Partner-Bonding Day (Patreon)

While Weiss prepared every weekend with an outline of assignments and studying to be completed, her teammates took a much different approach to their free time (mostly, figuring out how to do as little work as possible).

This particular weekend, however, Ruby woke far earlier than usual - jumping down from her bed just a few minutes after Weiss stepped out of the bathroom.  From that moment on, a smile hardly left Ruby’s lips as she buzzed around the room - getting changed, gathering a backpack, and altogether looking quite thrilled about something.

By the time the other half of their team woke up, Weiss had absorbed enough of Ruby’s enthusiasm that she needed to know the cause of it.  For...research purposes.

“What’s got you so excited?” she asked as Blake walked to the bathroom and Yang stretched her back - causing several wince-worthy cracks.

“Today’s the day!” Ruby exclaimed with a blinding grin, holding up a small flyer for Weiss to see.

“‘Dagger-Con?’” Weiss asked, leaning back in her chair and feeling her brow furrow at another outing she probably wasn’t included in.  Not that she minded...too much...

“Yup!  A whole convention of weapons!  Weapon creators will be there holding workshops and stuff - I’m so excited!”  With another hop, Ruby made it to Yang’s side and bumped her sister’s elbow. “You excited, Yang??”

From her position by Yang’s side, Ruby didn’t catch the deer-in-headlights expression that briefly crossed Yang’s face.  But, ever the chameleon, Yang threw on a smile when she turned to her sister.

“You know it!” she answered, raising a hand for Ruby to slap for a high-five.  

The next second, Ruby raced into the bathroom before Blake even made it back into the room, and Yang’s smile disappeared.

“Weiss.”  Hurrying over to the desk, Yang dropped her voice to a whisper.  “I kinda need a favor.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“I totally forgot the convention was this weekend,” Yang said, confirming Weiss’ suspicion.  “Blake and I took that assignment in the forest, so…”

As her words trailed off, Yang sent Weiss a pleading expression.

“Can you go with her?  Please? I know you’re gonna study or whatever, but she’s really excited, and I don’t want her to have to go alone.”

Sighing in exasperation (because that was her default reaction to any of Yang’s requests), Weiss turned away from imploring lilac eyes and considered her options.  Surprisingly, this was an easy decision - she would love to spend the day with Ruby - but she couldn’t let Yang believe that. She did have important studying to be done, after all.  Plus...Yang looked pretty desperate…

“I don’t know…” Weiss replied with a slow shake of her head.  “I have a lot of studying to do…”

“I’ll make it worth your while!” Yang immediately offered, stepping right into Weiss’ trap like the beautiful, blonde fool she could sometimes be.  On the other side of the room, Weiss caught Blake’s eyeroll - as she was much wiser to Weiss’ ways than Yang was.

“How?” Weiss asked, curious as to what Yang would offer to keep Ruby happy.  The two sisters had such a close relationship, Weiss imagined Yang would do almost anything to avoid letting Ruby down.

“I’ll take your cleaning shifts for the rest of the year,” Yang spit out, casting a wary glance towards the bathroom.

“Wow -”

“And get you one of those coffee things you like every Friday!”

Weiss couldn’t help it - she laughed.  The first offer was already more than enough, but Yang was so frantic for a ‘yes’ that she went and doubled it before hearing Weiss’ response.

Still, Weiss stifled her laugh and managed a sigh - just to make Yang sweat it out a little longer.

“Fine…” she finally agreed, concealing a smile when Yang let out a small ‘yes’ of success right before Ruby flew into the room.

“I’m ready!”  Slinging her backpack around her shoulders, Ruby gave them an adorable thumbs up.

When Yang sent Weiss a quick glance, she decided that she would handle the exchange, as Yang was likely to bumble it somehow.

“You know,” Weiss began, setting her pen down and shutting the textbook on top of it.  “I thought we were going to have partner-bonding time this weekend…”

There were few things that paused Ruby in her tracks like partner-bonding time.  One, she loved working on anything team-related. Two, she loved devoting time to becoming a better partner - a trait that Weiss adored more each day.

“Oh, uh, sure, but...do you want to do something else?”

“No,” Weiss quickly replied before Ruby decided to sacrifice her beloved Dagger-Con.  “I don’t mind going to this...convention thing…”

“Really??  You wanna go?” Ruby asked, her eyes shining with renewed hope.  “I - I thought you wouldn’t be interested -”

“Well, you never asked,” Weiss huffed, crossing her arms and turning away.  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the glance Ruby sent Yang - the two sisters holding a silent conversation until Yang shrugged.

“It’s cool with me.  Blake and I can do bonding stuff too!”

Just like that, their ‘crisis’ was solved - and Weiss picked up a couple bonus perks in the process.  Willingly leaving her studies behind, she grabbed her wallet and motioned for Ruby to lead the way - which she did with a trail of petals flying through the door.

As Weiss moved at a more human pace to follow, she caught Blake’s gaze - the girl shaking her head but smirking at the coup Weiss had just pulled.

“See you guys later,” she said, trying to hide a smug smile as she walked through the door and found Ruby waiting for her in the hall.

“Ready?” Weiss asked, her smile breaking through when Ruby raised one hand in the air and jumped.

“Youuuu bet!”

A short while later, the two of them sat in the back of a sleek, black town car heading towards their destination.  Ruby had planned to take public transit with Yang, but...Weiss didn’t approve of that method of transportation.

She did, however, approve of the way Ruby’s excitement increased as their destination grew nearer.  By this point, Ruby was practically buzzing with energy. Her knee bounced, she hummed a tune, looked out the window, fiddled with the zipper on her jacket, found an old receipt in her pocket - looked at it, then crumpled it up and stuffed it back in.

Having never been to one of these conventions or anything like it, Weiss was curious about the day to come.  Ruby, however, was...‘excited’ seemed too mute of a word to describe her current emotional state. Thrilled? Overjoyed?  Elated?

Whatever it was, Weiss loved it.  Seeing Ruby happy filled her with such...peace.  As if the restless energy to excel could be temporarily put on hold while she shared this moment of happiness with Ruby.

“Are you sure this is what you wanna do?” Ruby asked again.

“Ruby...”

“But we can do something else for partner-bonding day!  Like…uh...study?”

The fact that Ruby made the offer was very sweet, especially considering how excited she was for this event.  Although...she normally went out of her way to make sure Weiss was happy - but Weiss had already scored several big wins this morning, she could afford to make this day special for Ruby.

Weiss wanted to make this day special for Ruby.  More special than it would have been with Yang.  Not that she was competitive or anything...

“I think it’ll be fun,” she replied with a smile to put Ruby’s nerves at ease.  “Besides, we’re already here.”

Outside Ruby’s window, their destination loomed into view - Vale Convention Center.  The massive building sat in the heart of downtown, serving as host to a myriad of conventions throughout the year.  Today, the sidewalks crawled with people - the general flow headed towards the building rather than away.

Hearing Ruby suck in a breath, Weiss smiled.

“Are you excited?”

“They need another word for how excited I am!” Ruby proclaimed.  Her vibrant energy multiplied as the car crawled towards the entrance of the building, slowed by the incredible amount of traffic and pedestrians clogging the streets.

“Why don’t we get out here?” Weiss suggested when it looked like Ruby might jump out of the vehicle on her own.

“If you want...I mean, walking will probably be faster…”

With a playful eyeroll at the diplomatic answer, Weiss turned her attention to the man in the driver’s seat.

“You can let us out here,” she directed him.  

“Yes, Miss.”

The vehicle pulled to the side of the road and, as soon as it came to a full stop, Ruby jumped out.  Surprisingly, she still had enough wits about her to turn around and offer her hand to help Weiss out of the car behind her.

“So chivalrous,” Weiss teased as the towncar pulled away, leaving them amongst the crowd of people walking to the convention center.

“Anything for you, milady!” Ruby joked in return, somehow making Weiss blush without even trying.  “And I’m pretty sure we go this way.”

Pointing in the right direction, Ruby grinned and took Weiss’ hand as they walked with the crowd.  On an ordinary day, Weiss would prefer to walk slower and out of the way, but...Ruby was excited. And when Ruby was excited, her steps grew long and swift, forcing Weiss to speed walk to keep pace.

“You have our tickets or...whatever we need, right?” 

“Uh...yup!”

The delayed response drew Weiss’ immediate attention.  

“Ruby...”

“Ok!” Ruby fessed up.  “They sold out too fast, so I don’t actually have tickets.”

For a moment, shock took ahold of Weiss’ mind - flabbergasted that Ruby was so excited for the day when she didn’t even have the most basic means of entry secured.

“Then how are we supposed to get in??”

“Easy!  We’ll just buy some from the scalpers!”

“Scalpers?”

“Yeah!  The people who sell tickets out front.  Look, there’s one right there!”

Weiss didn’t know what she expected when she searched out this ‘scalper,’ but it turned out to be a regular gentleman waving several pieces of plastic through the air while shouting “Badges!” at anyone who passed.

“What an unfortunate nickname,” Weiss muttered while leading Ruby over.

“Excuse me, sir,” she called out, capturing the man’s attention.  “We need two tickets -”

“Got two right here -” he interrupted, holding them out to her.  “Fifty Lien.”

“Ok -”  

“Each.”

Briefly confused as to whether that number was supposed to be intimidating in some way, Weiss simply pulled a crisp hundred Lien bill from her wallet and handed it over.  WIthout a word, the man took the money and gave her the two slips in his hand while turning away.

“Badges!” he yelled again, making her flinch in surprise.

“I’ll pay you back!” Ruby said, dragging Weiss away before she complained about his lack of manners.  “I totally planned on making Yang pay…”

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s my treat.”

The response was rewarded with a smile that made Weiss more and more willing to pay for anything Ruby wanted.  It was hard having such a cute partner sometimes...especially a cute partner who somehow knew exactly how to make her agree with things...

“I’ve waited my entire life for this!” Ruby squealed, clutching onto Weiss’ arm as they walked across a giant lobby covered in advertisements and blown-up pictures of weapons.

“Really?” Weiss asked, lifting a brow as the first of likely many hyperboles appeared.  “Your entire life?”

“You know what I mean!” Ruby protested, making Weiss laugh as they approached a line that led into the exhibit hall.  Standing by each entrance was an employee checking passes on the way through - and what Weiss meant by ‘checking passes’ was nothing more than a quick glimpse before waving people through the doors.

“Pretty sure you could’ve created these,” Weiss muttered while the line moved towards the entrance.  Looking at the badge in her hands, she didn’t find anything overly difficult to copy - especially considering the lax security measures.

“Next time!”  Hopping the last step, Ruby waved her pass to the man standing by the door.  When she earned her obligatory nod and wave, she turned and waited for Weiss to do the same before they walked inside together.

Beyond the doors was the exhibit hall, and it was...something else.  And it was fair to say that this was where Weiss and Ruby’s experiences diverged because to Weiss, it was loud, crowded, somewhat chaotic, and overstimulating.

To Ruby…

“Holyyyyyy cow…” Ruby gasped, her eyes wide as she took in the sights.  “This is like...if heaven and Beacon’s workshop had a baby.”

Even though Weiss laughed at the analogy, she found it quite appropriate.  Rows and rows of vendors filled the giant space, selling everything from scraps of metal to completed weapons.  For someone with Ruby’s likes and hobbies, this was a version of heaven.

“Well, let’s get going,” she said, encouraging Ruby forward with a nod.  That was all the permission Ruby needed to rush towards the first booth - which looked like a weapons company specializing in different types of crossbows.

“Weiss, look at this!” Ruby exclaimed, picking up literally the first item she got her hands on.

It must be important based on Ruby’s reaction, but all Weiss saw was an ordinary piece of paper with lines drawn all over it.

“What is it?” she asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the mess of lines.

“Blueprints to build your own crossbow!” Lowering the paper, Ruby turned a set of pleading eyes on Weiss.  “I wanna build a crossbow!”

There were two appropriate reactions to that statement - the mature, adult thing to do was distract Ruby from the potentially-dangerous quest.  But with those eyes…

“I’ll get it for you.”

“Aww Weiss, you don’t have to do that…”

“I insist.”  Waving towards the attendant nearby, Weiss paid for the blueprints before understanding what this day was turning into.  While Ruby held onto her newest treasure, Weiss pulled out her scroll and typed a message.

“You’re the best, Weiss!  But whatcha doing?”

“Sending a message to our driver - telling him to come back.”

“Oh.  Uh, are you not having fun?”

Ruby’s deflated energy sent a momentary spike of guilt through Weiss, so she quickly put away her scroll and took Ruby’s free hand. 

“No, I’m having him come back to carry all the items we’ll be buying today.”

Weiss’ smile grew as she watched realization dawn in Ruby’s eyes.  Suddenly, her very-excited partner was hopping up and down again, clutching both of Weiss’ hands and spinning her in a circle.

“Do you mean what I think you mean??”

Laughing at the response, Weiss waited until Ruby settled into one place before nodding.

“Yes.  Partner-shopping day.”