Chapter Text
Ruby Rose scrolled through the news on her phone as she sat in the Y&R Auto waiting room. Glazing over article headlines, she heard the sounds of those waiting around her. A foot tapped rapidly against the ground. A pair of hands patted a lap in a seemingly random rhythm. An occasional loud sigh filled the room and echoed off the windows and walls. A chair creaked as someone rocked back and forth within it.
“Ugh, where is she?” The eyes of Ruby, Penny, Blake, Winter, and Clover were all drawn to Yang as she loudly groaned. “Weiss was supposed to be here 20 minutes ago!”
Blake reacted with a humm as she walked to and peered out the window across the complex. “Her shop lights are still on.”
“Maybe she’s getting some last customers rung up?” suggested Ruby with a shrug.
“Whatever she’s doing, I’ve had enough of waiting for her.” Yang said as she sprung up from her seat. “C’mon, let’s go get her.”
With Yang following in the back after locking up Y&R Auto, the six made the walk across the shopping complex toward Weiss’ store. Ruby led the group as they strode across the lot, her own stride specifically quickly turning into a jovial skip. Tonight was a night she had been looking forward to for a while after all. As unfortunate of a truth as it was, recently she, Penny, Weiss, Blake, and Yang had been finding fewer and fewer opportunities to all spend time together. But as fortune would have it tonight, Winter and Clover had both just gotten off duty and could join them.
Ruby's arrival at the front door of Atlas Imports was followed by a short halt, briefly checking behind her to make sure the rest of the group was close, then just as briefly peering inside the store. She didn’t notice anyone inside. Not even Weiss.
“Maybe she’s in the back.” Ruby thought to herself as she flung the door open. “Weiss! Ready for dinner?!”
She waited for a few seconds for an answer, but got no response to her call. “She must have not heard me.” she thought as those behind her walked inside.
Just as she was about to shout out again, she felt a firm hand be placed on her shoulder, turning to see it belonged to Clover. Instead of the usual happy and carefree look that was on his face when he wasn’t working, he looked stern. Serious.
When their eyes met, he placed a finger over his lips, then jerked his head to the left side wall. An untidy rack of blouses, a most unusual sight in Atlas Imports. As Ruby looked around the store, she noticed more and more racks of clothes were worryingly unkempt. Weiss was never one to let the store be this disorganized or disorderly.
“Something’s wrong.” whispered Winter. Ruby could tell by Winter's voice she was obviously trying but failing to hide her worry.
“Yeah, I know.” Clover responded with his own whisper.
A sudden crash came from the back of Atlas Imports. It sounded like a coat stand or some other tall piece of furniture fell into a wall then onto the floor. Rapid anxious footsteps came next, which were then followed by a door in the back flying open and shutting.
“I’m running to the back outside.” Clover whispered as he rushed out the door, his hand placed on the holster that held his gun.
“Girls, outside.” Winter whispered. “Quietly.” Ruby barely noticed the tinge of fear within the focus of Winter's icy blue eyes as she walked passed Winter. Ruby then heard a short, sharp, deep breath come from the eldest Schnee daughter. It drew her eyes just in time to see Winter place her hand on her gun.
They heard footsteps coming from the back and making their way to the store front. Ruby, Blake, Yang and Penny all turned to the sound, seeing out of the corners of their eyes Winter draw her pistol from its holster, swiftly pointing it toward the back of Atlas Imports.
The footsteps slowly got louder and louder, getting closer and closer to rounding the corner that led to the store front.
“Gah!” shouted Weiss as she appeared from the back. The jacket and collared, button down shirt of the youngest Schnee daughter were both slightly, but noticeably, disheveled. Her hair while in its usual ponytail was slightly messy to match, and her face appeared to be slightly flushed.
“Woah, Weiss!” shouted a concerned Winter as she swiftly put her weapon back into its holster.
“I’m late for dinner and you come in here waving your gun around?!”
“What? No! We thought something was wrong! Weiss, the store is a mess!” yelled Winter in response as Ruby stepped forward. “And we heard a crash in the back." Ruby added. "We thought someone else was here trying to rob the place.”
Ruby couldn’t help but notice that when she said someone else, Weiss' face got slightly redder while she anxiously looked side to side. “Uh n-no, no.” Weiss hastily corrected, waving her hands in the air in front of her. “No one else was here.”
“But we heard a door-”
“As for the state of the store,” interrupted Weiss. “I… started reorganizing! Yeah, moving things from here to there and a little spring cleaning mixed in, and I guess I lost track of time a bit.”
Ruby heard Blake chuckle from beside her. “Reorganizing? What happened to your store being perfect?”
“Yeah, and spring cleaning?” Yang asked, incredulous. “It’s August.”
“So I’m a little late!” retorted Weiss, balling her hands into fists and throwing them toward the floor. “Clearly, I’m having a punctuality problem right now. Sue me Xiao Long. Now if you're done interrogating me, can we please-”
“Hey! What’re you doing back here?! Stop!”
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Penny, and Winter turned their heads toward the back of the store when they heard Clover’s muffled shout. The girls heard the sound of a brief scuffle, and Winter called out on her radio for Clover when she heard the commotion stop. “Clover, what’s going on out there? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. One suspect apprehended. How-”
“I wasn’t doing anything!” The somewhat distant shout of a woman’s voice came through the radio.
“Yeah, sure you weren’t.” Clover responded sarcastically, his voice quiet like he was turning away from his radio. “Is Weiss okay?” he added, his voice now louder and clearer.
“She’s with us, she’s fine.” Winter answered. “Just get back in here.”
While they waited, Ruby couldn’t help but notice Weiss’ face get slightly redder and sweat start to form on her brow with each passing moment.
Then she noticed the little red marks sprinkled all over Weiss’ neck.
But before Ruby could ask about them, she heard the door in the back fly open. “You really picked the wrong store to steal from young lady.” Clover said as he rounded the corner, dragging with him by the arm a young girl, haphazardly dressed in very nice, high-end clothing, with brown hair in a ponytail, and several dark spots on her face and arms.
“Ilia?!” Blake called out. “Clover, what’re you doing?!”
“You know her?” Clover asked, jerking his head toward Ilia.
“She’s one of my best friends and she works at my store.” Blake sternly answered. Her tone made it clear she did not like seeing Clover treating Ilia the way he was.
“Then maybe you can tell me why she was stealing from Weiss.”
“I wasn’t stealing!” Ilia shouted in protest.
“Then why are you covered in Atlas Imports security tags and lurking around in the back alley?” questioned Clover, gesturing to the plastic anti-theft tags bearing the Atlas Imports logo.
“Ugh. Clover, just... just let her go.” Weiss interjected with a huff. “She wasn’t stealing from me.”
“Then why are your tags on her clothes?”
Weiss answered with another huff, her face getting slightly redder. “Ilia was here helping me. I’ve been putting new outfits together for bulk purchase deals and I needed a model to see how the outfits looked. Ilia was kind enough to help me.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain the tags.” said Clover as he slightly squinted.
“Well.. I-I told her to run out the back when I heard Ruby shout, and to just give me back my things later.” Weiss responded, her tone of voice making her growing annoyance clear.
“That doesn't make sense.” Winter said to her sister. “Why tell her to do that? It’s not like we would think it's suspicious she’s helping you. And you said you were alone before. Why lie about that?”
“Yeah, and what’s with the marks on your neck?” Ruby asked.
“M-marks?!” Weiss said, her icy blue eyes growing as wide as Ruby had ever seen them grow.
“Yeah, you got a bunch of red marks, like hives or something.” Ruby asked, pointing toward Weiss.
Ruby watched as Weiss moved to turn up the collar of her shirt. It was the fastest Ruby had ever seen her move. “No I don’t!”
“You better not have hurt my sister.” Winter said, practically growling at Ilia as she approached Weiss. “Let me see, move your collar.”
Weiss, with another huff and some very clear apprehension at the idea, allowed Winter to move her shirt collar. “Weiss, you’re covered!” Winter shouted when she got a good look at Weiss’ neck. Ruby watched as the worry suddenly left Winter’s eyes, and was replaced with inquisitiveness. “Wait… these look like-”
Ruby saw Winter sharply turn her head and meet Weiss’ bright red face. Weiss’ eyes were now suddenly shaking, filled with fear, anxiety, and what looked like helplessness. Her lips were even tucked in as she silently seemed to be begging her sister for something. Winter on the other hand, after her confusion subsided, was smirking at her little sister, crossing her arms and looking like she was trying to not bust out laughing.
“Uh, Winter?” said Clover as he looked between the Schnee siblings in the room. “What’s going o-”
He suddenly cut himself off, and Ruby watched as his eyes shot open with epiphany. With one hand he slightly moved the collar on the top Ilia was wearing, and immediately started to snicker.
“Clover, you can let Ilia go.” Winter said after a second of Clover’s stifled laughter. “We’re done here.”
Clover immediately complied with Winter’s request. “Yeah sure thing. Sorry about that, Ilia.”
“Wait, what’s going on?” Ruby asked. “Is Weiss okay?”
“She’s fine.” Winter replied, turning and walking toward Atlas Imports’ door. “Let’s just forget about it and go to dinner.”
Yang, not like not knowing what’s going on, began to walk toward Weiss. “Okay what’s going-” Similar to how Clover did, she cut herself off after getting a better look at Weiss’ neck. She looked at Weiss, then Ilia, then back to Weiss again. “Oohhhh. You never told me-.”
“Yang, please.” Weiss swiftly interrupted. “Not right now.”
“I’m sorry, what’re we all-” Penny said as she approached Weiss. She too stopped when she got a closer look at the petite Schnee. She briefly looked between Weiss and Ilia, both their faces as red as tomatoes. “Oh I understand!”
“Penny, don't-” Weiss begged.
Unfortunately, it was to no avail. “Weiss and Ilia were being intimate!”
Weiss could only let out a large groan. “Yes, Penny, we were. Thank you for clearing that up for us.”
With a single smug huff, Yang took a step forward. “Alright, since we already just happen to be talking about it-"
"We're not!" scolded Weiss.
"I have a question for Miss Ice Queen. You never dated any girls in college, is this something you just figured out?”
Weiss took a very annoyed, deep breath in and out her nose. “No. I’ve known I'm attracted to women for a while. I just rarely feel attracted to women, and even more rarely feel interested enough to want to pursue something with a woman. And Ilia and I were, for the moment, trying to keep things private... because we're still figuring out how things feel.”
"Looks like you got it figured out to me." teased Blake, drawing especially annoyed glares from Ilia and Weiss.
“Okay, follow up question. Who was it?” Yang asked, placing her fists on her hips and leaning forward.
“Who was who?” Weiss asked back.
“Your first girl crush.”
“Th-That’s-” Weiss said, visibly flustered and stumbling slighting on her words. Her face somehow grew ever redder. “That’s none of your business!”
“Oh c’mon what's the big deal?” Yang said with a shrug. “You don’t have any reason to be embarrassed. Unless… is it someone we know?”
“I SAID IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” a frustrated Weiss shouted.
“So it is someone we know!” Yang said as she smugly crossed her arms. “Wait, is it me? Oh please tell me it's me. I have always wanted to be someone’s first girl crush.”
“IT'S NOT YOU!” yelled Weiss as she threw her fists toward the ground. “CAN YOU PLEASE JUST DROP IT?!”
“Was it-”
“Yang c’mon,” Ruby interrupted. “She doesn’t wanna talk about it. Let it go. Ilia, we were just going to dinner. Would you wanna come with or-?”
“I’m late for a thing.” blurted Ilia.
“Yeah that’s fair.”
“So with that, I’m leaving now.” an embarrassed Ilia said to the group. She became slightly, but visibly more flustered as she turned toward Weiss. “Do you want your clothes back now Weiss or?”
Weiss groaned as she covered her eyes with one hand. “Just give them back tomorrow.”
“Okay. Bye Weiss.” Ilia said with a wave as she walked toward the front door.
“Yeah, bye babe.” Weiss jolted in place when she processed what she said, as Ilia did the same. “I MEAN ILIA! ILIA! BYE ILIA!”
Ilia, seeming to momentarily lose balance, stutter-stepped out the door of Atlas Imports, triggering the alarm for a second before Weiss shut it off. When the door closed, Ruby watched as Weiss turned to everyone else left in the store. Ruby looked around at everyone herself, seeing Blake, Yang, Winter, and Clover all smirking mischievously at Weiss, planning their next ways to get on the younger Schnee daughter's nerves. At least Ruby knew Weiss had some sympathy from herself and Penny.
Ruby watched as Weiss took a deep breath in and out to regain her composure, fixing her hair and straightening her shirt and jacket as she did. Weiss looked at everyone in the room, eyes completely serious. “I don't want to hear one word about this from any of you tonight.”