Work Text:
She’s miserable.
On the list of things that she’d expected to deal with today, which includes the usual disappointments of the financial department or the condescending lecture from her father, hugging a toilet in the employee bathroom while she empties the contents of her stomach every few minutes was not something she’d accounted for. She doesn’t even know how long she’s been here or if anyone has decided to look for her. She’s sure it’s after seven by now.
She’s going to die in this bathroom, and they would find her poor poisoned body long after everyone had gone home for the day.
She groans and sits on the tile, tilting her head back against the side of the stall, her eyes closed as she wishes the nausea would just go away. She wonders if this is just a stomach bug that’s plagued her randomly. Perhaps the barista at the café had decided to pursue a life of crime and started by poisoning her coffee. Or maybe whoever left the box of chocolates on her desk with a note that read From your secret Santa had attempted an assassination.
She is, after all, a Schnee.
This would be the perfect assassination attempt, if someone were going after her father, but one major flaw pokes a hole in that plan: Jacques would have to actually care if something happens to her. Unless he’s harboring some love for her deep inside, deeper than the pits of hell, she’s fairly certain that he doesn’t.
If she’s to perish in this bathroom, hopefully someone other than her very cute coworker finds her. For months, she had been harboring feelings for the young woman who had joined her team, and she would confess those feelings at some point in the distant future. But if she dies here, she’ll never get that chance.
Tragic.
As though the universe hears her—it probably does, now that she’s dying—the door to the bathroom opens, but she doesn’t bother moving. It’s far too late to save her now, for she has reached the end.
There’s a knock on the stall door, accompanied by a quiet “Weiss?”
Of all the people to find her here. Perhaps the universe is mocking her, since it had very clearly ignored her plea for Ruby Rose to not be the one to find her. “Yes?” Her reply is weak, much like her, and she sighs in defeat.
“Are you okay? I went by your desk but you weren’t there, and then I saw the chocolate. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it before I left it there, but it was expired and—”
Weiss doesn’t hear the rest of her rambling because her own pulse is deafening. Ruby was her secret Santa? This poisoning had been done by the one and only person she would have gladly given her life for?
The universe has a sick sense of humor.
She pushes herself off the ground, standing and using the wall of the stall to keep her balance. The nausea is mostly gone, thank the brothers, but the circulation in her legs is poor. She unlocks the stall door and pulls it open, coming face-to-face with a very apologetic young woman with silver eyes. “I’m absolutely fine, thank you for asking.”
She would never show weakness in front of the love of her—her coworker. Ruby takes a step back, her brows knit together in confusion, and Weiss passes her to a sink. She turns on the water and washes her hands and her face, accepting the paper towel from Ruby. “Weiss, I’m pretty sure you were just in there puking, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Weiss denies, accepting the stick of gum Ruby offers. The spearmint is welcomed and preferred over the disgusting taste of the last—how long had she been in here? She grabs Ruby’s hand, lifting her wrist so that she can read her watch. She had been dying in this bathroom for two hours. Why had it taken two hours to notice she had been missing?
She attempts to drop Ruby’s hand, but the woman manages catch her own hand before she pulls away. She stares at the hand holding hers and raises a brow, raising blue eyes to meet silver. “I feel bad about the chocolate, and you can pretend that you weren’t in there doing what we both know you were doing. Can I make it up to you by buying you a drink?”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Are you trying to pick me up in the women’s bathroom?” Weiss asks, tilting her head.
Ruby’s eyes widen in horror at the implication of Weiss’s statement, suddenly aware that they are still standing in the women’s bathroom, and a blush seems to consume her cheeks. “N-no! I just wanted to fix this mess because I feel bad that I accidentally poisoned you.”
Weiss stares at her for a moment and finally nods. “Then yes. You can buy me a drink to make it up to me.”
She leaves the bathroom, and Ruby, behind as she returns to her office. The box of chocolates is gone, undoubtedly Ruby’s doing to prevent any other accidental poisonings, and she’s silently grateful for that. Despite being expired, they had tasted fine, hiding their traitorous intent.
She briefly glances up as Ruby finally walks into the office, sitting at her desk parallel to hers and immediately working on whatever report she already had opened. Weiss returns her attention to her own reports, and the pair works silently until eleven, when Ruby stands and stretches.
“Where would you like to go for lunch?” Weiss looks up and raises a brow, and Ruby smiles. “You said I could buy you a drink. I’ll also buy you lunch, if you’ll let me.” She pauses for a moment, a slight frown. “Or are you still feeling kind of sick like earlier? I’m still sorry about that, Weiss.”
Weiss eyes her carefully. She had only ever dreamt of this happening, and now that it is, she isn’t sure if she should get her hopes up. “You’re the one who asked me to lunch. Surprise me.”
Ruby beams and gestures for Weiss to walk ahead. “I just hope you won’t regret saying that,” Weiss hears her murmur as she passes, and she realizes she has no idea what she’s signed up for.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The restaurant isn’t as busy as Weiss would think it’d be during lunch, but there’s a certain air that gives her the feeling that it certainly does well. Though, to be fair, she would not have known its location had Ruby not led her down the alley.
She follows Ruby to a booth in the corner farthest from the host stand, and the pair sit. “Shouldn’t we have told someone we were here?” she asks, wondering how anyone would know they would be sitting here?
Ruby shakes her head. “Nah, they know I’m here. I come here every single day at the same time.” Weiss raises a brow, and she chuckles. “You know, I’m going to call that brow raise the Weiss look ,” she teases. She shrugs. “Their food is amazing, and it’s affordable.”
A waitress approaches their table with a smile. “Hi, Ruby, will you have your usual today?” Weiss recognizes the flirty look, it’s nearly the same as the looks her father’s revolving door of secretaries give him whenever they interact with him before they’re eventually given better opportunities elsewhere.
She realizes she’d give anything to be able to wipe that look off her face by claiming Ruby is hers. Even if she really isn’t. That seems like something Weiss would have to fix.
Ruby nods and gestures toward Weiss. “Would you like to try my usual or would you like something else?”
“I think I’ll try that.”
“Two usuals, please,” Ruby tells the waitress, and Weiss doesn’t miss the miniscule twitch of the waitress’s lips, as though she’s forcing herself to continue smiling, or the subtle glare Weiss receives as the waitress turns to walk away. Ruby, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to notice as she grins and begins explaining how she’d found this restaurant with her sister one day when they’d sought shelter from an impromptu downpour and that her sister had gotten a job here but isn’t currently working.
The waitress returns with two strawberry lemonades, flashing a smile at Ruby. Weiss narrows her eyes at the waitress as she walks away. “I hope I’m not talking too much,” Ruby says suddenly, drawing Weiss’s attention. “You haven’t said much, and I hope it’s not because I’m rambling or because you’d rather be anywhere else than lunch in a place like this.”
Weiss shakes her head with a smile. “I am having a perfectly wonderful time listening to your rambling,” she assures her.
Ruby shrugs. “Is it okay if I get to know you though? I’d like to see you ramble.”
If she doesn’t know any better, she’d swear that the lopsided smirk Ruby flashes her is flirtatious. But she obliges, telling Ruby things she’d never told anyone else. The waitress returns with their food a moment later, to which they thank her before she walks away, realizing she’s clearly lost Ruby’s attention. Weiss mentally cheers, having won this nonexistent battle.
The food is as amazing as Ruby claims, and they continue talking as they eat. Ruby checks her watch and grimaces, and Weiss realizes they’re probably late going back to work, but it’s absolutely worth it.
They return to the SDC building and enter the elevator, this time alone. Between floors twelve and thirteen, Ruby hits the stop button, and Weiss raises a brow as the other woman turns to face her. “Before we reach our floor and go back to work, I have something to confess.” She takes a deep breath and nods. “Ever since I started here, I’ve been happier than I’ve been in my entire life. Sure, the work is fun and something I actually like doing. But the main part of it, what really makes me happy, is working on this team with you.”
Weiss breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank the brothers you feel the same,” she says.
Ruby grins. “Yeah?” Weiss nods, and she moves closer, reaching for Weiss’s hands. “So, if I said that there’s been something I’ve wanted to do for months, you’d be okay with that?” Another nod from Weiss, and Ruby licks her lips. “Cool.”
Ruby’s lips press against hers for a moment before she begins to move away, but Weiss frees her hands and wraps her arms around Ruby’s neck, pulling her even closer.
Of all the things Weiss had expected to deal with today, being poisoned by expired chocolate and kissing Ruby Rose in an elevator had not been on the list.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Weiss enters the elevator and presses the button for the thirteenth floor, watching the numbers above the door count up. She’s early this morning, hoping to finish more reports today so that she could enjoy an actual Christmas vacation without worrying about something being unfinished.
When the elevator doors open with a soft ding, she walks down the hall to the office she’s shared with Ruby for the past three years to find it expectedly empty. On her desk is a box of chocolates with a note reading From your secret Santa (turn over) and she laughs quietly, turning the note over. They’re not expired this time, I promise I checked.
She unties the ribbon and lifts the lid, raising a brow at another note set on top of the chocolate. I love you. She smiles as she eats various pieces of chocolate as she works, and she sighs when she eats the final piece. Before she replaces the lid, something catches her eye, and she moves the lid, realizing that each now-empty space had a letter. She gasps when she reads the message, and when Ruby enters the office, she’s on her feet in an instant, wrapping her arms around Ruby’s neck and kissing her.
Will you marry me?