White Teeth and White Walls

"I really do hate you sometimes Ruby…" Weiss grumbled quietly while the red head tried to hide a smirk behind one of the office's many magazines.

"Hate is such a negative term, it's so cliché. How about opinionated… or maybe passionate?" Ruby was having a lot of fun tormenting Weiss, and she wasn't about to let her partner off easy. While Ruby couldn't be sure, she would have sworn she heard Weiss mutter darkly "murder is a crime of passion…" as a response.

The irony was just hilarious. Miss Princess perfect, the iconic angel, always perfectly dressed and perfectly groomed, had been forced to come to the dentist today because of a cavity. Weiss had been stunned when she heard this, as she had always considered herself to be a perfect brusher. She even spent ten minutes flossing every day after all of her main meals, which Ruby had always considered a little excessive. The dentist informed her that unfortunately, while she had indeed kept her teeth clean, Weiss had been so aggressive with the cleaning that she stripped them of all protective enamel and had left her perfect teeth open to all kinds of plaque and germs. He said that he was surprised that she only had the one cavity on her canine.

What was worse was that Weiss needed to have surgery before the cavity became worse. And since Weiss was paying for anesthesia, she guessed that she would need someone to give her a ride home. Blake was out of town on a mission in the eastern mountains with Yang, which knocked out those two for rides. And while she probably could have gotten away with it, Weiss didn't feel comfortable asking another student at the school. She hated owning anyone anything, and the idea of owing Juane or Nora a favor was almost as annoying as having to get a root canal itself. And that left only one other person, who was probably her first choice anyway… Ruby.

"So how exactly did you end up ruining your teeth in just the two short years you have been off on your own?" Ruby fluttered her eyes at Weiss while she asked, as if she was just some old lady that kept on forgetting the answer. She was running out of time, and she needed to rib the heiress a little bit more before Weiss was out of it. Ruby had been given laughing gas a few times in her childhood, and she remembered how little she had taken away from the experience. The days were just gone from her memory.

"Uhhhhhh…" was Weiss's only reply as she buried her face in the pillow that her small waiting room chair had been stocked with.

Actually, Weiss knew exactly how she had ruined her teeth. When she had finally gotten out of the mansion, and into the real world, Weiss was able to finally look after herself. Her whole life in the mansion, everything had been chosen for her. The clothes she would wear for the day, the meals she would have, how she would spend her time, everything. This was all bad, but the worst part without a doubt was personal hygiene. Every day since she could remember, she would have to sit in a small chair in front of a mirror and wait while one of her personal maids would do her makeup, hair, and every little cleaning requirement to look presentable. She found the whole process extremely degrading, and had on many occasions tried to get the servant to stop. One of the only times she had ever been disobedient as a child was when she had actually locked her maid out of her room, and did her makeup herself. As a punishment, which her father had approved, she lost the right to have a door that closed, and the next morning she found that the house servants had removed the entire handle from the door, allowing it to be opened and closed with only a gentle push.

All her efforts fruitless, Weiss resigned herself to being forced, from five to fifteen, to sit on the very same stool and watch as someone else, who had a severe sadistic streak, designed her hair and gave her makeup she would have never chosen for herself. The whole process made Weiss feel like a vegetable, as if she was some paralyzed victim that couldn't function on her own.

When Weiss had moved out into the on campus dormitory, she had to finally do all those things for herself, which she had been looking forward to. No more red lips or black mascara, she had cheered to herself silently as she was done up for the last time. She wondered what her assigned servant would do now, now that her ten year long position was disappearing. She hadn't worried too much however, as over the years there had been many days when her maid, who had a tendency to be in a bad mood, had left Weiss's scalp and mouth in a lot of pain.

When Weiss had started taking care of her oral hygiene, she had assumed that she was doing a good enough job; her mouth hurt just as much as when her psycho maid did it. Apparently not.

A middle aged office manager leaned around the corner, just as Ruby was about to pester Weiss a little more, and told Weiss "the doctor is ready to see you now".

Now that the moment was finally upon her, Weiss actually wished that she could hang around and have Ruby harass her a bit more. She had never been put under, and she wasn't looking forward to the experience. As Weiss got up to go into the back room, she heard Ruby cackle wickedly "have fun!"

"Weiss, would you stop moving ahead of me, it's hard to keep you standing when you are stumbling forward faster than I am walking".

Ruby's complaints fell on deaf ears as her friend stumbled out of the cab faster than Ruby could walk around the back to Weiss's side. If she hadn't been caught by her seatbelt, which Blondie had forgot to take off, Weiss would have face planted directly onto the ground. Still, Ruby hadn't expected Weiss to get this loopy, and listening to her partner's giggles over jokes that she wouldn't share the entire ride to Weiss's apartment had been somewhat annoying.

It wasn't easy getting Weiss's seatbelt off while she was hanging out of the cab, and she almost landed in the street side gutter when Ruby finally was able to clip off the belt. Ruby had to stick her foot out and catch Weiss under the shoulder to keep her from going into the drainage pipe. And while all of this was going on the usually reserved princess perfect was laughing manically, getting a kick out of the whole experience, as if the idea of almost getting swept into the sewers to play with the alligators was the coolest thing to happen to her all week. It took a lot to get on Ruby's nerves, but Weiss had succeeded, and the red head was a few steps away from just taking the giggling girl and leave her on the steps of her apartment building. Someone would find her eventually, Ruby mused to herself. But she was a good friend, even if Ruby was still muttering darkly under her breath all the things she would do to wipe the smile off of Weiss's face, and half carried-half dragged her partner across the sidewalk to the apartment building.

Getting open the lobby door would have been an issue if the door man hadn't been there to hold it open for them. As she walked by Ruby wasn't sure if she should tip the man, or just nod thanks, so she just decided to pretend to be totally occupied with Weiss. It might have been a little rude, but still better than trying to fumble for some cash to then only be told to keep it.

Getting into the lobby, Ruby had always found the place a little stiff. It was definitely designed with the one percent in mind, having cherubs on the ceiling, gold enameling, the works. Combined with all of the staff dressed in royal red overcoats, Ruby found the place off putting. Still, she could care less where Weiss lived, as they never visited the more formal partner's place. Ruby had only been here one other time, to help her partner bring in a dozen or so boxes of things from when Weiss moved out of the dormitory.

Getting Weiss into the elevator wasn't easy, as her partner seemed more interested in taking a nap on the common area couch than in her own home. Ruby had just managed to get Weiss in the elevator, turned her back for one second to pick out a floor number, when suddenly she turned back to find Weiss had stumbled back out into the lobby again.

Getting in front of Weiss, Ruby had finally hit her breaking point. "You probably won't remember this anyway…" she began, drawing herself up to her full height as she saw the elevator begin to close over her partner's shoulder.

"Hmmmmm…" Weiss hummed happily, smiling at Ruby, not even registering her partner had drawn her leg up and had aimed the bottom of her shoe at Weiss.

In one swift motion, Ruby extended her leg, and sent Weiss sailing through the two doors back into the elevator. Ignoring the startled looks from a few of the staff members, Ruby followed after her partner, who was now slumped over on her side, running the tips of her fingers along the lines of the tiled elevator floor. As she pressed the close door button she looked down at her partner, who didn't seem bothered in the least that she had been kicked into the small box she now found herself in, the red head muttered "I hope for your sake that we don't get stopped on the way up".

They didn't get stopped, luckily, and they rose to the 17th floor without any interruptions. Instead of trying to guide Weiss into the room, Ruby just took complete control over her annoying burden and carried her partner over her shoulder down the hallway towards Weiss's apartment. Opening the door with a key that Ruby had taken out of Weiss's handbag before arriving at the condominium, Ruby used her foot to lower the handle and kick in the door. She might have been a little too rough; she left a good centimeter deep divot in the wood above the door knob where the steel side of her shoes had hit the door.

When Ruby got into the apartment, she was perplexed for a moment why there were a bunch of boxes next to the door. Maybe Weiss had received a few new packages recently. Carrying Weiss down the hall, she threw her partner onto what she assumed was her bed, although Ruby would never have guessed Weiss would sleep on a cat print quilt. Quickly shaking off Weiss's shoes, eager to be done, she flicked off the lights and left the already dozing heiress in the dark room on top of the comforter. Ruby began to pad towards the door and was half out of the apartment, but came to a stop when she actually read a few of the boxes that had been placed by the door.

Books

School Supplies

Kitchen Tools

Plates

Taking a step closer, Ruby actually recognized a few of the boxes written in her handwriting, when she had helped Weiss pack and move the dozen boxes across town. Two boxes labeled 'clothes' had been emptied and placed on their sides, but the other ten or so were all still mostly full, and only one or two of them had actually had the taped shut tops slit open.

"…She didn't even unpack?" Actually looking around for the first time, Ruby noticed the lack of… anything. The walls were all the standard cream color that builders made them, so that any new color would be paintable. She walked back down the hall, and actually noticed that besides Weiss's bedroom, which was still pretty barren by any normal person's standards, every room was totally empty. She didn't find a chair, a table, a bookshelf, anything anywhere, other than the few things Weiss had actually placed in her room. There were only boxes for the unassembled furniture shoved up against the walls in the final room she checked, as if Weiss were hiding them from the rest of the apartment. And hidden behind all of the boxes were even larger, brown cardboard boxes, printed with pictures of a refrigerator, a TV, a stove, and a dishwasher.

This was strange, even by Ruby's standards. She could leave; she needed to put the finishing touches on a new paint job she was working on for her Crescent Rose (she was playing around with some dark undertones to make the silver steel really stand out). But something really bothered her about Weiss living in an entirely empty house for the last 4 months. Sighing heavily, she walked over and picked up one of the lighter packages, the box for a wooden self-assembly dining room chair, turning it around in her hands while looking at where to open the packaging.

"Ruby, why does my chest hurt?" As she stumbled out of her room, Weiss could hear some kind of banging coming from the other room down the hall. Shuffling down the hall, trying to shake the remnants of the anesthesia from her mind, she peered around the corner to find Ruby hunched over a sheet of paper, with her face so close she was almost pressing her nose against the floor. "What are you doing?"

Not looking back, now trying to fit two wooden poles together, Ruby mumbled back "well well, sleeping beauty is finally awake. Feel alright?"

Rubbing her eyes, Weiss answered back "yeah, although I still feel a little groggy." About to turn away, back to her room, she suddenly noticed what Ruby was actually doing. "Why…why are you building a table?"

"This is the kitchen, dummy. I moved in the heavy stuff first; this is the last piece I need to build and then this room is done". Weiss looked around, and noticed that the refrigerator and the stove were both shoved into place, and she could hear a hum behind her from a running dishwasher. Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Ruby exclaimed "why are all of these instructions impossible to understand. I'm never buying from Ikea if this is what every instruction manual is going to be like. There was the one in Belgian, the one without any diagram, and now this table doesn't come with the right crescent wrench." Unfurling her legs, she mumbled to herself "I think the TV hutch came with one that will fit."

Weiss had a hard time following all of that; apparently her mind was still a little foggy. As she followed behind Ruby down the hall, she began to notice several empty frames were now hung on the wall, and heard her red headed partner mutter "we need to fill those". Weiss also saw that it was pitch black outside of the windows, and while Weiss had no idea how long she had been out for, she knew that she had to have gotten back to her house sometime before noon, as her doctor said the procedure would be over before 11 am.

"Thanks…but why… why are you…" Weiss was starting to get annoyed at how fuzzy headed she felt, and had a hard time completing the thought "why are you building all of this… stuff?"

As Ruby swiped the tool off of a smaller table in the center of the room opposite a TV, she answered back "I find the idea my partner living as a monk somewhat off-putting. How did you even live here for four months without getting any furniture outside of what you put up in the bedroom?"

"I didn't need it" was Weiss's simple reply.

"Pfff… you should have told me you didn't need a new flat screen" Ruby joked, already sitting down to see if the tool part matched with what she needed.

"You can have it, I don't watch TV…" Weiss mumbled, starting to feel sleepy again, constantly jerking her head up.

"Nah, I don't either, although you might be hosting movie night from now on." Sighing happily, she turned the final bolt in the table and in one smooth motion flipped it over, so that it was now resting on its legs. Ruby leaned on one corner, to see if the legs were all the same length and didn't need adjusting. Satisfied, Ruby cleaned up all of the spare parts while saying to Weiss "so… not many colors go with brownish-yellow tile floors, it's an ugly color in my opinion, but I thought maybe going with a light green could look nice".

Weiss only nodded along, she could care less if the colors matched, and followed Ruby across the hall to the finished living room, where the red head put the wrench back with its box and instructions. "That's it. You need to get a couch or something for this room, but other than that everything is set up".

"Uh, thanks Ruby" Weiss mumbled, not really listening. "Where did you put all of the boxes?"

A little puzzled that Weiss's first question was on cleaning up, Ruby said "I left all of the boxes next to what came out of them". Weiss just nodded, slowly pressing on her collar bone and feeling her bruise's pain spike slightly with the pressure. Ruby knew exactly what time it was, but theatrically checked her watch so that she could say "well, it's getting really late; it's after midnight. I think I'll be going".

"Okay… thank you, for… all of this, and for today too" Weiss mumbled, already starting to feel the claws of sleep beginning to worm their ways back into her mind. Starting to look around, she started to say "I think I have a second mattress somewhere if you don't want to head back this late".

"Yeah, it's set up in the second bedroom" Ruby responded, beginning to lace up her shoes. "I'll be fine; it shouldn't be that hard to find a cab back to downtown."

"OK, I guess I'll see you… later".

"I guess" Ruby mimicked, joking over how exhausted Weiss sounded. "I'll see you tomorrow Weiss". And with that Ruby let herself out, and closed the door behind her.

And with a small sigh, Weiss looked around the now actually furnished house. She couldn't be upset, as what Ruby did for her was very kind. But she really hadn't wanted any of the stuff her father's interior designer had ordered for her, it made the house feel less like her own. She didn't even choose to live here, she just one day was told by one of the family accountants that her residence would now be in this building, and was asked if she wanted a western or eastern facing apartment. She would have to cancel whatever Ruby had wanted to do tomorrow, as she now had plans of her own. This would now be the second time she had disassembled all of her apartment's furniture, as the delivery company set up all the furniture when they brought it over. It only took her an entire day the first time; she could probably finish the job in half the time tomorrow.

"I might leave up the frames" Weiss muttered to herself as she trudged back to bed. They were just pieces of wood; her father couldn't fill those at least.

I was feeling a little depressed, so this is probably a little more of a downer than my usual chapters for these stories, especially towards the end. But still, give me the feedback you think I should hear. Thanks for reading.