Snow Crystal

Summary: Rejection is a word that I don't wanna know, but a girl like you could kill a boy real slow.

This is the accompanying fic to my art of these two [Fairy Dance; found on AO3 or DeviantArt] for the holidays. Enjoy!

Mercury's gaze strayed from his comic book for a second when he noticed a certain blonde-haired student - with a big dumb smile plastered over his face - walk past, carrying a blue flower. Obviously on the hunt for a certain Schnee to ask her to the dance again. He had to admit, each effort was more hilarious than the last, but even this guy had to realize there was a point you had to stop and admit defeat. Right?

Just how desperate could you get? Though, it was clear someone had given him a confidence boost. Well, if he was going to make a fool of himself again Mercury wouldn't pass up the few seconds of entertainment.

He set aside his comic, leaning back on the bench as Jaune got closer to the bend of the building and-

"Neptune!" Oh, this was going to be good. Weiss' familiar voice filled the otherwise quiet night air, and he could hear her heels tap on the cement walkway, presumably to where Neptune was standing around that corner.

Jaune had stopped in his tracks, and though Mercury couldn't see his face he was sure that confidence from before was slipping. Hell, he was even poking his head around the corner trying to see what was going on.

"Oh, uh, hey. What's up?"

"I know this is a little unorthodox, but... I wanted to ask you something. Would you... like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

And on that little note, Jaune turned around, dropping the flower as he walked away, a crestfallen look on his face.

A few seconds of silence followed and for a second Mercury thought he had missed more of the - frankly - amusing conversation until Neptune spoke up. "Uh, I don't know about that. I kinda had plans already-"

"Oh." The tapping of her heels told him she must have pressed her feet closer together, fingers probably knitted together either in front of her or behind her back - it meant the same thing: disappointment.

There was an intake of air, as if he was going to say something else and then stopped. "I would, but me and the guys were just going to go together as a group thing, we haven't hung out too much since getting here."

"Sun asked Blake, though." The dejection in her voice was clear, not to mention the fact that she thought his words were just a flimsy excuse not to say yes to her. The more pressing question should be why didn't he say yes? Weiss Schnee probably didn't ask a lot of guys out on dates, after all. Especially with a nickname like Ice Queen.

"I have other friends besides Sun." The moment the words slipped out of Neptune's mouth Mercury had to hold back his laughter.

That had to be the worst thing he could have said, even if he didn't know how to say yes to her proposition. There were far better ways to go about letting her down than that, and then perhaps coming back or texting her that his friends had cancelled their plans and ask her out himself.

"Fine," that word had a ring of finality to it that was quickly punctuated by the tapping of her heels as she turned and walked away, appearing from the bend and continuing to walk straight rather than turn. So she didn't see Mercury sitting there, watching as she stomped down the path heading into the little park on campus.

Her skirt twisting, making the shadows dance and stretch over her skin when the first branch began to block the light of the lamps along the path. In this light she looked like she could be made of ice; like one of those cheap treats you got from the ice-cream truck during the summer. He could certainly use a treat after being forced to come to this boring school - until it got destroyed in the grand master plan, that is -, and from the way things had played out it didn't seem like it would be hard to get what he wanted.

Weiss Schnee was a naive little girl just like the rest of the young huntresses at her age: an angry, vindictive little girl after being pushed aside for no good reason. Besides, she was pretty with her pale skin. snow white hair, and sapphire sparkling eyes. It would be a shame if she had time to simmer down before he could get to her. At the very least he could end up seeing her in less clothes than any other man before her consciousness kicked in.

He set the comic book aside as he got up, glancing out of the corner of his eye as he approached the path to see Neptune had disappeared, probably embarrassed. Mercury followed the dirt path twisting between the trees until he spotted Weiss up ahead, glaring at something only she could see.

So he'd have to be the one to break the ice then. "Excuse me?"

Weiss gave a jolt at the sudden interruption to her thoughts, quickly turning to look at him. "What do you want?" she snapped; still angry then, good.

He let one boot fall back a step instead of forward. "I was wondering if you already had a date to the dance?"

Her eyes widened for a second before she blinked, glancing away for a second, teeth already gnawing on her bottom lip. So she was already considering it, just to stab Neptune in the back when she turned up with someone else instead of alone. It would certainly make it more difficult for Neptune to apologize to her if that was the case, something that would work to his advantage.

"It's fine if you do. I just-"

"I don't." Weiss was still staring forward, and for a second he thought somehow she had already weighed the cons to such a simple action before she turned to face him once more. "You want to go to the dance with me?" she asked, right hand clenched around her left arm, just above the elbow.

Did she really think he would reconsider asking her after such a little interaction? Well, sure, if he was just some random guy her prickly personality would make most boys run away, but he hadn't followed her out here for nothing. "Yeah. You're beautiful. I've seen you in the quad a few times. I've been meaning to talk to you, actually."

Her grip seemed to loosen on her arm. "Okay."

His mouth formed a smile as he took a step forward, outstretching one hand. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself before. Mercury Black."

Her right hand fell from her left arm, extending her left hand to grasp his, almost in a professional manner. "Weiss Schnee."

Hmm...

His right boot skimmed forward over the dirt as he drew closer, lifting her own hand with his, bending his head just enough to press his lips softly against the back of her palm. "I'll see you tomorrow night, then."

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

He stepped through the doorway, fingers entwined in Weiss' own as her footsteps hurried forward to the podium where her teammate stood, checking that everyone had made it to the dance. "Hey, Yang."

"Weiss." The busty blonde did a little curtsy with her greeting, clearly hyped about this gathering. Well, the two of them had helped set it up from what he had heard, so he wasn't too surprised by it. "Fashionably late, I see. You're the last to arrive," she teased. "And..." her head seemed to cock a little to the side upon not recognizing him. "Who's this with you?"

"Oh, this is Mercury." Weiss gestured to him with her one free hand. "He's one of the students visiting from Haven."

He had been hoping to avoid introductions considering his plans for tonight, but he supposed he could play nice for a little while. "I apologize for the tardiness. We were talking in the cafe and lost track of time."

A flicker of surprise flashed across the blonde's face and he was sure she had been expecting their blue-haired friend to be at Weiss' side instead of a - frankly - complete stranger. But it's not like he was lying, he had requested that Weiss meet up with him before the party to talk a bit and 'get to know her better' like he had said he wanted to when he asked her to the dance. He was just being consistent, he didn't want her to think there was actually an ulterior motive - or that all his pleasant words were just a facade.

"That's fine. I was just starting to get worried Weiss wouldn't show up." She turned to Weiss, voice lowering an octave, "Blake arrived just a few minutes before you."

"Well I'm happy one of us finally got through to her." Weiss didn't bother with lowering her own. "I'll see you later."

"Definitely. I'll just get things tidied up here, see ya on the dance floor." No, you won't. Mercury didn't plan to staying here for too long. Emerald could assist Cinder by herself just fine, he had more important things to be doing.

He followed Weiss past the little reception area and to the actual party beyond, his gaze trailing to hers to see whether she was trying to get somewhere in particular or if she was looking for him. From the slight narrow of her eyes he could tell she had found him, and his own gaze landed on the idiot, laughing and talking with Blake and Sun - the two clearly had come as a couple, while Neptune's supposed big band of male friends was nowhere to be seen.

A huff slipped past her lips, like music to his ears when she stopped in the middle of the dance floor and turned to face him, keeping her one hand entwined with his as her other settled on his shoulder. He smiled down at her as they began to sway, recognizing the little glimmer of anger in her eyes. This was going to be easier than he first thought.

She kept glancing Neptune's way every once and awhile, waiting to catch him glance over or try to find her in the crowd, but their gazes never connected. Largely because Neptune hadn't looked out into the crowd once, Mercury was keeping an eye on him just in case he tried to approach her so he could get her out of there before his plans were ruined. Which they certainly would be if Neptune woke up and wanted to apologize for his actions, but for now it seemed like he was having fun with his friends.

It just seemed to make her more irritable every time she didn't see what she wanted to see. Weiss took one step closer to him, her hand gliding from his shoulder to rest her fingers at the nape of his neck, though she didn't seem to know what to do with them, not fully committed to the act.

That was okay with him, as long as she got angrier from Neptune's supposed neglect he would reap the benefits. His gaze skipped over to the threesome's corner again, noticing Neptune had finally recognized Weiss dancing so close to someone else. The fool looked away a second later, though, looking a bit embarrassed perhaps and Mercury's lips slipped into a triumphant grin.

Time to go, then.

He pulled Weiss closer, leaning his head down until his lips were an inch away from her ear. "Are you okay? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself."

Her body seemed to stiffen for a second, no longer moving to the beat of the music. Possibly wondering if he had noticed her looking at Neptune, she wasn't as good at sneaking glances as she thought she was, but he would rather not nitpick on that.

"It is a little warm in here. If you want to get some fresh air, we can continue our talk from before."

Her shoulders visibly relaxed, dropping lower than they should have. Guilt at ignoring the person she came to the dance with worked just as well as her anger at the one that had turned her down, though. "Sure," she took in a breath. "I could use some fresh air."

~ o ~ N ~ o ~

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night."

It was good advice, it was probably the final push he needed to go and talk to Weiss after the events of the other night... God, he had just meant to say that he would be there with a few friends, so perhaps they could meet up later; he just couldn't accept her offer, expecting a fairy tale dance with him when he couldn't give her that. He hadn't mean to upset her that much, so much that she had been dancing with some other student from Haven - for some reason it seemed to hurt more because of that little fact, when it shouldn't have made a difference, but it stung.

Neptune sighed as his foot left the last step and met the ballroom floor again, his gaze raising to scan over the throng of people. He waited a few seconds, expecting to see a flash of white hair between a few students, but there was none. His lips curled down, glancing around to see if he had missed her somewhere - it was a massive group of people - his gaze flickered from one corner to the next, until settling on Sun and Blake.

He began to walk towards them, his mind racing at the realization that Weiss wasn't here. Where had she gone? Was she still with that guy or had she left by herself? He wouldn't blame her for the latter, while he had tried to have fun with Blake and Sun his thoughts had never strayed far from her. It had to have been even worse for her, and he guessed he should feel a bit happy for her for at least being able to dance with someone that actually could.

But it just made the blade twist deeper into his gut.

His footsteps stopped just a few feet away from Blake and Sun. "Hey, guys... have you seen Weiss by any chance?"

The pause in his words seemed to tip them off that something was wrong, as they turned to him almost in unison. "No," Blake answered. "I haven't seen her for the past few minutes." Which could actually be a few minutes or longer, he was sure they were enjoying themselves; it stood to reason that the truth was that if Weiss had left recently or not they hadn't noticed.

"I saw her dancing with some guy awhile ago," Sun added, but it wasn't anything he didn't know.

"Yeah. I saw them too." He sighed for the second time - or maybe tenth that night. "Do you know where she might have gone? I really need to talk to her."

The two exchanged a glance before meeting his own hopeful gaze. "Did something happen?" Sun asked, and so Neptune - quickly - explained how he had fucked up last night when Weiss had come over to the dorms and caught him outside to ask him out, an offer he had turned down. A simple action he was quickly regretting. If only he had that conversation with Jaune sooner, like before the dance started...

"That guy must have asked her after I fucked it up. Either last night or earlier today-"

"Weiss didn't mention anything, though. Maybe they just met at the dance and he asked her to dance for a song or two. I would be more surprised if someone hadn't, this sort of thing is probably something Weiss has experience with." Blake assured him.

"Yeah," Sun jumped in. "I'm sure she just got tired out from setting everything up and socializing with all the transfer students and is up in her room snoring away."

"Weiss doesn't snore." Blake looked rather perplexed by this random addition, and perhaps a little annoyed at Sun for assuming Weiss' sleeping habits.

"Hey, I'm trying to cheer him up."

"Very funny."

Neptune still remembered the look on Weiss' face just before she hurried away, though. "Or maybe Weiss asked him-"

"Weiss wouldn't do that." Blake had turned so quickly to face him again that she looked like she might have experienced some whiplash.

Even so... he wanted to believe her. Blake was her friend - a teammate - but...

"You didn't see how upset she looked."

~ o ~ M ~ o ~

Her skin felt hot beneath his fingers, a shiver running through her body as the last shock waves from the orgasm rocked through her. Mercury leaned forward to flick the tip of his tongue against her sensitive clit, her hips jerking in his grasp from the sudden touch, a sharp gasp echoing the movement from above.

His fingers tightened their grip on her thighs for a second, forcing her hips back down to lay against the rough bark of the tree Weiss was propped against. In a few seconds her breathing seemed to even out and he dipped his head down, dragging his tongue against her vulva from bottom to top, flicking his tongue out once it reached the top and hearing her squeal above him. Still too sensitive then; good thing he had plenty of time on his hands to let her calm down for a few minutes.

Mercury slid one hand down to caress the back of her knee as he rested his cheek against her thigh, taking in a deep breath and letting the scent of her fill his senses. He couldn't tell if it was lotion or the soap she used, but the fragrance it left behind clung to every inch of her, it was almost overpowering. And it would be if it was sharp or overly strong, but it was soft. Reminiscent of a water lily or lilac, both? With a pinch of mint thrown in, and...

"Mmm." He nuzzled her thigh, trying to press the whole side of his face against her. A hint of pumpkin spice. "You smell amazing."

"Th-thank you." Evidently she hadn't gotten her voice back quite yet, but he liked the breathy undertones to her words, her struggle to get a little syllable out. He could get use to hearing her voice like this as opposed to the usual tone she took up with people that weren't her friends - just occasionally used with them.

His thumb rubbed circles into her other thigh and he kissed the skin next to him, reveling in the little shiver that ran through her at his touch. Yes, this had been worth the trouble.

The heiress to the Schnee Company was practically speechless, her beautiful dress bunched up at the waist, his face hidden in the shadows beneath it. Despite the fact that it was a starless night - and no one was likely to find them - he felt a small thrill run through him at the possibility of someone stumbling upon them upon her in such a situation. Unlikely, given their distance from the party and the fact that most students would be tuckered out and go straight to sleep afterward. Which brought the reminder that he didn't have all the time in the world to keep drowning in her scent. If he left her like this for too long she might decide right now that this had been a bad idea and shove him away, disappear into the undergrowth around them, fleeing from one little mistake...

He parted his lips, sliding his teeth up her thigh until he was nearly at the apex of her legs before biting down softly and sucking, hard. Weiss moaned above him, her hand finding its way back into his hair, trying to direct him back to where she wanted him.

One more second, little heiress. He released her skin from his mouth, knowing more than seeing the mark he had left there. She could curse him out if she wanted to later when she realized what he had done, but he doubted he would get a second chance at this, so he had better make the most of it.

Mercury turned his attention back to her most intimate parts, something no one had seen till now and he was more than ecstatic to be the one down here, head buried between her soft skin. To feel her thighs clench when she was close, hear her moan while her fingers tried to dig into his skull in her effort to keep him in place.

He licked his lips, letting her push him forward until his tongue was sliding along her wet folds, parting them so he could run his tongue over her labia, place his lips around her clit and pinch it lightly between his teeth. She was left gasping at the first touch, a longing moan slid from her lips when his tongue started to dip inside her core. And she only got louder, occasionally muffling herself when she remembered where she was, what she was doing, but couldn't be as concerned as she should, not enough to push him away, anyway.

Weiss filled the air around him with the voice of a nightingale, music to his ears.

I may continue along this canon-divergence if enough people are interested.