Inspired by something I saw on Twitter a while back

Ruby sniffed. She wasn't really awake, but something was prodding her in the direction of wakefulness. The smell was familiar but in her not-quite-conscious state, she couldn't figure out what it was.

She twitched again, the scent strong enough to make her pry one sleep-heavy eye open to see what it was.

A rose.

A white rose.

On her pillow next to her head.

That conjunction was enough to push her from the edge of sleep to groggy wakefulness. Her second silver eye joined the first and she propped herself up on an elbow while she reached for the flower with the other hand. Raising it to her nose she sniffed, a goofy grin spreading across her face. Someone had left a flower on her pillow. Which was either a touching romantic gesture or stalker-creepyish, depending on how you wanted to look at things.

Ruby leaned over the edge of her bed to peer upside-down at her partner. "Hey, Weiss, are you awake?"

"I am now," the white-haired heiress replied, her back to Ruby.

"Someone left a flower on my pillow! A white rose!"

That got Weiss's attention. She rolled over to look at Ruby, her face a frown. "Any note or anything?"

"Uh, I didn't see one," Ruby admitted. Okay yeah, she hadn't looked really hard, but, um, well who wouldn't be excited at a time like this?

'Hmm. I suppose that means that whoever left it is really shy or intends it as a puzzle." Weiss threw back her covers and sat up, hunched over even as she peered up at her partner. Her back and neck were going to hurt if she sat like this too long, but this was important. "So what do you think?"

"Think about what?" Ruby took another sniff of the rose, enjoying the scent. It wouldn't last long, flowers never did, so it was important to enjoy them while they were here. Sniffing a flower while hanging upside-down over the edge of your bed was kind of awkward, though.

"About someone showing interest in you."

"I, uh, I don't know." Now Ruby was flustered, and she rolled back onto her bed, giving the flower a more serious look. "I suppose it depends on who it is. I mean, if it's a friend of mine, somebody I know, that might be cool. But if it's somebody I don't like or a stranger, that's another story, right?"

"I see. So it would be about them, and how much you know and like them."

"Yeah." Ruby sighed, thinking hard. "Okay, I'm gonna put it in a vase in the window. If the flower's a message, then I can send one too."

"Message? Flower? What are you two dorks being so loud about so early on a Saturday morning?" Yang started to sit up only to realize that Blake's arm was wrapped around her. "And if you wake Blake, you're going out the window. I don't care what you're yammering about."

"Somebody left a flower on my pillow, Yang. See?" Ruby waved it around for her sister.

"Nobody but nobody puts the moves on my sister," Yang growled, only to yelp as Blake pinched her.

"I've been awake for a while," the cat-eared girl muttered, "I was just happy snuggling. So I heard the whole conversation, and I think it's a wonderfully romantic gesture."

"But-"

"Hush. Or I'm getting up. So, Ruby," and now Blake half-sat up so she could see over Yang, "you said something about a message?"

"Yeah." Ruby hopped down from her bed, setting the flower on the shelf under their window and rummaging around for something to put the flower in. "See, the flower's somebody's attempt to get my attention. So putting it on display is a way of talking back, I suppose."

"And what are you trying to say, Ruby?" Weiss asked, handing the small vase that was normally on their desk out to Ruby.

"Thanks. Their message was, 'I like you' but they didn't say who they were, so I guess the best response is 'I'm listening.'" Ruby set the flower in the center of the window with a determined air. "There. That should do it."

"Are you sure about this, Rubes?" her sister asked, pulling Bake's arm closer around her.

"Dunno." Ruby scratched the back of her head. "I mean, the whole romance thing, it's kinda weird, okay? But with the right person it could be okay, I guess." She bent to sniff the rose again, the goofy grin spreading across her face again. "I want to find out who sent this. It's kinda shy and kinda sweet. I think I like that."

So for my long-time readers, I'm kinda going through some heavy personal stuff right now, which is really making writing hard. But I don't want to stop writing so you're gonna get drabbles and such.

I am working on the next chapter of I Kill Monsters, it's just taking a while. Stay tuned!