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Weiss isn't very familiar with love. It was never present in her home, not the version that Yang shows.
Weiss likes this version more.
Especially when the words leave her mouth, just in an idle moment.
They're on a swing set, going back and forth, keeping time with each other. But Yang stops unexpectedly, burrowing her feet deep into the muddy earth beneath her swing, her bare feet likely stained brown. Weiss comes to a gentler stop, careful to keep her white shoes as clean as possible. The moment they stop though, Yang clears her throat.
"Life is a lot like the swings, you know?" She starts, her eyes never once leaving Weiss. "There's a lot of ups and downs, but it's always more fun when you go through it with someone you love."
Weiss reaches forward and tucks some stray hairs behind Yang's ear. Her hand hovers by Yang’s cheek as she speaks. "Is this your way of saying "I love you?" A cheesy quote you picked up from one of those books in the bookcase?"
Yang shakes her head. "No. I love you. That's me saying it. I'm just saying you're the person I want to spend my life with."
It’s gentle and feels so much like Yang but also like something rehearsed, like she’s been saying it in her head for some time. Like she’s reworked it half a dozen times to sound just right.
“I’m glad your allusion is to swings and not a rollercoaster. This is much more romantic,” Weiss tells her, pinching her reddened cheek.
Yang bats her hand away, obviously embarrassed. “We live on a farm now. If we were still huntresses, I’d definitely have picked a rollercoaster. That’s a lot more fast-paced.”
Weiss laughs. “I suppose.”
Yang starts swinging again, but goes faster than Weiss, just for the sake of feeling the wind through her hair. Weiss understands, but continues at her leisurely pace. Yang goes higher and higher, and Weiss starts to worry that she'll accidentally loop around. She's about to warn her to be careful before Yang jumps, three-limbed and graceful enough. She doesn't ready her knees enough for the impact, however, since she crumples to the ground. Weiss slams her feet into the ground and flies off her own swing to check on her.
Weiss brushes the hair out of her face, and Yang smiles around half a mouthful of dirt. "Guess I fell for you," Yang says through the dirt, and Weiss laments dirtying her shoes just for the pun.
"I'll give you a hand," Weiss answers, going back to the swing where Yang's arm is still attached to the chain. She wiggles the fingers free, only to find a small velvet box pressed between the palm of her hand and the chain.
When Weiss turns around to ask Yang about it, she’s worked herself onto one knee, most of the dirt spat out of her mouth and back on the ground. “If you give me a hand, I’ll help you put it on. If you say yes.”
Weiss doesn’t really know what to say, what to do, or even how to feel. Stains be damned, she opens the box, and feels herself drop to her knees at the sight of the beautiful silver band with inlaid diamonds. Yang scrabbles to her feet to kneel in front of Weiss, and only when Yang wipes tears from her eyes does she realize she’s crying.
“You took a mouthful of dirt just to propose?” Weiss manages to find some words between the overwhelming feeling in her chest. It’s tender, and her heart feel like it might burst; Weiss thinks that perhaps this is the love she missed out on as a child. Some might see it as sad that only now can she identify it, but it just took the right person going above and beyond for her to understand what it should be.
“I thought it’d be unique,” Yang justifies with a shrug. “I mean, it was sure to catch your attention.”
“You ate dirt to propose to me.” Weiss still can’t quite wrap her head around it.
“It was Nora’s idea. Do something stupid! She said, and I just thought, immediately, eating dirt. So I thought, well, what can I do to end up eating dirt and looking stupid and also possibly injured, while you would grab my arm and see the ring box? And boom, jumping off the swing was the brilliant plan.”
Yang is rambling anxiously at this point, and Weiss realizes she’s only holding the box, staring between the ring and Yang. “I thought you were going to help me put it on.”
“You didn’t give me an answer.”
“You never asked a question.”
Yang sighs, but takes the ring from Weiss’ hand to kneel in front of her. “Will you marry me?”
Weiss smiles, holding out her left hand. “Yes,” she says decisively, and Yang grins as she slides the ring on her ring finger. She waits until Weiss admires the ring on her finger before tackling her into the mud under the swings in a hug.
“I love you so much,” Yang tells her, peppering her face with small kisses. “I’m the luckiest lady in the world.”