Glynda/Ruby, Older!Ruby

Glynda woke at the gentle touch. Calloused fingertips danced across her forehead, accompanied by the familiar, off-key hum of her significant other. The tuneless hymn trailed off when Ruby realized she was awake, the feather light caress halting near the curve of her jaw.

"Sleep well?" Glynda could almost hear the smile in Ruby's voice. Her lips lifted in response, color flooding her cheeks.

"Better, now that you're here," Glynda answered. Happiness bloomed in her chest as Ruby blushed, a pretty flush that made her twice as adorable.

"Smooth," Ruby teased, "I forgot how affectionate you can be in the morning." Ruby kissed her forehead, restless fingers reaching up to twirl errant strands of blonde hair around them. "Shower, then breakfast? I think we have some flaky bread things left, I'll even throw in scrambled eggs to sweeten the deal."

Glynda tangled their hands together, a small sigh escaping her. "A full-fledged adult, yet still refusing to call croissants by their given name. I should be perturbed."

"There's no harm in calling them out for what they really are," Ruby joked, "I'd call them crescent bread, but it kind of ruins my appetite when I imagine killing Grimm with that instead of Crescent Rose." She trailed off with a sigh. "Speaking of. My poor darling is in shambles after the previous mission, I'll have to do repairs when I get the chance."

Glynda made a noise of indignation. "Aren't I your darling?"

"I'm allowed to have more than one."

"Says who?"

"Says the most renowned Huntress in all of Remnant, Slayer of Cinder Fall and her giant Dragon," Ruby said, patting Glynda's cheek. "Give it up, Professor. You can't win when you're up against this magnificent beast." She pretended to flex. It drew a loud groan from her girlfriend, and Ruby let out a bark of laughter. "You're pouting."

"I am most certainly not pouting. I'm an adult." Glynda emphasized the last word, making Ruby laugh even harder.

"Don't worry, you'll always be my favourite!" Ruby cooed, "Now give me a kiss!"

Glynda snorted and playfully avoided the hands reaching for her. "Kiss my ass, Rose." She said, diving under the blankets. She pulled the fluffy duvet to her nose and hunkered down, waiting for the inevitable tickle war. But it never came.

Ruby's answering laugh was hesitant. "Just Rose? Or Rose-Goodwitch?"

Glynda swore the dust particles illuminated by shafts of sunlight spilling from the gap between the curtains had gone still. Her heart certainly had. She threw off the covers and stared blankly at Ruby, her gaze falling on the ring clasped firmly between trembling fingers.

Ruby cleared her throat, smiling nervously. "Marry me?"

Yang nudged Blake, not dragging her gaze away from their Professor stalking back and forth in front of the board. "Blake, correct me if I'm wrong, but… do your faunus eyes see what I see?" Yang felt the other girl stiffen at their proximity. "Check out that bling on her finger." Biting down the complaint of being bothered during lessons, sharp amber eyes focused in the direction Yang pointed at.

Blake's surprised huff told Yang all she needed. A devilish smile tugged at her lips and before she knew it, she was on her feet, hollering, "CONGRATS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT, PROFESSOR!" Her enthusiastic declaration halted every sound in the classroom for a brief moment. Pencils stopped scratching, scrolls were left unfingered as every person in the room turned to look at her – varying expressions of disbelief plain on their faces.

The very same students then whipped their heads in the direction of said Professor, who looked utterly stunned by the turn of events and Yang's audacity.

Glynda worked her jaw and tried to speak, but she couldn't muster anything coherent in the face of Yang's bold words. The bell rang. The sound was muffled, she felt completely detached as if she were buried up to her ears in sand, but it jarred her enough to go from catatonic to vaguely aware.

The normally stern and taciturn professor swallowed, a vibrant blush spreading across her cheeks to the tip of her ears. "Thank you, Miss Xiao Long." Her voice was feather light and it wavered on the last syllable. "That's all for today. Class dismissed."

As the scariest professor to ever walk the halls of Beacon darted out of the room like she was on fire, Weiss slowly turned to look at Yang. "You couldn't wait until she gave out our tests?" Weiss' expression was sour. "I've been waiting to know my marks for three weeks."

Yang gave her a look that read 'Don't you have anything better to say?' before sitting back down. Blake felt a spark of sympathy for their Professor as she took in Yang's shit eating grin, smug satisfaction rolling off the blonde in waves.

The classroom exploded with excited chatter, like hot air rushing out of a pricked balloon. Blake had no doubt the news of Professor Goodwitch's engagement would be spread to every single student in Beacon by the end of their next lesson. The school's gossip network could put White Fang communications to shame, but whether the news would remain intact and truthful once it was spread, she had no idea.

"Yang, as much fun as it was to make Goodwitch flail like that, she's going to remember you the next times she sees you. I guarantee it." Blake looked at Yang, whose expression had morphed into a grimace. It was obvious the decision to yell such private information was done on a mere whim. "All I can say is, it was nice knowing you."

Yang scoffed. "What's she gonna do? Keep me in detention till I graduate?" It wasn't a pleasant idea, but she hoped there were rules that kept teachers from abusing their influence. Pyrrha, who had been seated in the row below theirs, stood up to face them. She offered Yang a worried smile. "I overheard Professor Port asking around for someone to transcribe his stories. Perhaps…?"

Yang choked, suddenly looking horrified. "…You think she'll give me a slap on the wrist if I apologized?"

Her friends exchanged looks and shot her an expression of sympathy. Yang hung her head, feeling nauseous at the prospect of listening to Port blab on about his highly exaggerated, macho escapades. "Ah crap."

In retrospect, Glynda should have thought twice about parading her ring in front of the students. As Miss Xiao Long had demonstrated, teenagers had uncanny observation skills when it came to romance, sex, and food.

She looked down, silently chastising herself and mentally conjuring up ways to have Yang strung up by her ankles. The gemstone on the ring Ruby had given her was enormous. Glynda was mildly surprised it'd only been spotted during third period, and not the moment she stepped onto Beacon's premises.

The stone was a deep, beautiful color, and where light normally refracted off a normal gem, light was sucked inside this one instead, dark green becoming an even darker hue.

It reminded me of your eyes, Ruby had said. She felt warm as she recalled what she'd done after Ruby had said that. Croissants aside, her morning had been most delicious. Smiling, Glynda finished up the last of her lunch and tossed the plate into the bin. She poured herself another cup of coffee, the metal of the coffeemaker winking at her, before settling back in her seat.

If this were any other day she'd be getting ready to leave the teacher's lounge, finishing the cup in two gulps and swiftly leaving for the next class.

Instead, Glynda drained it in short, minute sips. For the first time since she'd begun teaching she dreaded entering a classroom. Perhaps if she put on the fiercest scowl she could muster, finished it off with a set of heavily slanted eyebrows, she wouldn't be bombarded by relentlessly curious students and could finish her lesson without answering any private questions.

She nodded to herself. Yes, that sounded perfect.

Glynda strode into the next lesson – once, she'd found it a struggle to teach both Practical Dust Usage and Dust Theory, but she now hardly batted an eye – with a severe expression that would send even Grimm back into their nests. She'd expected eager students bursting with nonsensical questions. What greeted her instead, was the faces of star struck girls and boys who'd just met someone they idolized and pined after.

Ruby swooped in, greeting Glynda with a long and torrid kiss. When she finally drew back, to say Glynda was shocked would've been a massive understatement, a lie of epic proportions. The professor wished she could speak, possibly even yell incoherently, but there were no words to describe her feelings in this moment.

Ruby beamed, the mere action making students squeal in delight, or fall into their seats in a state of unconsciousness. "I was bored, so I thought why not pay my future wife a visit?" The woman finished by giving the room a mischievous once over. "You kids are fine with me being here, right?"

As the room erupted in screams – Miss Schnee had a heel on the table, the notebook around her mouth curled into a makeshift megaphone – Glynda could only groan.

This was going to be a long day.

AN: I finally went ahead and started a new series. I write plenty of Ruby shipping one shots, but instead of posting them separately, it's probably easier to stack em all in one place. Also, I want more GlyndaRuby. This should be a canon, bring Glynda back damn it!

As always thank you guys for reading! I'll see you in the next chapter, which will probably be much sooner than expected. In the words of french elon musque, honhonhon.