Chapter Text
Weiss couldn't remember the name of the dry older gentleman who had been chatting her ear off for the last 20 minutes. Attending her Father's galas was a chore but an unfortunate reality of her position as corporate heiress. She had become well versed in the arts of small talk and feigning interest.
The booming voice of Jacques Schnee rang out from behind her. "Luther, I'm so glad you could make it." At these parties, Weiss always saw a different side of her father. He was personable and charismatic, friendly even. She knew he also despised being here, though. It was only a means to an end, to get the right people in the right room, just loose enough to work with. "I see you've met my beautiful daughter."
Luther smiled. "She is quite exceptional Jacques."
"Yes, well if anybody knows how exceptional she is it's me." He snapped his fingers, calling to attention a nearby waitress with a platter of tall cocktail glasses. "Another drink, Luther?"
"That sounds perfect" he proclaimed, plucking one of the glasses of the tray. "Would Weiss like one as well?"
Weiss chuckled nervously. "I'm unfortunately still underage, Luther."
"Well, we all grow up a little quicker behind closed doors." He said, smiling at Jacques. The question hadn’t really been for her.
"Weiss is a big girl." Jacques answered "She doesn't have to be a spoilsport like me. She can have a glass if she'd like.”
Weiss had never seen her father drink a sip. He had an extremely low opinion of anything that dulled one's awareness or self control. His reply surprised her very much.
She took the glass into her hand obediently. Cautiously she sniffed the mysterious liquid, resulting in a disgusted cough. Her father raised an eyebrow. Catching her breath, she took a slow, long sip. It was sort of a sweet drink but there was still a bitter burn at the center of it. She swallowed quickly, trying to maintain a straight face. She couldn't prevent the corners of her eyes from watering.
"Ha. Cheers" laughed Luther. He raised his glass toward Weiss. "To a slightly more bearable night." She smiled back sheepishly
"Enjoy yourself, Weiss" Jacques cooed as he slinked back into the crowd.
"This appears to be the house, Miss Schnee." Lawrence stated. Weiss had been staring warily at the unassuming 2-story apartment for about a minute now. Lawrence had been a bit surprised to find out he was driving her somewhere other than the school. She had told him that she was meeting up with her fencing teammates at one of their houses. Thankfully he hadn't questioned too much and had dutifully brought her to the address she'd given him. She was his employer she supposed, but it would be more accurate to say that Father was his employer. Had he felt the need to get his permission, Weiss wasn't sure what would have happened. The whole night might have ended before it could begin.
Slowly Weiss opened the door and stepped out of the car. This was definitely not her natural habitat. Frankly, after a childhood restricted to a few Father approved spaces, even Beacon didn't really feel like her natural habitat yet. But at least academics were something she excelled at. Socializing with people her own age was another matter entirely. She had done it so rarely that she couldn't even gauge whether she was any good at it. The past few days certainly hadn't given her a lot of confidence in that regard.
The dress she wore was snow white and sleeveless. It hugged her torso tightly and flowed freely around her upper legs, cutting off about thigh high. Weiss has always been taught the importance of looking her best at all times. The Schnee family had a professional stylist making sure she had the absolute latest fashion to choose from. It had been pounded into her brain. You’ll never know the importance of a first impression until you’ve blown one. Most of the time Weiss found the clothes they picked for her too frilly and girlish. This dress was one of her few favorites, simple yet stylish.
Her legs felt like jelly, completely unsuited to carrying her weight. Why was she so nervous? How was she going to do anything if even this was too much for her? There wasn't anybody here who she ought to be intimidated by. Yang and her sister were ridiculous of course but certainly not intimidating. And though she hadn’t spoken as much with Blake, she seemed at least… inoffensive. Lawrence flashed the car's headlights behind her, silently asking her if she still was planning to enter or not. With a sigh she waved him off and began the walk up to the apartment.
Climbing the outdoor metal staircase to the second floor was a precarious task. Thankfully Weiss was extremely coordinated. She made her way down past a few doors until she found the one she was looking for.
A chilly breeze struck her, stinging the pale, bare skin of her thin legs. Just one knock on the door in front of her stood between her and the warmth inside. Sick of shivering, she rapped her knuckles lightly against the wood.
The door opened much quicker than Weiss was expecting, startling her. "Hey, Weiss." Blake trailed off quietly and she eyed Weiss up and down. "Uh, wow."
"Weiss!" echoed Yang happily, as she appeared behind Blake in the door. "Wow, you look great."
Weiss blushed. "Umm" she squeaked, staring back at Blake's tank top and yoga pants and Yang’s t-shirt and jeans. "I think I might have overdressed." She peered into the apartment, where Ruby sat on the couch intently focused on a handheld video game. Frankly the scene was pretty close to what she had expected. It was just that her instincts hadn't exactly matched up with her expectations.
As she waved Weiss in, Yang laughed. "You're been wearing heels every time I've seen you. Your middle name should be 'overdressed'. It suits you." Embarrassed and unsure how to respond, Weiss kept quiet as she stepped into the small living room. Despite the furniture and decorations being, at a close look, chosen from whatever was on hand or could be bought for cheap, the room didn’t feel cobbled together. It had a sense of order and air of vogueishness.
"Dang it!" shouted Ruby, slamming the device down on the couch, then whirling toward the entrance excitedly, almost in the same motion. "Hi, Weiss!” Weiss smiled and greeted her. It was comical how quickly Ruby’s entire demeanor could shift.
"I brought wine." she said, unzipping her bag and taking out the bottle.
As Blake took the bottle from her and examined it, Yang frowned. "You really didn't have to bring anything, Weiss" she said with uncharacteristic seriousness.
"Hold up, this is really nice wine" interrupted Blake. "How much did this cost?"
"I believe a bottle like that runs about $700.." Weiss answered dutifully, before Yang's gasp interrupted. Weiss's lingering blush deepened. It hadn't even occurred to her that that might be an excessive amount to spend on wine for an average person.
The blonde's jaw laid pretty much on the carpet. "Seriously Weiss, you really didn't have to."
"It would have been rude of me to not contribute." Weiss insisted as Blake hushed her friend teasingly. "Besides, I didn't pay for it out of pocket." It was the truth, she hadn't. It didn't really feel wise to be openly sharing how she'd actually gotten it but Weiss was desperate to save a little face.
"Where'd you get it then?" Yang asked.
"I took it from my mother's wine cellar."
Blake practically fell over laughing and Yang couldn’t help but relax and laugh also. “Oh my god, Am I dreaming?” Blake said through gales of laughter. “I’ve got little miss perfect, Weiss Schnee, in my home tonight stealing wine for me!”
“Yeah, I guess the princess has a little bad girl in her.” Yang added with a sheepish smile. Weiss groaned.
“Geez, I hope the chocolates weren’t that expensive” Ruby piped up.
“$75..?” Weiss tested. She cringed as the group’s reaction told her she hadn’t passed.
"Well, since Weiss went through the trouble of executing a heist.." Blake said amusedly as she uncorked the bottle, "We'd better make it worth her while." She poured herself a glass and passed the bottle and an empty glass back to Weiss, who obliged.
"Does your mom's wine cellar have some kind of crazy security system you had to crack?" Ruby asked. "If you're that rich I feel like it should have lasers or something."
A smile flickered across Weiss's face. "Fortunately no lasers" she answered. She paused, giving the younger girl a curious once over. "Are you having any?"
"She can have one drink" Yang interrupted. Weiss raised an eyebrow. “Ruby is a child” Yang added “And she only parties under strict sisterly supervision.”
“I’m 16. And in college” Ruby whined. “And I know what you were getting up to when you were 16.
“And I made all those mistakes so that you don’t have to.” Ruby rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile Weiss poured her a glass with a smirk on her face. “I wouldn't have taken you for a good influence Yang.”
Yang answered her with a shrug. “You know what they say. Do as I say not as I do and everything will turn out fine.” Having filled Ruby’s cup, Weiss gestured the bottle towards her but Yang put up a hand. “No, thanks. I’m already good to go” she said, holding up the short glass that Blake had mixed for her.
“No, no, no, drink my garbage later.” Blake objected. “Enjoy this wine before you’re too drunk to appreciate it.”
“I don't think I can even really appreciate it sober. It might as well be from the gas station for all I’ll be able to tell.” Yang argued but begrudgingly she gave in and accepted the wine glass. "So, are we toasting to anything?"
Blake smiled. "If you've got a toast then say it."
Yang was about to speak up when Weiss’s calm voice appeared. “To Blake, for hosting us all here at her home and to a wonderful if not unexpected night."
"Hey, that was pretty good." smiled Ruby, raising her glass. Weiss, meanwhile, couldn't help but notice Yang's slight frown.
"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you?"
"It's nothing" said Yang "I was gonna say something stupid."
"Well I'd rather you say it than you keep pouting over there." Weiss insisted. "We can toast to two things."
"Alright, fine" Yang said with an embarrassed laugh. "To letting curiosity get the better of us." She shared a knowing glance with Blake, recalling their previous conversation about Weiss.
Weiss scowled. "That wasn't stupid." she argued. Weiss had barely been able to express the strange compulsions she had felt as all of this had come together. Yang had put words to it so easily and casually, and she had been ready to dismiss it as little more than a dumb joke. "That was... kind of poetic actually."
"You sound so surprised. I can be poetic sometimes." laughed Yang.
"You're the one who said it was stupid, not me."
With a smirk, Blake raised her glass, silencing the bickering. The other three followed her lead and a toast was finally made.
To say that the night was going well would have been an understatement. Weiss was enjoying herself immensely. Against all odds, she actually felt relaxed, at least for her standards. Weiss never would have expected that after how stressed she had been before arriving. It had been silly of her really. Blake and the two sisters were easy to converse with. She wasn’t quite able to keep up with some of the pop culture conversation; unsurprisingly Weiss didn’t spend much time watching TV or playing video games. Each time though, the conversations would turn back to life at the college or something else Weiss could speak to. It was obvious what a close connection the three girls had. Even the introduction of an outsider like Weiss couldn't disturb their dynamic, and instead she was absorbed into it.
It wasn't long before they were finished with the wine. Weiss might have assumed that would have been enough to drink for an apparently casual night, but the group moved right on to Blake's liquor. Weiss wasn't that enthusiastic at first about trying one of the cocktails that Yang talked up so much, but in the end she didn't turn one down. After all, she literally never indulged herself like this. She was more than pleasantly surprised at the drink Blake handed her, just slightly sour and effortless to swallow.
"This is wonderful" she exclaimed. "You ought to be a bartender."
"Nope" Yang shook her head "you don't know Blake's number one rule about work."
Blake smirked as Weiss raised an eyebrow curiously toward her. "I never interact with the customers."
"It's not like Uncle Qrow can keep up a liquor license anyway" grumbled Ruby.
"Why can't he keep a liquor license?" Weiss asked.
Yang gave her a flat look. "They don't like when the owner is sampling bottles in the kitchen."
"Oh" Weiss paused. “Did you say that the owner is your Uncle?” It was definitely best that she changed the direction of that conversation, especially if this was a family member they were talking about.
“Yup” said Ruby, beaming with pride “”And our Dad runs the general store right across from campus.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything there.” Weiss admitted “I usually just grab my things at the shop on campus.”
Ruby smirked. “Then you’re paying twice as much for everything.”
“Well I bet that there’s a daughter discount I wouldn’t be getting” Weiss said with a smile “I didn’t know your family was so entrepreneurial.”
"Well, we can succeed at anything we put our minds to." Ruby responded, puffing her chest out.
Weiss nodded and hummed in acknowledgement. She turned to the black-haired girl beside her. "Blake, what does your family do?"
Blake raised her eyebrows at the question. "Oh, nothing special." she replied lazily. "Odd jobs. Lot of physical labor. " She added with a disinterested shrug.
Weiss wasn't quite sure how to respond but the weirdness of Blake's answer was obvious. Before she could finish wondering what she had said and what she ought to say though, Yang interrupted. "Your turn, princess. Aren't you going to tell us about the King and Queen?"
"Hey!” Weiss snapped with a sharp huff. “ Stop calling me princess!".
"Alright, alright, you don't like being called princess." said Yang, raising both of her hands in surrender. "Weiss is a tough girl, not a princess. Although." she paused, A mischievous grin beginning to grow on her face. "that means we'll have to come up with another nickname for you."
Weiss glared back unamusedly. "This night keeps getting better and better."
Her grin growing, Yang tapped her chin. "How do you feel about 'Snow Angel'?"
Blake stifled a laugh as Weiss practically gagged. "Why don't you give the princess a break, Yang."
It was a little past midnight now. Ruby was snoring quietly, having fallen asleep curled up in an armchair. Blake had stepped into her room to grab something. Weiss was slouched on the couch, scrolling absentmindedly on her phone. It seemed obvious that the evening was winding down; obvious to everybody except for Yang.
Yang’s confident voice cut through the silence. “Hey Weiss, you know what we need to do right now?”
Weiss glanced at Yang, then at the sleeping Ruby, before returning her gaze to her phone screen. “Get some more pillows because that looks extremely uncomfortable.” she mumbled.
"Don't tell me you're going to sleep on me too." Yang whined, giving Weiss her best pleading look. "I was going to say we need to get out of this house right now. It's killing the vibe."
Weiss stared back in disbelief. "It's after 12 o'clock Yang. Where on earth would we go?"
"We know a super cool spot up a path a couple blocks from here. It's a great view, the stars will be out. It'll be perfect." She flashed Weiss an enthusiastic smile but judging by Weiss's face she wasn't buying it. "Blake?" she called into the room "Are you with me?"
A disinterested grumble answered back. "Whatever it is Yang, I'll deal with it in a minute." Yang's smile weakened.
Weiss glared at her, eyes narrowed. "Are you serious right now?"
"C’mon, this'll be fun. You don't really want to spend all night just hanging out in this apartment do you?"
"I thought it sounded pretty reasonable when you invited me to do just that."
"I wasn't aiming for reasonable, I was aiming for memorable." Yang hesitated, but eventually sighed in submission. "If you really don't want to then nevermind. I guess I'm the only vote anyway."
Weiss found herself caught off guard. She hadn't actually expected Yang to give in so easily; it was unbefitting of her. It left Weiss with no idea how to respond. She wanted to accept her victory but she couldn’t. She was sure she was being perfectly logical, either that or she was being a complete buzzkill. She let out a long sigh of her own. "No. Whatever. This better be worth it though."
Perking up once again, Yang sprung to her feet and knocked on Blake's bedroom door to let her know the plan. After a few seconds there was still no response. "Um, I think it might just be us two." Yang admitted with a sheepish grin.
It was even more frigid outside than Weiss had remembered it being. Not bringing a jacket has been a stupid choice but she had expected to be inside all night. She couldn’t believe that they were doing this. The rest of the evening had been a perfectly pleasant, perfectly normal social outing. Of course Yang couldn’t be satisfied with that. ‘Pleasant’ and ‘normal’ were basically insults to her.
"Not much further. It’s up this hill." Yang attempted to reassure the grumbly girl. They had been walking for close to three blocks before reaching the beginning of a small gravel path, framed on both sides by barren autumn trees. Yang flicked on her phone flashlight and motioned for Weiss to follow her.
"If it is much further, this is where your body will end up buried." Weiss huffed.
Yang grinned back at her. "Who wouldn’t want a scenic grave?" She winced as Weiss gave her a cold stare. It was probably best she let their destination speak for itself.
It was about five minutes later when the trees around them began to clear, the hill began to flatten out and the trail they were on began to dissipate. They found themselves in a small clearing, at the side of a steep ledge. empty except for a few wooden park tables.
"Wow." Weiss mocked from the edge of the tree-cover. "Are we having a picnic at 1am with no food?"
"At least check out the view. Haven't you given me enough whine tonight?" Yang answered flatly.
With a huff, Weiss made her way over towards the ledge. She froze as she found herself gazing out over the low skyline of Patch.
"Oh" Weiss breathed "This is beautiful!" Patch wasn’t an especially large city. If it weren’t for the college it would have been a pretty small town in fact. That meant there wasn’t enough light pollution to obscure their view of a sky full of stars. Instead, the lights that were on in the town below them stood out amongst the dim suburban void and acted almost as a mirror to the lights above. "You were right about that at least." She added.
Walking slowly up from behind, Yang grinned at her softly. "Can I get that in writing because I feel like this is gonna come up again." She snickered at her own joke as Weiss gave her a flat stare of refusal. "I've always liked this place. I found it with some high school friends a long time ago." she explained. "Then I remembered it again when Blake moved over here. I like having somewhere cool like this to go when we're just hanging out. If you stay at the house all night it gets kinda claustrophobic and everyone loses the mood eventually. Something like this gets everyone’s energy back up.
Weiss couldn’t resist smirking. “Unless you wait for everyone to fall asleep first.” Still, she couldn’t deny how nice it was up here. Much nicer than winding down the night inside would have been. It was all a little unstructured for Weiss’s tastes but Yang’s justification seemed vaguely sound. “So those high school friends aren’t around anymore?” she asked.
Yang grunted slightly in surprise. “Oh. No. All moved on, moved away or whatever. Time keeps moving forward. Why?"
“I just pictured you, Ruby and Blake having been together all your lives." For three people to be as close as they all obviously were, Weiss figured that you would have had to raise them all in a lab together from birth. It was bizarre to imagine Yang without the others, let alone with anybody else.
Yang laughed and shook her head. “I like that you’d picture that. Like we’re the three musketeers.”
“More like the three stooges.” Weiss deadpanned, placing a hand on her hip. “Or the three witches who share one eye?”
Yang chose to let that one slide. "Anyway, Ruby's my sister, so we have kinda been together all our lives." she explained. "Blake I've known for a couple years. She's family, for a lot of reasons.” She shook her head again and smiled thoughtfully. “I've been friends with a lot of people. They come and go, y’know?. You find out who's family in the end. I’d do anything for my family.”
"I know what you mean." Weiss said. It wasn't easy to directly relate Yang's life to her's, but as hard as it was to explain she could. It took a long pause for her to figure out what she meant to say. "My family are very important to me. I work constantly so that I can live up to what our name means.”
Yang gave Weiss a calm smile. "You will." she insisted as if Weiss had already done so.
A shy smile found Weiss's face. "I appreciate the confidence." A nervous fluttering seemed to be growing in her stomach.
"On another note, the rest of us were planning on going out for breakfast in the morning. You think you can come? There's nothing better after a night of drinking than a big breakfast."
Weiss opened her mouth to respond but hesitated before actually speaking.This is where everything got complicated and confusing. This is where she has failed to plan ahead. This night had been so random and had come together so fast that she hadn't had time to consider anything. Frankly, Weiss hadn't been sure where hanging out tonight had been supposed to lead. More hanging out, she supposed, but she hadn't really believed it. She had figured she would just be one of those people who came and went like Yang had said.
“That sounds great, Yang." she finally answered quietly. She couldn't say no to Yang she was learning and besides, it did sound great. She wasn't sure she had bought enough time with her father to be out all morning but it would have to do. He hadn’t seemed too bothered by her one night out. As for the next time, Weiss wasn't sure. When had she thought that she had time to have friends? She guessed she could call this being friends, sort of. Yang and Ruby had called it that. Weiss still couldn't comprehend why they'd wanted anything to do with her, but here she was worrying about how she could sneak around to see them.
Yang gave a small fist pump “Awesome! Trust me it’s the best part of the night.” Her gaze slowly softened and a slight blush began to tint her cheeks.“Hey, thanks for staying up and amusing me.” she added, with an embarrassed laugh. “I was not ready to go to sleep yet”
“I couldn’t have slept yet either.” Weiss shrugged.
“Well at least someone can keep up with me.” Yang laughed again. An icy breeze struck the two girls, stinging Weiss's bare limbs. She gritted her teeth and shivered stiffly. Unbothered, Yang hopped to her feet and reached down to offer Weiss a hand up. "C'mon, let's get back to the house before you turn into a Weissicle."
Weiss scowled. "That's not your attempt at a nickname is it?" Despite her protests, she accepted Yang's hand.
Ignoring Weiss's complaint, Yang took off her brown leather jacket and handed it to Weiss. "Here, put this on.
Weiss stared at the now t-shirt clad Blonde. "Won't you be cold?"
"I'm hot-blooded anyway. And you're all skin and bones. Don't worry about me." Yang smiled kindly and motioned for Weiss to follow her down the hill. After a moment's hesitation, Weiss slipped the jacket over herself. It did swim a little on her slender frame but it was quite comfortable. She never would have expected that leather would look so good on her. Smiling, she walked after Yang. Despite her legs still being bare, she somehow felt entirely warm now.
With a weak groan, Weiss slowly opened her eyes. Her neck was throbbing, she hadn't exactly spent a lot of nights sleeping on couches in her life. Her head was throbbing as well, but only as badly as it usually did in the morning.. As a long-time insomniac, a night out wasn't going to make her mornings any more unpleasant than normal.
Pulling herself into a seated position, she pulled up her phone to check the time. She groaned again. It was barely past 6 in the morning. There was no way she was going to fall back asleep though. The soft snores of Ruby, somehow still sound asleep in the armchair, were the only sound in the dim apartment. Yang was nowhere to be seen.
It was kind of eerie being all by herself here actually. In a strange way it felt almost like her home, empty and isolating. This wasn't her home though, this stillness wasn't natural here. All of the energy and life that Ruby, Yang, even Blake in her own subtle way carried was absent.
Weiss glanced at her phone. There was one unopened text message. She lazily typed in her password to view it, but took notice when she saw that surprisingly the message was from her mother. I heard that you went out last night. Make certain you aren’t giving your father the idea that you are distracted. Weiss’s stomach sank and she slumped back glumly to the couch. She had almost been able to believe that he hadn’t minded and that a small indulgence like this was okay. If even her mother had heard about it she had been completely wrong.
Weiss quickly sent a message to her driver to come and get her now. Yang and the others were still expecting her to be here for breakfast but she would have to make that up another time. There was obviously work that she needed to do or at least be seen doing. She didn’t belong here anyways. This silence was her natural environment, alone and insulated so she could focus only on herself and her task. But this silence wasn’t natural here, she had brought it with her. She let out a stiff, tense breath as she stood to gather her things. Her ride would be here in 30 minutes or so and waiting outside sounded better to Weiss than having to explain her departure.