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Weiss’s eyes flicker open as she wakes from an impromptu nap, feeling the weight of an arm draped over her waist and a body pressed against her from behind. The room is dark, save for the glow of the television, an old infomercial playing with the volume lowered, and she realizes it must be well after midnight.
Her stomach grumbles, and there’s a mumble against the back of her head. She feels as though she hasn’t eaten in days, her stomach grumbling again, and she needs to find something to eat. “Ruby,” she whispers, turning under the arm around her waist and lying face to face with her sleeping wife. “Ruby,” she tries again.
Ruby hums sleepily, eyes blinking open and attempting to adjust. “Weiss? What’s wrong?”
“I’m hungry.” As if proving her point, her stomach growls, and Ruby nods. “Do you want something to eat?”
Ruby groans. “I’m comfy.” As if to prove her point, she tightens her grasp around Weiss, tilting her head to bury her face into Weiss’s neck and leaving a kiss there, causing Weiss to shiver from the action.
“The sooner we get food and eat, the sooner we can get back to cuddling,” Weiss promises, knowing that it may help her in this instance.
“Fine,” Ruby whines, letting go of her.
Weiss kisses Ruby and smiles, sitting up. She slides her feet into her slippers and stands, reaching down to grab Ruby’s hand, pulling. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty.”
Ruby sighs, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “I’m awake, I’m awake.” She follows Weiss to the kitchen and sits on one of the barstools at the kitchen island while Weiss searches through the fridge and pantry. “What are you in the mood for?”
Weiss bites the inside of her cheek. “A burger and fries.”
Ruby chuckles. “Of course it’s something we don’t have.” She hops off the stool and holds out her hand. “Let’s go.”
“It’s three in the morning,” Weiss points out.
“Yes, but you’re hungry.”
She sighs and takes Ruby’s hand, allowing her to lead her to the garage. Ruby starts the van and backs out of the driveway, switching gears and grabbing Weiss’s hand as she drives. Staring at their joined hands on her thigh, Weiss realizes that out of everyone that had come and gone from her life, the woman beside her had been the only one to treat her this way, going out of her way to do anything and everything for her, even when she was exhausted.
She supposes that’s why she had married her, Ruby treating her as though she deserves everlasting happiness, despite previously feeling and being shown the opposite. Ruby’s thumb absentmindedly rubs against hers, as though she can read Weiss’s mind, and she glances at her wife, smiling guiltily.
Of course Ruby knows how she’s currently feeling; though it had taken almost a year, she’d finally opened up to her, and Ruby had been ever so understanding, paying attention to all of Weiss’s tells regarding her mood. Her wife—girlfriend then—had ensured that Weiss would never feel less than ever again.
She hadn’t believed in true love since she was a small child, but Ruby had gradually given her faith that it existed.
Ruby pulls into the parking lot of the only open burger joint in the city and approaches the drive-thru speaker. She knows Weiss’s order by heart, reciting it to the girl in the window and adding on her own order. The wait at the window after they pay isn’t long at all, and Ruby hands Weiss the food, thanking the girl and taking Weiss’s hand once more.
The ride home is just as quiet, the radio serving the purpose of filling the comfortable silence, and when they arrive home, Weiss returns to the kitchen, ready to eat her sandwich. Ruby takes the bag of food from her before she can and unlocks the glass door to the back patio, opening it. Weiss rolls her eyes as she passes her out onto the patio, and Ruby closes the sliding door behind them.
They sit on the porch swing and talk while they eat, Ruby pointing out stars in the sky. When they finish eating, the paper bag of their discarded trash sits at the opposite end of the swing as they cuddle in the warmth of the summer night.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ruby wakes first, stiff from sitting in the porch swing, and she blinks against the rising sun. She remembers she and Weiss had stayed up for another hour or so after eating, and they must have fallen asleep cuddling in the swing. She glances down at Weiss, smiling at how peaceful she is, and brushes stray hair from her face.
She had told herself years ago that waking up to this would forever be her favorite thing, and she had never been disappointed. Weiss is the most beautiful masterpiece her eyes had ever seen, and she considers herself lucky to have met her.
When Weiss frowns as the morning becomes brighter, Ruby knows she has to put her admiration on hold as she carefully moves out of her wife’s grasp. She slides one arm under Weiss’s knees and the other around her shoulders, lifting her from the swing and carrying her to the sliding door. With practiced ease, she quietly slides open the door without disturbing Weiss and closes it behind her before carrying her sleeping wife upstairs to their shared room.
Weiss mumbles something as Ruby lays her on her side of the bed, pulling the blanket over her. Ruby smiles and kisses her forehead before slipping under the blanket herself. As though she’s magnetic, Weiss finds her in her sleep, clinging to her and mumbling incoherently. Ruby holds her close and smiles. “I love you,” she whispers.
Weiss murmurs something resembling a response, and Ruby snorts silently before returning to sleep.
When she opens her eyes a couple of hours later, Weiss is still asleep, which is unsurprising for a Sunday morning, and Ruby yawns, once again slipping out of her grasp. She pads down the stairs, running a hand through her hair as she makes her way to the kitchen, and she pushes the power button on the coffee maker before grabbing two coffee mugs from the cabinet.
As expected, Weiss drags herself into the kitchen as Ruby pours coffee into her mug, and she smiles when Ruby kisses her, accepting her mug. Ruby begins gathering ingredients from the fridge to make omelets while Weiss moves to sit on a stool at the kitchen island and scrolls through her emails, music playing softly from her phone.
Eating their omelets together, they go over the grocery list for their outing, adding a couple of things they’d forgotten through the past two weeks. When they finish, they load their dishes into the dishwasher and head upstairs to get ready for the day.
Weiss turns on the water for the shower while Ruby grabs two towels, and she narrows her eyes at her wife. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Ruby grins. “Saving water.”
Weiss sighs. “If you get in this shower with me, we both know we’re not saving water.”
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Two hours later, they emerge from the bathroom, Ruby with a smug grin and Weiss exhaling a defeated sigh. “You know it’s never fun taking a cold shower,” she complains.
Ruby shrugs. “I think it was worth it, especially when you—”
“I was there, Ruby, I remember.”
She chuckles, dressing herself with clothes from the dresser and closet while Weiss does the same. Returning downstairs, Weiss grabs the shopping list from the kitchen island, and they go to the garage.
The store is surprisingly less busy than they’d assumed, since most people did their shopping for the week on Sundays, and they allow themselves a slower pace than usual. As Weiss pushes the cart through the store, Ruby’s hand rests on the bar, her pinky wrapped around her wife’s as she reads the list with her free hand and grabs things from the shelf.
Occasionally, she’ll walk behind Weiss to push the cart, her shorter wife standing on the bottom rail. They earn varying glances, but neither care, enjoying the closeness between them as they shop. Ruby takes every random opportunity to kiss the side of Weiss’s head as she pushes the cart—and her wife by extension—toward the self-check lanes. Weiss moves around the cart to scan the items while Ruby puts them on the conveyor belt.
Weiss pays while Ruby puts the bags in the cart, and she holds Weiss’s hand as she pulls the cart behind her out of the store. She opens the passenger door for Weiss to get in the van before she starts loading the groceries into the back and pushes the cart to the corral.
Ruby drives home, and they carry the groceries inside and put them away. “Do you want to eat lunch here or go out?” she asks, closing the fridge door.
“We could go out. I’m thinking pasta?”
Ruby’s stomach growls in agreement, and Weiss laughs. “Yeah, I think I want pasta.”
Weiss drives this time to their favorite Italian restaurant a couple of miles away, and they enter the building hand-in-hand, unable to spend a moment without doing so. The hostess greets them and leads them to a booth nearby, the restaurant nearly empty save for a couple of occupied tables.
They order their drinks and food without even looking at the menu and thank the waitress. Weiss reaches for Ruby’s hand across the table and smiles. “I think it’s funny that the staff always seats us at this exact table,” she muses.
Ruby grins. “Do you think it’s because this is the table we had our first date and where I proposed to you?”
“Well, it could also be because you told them that this was our table.”
“Yeah, yeah, that might be it.” Ruby laughs. “It’s a very nice table.”
Weiss rolls her eyes playfully. “Maybe you should have married it instead.”
“Nah, it doesn’t kiss back.”
“Is that your only requirement?”
Ruby shrugs. “I mean, to be fair, you’re a really amazing kisser.”
“Flatterer.”
The waitress returns with their drinks and bread before going away to check on another table. Ruby smiles. “I’ll flatter you for the rest of my life, if you’ll let me.”
“You’ll have to. We vowed on it, remember?”
“What a cute couple,” an elderly woman remarks as she pauses in passing the table. “You remind me of my marriage to my late husband. I wish you both eternal happiness.”
“Thank you,” Ruby and Weiss respond together, smiling as she continues to pass their table.
When the waitress returns with their food, they thank her and begin eating. “So, do we want to go to the game store or the shoe store next?” Ruby asks, putting a forkful of fettucine alfredo in her mouth.
Weiss swallows her linguine and takes a sip of her strawberry lemonade. “Well, we could knock out the shoe store and the home improvement store, and then go to the game store, considering you take forever looking at dice.”
“There are so many different ones!” Ruby counters.
“Yes, I know. Which is why we’ll go there last.”
Ruby sighs. “You make a good point.”
“I know I do.”
Ruby sticks out her tongue. “Where would I be without you keeping me focused, Weiss?”
“Probably on the street.”
Ruby scoffs. “I’d be on your street then, following you around until you love me.”
“I do love you, dork.”
Ruby grins and nods. “I love you too.”
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They spend little time at the shoe store, Weiss already knowing what shoes she’s after, and they go to the home improvement store next. Ruby checks her notes app on her phone for the measurements of lumber she needs, loading them onto the special lumber cart. She finds the correct bolts, screws, and hinges she needs, paying for them. Ruby slides the wood under the back row and between the middle row of seats and puts the bags of hardware to the side before closing the door.
Next is the game store, and Ruby grabs Weiss’s hand, leading her toward the back of the store. They look through the dice, admiring the more colorful patterns, as well as the wall of miniatures beside it. “Look, Weiss, it’s a selkie miniature! It kind of looks like you.”
Weiss squints at the miniature and shrugs. “I can see it.”
When they decide they’ve been in the store long enough, Ruby ends up paying for five miniatures, including a boss-sized one, and three new sets of dice, as well as one for Weiss.
Their conversation during the drive home is animated, Ruby spit-balling ideas for the new boss miniature she’d just bought, and Weiss pitches her own ideas, much to Ruby’s excitement. Weiss backs the van into the garage, and Ruby unloads the wood from the van while Weiss takes the bags into the house.
Ruby takes the lumber to the workshop in the backyard and sets it on her workbench before returning to the house. She would start working on her project of building a table for their tabletop game tomorrow, wanting nothing more right now than to relax and cuddle with her wife.
She climbs the stairs to their room and finds Weiss changing into comfortable lounge clothes, and she begins changing her clothes as well. Before Weiss can leave the room to start their popcorn in the microwave for their evening of movies, she takes her wife’s hand and pulls her close, kissing her.
Her arms slide around Weiss’s waist, Weiss’s arms around her neck, and she smiles into the kiss, tightening her hug. Pulling away from the kiss eventually, she buries her face in Weiss’s neck and plants a kiss there, reveling in the way Weiss reacts to her. Lifting her head, she kisses Weiss again. “I really love you,” she says quietly.
Weiss smiles. “I really love you too.”
She kisses Ruby once more before her wife finally releases her, and Ruby watches as she leaves the room. She sighs happily and continues changing into her lounge clothes, heading downstairs. While waiting for the popcorn, she grabs the blanket from the back of the couch and drops it into the recliner, joining Weiss in the kitchen to grab glasses and fill them with juice.
She places the glasses on the table beside the recliner and sits, holding the blanket to the side as Weiss sits with her. She reclines the seat and covers their legs with the blanket, Weiss setting the bowl of popcorn on top of the blanket.
Choosing a movie they’d both been wanting to watch for a while, Ruby wraps one arm around Weiss’s shoulders and uses her free hand to eat popcorn. They enjoy the movie, laughing at the funny parts, and neither is sure how the movie ends due to a random kiss from Ruby turning into several kisses and the bowl of popcorn kernels placed on the floor beside the chair as Weiss straddles Ruby’s lap.
Over an hour later finds them cuddled in the recliner with fewer clothes, lost in another kiss, and eventually Ruby pulls away, smiling. “I think I should start dinner.” Weiss groans in protest, attempting to continue kissing her wife, and Ruby laughs. “After dinner, we can watch another movie and neither of us will have a reason to get out of this chair until morning.” She kisses Weiss’s bare shoulder and manages to escape the chair, smiling down at the love of her life.
Weiss returns her smile and watches as Ruby disappears into the kitchen before grabbing the tv remote. Ruby doesn’t make too much of an effort, preheating the oven and taking a frozen lasagna out of its box. She sets the tray on a baking sheet and sticks it in the oven, starts the timer, and goes back to the living room.
She sits on Weiss’s lap this time, cuddling against her wife and clinging onto her. “I have the most amazing wife in the world,” she admires.
Weiss kisses her cheek. “I think that would be you, my love.”
“We’re both amazing, and we both know it.”
“True,” Weiss agrees, tightening her arms around Ruby’s waist. “These past six years have been the best years of my life.”
“You’re stuck with me for many, many more years,” Ruby promises, kissing her. “And I’m going to do my best to make sure that you are absolutely loved and adored and happy for all of them.”
“I know you will. You always do.”
Ruby rests her forehead against Weiss’s. “Four years of marriage, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over being able to call you my wife.”
“You’re such a dork.” Weiss smiles. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over it either, to be honest. You’ve certainly made it one of my favorite words.”
Ruby chuckles, kissing her as the oven timer goes off. “Dinner’s ready,” she announces, going to the kitchen. She grabs the potholders she had left on the counter and turns off the timer and the oven, pulling the tray out and setting it on top of the stove. She grabs two plates from the cabinet and scoops a helping of lasagna onto each.
After dinner, they start watching another movie, and Ruby can’t help but let her mind wander to thoughts of the woman beside her, imagining the rest of their lives together. She’s vaguely aware of what’s going on in the movie, but she can’t bring herself to care when Weiss looks at her, fondness in her eyes and love on her lips when she kisses her.
She isn’t sure what the future will bring for them, but she does know that she will spend it making absolute sure that Weiss will know how much she loves her.
And making sure they’re both happy, but of course, that’s a given.