A/N I couldn't get this story out of my head so I wrote it, and it was really easy to write so I finished it. It was supposed to be a one-shot but it came out pretty long so I decided to publish it in two parts. I know it's a little wordy, but I feel like most people don't understand climbing if they've never done it so I tried to be pretty detailed for some parts.
PS. I don't own RWBY, but I think you guys know that..
Ruby was sitting on the stool at the desk goofing off on the computer when she noticed the time. Her head jolted up and she looked expectantly at the entrance of the Rec Center. Ruby was just in time to see Her. Since the beginning of the semester, every Tuesday and Thursday at precisely 3:38PM, She walked through the doors.
It was Ruby's second semester in a row with the 2-6PM shift at the Rock Wall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She knew who the regular climbers were and when to expect a busy rush of people. As far as Ruby was concerned, this semester was going to be just as uneventful and happily predictable semester at the Rock Wall. That was until two weeks into the semester when Ruby had looked up from taking a group of newbies through orientation and found herself staring into the coldest, most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.
By now, it was halfway through the semester, and Ruby had gotten used to seeing Her. Well, Ruby had at least gotten to the point where she didn't completely lose her train of thought and run into the person next to her every time she saw Her. Ruby still stuttered if she happened to be talking when the blue-eyed girl walked by, but she was at least able to finish most of her sentences now.
From her perch on the stool, at 3:38PM on Tuesday, Ruby's eyes followed the blue-eyed girl as she walked through the University's Rec Center and towards the locker rooms in the back area of the Rec Center, just as She always did. In ten minutes, She would walk back from the locker rooms, usually changed from a light blue skirt and heels to either black or dark blue knee-length tights and athletic shoes, had head up the stairs, presumably to one of the treadmills in the cardio station on the second floor.
Ruby knew this because She did it every Tuesday and Thursday. The same routine, always perfectly on time. It was actually really impressive how punctual the blue-eyed girl was.
Today was no different. Exactly 10 minutes later, the blue-eyed girl walked past the Rock Wall that was the center piece of the Rec Center and went up the stairs. All the while, Ruby's eyes discreetly followed Her. Just as the blue-eyed girl reached the top of the stairs and left Ruby's sight for good, Ruby's friend Juane walked up to the desk with a pair of rather smelly climbing shoes.
"Hey Ruby! Whatcha thinking about?"
"Uhh..nothing much, I just have a big paper coming up in class soon," Ruby quickly replied, which wasn't a lie, she really did. It just wasn't what she was thinking about. "You ready to return those shoes?"
"Yeah! Thanks! Will you be at practice tonight? I could use some beta on that 5.9 I've been working on."
Ruby smiled: Juane had always refused help when he first started climbing, but after a long talk with Pyrrha and a few climbing sessions together, he eagerly asked for help now in his desire to get better. Jaune had shown a lot of growth in the last few weeks.
Ruby pulled up the gear rental program and typed in a few commands before she responded, "Yeah, I can help talk you through it tonight! At this rate, we'll have you crushing 5.10's before May! And I got your gear checked back in, so you're good. Thanks Jaune!"
"Thanks Rubes! See ya later," the scraggly haired blonde responded with a cheery wave.
Ruby smiled as he walked off and got up from her perch to go walk around the Wall and check to see if any climbers needed a belay or some beta. She had an hour to kill, after all.
At exactly 4:59, Ruby strategically plopped herself down on one of the chairs surrounding the Wall that gave her a clear and unobstructed view of the area between the stairs and the locker rooms. Like clockwork, the blue-eyed girl walked down the stairs at 5:00 and Ruby's eyes followed Her as she began to talk with her friend and co-worker Blake.
The last hour of shift tended to be pretty slow, so Ruby was glad to be on shift with her friends Blake and Nora. Nora's slightly unpredictable personality and slightly crazy antics complimented Blake's persona well. That combined with Ruby's overall positivity and love for fun always made for an enjoyable shift that the three girls looked forward to. In Ruby's case, however, part of that excitement was also due to a certain blue-eyed girl.
After a long day of classes, work, practice, and homework, Ruby lay in bed thinking as she began to drift off to sleep. All Ruby could think about as she lay there was Her. Maybe it was slightly obsessive, but Ruby couldn't help but feel drawn to the girl. Ruby lay there, wondering what Her major was, what year She was, why She was always so on time, what was Her favorite color, and especially what Her name was. Finally, Ruby decided she couldn't take it any longer. She was going to find a way to talk to the captivating girl with ice blue eyes. Maybe Ruby could even get Her to climb. At the very least, Ruby was going to find out Her name the next time she saw Her.
Hi! I'm Ruby, and I work at the Rock Wall. Your body looks perfect for rock climbing, you should come try it!
Ugh no Ruby, that sounds stupid, way to sound like a creep. Stupid social awkwardness.
Hi! I'm Ruby. I work at the Rock Wall, and I've seen you walk by a few times, you should come try it next time you're here!
Okay..that's better, maybe that will work. Now just to find a way to approach Her..
It was Tuesday, and Ruby was a mess of nerves. It was time for work and she still hadn't come up with a game plan. For the first time, Ruby wished she had the cool confidence and skill with words that her sister Yang had. It wasn't even like Ruby wanted to ask Her on a date, all Ruby wanted to do was start a conversation, just enough to get Her name. Ruby knew the chances of the blue-eyed girl being into girls was slim to none and that the chances of said girl being into Ruby's awkward self was even smaller. Ruby respected that. All Ruby wanted was to find out the girl's name so she could stop thinking of the girl as "Her". If she was really lucky, maybe she could make a new friend out of the conversation, and Ruby would respect the girl enough to leave it at that.
Trying to figure out what to say without sounding like an idiot distracted Ruby from most of her shift; it's a good thing belaying was such a repetitive motion that relied on muscle memory. Luckily for her climbers, Ruby could probably still belay safely in her sleep. Ruby went through the first half of her uncharacteristically busy shift in a daze, and eventually decided to go grab a bag of chocolate chip cookies from the vending machines near the locker rooms. As soon as things slowed down enough that she was sure Blake and Nora could handle things, Ruby quietly excused herself from the Rock Wall and headed towards the vending machines.
Since the Wall was mostly run by student-workers, part of a university funded program that helped students get funding for school by working, things at work were pretty relaxed. There weren't any official breaks while on shift, but you were allowed to bring snacks or go purchase them from the vending machine if you got hungry with the understanding that it didn't interfere with servicing participants. The grad student who served as the manager for the Wall was hardly ever around since they mostly did paper work in the back office, so Ruby and her co-workers were pretty much allowed to do as they pleased. It worked out really well since they all enjoyed their jobs and were happy to do what they were paid for.
As Ruby punched in the numbers that would give her a bag of cookies, Ruby glanced at her watch: 3:39. Ruby's eyes' got wide as she hurriedly grabbed her cookies from the machine. She was late! Ruby quickly turned around and double-timed it towards the entrance of the Rec Center. As she was rounding the corner that would put her in view of the Wall, Ruby looked down to check her watch again. When Ruby looked up, she found herself face to face with a pair of ice blue eyes. Ruby blinked in surprise and then suddenly found herself on the floor in a tangle of limbs.
"Ohmygosh, I'm so so so sorry. I didn't see you and I was –"
"What is wrong with you?! Why weren't you watching where you were going? You could seriously hurt someone like that! I'm already this close to being in a boot! You could have hurt me!"
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! Why are you almost in a boot? Did I hurt you? Did I break your leg? Are you gonna be in a boot because of me?" screamed back a frightened Ruby.
"Ugh, no, you dolt. I have a stress fracture in my shin and my doctor is threatening to put me in a boot if it doesn't heal soon. I can't run if I'm in a boot! I'm already stuck in here using a stupid elliptical to help minimize the impact put on my leg. I can't let them take running away from me, it's the only thing that keeps me sane. The only time I'm ever free. I swear if you make it worse, I will ki—"
"You have a stress fracture and you're using the elliptical? Don't get mad at me for making it worse. You're doing that all by yourself, princess. If you want your stress fracture to heal faster, you should be in the pool, or at the very least on a bi— Wait, why aren't you always free? We live in America…" All the yelling was starting to get to Ruby and the first part came out a lot meaner than she had intended.
"You inconsiderate..ugh! I don't even know why I'm talking to you, why I even said anything! Just get out of my way and never speak to me again," the blue-eyed girl said as she shoved past Ruby.
"Wait, I didn't even get your name.." breathed out a defeated Ruby. So much for trying to make a new friend, the brown-haired girl thought to herself. Now She hates me.
Ruby went back to work, and not even the chocolate cookies she had bought could make her feel better. We live in America, gosh Ruby, how stupid could you get, the young girl thought to herself. Ruby had to make it up to the beautiful girl she had literally ran into.
Ruby checked her watch: 4:59. Perfect timing. She took a deep breath and walked determinedly towards the stairs just as the blue-eyed girl was walking down them.
Ruby walked up to Her with a straight back and confident gait as the other girl walked gingerly down the stairs with Her eyes focused on her feet.
Once she reached the bottom, the blue-eyed girl looked up and met Ruby's silver eyes, her face quickly going from passive to angry. Before She could open her mouth, Ruby quickly began to speak.
"Look, I just wanted to apologize properly, please don't yell. Just hear me out and if you still want you never have to speak to me again." Ruby paused to let the other girl yell at her again, but when nothing happened she continued. "I really didn't mean to run into you, I should have been watching where I was going. And I'm sorry about the stress fracture, I've had one before and I know how frustrating they can be. Also, what you said about being free when you run… I know the feeling, like you're the only person in the world and none of your problems matter anymore for that brief period of time. That's how I feel when I climb. It's better when I get to climb outside, but climbing indoors is a pretty good substitute on the weekdays. You should come try it sometime. Okay, I'm done now. I'm Ruby, by the way," the brunette said as she extended her hand.
"I guess I didn't make myself clear enough earlier: Never speak to me again, Dolt." And with that, the blue-eyed girl once again shoved past Ruby without giving her name.
Ugh, that did not go well. Ruby hung her head as she walked back to the Wall.
"Ruby, are you okay? What was that all about?" Blake asked Ruby with a concerned look on her face.
"Oh, well I ran into this girl earlier, like literally knocked her over ran into her, and I went to apologize again but she's still pretty upset.." Ruby responded as she slumped onto one of the benches near the desk. "She yelled at me a lot and I kinda yelled back cause I got scared but I just wanted to be her friend and I ruined it all cause I'm clumsy and awkward and say dumb things."
"Wait. You ran over Weiss Schnee and then yelled at her? Aww, man Ruby, I would have paid money to see that!"
"Who's Weiss Schnee?" responded a confused Ruby.
"You don't know? Weiss Schnee, daughter of the owner of the highly controversial Schnee-Mart? She's basically the future owner of the world's biggest retail company. The same company that is known for its horrid treatment of employees and suppliers, not to mention their complete lack of concern for the environment. Just because the company is basically a global monopoly, the company thinks it can do whatever it wants and bully others into doing what they say. Don't stress about it too much, Rubes, she's probably just a bully like her father."
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Blake. Thanks." Despite Blake's revelation about the blue-eyed girl, Ruby still couldn't get the sad look that had crossed the heiress' face as when She had mentioned the stress fracture. Well, at least Ruby knew the girl's name now.
The rest of shift passed uneventfully, and Ruby momentarily forgot about her earlier altercation as she and Blake watched Nora be as reckless as possibly without actually breaking any rules expected to be followed the Rock Staff. This included throwing a couple of the pancakes she always carried around as snacks at their friend Ren asking if he wanted to play frisbee. Nora made sure to wait until Ren was belaying so that his hands would be full and he'd be forced to take a pancake to the face, to the amusement of everyone at the Wall. Technically, Nora probably shouldn't be doing that, but, seriously, who has the foresight to make a "no pancake throwing allowed" rule?
A/N Part 2 is mostly typed up and ready to go, I'll publish it next weekend to give some time for reviews and such. I know I said it's a two-shot, but I do have ideas to continue the story, just not a lot of time. But, if you guys like this, maybe it'll encourage me to find time to write more. So review/follow to let me know how y'all feel? No promises though