The quiet song of the night was playing throughout Vale. The stars sparkled above the city broken by grimm. Tonight the city was quiet as the residents slept soundly for the first time in ages. Fireflies danced in the night air to the orchestra of crickets.
Oscar sat on the cliff of Beacon and stared at the view of the city. There was too much on his mind for him to be sleeping. He felt too restless.
"Hey." Oscar jumped a little at the voice that cut through the quiet. He recognized the voice belonged to a certain silver-eyed scythe wielder.
"Hey," he called back.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Ruby asked in slight amusement.
"What about you?"
"I wasn't the one that was fatally injured recently."
"I guess you're right," Oscar laughed. He patted the spot next to him. "Care to join me?"
Ruby came to sit beside him. The crickets' song played between them as neither said a word. Both just stared out at the city. Ruby tucked her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees.
"You… You can come back to Beacon, you know?" Oscar finally spoke. This elicited a small sigh from Ruby.
"I know, but right now there's a lot to be done in order to help Remnant recover. I want to help."
"I thought you might say something like that," he chuckled a little.
"But enjoy your time at Beacon! You deserve proper training now that everything is over."
"Yeah… I'm going to miss you."
"Me too."
"Hey Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"I-" a blaring siren broke their conversation. It sounded like a series of high-pitched beeps.
Oscar groaned, realizing that it was his alarm. He fished around for the pesky device on his nightstand. After not finding it, he cracked an eye open and sat up. He reached for the alarm and turned it off with no problems. He sighed, knowing that it was once again time to start the morning.
His small apartment was quiet as he got ready for the morning. He picked up the clothes he had laid out the previous night and started getting dressed. Before he put on his shirt, he took a brief moment to trace the spider-like scars on his chest. He had gotten used to them over the years, but today they ached just a little bit.
After finishing his morning routine, he grabbed his bag and left for work. He planned out the day's plan in his head as he walked. It was supposed to be a pretty ordinary day. Like most ordinary days he walked into his work. His first destination was the breakroom. He desperately needed coffee to start his day. Despite the early morning start, the breakroom had many of the faculty mingling around small groups of tables and to the sides.
"Good morning, Oscar!" an older woman called from one of the tables. Her hair was a faded red with streaks of gray running through it. Nevertheless, her brown eyes showed much youth.
"Good morning, Flann." Oscar sat down across from her. This was how the mornings usually went. He would spend his time talking to his coworkers, like Flann, until it was time to start the day.
"So Oscar, are you dating anybody?" Flann asked out of the blue. Oscar immediately choked on his coffee.
"What?! I'm- I'm not!" he stammered. "Why?!"
"One of my nieces is coming into town for a visit. She's around your age so I thought I could set you up on a date."
Oscar buried his face in his hands. Dating was the last thing on his mind at the moment. There was too much to do around Patch and Vale. He still had many duties to fulfill and dating would only get in the way.
He looked around the room trying to find any excuse to exit the conversation. He spotted Taiyang walking in to grab his morning coffee. It wasn't the greatest escape, but Tai could get him out of this conversation.
"Morning Tai!" Oscar called out. Tai looked up.
"Hey Oscar, what's up?" Tai smiled. Oscar tried his best to signal for an emergency eject from his current conversation.
"Good morning, Taiyang. Say, you have two daughters of your own, correct?" Flann asked.
"That's right, why?"
This was even worse.
"Why don't you set one of them up on a date with Oscar?" Oscar tried signaling to Tai not to answer. Tai was his last hope. But of course Tai saw this and smiled.
"Oh? I didn't realize you were so desperate, Oscar. Pray tell which of my daughters caught your fancy? Or is there something you haven't been telling me?"
"Tai!" Oscar shot up from his seat. "It's- It's not like that at all! Ruby- Ruby and Yang are just my friends!" Tai laughed.
"I'm just messing with ya. Flann don't pick on the poor boy, we don't think his heart can take that much teasing." Flann batted her eyelashes, feigning mock innocence.
"That's not helpful," Oscar grumbled to himself. He sat back down in his seat. He sometimes hated being the youngest of the Signal teachers.
"Good morning," another of his coworkers trudged into the breakroom. She already had a large, metal tumbler filled with what he presumed to (hopefully) be coffee. She sat down next to Oscar and laid her head on the table.
"Marigold, you shouldn't lay your head on the table like that," Flann lectured.
"Whatever," Marigold retorted.
"Another failed date?" Oscar asked.
"Why does everybody think that?!" She shot up. Realizing her outburst, she sunk back down into the chair and rested her head on the table again.
"Well it's because it usually is."
"Hardy-har-har. Not like you have a girlfriend."
"Not you too…" Oscar sighed. Marigold was the second youngest of the teachers at Signal. They had bonded over the relentless teasing they received from the older faculty; usually about their singleness (and Marigold's many failed relationships).
"So, was it another failed date?" Tai asked. He came around to sit at the table with them.
"Shut up…" Marigold muttered.
"I guess it was." Tai calmly took a sip from his mug.
"Can't you just focus on Oscar's love life for like a day?"
"They do that already…" Oscar sighed.
"That reminds me! My niece! What do you say Oscar?" Flann went back to the original conversation.
"I'm going to pass. I just don't have time right now. I'm focusing on the field trip to Jade Forest."
"Ugh, that's next week isn't it?" Marigold asked.
"Have fun with that," Tai replied sarcastically. "I don't pity you having to bring the class with Jett, Hector, and Cole."
"Don't remind me!" Oscar groaned. "Marigold, please take them with your group? Just for one day? I'll make it up to you somehow."
"Sorry Oscar," Marigold smiled sympathetically. "But hey, maybe next time."
"Sorry bud." Tai stood up and patted Oscar on the shoulder as he started walking away. "I'm going to start heading to my room. See you later."
"That reminds me, I have to talk to Morris before the students get here. Have fun, kids." Flann got up and left. "Let me know if you change your mind~!"
Oscar decided that it was time for him to take his leave as well. He came up with an excuse and left Marigold to sulk in the breakroom. It was his personal revenge for her not taking the small group of troublemakers from his homeroom.
Oscar walked through the quiet halls of Signal. He enjoyed those quiet moments in the morning before the chaos of the day started. Most of the faculty were already in their rooms or in the breakroom. Oscar unlocked the door to his classroom and seated himself at his desk. The desk was covered in papers featuring yet-to-be-graded papers and future lesson plans. He immersed himself into grading the papers as he waited for students to start trickling in.
Thus his ordinary day started.
###
Oscar threw his bag onto the ground next to the kitchen table. He trudged over to the couch and collapsed face first into the nearest pillow. He realized that he couldn't breathe well in the position so he shifted until he was lying on his back.
The apartment was quiet. Not even his neighbors made any loud noises. Oscar fished through his pockets until he found his scroll. No new messages. He scrolled through his contacts, wondering if anybody was available to talk.
Perhaps he would call Tai and ask to drop by for dinner. But Raven probably wouldn't be too happy if he joined them for dinner for the third time this week. He scrolled past Tai's contact. Marigold was probably too busy moping over her latest failed date. He scrolled past her contact. He stopped at an older contact. NORA VALKYRIE was printed in bold letters. The contact image with her grinning face was welcoming. Oscar's finger hesitated over the contact. He kept scrolling. Nora was probably too busy to talk.
He sighed. Seeing nobody to talk to, he put on some music instead. He lay there for a little bit before getting up to cook dinner. After that it was his usual routine. Dinner, work, and finally bed. At night, Oscar stared up at the ceiling. He counted tomorrow's tasks in his head until he fell asleep. Thus, ended Oscar's ordinary, monotonous, day.
A/N: My first work in a long time and my first RWBY fanfic! This will hopefully be updated every week, but no promises. The chapters will be longer than I've written in the past and hopefully better! Enjoy!