Chapter Text
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Next December
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The new Ember & Crescent facility was just as large as their other two, but it had a grandiose style to it that the others lacked, not being simply utilitarian. While originally it had been an insistence on behalf of the SDC (Translated; Weiss had refused to allow the building to be ugly) that Ruby and Yang had rolled their eyes at, surprisingly their enthusiasm had grown as designs had been drawn up, discarded, altered, and eventually decided on. There was a sleek modernist taste to it that was so inherently Ruby and Weiss that every member of their family could see their personal fingerprints on it.
But nobody made any comments about it. Not to their faces anyway. Not even Blake when she had taken note of the red steel inlaid into the heavy doors and conveyor belts of the main assembly floor. She’d simply raised her mostly full champagne glass to her lips and taken a sip with a small smirk that only Yang had noticed and raised her eyebrows at.
For the grand opening of a factory, it was unsurprisingly relaxed and casual for the most part, acting more like a massive family gathering than a formal corporate event. Of course many of the members of the SDC board were present in order to finally get a proper glimpse at the inner workings of one of their major sources of profit, but for the most part the crowd was personal. The support being more sentimental and emotional than it was professional.
From across the massive central floor, currently empty without the more portable and assembled machinery yet in place, Ruby took a sip from her own glass of whiskey as she looked over at where her mother Summer, a beautifully dressed and composed Blake, and Weiss’s sister Winter were deep in conversation, Summer beaming a smile as she grew more and more fond of the typically sterner (and in Ruby’s opinion; scarier) Schnee sibling by the moment. Winter was brilliantly intelligent, and once she relaxed and grew more familiar with a person she allowed a rapid wit to appear.
It had taken only a handful of meetings with Ruby for her to develop enough approval that she felt comfortable matching Ruby’s sarcasm with dry wit of her own, much to Weiss’s delight. And Summer was the original Ruby model, so it wasn’t so surprising that Winter was warming up to her quickly, especially after nine months of working together on getting the facility up and running and putting all of the logistics in place for a whole new world of options for E&C Concepts to open up.
A wide smile appeared on Ruby’s lips at the thought, and she took a deeper drink from her glass, emptying the remains of it, and placed it down on the table behind her. There was a hum of agreement from next to her where Weiss was sipping her own champagne, her own eyes over at where her father was clearly engaged in a battle of snark and wits with Raven and her twin brother Qrow.
And losing rather spectacularly, if the disguised smirk on her brother Whitley’s lips from where he was eavesdropping nearby was any sign.
“I think it’s fair to say that everything has been a spectacular success.” Smiling softly as she tapped her immaculately manicured fingernails on her glass, Weiss glanced over at Ruby. “How do you feel about it, my love?”
“I think…we did good. Yeah. We did pretty damn good. But you and I are going to be very busy now.” Raising her eyebrows in emphasis as she turned to pour herself another drink from one of the several bottles waiting and available, Ruby chuckled. “Any company that was hesitant before due to shipment time and distance…they’re gonna reconsider now, I’m sure of it.”
Weiss hummed in agreement as her eyes immediately flicked to several members of the SDC board, and representatives from some of the other major investors, her thoughts racing as she drew a web of connections in her mind and placed pins in a map of Europe in her mind’s eye. The business that just became available to them was easily a workload requiring a few years.
So she couldn’t help but smile, and from the sparkle in Ruby’s eyes it was clear that she was considering the exact same reality.
The couple looked at each other in a swirling mix of excitement and love for a moment, before in sync both of their watches went off, and they immediately turned off the alarms as quickly as possible before giving each other smaller smiles that were even more excited than previous.
Drumming her fingers on her wrist, Ruby’s eyes sought out Yang, finding both her sister and her father Tai in an animated and beaming exchange with Winter’s partner Robyn, who had a smile equally as large on her own face from interacting with by far the most excitable people in the room.
“So, it’s almost time.” Ruby ceased her tapping and instead took another sip of her drink, sliding her free hand into the pants’ pocket of her suit. “Reckon she’ll go through with it?”
“Of course. It’s only inevitable.” Giving a small nod, Weiss finished her glass and placed it on the table behind them, running her hands over her tight silver dress to smooth it out.
Both of them watched as Yang, Summer, Tai, and Raven’s watches all clearly went off as well, and each of them tapped the alarms off as discreetly as they could before all looking around and making eye contact with each other. Yang’s arm fell to the pocket of her own suit, black over gold while Ruby’s was black over red, and she looked over to make deliberately eye contact with Ruby as she pointedly tapped her pocket. Once Ruby had nodded, Yang gave a terrified smile in response, before her eyes went over to where Blake was now talking in quiet tones with Winter, almost certainly about her new book.
Summer had politely excused herself, and was walking with purpose to join Ruby and Weiss, with the gorgeous white tailcoat of her white and red suit waving behind her with an elegance that Ruby could only hope she matched one day. Smiling brightly as she looked between the two girls, Summer hummed happily at how close the two were standing before simply giving a wink as she spun on her heel and formed a triangle with them.
“How are you both enjoying the party?”
Glancing at each other, the pair smiled in unison before each gave Summer a nod, Weiss looking over at each member of her family and how they were getting along with the massive crowd that formed Ruby’s family, both by blood and extended, with even her mother Willow drawn into conversation with Pyrrha and Jaune. And Whitley and his rather shy boyfriend Oscar were completely at the entertaining mercy of Nora, who had drunk just enough champagne that Ren was beginning to fail in his attempts to temper her.
The two crowds mixed and mingled with a surprising ease that had a small smile almost permanently on Weiss’s lips, but she knew better than most just how much love, acceptance, and affection was inside the heart and soul of the family that had already practically adopted her as one of their own. The thought of her own seat at the massive family table, in between Ruby and Blake, still made something in her heart flutter. The now hundreds of photos of herself alongside Ruby, Yang, and Blake whenever they met up filling a folder on her phone.
Yes, there was a lot of love to be found in the world.
Her eyes flicked to Yang, who was growing more nervous by the minute.
Weiss gave Summer a smile. “I think it’s perfect.”
The older woman gave a chuckle, her smile so perfectly suiting the corners of her eyes and the tilt of her lips that it was as if it was her resting expression, and she relaxedly grabbed a glass of champagne from the table to take her own sip.
“Yes…I agree. You two have done good. The past nine months…and even before then.” Trailing off for a moment, Summer reached over with her free hand to softly take her daughter’s, giving it a squeeze as her eyes shone into a suddenly shy Ruby’s. “You’ve made me so proud. Both of you.”
Under the earnest praise in Summer’s eyes, even Weiss went shy, folding her hands in front of herself and giving a soft smile. “Thank you, Miss Ro- Summer. ”
Summer had simply raised an eyebrow to cause Weiss to correct herself, having made it more than clear only a few months in that Weiss was…one of them. Because she was. In Summer’s eyes, they all were. That was how their family worked. A family built by love, not just by blood.
So after raising her eyebrow, Summer checked her watch and gave a playful hum, glancing up at the two girls pointedly.
“Well, it's almost time, if your sister sticks to a schedule for the first time in her life. But let’s see if we can’t encourage some people to leave, hmm?”
Making sure to press a soft kiss to Ruby’s and Weiss’s cheek, light enough not to leave a mark from her lipstick, Summer gave a smirk that Weiss had seen on Ruby a thousand times, before sweeping away without another word.
With the clock striking nine, the sun well and truly gone, they each slowly watched as the guests that were not part of their extended family gradually drifted out, each saying their goodbyes before making their way out into the December frost.
One by one, eventually the family was left alone, each of them congregating together and slowly grouping up into the one large cluster.
It took some subtlety on their part, neither of them particularly talented at discretion, but Yang eventually wound up next to Ruby in relative privacy. Putting her hand on her little sister’s shoulder, she nudged her to turn them both away from the other’s slightly, and even though it was her bionic hand Ruby could still feel it trembling anxiously.
Yang bit her lip, keeping her shaking voice low. “...you got it?”
“No, I lost it.” Giving Yang a deadpan stare, before rolling her eyes when Yang’s expression briefly jolted into one of panic, Ruby sighed as she reached into her pocket. “Of course I’ve got it, geez.”
“Don’t do that to me, sis! I’m not exactly running on full brain capacity right now.” Looking over at where Blake was still talking with Winter, with Weiss having joined the conversation specifically to keep Blake distracted, Yang wrung her hands together and nervously cracked the knuckles of her real hand. “I can do this. I can do this…I can do this, right?”
Pulling out the small box from her pocket, Ruby spun it in her grip to draw Yang’s eyes to it as she gave a fond smile, stepping forward to press a kiss to her sister’s cheek as reassuring as possible.
“Of course you can. Easy peasy. You’ve done scarier things.”
“Yeah, of course. Two months ago I hiked up a lava-dribbling volcano and took selfies close enough to magma that the soles of my shoes melted, so I can certainly do this. Pfft.” Waving a hand dismissively in false-bravado, Yang still shook with jitters as Ruby discreetly slipped the box into her free hand. “Like, it’s no big deal.”
“It’s a spectacularly big deal. There’s just no chance of death for this one.” Patting her sister on the shoulder, Ruby chuckled when Yang whimpered. “It’s going to be just fine, Yang. I mean, I’m kinda salty you’re taking attention away from my achievement-”
“Hey! The factory doesn’t belong to you!” Shoving her hands into her pockets with a half-serious glare, Yang narrowed her eyes. “Just because you designed it. And organised it. And your girlfriend approved it.”
Ruby gave her another deadpan look, raising a sarcastic eyebrow, and she didn’t even need to say a word for Yang to give a huff and roll her eyes.
“Whatever.”
“You can keep putting it off, sis. But if I’ve learned my own lesson about love…” Ruby’s eyes went over to Weiss, and as always it was as if Weiss somehow knew, as she looked over her shoulder to give Ruby a smile. “Then there’s no ‘perfect’ time or place for it to blossom. So do it. Preferably before Winter steals her from you.”
Barking out a laugh that attracted far too much attention, Yang punched Ruby on the shoulder lightly with a smirk. “She can try her best. But…thanks. You’re right. When did you get wise?”
Ruby smiled, the punch breaking her stare from Weiss as she looked back at her sister, rubbing her arm. “I met the right girl, just like you did.”
There was a pause as Yang’s eyebrows slowly rose, and a cheeky tinge appeared on her smirk as she gave a teasing tilt of her head. “ Just like I did, huh?”
Eyes widening at the implication, Ruby shoved her hands into her pockets and chuckled nervously even as her face flushed pink, shaking her head. “Not exactly my thing, Yang! Now get on with it.”
“You can’t use my impending doom as a distraction away from us discussing your own relationship, we’ve fallen behind on our catching up.” Taking a deep breath to psych herself up and straightening her shoulders, Yang gave Ruby one last playful smirk. “This subject isn’t over.”
Not giving Ruby time to refute it, Yang strode away, the movement catching everyone’s attention as one by one people fell silent as Yang approached Blake. Seeing Yang coming, Weiss immediately stepped away, quickly making her way over to Ruby to spin and stand at her side as the pair watched Yang take Blake’s hand and begin to speak.
She’d prepared the spiel ahead of time, pacing back and forth in Ruby and Weiss’s hotel room in Seoul for four solid hours a month ago, but both Ruby and Weiss watched as a terrified tremor went through Yang as she completely forgot it in the face of Blake’s utterly surprised expression and the tears appearing in her eyes.
So, Yang was improvising, something she was far more comfortable with but always forgot she was, and a relaxed breath left her chest as she smiled wider and began to speak from the heart, keeping her voice low so it was just for the two of them. It was quiet, and close, and a secret even with the entire room as quiet as it was with everyone watching. Even Raven was smiling as she watched, unable to turn it into a smirk as she normally did, her eyes on her daughter.
Reaching the end of her improvised ramble, Yang took a deep breath, let it out, and dropped to her knee, spinning the small box in the grip of her bionic hand before opening it and giving Blake a characteristically smug but loving smile.
But she didn’t even have time to open her mouth to ask the question before Blake tackled her, sending her sprawling to the floor as Blake’s lips were immediately on hers, practically straddling her, and her answer whispered against Yang’s lips. Giggling happily against her now fiancee’s smile, Yang wrapped her arms around her and pulled her tight as she kissed her back, not needing to watch in order to take the ring from the box and slide it onto Blake’s finger.
Celebration from their massive family was begun by Nora, the girl whooping loud enough it echoed off every wall of the factory floor, and the sound was the starting gun of excited and happy applause and cheers from those around them as Blake remembered she was surrounded by people and her eyes immediately widened, shooting to her feet and covering her face with her hands as Yang laughed and kicked up to her feet as well. Pulling Blake close to her, Yang whispered something into her ears that had Blake grin and nuzzle into her neck happily.
Standing together and watching from nearby, Ruby was clapping enthusiastically with happy tears in her eyes, bouncing on her feet, while Weiss was slightly more composed next to her but no less overjoyed, a massive smile on her own lips. As the noise died down and members of the family clustered around the couple to congratulate them, Ruby and Weiss lingered back, content to wait for their turn, and their hands found each other and intertwined fingers.
Weiss watched Blake and Yang’s joy from their distance, still smiling.
“It was inevitable. Love suits them. I have so rarely seen a pair where it is more fitting.”
Nodding from next to her, Ruby gave Weiss’s hand a loving squeeze as she only had eyes for her sister and sister-in-law. “Mum always said that she had just known since we were kids that Yang and I were going to fall in love forever. Guess it’s true.”
“Oh? For you as well?” Raising her eyebrows, Weiss looked over at Ruby, only for her eyebrows to raise higher when Ruby went slightly pink.
Swallowing, Ruby’s mind lingered on Yang’s earlier comments, and she gave a nervous chuckle and shrug as she looked at Weiss and met her stare. “Well…I mean…forever is a long time. But…”
Weiss blinked, her own cheeks going slightly pink in surprise at the fact her tease had been taken more seriously than she’d expected “But?...”
“I guess…we’ll have to see?” Chuckling shyly, Ruby rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand as her face pinked further. “But, I think our lifestyle makes it pretty clear I’m not against long adventures. And we lucky few get to give so many a try.”
Staring at Ruby for a long moment, Weiss’s eyes slowly morphed from surprised to playful, the words echoing her memory back to when they first met and neither of them could ever have seen what was coming, sitting at that bar in New York.
It had been over two years now since they’d first met. Two years since they’d begun the long and winding road that had led to them walking side by side and hand in hand every day, seeing the colours of the world through two sets of wide and admiring eyes.
Weiss hoped two years was barely the first stepping stone of this specific long adventure.
She and Ruby both knew they’d have to stop travelling eventually. That circumstances would change that would call them home to set down roots instead of being flowers carried on the wind. Neither of them saw anything wrong with putting it off as long as possible, though while on their own they had rallied against that future with all of their might, yet since getting together…something about that eventuality was easier to think about.
Something about it was warmer.
And that ‘something’ was not particularly mysterious.
One day they’d reach the end of their travelling adventure’s road, and they’d finally acknowledge how much of each of their apartment’s held each other’s belongings. They would acknowledge the framed photographs on shelves lining the walls of Weiss’s living room. The large amount of Weiss’s clothes hanging in Ruby’s wardrobe.
There was another adventure waiting for them, on the horizon. Always on the horizon, where all journeys and joys began.
But, until then…
Weiss lifted their clasped hands so she could press a soft kiss to the back of Ruby’s knuckles, and gave her partner a smile so filled with love that Ruby’s eyes widened and began to shine. Keeping the smile on her lips, Weiss leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ruby’s lips, giving a quiet whisper into it as Ruby wrapped her free arm around her waist to pull her in.
“We lucky few indeed.”
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