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snarkwriteswrasslin · 4 years

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summer sizzle | allnighter, jon moxley

[ prompts used ]

“Don’t mind me, just enjoying the view.” + exposed + sweet + hands against the wall + lace - these all came from varying lists that I’ve collected over time. I own nothing but the scenario and the originalfemalecharacter used within.

[ warnings ]

18+ only. Unprotected sex. Breeding kink if you squint (iykyk), body fluids, biting a little bit, gentle romantic smut this time.

[ tag squad ]

@kyleoreillysknee

@rampagewriting

@writertoo18

@thatnerdwriter

@wrestlingismyguiltypleasure

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@waywardwrestlewritingwaif

@sassymox

@mondaynightmcintyre

@wardl0w

@wrestlingthot

@missjenniferb

@unabashedwrestlefics

@cabotcoves

@mafiadaddypaulheyman

@adampage

@cowboyshit

@xwicker-manx

[ tag doc - masterlist - about page ]

JON MOXLEY in A L L N I G H TER,

“Fuck stilettos. And double fuck hairpins.” I grumbled as I tore at the hairpins holding my hair in place, letting it tumble down my back. I kicked off my stilettos and flexed my toes in thick, plush carpet as I wandered over to the spot I’d sat down my luggage.

Grabbing the bottle of wine I picked up on the way in, I poured myself a glass and I peeled off the majority of my clothing, leaving me in only a lace pair of panties and the stockings and garter combo I’d been wearing tonight just to kind of feel like a bad bitch.

Pay-per-view weeks are the actual worst. Especially on us stage managers. See, while the guys and girls are out there putting on a show, we’re left with all the prep work. Making sure everyone is in their places and whatnot. And tonight had been filled with glitches. Spots that should not, under any circumstances have happened, let alone over concrete. People missing their cues to go down to the ring by a minute or two.

The entire night just seemed like one neverending miscommunication amongst the team working and it was frustrating. All I wanted to do was drink some cheap wine, watch some bad cable and lounge around half naked. Maybe even order wings.

About the time I’d dialed down for room service, I heard the door being knocked on. Staring at it with a raised brow, I grabbed for a gauzy pale violet robe and tied it, slinking over towards the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone and there was literally no way the rack of ribs I’d just ordered myself from room service were already here.

,, probably just one of the girls.” I dismissed any other possibility than this, because on occasion, one or two of the girls on the roster stopped by to talk and hang out. Usually Britt or Anna. I honestly assumed that when I threw the door open, one or the other would be standing on the opposite side of it.

When I did and it wasn’t, well… I slammed the door shut all over again in a hurry, calling through it, “Sorry! I thought it was Britt or Anna Jay. Fuck. Just a minute.”

I dashed around, finding a longer shirt. If I wasn’t 99 percent sure that Mox hadn’t already seen hotter bodies than mine and I wasn’t so goddamn mentally and physically drained, I’d have bothered with the formality of pants. He’s the one who knocked on my door.

They get what they get. If they don’t like me bopping around in a tee shirt and panties, they know how to leave me alone.

“Not that I’m complainin.” Mox called through the door, “But I’m fuckin tired and it’d be nice to get some fuckin sleep.”

I threw the door open, a brow raised. “In my room?” I was confused. What the hell was going on?

I remembered Britt complaining that this hotel was frequently overbooking itself and people wound up having to share rooms a lot and then it hit me. That was probably what this was.

Awesome. On top of everything, I was now going to have to suffer through a night of lingering sexual tension… I cast a gaze at the ceiling, briefly wondering what deity I’d pissed off. First the train wreck that was backstage during the pay per view tonight and now, having to share a room that I won’t lie, I wouldn’t kick out of bed for eating crackers.

Who I’ve maybe flirted with back and forth on occasion. Who I suspect flirts right back with me.

“Our room, apparently.” Mox stepped into the room, chuckling as his eyes settled on me and then darted down, fixing on the bottle of wine in my hand. “Rough night?”

“You were there, Jon.” I mused, raising the bottle to my lips. The door to the elevator down the hall slid open and the scent of barbecue ribs filled the air, my stomach growling upon scent. He sniffed the air and eyed the cart being wheeled towards the door of the hotel room before casting a glance back at me.

“Ya mean you eat somethin besides salad?” Mox muttered, chuckling quietly as I continued to stare intently at my ribs as they made their way towards me. The cart came to a stop outside the door and I stepped out, shutting the door behind me as I signed for the order. Mox pulled the door open and stepped out of the way, letting me wheel the cart into the room. Almost the second the door was shut tight behind me again, I was tearing into the covered dishes, tearing a rib apart from the rack and devouring it while groaning.

Mox’s eyes fixed on my mouth and he bit his lip, muttering something to himself and shaking his head. I honestly didn’t have a fuck left to give on this particular night. I was tired and hungry and hell bent on eating. I tore away another and held it out to him, teasing with a playful smirk, “What?”

“Nothing.” Mox took the piece I held out to him and stepped away abruptly. Wait, did I just pout because he stepped away? It had me a little shocked for a second. I quickly pushed it out of my head and flopped across my bed, grabbing for the remote, turning on the television set. I sat up and reached for the phone on the nightstand beside my bed, killing the music.

As I did it, I could almost swear I felt his eyes glued to me. I didn’t dare turn to look back at first and when I did, rather than catch him watching me, I caught him tugging the form fitting gray tee shirt he was wearing up and letting it settle on the floor next to his bed. He wandered over to the cart filled with food and got himself another rib and then he flopped down on the bed opposite mine.

The tension in the room was so heavy. I almost couldn’t breathe. I tried to ignore it, just sit there and keep eating my ribs and drinking my wine, but the silence was getting to be too much.

He cleared his throat and I jumped a little, rolling over to look at him. “Yeah?” I asked, taking another rib and biting into it, waiting on him to say whatever it was he’d been about to. Metallica shattered the silence and I grumbled, diving for my cell phone.

“What now.” I grumbled, annoyed. By the time I’d actually gotten my hands on my phone, it was silent. I checked the call id anyway and just as I figured, it was my ex. Probably drunk dialing again. Which was definitely the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight.

Mox coughed abruptly and as soon as I realized what my impromptu little dive exposed in the form of my entire lace covered ass, I felt my skin burning all over. I tugged down the tee shirt and poked out my tongue and he grumbled quietly about my lack of pants with something else behind that, much lower. I couldn’t hear it. “If it bothers you, maybe don’t look.” I sassed, poking out my tongue. The tension was subsiding, however, the air in the space still felt heavy somehow… Filled with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“Oh, don’t mind me. I was just enjoying the view, kitten.” his voice had a certain teasing drawl to it’s usual velvet gravel rasp and I felt my legs clench just a little bit before I could process just how his voice actually gets to me. I pretended not to hear and I wiggled around on my bed, trying to get comfortable again, winding up propping on my elbows.

I huffed at the way my bangs flopped back into my eyes and I grabbed for the remote, trying to focus on the tv set, but it was almost mission impossible, what with breathing temptation sprawled out shirtless on the next bed.

We sprang up at the same time, heading for the cart full of food and found ourselves body to body. Just to keep from whimpering, I raised the bottle of wine to my lips, taking a rushed gulp. Nearly choking. He reached around me clumsily, patting my back until I stopped, snickering quietly about it.

“What was so funny about that?” I pouted slightly, cocking my head to the side to gaze up at him.

“Nothin.” he muttered the word, leaning in a little. His eyes were locked on mine. We were migrating closer. Maybe I started out taking a step back, but when my back met the wall, I let out a quiet groan as soon as his hands settled palm down against the wall on either side of my head, pinning me between.

As his tongue darted out and trailed slowly over his lips, I swallowed hard, barely stifling a whimper. His hips pressed into mine a little and he reached down, toying with the collar of the oversized tee shirt I’d thrown on when he knocked.

“Jon?” I gasped out quietly, my eyes fixing on his. Darting down to his mouth and lingering. And out of nowhere, this strong and almost overwhelming desire to pull his mouth down against mine surfaced.

I tried and tried but I couldn’t shove it down. His mouth was inching closer, slowly. Almost lazily. When his tongue shot out and rolled over his lips again, I gulped and when I took a breath, it was shaky. Enough to jar me a little, have me raising an eye at myself.

“Don’t you get tired of dancin around what happens when we’re in a room together, kitten? Because fuck… I’m exhausted.”

I nodded, my brain and mouth still trying to come to some kind of agreement and formulate actual words at this point. I’d never really stopped and thought about it, nor had I taken Jon Moxley seriously at any time whenever he flirted with me, because, well.. But now that I was stopping to think about it, the tension that always lingered between us was almost draining. I mean, sure… I did my best to ignore it. And keep him at a safe arms length.

Now that I couldn’t. Now that I had no way to escape it… I was starting to notice all these little things. Like just how fucking blue his eyes were up close. The little quiver to his lip right now. The way his hand felt rough against my hip when he lowered it from beside my head and squeezed my hip tight, grinding me right against him, his head lowered, nose buried in the crown of my head as he took a few long and deep breaths.

Kind of like he was trying to pull himself together.

It was not the side of Jon Moxley I was most used to. The side that was always taunting and teasing, laughing or being an idiot. Or an ass.

This was something different. More serious. Deeper.

When I felt him strained against the thin basketball shorts he was wearing, I gulped and a whimper slipped out of my mouth.

Ice blue eyes turned almost inky as he locked them on my body and did it again, snapping his hips against mine. I reached for the bottle sitting on the dresser nearby and his hand reached out, circling mine and steering the bottle to his own mouth. He took a long sip and I guided the bottle back towards my mouth. His eyes locked onto my lips intently.

“If you want to do something, Jon…” I sat the bottle down, staring up at him, a bit of a smirk forming. Because I still doubted that anything would actually come of it.

Until it did. The low throaty growl shattered the air between our mouths as he leaned into me, pressing my back right up against the wall and allowing me to melt against his body. My hand raised, fingers dragging close cropped hair and his mouth collided with mine all while he rocked his hips into me over and over, one of his hands on the side of my face and the other lowering, gripping bare thigh and raising my leg to his hip.

His tongue pushed my lips apart, slipping between. I could taste the wine and the barbecue sauce from the rack of ribs we’d been sharing. My free hand found his shoulder, my nails digging lightly. Our breaths were harsh and they lingered. My hands moved over his biceps as I leaned into him heavily. My legs suddenly felt like someone swapped out all my bones with butter and I was in danger of puddling on the floor.

And I won’t even get into the fact that I was so wet I knew I had to be soaking through thin lace. Or that my cunt was throbbing pretty much in time with my heart right now. I rubbed myself against him as the kiss deepened to a point that I couldn’t tell whether we were breathing on our own or for each other and he muttered lazily against my mouth, “Get it now, kitten? Do you know what I want right now? Or do I have to spell it out?”

At this point, he didn’t, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make things just a shade difficult. As his lips broke from mine and ghosted over my pulse, my eyes fluttered and I gasped out at last, “Yeah. Tell me, Jon.”

A hand resting against the side of my face lowered between us, slipping beneath the hem of my oversized tee shirt, resting palm down against my cunt as he gave a squeeze that had me whimpering and rocking against his hand. I exhaled sharply, licking my lips as I locked eyes with him. His mouth was back against mine again, teeth latching onto my lower lip and tugging, the hand on my cunt continuing to rub and squeeze as he growled into my mouth, “Fuckin soaked through those pretty little red panties already, hm?”

I felt my skin heating all over in a blush and all I could do was whimper as thick digits brushed the lace barrier currently separating his fingers from my dripping cunt to the side. As his fingers worked me open and pressed against my clit, rubbing slow and hard, I whined and rocked against his fingers in a desperate bid for more friction. Anything to make the throbbing ache settled between my thighs die down. “Had my eye on you a while now, kitten. And I ain’t stupid. I know you’ve been flirting back.”

“I have.” I panted as I rocked harder, faster, my eyes fluttering open and shut as a blinding wave of pleasure began to build and his teeth grazed my pulse, sinking down into my neck. Biting my neck is definitely a way to get me going real fast and in a hurry. It caught me off guard that I wasn’t offering up my usual thousands of good excuses why not like I’d normally do in the past whenever Mox came on just a little too strong for me and then it hit… I only push him away because there’s something about the way he makes me feel everything entirely too much that scares me a little. See, I like playing it safe. And I know enough to know that Mox is dangerous as they come.

“All you gotta do, kitten, is tell me to stop.” Mox caught my gaze, the fingers on his free hand tucking beneath my chin as he stared deep into my eyes. His mouth caught against mine all over again, lazily and not even a full connect and damn it, I wanted more. I needed him kissing me again... Even though he said it and I knew he meant it and I knew that stopping was probably a good idea given what I now realized, I also knew that I was not about to stop him.

Not when I wanted him. Craved him on a level that blew my mind to even comprehend.

“And I haven’t. I’m not going to, either.” I mumbled the words again just as his fingertips brushed open my folds and slipped inside. The heel of his hand pressed right up against my clit, rubbing with each scissoring movement of his fingers and I whimpered, rocking against. My arms went around his neck, one hand settling at the back of his neck to pull his mouth deeper into mine as the other hand rested on his muscular shoulder, fingertips digging in just a little more with each thrust of his fingers deep into my dripping cunt. I pouted when he drew out his fingers and he chuckled, pressing himself full into me as he nodded to the bed.

“Tonight was too goddamn rough for me t’ even consider tryin this standing up.” he explained in breathy pants against my mouth and neck as he slid me up his body and stepped over to my bed, gently tossing me on top of it, leaning down, his fingers going straight for the hem of his shirt as my legs circled his waist and he positioned himself between them. I lowered my hand to the waistband of his sweats, tugging and giving an impatient whine. He caught the pleading look in my eyes and chuckled, biting his lip as he leaned down and into me, raising me up, getting the tee shirt completely away from my body and tossing it to the side.

“If you want something, kitten.. Fuckin take it. It’s all yours. I’m all yours.” the words were spoken in this tender tone that before tonight, I never would’ve readily associated with Jon Moxley in any shape or form. He bucked himself against me clumsily and I hissed, my legs tensing at his sides, locking as they tried to pull him flat against me even more.

“Take it, huh?” I mumbled as I gripped his jaw, guiding his mouth away from my tits and back up to my own mouth, “That’s really all I have to do?”

“Mhm.” lust blown blue eyes locked on me and this time when he bucked himself against me, it was harder. With so much more urgency. Fingertips caught in the band of thin lace panties and the silent tear lingered heavy in the air a few seconds as he pulled the ripped material away from my body and tossed it to the floor.

My first instinct, of course, was to throw my hands up over my tits and torso because of the softness and imperfections. They didn’t bother me, but I’m no idiot. I know that there are other women in his past that looked a lot more appealing than me and maybe knowing that bothered me a little. His, of course, was to lower my hands, eyes roaming me hungrily. A low growl slipping out of his mouth as he licked his lips. “Don’t cover yourself up, kitten.”

I nodded, my tongue dancing over my lips as I gazed up into his eyes. My hand raised, fingers catching in his waistband all over again, tugging impatiently. Once I got them down past his hips, he let his sweats hit the floor and kicked them off at the ankles and as soon as my eyes settled on the lack of underwear or the way his thick cock sprang free, I swallowed hard, trying to pull him back down against me with my legs all over again.

He settled on top of me, hips pinning mine flat against the mattress. His hands moved up my body, his mouth blazing a trail right behind it, stopping as he squeezed my tits together and rolled his tongue across both my nipples, letting his teeth catch as he stared up at me, hints of a smirk playing at his mouth. The groan that came out of his mouth was enough to have me whimpering. The way he combined gentle kitten licks to my skin with harder and harsher bites was.. Enough to have me arching myself up against him. Or trying to, it was a little harder to do with his hips pinning me against the mattress.

“Jon.” I panted against his throat as my teeth scraped against it, “C’mon. Need you inside me.” my moan hung in the air between us as he pushed himself into me, shallowly at first, going still, his teeth and lips against my skin, nipping and licking, sucking and leaving as many marks as he could behind on the surface of my skin. The way his body felt pressed against me had me even needier because it just felt entirely too good. Entirely. Something I could get used to easily.

“Need me, hm?” he mused, pulling away to look at me while catching his breath. I raised a hand as I nodded, fingertips dancing over the outline of his mouth. “I said it, didn’t I?”

“You fucking did, kitten.” he muttered in a low growl as his teeth nipped at my fingertips, making me whimper a little. His mouth dove down to mine, meeting it all over again in a deep and passionate kiss and I rocked myself up into him, his cock slipping between my folds and making me moan, my fingers dragging his scalp and digging into his shoulders as my legs clenched his sides. He thrust into me slowly, inch for inch sinking in, his fingertips digging into my hips as he groaned against my throat, “Goddamn, kitten. So fucking tight around me.”

My eyes fluttered and I whimpered, my back arching as I gazed up at the ceiling and braced myself, getting used to the way he stretched and filled me with dots dancing in my vision as my orgasm only continued to build and intensify. I could hear the wet sounds every single time he pulled his cock out and slammed it back in deep, hard.. Slow. With enough drive behind the movements of his hips that I felt like I was being fucked deep into the mattress. His hands left my hips and wandered up my body, catching hold of my hands and holding them flat against the pillow under my head and I gasped out against his neck, begging for more. Faster.

His hips snapped against mine almost frantically, his teeth locked onto my neck, sucking. When he broke contact with my neck, his mouth was on mine again, hungrily. The soft smacks of our kisses growing louder and more desperate. “Kitten, fuck.” he groaned as my hips rocked to meet his every thrust. I raised them a little and the new angle had him slowing down just a shade, his mouth against the bridge of my nose and his hands letting go of mine, going down to my hips to hold them at the angle I’d risen them to, driving into me slower.. Harder.. Deeper. “Wanna fucking fill you up.” that growl got lower and his words left me whimpering, frantically trying to meet his pace as my lips latched onto his, capturing them in a needy and rough kiss. “Do it then.” the words left my mouth before I could stop to really consider what I was that I was saying.

Not that it mattered.

My orgasm was building at an earth shattering speed now and Mox seemed to pick right up on it, his cock striking right up against my g-spot over and over as he bottomed out inside me. Our eyes locked on each other and I whimpered at the way his eyes practically glowed with this soft lust when they met mine. My hand raised, briefly resting against his cheek as his hips stammered and I could feel my pussy clenching around him. “Let go, kitten, c’mon. Let go for me.” Mox urged, his voice more groan than anything.

I could feel him burying balls deep as he slammed back into my pussy, his hands squeezing my hips, his breath catching in his throat. My own orgasm ripped through me and I clung to him, my hips struggling to keep up the pace he set between us but not caring, too gone on the high I was feeling to bother. He fucked me right through my own orgasm and into his own, his cock throbbing, his seed overfilling and he kept plowing into me, gradually slowing, his mouth all over my neck and against my mouth, his teeth catching on tender and kiss swollen lips.

He came to a stop at last and he fell back against the mattress, immediately reaching out, pulling my body atop his with his arms wrapped around me tight as he chuckled against my mouth. “Not too tired on me, right kitten?”

“A little tired.” I gave a soft laugh, my body settling close against his, my mouth brushing his mouth as his hands wandered down, giving my ass a squeeze as he rocked himself into me and gave a quiet growl.

#jon moxley #jon moxley fanfiction #jon moxley oneshot #jon moxley one shot #jon moxley imagine #jon moxley imagines #my writing; jon moxley #my fics; jon moxley #// 18+ only #// here there be smut #// body fluids cw #// unprotected s*x cw #// alcohol cw #// this was just cute and sawft tbh #but yeah.#i got it done

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bewaretheidesofmarchyall · 4 years

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Soulmate Shenanigans Part Three: Return Of The Shenanigans

Let’s do this!

At this point, you probably know the drill (and, if not, parts one and two are here and here!)

Basically I found some prompts for September, and now I’m doing them in October just because

Prompt #3

You have an animal that only you and your soulmate can see.

Warnings: Death mentions, brief mentions of drowning (I pinky swear that I’ll stop drowning Janus for the rest of this challenge), brief mentions of house fires (I pinky swear that I’ll stop setting Patton on fire for the rest of this challenge)

World Building

Soulmates had always been an idea bubbling in the back of humanity’s brains. A sort of “hey, this romance thing is complicated, could we just kinda know?”

It was starting to annoy the fates

Do you expect them to do all the work? I mean, what with the spinning, and the looking ominous, and the lack of dental, their job is a hard one, and you want to make it harder by having them weave two people’s stories together?

One day, a fate heard yet another “please, let me meet my soulmate tomorrow” prayer and went nuts

Fine. Fine! You want soulmates? We’ll make soulmates.

The plan was to create two soulmates, make them fall in love

And then kill them.

Just to remind humans where they stood on a cosmic scale. Just to remind them that every story ends tragically, when you get down to the end.

They reviewed a few couples (Some Romeo and Juliet people had promise), but in the end decided. Feuding families? Check. Opposites attracting? Check. Tragedy? Inevitable.

Characters

Patton: Patton grew up inside the hedges.

Hedges were his family’s specialty, so the house was surrounded by them. He rarely got to leave, but he could get lost in the gardens and talk to his imaginary pet, so all in all things were okay. Sure, maybe it was weird to have a blue jay that only he could see, but he was lonely!

See, Patton’s family liked three things

1. Having heirs (but only in theory)

2. Increasingly elaborate hedge mazes

3. Fighting a blood feud the goddamn lawyers

Patton wasn’t really on that list, but he wasn’t on the list of hated things either, so there was that.

List of Hated Things

1. The goddamn lawyers

2. Anyone who associates with the goddamn lawyers

3. Anyone who is descended from the goddamn lawyers

4. Anyone who gets in the way of the blood feud with the goddamn lawyers

5. Dandelions. They’re not serious gardening.

Janus: Janus was, of course, a child of the goddamn lawyers

The lawyers weren’t a clan of blood like the gardeners, but one of merit. And having kids was seen as a conflict of interest, and therefore frowned upon.

Of course, it’s illegal to murder or criminally neglect children, so he was allowed to stick around and have a childhood vaguely reminiscent of John Mulaney’s “one black coffee”, “over on the bench”, and “getting accused of murdering Princess Diana” skits

Most of his childhood was spent accusing his pet blue jay (that couldn’t be seen by anyone else) of crimes and then debating himself about whether or not the bird was guilty, like a normal kid.

However, when it became clear that someone else was stealing his blue jay, he had to find them and give them a piece of his mind, even if they lived behind formidable hedges

The Plot

Patton (about eight at this point) was wandering around the grounds, talking to Sunny (his name for the bird), like every other day, when the strangest kid he’d ever seen in his life appeared through a small gap in the hedges and informed him that the bird was his and he’d be leaving soon

A bird custody battle ensues

Janus uses a lot of legal terminology, which Patton pretends to understand. The debate ends when Patton’s aunt shows up and threatens to chuck Janus over the garden walls if he doesn’t get out immediately.

Janus runs off, but Patton sees him through the hedges later, and he looks kind of sad about the whole thing, so Patton offers to share custody of Sunny.

Janus perked up at this solution, despite claiming that the bird’s name was really Iago, and a friendship was born.

It was hard for them to chat when both their relatives would love to murder at least one of the kids if they could get away with it, and Patton was separated from him by the hedges, but they managed.

Sunny/Iago was decent at carrying messages, Janus was good at finding secret passages, and Patton had adequate aim when tossing packages over the hedges.

They were best friends for years and years, confidants in their crazy worlds.

At around sixteen, Janus convinced Patton to leave the grounds for an afternoon. The two of them saw the sights (which meant buying/stealing bread) (you can guess who actually bought the bread and who stole it) and had fun

The evening ended with the two of them sitting under a tree, chatting. The dandelions were in that in-between stage where some of them are flowers and some seed-heads, so Patton was able to weave a crown of flowers and make a wish at the same time.

Take a wild flying guess who he wished for (hint: they were currently wearing the flower crown and pretending to not like it, but would secretly never take it off. Ever.).

Patton claimed he’d wished for world peace (which, on further reflection, he felt bad for not thinking of first), and Janus claimed he’d wished for solid gold coins, but they were both lying.

Eventually, Patton had to go home.

Sunny-Iago: Sunny-Iago had gone by many names before. As one of the extra-dimensional lords of fate, they’d been called things like, “THE FUCK IS THAT”, “IT HAS SO MANY EYES”, and “Oh, fuck, that raven’s back again”. It made perfect sense for them to have at least two, despite being in the flesh prison of a blue jay this time.

A damn blue jay.

At least ravens have a little class.

Anyway, their job was to guide two sweethearts together and then drive them into a metaphorical (or literal? It could always be literal) brick wall. This was proving harder than expected, since the most important thing was to not get attached to either of them and well

Sunny-Iago had gotten attached to both of them. It was hard to see kids grow up and be fine killing them off, okay!

But they knew the drill. This had to end in some kind of tragedy.

So, they had a plan. Instead of having them both killed off because of miscommunication, they’d merely never see each other again and pine after what could have been, eventually turning into a bittersweet story they’d tell to....someone younger and more naïve, or something. They were still working it out!

So, they grabbed a quill pen in their beak and wrote a note to Patton’s aunt (it took several tries. Beaks were not meant for holding quill pens).

The note said something along the lines of “You know the goddamn lawyers? Of course you do. Your nephew fell for one, last chance to fix the situation is at 10:00 at the gate”.

Back To The Plot

Patton and Janus got back to the gardener grounds. Neither wanted to leave the other’s company, so they lingered at the gate, chatting and finding excuses to stay.

After a few minutes, it was obvious that Patton had to leave. Before doing so, he quickly kissed Janus on the cheek, just in time to get caught by his aunt, who came close to stabbing the both of them with a garden trowel.

When Janus came back a few days later, wilted dandelions still in his pocket, Patton was gone, sent far away from lawyers and love. All that was left was the bird. A stupid bird that no one else could see.

Time-lapse! Seven years later!

Janus was working on the most important legal case any lawyer had in a solid three years.

A gardener had murdered one of his relatives (he kept forgetting which one, which was a bit of a problem, since half of his job was to look tearful about them) with a wheelbarrow, and he was attempting to get them arrested for it.

If it worked, the gardeners would have consequence for committing murder, which would hopefully tone down the blood feud a little.

Half of the jurors had been rigged by both sides, some paid to vote one way and some paid to vote another. There were, however, six undecided jurors out there.

The Jurors

Logan: Logan is the only person on the jury who knows anything whatsoever about law and what can be done in a courtroom. He actually wants the most just and logical thing to happen.

Weirdo.

Roman: Roman is an actor in a touring production of Much Ado About A Midsummer’s Ham (Cooked As You Like It)

He just wants this trial process to be over so he can get back to rehearsal-wait, nevermind, the guy with the glasses is cute and he’s going to make this court case last as long as possible.

Remus: Remus is here to cause as much legal chaos as possible

He might get arrested for contempt of court.

Virgil: Virgil gives 0 fucks about anything that happens, but knows more about law than Logan, who knows more about law than anyone else in the court.

Remy: Remy heard from people that court cases are full of juicy drama.

Those people are wrong. It’s just a bunch of legal stuff. He’d rather be at Starbucks!

Emile: Emile is psychoanalyzing everyone else on the jurors section. Especially Remus.

Back To The Plot

The case progresses normally

Well, normally for this town anyway, which means that the goddamn lawyers are dying off fast (mostly of poison).

Janus, however, has managed to dodge every assassination attempt. He’s lawyering like Billy Flynn here!

Late in the afternoon, everyone’s a little tired and a lot bored when yet another witness is called. Janus was pulling his hat over his eyes for shade from the sunlight streaming into the court, when he heard the witness’s voice.

After a seven year disappearance, Patton stood in the courtroom.

Remy leaned forward. He saw the look on Janus’s face. At long last, drama had arrived.

After the court got out of session, Janus dashed down the steps of the building to catch up to Patton. He offers to get a coffee with him, but Patton turns him down, insinuating that he only offered to get information on the gardeners. Janus left, dejected.

Over the last seven years, Patton’s was in the far away land where his family started: New Jersey. While in this cursed place, his family attempted to change him from a dandelion to a venus flytrap, and nearly succeeded.

Nearly.

But when, the next day, his aunt poisons Janus’s water glass (gleefully explaining that this poison doesn’t show up on the standard tests and precautions), he just so happens to be clumsy enough to knock it over before Jan drinks it, and ends up volunteering to get coffee to make up for it.

Coffee meet-ups lead to coffee dates lead to rekindling of old romances (all under the utmost secrecy)

Eventually, the court case comes to a head.

The six pre-decided jurors work quickly, but Logan debates, and Roman stalls because he’ll be missing Logan, and Remus is forcibly removed from the courthouse, and Emile forgot to take notes, and Virgil sleeps through most of it, and Remy couldn’t care less about this, only caring about what happens with Janus and Patton.

They make their decision

Since they saw like 47 murder attempts over the course of the trial, it’s not a stretch to assume that the gardeners did kill that guy with a wheelbarrow.

Janus and the rest of the prosecution celebrate, and in the excitement of the moment, he and Patton end up sharing a kiss.

That’s the moment the gardeners went from Lowkey Trying To Murder Him to Highkey Trying To Murder Him

Both of them walk home with their head in the clouds

When your head is in the clouds, it’s easy to get kidnapped and thrown in the harbor to drown, especially if you happen to be a goddamn lawyer who just won a case.

And when your head is in the clouds, and you overhear your relatives talking about how they threw the person you love the most into the harbor to drown, it’s easy to make rash decisions

Like grabbing a torch and running into the middle of a prized hedge maze, and threaten to burn it all if his aunt didn’t tell him where Janus was.

When the answer was “dead, obviously”, Patton took the torch to the shrubbery, and the estate burned.

Problem: Janus crawled to shore and survived.

Secondary problem: Patton’s not trying especially hard to escape the fire.

Janus got to the house, saw it was on fire, and ran into the grounds. He eventually found Patton (who was still alive and in the hedge maze), but....it’s a very intricate hedge maze, and now there’s smoke everywhere, and they can’t find their way out.

At the last second, Sunny-Iago swooped over their heads, pointing to the exit, and they run after them.

They’re almost out of the burning grounds when Sunny-Iago falls to the ground, still, and they find themselves in another place entirely.

The Fates

The Fates had bet on how good old birdie would kill Janus and Patton off

Knife? was the most common bet, followed by Wolves. No one bet on them living in the end.

Except Meghan (alternate name: The Lurking One), and nobody liked Meghan, and nobody liked losing money.

So, they were going to do the job personally.

Back To The Plot

Janus and Patton find themselves in a tomb where every grave is theirs. A tomb where every grave is theirs is essentially the office space of the fates, who enjoy the atmosphere.

The Fates themselves take a multitude of forms: Animal, vegetable, mineral, eldritch, you name it.

And they all bicker amongst themselves about how to best kill off the couple.

Knife? Wolves? Triscuits? How??

Janus tricks them into debating the subject round and round in circles, but they eventually come to their senses.

As a last ditch hope, Patton says that they’ll pick the method of death for them if they give the couple a chance to plead for their lives.

The fates agree, and the Final Court Case begins.

Janus is quite a lawyer, but there’s literally a saying about how hard it is to argue with Fate, so its a nail biter of a case. Patton manages to give a passionate defense and Janus brings up evidence, but it’s still anyone’s game how the jurors will vote.

Steve votes for death

The Great Rot votes for not death

Spatula votes for not death

Karen votes for death

Meghan votes for not death

A Clump Of Petunias votes for death

Broken Taco Shells And Broken Hearts votes for not death

That One Relative At Family Reunions That You Pretend To Know But Don’t votes for death

Microwavable Lasagna votes for not death

The Ghost Of Richard III votes for death

That Sock That Always Disappears From Dryers chooses not to vote. What a jerk.

At this point, it’s tied 5-5. Enter Remy, who just wants to go to the extra-dimensional Starbucks.

He deliberates. He hems. He haws. He draws out the moment unnecessarily long for drama’s sake.

But, at the end of the day, he was always rooting for these humans.

Remy votes for not death.

Conclusion

Patton and Janus get to live. Time is very short for humans, and eventually they would both die, but right then and there, they got to live.

Dandelions eventually took root where the carefully trimmed hedges had once been.

And Roman noticed, after his performance was done, that a certain nerd was in the audience.

And he could also see Roman’s blue jay.

Hope you enjoyed!!

20 notes · View notes

mikotyzini · 6 years

Text

What Defines Us - Ch. 20

Thank you to those who’ve been following this story, and a special thanks to the people who’ve signed up on Patreon for early chapters and commentary and everything. Your support means the world to me! Recently, I’ve been spending 3-4 hours a night after work writing, and I really wouldn’t do that if not for you guys. <3

If you want to read on ff.net (or find previous chapters), here’s the link.

After briefly rubbing her tired eyes, Ruby blinked and then blinked again - trying to get the tiny object in her hand to come into better focus. It’d be a whole lot easier if it weren’t so dang small! Like, seriously, why were small things the coolest? It made them so friggin’ difficult to work on!

Taking a big breath, she let it out in one smooth exhale while carefully layering another swipe of paint - her hand steady while a thin line appeared against a background of dark grey. Taking another breath, she blew softly on the fresh paint so it would dry before she set everything down on the workbench.

Perfect!

It was really tough to make such little lines, but she’d figured out how to do it after a whole bunch of practice. ‘A whole bunch’ meaning pages and pages of trial swipes done just to make sure that one itty bitty line would look great. But it did, so the sleep hours devoted to drawing instead of sleeping had been worth it.

And, for not having a heck of a lot of time, her latest project had turned out a lot better than expected. Maybe because her inspiration was better than usual. Or maybe because she was better than usual!

That was definitely something Yang would say. But Yang wasn’t here right now, so Ruby got to say it! Er...think it.

It wasn’t very long ago that she’d kind of dreaded the days her big sister would leave for hunts, but this time had been different. Without Yang around, the house was actually...quiet. It was really weird, but also kind of nice. If anything, it gave Ruby the chance to work on her projects without her sister barging in and throwing random objects at her. Although she missed the candy - it wasn’t so bad when Yang would throw candy into the garage. That was the best! It just wasn’t as great when Yang threw things like lemons or pieces of cheesecake. It was really hard to catch cheesecake without smearing it everywhere...

Yang and Blake had left last night after dinner, but would hopefully be back soon. Using her novice interrogation skills (she was still learning from Blake), Ruby had managed to pry the hunt details from Yang like a hot knife slicing through warm butter. Or...well, basically it had been really easy to get Yang to talk. Like bribing a parrot with a carrot. Heh, that rhymed.

But Blake and Yang had picked up an ‘assassinate’ contract - the kind Blake loved to do. Ruby could see why - they sounded awesome! Basically, certain Grimm were so smart and deadly that they’d earn themselves a nickname - a cool one like ‘Deathdealer’ or ‘Ten Claws’ or ‘The Vanisher.’ The goal of an assassinate contract was to hunt down and destroy these overly powerful and aggressive Grimm. Wipe them off the face of Remnant!

This particular contract was for an Ursa who’d grown a bit too well known near the outskirts. His name was - and Ruby had thought Yang was teasing her until she saw the name with her own eyes - The Hugger. The Hugger! That didn’t sound like a deadly Ursa - it sounded like a character from some kids’ cartoon show!

Or just a cartoon show, because cartoons weren’t exclusively for kids. In fact, people of all ages could watch cartoons. Not just kids. And watching cartoons didn’t make someone childish. Adults could watch cartoons - cartoons with characters named The Hugger.

When Ruby asked how they’d know they’d found this super deadly bear hugger, Blake had almost too calmly answered that it’d be whichever one tried to hug Yang. It was funny because sometimes Blake could be really possessive about people getting too close to Yang, but didn’t seem to care much when it came to Grimm. If anything, it kind of sounded like Yang was going to be bait for this contract.

Tracking a Grimm through the forest at night though...that sounded like a lot of fun! Ruby wished she could’ve gone, but she also knew she was a little clumsy and wasn’t sure she could stay quiet for that long. She didn’t know how Yang could stay quiet for more than a few minutes at a time!

Because Blake and Yang had to find the Grimm before they could kill it, they had no idea when they’d get back. It could be next week; it could be in a few minutes - it all depended on how quickly they could track and dispose of the beast. Theoretically, they could be gone for years - stuck out in the forest, eating berries and tree bark to survive…but Yang had sounded pretty confident that they wouldn’t be gone for long. She’d even made a joke about how Ruby should make dinner for them, as if they’d want to eat undercooked noodles and raw vegetables after they’d been up all night.

Staying at home wasn’t so bad though. It meant Ruby didn’t have to eat tree bark and it had given her enough time to finish a spur of the moment idea she’d had. Unfortunately, being spur of the moment didn’t mean this project was quick and easy. It was actually the opposite of that - never-ending and horribly challenging. But she’d been determined! Determined enough that she’d skipped her last few practices - something she hadn’t done in months. Ordinarily, she’d feel guilty about skimping out on her training, but Yang said it was ok to take a little break after a hunt to rest and recuperate.

Sitting on the edge of her seat, Ruby leaned over the bench to look at what she’d just created - being extra careful not to touch it for the next few minutes while the paint dried. When a big yawn slipped out, she covered her mouth with one hand and blinked several times to knock the exhaustion away.

The little project looked pretty good, but the most important question was - would she like it?

When Ruby’s scroll buzzed beside her face, she jumped out of the seat in surprise and knocked her knee into the workbench with a loud bang.

It was Weiss though!

Hopping on one leg while rubbing her broken knee, Ruby grabbed the scroll and was immediately disappointed.

It wasn’t Weiss. It was a message from Yang - a picture.

Resuming her perch on the chair, Ruby opened the message and found a picture taken through a heavily wooded area. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than trees and bushes and leaves, which was totally something Yang would do. Send a photo and get Ruby all excited…

Ah! But there was something! If she squinted her eyes, she could barely make out a black shape in the distance. Zooming in on that spot, the caption of ‘huggin’ time!’ suddenly made a lot more sense. If that was a regular sized tree right next to the black blob, then that was a big Ursa. Big, big, big Ursa. They should’ve called him Jumbursa. No, that was lame. But not as lame as The Hugger!

She knew better than to respond right away, but her heart was pounding from just looking at the photo and knowing that Yang and Blake were, right at this moment, within shouting distance of the monster. While Ruby was safe at home, they were getting into a huge fight. It was weird...she felt like she should be out there with them, but she also knew that they could take care of each other.

Hearing two knocks on the front door, she instantly leaped to her feet and yelped when both of her knees crashed into the bench this time, nearly knocking everything over. Squealing, she managed to catch her newest prized possession, steadying it on its stand before dashing into the house and flying to the front door. Not even checking through the window to see who was outside, she threw the door open and grinned.

“Weiss!” she exclaimed, rushing forward and pulling Weiss into a hug that was returned with one arm.

One of these days Weiss would hug properly - which meant using both arms! A full circle! Although it probably didn’t help that she was currently carrying a brown paper bag in one hand...

“Hi, Ruby. I hope you don’t mind, but I brought you some food,” Weiss replied with a timid smile, holding out the bag.

“Why would I mind??” Ruby asked in confusion while accepting the bag.

“Oh. Well, that’s just - I didn’t actually think that you would - it’s a saying.”

Ruby couldn’t help but giggle at Weiss’ adorably flustered response, which only made Weiss look even more unsure of what to say next.

“How about - I brought you some food,” she finally concluded, her eyes searching Ruby’s to see if that had cleared up the miscommunication.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I accept the food I don’t mind that you brought me,” Ruby replied while unfurling the top of the bag. “You really didn’t have to - oh!! Spaghetti! That’s my favorite!”

The comment made Weiss smile while she followed Ruby into the kitchen. Setting the bag on the table, Ruby pulled out the containers and gave them a second and third glance. It didn’t take a master-level detective to figure out that they hadn’t come from any restaurant she’d ever been to.

“Did you make this?” she asked, which only made Weiss look embarrassed.

“Yes, I did.”

Homemade spaghetti! From Weiss! That was a gift Ruby really didn’t mind!

“You can cook?” she asked in complete amazement. “Wow, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Many things,” Weiss answered so sincerely that Ruby chuckled.

“Yeah right...tell me one thing you can’t do!”

Searching for an answer, Weiss looked into Ruby’s eyes while her mouth opened, but no words came out.

“See? You can’t even think of anything!” Ruby pointed out happily. Finally smiling, Weiss shook her head.

“I can’t catch butterflies.”

Bursting into laughter at the memory, Ruby quickly stuck the containers into the fridge so she could turn back to Weiss. “But you looked so cute trying!”

Ah - that word! It just slipped out. Could she use that word with Weiss? Yeah? No, she could play it off.

“I can’t cook at all,” she added quickly, changing the subject like a pro. “But I’m great at cutting things up! Yang calls me the Super Chopper.”

Waving her hands through the air in a chopping motion, she beamed when Weiss chuckled.

“Well that’s perfect - every chef needs a sous chef to prepare ingredients for them.”

“Then I can be your sous chef?”

“Absolutely.”

For a long time, the two of them shared a smile - probably the longest one they’d shared yet - before Weiss finally turned away and coughed into her hand.

“So...what have you been up to while Blake and Yang are away?”

“I’ve been keeping myself busy! Working on another project and enjoying the silence,” Ruby replied with another small laugh. “They might be back tonight though, so it’s not so bad.”

“You don’t mind having the house to yourself?”

“It’s awesome! I can do whatever I want!” After spinning in a quick, semblance-fueled circle, Ruby planted her feet and caught one of her petals out of the air when she came to an abrupt stop. “I used to get kinda lonely or bored when they left for a few days,” she admitted. “But it’s not so bad anymore.”

This time she’d actually been excited for her two roommates to leave. The front door had hardly closed before she’d messaged Weiss to see when she could come over. And then the front door had reopened because Yang had forgotten something, so she’d caught Ruby texting and gotten in a few lame jokes before actually leaving.

“But now when they leave we can hang out, right?” Ruby shot Weiss a hopeful look before quickly adding, “I mean, if you’re not busy.”

“I can always make time for you.”

The effortless reply made Ruby’s cheeks warm right up. It made her feel special when Weiss said things like that! Like she’d actually try to create time for Ruby, if it came to that. And the way Weiss said it was so simple, like of course she would do that - because why wouldn’t she go through the effort of doing something impossible just to hang out with Ruby?

“Great! Then I hope they go on a lotta hunts,” Ruby said before stifling a yawn and rubbing her eyes.

“Are you alright?” Weiss’ eyes were openly concerned as she asked the question, so Ruby rubbed her eyes again to remove some of the tiredness Weiss must be seeing - only for another yawn to slip out.

“Yeahhh just a little tired!” she said after her yawn had passed. Staying up all night tended to do that to a person.

“Did you not sleep well? Is it your wrist? Did you take anything for it?”

Giggling at all the questions, Ruby shook her head. It was sweet how Weiss fretted over something so simple, but the worry was unnecessary.

“Naw, just stayed up too late!”

The answer was made of fudge. Technically Ruby had stayed up until this moment - which was quite late (in her opinion).

“Do you want to get some sleep? I could always come back later -”

“No, it’s ok! I’m feeling great!” Ruby yelped before forcing a wide grin.

Weiss couldn’t leave yet - she’d just gotten here! Plus, Ruby felt fine! Sure, she was tired and had a bit of a headache, but it was just one of those vague tired headaches - like when your head is squishing your brain a little too hard. Being too tired must make your skull shrink...either that or makes your brain bigger!

She could always take a nap later, but right now she had something for Weiss.

“Oh! I have something to show you!”

Even though she’d been thinking about it since Weiss had knocked on the door, Ruby tried to make it sound like she’d just remembered it. That way it would seem like no big deal - because it wasn’t really. It was just…a normal deal.

Waving Weiss after her, Ruby made her way back into the garage, where she’d spent practically all of her time since their visit to the Dust factory. Which had been amazing and so much cooler than Ruby had ever expected. And so, so thoughtful – like, wow, Weiss had really gone out of her way to make sure they had a great time.

Because Weiss had done something so nice for them, Ruby wanted to give Weiss something nice in return. So she’d been hard at work! That meant she’d stayed up a little later than she should have - or hadn’t slept at all - but it was worth it! Or it would be worth it if Weiss liked what Ruby had created - which was still resting on top of the workbench where she’d left it. By now the paint would be dry, so she didn’t hesitate reaching over to pick it up and hold it out to Weiss.

It was a little nerve-wracking! Weiss was so amazing and obviously had enough money to buy anything she wanted, so the idea of giving her a gift was kind of stressful...stressful enough to make Ruby’s heart beat really, really fast.

“What do you think?” she asked, dropping the tiny object into Weiss’ hand.

“Wow...Ruby, this is spectacular…” Weiss whispered while holding the shiny object carefully between her thumb and forefinger, rotating it gently so it caught the light in the garage just right.

It was just a little ring, but Ruby had made it from scratch!

The band had been the easiest part - repurposing a nice dark grey metal that had welded together smoothly. Along the outer surface, Ruby had painted a single vine of thorns, but the thorns were in the same shade of white-blue as Weiss’ glyphs. Against the dark grey metal, they popped way better than red or black would have.

“You made the entire thing, I’m guessing?”

“Uh, yeah. The band is from an old sword, and I just finished the painting before you got here,” Ruby answered, wringing her hands while Weiss continued to look over the ring.

“It’s beautiful,” Weiss finally said, the reply making Ruby grin while her heart thundered in her chest.

“I’m glad you like it! Because...uh...well, I made it for you.”

Running one hand through her hair, a nervous smiled tugged at her lips when light blue eyes shot up to hers.

“I can change the design if you want,” she added when Weiss said nothing in response. “I’ve just been drawing thorns everywhere since naming my glove. Yang keeps making jokes about how ‘prickly’ I’ve been.” Ruby rolled her eyes at the lame joke. “But I wanted to give you something as a ‘thank you’ for showing us around your family’s factory. It was really fun!”

From the way Weiss was staring, she was at a loss for words. It was only when Ruby shuffled her feet uncomfortably at the silence that Weiss opened her mouth to speak.

“You didn’t have to do this…”

“I know! I wanted to. I had fun making it, too.”

When Weiss’ eyes fell back to the ring in her hands and searched the inside of the band, Ruby held her breath. Spinning it in a slow circle while examining it closely, Weiss eventually turned it back over, and Ruby couldn’t help but grin.

She might have taken a page out of the book of the person who’d worked on Myrtenaster and hidden a word on the interior where the two pieces seamed together. It had taken hours of practice before she’d gotten good enough to make the tiny letters somewhat legible, but she’d eventually figured it out. And apparently she’d done a good enough job that Weiss couldn’t see it - score one for Ruby Rose!

“I don’t know what to say…” Weiss whispered towards the ring in her hands before looking up and meeting Ruby’s eyes. “Thank you. This might be one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me...”

“I’m really glad you like it! Here I was all worried…” Ruby let out a small chuckle at how silly her fears seemed now.

“I love it, Ruby.”

Weiss looked directly into Ruby’s eyes as she said the words, making Ruby’s heart do a silly little double beat that felt just as weird as it sounded. She’d hoped that Weiss would like it. Loving it was way better.

“But don’t feel like you’ve gotta wear it or anything!” Ruby hurried out before Weiss could feel any pressure to do so. “You can always put it in a drawer or something - I won’t be upset!”

Biting her lip, Weiss thought about the words for several seconds before she slipped the ring onto her finger and gently wiggled it around.

“It fits perfectly,” she remarked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “How did you know my ring size?”

“Oh, you know, I have this super scientific way of figuring out someone’s ring size,” Ruby bolstered before letting out a giggle. “It’s called ‘Ruby’s Art of Guessing!’”

Her laughter made Weiss chuckle softly along with her.

“But I figured your hands are, uh, more delicate than mine, so I used my ring and then made yours a bit smaller!” she explained, briefly holding up the ring around her neck to prove her point. “Oh, and the best part!” Moving around Weiss, Ruby grabbed Thorn from his stand and pulled the glove over her hand. “Ok - give me a high five!”

Curious, Weiss held up her hand and reached towards Thorn. The moment the ring and glove were in close enough proximity, the thorns painted on each illuminated - the vibrant ice-blue popping out against the dark gray backgrounds.

“Luminescent paint!” Ruby exclaimed, clasping her hand around Weiss’ so the heightened color wouldn’t fade away. “Isn’t it cool? It’s purely cosmetic, but ya know, totally worth it.”

“That’s...amazing…” Weiss replied softly, intertwining her fingers with Ruby’s while staring at the thorns glowing brightly.

Ruby watched Weiss’ reaction with a grin, their hands still locked together. She’d had to repaint Thorn since she hadn’t used the same paint the first time around, but it was worth it. Now she and Weiss had a cool friend thing! If they went on more hunts together, people could give them a cool nickname - like The Glowing Thorns or The White Thorns. Or they could be officially lame and go with The Huggers. Ha. Grimm beware…

Still undecided on a nickname, Ruby’s attention flitted back to Weiss when she suddenly slipped her hand away and rubbed both hands up and down her arms with a barely noticeable shiver.

“Are you cold?” Ruby immediately asked.

“Um...just a little.”

“It gets cold out here. Come on - I’ll get you something warm to wear!”

“It’s really -”

“No no, don’t say it’s ok!” Ruby interrupted while heading towards the door to the house. Turning around, she grinned at the perplexed expression on Weiss’ face. “You’re cold, so I’m getting you a jacket or sweater or something! You can either wait here or come with me!”

Taken aback, Weiss blinked several times before finally nodding her head.

“Then lead the way.”

Chuckling at Weiss’ acquiescence, Ruby walked inside - tugging Thorn off her hand and tossing him onto the kitchen table while they walked by it. Making it to her room, she gently kicked open the door with one foot and gestured towards her bed.

“You can sit if you want,” she offered, before heading to the closet to find some warmer clothing to lend her friend.

If she had to guess, Weiss would like something super trendy and fashionable. In other words, nothing Ruby owned. But she couldn’t let Weiss be cold! There had to be something that would kinda...maybe...sorta…well, a great lesson to be learned right now was that Weiss had a different taste in fashion than Ruby did. So...her favorite one would have to do!

Grabbing the red and black jacket and spinning around – her headache giving a slight twinge of complaint as she did so - Ruby found Weiss perched on the very edge of the bed like she didn't know how to sit there. Her back was super straight, her hands were in her lap, and her hair draped over one shoulder. Maybe she felt uncomfortable, but she looked like a princess.

“Here you go!” Holding up the jacket, Ruby waited for Weiss to stand and then helped her into the sleeves. It was a little big on her - the sleeves too long and the shoulders too big - but it was kind of cute the way it enveloped her.

Ah! That word again! At least Ruby hadn’t said it out loud this time. Wait - she hadn’t said it out loud the first time...had she?

“Sorry, it probably smells like roses,” she apologized when she noticed Weiss lower her nose towards the collar. “I can never get the smell out of my stuff! It’s like permanent perfume. Permafume.”

Letting out a small scoff of amusement, Weiss gave Ruby one of the best smiles she’d received yet.

“Don't be sorry. I love the smell.”

The words made Ruby’s cheeks pleasantly warm while Weiss turned her gaze down to the cuffs of the jacket.

If Weiss loved the smell of roses, that was great! For Ruby. Probably not for people who didn’t always smell like roses.

“At least it beats smelling like I just jumped out of a burning building like Yang does!” Ruby joked at her sister’s expense, earning another surprised laugh from Weiss.

“If I’m not mistaken, Blake loves that smell,” Weiss replied with a smirk.

“Oh yeah. Something about how it smells like ‘home.’” Laughing a little, Ruby shook her head. “Those two are so weird.”

“At least they have each other.”

“That’s right! Every weirdo must have a matching weirdo, right?”

“You’re right,” Weiss agreed, smiling back at Ruby. Again their eyes stayed locked for a few seconds before Weiss abruptly turned away in favor of staring at the ground.

Maybe Ruby wasn’t the best at social interactions, but she was more interesting than the ground, right? Seriously, the carpet was just carpet. It was a kinda gray, kinda blue color that probably had a weird name like ‘afternoon sky’ or ‘inky clay.’ The little whatchamacallits - the fabric part that stuck up - were super soft though. They felt really nice when she wasn’t wearing any socks! There was also a small patch hidden underneath the bed that had gotten an itsy bit burned by complete accident. Yang had wondered why Ruby decided to rearrange her room so suddenly...

Ok, maybe the carpet was kind of interesting - but not as interesting as she was!

Determined not to be outdone by the flooring, Ruby grabbed the desk chair and spun it around so she could sit in front of Weiss.

“Did you get to hang out with your sister while she was here?” she asked, happily noting that Weiss was subconsciously playing with the newly appointed ring on her finger, but the question made her let go and return her attention to Ruby.

“Yes, we had dinner before she returned to Atlas.”

“I hope you had fun!”

“It was...great,” Weiss answered with a thoughtful nod and small smile. “I wasn’t expecting to see her, so that was a nice surprise.”

“Yeah! For me too!” Ruby replied. “I mean, I didn’t even know you had a sister, so that was the surprise. And the nice part was, um...her. She seems super nice!”

Nice, and pretty, and kind of stern. A bit intimidating, actually.

“She is. She supported me growing up...I owe her a great deal.”

“Aren’t older sisters the best?” Ruby asked with a smile that Weiss returned.

“They are. You happen to have a great one, yourself.”

“I do! Yang’s awesome.”

“She is…” Weiss replied softly. “She cares so much about you too.”

Growing up, Ruby had never questioned her sister’s love for her. It was always her and Yang against the world - whether it was the actual world or some pretend universe they made up.

“I know she does. With my injuries and stuff, she really went out of the way to help me get better. One day I want to make it up to her! I have no idea how, but I’ll figure somethin’ out.”

Ruby knew that sacrifices had been made in order to help her recover. Of course, with the way Yang was, she’d never mention them. So Ruby had no idea what they were, but she knew they must be there. No one devoted a year of their life to helping another person go through rehab without missing out on something for themselves.

“Well, if you ever figure that out, let me know. I’m still trying to make things up to her, myself,” Weiss added with a self-depreciating shake of her head that made Ruby frown.

“Is she still being mean to you?”

Yang had said that she’d try to be kinder to Weiss…but Ruby would talk to her sister again if she needed to.

“Actually, she’s been a bit more...tolerant...recently. But something is still really...broken between us.” Pausing, Weiss sighed and shook her head. “I know I hurt her, but I want to make it up to her. I have to. We used to be so close.”

“I’m sure she’ll give you another chance! She has no reason not to when you’re here making an effort!”

“Well, I think I’ve finally learned that running away fixes nothing. It only leaves the wounds to fester…” Brow furrowing, Weiss was silent for some time before sighing and meeting Ruby’s gaze with mournful eyes. “It was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop regretting it, but hopefully, I can find a way to overcome it.”

The biggest mistake she’d ever made? What was it? The biggest mistake Ruby ever made had landed her in the hospital with some pretty serious boo-boos and quite a few missing memories. But that seemed like a completely different type of mistake. The way Weiss looked right now made it seem like she’d done something horrible. But, to Ruby, it seemed impossible that Weiss was capable of anything that bad.

Maybe it was kind of bad, or maybe Weiss was just really hard on herself. Whichever it was, Ruby didn’t care. What she cared about was how sad Weiss looked right now.

“I’m sure you’ll overcome it,” Ruby replied confidently, leaning forward and nearly reaching over to grab one of Weiss’ hands before stopping and tugging on her necklace instead. “And I’m sure you had a good reason to leave!”

“But she gave me the chance to come back. I just...I couldn’t do it…”

“But you did! You did do it! Unless...are you a hologram??” Reaching out, Ruby lightly poked Weiss in the shoulder. “No, you’re real! And you’re in Vale, so you did come back!”

“It took me so long though -”

“So? What matters is that you did it,” Ruby said. “You’ve gotta let go of how long it took, Weiss. You’re here now, and that’s what matters. It’s like my mom used to say -” Scrunching up her face, she searched for the exact wording, so she didn’t mess this up. “Mistakes don’t define you - your reactions to them do.”

When Weiss stared at her thoughtfully, Ruby kept talking.

“Basically, you made a mistake, but did it make you a better person in the end?”

“I...don’t know. I hope so.”

Weiss was clearly unconvinced, so Ruby decided it was time to do some ultra convincing.

“Like, look at this!” she said, holding out her wrist so Weiss could see the scar running all the way across it on both sides. “Clearly, a mistake was made. But I’m not going to be Ruby Rose - injured girl, forever. I train really hard every day so that I won’t be that person.”

After briefly glancing at Ruby’s wrist, Weiss turned away and bit her bottom lip in thought.

“We get to choose our reactions to our problems,” Ruby continued. “That’s the great thing about life! Maybe it took you a long time, but you chose to come back, Weiss. Running away can’t define you anymore, because that’s not how the story ends.”

While Ruby grinned at her hopefully-successful argument, Weiss stared for a long, long time while processing the information. It looked like she was going to disagree, but eventually, with a partial smile, she seemed to concede - for now.

“How did you become so...strong?”

“I’m not though!” Ruby answered with a laugh, holding up her left hand and wiggling her fingers. Without Thorn, her left hand was still injured - and she was beginning to realize that her full strength might never come back. Fortunately, she’d found a way to compensate for her weaknesses and then some.

However, Weiss shook her head at the response.

“You are,” she insisted. “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. I still don’t know how...how did you work your way back so quickly from your injuries? They were so serious...from what you’ve told me. And with your memories...it must’ve been so difficult.”

“Yeah, I guess it was...the beginning especially, but I had a lot of help!”

“Yang?”

Ruby nodded.

“Yang and Blake encouraged me, and I tried to keep my spirits up. My mom helped too - it felt like she was trying to talk to me all the time, reminding me not to give up. Oh, and can’t forget my secret source of power!”

Looking in both directions like she was about to disclose top secret information, it was only when she found the coast was clear that she leaned forward and held her necklace up in between them.

“Tada!” she exclaimed. It was supposed to be a big reveal, but Weiss only looked confused - glancing between the ring and Ruby several times.

“Your...ring?”

“It’s not just a ring!” Ruby stated matter-of-factly, spinning the necklace around so she could fumble with the clasp. “It’s also filled with magical powers!”

Since she hardly ever took it off, she was less than skillful in getting the itty bitty fastener to open, but after several failed attempts she was finally successful. Letting the necklace fall into one hand, she made a show of slumping her shoulders at the same time.

“Oh...yeah...I feel weaker already…” she tried to say in a tired voice while sliding the ring off of the chain and holding it out to Weiss. “You can feel it – it’s like there’s an invisible power in this ring.”

Even though Ruby was holding the ring in between them, Weiss seemed extremely hesitant to take it.

“Don’t worry, it’s not one of those buzz rings or anything,” Ruby assured her. Finally convinced, Weiss held out her hand, and Ruby dropped the ring into it. Curling her fingers around the small band, Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Can you feel it?” Ruby asked in a whisper, watching Weiss intently. When Weiss opened her eyes, crystal blue seemed to be looking deep into Ruby’s heart.

“It’s important to you,” Weiss remarked softly, uncurling her fingers and looking down into the palm of her hand.

“Yup!”

With a small smile, Weiss gave the ring one last glance before extending it back to Ruby.

“I guess the answer is that I had a lot of people looking out for me,” Ruby explained while accepting the ring and sliding it back onto its chain. “Yang, Blake, my mom, and the one thing from my past that feels...powerful in a way. They all kept me going.”

Stringing the necklace around her neck, she fumbled with the clasp several times before giving up and holding it out to Weiss.

“Can you help me? I haven’t taken this off in months, so I kinda suck at putting it back on.”

Nodding, Weiss took both ends of the necklace in her hands while Ruby turned around. Carefully lowering the chain, Weiss gently fastened it in place - drawing a round of goosebumps when her fingers lightly grazed the back of Ruby’s neck. When Ruby turned around, Weiss moved the ring so it was sitting perfectly in front - holding onto it for a few seconds longer while staring at it intently.

“Who’s it from?” she asked.

The question made Ruby’s brow burrow.

“I’m actually not sure,” she answered truthfully.

“You’ve never asked?”

“Naw...Blake said she’d tell me, but…” Ruby shrugged one shoulder and gave Weiss a small smile. ��Is it important where it came from? Or that when things sucked, it made me feel better?”

Weiss opened her mouth, but said nothing for a long time until finally muttering, “I guess...that it made you feel better…”

“But I have a sneaky hunch it’s from my partner,” Ruby admitted. The words made Weiss’ eyes widen in surprise.

“Your partner?”

“Yeah, I know we had a fourth teammate - every team at Beacon has four,” Ruby explained, rubbing her forehead as sleep deprivation continued to weigh on her, pressing behind her eyes in a super annoying way. “But Yang hasn’t told me much about her, and I haven’t asked. There was just...so much else to focus on. I don’t know. All I know is that whoever she was, she was really cool.”

The revelation seemed to catch Weiss completely by surprise.

“How do you know that?”

“That’s one of the only things Yang told me!” Ruby explained, briefly closing her eyes while trying to recall Yang’s words around the stupid, growing headache. “She said…that our teammate was one of the most talented fighters she’d ever seen. And was super smart - like the brains of the whole operation.”

“She said that?”

Ruby nodded. “Yup! ‘We got the smartest in school,’ she said.”

“But you never wanted to know who it was?”

“Of course I wanted to know! I still do. There were so many times I almost looked it up myself...because I’d love to meet her. She sounds amazing, but…” her words trailed off as a familiar twinge pulled at her heart.

It was a decision she’d made a long time ago and stuck with to this day.

“But what?” Weiss prodded, her eyes searching Ruby’s for whatever was going to come next.

“But she’s not here, is she?” Ruby finally answered, temporarily drawn back to the times when she hadn’t had enough energy for anything - when getting out of bed might be the best thing she could accomplish in a day. “If I wanted to get better, I couldn’t dwell on the past. So I decided to focus on the here and now. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to meet her if...I mean...if she’s still...”

They’d reached the root of the matter - something she was too scared to ask, yet quietly desperate to know. But if she could share this worry to anyone, it was Weiss.

“If she’s...still alive, you know?”

Weiss’ response was one of pure shock. For a second, her mouth hung slightly open with no sound coming out before finally speaking.

“But what makes you think she’s not?”

Raising one hand to clutch the ring around her neck, Ruby shook her head – and paid for it with another pang in her forehead, this one sharper than the last.

There were a lot of reasons why she’d avoided her past for such a long time. It was confusing. It was scary. It made her feel vulnerable and small.

And it would’ve been impossible to move on if she remained stuck in the past. Being able to let go and move on had been important. But, beyond all of those things, something was lurking in the fog that was really painful. Whenever she thought about it, her chest tightened with this ache that only went away through distraction. There was something surrounding her partner that hurt, even with no memories of who they were.

It was the part of her past that eluded her most. Some days she wanted the answers but was terrified to know them. The way Blake and Yang dodged around the subject only made her more nervous to know what the truth might be. So she’d avoided the topic altogether - content to deal with more important matters and live in blissful ignorance. One day she’d probably figure everything out, but she wasn’t in any hurry for that day to arrive.

“I’ve always felt like someone or something important to me was missing,” Ruby tried to explain. “It’s kinda difficult to describe, but...it must be her, right?”

“But to think she died -?”

“It’s either that or she left and has no interest in speaking to me, or us.” Either of those answers kind of sucked - enough to bring tears to her eyes as a sense of loss grew in her chest. Sniffing once, she tried to play it off by rubbing her tired eyes.

This was part of the reason why she avoided thinking about the wall of fog sealing her off from those memories. It made her way too emotional!

“I’m pretty sure the ring is hers,” she whispered, briefly scrunching her eyes closed when another quick jab of pain appeared over her left eye. “That’s why it’s so powerful,” she continued, opening her eyes and shaking off the exhaustion. “It’s a huntress’ ring. And that’s why I always kept it near me. Honor her memories even if I don’t have them, ya know?”

Picking up the ring again, Ruby looked down at it the best she could while it was still hanging around her neck.

“Maybe she’s not in my life anymore, but she helped me get through some rough times without even being here. If I ever get to meet her...and I hope I do, you know? I hope I’m wrong. But if I ever get to meet her, I want to thank her for that. For leaving me with something that helped me through.”

Smiling, Ruby looked up only to find that Weiss was staring back with tears growing in her eyes.

“Weiss?” Ruby yelped in concern, quickly moving over to the bed and sitting by Weiss’ side. “Are you ok? What’s wrong??”

“I’m -” Choking up, Weiss stopped and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Just...hearing you say that…I didn’t realize...”

“Hey, it’s ok.” Consoling Weiss, Ruby made sure to smile to prove that she was just fine. Because she was. This was something she’d come to terms with a while ago. “It’s just one of those things, you know? That’s why I try not to think about it too much!”

“Yes, but…”

When Weiss’ lip quivered, Ruby reached out and pulled her into a hug that again made her stiffen. Only this time she eventually gave in and returned the hug in full, wrapping both arms around Ruby and pulling her closer.

“I’m sorry,” Weiss murmured, burying her face into Ruby’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry…”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” Ruby replied softly, rubbing one hand up and down Weiss’ back. “I’m probably just overthinking it anyway. Maybe she decided to go off on her own after school and no one’s heard from her since. Maybe we were never that close. Or maybe I bought the ring for myself!”

Her sense of loss could come from not having access to any of those memories, not over some specific person or thing. The ring might only symbolize the years she’d lost - a tiny, pretty reminder that she could carry with her everywhere.

Maybe she should consider that her story might be a little sad to people who were hearing it for the first time. Just because she’d accepted what had happened to her didn’t mean that others were on the same page as her. But it was really sweet that Weiss was so sympathetic!

Savoring the hug, Ruby gave Weiss a gentle squeeze to try to comfort her even more. Now, this was a good hug. Firm yet comfortable. Open and accepting. This was how a hug was supposed to be.

It was only a few more moments before Weiss pulled back and looked at Ruby for what felt like a long time - her hands resting softly on Ruby’s knees. If Ruby could look into Weiss’ mind right now, she could probably see the wheels turning full speed - coming up with an answer to some question Ruby had never asked.

The next second, Weiss abruptly stood up.

“Ruby, I need to tell you something,” she said, immediately pacing back and forth in front of the bed.

The sight made Ruby feel a strange twinge of anticipation - like something really significant was about to be revealed. If she was right, that would be amazing. The possibility of getting another glimpse into Weiss’ thoughts made her both hopeful and excited at the same time.

“I’m listening,” Ruby said, standing up as well. The moment she did so, there was another prick of pain in her temple that caused her to temporarily close her eyes and wait for the feeling to pass, but it only slightly went away this time. Thankfully, Weiss hadn’t noticed, but Ruby might need to get some sleep soon…

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you, but I wasn’t sure how you’d respond -” Weiss was saying quickly, pacing the small room and not daring to glance Ruby’s way. “I know it took me a long time to summon the courage, but I hope that telling you now counts for something. Because I need you to know.”

Standing in the middle of the room, Ruby remained as motionless as possible. She didn’t want to move because the room had kind of started to spin. The tired tension in her forehead was getting a little harder to ignore, and she was growing increasingly light-headed the longer she watched Weiss walk back and forth, back and forth.

Something didn’t feel right.

“I know you’ve wondered how Yang and I know each other. From school, but -”

Weiss’ words were beginning to fade away as a dull roar crept into Ruby’s ears, and a black spot appeared in the center of her vision. She blinked, but it didn’t go away - it only got bigger. Probably not a good sign.

“Weiss…” she said, her voice sounding hazy and far away. “I don’t feel so good…”

“Ruby? Ruby!”

The last thing she saw were light blue eyes headed her way.

#RWBY #White Rose #Weiss Schnee #Ruby Rose #what defines us

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