Weiss adjusted her ponytail and glanced over her shoulder. She sighed, her smile equal parts wariness and amusement as she discreetly observed the bob of black hair that poked over the top of the bushes.

Neptune twisted his body to follow her line of sight, "Why are you staring at those bushes?" He asked, his incredulous tone making her smile slip. It returned with full force, however, when Ruby submerged herself and made the bushes rustle, its branches shaking as if it were trying to get rid of an unwelcome intruder.

N-No, it's nothing." Weiss choked out, and smothered the laugh that bubbled up.

"I never knew you were interested in plants." Neptune teased, "We can get you a potted plant if you'd like. Some flowers, even. We could visit the nearby florist." He gestured to the next street with tilt of his head.

"That won't be necessary." Weiss declined with a polite shake of her head. "I was simply admiring them. But I'm happy you offered though." She added hastily when she saw his face fall.

At her words, the heiress could hear an audible sigh of relief. Weiss fought not to roll her eyes. Ruby's stealth skills left much to be desired, and her teammates agreed that her sneakiness rivalled that of Roman Torchwick. It wasn't a compliment, considering how the man made it his life's mission to be as flamboyant as humanly possible.

Neptune brightened at her words and laughed.

"You can admire them after we eat, snow angel." He said, and pointed in the direction of an open air café several blocks down. It was a place he frequented, seeing as Scarlet was addicted to their coffee and Sun to their banana milkshake. He jokingly patted his stomach. "Let's go. I'm starving."

"Likewise." Weiss followed after him, picking up speed to match his stride. Ugh, she would rue the day she had to admit that tall people had an advantage in both height and speed.

"So," She said after several beats of silence had passed, "How is your team enjoying the downtime before the festival so far?"

At Neptune's answer, they fell into an easy banter. Despite the initial awkwardness between them, they discovered that they had a lot in common. Their determination in academics was one such common ground and eventually, their conversation shifted towards their schools, Weiss and Neptune comparing how Beacon and Haven differed in curriculum and what facilities each school lacked.

Once the pair were a good distance away, Ruby carefully crept out from her hiding spot. She harrumphed, shaking the twigs and leaves out of her hood.

"Well, snow angel," she muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm glad you're having sooo much fun."

She shook her head and glared at their shrinking profiles. At the sight of Neptune and Weiss walking so closely to each other, jealousy spread through her like a raging wildfire. She pursed her lips, making her look like she had just swallowed a lemon. A really sour lemon.

Ruby threw her hands up and yelled, "Damn it!"

Her outburst had everyone within hearing distance flinching or leaping away. The crowd scattered, some people stopping to stare at the commotion she caused. The flow of citizens around her eventually resumed, but now, the crowd gave her a wide berth – several people even stepping off the pavement to hurry past her.

Ruby jumped when she heard someone clear their throat. Letting out a faint "Eep." she hurried away when she noticed how many dirty looks she was getting. Ruby shook her head and took off in the direction of her targets.

Inwardly, she was cursing herself for the outburst. That had just been embarrassing. Before she could beat herself up about it, Ruby shook those thoughts out of her mind and worked on closing the distance between her and Weiss, intent on continuing her 'observation' of her teammate.

"Heh, you can't run from me!" Ruby preened, already close enough to trace the outline of their faces. The distance between them had been effortlessly closed after she sent a burst of aura to her legs, and activated her semblance.

She barely spared Neptune a glance before her attention was stolen by Weiss. From her hiding place behind the lamppost, Ruby felt her legs go weak at the look of determination set in the Weiss's face. Ruby gripped the edge of her cape with one hand as she tried to get her stomach to stop fluttering.

After a few more minutes of spying, Weiss and Neptune had apparently reached their destination; the pair exchanging a few words before they entered a café, and picked the table that was the furthest from the road. Ruby stared at the busy establishment and huffed. How was she going to spy on them now? There were waiters constantly going back and forth, and their bodies easily blocked Weiss's small profile.

As luck would have it, Ruby noticed an empty table behind them. With a grin, she prepared herself to sneakily claim it, and activated her semblance. She jumped out from behind the lamppost and darted into the café, and once she was close enough, dived into the empty seat. This happened in less than a minute, and Ruby congratulated herself for a job well done.

She quickly slumped, sinking deeper into her seat, when Weiss casually glanced in her direction. There wasn't a startled shout of 'Ruby!' or 'you dolt!' so she assumed she had successfully evaded detection. Ruby raised her hand and did a small fist pump.

"Thanks for those ninja lessons, Blake!" She whispered, her lips stretching into a satisfied smirk. The smirk was quickly replaced by a frown when she realized that Weiss's slim profile was completely, and utterly, blocked from her position by Neptune's muscular frame. She stared at his back. It mocked her with its finesse, and Ruby grudgingly admitted that the boy had lucked out in the gene lottery.

Oh well. She just had to grin and bear it. Sighing quietly, Ruby settled down to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Weiss beckoned the waiter eyeing Ruby in suspicion with a dainty wave of her hand.

The girl was so oblivious that it bordered on horrifying.

After Ruby had dashed passed their table the air practically dripped with rose petals. The movement had also kicked up a gust of wind that took Weiss's napkin with it. Following that, almost everyone in their surrounding tables had turned to look at Ruby when she dived into her seat, the red cape fluttering like a flag behind her.

The ensuing ruckus of people vacating their tables nearly made Neptune turn around, but Weiss had swiftly diverted his attention by handing him the menu and then proceeded to bombard him with inane questions on what to order.

"Oum preserve me." Weiss muttered. She pinched the bridge of her nose to quell the incoming headache.

Neptune paused in his chatter to tilt his head. "Weiss?" He asked inquiringly, unsure of what he did to deserve her sudden frustrated sigh. "Are you… okay? "

Weiss coughed into her hand and waved his concern away. "Yes." She said, forcing herself not to frown, "Sorry, I just thought I saw… something." Like her dunce of a team leader, for instance.

Weiss turned to look at the waiter standing patiently by their table, holding a pen over a perfectly still notebook. "Have you already decided on what to order?"

Neptune nodded and leaned forward to point at the picture on their shared menu, "This. The chicken pasta is pretty good." He smiled encouragingly at Weiss's questioning stare. "Trust me. It's definitely worth the lien."

Weiss returned his smile with one of her own and looked up to address the waiter.

"Chicken pasta for both of us, with the addition of a small salad for me. Oh, and…" She made the man lean closer and whispered, "One strawberry soda for that girl over there." She tossed a pointed glare in Ruby's direction. It was a wonder how the redhead remained oblivious to the chaos she'd caused. "You can put it on my bill."

The man nodded. His entire stance became more relaxed, and Weiss was relieved that she had been right in giving him a lifeline. Ruby would have no doubt flown into a panic if the waiter had decided to call out the café's proprietor to go and 'greet' her.

"Will that be all?" He said, glancing at the strange girl who was staring daggers at the blue-haired boy. Youngsters these days, he griped. Always fighting over boys.

"Yes, thank you." Weiss replied, reaching for her complimentary glass of water.

Giving them a slight bow, the waiter strode away to place their orders. With him gone, Weiss slowly sipped at her water, and focused her attention on Neptune.

She could feel her hand starting to shake, and she covered it up by smoothing down her combat skirt. Her nerves had come back to spite her.

"So," Neptune suddenly spoke up, making her jerk in surprise, "You said that you wanted to talk?"

She hadn't invited him out for nothing. Weiss was confident that Ruby could not hear them, so she directed her worries to the task at hand. Her insides coiled as she pondered on how to tactfully broach the subject.

"Y-Yes." Weiss replied, suddenly feeling lightheaded. She dreaded to bring the topic up. She could feel her chest tightening as an awkward silence settled between the two. Weiss tried to gather her courage. She couldn't back out. Not after Neptune had agreed to come here.

Weiss took in a deep breath. "I wanted to talk about–"

"Ruby. Am I right?" One of his eyebrows arched.

Weiss nodded, slightly startled. She hadn't expected him to cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Don't worry, snow angel. Believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty good listener." He said, flashing her a smile. There was nothing off about his smile, but Weiss couldn't help but notice how it lacked its usual luster.

Neptune leaned back in his seat. Weiss gave him a weak nod, and started to talk.

Ruby slurped down the last of her strawberry soda before pushing the glass away. Weiss and Neptune had been talking for almost an hour now –she hadn't counted the time they'd taken to finish their meals– and her unease had steadily grown until she was at the verge of boiling over.

Ruby stared despondently at her empty drink as she chewed the inside of her left cheek. She flinched when she tasted blood, immediately regretting her decision. Annoyed at herself, Ruby turned to look at the couple,her mind bitterly spat the word, and strained her ears to catch the exchange of words once the chatter around them had died down enough for her to hear.

"–care too much about what people think."

A lengthy pause, and then, "This might sound rich coming from me, but–"

His words disappeared into the background. Ruby muttered a curse towards the slowly growing crowd around them. With nothing else to do, Ruby began glaring intensely at Neptune's back, willing him to catch fire. Separating his neck from the rest of his body seemed like an enticing prospect, especially now that she was bored out of her mind.

Neptune suddenly sighed. Ruby perked up, and leaned closer to them in hopes of catching their next words. "She'll understand." He said, raising his arm to make some sort of gesture.

Ruby clicked her teeth. Who were they talking about? And what did they need this person to understand? The snippets of conversation revealed next to nothing about what they were talking so intensely about. And why was Weiss confiding in him anyways! Ruby was her best friend, not this goggle wearing doofus!

Neptune suddenly stood, his chair nearly flying backwards. Ruby caught herself before she squeaked in surprise and stealthily flipped her head in the other direction. She took in several deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She hadn't expected him to just stand up like that. Sheesh! She nearly had a heart attack.

Weiss and Neptune were probably exchanging their goodbyes, Ruby told herself, as she forced her body to relax. They had no idea she was behind them, anyway. She would just stay in this position until they left.

After the footsteps had faded, Ruby allowed herself to sigh heavily. She learned next to nothing by coming here and only had a stomach full of strawberry soda to show for it. Speaking of which…where the heck did that soda come from?

As Ruby tried to come up with an answer, a slender arm looped around hers and pulled her to her feet. She yelped, flailing in surprise. She turned to yell at the person who'd done it and came face to face with Weiss. Ruby went red, a combination of shock and embarrassment.

"Let's go." Weiss said, barely batted an eye at Ruby's red faced spluttering.

The heiress whisked her out of the café. The waiter who had been tending to them said his goodbyes, seeing them off with shake of his head.

Weiss was jerked to a stop when Ruby planted her feet in the pavement.

"What?" Weiss asked, her words accompanied by an irritated glower. "Why did you stop?"

"Where are we going?" Ruby demanded, mildly annoyed at being dragged around like a shopping cart.

"Somewhere nice."

Despite her vaguely worded answer, Ruby continued glowering at her, prompting Weiss to sigh and ask, "Why are you giving me that look?"

"Because I'm mad at you." Ruby replied matter of factly, chin up and eyes defiant.

"How odd. Don't you think I should be the one glaring? After all, you followed Neptune and I from Beacon, didn't you?"

Weiss rolled her eyes when Ruby paled. The tables had turned, and now, the crimson haired girl found herself in the hot seat.

"Ruby." Weiss said, her tone flat, "You weren't exactly subtle. I knew you were in that bush and at the cafe. Who did you think ordered that soda for you? Honestly."

"I, er," Ruby panicked as she tried to come up with a reply, and stumbled over her words in her haste to come up with a suitable cover story, "Um, I can explain…

Weiss couldn't help herself. Her partner's reaction, while expected, was proving to be too adorable. She giggled, muffling the sound by cupping a hand over her mouth. Ruby's reaction upon hearing the pleasant sound was instantaneous; the crimson haired girl dropped her shoulders as the panic fueling her bled away, leaving only relief, and let out a long, suffering sigh.

"It's not funny." Ruby grumbled, wanting to pull her hood over her face. While a small part of her was grateful that the heiress wasn't yelling her head off, the bigger part could only pout at the unfairness of the situation, and how easily the tables had been turned.

Weiss cleared her throat. "We can discuss your transgressions later, Ruby," The heiress gestured to her feet, "For now, I'd like you to start walking. As I said, I'm taking you somewhere nice."

Ruby perked up at her words. Weiss's relaxed demeanor was unexpected. She was taking the whole 'being followed' thing absurdly well. Ruby would even go as far as to say that she was acting… weird. Before she could think on it, Weiss slipped a hand into hers and pulled her along.

Ruby blushed.

…she wasn't going to complain though.

"Weiss!"

An affectionate sigh, followed by "Yes, Ruby?"

Ruby stared at the frosted glass window and fiddled with the coins in her pocket.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to go inside?"

Her voice trailed off as she continued to stare, swallowing every so often that well-dressed individuals walked out the double doors of the fine establishment in front of them.

This particular bakery was featured regularly in newspapers, often because they'd impressed people with a lot of cash to burn. It went without saying that their treats were absurdly priced –anyone who looked less than a million lien wouldn't even register as a blip on their radar.

"Of course we can." Weiss replied, her eyebrow arching at Ruby's meek tone and choice of words. She didn't sound enthusiastic, which was strange. Weiss had expected Ruby to fall over herself in her rush to go inside, not shy away or look as if she had stepped on a bed of nails. Ruby looked as if one of the professors had sprung a surprise quiz on them.

"Is something wrong?" Weiss ventured, "I thought you'd be more excited about this. I understand that this is a very famous bakery."

Weiss had done her research, and was well aware of the bakery's track record with rich clients. Her family's acquaintances frequently came here as well. It was a place that garnered attention, so they ought to be good at what they did… was what Weiss had thought before she'd brought Ruby here. But based on her partner's reaction, however…

"No, I really do wanna go in. It's just that…well," Ruby said and smiled sheepishly, "I don't think I would be welcomed."

Ruby shrugged, letting go of Weiss's hand to wring her own together. As the heiress watched Ruby shift from foot to foot, she was hit by an epiphany. No. It couldn't be... could it? There was no other explanation for the way Ruby was acting, and Weiss felt her stomach sink. She cursed under her breath. So much for trying to make Ruby's day.

"This isn't your first time here." Weiss stated flatly.

At Ruby's nod, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry." Weiss told her as she led the younger girl away. As they rounded the corner, she looked over her shoulder to shoot the bakery a dirty look, "If I'd known…"

Ruby flailed her arms, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"You don't need to apologize!" She blurted out. "They're just a bunch of snobby idiots."

It was obvious that Weiss blamed herself for dredging up unpleasant memories. It was sweet that she felt offended on her behalf, but Ruby didn't want her to feel bad for something they had no control over. Besides, Ruby didn't think she was missing out on much. If she couldn't have the grapes, they must've been sour anyways.

"We'll go somewhere else." Weiss gave her a firm nod, "If they're foolish enough to turn away a prospective customer, then let them." Inwardly, she was making plans to pay that bakery a visit. It wouldn't be good for business if word got out that the Schnee heiress wanted nothing to do with you.

"Aw, Weiss!" Ruby squealed, "You're the best partner I ever had!"

Weiss's heart stuttered in her chest, and she fought down the blush with quick eye roll. She tugged at her collar. It was getting awfully hot, and it wasn't because of the afternoon sun.

"Dolt," Weiss said and smiled, "I'm the only partner you ever had."

She blinked in surprise when Ruby booped her on the nose. Honestly. Weiss was supposed be the one comforting Ruby, and not the other way around.

"Forget those guys," Ruby pointed in the opposite direction. "Let's go to the place where I always get my cookies. It's really close by and their stuff is to die for!"

Her sentence was punctuated by the growl of her stomach. At Weiss's chuckle, Ruby bit her lip in exasperation.

"Alright Ruby," Weiss gave her a mock salute, smiling when the girl snorted, "I trust you. Lead the way."

It was an hour later when Weiss's scroll rang.

The girls stopped scarfing down the treats they'd bought –"What are you- that's my finger you dolt!"– and after a brief scuffle, Weiss daintily wiped her hands with a tissue before taking out her scroll.

"Yang?" Weiss answered, shooting a warning glare at the red fiend who was poised to snatch the bag of goodies away. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now."

Weiss smacked Ruby's hand away. The younger girl stomped her feet in indignation.

"No, Yang." Weiss deadpanned after listening to her teammate's frenzied rant about conspiracies and missing younger sisters. "She hasn't been kidnapped by rogue white fang agents or whisked away by a secret organization that certainly does not exist."

Weiss gaped at the reply. "Why would you even think that? Yang! Just because she hasn't answered her scroll doesn't mean–" She clicked her teeth and thrust her scroll at Ruby. "Can you please calm your sister down before she burns down our entire room? I rather not have to sleep in the courtyard."

"Hello, Yang?" Ruby took the device without complaint and was promptly bombarded with a flurry of angry words.

"Yaaaaang!" she whined, "I already told you I was going to Vale! I left you a message on your bed, remember?" Ruby folded her arms, "Nope, I'm pretty sure Zwei didn't eat it. You forgot about it, didn't you?"

"She would forget her own name if she didn't constantly make puns out of it." Weiss muttered.

"Anyway, I'm with Weiss so you don't have to worry." Ruby continued, "Huh? No, we're eating right now." A pause, and then, "NO NOT LIKE THAT!" Ruby blushed brilliantly as she screamed into the scroll. "YANG!"

Weiss wrestled her scroll out of Ruby's grip when she made to throw it onto the busy road.

"Hey, that's mine! Yang, I'm hanging up." At the blonde's protests, Weiss let out a small shriek and said, "The room better be in one piece when we get back or I'm shaving off that golden mane of yours!"

Weiss ended the call, not bothering to wait for the reply. She massaged her temples and plucked a sugar roll from the plastic bag. "Sweet relief." She said, as she started eating it.

"I want one too!" Ruby pouted, her blush finally subsiding, "Give er' here."

Weiss didn't look up. "No way. I'm not trusting you with this bag until I finish."

"Weeeiss!" Ruby lunged for said bag, missing by several inches when the heiress danced out of the way.

"My name is to be spoken, not whined." Weiss chewed and swallowed the last of the treat, taking the extra effort to lick her fingers. She would normally condone behavior like this as it was simply obscene to do such unladylike things in public, but to waste what was left of it would simply be a crime. And Weiss was nothing, if a law abiding citizen.

She tossed the rubbish into the nearby bin and took out an identical looking sugar roll before handing it to Ruby.

"Here." She said, rolling her eyes when Ruby snatched both the treat and bag away, "That wasn't too bad now was it?"

Ruby pouted. "I'm not going to eat all of it, if that's what you're afraid of."

"That's what you said when team JNPR gave us that tub of ice-cream last month." Weiss replied, eyes narrowing. "And you finished the entire thing when we left to get more spoons."

"Psh." Ruby devoured the roll in a matter of seconds. It looked like she'd inhaled it. "That was a onetime thing. And besides. It was strawberry. Strawberry!"

"If you say so." Weiss shook her head.

After exchanging a few more words, some of which had either Weiss or Ruby laughing or rolling their eyes, the pair continued their walk towards the airship dock.

They'd been slowly strolling towards it after visiting Ruby's favorite bakery, but the frantic air of Yang's call seemed to have infected them – and now, they strode towards their destination with a newfound determination.

Weiss was using her scroll as they walked, only answering Ruby half-heartedly as she replied to several texts. After the third, 'Yes, that sounds nice,' Ruby stopped pelting Weiss with questions and stayed silent. She only let out small noises of amazement whenever they passed a shop, some items here and there drawing her interest.

Weiss frowned when she'd suddenly received a consecutive string of texts. "Hold on, Ruby." She tapped the girl on the shoulder to get her attention, "Let's stop for a moment."

"Uh, okay?" Ruby said, confusion coloring her words as she followed Weiss off the pavement and into the empty space between two shops. Ruby watched Weiss's eyebrows narrow, fingers flying furiously over the screen.

"Who're you talking to?"

Ruby stared at the scroll in Weiss's hands, curiosity shining bright in her silver eyes. "You should stop if it's making you upset."

At her words, Weiss schooled her expression into a neutral one. It couldn't, however, disguise the twitch in her forehead.

Weiss stared at the screen as if contemplating something. The noise of the busy street encompassed both of them as they stood there, Weiss with scroll in hand, and Ruby with her eyes on Weiss. After a beat of silence, the ivory haired girl scowled and shoved the device back into her pocket.

"Aren't you going to, y'know, reply?" Ruby asked with an air of suspicion. Her partner never liked putting things off. Homework was done the same day it was assigned, Myrtenaster would be cleaned straight after a mission, and messages where replied to when they were received. Weiss was behaving oddly, and Ruby wanted to know why.

So she asked again, "Who were you talking to?"

"That's none of your business." Weiss snapped, shooting Ruby a harsh glare. All previous traces of her good mood were gone and her posture was no longer relaxed – her face tight and back ramrod straight. It reminded the crimson haired girl of their initiation, when Weiss was a bundle of nerves and up to her ears in stress. "Let's just leave."

Weiss stomped down the path and Ruby following after her. The heiress continued her oblivious rampage down the street, and it made for a hilarious sight to see grown adults and teens fling themselves out of the way when they were on the receiving end of her soul chilling glare.

"Hey, slow down!" Ruby cried, grabbing Weiss's shoulder. Somewhere along the line, they'd followed on the branching paths and ended up in an empty street. Ruby had realized that they were walking directly towards the square where the White Fang had split the earth open with their train, and made to stop her partner. "Weiss! Are you listening?"

"I can hear you just fine." Came the irritated reply as Weiss shrugged her hand off. "Now be quiet."

"Alright, enough is enough." Ruby demanded and crossed her arms. She wasn't going to go any further, not if Weiss was going to keep acting like she'd personally offended her. All attempts at trying to lessen her bad mood had been rebuffed harshly, and combined with the lack of answers, Ruby felt her mood deteriorating fast.

Her sudden shift in tone made Weiss pause, and the heiress finally stopped walking to turn towards her. "Ruby, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I can understand if you don't want me to ask questions. But that doesn't mean you can get away with being rude!" Ruby said and pointed at their surroundings, which were devoid of any life or sound. "You're not even paying attention to where you're going!"

Even the birds had vacated the area. The only difference between this place and Mountain Glenn was the fact that there was a long line of yellow tape stretched across the main road to prevent curious sight seekers from going in further. Had Weiss kept walking, she'd have blazed past the tape and to god knows where.

Weiss sputtered and folded her arms defensively. "T-This is ridiculous!"

"You know what's ridiculous?" Ruby shot back, "Your attitude!"

"Says the girl who followed me from Beacon." Weiss stated, relishing in Ruby's flinch.

Ruby growled, "That's because I was worried! You've been acting weird the past few weeks and I just wanted to find out why." She kicked the dirt in frustration as the dam finally broke. "You avoid me outside of classes. You never ask me to study with you anymore." She threw her hands up, "And every time I ask what's wrong, you just brush me off. Today's the first in weeks that we've even hung out!"

"We can't all be happy-go-lucky like you! I just have a lot on my mind!"

"A lot on my mind, she says." Ruby chuckled, her lips twisting into a bitter smile. "You mean like Neptune? Why don't you just bite the bullet and ask him out already."

Weiss blinked when she saw Ruby's eyes taking on a familiar shine. Anger forgotten, Weiss took a tentative step forward. "Ruby," She asked, her tone of voice a far cry from the one she had previously used. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Just ask him out so I can move on. Because if you don't," Weiss felt her eyes widen. "I'll never get over you!" Ruby shrieked. She turned to run but was forced to remain in place by the firm grip on her wrist.

"Let me go!" The crimson haired girl tugged her arm weakly, "You said you wanted to be alone, so just–"

Weiss pressed her scroll into Ruby's hand. "Read it." She said firmly.

Ruby eyed the scroll warily before glancing down. Weiss sighed and let go of her wrist. With a reluctant nod, Ruby swiped her finger across the screen, flinching a little when the screen blinked to life, and with Weiss's guidance, opened the message inbox.

The heiress grew uneasy as she watched her partner read exchange after exchange between her and Neptune. There wasn't much to speak of if she was honest, but it was the recent slew of messages, the one Ruby had asked about, that were the most telling.

"I…" Ruby said, dumfounded. Weiss gently pried the scroll out of her hands and slipped it back in her pocket. "I-I don't understand. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Tell you what? That I violated your privacy by reading your diary?" Weiss sighed, bringing a hand up to rub her face, "We all know how that would have ended, Ruby."

Ruby gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah…" She bit her lip. "So you know about my, um, feelings then?" At Weiss's nod, Ruby then said, "And you told Neptune about it?"

"What? Of course not." Weiss frowned, appalled at the mere idea. That wasn't something you told to just anyone. She trusted Neptune, but that wasn't her secret to tell. "Didn't you read the messages?"

"I did, but wasn't that what he was talking about?" Ruby tilted her head. This whole exchange was giving her a splitting headache because of how complicated it was. She was going to need a nap after this. "Then what exactly did the two of you talk about, if not about my feelings?"

Weiss took in a deep breath. Well, it was now or never, she mused. This whole affair was dragged out long enough. In any case, she would take responsibility for worrying Ruby to the point where following her out of Beacon was the only option she had.

"We talked about how I felt towards you." Weiss admitted, watching Ruby's face contort in surprise. "After spending time with your future self, I realized that I was harboring some," Weiss swallowed, "romantic feelings for you. I always had an interest in Neptune, but this was different."

"Um," Ruby raised her hand meekly, "Different, how?"

Weiss paused to think. "I'm sure you've noticed that he's quite attractive. It was what drew me to him. When he expressed an interest in me, I was flattered. Boys have always flocked to me because of my name, and it was the first time someone was interested in Weiss. And not Weiss Schnee. Spending time with him was fun. But somehow, I felt as if he never looked at me as an equal."

Weiss was surprised how smoothly the words flowed and she soldiered on. "To him, I am someone to be protected. The snow angel nickname is, though I loathe to admit it, cute, but it showed me the type of person he thinks me as."

She took in another deep breath.

"With you, Ruby, I can simply be Weiss, your best friend. One of the select few who you trust with life. And whenever I think about it, I find that it makes me…" Weiss fought down an embarrassed blush. "really happy. Being a Schnee is good. Great, even. But being your partner is better."

Weiss made a noise of surprise when Ruby wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, "Wait you idiot, I'm not done!"

"Don't care." Ruby's words were muffled against Weiss's shoulder. After a few minutes of strangled silence, both girls blushing too much speak, Ruby finally released her. Smiling, Ruby gestured for her to continue.

Weiss cleared her throat. "As I was saying. It was your future self's appearance made me realize what I felt for you. When I found your diary, I managed to confirm your feelings for me, and it was then that I started avoiding you."

"Weiss, that makes zero sense. Why did you do that?"

Weiss steeled herself, and said, "Because I don't think that I'm ready for a relationship. With school, and my father's impending wrath for avoiding him… I'm not ready for such a big thing."

She finally confessed. "What I was most afraid of, was disappointing you. I can't pursue a relationship with you at this point in time and I just–"

Ruby grabbed Weiss's hands, "You don't need to explain yourself." She said, wearing a comforting smile, "I mean, my feelings for you aren't going away anytime soon. And you're stuck with me anyway, since we're partners and all."

At her words, Weiss finally relaxed. Ruby wasn't mad, or disappointed. Which was what she didn't dared hoped for.

Ruby sighed, "Besides, I think it's clear from this that we still have some ways to go."

"Right." Weiss replied, basking in the warmth of Ruby's hands on hers. "And I'm sorry. For not telling you about this and going to someone else instead." She gave Ruby a wry smile. "Neptune isn't exactly pleased with me after today. I did ask him out just to get his help on this," She gestured between them, "situation."

Ruby nodded. "Yep. He's probably mad." She lifted her hand to show Weiss the half empty bag of bread, "We should go back and get more for him."

Weiss scoffed, "You're just saying that so you can eat the rest of the bread."

"Hehe, at least I tried."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'll apologize to him when we're back at Beacon."

They turned away from the yellow tape and looked in the other direction. Ruby didn't let go of her hand. Weiss made no move to shrug it off either.

Instead, she smiled and said, "Let's go. We have a long walk ahead of us."

A/N: Wasn't the ending I expected to write, but hey. After rewriting this many, many times, I finally ended up with this. I think it's the best ending out of all the rewrites I've done.

I may add a few more snippets after vol 4 premieres (I smell Whiterose angst incoming) but for now, think of Oh Schneezus as complete.

Thank you for reading the story! I hope you enjoyed it.