The strong scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the air, seeping out the front door, enticing customers by scent alone. It was a calm yet active cafe, simple in style but servicing many by day but operated much later than most to accommodate the large population of students from a neighboring university.
College students poured in by the truckload when finals approached.
Which was why Ruby Rose, a frequenter of the cafe, wondered why in the world did her friends choose to celebrate the end of exams by going to the same place they've all been studying at over the past few days.
She didn't know and at this point, she couldn't anymore. It was the first day of spring break and already she had messed it up by showing up nearly two hours late with unpaired socks. And if that wasn't bad enough, it didn't seem like the crowd was getting any thinner every passing second.
It was a real bummer when all she wanted to do was order already. Groaning and submitting to her fate of mindless waiting and boredom, Ruby threw her hood off as she entered the cafe and shoved her hands into her pockets.
She glanced around to see where her sister and her friends had settled in. At what looked like to be a neck breaking pace, her head went side to side trying to locate them. Those high doses of caffeine intake she had the previous days were still in her system, giving her a jittery way of moving. The headphones that were strapped to her head however stayed in place.
Looking around at the various unfamiliar faces, she caught a face she wasn't looking for. Her heart stopped beating, only for a moment and then the next, she found she couldn't stop herself from moving, sneakers making noise across the wooden floorboards.
Nearly bumping into a couple her age, the runner uttered out a half-assed apology and made her way towards the line of customers.
"That was a bit rude." A voice muttered behind her, which had her looking around to locate the person who just said that but then she decided it wasn't really worth the time.
Ruby glanced back in front of her, trying to make sure what she had seen was real but the crowd had already shifted and the haunting face was nowhere to be found.
She hesitated, her frenzied movements slowing down.
For seconds, she did nothing.
And then suddenly, she released a shaky laugh, ignoring the tears that pooled around at the corner of her eyes. It blurred her sight, leaving her unaware of the venomous looks she was being given by the surrounding customers she had bumped into. Feeling stupid as she stood there in the middle of the bustling cafe, the athlete shook her head and buried her face into her shoulder.
You're not supposed to think about her anymore. She reminded herself, albeit reluctantly because she knew that it was an impossible thing to do.
In spite of the welling of her emotions, the line moved forward, oblivious to her feelings. The line soon dwindled in front of her, leaving her at the front of the line. Behind the counter, a brunette with smoldering emerald eyes greeted her with a smirk, making her forget her momentary haze of tears.
She hoped the barista didn't see her tears, because then she knew she'd be subjected to never ending teasing. In the back of her mind, she knew it didn't matter because the smirking girl was always trying to tease her.
"Ruby Rose," she tilted her head to the side, "Looks like you haven't been sleeping well there, little red." The brunette reached over the counter to ruffle Ruby's hair only for her hand to be swatted away with a fierce jerk.
The rude gesture didn't faze the brunette one bit. "No need for hostility there."
"I'm not in the mood for any of your mind games right now." Ruby wasn't expecting the brunette to let her down easily, even if she did look like shit. In fact, she was already being teased for looking like one of those horribly animated zombies in video games.
But guessing by the thoughtful look the brunette had on her face, the clipped tone she gave her must have gotten through her because the next the girl was already moving strategically behind the counter.
"What are you-"
"You look like you need a pick me up. I'll be giving you a combination of your favorites or I can blow you," the barista grabbed a cup from the side, "I don't mind doing the latter though. It's been a while." Winking at Ruby's reddened face, she produced a marker out of thin air and pulled the cap with her white pearly teeth. Ruby, on the other hand, stood there with her jaw hanging open.
The young athlete whipped behind her to see if anyone was listening on the conversation but fortunately for her, everyone looked so invested into their conversations that they didn't hear what the cafe owner's sister just said.
Narrowing her eyes, she threw a fierce scowl in the brunette's way.
"So, what will it be? Do you want to walk away with a beverage or do you want to walk away with me between your legs? Makin-" Cutting into a graphic imagery of this woman's mouth being around her dick, Ruby clenched her teeth and managed to reply.
"Just give me my beverage. Just anything with sugar!" She hissed, shoulder sagging a bit.
Lots of sugar would be able to drown out the rigors of those exams, help alleviate the ache in her chest and hopefully calm down her shifting member. Ruby didn't know if this could help her out but at this point she didn't care anymore. She wanted to get away from this dangerous Omega as much as possible.
Thankfully for her, the barista was on point with what she needed today and granted her a strawberry cookie dough milkshake. She grabbed her assuredly heavenly concoction, sipping the delicious dessert as she left the counter in haste.
She was again faced with the dilemma of having to find her friends, at least this time tempered with dairy.
Ruby replaced the cafe's bustling speakers with her headphones, hoping to drown out everything else in the cafe. The moment she tapped the 'play' button on her screen, she knew Spotify had it out for her heart with its song selection.
"But you're a distant dream to me/ Then I know and I know that you're-" out of my league/how could it ever be?"
Gradually, a sad smile worked its way up onto her foam-covered mouth. The feelings the song emitted was too familiar, too nostalgic. She could relate to the singer very well, whoever they were. Leaning down, she sipped her beverage.
"Hello Ruby," someone called out, but Ruby didn't pay the voice any heed. The music blocked her off, blotted her out, separated from the world as she lost herself to the lyrics.
"Is there any chance for this dream romance? / Should I just give up? What's a fool to do? Could you fall for me?
Like I fell for you"
"Ruby?" This time, a hand pressed against her shoulder, startling Ruby out of her contemplative reverie. She spun around to see it was Pyrrha, one of her closest friends, who clasped her shoulder, sending her a billion dollar smile.
"Oh, hey Pyrrha! Glad to see you again!" Ruby cried as she pulled her old friend into a one handed hug, careful of both of their beverages.
"It's good to see you too Ruby," Pyrrha replied, joy spreading across her beautiful face. Ruby noticed how Pyrrha was wearing nothing but black workout shorts and a red sports bra. Maybe she went jogging with Jaune before this. "How have you been, how was finals?"
"Awesome and terrible, in that particular order."
Pyrrha nodded sympathetically, giving Ruby's shoulder a light squeeze before letting go. "Well, first semester exams are always brutal."
"Preach it, Pyrrha. It's best to stop talking about exams though, my headache is coming already back."
Her co-athlete simply laughed and eyed the beverage in her hand, "Are you sure it's not the amount of sugar you're currently consuming?"
Ruby blinked, looking down to see her milkshake was nearly finished. The girl flushed in embarrassment and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"Maybe."
Pyrrha simply laughed again and motioned for the stairs, indicating that they were to go upstairs. She trudged up the stairs with a slight bow of her head, following after her friend.
"Right. On a lighter topic, how's training for the next race? How is your major working out for you? Your sister mentioned you changing yours for next quarter and that you're now minoring in the same course as Weiss? Not that it's much of a surprise, you two are joined at the hip after all."
"Well, I gotta have somebody since somebody else stole my best friend," Ruby quipped. "How are you and Jaune anyways? Still going strong?"
Pyrrha playfully punched Ruby's shoulder, "Hey, hey, I already told you I'm sorry for taking him away from you. At least you have Weiss now. And well, you'd be surprised with how he was during junior high, all shy and oblivious, now well he's still the same. He just can't keep his hands off me" the athlete purred at the end.
Ruby belched. "I did not need to know that."
The thought of Pyrrha shifting to accommodate Jaune was...nope, nope, nope.
A light chuckle escaped Pyrrha's lips. "No, seriously, I don't see why it should bother you anyways. Jaune has been your best friend since you two were little, even I'm surprised that neither of you have had a crush on each other.
Not wanting any awkwardness with Pyrrha, Ruby chose to laugh along and not relive her memories of Jaune's cliched ways of trying to woo her back in elementary school. "Aha, well that will be the day Blake divorces Yang," Ruby added in for effect.
"I still can't believe Yang 'kidnapped' Blake and travelled halfway across the state all because she thought Blake's parents were going to say no to them getting married," Pyrrha recalled.
"Well, you know how society's views on faunus and humans getting married. Yang thought Mr. Belladonna was going to separate them."
"Well, that's Yang for you. Likes to exaggerate a lot. And also maybe add a bit of dramatic flair to anything as long as it concerns her."
"No truer words have been spoken, my dear friend."
Both of them rounded the corner, spotting a table not very far away with their closest friend all seated at their places. "How is Weiss doing, no, how are you two doing?"
The red haired girl missed the twinkle in her friend's eyes and answered casually, "We're doing fine. Most of the time she's always coming back home stressed out but it's not much of a surprise anymore. That includes her skipping meals. At least I'm always around to hand out massages and mashed potatoes, which by the way she loves very much but refuses to eat in front of me for whatever reason which is sad but then again I don't really want to push her because we know how Weiss can be a little-"
"Can be a little what, dolt." A low but authoritative and intimidating voice demanded, not questioned as Ruby and Pyrrha turned around to see Weiss Schnee. She was decked in a white mini skirt, white coat over a white blouse and white heels. All white. Everyone who knew her expecting nothing less.
"Weiss!" Ruby squeaked, literally squeaked. "Err, we were..I was, uh…"
"She was rambling about how much she loves and cares for you." Pyrrha saved the day.
Weiss' face flushed in embarrassment at the statement but nevertheless huffed and crossed her arms. The beta's face was contorted to the side, hiding her face away and more importantly, her reddened cheeks from both Ruby and Pyrrha.
"Dolt."
"Well, at least I'm your dolt."
Pyrrha internally screamed at the cuteness of Ruby's statement but held it together. "Hold up, what are you doing here? Weren't you just at the table?"
"No, I was going to order something to take away the bitterness of my coffee and now that Ruby is here, half an hour late I might add, I see fit that she should accompany me to the counter." Weiss' gracious eyeballs stared at the empty cup in Ruby's hand as if it was offending her.
"But...Weiss…"
"I'll buy you another of that and get you some pastries. I doubt you had any breakfast playing that game you call 'art'.
Ruby's face lit up like a beacon. "Okay, first of all...Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best game this month. And second, you have a deal!" And without so much as giving Weiss a chance to prepare herself, the excited trackstar dragged her best friend off towards the stairs, but not before dumping her empty cup in a nearby trash bin. Pyrrha couldn't help but watch her two friends act like the cutest couple ever.
If only..
"Ruby Rose! Be careful," the heiress shrieked as they narrowly missed a waiter holding a tray of orders.
"My cookies, Weiss!"
The latter just sighed, resigning to her fate.
As they climbed down the stairs, they came to a full stop in front of a (luckily) short line of people.
Ruby whose attention was already glued to the assortment of baked pastries near the counter did not see the little girl beside her which ended up in a tangled mess of cries of pain.
Weiss couldn't help but palm her forehead.
The athlete was quick to pull herself together though.
She ended up grabbing the little kid's hands and helping her stand up.
Silver met silver but Ruby didn't make the connection.
The child didn't either but they felt enamored with each other nonetheless.
And without even thinking, the kid raised her hands to squish the cheeks of the young adult and she couldn't help but smile brightly.
"You're really goofy."
Ruby couldn't help but counter as her heart hammered against her chest repeatedly, "And...and you're really cute."
A toothy grin was her response.
Weiss saw the entire exchange and couldn't help but tilt her head at the way Ruby was staring fondly at the kid who decided that cookies were more interesting than the person who just made her fall on her ass.
It was like she was-
"There she is!"
Weiss looked to see who had spoken and found a guy with light grey hair beside a girl with red eyes. They seemed agitated by the way they were glaring at Ruby who was oblivious as she made little conversation with the little girl.
"She'll kill us if she knew that we let Blaire out of our sight."
"Now if only someone was able to hold it in their pants," the girl pondered sarcastically, fixing a scowl on her face and making towards the duo.
"Now, don't be like that Emerald."
This 'Emerald' only rolled her eyes and waved him off as she bent down slightly, "Hey sweetie,"
The girl was obviously excited to see Emerald because next thing Ruby and Weiss knew, the child was asking for a bone crushing hug that obviously wasn't going to be delivered. It was still a hug nonetheless.
At some point, Ruby felt like wanted to give the girl one.
Weiss shook her head and walked closer.
"Come on, let's order those favorite cookies of yours."
It seemed like Ruby was ready to move on from the exchange when the girl, Blaire, decided to point out that she was going to have the last bag of cookies.
That's when Ruby decided that she wasn't going to take the cookies away from the little kid.
And thus, Ruby lost her cookies to an adorable kid that she couldn't help but stare at. To be honest, it was staring to make her look and feel like a creep and even as Weiss assured her that they could get something else, Ruby wasn't that excited anymore.
The pair slowly trudged up the stairs.
Weiss wasn't pretending to be subtle, she was outright staring at the sad fervor that Ruby was showing through her steps and small sips that she was taking.
"You're being awfully quiet."
Ruby shrugged in response, not caring when something else was bothering her mind. It felt like she knew the child somehow, or at least seen her somewhere before. It felt likely because the feelings that rose having a conversation with a child that had a specific one track mind about dessert made her feel all sorts of fluttery.
It's only when Nora makes a loud yell about pancakes that she brightens up immediately and runs over to their table to high five Jaune who stood up to greet her. Blake who was curled up against Yang's side was staring intently at her book, ears twitching at the sound of Yang making giggles at the way Pyrrha was trying to get Jaune to sit down. It was apparent by the fact that even though they were still dressed, Jaune's boing was still apparent with the shortest short Ruby had ever seen.
It was a good thing the blond decided to distract her by grabbing her attention.
"Hey there, Ruby! What took you so long, dude? Pyrrha and I would have invited you over with us but you weren't even answering."
Ruby couldn't help but huff as he grinned at her knowingly.
"Woke up late, of course." She replied, missing the way that everyone was staring at the way Weiss was looming over the girl's shoulder.
"Well, if you weren't too busy playing video games then you would be asleep by the clock rolls at 9."
Weiss clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes as the girl bowed and pulled out a chair for her.
"Says the girl who bought her every game that came out this year." Blake's voice piped up which resulted in fits of giggles around the table.
"Excuse me, it was her reward for passing her exam." The heiress defended.
"Right, like one exam equals about 7 games."
"Shut up, you oaf."
And just like that, the heiress went on a tangent about how it was perfectly reasonable that she bought Ruby a few games that cost 60 dollars each.
Ruby was laughing at the end of the argument when Yang went out victorious and Weiss was blushing red with embarrassment. It seemed like things were never going to change. Ren who had been quiet was sipping from his coffee and working quietly on his laptop. Nora was sitting beside him, watching his new animation projects. Pyrrha and Jaune were talking about God knows what and Weiss was busy having a conversation with Blake who was reprimanding Yang for being too mean.
Ruby couldn't help but smile and sigh contently. Though her mind was a bit troubled for some reason, she still felt at ease being around her friends. She decided to listen to her playlist and pressed play on the Spotify app.
It's only when the red haired runner was staring at her phone did she notice something strange about it. A song was playing but it wasn't exactly going through her headset. With the intent of fixing the cord, she peeled the headphone off her head and turned it around to check if there was any damages. That's when she felt a tug at her hoodie and she looked down to see the child from earlier looking up at her with a smile.
In the child's hand was a cookie that she wanted from earlier.
She opened her mouth to say something but the girl beat her to it.
"I'm sorry for taking your cookie. My mom says its always better to share things with your friends and I really want you to be my friend."
Ruby's heart melted on sight.
"Why thank you, my dear friend." She made it a point to stand up from her chair and bow dramatically.
The giggle that came from the child's mouth drew attention from her friends.
"Oh, hey." Came Weiss' nonchalant response.
"Aww! Ren, look at that little cutie! I want to eat her."
"Nora, that's illegal."
"Say, Blake. You ready to make cute little gaybies like her?" Yang reached forward to pinch the girl's little cheek when the brawler noticed something about the girl's eye color. Her eyes widened as she took in the kid's appearance, slowly turning her head to look at Ruby who seems completely taken with the kid. The latter was giggling and nudging her fist into Ruby's baby fat, giggling as her younger sister allowed it to happen to her.
"Whose kid is she?" Pyrrha piped in.
Jaune who'd been watching entire ordeal with interest noticed someone from a few tables away. A woman with amber eyes and black jet hair was talking to a guy he couldn't recognize and sputtered wordlessly as he realized it was someone he knew from a long time ago. As a matter of fact, everyone else knew who the strange woman was so he decided to voice his astonishment.
"Hey, isn't that Ms. Fall from our Biology class years ago?"
Everyone including Blaire who was so drawn to Ruby's red tipped hair snapped to look. It took everyone about a few seconds to agree when really, something else dawned on them and they all switched their attention to the little girl who was walking back towards ...Ms. Fall.
It was silent for a brief moment.
Then chaos ensued when Ruby stood up abruptly and Yang followed, shoving her hand into her sister's hoodie.
"Tell me, you did not." The Alpha growled.
The response she had gotten in return was Ruby fainting in her arms. Of course, she did. There was absolutely no doubt about it now, especially with the way Ruby reacted and the fact that silver eyes were only something that her other mother's side of the family had. Slowly, she looked back at the table where she found who exactly she wanted to beat up next.
Cinder Fall; standing tall and confused just as everyone was seconds ago.
Until the woman's eyes honed in on the person Yang was clutching onto for dear life.
"Well, shit."
"Mommy, you just said a bad word."
So this was originally going to be on FF first but I completely forgot and did Ao3 instead. I just recently checked my profiles and saw that this has not been cross-posted on FF so I'm doing it now. I'm already working on the second chapter so expect something soon. If you have any objections to the ship or tag or what it is, then just leave. It's as simple as that, to be honest. This one was a fun one to write though. I usually just write something sad.