AN: This is a companion piece to Center Stage but can be read alone :) I hope you enjoy!
Ruby rushed across the small, grassy field as she lugged a heavy duffle bag with one arm and several large, rolled up prints in the other. She felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her pants, and gasped as she recognized the assigned pattern to be Pyrrha. Coming to a slow, she struggled to reach down and pull it out to answer the text message. However, the items in her hand did not seem to be having any of that and began tilting and sliding out of her arms. Noticing nearly too late, Ruby whimpered as she began to shift her supplies more securely, and winced as she mentally apologized to Pyrrha for not being able to answer her for the nth time that month.
The biomed engineering intern felt incredibly guilty for not being able to contact Pyrrha more often, but the Biomedical Engineering department at Polendina Industries had a sudden order to out compete Japan in an upcoming bio-medical convention. Unfortunately, the event was just a couple of months away, and the department Ruby was interning in, wasn't nearly close to finished with any of their new works in progress. About a third of their projects were still being processed and theorized on paper, while the other third was still having individual areas developed for the trial stages. The older prosthetic works that Ruby had helped worked on, were still in their beta stages and had miscalculations and constructions to reconsider. Toppled with the fact that the head engineer had decided to put Ruby in charge of half of their projects, (a few which weren't even in Ruby's field of expertise as she could not recall ever studying how to construct a heart implant… or implants in general.) Ruby felt like she had no spare time for herself.
She was just thankful that Pyrrha was incredibly patient and understanding of Ruby's situation, and had simply assured her to take her time in texting back.
Despite the reassurance though, Ruby still couldn't help but feel bad for not being able to text back. With a firm nod, Ruby mentally noted to herself to strive to find a better way to contact Pyrrha.
The idea suddenly came to her when she was back home in her room at her apartment she shared with Blake. Ruby could just call Pyrrha after work.
Texting while doing homework was difficult and distracting, so the two didn't touch their phones during that time. However, Ruby didn't have any qualms against talking.
With that thought, Ruby pulled out earbuds from her wooden desk drawer, and plugged it into her phone as she tapped the screen to pull up Pyrrha's contact. Her finger hovered over the call button however, as she suddenly became nervous.
Would Pyrrha find the call inconvenient? What if Pyrrha was busy at the moment? What if she didn't want a call from Ruby?
A dozen questions flew across Ruby's mind as she began having second thoughts about her decision. Changing her mind about calling Pyrrha, Ruby slightly moved her finger to the messaging option instead with the idea of sending Pyrrha hopes of having a nice day and a good night.
Ruby's touchscreen phone betrayed her however, as apparently it deemed that her finger had not moved far enough from the call button, and selected the option for her.
Before she knew it, the ringing tone sounded in Ruby's ears as Pyrrha's name enlarged in display on screen.
Inwardly panicking, Ruby hurriedly picked her phone up and began fumbling with it to end the call before she could hear Pyrrha's dreaded answer of not wanting to talk.
"Ruby? Is everything okay?" Pyrrha answered.
It was too late.
This was the end of Pyrrha's romantic interest in her and of the two's barely budding relationship. Pyrrha would want to stop talking to her and Ruby will have no choice but to learn how to cope with the feeling of disappointment as she continued on with her busy schedule.
"U-Uh. Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "Everything is fine! I-I uh…"
She swallowed her nervousness down, taking a quick moment to breath and relax.
There was no reason to panic. She just had to be honest.
"I just… wanted to talk to you." Ruby finished. "Is… that okay with you?"
She heard movement shuffling from the other end of the line. "Of course, it's more than okay." Pyrrha said, and Ruby could hear the other smiling. "I've been wanting to talk to you too. I… missed you." She said, finishing in a lower tone as though embarrassed at the confession.
Ruby smiled, her heart feeling much lighter in relief. "I missed you too. I'm sorry I haven't been able to text you back."
"It's fine, I understand that you've been really busy." Pyrrha assured. "How has work been?"
Ruby laughed, "Work." She said, putting her phone back to the side of the desk as she continued her homework on her tri-monitored desktop. "The final calculations on the blueprints for the heart implant were finished today, so we should be able to finish the construction of it within two weeks and test it out."
"A heart implant?" Pyrrha asked, "I was under the impression that your specialty was in prosthetics."
Ruby lightly sighed, "Yeah. But because of how pressed we are for time, the head engineer gave me that project to look over. I'm just glad that it'll be one of the first ones to be finished." Ruby stated, "I think it would have been a lot more stressful if we worked on that last since it's not… you know. My strongest point."
"That certainly sounds like a cause for celebration." Pyrrha chuckled.
"I wish!" Ruby exclaimed with a groan, "It'd be so cool if I could have a cake party!"
"Perhaps you can do so after?" Pyrrha asked
Ruby pouted, "I can't. Because finals is a few weeks after so I'll have all that homework and projects to do."
"Oh. That's certainly a little disheartening."
"I know." Ruby agreed as she began swinging her legs under her chair. "What about you? How has basketball practice and school been?"
A hum, "It's been a little difficult recently." Pyrrha laughed. "I'm doing a group project for two of my courses, however, making time to meet with either group is proving to be hard seeing as basketball season had started a few days ago."
"That's a bummer." Ruby frowned, "How long has your practice been?" Ruby asked out of curiosity.
"Well," Pyrrha began with a slight drawl, "I got home just around 10:15." She laughed causing Ruby to snap her gaze to the corner of her desktop to check the time.
"That was just two hours ago." Ruby claimed in shock, causing more laughter to erupt from Pyrrha. "You've been practicing for four hours a day?!" She asked in further stupor, wondering how anyone could rigorously practice and work out for that long. Running around in a rush nearly every day and carrying all her equipment was enough of a work out for Ruby...
"Yes. Unfortunately this will be a regular occurrence for a while. Or at least, until our games start." Pyrrha informed her.
"How do you make time for school?" Ruby asked in awe. "Or socialising?"
Silence reigned over the phone for a moment, causing Ruby to stop in her typing and glance over at her phone. "Pyrrha?"
"Well…" Pyrrha began, "How do you make time?" She retaliated
Ruby paused as realization dawned upon her about the two being in the same boat, and Ruby laughed. "Oh."
"Oh is right." Pyrrha lightly laughed.
"When is your first game?" Ruby asked as she resumed her homework.
"The 11th of November." Pyrrha said easily.
Ruby frowned, "When does basketball season end?"
"March 5th." Pyrrha answered, "Though, if we make it into the tournament, then it'll end on April 3rd."
"You're going to be so busy!" Ruby exclaimed with a pout as her typing slowed down. It seemed like at this rate, the two would never be able to even have a date.
Pyrrha chuckled, "It's fine. I'm certain we can work something out. After all, we're talking on the phone now aren't we?"
Ruby smiled at the idea and nodded, "That is a lot better than before, when we were barely texting."
"Yes! See? We're doing pretty well." Pyrrha said.
"Yeah…" Ruby agreed, "We are." She said with more confidence.
The two continued talking as the both of them did their homework and projects well into the night with occasional bouts of comfortable silence in between. It wasn't until it was nearly three in the morning, and yawns began interrupting between words, that the two decided that it was time to go to bed.
"I… suppose we'll have to call it a night." Pyrrha said with some reluctance.
Ruby nodded, "Yeah…" She said, not wanting to end their call just yet despite how the lights were off.
"... I liked this." Pyrrha said.
Ruby shuffled bashfully, settling further under her covers. Her phone already plugged in to charge as she held it against her ears. "I did too." She confessed.
"Perhaps we can do this again?" Pyrrha asked, "Maybe… even a regular occurrence?" She asked in a hopeful tone
Ruby giggled, "We can. I don't know if you'll want to hear about what I did at work all the time though. It can get a little boring." She reasoned, understanding that listening to someone talk about calculations and mechanical parts would be entertaining.
"Not at all." Pyrrha assured, "I… like listening to your voice. You could read a dictionary and I wouldn't mind."
Finding heat rush to her face, Ruby couldn't help but let out a small squeak. "O-Okay." She said, "Then…" she trailed off, unsure if she should call the following day or if Pyrrha wanted to call.
"I'll call you tomorrow?" Pyrrha asked, "Around the same time you did?"
Ruby nodded in agreement, "That sounds good."
"Alright then… I hope you have a good night." Pyrrha reluctantly said.
"... Good night." Ruby said as she slowly brought her phone back down and pressed the end button.
Placing it back on the nightstand, Ruby turned to face the ceiling with a small smile, feeling satisfied for having such a long and pleasant talk with Pyrrha.
And with the calming knowledge that the two's budding relationship was still going well.
For the next couple of weeks, the two continued calling each other late at night and talking until well past midnight. Taking turns to call one another and ensuring that it was fine to do so for the next day.
There were a few days when it wasn't possible, as Pyrrha had to meet with one of her groups or was held back for further practice. Or Ruby had to stay back at the workshop to continue on a project.
Scheduling time to actually see each other seemed impossible as their class schedules clashed, and the two would head to work or practice immediately after. It was only twice when the two were able to see each other for a short lunch, but even then it was for about fifteen minutes before they had to depart. So they relied on calling each other late at night to keep in contact.
Although, there were even a few days when their calls were cut short due to one of them falling asleep while on line.
However, that was not the case when about another week later, the two were on the phone with each other and Ruby was barely speaking.
Her hair was incredibly messy, there were bags drooping under her eyes from lack of sleep and a small wrinkle was becoming apparent at her brow from stress, a result from her incoming deadlines for her department's deadlines.
She was pretty sure she had looked completely awful the past few days, but she couldn't bring herself to care in light of the pile of work she had.
She brought her right hand up, pushing her gold and tortoise rimmed Ray Ban Clubmaster glasses over her brow as she rubbed her tired, red eyes as she hunched over at her desk and continued tinkering with one of the prosthetics she had brought home as numerous models were pulled on her screens.
"Ruby?"
The call of her name made her grunt in recognition, though she didn't say anything else.
"Would you like me to call some other time?" Pyrrha asked. "I don't want to be a bother to you."
The statement pulled Ruby out of her reverber as she realized that she was still on the phone with Pyrrha. She put her tools down in an attempt to help her stay focused on the other as Ruby tried to reassure her, "No no. You're not being a bother at all. I'm sorry I haven't been talking." Ruby apologized
"It's okay. You just seem rather busy though." Pyrrha said skeptically.
"I.. am" Ruby agreed, "But I want to keep talking to you."
"We could always talk tomorrow." Pyrrha assured.
Ruby frowned, not at all wanting to hang up on Pyrrha and wishing to keep her company as the two hadn't been able to talk much the past week. An idea came to her though as she reached over for her mouse and began clicking around. "Pyrrha, do you have a Skype or a FaceTime?"
"I have a FaceTime, why?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hold on." Ruby said, "I'll call you right back."
"Okay." Pyrrha agreed as Ruby ended the call.
Not five seconds later though, Ruby found Pyrrha's contact information on her desktop, and began a video call.
It took a few rings, but soon enough, Pyrrha's tired face, donned with large black square-ish glasses, filled one of the monitors with a small smile, and the sight of her caused Ruby's heart to flutter a bit in excitement.
A dopey smile stretched across her face as she suddenly began feeling a little self conscious, "Hi." She said stupidly.
A low chuckle, though this time accompanied with the sight of Pyrrha, "Hello again."
Ruby couldn't relax her large grin on her face and continued staring at Pyrrha's face. "I missed you." She blurted out.
Pyrrha's face softened as her eyes flickered about on the screen, "I missed you too. I feel as though it has been too long since we last saw each other."
Ruby lightly giggled, "We just saw each other a few days."
"A few days is too long my l-" A light blush rose in Pyrrha's cheeks, though Ruby wasn't certain whether or not that was real… or if it was just something from Pyrrha's camera or Ruby's monitor. Pyrrha lightly cleared her throat before she shook her head, her messy braid whipping from side to side. "What is it that you're working on?" She finally asked instead.
"Oh." Ruby suddenly deflated at being reminded of her work. "I have to work on a hand."
"Is it… alright for you to work at home though? Isn't it dangerous?" Pyrrha asked.
Ruby shrugged, "I have all the precautions ready around my room and the required safety equipment on my desk… er… workbench. So the apartment will be fine."
Pyrrha hummed in interest.
"What about you?" Ruby asked.
A terse frown barely appeared on Pyrrha's face as she glanced down at her own desk. "As of current, I'm working on O-Chem."
Ruby scrunched her nose in displeasure at the subject as she picked up an electric soldering tool. "I had that second semester. I hated it." She grumbled as she began tinkering about with her prosthetic.
Pyrrha chuckled, "I admit, it's not one of my favored subjects."
"How is it for you?" Ruby mindlessly asked.
Pyrrha hummed, "I'm doing rather decent in it, however I hate to admit that it takes a lot of work for me to understand sometimes. So I find myself frequently wishing to study it a bit more than go to basketball practice."
"That's normal." Ruby reassured, switching her tools while knowing that Pyrrha had difficulty telling anyone of her struggles with juggling academia and her sports in fear of losing either of her promised scholarships that would guarantee a full ride throughout college and the majority of med school.
"Was it difficult for you?" Pyrrha asked, fully aware that Ruby could not disclose any of her difficulties with any of her classes in fear of failing the professor's and her co-worker's expectations.
"Kind of." Ruby said. "But work helped me understand it."
"I wasn't aware that there was a hands on learning technique for O-chem." Pyrrha stated.
"Nope. Just kept doing it." Ruby said, her mind completely focused on the prosthetic as she squinted down at an area, and glanced up at her monitor to look at the blueprint before pulling a head light down.
"Ruby?" Pyrrha voiced out.
The intern could only grunt in acknowledgment, completely immersed in tinkering with the bionic and missing the fond look on Pyrrha's face, as she continued watching for a few minutes before returning back to her own homework.
It wasn't until hours later, when Ruby began feeling kinks in her neck and straightened up to stretch for a moment, that she noticed her webcam was still on…
And that Pyrrha's sleeping face on display as she laid in bed, her laptop presumably on a surface area for her to face.
Bewildered, Ruby wondered exactly how long she had been working and when Pyrrha had fallen asleep. A quick glance to the corner of her screen stated it being nearly five in the morning, and she couldn't help but to lightly groan at herself.
The sound seemed to have reached Pyrrha's ears as she lightly stirred, causing Ruby to hold her breath in fear of waking her up.
"Ruby?" Pyrrha asked sleepily, causing Ruby to exhale in slight guilt. "Did you finish your work?"
Ruby nodded "Yeah. I'm about to go to bed now." She assured, "You didn't have to stay on while I worked."
Pyrrha yawned, "I wanted to watch you work…. I hope that is okay?"
The confession caused Ruby's heart to flip in happiness and for her cheeks to lightly heat in embarrassment. "It's fine." She said, "I'm sorry for waking you up."
"It's fine." Pyrrha repeated back. "This way I can say goodnight to you."
Ruby allowed a light giggle of happiness to escape at the idea, "Good night." She said.
"Have a good night Ruby." Pyrrha whispered before Ruby ended the nearly seven hour video call.
Turning off the lights and wandering over to her bed, Ruby couldn't help but allow a satisfied sigh to be breathed through her nose as she crawled under her covers.
And felt all her stress melt away as she thought about Pyrrha.