Author's Note

Christmas fic. Eh. Not a lot to say on the matter. Fluffy.

Once again I've put them into a larger suite rather than their small dorm room. A single room is too cramped for the things I want to do with them. Like a Christmas tree. Jumped forward several years to explain it away, and to have already established romantic relationships with the girls.

I realize there are similarities in this fic to some other released RWBY Christmas fics or art. None if it was intentional. I'm just slow at writing so they got it out first, and sometimes great minds think alike, yeah? I did avoid gifts though. To be honest, that was just because I was too lazy to come up with a dozen gifts.

This fic has come out a little late, but Merry Christmas to everybody in the RWBY fandom, and to those I call friends within it in particular.

EDIT (27/12/2013): Apparently I mixed up the colours of mistletoe with holly. Fixed.

December twenty fourth, the day before Christmas. Classes at Beacon Academy were currently in recess between semesters, the period of time more commonly known as winter break. Many of the students had gone home for the duration of the holidays to spend time with their families. One particular team of huntresses in training however still remained at the school.

"Oh, you are here. Good. Right on time. Right this way please."

This would actually be the very first Christmas Team RWBY had spent together, despite this being their third year at Beacon. The first Christmas they would have had had instead involved all sorts of unpleasant and unfortunately timed crises for Beacon as a whole. The second time had been ruined once again, but for more personal matters that time. This year though there was no problems in sight, and they were all looking forward to a worry-free Christmas.

"You can leave it here in this corner, thank you. Here, take this for your trouble and have a merry Christmas."

It was still early enough in the day, with the four of them all still within their dorm room, some not even having awoken yet. Describing their place of residence as a "dorm room" though may perhaps be a bit of an understatement. First year students get a dorm room, but more senior students get larger quarters. Team RWBY for special services rendered to the school (and a rather large donation to the school from the Schnee company) had recently moved into a rather spacious penthouse suite in the new dormitory building.

The door to Ruby's room opened to reveal the leader of the team drowsily rubbing her eyes, still wearing her pyjamas. Covering a yawn she just barely managed to lift her eyes high enough off the ground to see Weiss closing and relocking the door to the dorm.

"G'morning Weiss," Ruby greeted her girlfriend sleepily. "What was that just now?" she asked only just managing to raise her hand in time to cover another yawn.

"Ah Ruby, you're finally awake," Weiss replied frowning slightly. "What are you doing sleeping in so late on such an important day anyway? It's past noon! Come here."

"Wha-? Hey!" exclaimed Ruby, eyes widening in surprise as the other girl grabbed her by the wrist and began dragging her away. The pyjama clad girl had to struggle not to fall over as she stumbled after the Schnee heiress. "What's the big idea?" she complained when they finally came to a stop in the living room.

"Here," said Weiss ignoring Ruby's questions once again. She shoved a box into the darker haired girl's arms who stumbled again slightly as her hands also fumbled to get a hold on the box. "Take these and start decorating the tree."

"Tree? What tree?" Ruby was still half asleep at the moment with her brain trying to catch up, so naturally she was a bit confused. As her eyes swept cross the room though she quickly gained an understanding. "Wow!"

The sight which had captured Ruby's attention and inspired her awed reaction was of course the Christmas tree situated in the corner of the room. Standing at seven or eight feet high it was a decently large tree for the room, reaching most of the way to the ceiling. Though it was a beautiful tree with it's branches still full of needles coloured a healthy dark green, it was also completely bare of decoration.

"It's a Christmas tree. What would Christmas be without a Christmas tree you dolt?" Weiss sounded rather scandalized by the very idea. "You need a tree to decorate and put the presents under. Everybody knows that."

"Well yeah, but Weiss! We're on the top floor! How did you even manage to get a tree all the way up here?" Ruby was incredulous as she spun to look at her girlfriend. "I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything," she hastened to add.

"I'm a Schnee," said Weiss smugly as if that explained everything. "Such petty things are a trifling matter. We needed a tree, so I got a tree."

What Weiss meant was that it was easy to pay some people to do it for her. The cost of a tree, the transport to the dorms, and the deliverymen to carry it up were really nothing for a Schnee. When it came to things like that, it took little more than a thought to have her will carried out. Although Ruby had asked the question, it was more out of surprise than an actual need to know. She actually did not care much for the exact details behind the tree's appearance in their dorm.

"Oh Weiss, thank you!" Gleefully Ruby put the box down and swept Weiss up in her arms planting a big kiss right on her lips. Mindless of the blush that sprung up on the pale girl's cheeks she turned back to open up the box, grabbing some decorations which she immediately marched towards the tree with. "I'll make this the most beautiful Christmas tree ever!" Ruby declared with her eyes sparkling as they darted all over the tree trying to map out in her mind where everything would go. "You can count on me."

Weiss's cheeks were still a little pink from the kiss as she gathered herself. She had come to become rather familiar with Ruby's rather affectionate manner over time, and indeed rather enjoyed it. From time to time though she was still occasionally caught off guard by it, and unexpected displays of intimacy easily flustered the girl who had grown up without such things.

"O-of course," Weiss stuttered out. "You do that." Clearing her throat she recomposed herself and made to leave the room. "I'm going to go check on Blake."

At the same time Weiss had been receiving the tree delivery Blake had been in the kitchen, already early in food preparation. A plate of sandwiches had already been set aside for lunch for whenever her teammates got hungry, but what Blake was actually working on right now was setting things out so she could start preparing dinner.

The main feature was of course going to be a roast turkey, and it was quite the turkey indeed. That didn't mean that there weren't going to be anything else though. Blake was quite determined to make this the best possible Christmas she could, and really wasn't holding anything back when it came to her cooking. The cat ears atop her head twitched.

"Good morning Blake!" came a rather chipper voice. A pair of arms wrapped around her as a warm body pressed into her back. A moment later a face framed by blonde hair popped into the periphery of her view and a chin pressed into her shoulder. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Good morning Yang. I'm just getting ready for dinner." Blake was neither surprised nor flustered by the sudden contact unlike Weiss.

Yang blinked. "Already?"

A hum of confirmation came from Blake as she continued what she had been doing before Yang had arrived without pause. "The food doesn't cook itself. And some things like the turkey take some time."

Before either of the two could say anything further, another voice interjected. "Good morning Yang, nice to see that you're at least dressed unlike your sister," said Weiss giving a nod to the blonde. "Blake, how's the food situation looking?"

"It should be good." Short and to the point.

"Excellent."

"Sis ain't dressed?" asked Yang interjecting herself into the conversation with a mischievous grin. "What exactly were the two of you doing before Weiss?"

Blake had started heaving a heavy sigh before Yang had even managed to complete her thought. It took Weiss a moment longer and and one confused blink before it hit her. This time the red in her face had a touch of anger in addition to the embarrassment.

"Yang!" Weiss shouted angrily. "I meant that she was still in her pyjamas, not that she was naked, and you damn well know it!" Huffing she pointed her finger towards the direction she came from. "If you have the time to mess around, then go and help your sister!"

"Somebody got up on the wrong side of her bed!" sang the blonde as she unwrapped herself from her girlfriend. "Maybe you should have tried Ruby's bed instead," she suggested skipping out of the room.

With Yang finally gone Weiss let out a growl of frustration as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Blake silently continued about her work as she let her friend calm herself back down. When the red in her face had settled down to a light pink and her breathing normalized a bit Weiss finally reopened her eyes.

"The tree is here," Weiss informed Blake. "Ruby and Yang should hopefully be decorating it right now. I'm going to go get my presents to put underneath it. Would you like me to get yours too?"

"Ah! Yes, thank you Weiss." Blake set aside what was in her hands to more properly look at Weiss while addressing her. "Mine are actually hidden in Yang's room in the back of her closet. I didn't dare hide them in my room since Yang probably spends more time there than in her own bedroom."

Weiss nodded, choosing to ignore any less than innocent implications. "I will go get them then." Her expression turned slightly apologetic, and a tad embarrassed again. "I would help you cook, but I'm afraid we both know that I'm not, well," she paused trying to figure out how to finish the sentence.

"I get it Weiss," Blake smiled at her. "It's no problem. Don't worry about it. I don't mind cooking for you all. It's kind of nice actually."

Feeling mollified Weiss gave another nod of acknowledgement before excusing herself from the kitchen.

Back in the living room the two sisters were just about finished with the tree. Ruby had long since emptied the first box of decorations that had been handed to her by Weiss. It didn't take long to discover the others in the boxes next to the tree though.

"Hey sis, those two sure seem fired up about Christmas, huh?" Yang remarked from her position to the side. Seeing how much fun Ruby had been having doing the decorating it hadn't taken her long to opt for sitting out instead to let her little sister do the work by herself.

"Well yeah! It's Christmas? Why wouldn't they be excited?" Sometimes the cheerful Ruby had a tendency to assume others would act or think similarly to her. The leader of team RWBY loved Christmas, so it only made sense to her that her friends would as well.

"Not everybody is as excitable as you dear little sister," said Yang amused. "Weiss doesn't really seem the type to get festive. To be honest, neither does Blake."

"Hrrrmm. But so what? This is a good thing isn't it Yang?

Yang chuckled. Sometimes Ruby could be rather simple, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just didn't think either of them would have celebrated Christmas much in the past." Satisfied with her answer Ruby turned back to her decorating, but unseen to her a small frown appeared on Yang's face as she thought about what she had just said. "Never celebrated Christmas..." she murmured quietly to herself.

Despite the careless and carefree image most had of Yang, an image she did nothing to dissuade, the blonde could also be surprisingly perceptive at times. Yang was correct in her assumption of Christmas being something that was not typically celebrated by Weiss nor Blake in their pasts. Rather contrary to her initial thought that that would mean they would not want to celebrate it now as well though, it seemed that it had actually quite the opposite effect for the both of them.

"Weiss!"

Jerking up at the sound of Ruby's voice Yang was snapped out of her thoughts. Seeing that Weiss had indeed returned to the living room she wiped the expression she had off her face and replaced it with one of her usual grins.

"Wow! That's a lot of presents." Precariously balanced in Weiss's arms was, as Ruby said pointing out the obvious, a load of beautifully wrapped Christmas presents. "Ooh, which ones are mine?"

As Weiss set them down beneath the tree she had to smack away a hand that had been reaching forward. "Ruby, no! You're not supposed to open your presents until Christmas day which is tomorrow."

"But, but Weiss," Ruby whined clutching her stinging hand. She looked piteously at Weiss with trembling lips and crocodile tears pooling at the edge of wide silver eyes. Yang snickered as she saw a twitch in Weiss's cheek.

"No means no Ruby," Weiss said sternly. It seemed that for once she'd be able to put her foot down against Ruby's puppy dog eyes. "Everything I know about Christmas says that you don't open the presents until Christmas day. Now, you don't want to be the one who ruins Christmas, do you Ruby?"

"No," Ruby grumbled agreeing reluctantly. Sometimes the leader of Team RWBY was really quite childish even after all these years.

Yang found Weiss's newfound holiday spirit to be quite amusing, and something she couldn't really pass up the chance to tease her for. Not that she really needed an excuse to tease her most of the time. Reaching into one of the open decoration boxes she pulled something out and held it out to the girl who was still scolding her little sister.

"Hey Weiss, there's still one more important decoration that we haven't put on yet. Why don't you put it on?"

Pausing in her lecture to Ruby, Weiss turned towards Yang. Held in her hand was a large decorative star, something intended as the topper to the Christmas tree. Hesitant blue eyes lingered upon it for a moment.

Slowly Weiss reached towards it. "I suppose I could," she said a little condescendingly as if she were some kind of queen deigning to entertain the whims of one of the peasantry. However, Yang could hear the suppressed excitement in her voice and had to suppress a smile. When the snowy haired girl went to go put it on the tree though a shit-eating grin spread across Yang's face knowing that Weiss wouldn't be able to see it.

In her excitement, Weiss had failed to notice something very important. Something that Yang had not failed to see. She was too short to reach the top of the tree. Having committed to the course of action though, Weiss was far too proud to back off or look for an alternative. Reddening in the face once again she tried her hardest to maintain a stony expression as she strained herself on the tips of her toes trying to reach the top of the tree. It was a very funny sight.

Although Weiss may not have been able to see Yang's face, that didn't mean Ruby couldn't. She also knew Yang well enough to know that Weiss's current predicament was completely intended by her big sister. The still pyjama-clad girl was glaring at Yang for messing with her girlfriend again. Still laughing internally, she got up to help Weiss out.

"Wha-? Hey!" an exclamation of surprise came from Weiss when she suddenly found herself lifted off the ground by her waist. Twisting her upper body around she found the culprit to be Yang. Of course. "What do you think you are doing!?"

"Geez Weiss, calm down and quit twisting around before I end up dropping you. You just looked like you needed a little help reaching the top of the tree," came Yang's explanation. The amusement she felt had only managed to grow at Weiss's indignation.

Scowling Weiss turned back around in Yang's grip towards the tree. She knew that Yang was doing this to intentionally push her buttons. But sometimes it was better to just go along with what the other girl wanted rather than waste time arguing with her. It wouldn't take long to put the star on, and she was already up here anyway. Forcing Yang to put her down and then seeking another way to get the star up would only waste time and make her look petulant. Whatever she decided to do, Yang would manage to get some kind of laugh out of her.

After finally getting the star on and being put back on the ground, Weiss found herself ordering Yang out of the room once again. "If you're just going to mess around here, then go back to the kitchen and help Blake."

"Here, there, make up your mind already princess," Yang complained. She didn't look at all like she was actually bothered though, simply bemused. Moving to leave the room she paused for another parting shot. "If you wanted me to leave just so you could have a little alone time with Ruby, all you gotta do is say the word. No need to make up excuses." It was a testament to her experience that she didn't even need to look behind her to dodge the ornament that Weiss had aimed at her head.

It was a couple of minutes later that found Yang back in the kitchen, having stopped for a detour first.

"An apron Blake? Sexy." Yang had no qualms about embracing her girlfriend and took every opportunity to do so. Having started to actually work with the food, and some messy ingredients, Blake had put on an apron to keep it all off her clothes. It was a look which Yang rather enjoyed. "Then again, you make everything you wear look good."

Blake leaned back into Yang's body slightly with a smile but didn't otherwise comment. Everything she was working with at the moment was within her reach, so the restriction on her movements due to Yang wasn't much of an issue.

It wasn't until the faunus felt one of her girlfriend's arms shift off her waist before she twisted around to look at her inquisitively. Blake was met by one of Yang's smiles and a jerk of her head upward. Looking up above them she caught a glimpse of something green and white in Yang's hand right as she felt a peck upon her lips.

"Mistletoe," Yang explained. "Merry Christmas."

Placing down the things she had been holding onto the counter with a sigh, Blake turned around to properly face Yang. With Yang's arms still around her she was rather cramped in her positioning. With her arms pressed between their bodies Blake grabbed the blonde by the collar and pulled her back into a kiss.

Rather than the peck that Yang had given her earlier, the one Blake had just initiated was much more involved. She knew what she wanted and was perfectly willing to take it, something that Yang was quite happy to let her do. Both of them would have been entirely content to continue their kiss for what others would deem an excessively long time, but alas that was something their lungs would not allow.

"That, Yang, is how you are supposed to kiss a girl," Blake panted regaining her breath.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Yang said happily. She shook the mistletoe above still held above them. "This thing ain't going anywhere. You wanna keep going?"

"As much as I would like to, what I said earlier is still true. This food isn't going to cook itself." If it weren't for Blake's sense of self restraint, the two of them would probably never get anything done. "Maybe later."

Yang pouted, but didn't argue. "I'll hold you to that."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Blake smiled. "Right now though it seems that you're still holding me to you. Would you mind letting go so I can get back to preparing dinner? Unless you would rather not eat tonight of course."

"I could just have you," teased Yang angling her head up to nip at a cat ear with her lips.

"Haha, very funny," said Blake rolling her eyes. "Now either start helping, or get out of my kitchen."

"Blake! This is all so delicious!" Ruby complimented the team chef as she stuffed another piece of turkey in her mouth.

"Thank you Ruby. I'm glad you're enjoying everything," Blake said smiling warmly at the younger girl. "Perhaps you should eat a little slower though. You'll upset your stomach."

"Ll brn fnnm-" Ruby stopped to swallow after realizing that her speech was unintelligible. "I'll be fine. I have a strong stomach," she said cheerily.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," scolded Weiss beside her cuffing Ruby lightly on the ear. "It's rude and immature. Not to mention disgusting."

Ever the opportunist Yang jumped in. "Aren't you supposed to be her girlfriend? You sound more like a mother. Or maybe a wife."

Weiss's eye twitched as Ruby blushed a little. Mission accomplished as far as Yang was concerned. Never let it be said that Yang never planned things out. She took this opportunity knowing that the only things within Weiss's reach to throw at her were fragile plates and bowls, potentially dangerous cutlery, and food. After lecturing Ruby for childishness, it was unlikely that she would throw any of those things at her. It was perhaps a bit unfortunate that Yang's use of her cunning was most often employed in situations such as this, getting away with some troublemaking.

"Now now, calm down everybody," placated Blake sounding more amused than anything else at their banter. "It's Christmas dinner, we shouldn't fight."

"We're not fighting. We're just playing around. Right Weiss?" The Schnee girl just frowned harshly at Yang's expectant smile. "See? She agrees."

Yang paused to pop another piece of prime rib in her mouth. Blake had really out done herself with the spread. Stuffed turkey, prime rib, mashed potatoes, a large Christmas ham, pies both sweet and savoury, the list went on. Her own skills were mediocre at best in the kitchen so although she had helped out where she could, it was mostly Blake. Weiss was surprisingly good at baking given how bad she was at most other things in the kitchen and had helped with some of the pies and other desserts like the many forms of cookies which Ruby had apparently moved on to eating already.

A lot of the food had required preparation days ahead. Even between the four of them there was no way they would be able to eat it all tonight. That didn't mean that Yang wasn't going to try.

"Sprgrnm rrf mwves-" Whatever lessons in manners Ruby had missed were ones that Yang apparently hadn't been for either. "I said, speaking of wives, you should be mine Blake. This really is delicious."

With the amount of eye rolling Blake has had to do because of Yang it had practically become reflex by this point. "And like I've told you every other time, you're supposed to have a ring when you ask that," she said placing some more food onto Yang's plate.

"Don't think I won't one of these days," Yang warned as she started cutting into the piece of turkey Blake had given her.

"Mm hmm."

Although Ruby was still happily vacuuming dessert into her mouth, Weiss had been watching this byplay from the side. A small smirk had formed on her face as she saw the chance to needle Yang back a little.

"The two of you already act like you're married," she commented a little offhandedly trying to act casual. "Anything more would just be legal confirmation for what everyone already knows."

Blake blushed a little at Weiss's words, but Yang wasn't fazed in the slightest. So Weiss wanted to beat at her at her own game? There was a reason people didn't try to embarrass Yang Xiao Long.

"I just remembered. I have a little early gift for Ruby here," Yang said narrowing her eyes at Weiss with a small smile. It was enough to make the other girl adopt a more cautious look as she realized that Yang already had a plan for retaliation.

Hidden behind her body on her seat was the "gift" that she had prepared. Grabbing it she carefully hid it behind her back as she walked around the table to Ruby and Weiss. Purposefully she positioned herself between the two so that when they turned to look at her they would be facing each other as well.

"Merry Christmas!" Yang cheered as she shoved something onto Ruby's head.

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to look at it. Blake looked at it from across the table and a bit of a smirk appeared on her face as she recognized it instantly. Ruby had to strain her eyes upwards to try and see which took her attention off of Yang. Similarly Weiss also had to momentarily look away from the troublemaking blonde as her eyes went towards Ruby to examine the object on her head.

The base of it was a hairband which was what secured it to Ruby's head. Rather crudely taped to it was a long candy cane leaning forward in front of Ruby's face. The most important object though was the piece of mistletoe dangling from the short end of the candy cane. It worked out rather well that the only person here shorter than Ruby and the dangling mistletoe was a certain white haired heiress. With Weiss looking at it her face was lined up well enough for Yang's purposes and a forceful slap on Ruby's back sent the two crashing into each other in a sloppy kiss.

For how long those two had been dating, it was a little sad how embarrassed they got over little things like this. Both their cheeks were reddening already as they hastily pulled away. Sometimes Yang thought that they would never do anything with each other if not for her. Honestly, she was doing them a favour.

"You looked like you could use something sweet," Yang said to Weiss. "Judging by the amount of pie on Ruby's face, I thought she'd be perfect."

Weiss sputtered a little but couldn't quite seem to find the necessary words to retort with. Albeit a little shyly, Ruby managed to take the opportunity presented and took a little initiative. Taking Weiss's hands in her own she caused the other girl to turn back towards her.

"It is tradition after all," Ruby told Weiss as she closed in for a more proper kiss under the mistletoe.

As the two little dorks started lip locking Yang caught eyes with Blake. The faunus had a rather warm look on her face as she gazed tenderly upon them all, and Yang found herself with a soft smile of her own. This was nice. The four of them together, able to just sit together at the dinner table joking and laughing with each other for Christmas. Just like a family.

As the day wore on it eventually gave way to the night, rather appropriate as Christmas Eve. Even as it grew late, Team RWBY was still awake, having settled into the living room in front of the fireplace with the lit up Christmas tree in the corner.

Of course it wasn't a real fireplace, or at least not an old fashioned wood burning one. Even if they were on the top floor and could conceivably have a chimney, fire safety codes wouldn't allow for it in the dorms. The logs were artificial and nonflammable, with the fire being fuelled by a very controlled output of fire type dust.

"What are we still doing here?" The grumbling from Weiss was half hearted at best.

Ruby and Weiss were both curled up next to each other on the couch underneath a red cloak. It was a rare moment of displayed affection between the two with others present in the vicinity where Weiss wasn't being overly self conscious. Ruby had her in her arms, looking rather pleased to be able to do so without complaints from her girlfriend who appeared rather comfortable herself.

"Well when Ruby and I were younger, every year on Christmas Eve we would wait by the fireplace," Yang explained. "We were staying up late hoping to see Santa Claus bring our presents."

While two of them were curled up on the couch, the other two had nested themselves on the carpeted floor. After seeing her little sister getting all cozy with her girlfriend on the couch underneath her cloak, Yang at some point had decided to emulate her. Taking the blankets from her bed and bringing them into the living room she had gotten all cuddled up with Blake herself.

Between the thick blankets, the fire, and natural body heat (mostly Yang's), it was really quite warm for the two. Neither of them seemed to mind it though, comfortable in each other's embrace. Yang rather liked the heat, and Blake had a habit of curling up in warm places herself.

"Really?" Blake sounded like she was holding back a laugh. "How cute."

"Hush you." Yang swatted one of Blake's ears lightly.

Weiss on the other hand shifted slightly to give Ruby a bit of an odd look. "Santa? But y-" Weiss cut herself off in the middle of a word as she seemed to reconsider what she was saying.

Her girlfriend though knew her more than well enough by now to know where her train of thought had been taking her without having to hear the full sentence.

"We know now that Santa isn't real Weiss," Ruby said with a bit of laughter dancing in her eyes. "But we didn't back then. We were just kids."

"Well of course!" Weiss huffed as if she hadn't just legitimately believed that her girlfriend still believed in Santa Claus. "This fireplace doesn't even connect to a chimney. But if we're not waiting for Santa, then why are we still up?"

"I would guess it's because of tradition," said Blake from her position by Yang on the floor.

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "It might not be the same as other Christmas traditions everyone else does, but it's tradition for me and Yang. Even after we learned Santa wasn't real we would wait by the fireplace every Christmas."

"You could say it's a family tradition for us," Yang said with a smile. "And we'd like it for the both of you to join us as well." There was a hint of Yang's usual teasing nature in that remark, but the sincerity of it rang true and clearly. "We know that the two of you probably don't have many Christmas traditions of your own, so why not share one of ours?"

Blake and Weiss shared a look. She wasn't wrong. All things considered, it was a bit of a silly tradition. But then again, many popular established traditions were as well if you really took the time to think about them. What mattered was that thoughts and feelings behind them. Blake gave Yang a peck on the cheek as they silently decided on Weiss as their spokesperson.

"Thank you, Yang, Ruby," Weiss said quietly without a snarky response for once. "It means a lot." It really was a very touching gesture.

"Merry Christmas," Ruby whispered to Weiss pulling her tight.

Author's Note

They're all still dorks. Ruby and Weiss are little dorks and Yang is the big dork. Blake's the dork that pretends she isn't one. Also, I think Yang totally ships White Rose.