it went well. She’d even shown up to their agreed upon meeting place, just outside the fair grounds, fifteen minutes early!

Having been unable to think of anything else the entire day, Ruby had shot out of her seat the second her last class for the day ended. It was more than just her normal excitement to see Weiss. It was Halloween! And her birthday! She’d changed into her costume as soon as she’d gotten home, asking Yang for help making sure her makeup was presentable. She always felt like a little kid playing grown-up whenever she did more than the basics.

From there she only had five hours to wait.

It had been agony just sitting around, watching the clock until a reasonable time to leave. She’d tried reading a book, then watching some television, but Ruby just couldn’t focus on anything! When 6:15PM had finally rolled around, she couldn’t stand it anymore and decided it was close enough, despite the relatively short distance to the festival. She’d traded waiting at home for waiting on a bench, which really hadn’t been much of an improvement.

Bouncing her leg anxiously, Ruby checked her scroll for the time once again, dismayed to see only a minute had gone by. All the doing nothing was playing havoc on her nerves. What if Weiss cancelled, deciding that being alone together would be too awkward? Or what if she saw Ruby in her costume and thought it was too embarrassing to be seen in public together? All this and more was just convincing her that she should never be alone with her thoughts.