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It was Christmas Eve and Ruby could not be more excited and worried at the same time. Back at Beacon, Yang offered their house in Patch to do a gift exchange explaining how this was their last year at the huntsmen academy and they needed to celebrate. It was going to be their first Christmas together and it needed to be perfect so they divided the chores. While Yang and her father worked in the kitchen, Ruby would be in charge of having the house presentable. She even ended up depleting her aura while cleaning the entrance, consequently tripping on the snow.
Most of the guests arrived early in the night. Qrow had arrived first, appearing from the second floor without anyone noticing how he entered the house; then blake and her parents appeared at he door, she managed to invite them before the last ship of the year departed from Menagerie and they arrived right on time. But still, there was someone that wasn't there yet. Weiss. She called to warn that there would be a snowstorm in Atlas and that would delay her ship. But that was in the early afternoon and those were the last news Ruby got from her. There were still a couple of hours remaining before Christmas and she was worried, pacing around the room.
"Hey, Rubes, you ok?" Yang asked from the couch.
Interrupting her train of thought, she focused on Yang's question. "Uhh?... Oh! Uh yes, I'm okay. It's just that Weiss isn't here yet and I don't know if she's ok," she said, expressing her worries.
"Don't worry Ruby," Blake said. "It's Weiss who we are talking about, I'm pretty sure that a little snow won't stop her from coming in time," she finished with a reassuring smile.
With a deep breath Ruby stopped moving and sat next to her teammates "Yeah, you're right."
And as if on queue, the bell rang and Ruby just exploded in petals, appearing at the front door. She had a huge grin on her face and she was bouncing on her feet as she opened the door.and of course, at the first sight of white clothes she couldn't control herself.
"WEISS!" She tackled her with her semblance and they skid in the snow by the strength of the push. Winter looked amused by them.
"Ouch... Were you that excited to see me?" Weiss said weakly from under her partner's grasp.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I? It's going to be Christmas and now you're here! The gang's all together!" Ruby said, still hugging Weiss.
"You're such a dolt."
"But I'm your dolt!"
"T-that I cannot denny," Weiss said while blushing. "Can we get out of the snow now?"
Ruby chuckled and helped her stand up, pulling her inside the house at an incredible speed even without using her semblance, also greeting Winter on her way inside.
"Everyone! Weiss is here!" Ruby shouted once in the living room.
Cheers came out in unison as they greeted Weiss but before she could say anything Qrow spoke. "Hey, mini-ice queen. Look up."
Weiss curiously tilted her head backward, looking for whatever could be above her. Immediately her face colored as her partner's cape. A mistletoe was hanging from the ceiling.
"Yang! Why did you put that there?!" Ruby yelled, her also reddened face could easily be confused with the rest of her clothes.
"Hahaha, you gotta follow the rules, Rubes."
The red-skinned partners looked at each other, completely nervous. Neither could make a step. Not long though, Ruby gathered a bit of bravery and her semblance flashed as she gave a peck on her partner's lips. It was so fast that Weiss noticed it a second after.
"Hey! No semblances," said Yang, a bit disappointed with her sister.
"Nope! A kiss is a kiss," Ruby answered.
Weiss was stunned, she couldn't even register their bickering. Whatever quantity of confidence she brought to that house quickly vanished with that illusion of a kiss. Although she knew one thing now, she hated Yang with all her being.
Weiss was a red and white statue until Winter put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts. She was smiling at her with a knowing look while Weiss answered with a nervous one.
"Why don't you present me to the rest of the family?" The older Schnee asked.
"Y-yeah sure," Weiss answered.
Clearing her throat and recomposing herself she called for everyone's attention. "H-hello everyone, this is my sister, Winter. I managed to speak with General Ironwood so she could pass the holidays with us."
"Greetings. It's nice to meet you all."
Both of them passed by each of the present people and saluted them or were presented to the unknown ones.
"Hey, ice queen." Qrow greeted Winter, being the last person in the queue.
"Hey, drunkard," Winter responded with a smirk.
"Haha! Finally, you got a name for me." He said as he pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you, Winter."
She was surprised for a second by the sudden hug but quickly corresponded with a smile. "The feeling is mutual Qrow."
Qrow and Winter may have been sworn enemies for a long time but when a mission in anima went sour they came back as close friends. It could even be said that they threatened Ruby and Weiss’s title of best friends ever.
After everyone sat down, they chatted for a while as they waited for the clock to reach the top. They were arranged in a semicircle in front of a chimney. From left to right Kali and Ghira on a couch; Taiyang in a single chair; Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby on a second bigger couch; and finally Winter and Qrow on a third couch; the decorated Christmas tree being next to them at the corner of the room with a lot of presents under it.
Almost half an hour left before the 25th, Ruby checked her scroll and frantically called for her dad and sister's attention.
"Hey, hey! Dad! Sis! Ready for an early Christmas gift?!" She asked
"Early gift? What do you mean?" Taiyang asked.
"Just close your eyes. Yang, you too," she ordered.
"Uhh ok," Yang said and did as she was told to do.
"Blake," Ruby called and the black-haired girl nodded, already knowing what to do.
Ruby reassured them this could take a minute or two so they would need to wait patiently. Once they agreed, Blake went to her partner’s ears and blocked any sound with her hands. Ruby did the same with her father and they waited.
Yang didn't know what was happening, but it was obvious Blake was in this scheme, too. She was curious about what both had planned for them. Nearly a minute passed and she was free to listen again, now that her partner's hands left her ears.
"Yang, open your eyes," Blake said softly behind her. Ruby did the same for her dad
When she and Taiyang saw what the two girls had planned, they couldn't believe their eyes.
"Mom?!" "Raven?!" Both father and daughter reacted.
To say that both of them were surprised about seeing Raven Branwen at a Christmas party was an understatement. But there she was, standing inside the house she once lived in, and if that wasn't strange enough, with a smile on her face.
Of course, Yang had finally found her earlier that year, and it was a rough moment. The two of them fought for hours before a draw was called. Both mother and daughter had a chat for the first time in their lives where they debated about 21 years of abandonment. Thanks to her daughter, Raven got to a point where she apologized and even accepted the lack of strength in her decisions. Yang wasn't sure if that put an end to the idea of her childhood without her mother, but since that day she had lifted a weight and could breathe again.
"Yang, Tai..." Raven started. "I know this is unexpected, it took me a long time to open my eyes and realize what I had lost the moment I ran. I'm probably not worthy but I want to make amends for all the time I wasn't there. I understand if you don't want me in your lives anymore but I promise, if you let me, I'll be the mother I should have bee-"
Raven got interrupted by Yang lunging forward to hug her. She couldn't show any emotion other than surprise. Raven was so shocked she didn't realize she let go a couple of tears.
"Yang I..."
"Shut up mom," Yang said, tightening the hug. "It's Christmas."
Raven looked at Taiyang. He just nodded with a soft smile and joined Yang in hugging her. Raven just moved on from her stunned state and enjoyed the embrace.
"It's good to have my mom for Christmas," Yang finished.
After the wholesome scene, they moved back to the group. Raven took a chair Blake pulled for her and sit next to Taiyang
It was true that Raven's presence took a moment to get used to. A Christmas party and sharing a room with an infamous bandit leader should never be in the same sentence, but still, the group welcomed her to the house. Even Winter left her soldier demeanor to greet her.
Yang enjoyed the time they had together and thanked Ruby and Blake when she got the chance.
"Hey, whatcha doing there?" Yang asked Blake who looked amused with her scroll.
"Oh, just chatting with Illia. She is enjoying herself with team SSSN," she answered.
Blake had invited Illia to come to Patch, too, but she declined the invitation as she told her Sun had already invited them to Vacuo to pass the holidays with his team and their families. They even wished them already a Merry Christmas thanks to the time difference.
"That's nice. Good to see her celebrating for a change," Yang said. "By the way, what time is it?"
"Just five minutes left," Blake answered.
"Time for the champagne, wanna help me?"
"Sure, but I want a soda," Blake said as she stood.
Blake handed out glasses for everyone as Yang opened the bottle of champagne and served everyone, except Ruby, Blake, Kali, and Qrow who went for other drinks.
By the time everyone had a glass, it was only seconds away from midnight and everyone waited as the clock reached the top.
"Merry Christmas!" The whole group said in unison and hugs were exchanged between them. Some selfies were taken and surprisingly no drinks were spilled.
Once the calm returned to the living room, Yang called for everyone's attention as she proposed a toast.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming tonight. At first, I invited only Weiss and Blake to pass the holidays together as a team, but I didn't imagine this many people would come and have such a wonderful evening. And despite the troubles some of us had, everyone made it. Hell, even my mom made it for Christmas! If that isn't a Christmas miracle, I don't know what is."
All the presents laughed at the outburst.
"These four years have served me not only to train as a huntress but also to meet some wonderful people, and even if one of them is already my family, I can consider all team RWBY my family. And that also includes every one of you. So... This goes for the family!" She concluded her toast.
"For the family!" Everyone repeated in unison and followed with a drink.
"Aaaaand, speaking of the family" she continued more loosely before anyone could say anything. "I wanted to make an announcement." Yang took Blake's hand and pulled her to her side, both smiling. "I wanted to say that I and Blake have been dating for a while." She said as they showed their fingers intertwined.
"I already knew," Kali said.
"Wha-" Yang tried to say.
"Yeah, me too," Ghira continued.
"Y-you both knew?" Yang asked, now a little nervous.
"Yang, even I knew about it," Raven added to the conversation. Tai also seemed to know by the look he gave them.
Blake was laughing but Yang was losing it. "What?! Did everyone here already know about me and Blake??"
"I didn't," Winter spoke. "But It was quite obvious. The moment I sat on that couch I knew something was going on."
"Yang, you aren't the best person for subtlety, you should know that by now," her father said.
Yang looked in disbelief at Winter, then at her dad, then at Weiss who spoke to her. "I told you, Yang. This is why you aren't assigned stealth missions"
"But now that you made it official, I can officially welcome you to the Belladonna family," Ghira said as he approached Yang with open arms.
Yang, with a nervous smile, received the hug from the big Faunus, something she immediately regretted as he quickly locked her arms around her and gave her the strongest bear hug she ever received.
"... can't.... breath..." She managed to say and his new father-in-law let her go, stumbling a little as she barely held to life.
"Dad, I would appreciate having my girlfriend in one piece," Blake said as she received a handshake from her new father-in-law.
"W-why do my bones... get to be broken and y-you... only get a handshake?" Yang reclaimed.
"Yang, she will have to resist the double of puns for the rest of her life, she's having a torture worse than yours," Ruby said.
"Not fair..." Yang finally said and everyone laughed.
"Hey, now that we're making some announcements, can I make one too?" Qrow asked after the last conversation settled.
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Alright, this is kind of a gift for Winter." He said and everyone else became sounds of curiosity.
Qrow went for his shirt pocket and took a small package a bit larger than the size of his hand and gave it to her. He waited for her to open it and it turned out to be the flask he always used.
"Qrow, we talked about this. I'm not going to drink from it." She said trying to give it back
"It's not for you to drink from it. It's for you to keep it."
"Keep it? But I don't drink out of parties. And how will you drink?" Winter asked in confusion.
"That's the thing. I won't, not anymore," he said with a big smile.
Winter was shocked. She didn't know the day his best friend would stop his drinking habits would come. He was so immersed in it that she barely saw a solution but it seems that the answer was all this time inside him.
"You see," he spoke for everyone, "I started to go to one of these AA groups a while ago and saw all the moments that poison was making me miss in exchange for just forgetting things, and, tonight, I wanted to show you the progress I had."
"So, that's why you asked for a soda in the toast," Taiyang said and Qrow nodded. "Those are great news, man."
"Thanks," he said, and immediately after, he was hugged by Ruby.
"I knew you could make it out, Uncle Qrow," She said with a full smile.
"Thanks, Kiddo," he answered, rustling her hair a little.
"Soooo..." She said once she let go. "Now that we started with the gifts, can we start opening ours?!"
"Yeah, I think we can," her dad said.
"YES!!" She shouted and she practically teleported under the tree and started distributing the gifts as fast as she could leaving rose petals all over the floor. It was good that those disintegrated in time or she would spend a great percentage of her life cleaning them.
Once all the gifts were with their respective owners they proceeded to open them all at once.
Ruby received lots and lots of scrap, tools, and weapon parts turning the area around her like a small dump.
Weiss got a formal invitation to Menagerie from Blake's parents hoping she could speak her mind about her father and help in the small village's expansion to the desert.
Blake had her weight in tuna right next to her stacked in a perfect statue of herself, as well as a mysterious book that totally wasn't the collector's edition of Ninjas of Love with the author's autograph and a personal message to her.
Yang looked with awe to a handcrafted mod for her gauntlets. It made her punches hit with double the strength using only half the energy, and an Atlesian thin armor that worked like a second skin that protected her once she depleted her aura.
Qrow also received an autograph but this was from the legend, and his inspiration, The Grimm Reaper, as well as an invitation from her to spar with him.
Winter got an HD slo-mo video camera to record every single millisecond of her best friend's soon defeat against a legendary warrior.
Kali and Ghira got a cheque to fund any kind of improvement for Menagerie's infrastructure. It wasn't a gift only from the Schnee's but also Ironwood's.
Taiyang got one of those antique instant cameras Poraloid which was instantly used to instantly make a gift for Raven which was an insta-selfie of Yang, Tai, and herself. The instant reaction of her was an insta-hug which instantly scared Yang and Tai, they thought she was going to insta-kill them.
After an hour of opening presents, bragging about them, and a surprise video call from team JNPR plus seven Arc sisters, the Christmas dinner was being served. Everyone moved to the kitchen to help except for Ruby and Weiss who remained behind.
"Hey, Ruby?" Weiss asked for her partner's attention.
"Hey, Weiss! I was just playi- I mean, testing my new tools. Oh yes, I almost forgot, I'm sorry I didn't open your present. I think I might have lost it in my pile of scrap"
"I wouldn't think so, mostly because I haven't given it to you, yet. There is... something important I wanted to talk about. Do you think we can have a word?"
"Yeah, sure. I'm all ears."
"In private."
"Oh, uh, yeah, my room is upstairs. We can talk there if you want" Weiss nodded and both of them diverted from the dinner and went upstairs.
---
"Hey, I was meaning to ask," said Blake as she put a plate on the table. "When did you put that mistletoe there on the entrance of the room? I didn't see it when I came with my parents, and you and I were together all the time."
"That's an easy one. I didn't," Yang said, and Blake raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Remember when I told you Ruby was in charge of all the decorations?"
"Yeah, I do..." Blake stood at the crime scene and decomposed everything. "But if she said she would do that, then she had to put that there... on purpose. And she did that in the middle of the night. Without any of us noticing her because... she wanted to... use it... and... kiss... Weiss." She said with a wave of realization as she solved the full crime, the murder weapon, and the culprit, all at the same time.
"Exactly." Yang winked. "Ruby's had this crush for a long time and she asked me for advice since she saw us. I recommended her to be brave and she came with that on her own. I just played along when she blamed me, I really thought she would go for it right there." Yang said, somewhat disappointed. "I just hope Weiss isn't mad at her. By her face, I think she didn't like it. But she's reasonable, right? Like, this was just a game."
---
"What is it you wanted to tell me, Weiss?" Ruby asked once they reached her room.
Ruby was curious and nervous about the sudden ask. She had absolutely no idea what could it be, and she was afraid Weiss wanted to reproach her for the mistletoe incident earlier that night. That had been something that gnawed on her brain since they both sat in the living room. She was scared that she had disgusted her and she had spoiled their relationship thanks to a stupid crush.
"Well, f-first of all I wanted to give you your gift."
Oh no, would the reprimand come after she gave her a gift so it wouldn't hurt that much? Ruby knew she shouldn't have taken that gamble. Why wouldn’t she stay put?!... Wait, was Weiss nervous?
"Sure."
Weiss held in her hand a small box, jewelry? Is she trying to buy me? Ruby thought.
The crimsonette received the box and opened it slowly revealing inside a locker the shape of her emblem, a Rose.
"Wow, Weiss... it's... beautiful!"
---
Blake started chuckling silently to end up in laughter. She found her girlfriend's worries hilarious.
"Hey, what's so funny about my sis being hated by her crush?" The blonde asked.
---
"Open it," said Weiss.
Ruby looked at the emblem and she saw it could be opened if she pressed the joint with the chain and she immediately pressed it. If she were correct, it would contain one or two photos.
But when it opened like a compass from the lower side of the Rose, there weren't any photos inside but a single glass lens. Weiss touched it and it lightened and started holoprojecting something above it... It was Summer. A small version from head to toe of her. Ruby was flabbergasted. The only thing she had with her mother's appearance was an old photo, but it got lost in an accident while training. After that, she had no opportunity to remember her mother's face.
"I managed to find that photograph you had of your mother a while ago. I wanted to give it to you but it was ripped and bleached. It didn't look well at all. So, Winter and I tried to reconstruct her appearance, and thanks to some security footage she found on the Amity Colosseum, we managed to make a three-dimensional version of that picture."
Ruby was in tears of happiness trying to control her emotions. "Wait... Y-you have a v-video of her?" She asked.
"Yes, I have it in my scroll here, if you want-"
"N-no, it... It's ok... I-I can wait... Weiss... I-" She tried to say something else, but her emotions were too strong to be contained, and she finally went for a tight hug.
Ruby was already crying when she reached the crook of the neck of her partner. Weiss returned the hug and stroked her hair while she waited patiently for her partner to recompose herself.
"T-thank you, Weiss... Thank you s-so much," Ruby said, separating from Weiss and cleaning the trails on her face with her sleeves.
"I know how important your mom is to you so I wanted to give you the opportunity to remember her better."
Ruby smiled and went again for a hug but this time a lot more calmed.
"Thanks, Weiss, really," she said. "This is the best Christmas ever."
Weiss chuckled. "Anything for you Ruby." They separated again.
"Now... You wanted to tell me something, right?"
Weiss forgot about it. That was the reason she called her in the first place. "O-oh, umm, yeah! I.. uhh... Close your eyes."
---
Blake breathed deeply until she felt she could answer. "Yang, Weiss would never be mad at Ruby, and even less for that.”
"What? Are you serious? Wait, are you telling me what I think you're telling me?"
"It seems so." Blake nodded.
Yang laughed. "No way! I can't believe it"
"Hey Yang, where's your sister? We're going to start with the food now." Taiyang spoke to her, luckily no one had listened to their small conversation.
Blake made a quick look around. "They don't seem to be here... although I think I know where she might be," Blake said with a sheepish smile. Yang looked at her realizing the same "I think Ruby and Weiss will be a bit late for dinner."
"Alright, I'll save them some food."
---
Okay, this wasn't good, Weiss was still nervous. It wasn't normal for her to feel nervous. She already got her the best gift ever, what in Remnant would make her so nervous? Ruby didn't know and she was scared. Only a few seconds had passed but it felt like an eternity.
"Y-you can open your eyes now," Weiss said.
When she opened them the first thing she did was to search for any difference in Weiss and herself, but she didn't seem to find anything at all.
"Look up," Weiss said. Ruby noticed she was blushing. Why was Weiss blushing?
She did as her partner said and found a very familiar piece of decoration above them. So that's why Weiss was so nervous. She accidentally pulled us under a mistletoe... Wait I didn't put that there, Ruby thought in obliviousness.
"Uh, that's weird. I don't remember putting that there, I handled every single decoration in this house." Ruby said, her confusion making her forget to conceal the details of that sentence.
"Wait, are you saying Yang didn't help you?"
"Yep, I put 'em all by myself," She said proudly.
"So that mistletoe in the living room..."
Panic filled the crimsonette. She didn't realize her mouth would betray her in such a treacherous way. "No! I... Uh... Yang and... Uncle Qrow... They uh... Ugh, yeah it was me," She gave up.
Weiss concealed her mouth with both of her hands as she started mumbling things her partner didn't get to hear. Ruby's brain had melted almost instantly by embarrassment and she looked down and started fidgeting with her cape. She didn't know how Weiss was going to react and she was scared. Finally, after a moment that felt like an eternity, Weiss separated her hands from her face and looked at her.
"Ugh, I hate you so much," Weiss said in exasperation.
Oh no, she said it, Ruby thought as she lowered her face.
Ruby felt Weiss's hands near her face and prepared for a hit or something like that, but instead in a quick movement, the soft hands were placed on her cheeks and she was pulled quickly to her partner's face making contact in only one zone. Her lips.
Ruby's eyes widened. Weiss had pulled her into a kiss, a deep loving magical kiss. If Ruby's brain had started melting before, now it was a puddle inside her head. That kiss had been all she had asked for more than a year, and now, she received it on Christmas. But her puddle of a brain started bubbling as she realized something. That mistletoe wasn't her, it was Weiss! She wanted to kiss her, was she in love with her too? Well, duh, obviously! They were kissing!
Ruby closed her eyes and let her hands rest on her partner's waist. Their hearts were merely inches away going at the same rhythm. Weiss moved her hands from her partner's face to the back of her neck and pulled her closer as Ruby did the same with the lower part of her body. Their mouths even opened a little as they continued to give a kiss full of passion, full of love. But it soon had to end as she felt their lungs burning from the lack of air.
When they separated, they immediately felt the lack of contact as if they wouldn't survive without it. Their foreheads touched each other and they opened their eyes and looked at the other. Heavy breaths were the only sound in the room, not even the loud laughs from downstairs were registered by their ears. They smiled at each other and they exchanged a group of words that felt like the best thing they ever heard.
"I love you," both of them said at the same time. Their smiles widened even more at this.
"I-" again in unison. They laughed
"You first," Weiss said letting Ruby speak her mind.
"I'm so happy right now... I can't believe this is happening. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."
"Well, I can assure you this is no dream. And if it were, I would kill whoever dared to wake us up. I am really happy just like this with you."
They closed their eyes again and relaxed in their embrace. The peace was so enjoyable they didn't realize how much longer they were in each other's arms until a knock on the door interrupted them.
"Ruby? Weiss? Are you there? Dad asked for you... If you're... ya know... going to take long, I can-"
"We're coming Yang," they shouted with exasperation not wanting her to complete the idea but they didn't realize that it would backfire greatly.
"Oh sh-... S-sorry! Finish your... uhh... stuff! Bye!" And heavy steps were heard running away.
"Oh dear, I guess we should go before she shares the wrong idea," Ruby said.
"Yeah you're right," Weiss said, finally letting go.
They were about to open the door when Ruby decided to wait a few seconds more and pull Weiss in another kiss that lasted a few seconds. Yeah, they were hours shorter than they wanted them to be but they would have to be satisfied with that for now.
They finally joined the people downstairs just in time for the family photo. All were arranged at the largest couch except Taiyang who was struggling with the camera, trying to make an improvised tripod. Weiss offered to help, creating a small glyph under the camera to hold it in the air. Once everyone got in place, Ruby would press the button to start the timer and quickly run back next to Weiss.
It wasn't long until she was finally instructed to do so and the timer of ten seconds started.
Enough time to glance around and look at her family. She thought of her friends all around the world. Surrounded by wonderful people that cared for her. People that would never have met under normal circumstances were together in one room. From Winter's busy schedule to Raven's self-exile. Even Summer was with them now, close to her heart. And she loved it, every part of it.
This was the Best. Christmas. Ever.