Chapter Text
Yang woke to the nerve-grating sound of a phone vibrating on a wooden surface. She rolled out of bed, pushed her mess of blonde hair out of her face, grabbed her phone, and checked the caller ID. The contact name read, “Little Red.”
Why, she wondered, was Ruby calling her at 5:09 in the morning on the first week of summer break? She picked up the phone, ready to yell at her little sister for disturbing her so early in the morning. Yang could imagine the huge grin and the gleaming silver eyes squinted in silent laughter that belonged to her sister, in her bedroom just down the hall of their dad’s house, and she was not amused.
“Yang Xiao-Long, come pick up your lunatic sister right now! And bring her some clothes!” shouted a familiar voice, before Yang could get so much as a “Hello?” in.
“Weiss? Why are you using Ruby’s phone?” she asked, her anger forgotten thanks to the bewildering instructions. “And why do I need to bring clothes? What’s going on?” Suddenly, she smiled widely as something occurred to her. “Wait a minute, did you two--”
“Just get over here and see for yourself!” Weiss cut her off. “And for your sake I’m going to pretend I didn’t know where you were going with that thought.”
The line went dead.
Weiss is just as helpful as ever, Yang thought to herself, now very worried as she grabbed sweats and a t-shirt from her dresser. She grabbed her helmet and her spare, then headed out on her motorcycle for Weiss’ house, the sun just beginning to rise.
When Ruby woke up, the first thing she realized was that she felt very hungry. When her mind cleared a little, the next thing she realized that she didn’t know where she was. She was just about to jump up when another couple of realizations hit her: first, the only things covering her were an ice blue fuzzy blanket and what she recognized as the tattered remains of one of her bright red hoodies, and second, she was lying on the couch in Weiss’ living room.
Her face blanched as it dawned on her that Weiss must have put her here, naked, and then her face switched to red as she heard someone pounding on the front door, breaking the silence that Ruby was unaware of until that moment. Unsure of what to do and unable to see the door, Ruby closed her eyes and did her best to look like an unconscious person.
“Weiss! Open up!” shouted the person attacking the door.
Ruby would know that voice anywhere. Yang was outside the door, she concluded. But why? What was going on?
“It took you long enough,” spat a voice from the room adjacent. “You’re lucky, seeing as I’m the only one at my father’s summer home right now.”
Ruby heard Weiss open the door.
“Lucky indeed, Ice Queen,” Yang replied, her voice slowly lowering to a growl, “Now where is she? And tell me what happened. I’m losing my patience.”
Ruby wasn’t surprised by Yang’s threatening tone. She always appreciated when Yang showed how protective of her she was, even though it could be downright terrifying under the right circumstances.
“Don’t you dare threaten me!” Weiss exclaimed indignantly. “I was helping her! I heard something outside in the backyard, like something heavy fell on the ground, so I looked out my window and I saw your little sister lying there, passed out and nearly naked! I grabbed a blanket and rushed to go help her, and she woke up when I covered her up. I walked her inside, and she said something about how she ‘had gone out for a walk.’ Once we got inside, she immediately went to lie on the couch, and her phone slipped out of her jacket, or rather what’s left of it, and I used it to call you.” she explained.
Silence. Ruby figured it was as good a time as any to let them know she was awake.
“Yang?” she called, her voice unbearably loud compared to the quiet of just moments earlier.
“Ruby!” she heard Yang nearly shout, then the steady thump of boots on hardwood as her older sister rushed to find her.
"Yang, I don't remember how I got here." Ruby confessed when she saw her sister enter the room.
Yang blinked, her violet eyes full of concern. “That’s not good,” she said slowly. After a brief pause she continued, “We can worry about that on the way home. Here, put these on.” With that, she threw the bundle of clothes she brought onto Ruby’s chest, then walked over to tousle her sister’s black and red hair.
Weiss walked in just as Ruby was about to thank her sister. Her pale face flushed bright red when her eyes met Ruby’s, and she quickly looked away.
“S-sorry, Weiss,” Ruby stammered, staring at the sweatpants Yang gave her.
“Just don’t do anything like this ever again,” Weiss snapped, her eyes fixated on the decorative rapier mounted on the wall. “The bathroom is down the hall, second door on the right.”
“Thanks. I’m sorry, I just,” Ruby trailed off, unsure of what to say. She was certain that Weiss had seen far more of her classmate than she ever wanted to, and Ruby wasn’t pleased about the situation either.
The three stood in awkward silence for what seemed to Ruby to be hours. Suddenly, Ruby remembered the clothes that she needed to put on, so she gathered up the blanket around herself and shuffled away to the bathroom.
Several minutes and apologies later, she and Yang left for the silent ride back to their house.