En Garde! A RWBY White Rose Fanfiction

Chapter 39: Inside Joke

"Hey, Ice Queen!"

Ruby's time with Weiss had come to an end, but just as the heiress was about to enter the limo waiting for her outside, Yang bounded after her.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Weiss replied irritably, turning around.

"Sorta." Yang stopped to catch her breath for a couple seconds. "First of all, thanks for coming. Don't tell Ruby I said this, but it means the world to her. She really thinks highly of you."

"As she should," the arrogant girl agreed. "Anything else?"

"Jeez, you sure are called Ice Queen for a reason," the blonde muttered to herself, but not too quietly for Weiss to hear. "I was gonna compliment your outfit, but I take it back."

Weiss scoffed and got into the limo.

Yang stopped the door from closing with her foot. "One more thing before you go. Tell Blake I said hi." She winked. "And add the wink for me."

She then slammed the door and saw the driver give her a dirty look from behind slightly tinted windows. Yang laughed and went back inside.

"I swear, that girl exists only to annoy the hell out of everyone," the heiress told herself with an exasperated sigh.

Ruby immediately caught Yang when she walked in. "Didn't you do enough damage?!" the worried brunette exclaimed. "What were you saying to her?"

"That she might want to wear nicer underwear next time she comes over," Yang teased. The beyond-embarrassed reaction she got out of Ruby was priceless.

"I'm joking," she chuckled. "I just wanted her to say hi to Blake for me."

"Can't you just call or text her?" Ruby asked confusedly.

"Yeah," the blonde admitted, "but it's nice to hear a message from someone else. It gives them the feeling that you're standing in front of them, y'know?"

"You're weird," Ruby giggled.

"Not as weird as you!" Yang grabbed her little sister by the arm, and a saga of careless roughhousing was to follow.

•••

"So, next weekend is your first fencing match!" Pyrrha exclaimed at the lunch table the next day. "I bet you'll do great. You were elected team captain and worked so hard to get where you are now. I hear you've been practicing every day."

Ruby blushed under the praise. "I think Weiss gets most of the credit for teaching me. We didn't have the money for lessons, and my uncle is... more than a bit out of practice."

"And your father is okay with this?" Pyrrha inquired suspiciously, turning to Weiss.

"We're training incognito," Ruby answered for her friend. "And right under his nose, too. Hehe..."

Weiss sighed. "There are many things my father has the ability to take away from me, but I'm unwilling to let him take away what I love."

"Ruby?" Coco asked loudly. Everyone's attention turned to her (including the author's, who was laughing at her own audacity).

"Ye-wait, no!" Weiss bit back. "It's fencing! I thought that was perfectly clear!"

"Not as clear as Ruby's embarrassment right now," Nora whispered to Coco, gesturing to the little brunette's deep red face as she gave Coco the meanest death stare in her life. The two girls on the other side of the table couldn't help but giggle. Ruby looked like an angry tomato.

"What's so funny?" Weiss snapped, oblivious to what was going on. She turned to Ruby, who quickly stood up.

"I need to use the bathroom. Be right back!" she stammered before speed walking out of the cafeteria.

The second she left, Nora and Coco burst into laughter. Pyrrha and the others (with the exception of Weiss) couldn't help but giggle a bit with them.

Weiss looked both confused and frustrated. "I don't think I'll ever understand your senses of humor."

•••

"Can you believe that?" Weiss complained to Blake in the car on the way home. "And they wouldn't stop giving each other these stupid looks after Ruby came back."

The cat Faunus herself was trying as hard as she could not to crack a smile. "I wonder what that was about."

"I know, right?" the heiress pouted. "It's like I'm the butt-end of some huge, obvious joke, but I don't understand it."

"I can't blame you," Blake lied. "But all jokes aside, you do seem quite fond of Ruby. She's the only person I've seen you voluntarily choose to be around."

Weiss looked out the window, her troubled gaze invoking curiosity in her cousin. "That doesn't mean I value her over my passion."

"You don't need to value someone over your own interests to like them," Blake pointed out. "I know you're new to the concept, but you care about Ruby more than you think. Why are you denying it?"

Weiss turned to reply, but stopped. Am I?

"Think about it, okay?" Blake said to break the silence. Weiss didn't respond.

•••

"Ugh, I can't focus!" Weiss messily scattered her homework on her desk in frustration and stood up. As she began to angrily pace the room, Blake's comment forced itself to the forefront of her mind.

"You do seem quite fond of Ruby. You care about Ruby more than you think. Why are you denying it?"

"Then, what is the truth?" she mumbled to herself. She knew Blake was right, but there was a disconnect. She never valued anything, or anyone for that matter, over fencing, nor did she think she did now. She associated Ruby with her passion the moment they began training together, but there had been something before that. Something about Ruby led up to that. Otherwise, they never would have become friends.

She recalled the night of the homecoming dance.

"I still don't understand you, Ruby Rose," she had choked, her vision clouded with tears. She could barely see Ruby in front of her, but it still felt like she there in all her entirety. There was an aura about her, a burning glow that bored into her heart and forced out all the emotions she had hidden from everyone else for so long.

"You don't need to!"

That was the answer. Weiss looked up from her reverie as she realized that she was overthinking their relationship. There was a level of compassion and acceptance in Ruby that she had never seen in anyone else, and that was what drew her so close.

"Damn it, Ruby," she whispered as tears threatened to return to her eyes. "You're showing me up again."

AN: this chapter went from goofy to serious real fast XD but I consider this a gay masterpiece, so far as the fic has been going. I need to step up my game tho. Expect more from me! Also I literally just realized that the reason I'm late with publishing chapters is because I'm busy Monday through Wednesday and simply forget to write it over the weekend. So, I've decided to move my weekly publication day to Thursday. How's that sound?
Side note: I was brainstorming with Savanna in that title picture (I'm "Kid") and she told me to put it up and I thought it was funny so I did. Thats exactly how it happened.