Archive of Our Own

"But... it's only February..." Ruby whimpered out, as if stating what month it was would automatically refill the containers of peppermint they had in the back. All the clerk could do was shrug, as he wasn't the one who controlled the peppermint season. Of course, Ruby knew this too, but that didn't stop her shoulders from slumping. Dejectedly, she asked for a vanilla milkshake, then sullenly followed Weiss to their table.

"Are you going to sulk the entire time we're here?" Weiss put their order number on the table, watching her loving partner sulk like a child on the other side of the booth. To be honest, she wasn't surprised by what was happening. When she first met Ruby, she would be annoyed by how excited or dejected she would get from such inconsequential things. However, with how long they had known each other, and how long they had been dating, she found it more amusing than anything else. It was the kind of thing she could laugh about when she and Blake would exchange stories about their emotional girlfriends.

"No," Ruby replied, as she continued to sulk. "It's just not fair! Why would peppermint be only in one season, and for barely two months at that?!" She grabbed the thin silver pole with her milkshake number on it, rocking it back and forth as she tried to get her aggression out. "Peppermint deserves better than that!" She accidentally knocked over the number stand, grumbling as she picked it back up.

"You're taking this harder than when you found out that trashy reality show you watch got cancelled." Weiss couldn't help but laugh when Ruby groaned from the reminder, daintily covering it behind her hand. Complaining about a lack of one milkshake flavor was silly, and it was so Ruby. In a way, it was charming, because it was Ruby being herself through and through. She had never put on an act around her, and that let her know that their love was genuine. So despite the eye-rolling that had to be done over this current sulkfest, she could find a bright side to it. "Besides, those milkshakes taste like toothpaste."

"How dare you!" Ruby was ready to throw down when the waiter came over with her milkshake. She had to bite her tongue in that moment, dully thanking him and taking the milkshake, waiting until he left. Once he was gone, she was revved back up. "They do not taste like toothpaste! The mint of toothpaste is much more... minty than the sweet taste of peppermint. You know they taste different!" She pulled the milkshake towards her and sucked down some of it. "Ahh, not bad..."

"Uh huh..." They still did taste basically the same, but she knew there was no swaying Ruby. Where her girlfriend got her taste for peppermint, she didn't know. What she did know was that when the snow started to fall, Ruby would start getting super excited and beg Weiss to take her to places where they would be selling peppermint beverages and confectioneries. When the calendar flipped to February, she would be in a winter funk because no place would serve peppermint anymore. It was a long two motnhs until the spring brought those weird green drinks that she would then attach herself to.

"What's so difficult about having peppermint every month anyway? Everyone loves peppermint!" Weiss quirked an eyebrow at her. "Except for you, because you're lame." Weiss frowned deeply, which made Ruby giggle, though she quickly fell back into despair. "For real, though, I would get a peppermint shake every time I went to a restaurant that had one! They're just losing out on my money with this decision."

"At least you're not gaining calories with that decision. Having milkshakes every time we go out is bad for you." As she said that, Ruby took another sip of her milkshake. She never learned, did she? With a sigh, Weiss just shook her head, before straightening up upon seeing their food being brought over. The conversation about peppermint died off as the two of them began to eat, but it couldn't stay dead forever.

"It's just not fair..." They had both gotten about halfway through their meals in relative silence. While Weiss had ordered the healthiest thing she could find on the menu, Ruby never worried about such things as 'calories' or 'heart disease'. Her metabolism was ridiculous. "Who decided that peppermint was just for the holidays anyway? I wanna give them a piece of my mind."

"I'm sure they'd be thrilled to hear it." Suddenly, an idea hit her. Ruby really wanted peppermint-flavored treats, right? Well then, why didn't she make some for her? Sure, she still wasn't an iron chef in the kitchen, but there had to be some instructions she could find that would help her create them. Her romantic abilities were lacking, as everyone who had ever met her knew. This was a great opportunity to show that she could listen to her girlfriend and do something thoughtful for her. It would be romantic, in a way. As long as she didn't burn down the kitchen attempting it.

She listened to Ruby continue to complain about the lack of peppermint, but her mind was mostly focused on what her next move would be. It actually excited her. Ruby was always doing sweet little romantic gestures out of the blue, and she continued to struggle to reciprocate. Not this time, though. She would be the one surprising Ruby, and then everybody would know what a good girlfriend she was.

In secret, she began to look up recipes for peppermint treats. When coming home from work, she would stop at the store and buy necessary ingredients with cash. She didn't want Ruby to trace the truth through their credit card statements, even though she knew Ruby didn't even know what their passwords to those sites were. When she said she would take care of their bills and other monetary needs, Ruby seemed to take that as meaning she never needed to look at their statements ever again.

Once she had everything bought, all she had to do was wait. Luckily, that didn't take long. Yang took Ruby out to watch some sporting event she couldn't care less about, giving her several hours alone to get things done. Her disdain for athletics really came in handy there. As soon as Ruby left the house, she was already in the kitchen, grabbing everything out of their hiding places and placing them on their large counter.

She had bookmarked a recipe for peppermint cookies on her scroll, figuring that would be the best choice for her to make. Plus, there'd be more of them for Ruby to snack on as opposed to just one milkshake. Though she would have to make sure Ruby didn't eat all of them in one sitting. It was something she had once witnessed with a combination of fascination and abject horror.

Though her cooking skills were mostly untested, she figured that her brains would win her the day. If she followed the instructions to the letter, then she would be able to make them as well as anything she found online. Setting the oven to the proper temperature and lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper, she was feeling pretty good about herself. Despite what Yang had once inferred, she did not think the time on the oven was the temperature.

The next part would be the toughest: getting the ingredients combined properly. She measured them all as well as she could, pouring them all into the bowl before beating them at what she hoped was a good speed. The instructions said to 'beat at medium speed,' which was relatively vague. What exactly was 'medium' speed anyway? She just hoped that a bit too slow or a bit too fast wouldn't destroy the final product.

Things went pretty well until she reached the step where she had to roll the dough. As she was pulling on her thin latex gloves to avoid touching it, she had no idea what the instructions meant by making the dough into three-quarters inch balls. Did it mean three-quarters inch tall? That seemed to make the most sense, so she grabbed a ruler and held it up on the tray. It was difficult to get proper measurements with one hand holding onto the ruler, so she took it in between her teeth and prayed nobody would catch her acting this silly.

With everything hopefully made correctly, she shoved it all into the oven and hit her next minor roadblock. The instructions said she should cook them for eight to ten minutes, and specifically not to overcook them. Were all three of those minutes good? Was one better than the other? There should just be one specific minute to use, dammit! Gritting her teeth, she went for the middle ground of nine minutes and hoped for the best.

Even though she had nine minutes to spare, she couldn't find time to rest. Every thirty seconds or so, she would look through the oven to make sure nothing had been burned or set on fire. Each time she looked, she could see the cookies rising and being properly baked, but she was still nervous. Occasionally, her hand would hover over the handle, prepared to yank it open at the first sign of trouble.

Thankfully, the smoke detector didn't go off, though she flung open the oven as soon as the timer dinged. She put on her oven mitts and carefully pulled the cookies out, setting them down to cool before she allowed herself a moment to relax. With no one watching her, she pulled off the mitts and dropped them next to her, then slid down onto the floor and wiped a couple beads of sweat from her brow. Who knew that cooking could be so stressful? She did. She had known that.

After waiting a while for the cookies to cool down, she decided it was wise to try one of them. She needed to make sure they hadn't ended up terrible and inadvertently make Ruby think she wanted to break up. What if she had messed up the recipe and it was somehow poisonous? She didn't want to end up dying on the bathroom floor without Ruby at her side. Or, actually, ever. Never at all. Hmm, maybe she could get Whitley to come over and try them... Ahh, he'd never fall for that. She was just going to have to do it herself. This was her cookie bed, and she had to lie in it.

Standing back up, she gently touched one of the cookies with a finger. It was warm, but not burning hot. She picked it up and took a nibble, not wanting to take one of Ruby's cookies, even if she had been the one to put the labor in. Letting the flavor sink onto her taste buds, she concluded that... it tasted like a toothpaste cookie. That seemed like she had done it right, then.

Grabbing a large ziplock bag, she carefully placed all of the cookies inside as neatly as she could. She knew that the moment Ruby got them, they would be jostled around as she shoved her greedy hand inside, but it was more for her own peace of mind. Everything having a neat, proper placement made her feel more at ease, regardless of what might happen to it afterwards. Though she wished it could last more than a few seconds... The tribulations of knowing Ruby and Yang.

This time, she was able to busy herself around the house while waiting for Ruby to return. She kept checking on herself this time, though, waiting to see if she ended up vomiting from food poisoning. By the time Ruby did return, however, her body was perfectly fine, which meant she had done it. Her cooking attempt had been a success! If she had less self-control, she would do a little dance.

"Weiss! I'm home!" It was showtime. She came into the hallway, seeing Ruby notice her appearance with a big smile. "Hey there, Weiss! I missed you!" She then tilted her head slightly, noticing that Weiss had her hands behind your back. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"I missed you too, Ruby." Smiling, she walked closer to Ruby, keeping her hands behind her back. "Yes, I am. Would you like to see it?" She didn't have to ask twice. Ruby was instantly nodding, trying to glance over her shoulder to see what it was. She was like an excited puppy: Weiss could just imagine her little tail wagging furiously at the thought of getting something. "I hope you like them." Without further ado, she pulled out the bag of cookies and offered them to Ruby.

"Are these what I think they are?" Excitedly, Ruby opened the bag and grabbed a cookie, biting into the middle and chewing the half she'd gotten into her mouth. "Oh. My. Goodness gracious, ass bodacious! Peppermint! Weiss!" She shoved the rest of the cookie in her mouth, her eyes closing as she savored the flavor. "It's so good! Thank you, Weiss! Where did you buy these?"

"I didn't buy them: I made them." She puffed her chest out proudly, feeling good saying that out loud. Ruby left her hand in the bag, stopping her attempt to grab a second cookie. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Weiss, seemingly in disbelief at what she had heard.

"Wait, you made these?" Weiss nodded, still looking mighty proud. However, she was suddenly confused when she saw Ruby take off towards the kitchen. She stood by the door, wondering what in the world Ruby was doing. Finally, Ruby came back, sighing with relief. "Oh thank goodness, the kitchen's still standing."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're not exactly the best chef we know." Ruby smiled awkwardly, knowing that every word she said was digging a deeper hole for herself to lay in. "But, uh, wow. For real, Weiss, these are good!" To emphasize that point, she grabbed another cookie and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm, heavenly... How come you made these for me, though? I thought having too many cookies was bad for me."

"It is, which is why you shouldn't eat the entire batch." As she said that, Ruby was already shoving a third cookie into her mouth. "And yet... Anyway, I made them for you because you were so unhappy about peppermint being out of season. I wanted to make you happy, and I was kind of hoping it would show that I can do romantic things too." She blushed slightly, looking down at her feet.

"Really?" Weiss nodded shyly, not looking up. At least, not until she felt Ruby nearly bowl her over with the tightest hug imaginable. "Aww Weiss, that's so sweet! Thank you so much!" She looked up to see Ruby beaming at her, but her vision was quickly obscured when Ruby kissed her. The sudden lip-lock left her in a bit of a daze. "You didn't have to prove anything to me, though. I know you have your own way of showing that you love me."

"Yes, but I don't want you to ever feel like I'm not showing you the love you deserve." She slipped out of Ruby's arms and grabbed a cookie from the bag, offering it to Ruby. Grinning, Ruby leaned in and took a bite out of it. "I know I can be difficult to be with, and I just wanted to show you that I appreciate every day you've stayed with me, despite it all."

"You're not difficult, Weiss." That got her a look. "Okay, I mean... You're worth it, Weiss. You've always been worth it. No matter what, I've wanted to be with you. You don't have to make me cookies to prove that. Though they are nice..." She took the rest of the cookie from Weiss's hand, smiling giddily at the taste. "Goodness, these are good... Uh, anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I love you for who you are. There has never been a moment where I've doubted your love for me." She smiled that big, innocent smile that always let the truth shine through. "The fact that you'd do this for me just proves it."

"Thank you, Ruby." This time it was Weiss who initiated the hug, stepping forward to embrace her girlfriend. "I couldn't have asked for a better partner." She laid her head on Ruby's shoulder, unable to keep herself from smiling. They were having a moment, which was suddenly broken up by the sound of quiet munching. "Ruby, are you eating a cookie right now?"

"Uh... no?" She spoke with a mouthful of something, which gave her away instantly. It was so obvious that Weiss couldn't even be mad. "Sorry," Ruby muttered, knowing that she had been caught without having to look at Weiss's face. "They're just so good, though! I wanna eat them all!"

"Ruby Rose, I hope you aren't planning on actually eating all of the cookies I painstakingly baked for you at once." She relaxed her embrace to see Ruby trying not to look guilty. It was a failure. "I hope you remember that even though I made them, they're still not a healthy snack. Please exercise moderation with them."

"Aww, moderation is lame..." Still, reluctantly, she zipped the bag back up and let her arms fall to her side. "The things I do for love..." Her tone was so dramatic that Weiss had to laugh, bringing Ruby back into another embrace. She didn't give the same strong hugs Ruby did, but she hoped they were acceptable all the same.

"Hopefully it's worth it."

"Of course it is! I love you so very much!" Ruby returned the hug tenfold, nearly lifting Weiss off her feet with the strength in her arms. "You're everything to me, Weiss. If I have to not eat all these cookies until later, then I'll do that. You're worth more than an entire peppermint cookie factory, you know?" Weiss laughed at that, leaning in close to Ruby. Her girlfriend really was something else, and she wouldn't change her for the world.

"You think you can get away with sweet-talking me?" She laughed again, softly kissing Ruby's cheek. "Well, I'll let you do it this time. I love you too, Ruby." She moved over so she could kiss Ruby on the lips, even with the taste of toothpaste on them. At least she tasted fresh. "So very much."