Today was Ruby and Pyrrha's anniversary.

Which meant that they were pulling out all the stops for the day.

Ruby had woken up first, and therefore Pyrrha had been treated to breakfast in bed, even spoon-feeding the older girl. That had been followed by a rather intense amount of cuddling, among other things, before the two finally made their way to Vale.

Nearly every romantic thing that Ruby could think of, had been done; from taking a short hike, to having a picnic in the park, and even taking a dancing class together. In fact, she was more than a little astounded that everything was going as well as it was. Pyrrha had loved it, and Ruby felt joyous pride flare up in her at having managed it so well

All that was left was a fancy dinner - something both of them were quite eager for - that Pyrrha had placed reservations for long in advance, which was still another two hours away, and that left Ruby with the question of what to do.

By instinct, Ruby reached for her scroll –which was difficult by the fact that she was sitting on Pyrrha's lap - only to stop when she felt an unfamiliar object in her pocket, and pulled it out. It was a gift card that Yang had slipped her with some very specific instructions.

"The Doggie store?" Pyrrha read the store name out curiously as she joined Ruby in staring at the mysterious card.

"Oh, uh, Yang gave it to me last night." The gift card was brightly coloured, and showed a happy cartoon dog on one side. "She said that I should take you there, and that we'd have lots of fun."

"Well, we could check it out now. We still have some time until dinner." Pyrrha suggested after a moment. "I'll admit, I'm curious about it… is it a pet store?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know… maybe? Yang told me that I shouldn't look it up, and just go to the address on the card."

Pyrrha hummed in thought for a moment as she looked at the address. "That's not all that far away from here." A smile stretched at her lips. "I think we should go, there could be bunnies."

That was all the encouragement that Ruby needed, leaning into a quick kiss before jumping up, and pulling Pyrrha to her feet.

It was only a five minute walk to the store.

The building itself was quite brightly coloured, with an image of a cute dog painted across the front, which looked innocent enough. "I think you're right Pyrrha, though," Ruby's brow furrowed, "I wonder why Yang gave us a gift card for a pet store…"

Pyrrha shrugged helplessly before another smile graced her lips, "I don't know, either, but puppies are never a bad thing." Ruby nodded in energetic agreement, the thought of adorable pets ran through her head, as the two walked through the doors, hand in hand.

Yet, there were no adorable puppies, or for that matter, any animals in view. In fact, the only other living creature was an elderly woman behind a counter. "Well that's disappointing," Ruby mumbled before she wandered through an aisle. While there might not have been any pets in sight, the store definitely sold pet supplies.

There were colourful chew toys in packages throughout the store, plus some very intricate collar, in particular, a very well-crafted red leather one, Ruby felt drawn to. "This is kinda cute, don'tca you think, Pyrrha?"

The redhead in question, picked up the collar, and examined the tag. "I suppose so, but I don't ge-"

"You don't get…?" Ruby asked after her girlfriend had gone silent. "Pyrrha?"

"I-I think perhaps we should leave." Pyrrha stated in a volume barely above a whisper, a panicked quality entering her tone.

"Huh?" Ruby glanced around the store; everything seemed innocent enough. "Why's that?"

Pyrrha robotically set the collar back down on a hook as her cheeks turned a bright red. "I think w-we shouldn't have listened to your sist-"

"Are you finding everything you young ladies need, alright?" The old woman had wandered over. "Just tell me if you have trouble with anything." Quite suddenly she pointed over to an adjacent aisle. "If you are looking for a matching leash, we should have a few in stock."

"We have been meaning to get a longer leash for Zwei…" Ruby tapped her chin in thought. "He's been a pretty good boy and his leash is wearing out…" The woman nodded in an understanding fashion, before Ruby decided to finally voice something she'd been wondering since walking in. "So, uh, do you guys have any puppies? I haven't seen any…"

The woman's eyes narrowed on Ruby for a moment, before her widening in shock, her mouth forming a huge circle. "O-oh my, why yes, we do have some, we just keep them in the back… would you like me to bring some out?"

Thoughts of tons of adorable puppies running towards her filled Ruby's mind as she enthusiastically nodded. "Alright, I'll be but a moment." With that, the older woman turned around and headed into a back room.

"So I guess, you were right Pyrrh-" Ruby's words died in her mouth as she noticed the absolutely mortified look across her girlfriend's face. "Pyrrha?"

"Ruby, this isn't a pet store." Pyrrha mumbled, as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. Her normally cheerful emerald eyes now held a thousand yard stare, as they flickered to the ground.

"Then what is it?" Pyrrha slowly bent over to Ruby's ear before murmuring a few words.

"It's a sex store."

"Buh… wha?" It felt like Ruby's eyes were opened to a whole new world, as her cheeks burned bright pink; the things she thought had been very colourful chew toys had a very different use.

SLAM

The sound drew Ruby's attention away from her growing embarrassment. "Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long; we only have one puppy left, they've been selling really well as of late; very popular among couples."

The box was most certainly labeled puppy, but what was inside was most certainly not a puppy. I've seen Grim less terrifying than this thing. "Now you are probably thinking that it's a bit big, and that it'll never be comfortable for anyone, that's what everyone thinks, but I'll have you know that it only takes a few minutes and then you can never go back!" The woman added a wink, which made Ruby's stomach contents go in the wrong direction for a moment.

Seeing as Ruby wasn't going to say anything, especially given her want to pull her hood over her head from shame, Pyrrha stepped in. "Well, you see, our friend only gave us a small gift card, I don't think we could afford such a thing, unfortunately…"

"Oh, I see." The clerk nodded sadly. "It is quite pricey." Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "I'll tell you what, since this is your first time, I'll give you a discount… whatever your card can't cover, is on the house."

"T-that's very generous of you, but we wouldn't feel right getting a discount for free, right Ruby?" Pleading emerald eyes sought out Ruby, who nodded in agreement.

"Psch, it's fine." The woman waved the complaint away. "I could still run this store in the black off battery sales, alone, I assure you."

Pyrrha and Ruby both stared at their 'purchase' that rested next to them on the bed, which had been gift-wrapped no less, with a mixture of embarrassment… and curiosity.

On the one hand, purchasing it meant that they used up their gift card and didn't make the clerk think they were just window shoppers, and they could try and forget about the whole awkward ordeal. On the other hand…

This was their anniversary night, and they had Ruby's dorm to themselves for the whole weekend. It might not be the worst idea to change things up, a sentiment both were tentatively agreeing on.

"A-are you sure about this?" hesitant silver eyes stared at Pyrrha. "It's… it's not like we have to use it."

"We don't have to do it, if you aren't comfortable." Pyrrha seemed relieved at that thought. "We could save it for another time, right?"

"Right, no reason to use it now." Ruby nodded as she pushed it away from them. Yet, both of them couldn't look away.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…I'm-m willing to give it a chance, if you're okay with it?"

Pyrrha shakily nodded her consent, as unsteady hands pulled off the gift wrapping and the package was finally opened. Each second felt torturously slow, as her heart pounded loudly, and Ruby waited with a bated breath.

The device that emerged was… almost Cthulluian horror in appearance, and Ruby felt a moment of terror from thinking that this was something that someone used on themselves. It was only when Pyrrha gently shook Ruby's arm, that made the shorter redhead looked over to her girlfriend.

The title of the of thing that Pyrrha was holding said instruction pamphlet, but it looked big enough to be a book, before she pointed at a line in the preface. Silver eyes slowly read the instruction.

"…what do you mean it needs three people to operate?!"

AU: HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVERYONE! :D

It's been exactly one year since I started Spoon Equality, and so we get an anniversary chapter for the cute redheads! :P

On a more serious note, we'll have not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR updates today! Starting off with Spoon Equality, then Wrath, Dilation and finally Acceptance to round out the day!

That's… that's all I got for now, see you in a few hours for the next update!

For those who only read Spoon Equality, I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for reading! :D