"Scooper Boy! I need two large chocolate cones, on the double!"

"Coming boss!"

"Scooper Boy! A bowl of vanilla with chocolate icing and sprinkles!"

"On it!"

"Scooper Boy! Rocky Road, extra large cone!"

"Aye aye, sir!"


"Thank you, come again soon!" Cambridge Mint happily waved at a young couple as they exited the shop.

It was two hours before closing time, and there were only a handful of customers left that were still sitting in their booths.

Using the downtime to catch my breath, I leaned back against a wall and wiped the sweat off my brow. "Sheesh, busy day today. You'd think working at an ice cream parlor would keep me cool from the hot weather, but I still feel like I'm a cooked lobster in here…"

"Really? I don't feel any different." The boss glanced at me with a curious eyebrow raised.

"Gee, I wonder why that is." I deadpanned, staring at him as he cheerfully sat still in one spot behind the cash register, which he hadn't moved from since the entire goddamn day.

He chuckled, "I'm just teasing. Alright, since you've been working so hard, I'm willing to let you take a break for the rest of the day."

"You don't mind?" I asked him.

"I can handle the last few hours by myself. Feel free to go home, or do whatever it is you kids do when you have free time." He waved me away.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I gratefully told him, "Thanks boss!" Before going in the back of the shop to change out of my uniform and grab my stuff.

As I changed clothes, I heard the familiar jingle of the door bell. Out of habit, I almost head out to get ready to make another order, but then remembered that I was just allowed a break.

"He can handle this one then." I told myself, finishing up.

"Well howdy there, little miss! What can I do for you?" I heard the boss greet whoever came in.

"Hi! I heard this place has mint flavored milkshakes?"

My ears perked up as I heard the customer's voice. Something about it seemed familiar… though, I couldn't quite to place it...

"Yes, ma'am! Care to try one?"

"Sure. I never heard of a milkshake that was mint flavored before, so I was curious. What's it like?"

Hm… No, I definitely know that voice from somewhere…

"Well, imagine eating mint ice cream. Now imagine if that ice cream was a milkshake. Speaks for itself, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it does." I heard the girl giggle.

Jeez, even the way she laughed struck my memories somehow…

"Alrighty, I'll go get you a glass then."

As I finished switching out my work uniform to a casual hoodie, curiosity got the better of me. I couldn't help but check out who the girl was and why she sounded so familiar.

"Here you are, missy. One small mint milkshake, served with love and tenderness from the Mint Factory itself." The boss said, handing the glass to the customer.

Over the counter, the girl picked it up and thanked him before sipping it.

The moment I saw her red hood and cheerful face, I paused in my step.

My eyes widened in surprise, and I tactlessly called out, "You?!"

She glanced over to me while still sipping her drink, before turning away to ignore me. Only to then spit her drink out and do a double take, "You?!"

"You!" I balked.

"You!" She pointed at me.

"Ahem."

Our focus was taken away as we paid our attention to the now mint-drenched Cambridge Mint. I flinched at the sight, while Red-lady covered her mouth in shock.

The boss steadily wiped his eyes dry from the mess, looking bemused. Facing towards me, he asked, "So I take it you two know each other, then?"


The First Week

"Here ya go. One small cup of mint-flavored milkshake, on the house." I set the drink down on the table, before taking a seat across from her.

She politely nodded and took the drink, "You didn't have to give me a free drink, you know."

"Don't worry about it," I waved away her concerns, "It's the least I can do after what you did for me the last time we met. Besides, one of the perks of working here is that I get half-off of everything that's on the menu. Just enjoy it."

Taking my advice, she slurped up her milkshake with content.

"Taste good?" I asked.

She gulped, before replying, "Yeah, it's delicious." She inquisitively looked around the place, studying the ceiling decoration and the menu theme. "So," she started off quietly, "this is your day job then? Not what I expected from someone in the White Fang."

I shrugged, "It's a living. Being part of a movement doesn't exactly pay the rent, you know?"

"I guess…" She paused to look at the boss, before asking, "So does that mean the owner is also…?"

"Oh!" I realized what she meant, and cleared things up, "Actually, no. He's a human, like you. Doesn't even know that I'm part of the White Fang."

"Really? You're fine with working for a human? But I thought-"

"Listen, I know it seems weird for me to work for him even though he's a human. But the thing is, I don't hate all humans. Just the majority of them. The ones that are composed entirely out of racist dickheads, basically." I explained, "I'm totally cool with the ones that don't care whether I'm a Faunus or not."

"Oh." She hummed, taking another sip of her milkshake. "You know, there are more nice humans than there are racist ones. The majority of us aren't like what you think."

I gave a dry chuckle at that. "Sure."

"You don't believe me?" She frowned.

"No, I believe that's what you think." I answered, before elaborating, "The problem is though, you and I have experienced different lives. I'm sure you probably believe that the majority of people you've met were kind-hearted people who couldn't possibly mistreat others. But then again, you weren't born a Faunus."

"What do you mean?"

"Chances are, if you were born with wolf ears or a monkey's tail, and you ever came across those people again… they'd probably treat you like dirt." I sighed, "You were lucky that you were born a human. Everyone actually treats you as an equal out of common courtesy. That's why you probably think the majority of humans are all nice and considerate. Me? I rarely ever have that luxury with strangers."

"Is that what you really believe?" She asked sadly.

"I believe that's what I think." I answered simply.

And then there was silence.

We sat there and looked away from each other, an awkward pause in the air that was heavy enough to bring down the mood.

She sat there quietly as she finished her drink in thought, only occasionally glancing up to look at me. I could only imagine what was going through her mind.

Pulling out my Scroll, I checked the time and decided that now was a good time to leave before the mood got any worse.

Sitting up, I said my farewells, "Welp, it was nice to see you again, Red-lady."

"Where are you going?" She looked surprised to see me leave so soon.

"Going home. I'm taking an early leave for the day." I told her.

Before I could leave, however, the girl grabbed my sleeve just as I was walking past her, "Wait!"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Are you going to be here next week? Sundays are my free days, so I think I can probably come visit more often."

"Visit? You mean you want to come by here to visit me again?" I raised an eyebrow.

She nodded.

"Er- why?"

"Because…" She paused, before looking at me with a pleading expression, "I mean, we're friends now, aren't we?"

Are we? Never really considered it…

"I guess we are?" I said in an unsure tone.

Hearing that, she gave me a wide smile, "Great! So that means you don't mind if I come by every now and then?"

"I don't see why not, but why do you-"

"Just to talk, you know? Everybody needs to have a friend to talk to every once in awhile." She explained, "My name is Ruby Rose. It's nice to meet you!"

"Well then. Nice to meet you too, Ruby." Despite how confused I was, I couldn't help but pleasantly smile back at her. She was a pretty weird girl, but her outgoing personality seemed to be kinda infectious. "So I guess I'll see you next week then?"

"Count on it!" She cheered as she smiled brightly at me.

Hm... something to look forward to for next week. Don't know why she would go through the trouble to make the time just to spend it on me. Maybe she felt pity for me? Maybe she found it sad that I had such negative views on the majority of the human race? Maybe she thought I was lonely because of it?

Meh. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to get to know her a bit.


The Second Week.

*Jingle-Jangle*

I looked towards the door and paused in surprise. "Huh. You actually came back to visit."

"I said I would, didn't I?" She smiled.

Facing towards the boss, I asked, "Hey Mint, do you think I can-"

He interrupted me before I could finish asking, "Go ahead. It's a slow day today."


"Why I joined the White Fang?" I repeated the question to myself.

"Yeah. What happened in your life that lead you to join them?" She asked me, licking her mint ice cream cone.

I hummed in thought.

"You don't have to answer it if it's too personal. I just thought I'd ask."

"No no, it's fine." I reassured her, "You can probably already figure out the reason I joined them in the first place. Got sick of seeing all the mistreatment that Faunus were put through. Got tired of being belittled and shunned just because we were born with animal features, something none of us had any control over in the first place. There was so much injustice in the world, and I was so angry having to see all of it happen right in front of my eyes…"

I sighed, "What I was angry about the most was that I didn't know what to do about it. I felt powerless, and weak. Pointless. After all, what can a single Faunus kid do to fix all of this? But then a friend of mine told me about this group called the White Fang. He said how they were a group dedicated to bringing equality and justice to all the Faunus in the world. How they planned to stop the mistreatment and exploitation of Faunus to make the world a better place. Obviously, when I heard that they were accepting recruits, you can bet your bottom dollar that I went to apply as fast as I could. 'I finally found a way to help,' I said to myself, 'I can finally make a difference!'"

"So yeah…" I sighed while leaning back, "That's pretty much what led me to join the White Fang."

"I see…" She took another bite out of her ice cream in thought, "Doesn't it feel wrong, though?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean… You hurt people, and steal from them. I know you're doing what you think is right, but don't you ever feel the tiniest bit of regret? Have you ever wondered if you're attacking innocent people?"

"I wouldn't say that I go out and attack them…" I told her, "Besides, that's not really my thing. I don't hurt people and I don't ever plan to, human or otherwise. Really, all I'm trying to do is scare these guys straight so that they don't mistreat another Faunus ever again. And if I ever steal from someone, it's only from people who I know deserve it. Eye for an eye, you know?"

"An eye for an eye makes the world go blind…" She recited.

"Then maybe it'll be worth it to make the world blind." I humorlessly chuckled, "After all, if everyone was blind, nobody could judge others for how they looked anymore. We'd live in true equality…"

Ruby frowned at me in disappointment, but stayed silent since she couldn't come up with a response to that.


The Third Week

"So if you hate most humans, how do you deal with the majority of human customers that must come by daily?" Ruby asked as she forked a mint banana split into her mouth,

"Like any other rational and normal person. Don't make a scene and serve the customer to the best of my ability." I answered obviously. "I don't sneer at them or say that they're not welcome simply because of how they look. Simple as that."

"Has anyone ever tried to start something though? Your wolf ears are kind of a dead giveaway, no offense…"

"None taken." I shrugged off, "As to your question, I go out of my way to prevent something like that from happening in the first place. I wear a hat that comes with the work uniform. Covers up my ears, nice and comfy." I gently smoothed my hands over my wolf ears, and they flickered out of instinct. "Just because I hate most humans doesn't mean I'm gonna burden my boss with them. He's a nice guy doing an honest living. I'll be damned before I let his reputation and business get tanked because a rogue Faunus employee of his lost his temper one day and punched a customer in the face."

"Oh." She blinked, "That's considerate of you. Hiding your identity away just for the safety of others…"

"It's the least I can do for him. He's one of the rare few, just like you." I smiled at her.

She smiled back, only more depressingly than I hoped for. "I wish you didn't need to do that…"

I hummed in appreciation for the comment.

Every time we talked, I always felt like I was bringing the mood down. Definitely needed to fix that if she was going to keep visiting.

I'll ask more about her the next time we meet.


The next week…

"Your friend isn't coming today?" The boss asked me as he washed the dishes.

I looked at the door expectantly, almost hoping that she was just running late and would show up at any moment.

So far, she hasn't.

I wondered if she had gotten tired of talking to me?

My disappointment must have been obvious, since Mint came over to pat me on the shoulder and reassured me, "I'm sure she's just running an errand or something and couldn't find the time for today. Didn't you say that she was training to become a Huntress?"

I nodded.

Yeah, that was probably it.


The Fourth Week

*Jingle-Jangle*

"I'm here!"

I looked over at the door and smiled when I saw her familiar face again. "Oh, Ruby! Nice to see you back!"

"There we go!" The boss cheered, "We were wondering where you disappeared to, little missy."

"Sorry," she sheepishly rubbed her neck, "I had a mission assigned last week. I wanted to come by later, but the mission ended up taking longer than I thought."

"No worries. Go have a seat in the usual spot, I'll catch up with you after I'm done-"

Mint interrupted me, "Actually kid, how about you take the day off? In fact, every Sunday can be your day off."

I widened my eyes in surprise, before asking, "Are you sure, boss?"

"No skin off of my back." He shrugged. "I've worked the counter alone before. I can do it again for a day a week."

Huh. Sweet.


"By the way Ruby, you're a Huntress in training, right?" I asked as I sipped my mint milkshake.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, I was wondering what academy you go to. I don't know too much about Hunters in general, so I figure I should get to know one while I still have the chance."

"Oh, well," she swallowed a spoon of her sundae, before answering, "I was originally a student in Signal Academy, but now I attend Beacon instead."

"Beacon? You mean that famous school on top of the mountain that overlooks Vale?" I blinked in astonishment.

"Yepyep."

"Seriously? But you can't be any older than me. Aren't you sixteen?"

"Fifteen, actually." She corrected.

"Fifteen years old and you've already graduated your preliminary schools to move on to a prestigious academy like Beacon? Sheesh! I never realized you were a prodigy."

She fidgeted in her seat uncomfortably and mumbled, "I'm not, actually. Just really lucky."

Modest type, huh? Alright, I won't push it then.

Switching topics, I decided to ask, "What's it like being a Hunter? I went to a civilian school, so I wouldn't know. Is there really a difference besides learning about fighting and weapons?"

"Hm…" She tilted her head in thought, "I'm not really sure. I don't think so, at least. I go to school and take classes like any other student. I study for tests and do my homework. I train and hone my body to become the ultimate fighting machine so that I could be strong enough in order to protect mankind from the Grimm-"

Well, that's one difference. I sweatdropped.

"I can't really think of anything, though. Honestly, I feel like Huntsmen and Huntresses are just regular people that grew up in a slightly different way." She shrugged, before finishing her ice cream.

"What about your super powers?"

"My what?"

"You know, that thing that all of you guys can do." I explained poorly. When she started to look at me funny, I decided to rephrase the question, "You remember when you were chasing me near that cliff, and you turned into a bunch of rose petals in order to catch up with me?"

She blinked in confusion, before having a look of realization, "Oh! You're talking about semblances! I guess it is kinda like a superpower." She chuckled, "That's actually not how my semblance works. My ability is the power to control my speed. I can run faster than anything you could probably think of."

"Cool." I nodded, impressed. "Why'd you choose to get that over any of the other powers though?"

"It's actually not something I get to choose," She explained. "See, whenever a person has their aura unlocked, they awaken to a unique semblance within themselves. It's completely random, and no two semblances are exactly alike. Everyone gets a different one, and nothing can influence what they end up getting."

"Oh… that must suck for people who get the short end of the stick then." I commented.

"Heh, yeah. I got pretty lucky with something that ended up being useful to my fighting skills."

"What about the rose petal thing though? Do they show up whenever you use your speed powers? What's up with that?"

"I'm… actually not sure," she scratched her head. "They've always done that since day one. I never figured out why they appear whenever I use my semblance. But they look cool, so I don't really mind." She shrugged.

"Really weird..." I leaned forward in interest, "Tell me more about Hunters. What's your life at Beacon like?"

She hummed, "Well… let's see…"


The Fifth Week

"So let's say I ended up getting my aura unlocked," I hypothesized, "What do you think my semblance would be?"

She took a bite out of her minty chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, before shrugging, "Well, seeing how everyone's chance of getting a specific semblance is completely random, I have absolutely no idea." She swallowed, and then asked, "If you could choose though, what would you want as your semblance?"

I closed my eyes, concentrating deeply as I seriously considered what I would want as a semblance if I could ever have one.

In the end, I decided to go with a simple one. "Werewolf powers. Definitely."

"Werewolf powers?"

"I totally want to shapeshift into an actual giant wolf. I always wondered what it would be like if I could just transform my body and try my life as a wolf, even if it's just for a single night."

For some reason, this made Ruby snort and chuckle at me before suddenly blowing into full on laughter. I raised my eyebrow at the reaction, not understanding why it was so funny. After she finally calmed down, she looked at me with the occasional snicker and said, "I don't know why, but you wanting to be a werewolf feels like such an overplayed stereotype!"

I blinked, still not sure what exactly was so funny in the first place. Was it funny because I was a wolf Faunus? I guess I could sort of see the irony in that, although probably not enough to appreciate it like Ruby had.

Should I be offended by this? I feel like I was supposed to be offended.

Rolling my eyes, I decided to shrug off her humor and switched the topic to focus on her instead. "What about you then? What semblance would you choose to pick if you had the option?"

Wiping away a tear, she tilted her head in thought. After a few considerable moments passed, she asked, "You mean, like, besides the one that I already have?"

"Yeah. If you had the option to pick a semblance that's different than the one you already have, what kind of semblance would you want?"

"That's a good question… I never really thought about it to be honest." She furrowed her eyebrows, "Huh… I've had my speed semblance for so long, it's hard to imagine a life without it since I use it more often than not. But if I had to choose, I'd say…"

She paused in consideration, and I began to lightly beat on the table to do a dramatic drum roll.

"Maybe time powers? Time powers are pretty cool." She finally decided.

"Uh, there are a lot of different time powers out there Ruby. Any specific time power you're thinking about?"

"Mm… All of them."

"All of them?" I chuckled.

"Yep. All of them. Rewind and fast-forward time, pause time, slow motion time. Time traveling seems like a fascinating power to have." She listed off. "Plus, if I had time powers, I could just pretend to still have my original speed semblance when I slow down time because it'll barely be different for anyone else."

"Well, that's pretty creative-"

"OOH, NO WAIT!" She interrupted, excitingly waving her arm in front of my face, "I just thought of a better idea! If I could replace my semblance with something else, I would totally replace it with the power to turn anything I see into a plate of cookies!"

"..." I was both stunned and speechless.

"Oh, what would I call it...? Ummm- Cookie Vision! Yeah, I would want Cookie Vision! If I ever get hungry, I would just look at a rock or a chair or something, and then POOF! Cookies for everyone! Aw man, that would be such an amazing power! Turn anything and everything into cookies!" She raved on and on.

I contently decided to stay quiet and listen to her spiel, not because it was interesting, but rather because it was hilarious to see her passionately go on about why cookies have the potential power to end world hunger and all the conflicts in the world if only everyone would just have easier access to them.

Quirky girl. I grinned to myself.


Three days later…

Apparently, there was an important meeting being planned by White Fang. A fox Faunus on a bike threw a box my way after I was walking home from my shift.

Picking up the box, I opened it to find that it contained a new Scroll and a letter informing all members and recruits to come to an abandoned building with disclosed directions leading to it.

And it was all going to take place on… Sunday.

I cursed under my breath at the crappy timing. I wanted to go see Ruby again later this weekend, but now I had to deal with something like this instead? What could be so important that they couldn't just send an email or text message about it?

Despite the poor scheduling, I sighed and accepted the fact that if I was going to join a movement as important as the White Fang, I'd need to make a few sacrifices here and there in order to help the cause.

"Duty calls, I guess." I muttered depressingly.

At least they were kind enough to provide me a new Scroll, even if it was sort of a knockoff. Real Scrolls were usually expensive as all balls, but the White Fang apparently knew a guy who could mass produce counterfeits that were actually functional. I had been saving up to buy one after I lost my last one, but I guess I could use that money for other things now.

Still, Ruby was going to wonder why I didn't show up at the Mint Factory this Sunday...

I'll try and make it up to her later.

Remembering our most recent conversation, I decided to take a detour and go to a nearby pastry shop. Her favorites were chocolate chip, right?


Four days later…

*Jingle-Jangle*

"I'm baaack!" Ruby cheerfully announced.

Walking up to the counter, she greeted the owner with a wave as she hid a box behind her back, "Hi Mr. Cambridge! I have a surprise for our friendly neighborhood Scooper Boy!"

"Ruby. Hello there." Mint greeted back, albeit not as cheerfully. He couldn't seem to muster up the will to match her excitement at the moment. "Sorry to say, but he's not here today. He texted me a while ago and said that he had somewhere important to go…"

"Oh…" Most of Ruby's chipper enthusiasm visibly diminished. Pulling out her box, she mumbled glumly, "I even bought him a present too. Thought it might make him laugh, or something."

"Now now, don't you worry none. I'm sure he'll be back working here tomorrow and you can see him again next week." He consoled, "If you want, you can leave the box with me. I'll be sure to hand it to him when he comes in, and let him know it's from you!"

She slowly nodded, regaining some of her pep, "Alright, Mr. Cambridge." After handing him the box, she asked, "Did he tell you where he went for today?"

"Nope. All he texted was that it was something important."

Something important…?

She felt a nagging feeling in the back of her head that something was wrong…

Could it somehow be related to the White-

...

She should ask about it later the next time she saw him.


The next day…

*Jingle-Jangle*

"Clocking in, boss!" I called out as I entered the parlor.

"There you are! Was wondering where you've been." I heard the boss's voice in the back. "Think you can get over here and help an old man out? Carrying something heavy isn't as easy as it used to be when you're my age."

"Sure thing, boss."

I walked into the back and saw the old coot arching his back up and stretching in front of new sofa chair.

"I need to move this thing to the corner, but I can't seem to push it by-" he turned around to face me, only to gasp in horror, "Oh dear lord, have mercy!"

Damn, I was hoping he was senile enough to not notice the black eye. Guess it was too noticeable for even him to look past.

He rushed over to me and started placing his hands on my face to inspect the wound. "What the hell happened to you?! How did you get this black eye?!"

"What, you mean this thing?" I tried to play it off casually, coming up with a semi-believable lie on the spot, "Stupid thing really. I walked into a pole. Wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

He stared at me doubtfully, before slowly repeating, "You… walked into a pole? You got a black eye from walking into a pole?"

I shrugged, "I was walking really fast."

As much as I wished he'd buy it and leave it at that, anyone could tell just by looking at my face that no pole in the world would be able to leave a hardcore mark like mine. Unless, like, the pole was made of magnets or something, and my face was a refrigerator door. Something like that was pretty unlikely though, so no one would bother to even think about it.

Placing both of his hands on my shoulders, he calmly spoke, "Look kid, I know what you do during your off hours is usually none of my business. But you gotta understand, I do care about you like a father would care for his son. I don't know if you got into a fight, or if you're hanging with the wrong crowd, but I'd much rather you tell me that it's none of my business rather than lie straight to my face."

"Boss, I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do!" I gently pulled both his hands off of me, "But you're kind of making a big fuss over nothing here. It's just a black eye from a pole. It'll heal in no time!"

"It's not how you got the black eye that worries me. The why part is the bigger question here." He looked disappointed, "What would Ruby say if she saw this? Didn't you consider how she might feel from seeing you injured like this?"

"Well, I mean, she'd probably chuckle a bit if I told her about the pole?" I offered.

"You're not taking this seriously." He deadpanned.

"I am clearly not, no." I replied in an equally deadpanned expression.

He sighed, "Alright, I see how it is. I'll let this slide for now, since you're clearly trying to hide something from me. But don't think you can fool Ruby with that dumb pole story when she gets in here on Sunday."

"Speaking of!" I exclaimed loudly, desperate to move on to another topic. "How is she? Did Ruby say anything yesterday?"

"If you must know, your girlfriend wanted to surprise you with a gift yesterday, only to be heartbroken when she realized you weren't there for her." He harrumphed with his arms crossed.

My non-injured eye twitched at his choice of words, "I'm not sure she would appreciate you referring to her as my girlfriend like that."

"And of course, out of everything I've said, you'd focus on that." He playfully shrugged.

"Well, what else was I supposed to focus on?! Just because she's a girl and I'm a guy, doesn't mean we have that kind of relationship!"

"Could have fooled me." He waved me over to the corner, "Anyway, she left it with me in case you came back. The gift is in the closet over here."

I actually raised an eyebrow at the mention of a gift as I followed him, wondering what Ruby could have gotten me.

Opening the closet door, I crouched down to get a look at the white, unassuming box. Feeling up the box, I asked, "What's inside?"

"You'd rather ask me than open it for yourself?"

Good point…

I grabbed the box and stood back up to open it, curious to see what was inside.

Snrk. Hmhm. Hmhmhmhmheheheh!

A wolf mask. She got me a werewolf mask.

"Oh my god, Ruby, what have you done." I laughed, excitedly donning the hideous thing just to see how it looked on me.

I faced at the mirror, admiring my new and amazing transformation.

"What in the hell is that?" I heard the boss ask me in an incredulous tone.

Turning around, I did my best threatening pose and spoke in a creepy raspy voice, "I am no longer the boy you once knew, Mint. I am now… Wolf-man! Creature of the night!" I raised my hands up in a claw formation for dramatic flair.

He shook his head at me in disbelief, "I'll never understand you kids."

I turned around again to face the mirror, and adjusted my mask as I continued to do a bunch of wacky and silly poses. Behind the mask, I was grinning from ear to ear. This was definitely the most thoughtful gift I'd ever gotten from anyone ever. Who cared if it looked stupid? I loved it.

"Well, I'm glad that you're at least enjoying yourself. I hope you plan to show how much you appreciate this gift to Ruby soon."

I chuckled, "I think I got something in mind."

"Good." He nodded, before pointing back at the sofa chair, "Now would you mind helping me move this damn thing?"

"Alright, sure." I finished up my brief modeling career and went over to help carry one side of the chair.

On the other side, the boss bent down as he smirked, "You don't plan to take that off anytime soon, do ya?"

"Hell no."


The Sixth Week

*Jingle-Jangle*

"Hey Mr. Cambridge, I'm here to see our friendly neighborhood Scooper Boy and get my weekly fix of minty chocolate!" Ruby cheered as she skipped daintily up to the counter.

She was confused for a bit when she heard a raspy growling voice from behind the counter, "This Scooper Boy you speak of, he is no longer the same as he once was. You are too late, Miss Rose…"

"Uh… Wat."

"For you see, he has now become the terrifying Wolf-man! Plague of the night!" I howled before jumping up in front of her and waving my arms around like a madman. I even added in an extra "ABOOGAWOOGAWOOGA" sound effect for emphasis.

It took her a moment to realize it was me, before smiling and joining in on the joke. With theatrical flair, she proclaimed, "Oh no! My friend has transformed into a beast! What horrors await me now?!"

"My first act of evil will be to steal ALL the minty chocolate, and leave none for you!"

"The horror! The hoooorrooor!" She covered her eyes dramatically and shook an angry fist at me.

Before I could keep playful act on, I recoiled back in shock when I felt the back of my head getting sprayed.

Turning around, I saw the boss giving me a threatening look as he aimed a menacing spray bottle at me. "Go on then! Shoo! Shoo Wolf-man! You're scaring away my customers!" He shouted, spraying water at my face.

I did my best impression of a dog's whimper (which I thought I nailed down flat) and scurried away in defeat.

Ruby covered her mouth and giggled as she followed after me to our usual table.


"You know, I bought that mask mostly as a joke. I didn't realize you would like it so much." Ruby leaned on her palm and continuously poked my wolf-mask nose.

"As far as I'm concerned, this IS my semblance." I proudly waggled my wolf ears.

"Pfft. I'm pretty sure that's not how semblances work." She chuckled, still poking my face. "Have you been wearing this for the entire week?"

"Well, I mean, no." I paused, then said, "I take it off when I go to sleep."

"That doesn't sound very werewolf-like to me."

"You're right." I nodded at her astute observation, "I should become fully dedicated and wear it while I sleep too. Good idea."

"I wasn't trying to give you that idea, ya dummy." She stuck her tongue out at me in a cheeky manner. "Here, let me try it on!"

Before I could react, she reached out and pulled off my mask, revealing the black mark on my face that I really hoped she wouldn't see today.

I flinched when I heard her gasp. Dammit.

"Your eye! What happened to your eye?!" She discarded the mask, already forgetting about it in favor of reaching out and hovering her hands near my wound. "Who did this to you?!"

I tried my best to calm her down, covering a hand on my black eye before she could look too closely at it. "This little thing? I mean, it's nothing really! I'm fine! I just got this from a-"

It was then I realized that I hadn't been able to come up with a better lie than the pole story I told Cambridge, even though I had about a week in advance to think of one just in case Ruby found out about it. It was also at this point that I realized that I was probably more stupid than I originally thought.

Okay, no worries. Couldn't be too hard to improvise a better lie on the spot, right?

"-uuh, got this from… walking… into a… bar?" I said unsurely sure of myself.

Sigh… I sucked at lying.

Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, "You know you're a terrible liar, right?"

Bleugh.

She forcefully pulled my hand away from my eye, and leaned in closer to study the mark. "This was made by a fist. The shape is too round to be considered anything close to a bar."

"Well, I mean, um…" I weakly shrugged, "I was walking really fast?"

BLEUGH.

"Unless your entire face was literally magnetized into hitting a bar, I don't see that ever happening." She flatly pointed out.

BLEUGH.

"Uh…" I mumbled, having no idea how to argue with her eerily familiar sense of logic.

Taking a deep breath, she loosened her expression and frowned sadly at me. "Please, I want you to tell me the truth. Friends don't keep secrets from each other, right?"

"Ruby, I'm not trying to keep secrets from you. It's just…" I scratched the back of my head, blank of any excuses I could come up with.

"Does this have anything to do with where you were last Sunday?" She asked.

"I, uh, it's not, I mean-"

"Was it something related to the White Fang?"

I shut my mouth.

Was it really that obvious?

Thinking about it now, I guess it kinda was. She already knew that I was part of the White Fang. It'd only be natural that it would be the first thing that popped in her mind when she found something suspicious about me. Plus, it wasn't like I was any good at hiding it from her.

"Please, tell me what's wrong."

I looked up at her and saw her pleading eyes staring into me. Big round eyes that almost seemed like they were nearing to tears. The look reminded me of a puppy dog trying to beg for attention.

It was sort of cute. In that sort of heart-wrenching way that only cute sad things could do to you.

Not strong enough to withstand such a face, I was forced to look away out of guilt. Then I sighed, realizing that I was dragging this out longer than it needed to be.

Maybe there was no harm in telling her what happened. Besides, she already knew I was White Fang and that hasn't been a problem so far.

"Alright." I finally relented, before admitting, "I got this injury from a fight. It was with another White Fang member…"

"How did it happen?" She shifted herself in her seat, and patiently waited for me start.

I collected my thoughts for a bit, then began to explain, "So, last Sunday I had to leave for a mission with the White Fang. We were…" I paused, looking at her nervously. If nothing else, I was still a little bit worried at how she would feel about what I was… doing.

"It's alright." She reassured me, "Just tell me everything. I promise I won't say anything until you're done."

At least that made me comfortable enough to continue. "We were going on a raid. Robbing and trashing an anti-Faunus restaurant. The owners were a family that refused to give service to anyone who was even remotely related to a Faunus. Meaning, human or not, if they suspected you were friends with a Faunus or even just sympathized with them, then you were kicked out without another word. That kind of behavior would spread an unhealthy mentality that would make life for Faunus even harder. So the White Fang decided to do something about them."

"Uh," Ruby held a finger up with a hesitant look, "I know I promised not to say anything until you're done, but… you didn't…-"

"I wasn't going to hurt them. I just wanted to scare them so that they'd stop treating the Faunus so poorly. At the very least, treating someone as an equal out of fear is a lot better than doing nothing at all."

"Oh. Okay…" She sighed in relief, but then asked, "So, how did you get that black eye then? You said you got in a fight with another White Fang member?"

"Apparently, someone in our raiding group didn't see it my way," I grumbled. "Even though I didn't want to hurt anyone, my 'partner' had other ideas. Instead of trashing the shop and damaging the property, he went straight to the owners and assaulted them! I tried to stop him! I reminded him that we were only supposed to scare them, not beat them up. If we ever stooped down to their level, then we'd be no better than all the humans that would mistreat us! But the guy was having none of it and just kept kicking the owners while they were down, saying that all humans were the same and that dominating them was the only way to win or something equally as moronic."

"What did you do?"

"Well, I had to do something to stop him if he wasn't going to listen to me." I sat back and looked away from her, "So… I punched him in the face."

Ruby stayed silent as she listened.

"I'll admit, I probably didn't think that through. We ended up getting into a fight in the shop and it turned out that he was much stronger than I was. When I punched him, it only stunned him for a bit. When he punched me straight in the face, it actually broke my mask in half and gave me a black eye. Go figure."

"Did you get hurt anywhere else from the fight?"

"No, thankfully. A few of the other White Fang members held both of us back to stop us from going ham on each other. Other than a few bruises and throwing some insults at the other, neither of us did anything too serious. Our leader ended up calling off the raid due to the fighting and we all ran away from the shop before the authorities could catch up."

"So that's all that happened? Nothing else?"

"Yeah… I mean, our raid mission was a bust, and now someone in the White Fang thinks I'm a traitor for standing up to defend some racist humans. That's pretty much all that happened." I finished.

After few moments of brief silence, I heard Ruby sigh frustratedly, "Jeeze."

I sighed as well, knowing she had to be feeling pretty angry at me for keeping this from her. "Hey, I'm sorry for not telling this to you sooner. I just didn't want you to worry over my problems. There's not really much you could have done, so I didn't want to get you involved…"

"Ugh, I'm not even mad about that." She huffed, crossing her arms at me with a disappointed look, "You shouldn't have taken part in that raid in the first place. It doesn't matter whether or not the owners deserved it, it was still wrong for you to try to damage their property. You said it yourself, didn't you? Stooping down to their level would make you no better than them?"

I could try to justify that what I was doing was different, but I didn't think I could come up with a good argument. So I just grumbled and faced away from her.

I felt her pull my head back towards her, allowing her to examine the black eye again. This time in a softer voice, she told me, "Still though… I'm glad that you fought back when you thought you saw someone doing wrong. Even when you knew the owners of that restaurant were bigots who hated Faunus, you still went against someone in your own group in order to prevent them from getting hurt. You fought for your ideals and you did what you believed was right. That much at least makes me happy."

I blinked in surprised and felt myself blushing from flattery. "Uh… thanks."

"I'm… I'm not gonna say I agree with you joining the White Fang. But I won't force my ideals down your throat either. As long as you're a good person who does his best to help others, even in his own certain way, I'll never think any less of you. I'd still consider you as my friend."

Hearing that from her, I couldn't help but smile at her kindness. She truly was one of a rare few. It was almost hard to believe that she even existed, right then and there. To have met and befriended a human that was so carefree and playful, so unabashedly polite and kind hearted, so fun to hang out with…

Someone that actually treated me like an equal.

It was surreal. It was weird. Yet it was comforting to know people like her existed. She reminded me of what I was fighting for.

"That… that means a lot to me, Ruby. A lot more than you might realize…" I quietly mumbled out, scratching my neck awkwardly.

"What was that?" Ruby asked as she leaned closer to hear me better.

"I said thanks, Ruby." I rephrased. Remembering something, I sat up and walked to the back of the shop, "Wait here for a bit. I bought you something to make up for not being here last Sunday."

"Hm?"

I came back and set down a jar of Pumpkin Pete's Chocolate Chip Cookies on the table, "Your favorite was chocolate chip, right?"

I raised an eyebrow when she suddenly gasped and squealed excitedly. Quickly fanning herself with one hand and covering her mouth with the other, she asked, "You got me cookies?!"

The way she was acting, you'd think I just told her she won the lottery. She must have really liked cookies.

"This is literally the best gift you could have ever given me, I love you so much right now!" She gushed, drooling over the jar with something akin to primal hunger in her eyes.

Sort of getting creeped out now. "Uh, it's just a jar of cookies. I mean, not even expensive ones. You could have probably gotten them as easily as I did."

"Well, yeah. But it's the thought behind it that counts." She briefly got her sanity back to explain, before going back to ogling the jar with predatory intentions again.

After about five minutes of staring at her doing nothing but stare at a jar of cookies, I coughed awkwardly and asked, "Sooo… You gonna eat that or-"

A gust of rose petals covered my face, blocking my view of the jar for a split second before my vision returned to see the jar opened and it's content void of anything at all.

"Oh, you already emptied it… somehow." I said, dumbfounded,

Licking her fingers clean, she giggled, "I guess we're both even now. I got you a gift, and you got me one. This all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

"Ruby, you are one weird lady. You know that, right?"

Picking up my wolf-mask that was dropped on the floor earlier, she playfully replied, "I sure am, Wolf-man, Plague of The Night."

I raised a finger at that to argue, but thought better of it and went to grab the mask instead. "Touché." I said simply, donning the mask again.


The Seventh Week

*Jingle-Jangle*

"Hey boss, I'm here to spend my day off!" I called out as I walked into the parlor shop.

"Oh hey! You're here!"

To my surprise, I found Ruby waving at me as she sat in our usual booth. It wasn't the fact that she was here, it was more the fact that I was usually the one to show up before her. I hadn't expect that trend to break anytime soon.

I walked over to her and sat down in my seat, "Well, you're early."

"I got excited to hang out again, so I left first thing in the morning to get here." She smiled, taking a sip of her milkshake.

"Didn't realize I was someone that was worth leaving first thing in the morning for." I chuckled.

"Oh shush, you." She playfully stuck her tongue out at me before pulling out something from a bag I didn't notice behind her seat. "Brought something with me today. You play video games much?"

"I have my fair share of games. Sort of a casual, though." I answered.

She laid a holo-projector on the table and handed me a controller, "Good. Today, we're gonna waste away our souls playing nothing but video games."

I raised an eyebrow at the controller as she started up the projector. A screen flashed up with the words Total Annihilation showcased on the top, with two ninja characters fighting in the background.

"Uh… okay then?" I mumbled.


She was fast. Steady. Meticulous. Her hand to eye coordination was as seamless as her quick reflexes, and she could somehow predict my every move five seconds ahead of it. She had played this game for years, I could definitely tell. Took the time to master every move and every combo of her favorite character until she could practically pull it off in her sleep.

A complete newborn like me would have no chance in hell against her.

"Augh, come on! That's not fair!" Ruby growled.

I grinned as I kept my guy crouched in the corner of the screen while throwing nonstop shurikens at Ruby's fighter. Her character was helpless against my relentless storm of infinite shurikens to the face.

Whoever made up the projectile move in this game was probably an idiot. This thing was so overpowered. If Ruby couldn't block, she would get hit and knocked down to the ground, only for her to get hit again the moment she recovered. If she did block, she couldn't do anything other than stay in the opposite corner for eternity as I sapped away her health bar, one tick at a time. The shuriken was too quick to dodge and was so easily spammable, it might as well have been a machine gun that never ran out of ammo. This move could be considered an actual cancer to the near perfect combat design in this game.

And I absolutely loved the hell out of it.

"HUMILIATE HER!" The game demanded the moment I got Ruby's health bar empty.

Since I didn't really memorize any combo finishers that my character could do, I just sort of kept sitting in the corner and threw another shuriken at her face before her character exploded for no discernible reason.

"Player 2 wins."

Ruby unceremoniously dropped her controller and slammed her face into the table.

Poking fun, I began teasing her, "So hey, seems like I'm pretty good at this game."

"You're a liar and a cheater and your entire existence is dead to me now." She muffled with her face still planted.

"There there, Ruby." I chuckled, consolingly petting her head. "I'm sure you'll be as good as me if you keep practicing for the next fifty years or so."

She whined under my touch, but didn't do anything to stop me.

A second or two later, I decided to stand up and walk into the back of the shop, "I'm getting the feeling you won't be up for another match. But since the plan for today is to waste it away entirely on video games, wait here while I get my own equipment."

In the break room, I rummaged around in the closet before pulling out a holo-projector connected to a keyboard and mouse.

Walking back to our table, Ruby raised her head and looked curiously at my game console. "Keyboard controls?"

"Yeah. Not much of a couch gamer." I laid my equipment down and started setting it all up. "You ever played MOBAs before?"

"Moe-bahs? The heck is a moe-bah?"

I gave her a grin that seemed sadistic enough for her to slightly shiver in trepidation.

Time to bring this onto my turf now-


"Huh. This is pretty easy, actually." Ruby commented nonchalantly.

"Atlas's Dust Mines destroyed. Mantle Kingdom wins!"

I face planted onto the table and tried to muffle my screams of agony.

It took me years and years in order to master this game and others in the same genre. I literally spent months of restless nights, practicing and honing my skills just to be able to become something considered even remotely professional at this game.

AND HERE COMES LITTLE MISS PERFECT WALTZING IN AND KICKING MY ASS AND DIGNITY INTO SUBMISSION WITH HER GODDAMN NATURAL-BORN PRODIGAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS. FUCK ALL TALENTED PEOPLE, I HATE THEM ALL FOR MAKING ME FEEL INFERIOR IN LIFE.

"I don't really see what's so bad about this game. The way you described it, it sounded like one of the most complicated games to ever exist on Remnant. But it kinda felt more like a simple strategy game to me."

I screamed into the table again.

Patting my head, she whispered in faux-comfort, "There there. You'll start getting better after practicing for the next eighty years or so."

I snarled threateningly, but didn't stop her from petting me.

"You sure are living up to the wolf-stereotype, aren'tcha?" She chuckled, before whipping out a bag from under the table. "I brought more than one game with me. Want to play something else instead?"

"You have anything non-competitive and more cooperative? I don't think my ego can handle another beating…" I mumbled, not once lifting my face off the table out of broken pride.

She hummed as she rummaged around in her bag, before pulling out a cartridge. "You wanna play a zombie game?"

I screamed into the table again.

"What? What's wrong?"


The Eighth Week

"So… Who's Casey Williams again?" I asked as Ruby excitedly slapped her headphones on me.

"She's one of the most super amazingiest singers in the whole entire world! Trust me, just listen to her voice and I promise it'll be like love at first sight!"

"Experiencing love at first sight by listening to her voice. Seems legit." I hummed.

"Shushshshh" she got uncomfortably close to my face as she pressed her finger to my lips, "Just listen and be entranced."

I felt myself heat up from her close proximity, and forced myself to lean away from her, "Alright alright, I'm listening."

Geez, I was starting to realize how cute she was.

She gave me a small grin and patiently awaited my reaction.

Waiting a second or so, I heard the pianos start to play and a girl giving a soft melody to complement it. After that intro though, it completely changed its tone with something more suspenseful. Guitars start to join in, the drum beat picking up.

"Intruder, identify yourself." A robotic voice spoke.

The guitars played a rhythm to hype up the song to it's rising point, before the male lead began to sing.

"Born with
no life,
Into subjugation.
Treated
like a
worthless animal,"

When the female lead started to sing, I actually widened my eyes in surprise as I listened to the lyrics.

"Stripped of
all rights,
Just a lesser being,
Crushed by cruel,
ruthless Human rule.

"When it started,
All we wanted was a chance to live our lives,
Now in darkness,
Taking everything we want and we will rise-
We'll rise-
We'll rise!"

"From shadows,
We'll descend upon the world,
Take back what you stole.
From shadows,
We'll reclaim our destiny,
Set our future free,
And we'll rise.
And we'll rise."

"Above the darkness and the shame.
Above the torture and the pain.
Above the ridicule and hate.
Above the binding of our fate-"

I took the headphones off in a dumbfounded stupor, unsure if I could handle listening to any more of the song.

It hit home. It hit home really deep.

"Did you not like it?"

I snapped out of it and turned over to Ruby, seeing her looking at me with a disappointed frown.

"No, it's not that. I was…" I paused, before asking her, "This Casey Lee Williams girl…Is she a Faunus?"

"Actually, she's human. Did the song give you the impression that she was a Faunus?"

"Yeah… I mean, the lyrics kind of made me think so at least."

A human wrote this song? Seriously?

"You see, this song was actually made for the trailer of a TV show a year ago. The song was written about a group of misguided characters that lived in the middle of the Faunus Rights Revolution. The series was half-fictional and half-historical, and I liked to think it taught a nice moral aesop somewhere in there that probably went over my head."

"Huh. Well that explains the lyrics…" I murmured, then asked, "How good was the show?"

"In my opinion? Kind of lacking in the writing department. The trailers hyped the story up to be more suspenseful and exciting, but it ended up being more silly and mellow instead, and only occasionally dove into serious parts. It only just started to change the tone of the series and began to delve deeper into the conflict at the end of Season 3 and start of Season 4, so I'm hoping it's leading to something good." She critiqued, before raising a finger, "But I gotta say, it has some of the most amazing fighting choreography I've seen. Not to mention the fact that every single song in its soundtrack is complete awesome-sauce, especially the ones with Casey singing. I'd recommend watching it with your brain turned off and a bowl of popcorn in your hands."

"Might give it a shot then." I chuckled.

"So does that mean you actually liked the song?!" She suddenly squealed excitedly.

With an expectant look like that, how could I break her heart and say no?

"Yeah, I really like it. In fact, you might have picked the perfect song to get me intrigued about her other work."

"AAA- I knew you'd like her! She's basically the perfect goddess of everything ever!" Ruby gushed and bounced in circles around me.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched her. Something about her just made everything she did so adorable and infectious. Sort of like a puppy happily chasing its tail around.

While she was still hopping around, I decided to pull out my Scroll and tried to search for more about Casey Lee Williams.

Ruby stopped just behind me and looked over my shoulders as she watched me type. I imagined that her eyes were glowing and her smile was bigger than her face as she looked on.

"That reminds me actually," she brought up, "What sort of music do you usually listen to?"

Uh…

"Well- I mean… that- that is sort of a hard question to answer, because… Um…" I mumbled while scratching my neck.

Hoo boy, how do I explain that my music playlist is actually just a collection of random memes from the past decade without seeming like a complete idiot?

Trick question, I was already an idiot for making my music playlist a collection of random memes from the past decade.

"Becaaaauuuussssseeee...?" She waved her hand around for me to continue.

Okay quick think of an excuse to not let her know you have no taste-

"It's mostly just classical boring adult music. The oldies, you know? You might not like it."

I am a genius.

"PFFT, baloney." She scoffed, before suddenly grabbing my Scroll away from me and sat back on her seat, "I love the classics! They're like the pioneers for all future music!"

I am going to die.

"Wait, Ruby, it's not going to be what you thi-" I tried to stop her from going into my playlist before it was too late.

But it was already too late.

"And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed,
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
AND I-I-I-I
I'm feeling (feeling) a little peculiar.

And so I wake in the morning and I step outside,
And I take a deep breath and get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What's going on?!

(And I say)
HEEEYAAAYAEEAYYEAAAEYAAAEY"

Ruby stared blankly at the screen as the music played on, while I was already facepalming in shame.

I heard her tap the screen, and on went the next song.

"Life is like a hurricane,
Here in Duckburg,
Race cars, lasers, airplanes,
It's a duck-blur

We might solve a mystery,
Or rewrite history!

Ducktales! Woo hoo!"

She tapped the screen again.

"Look, if you had
mom's spaghetti,
Would you capture it,
or just let it slip? Yo

His palms spaghetti,
knees weak, arms spaghetti
There's vomit on his sweater spaghetti,
mom's spaghetti"

Tap.

"SomeBODY once told me the world is gonna roll me,
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed,
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb,
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead,

Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming,
and they don't stop coming
and they don't stop coming
and they don't stop coming"

Tap.

She set my Scroll on the table, and pushed it towards me. "You uh…" Ruby started off awkwardly enough, "You have quite an unexpected taste for… uh… music."

"Yeah." I deadpanned.

Ruby stared at me.

I stared back at her.

Awkward silence ensued.

"So… uh…" Ruby broke the silence with a cough, and asked, "What- um… What kind of genre is that?"

"Shitposting."

"I… uh…" She wanted to reply, but ended up having no idea how to respond to that. So instead, she kept quiet.

"Let's just talk about something else and forget this happened."

"A-Alright then…"

Sigh… hope this awkward pain train disappears by the time we see each other next week.


That night…

Ruby Rose restlessly turned and fumbled around in her bed, brows furrowed deep in thought.

Something went wrong today when she went to visit her Wolf-Faunus friend. Something that alienated him away from her and caused the whole day to be an awkward mess.

The whole time she tried to speak to him after she listened to his playlist, it was like he was too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. He kept responding with short sentences and simple words that kept cutting their discussions short. She also realized that she probably didn't help since she was no less guilty of doing the same thing.

Ugh, it was like they were strangers again, talking to each other for the very first time. She hated it.

And all because she took his Scroll and listened to his songs! What was wrong with his songs?! Sure, they were weird and all, but did he have to act like she just discovered his deepest darkest secrets?!

Ugggggh, this was killing her-

Maybe she might be able to fix this.

The whole reason for this whole awkward debacle was because she didn't get his taste in music, right? So maybe if she did some research and learnt all about the songs he liked, that might make things better again for them.

"What was it called again?" She asked herself, before sneaking under her blanket and opening her Scroll.

Resolute in her decision, she thought it would be worth it to lose a couple hours of sleep if it meant patching the holes in her relationship with the Faunus-boy.

Thus, she began browsing.

"Huh, so this is what shitposting means. The name made me imagine something else entirely."


Three Days Later.

"Heeeey, how's it going?" Ruby flailed her arm around haphazardly as she greeted me.

"Hey Rubes." I blinked in surprise, "Wasn't expecting to see you on a Tuesday. I thought you had classes?"

"I mmmmmmmmmm called in sick. And then I snuck out because I wanted to see yooouuu agin." She said, struggling to balance herself on her seat.

Worried, I went over to her and helped straighten her back up, "Jeez, you doing alright?" I did a quick glance over to her.

She had bags under her eyes and her usuallyssmooth hair was disheveled. Her movements seemed tipsy and she spoke with a slight slur in her tone. It was obvious that she hasn't gotten any rest in a while.

"Ruby, you look like you haven't slept in forever! What's wrong?"

"Mm-not forever." She corrected me, before gripping a hand on the table to stabilize herself. "Just the last three days, I think."

"Three days? You haven't slept in three days?!"

"Did I say three days?" She asked herself, her eyes narrowing in concentration as she tried to grasp onto reality. "Because I meant… like… less than that. Or something. Yeah, probably not three days."

"Three days or not, you still look like you're in desperate need of rest. What the hell were you doing to keep you up for so long that it made you into a restless zombie?"

"The meaning of life." She answered vaguely, before changing the topic altogether like a mood whiplash, "Speaking of, I got this thing that I want to do to you- I mean show you."

"Um, what?" I raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit lost in this conversation.

She rummaged around her pockets for a bit, before grabbing her Scroll and setting it in my hands. "You should… listen… listen to that. It's a song by… Casey, I think. Yeah, definitely."

"Ruby, maybe I should call someone to pick you up. You seriously look like you're about to pass out at any moment."

Ruby started leaning against me and slapped her hands around my arms. "No no- I promise you'll like it." She mumbled, "It's another of Casey's songs. Yeah, you'll totally like it."

I opened up her contact list and looked around, unsure which to call first. I could call her dad or her uncle, but didn't she tell me they lived on Patch Island? Maybe I should call one of her friends, they might be more close by. "Ruby, who do I call that's nearby and can help bring you back home?"

"Listen to iiiittt." She murmured, reaching out to grab her Scroll, "C'moooon… It's goooooood."

"Seriously Ruby, this doesn't seem like the time-"

She interrupted me by making a whining noise into my chest. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph"

I sighed, "Fine, if I listen to it, will you go back home and get some rest?"

She wordlessly nodded by rubbing her head up against me. "Mm-hmm."

My god, I swear she's like a human puppy or something. "Alright, here. Play the song you want me to listen to." I told her as I handed back her Scroll.

Taking hold of her Scroll again, she fumbled around with it for a while since the sleep deprivation must have messed up her hand-eye coordination.

I was waiting patiently for her to either finish pulling up her song, or pass out. Whichever happened, I was going to have to call her friends to have them pick her up.

Cambridge walked by the counter and did a double-take when he saw Ruby leaning against my chest as we sat next to each other at our table.

As soon as we made eye contact, he flashed a smile and gave me a thumbs up before heading back inside.

I felt my eye twitch in irritation, knowing I was going to be in for major teasing later today.

"Okay, I got it." Ruby mumbled and held her Scroll up. "Ready to be amazed?"

"Sure, yeah."

She pressed play on her Scroll, and I felt myself blinking dumbfoundedly.

"We're no strangers to looove,
You know the rules and so do I (do I) (do i)
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP
NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN
NEVER GONNA RUN AROUND AND DESERT YOU"

As I sat there with furrowed eyebrows, comprehending the song I was listening too, Ruby Rose took one of her drowsy fingers up and poked me in the cheek in smug triumph. "You just gotten Rickrolled, son." She raised her finger and poked me in the mouth this time.

I blinked again, unsure how to go on from here. It's been a long while since I've gotten rickrolled like this, mostly due to the fact that the joke kinda got old and lost popularity within the past decade.

I pulled her hand away from fingering my mouth and sighed, "You stayed up late for three days just to research about memes, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"And you did it because of what happened on Sunday, didn't you?"

"Yep."

I sighed again, before chuckling warmly, "You are absolutely crazy and adorable, you know that?"

"Yep."

"Come on, give me your Scroll." I grabbed the device out of her hands and began scrolling through her contact lists and decided to pick the one that said 'Big Sis', "You're gonna miss your classes."

"Worth it."

With that, she spontaneously passed out in my arms and began drooling on my shirt.

I began to carefully push her away and set her aside in her seat, partially out of disgust from all the drool, and mostly because I was starting to get flustered with her head laying against my chest.

As the Scroll began dialing the contact, I held it to my ear and patiently waited as it rang before I heard a click and a girl on the other end, "Hello? Ruby? Where are you right now, where did you go?"

"Hi, is this Ruby's sister Yang? Yeah I'm a friend of hers, and I need you to come here to pick your sister up. She kinda passed out from sleep deprivation." I explained.

I flinched away from the Scroll and held it away from me when she suddenly screamed with a loud, eardrum-damaging, "WHAT?!"

Shaking off the head trauma, I continued, "I'll text you the address. Be here soon, yeah? I have no idea how to take care of her and my shift's gonna start in a few minutes-"

*OH GOD JINGLE-JANGLE*

"WHERE IS SHE?!" A buxom blonde girl with long wavy hair slammed the door to the shop open with literal red fire in her eyes as she scanned the shop.

Welp, no need to text her that address then, since her sister was apparently an omniscient time traveller.

The girl's eyes immediately zoomed in on Ruby with her face drooling on the table, and she began sprinting at the unconscious girl as if it was a matter of life and death. Not wanting to get injured by the pain train, I jumped out of the way before she could run me over.

Yang examined the sleeping beauty thoroughly, checking to see if she was hurt or injured in any possible way, with Ruby sleeping through it all being none the wiser. The blonde girl sighed in relief and her irises changed color to a more natural, calming lilac blue. Somehow.

Must be a semblance thing.

She walked up to me with an apologetic expression, "I am so sorry for this. I don't know what possessed her to do something like this. I knew she was sneaking out and staying up late for something, but I didn't think it would come to this…"

"N-No harm done." I nervously chuckled, handing over her sister's Scroll. Feeling sort of intimidated by her entrance, not to mention the fact that she somehow knew exactly where Ruby was and arrived no sooner than five seconds after I called, I tried to relieve the tension by making a polite joke, "Try not to let Ruby turn this into a habit, alright? Because… um… sleep deprivation is bad for the heart. And stuff."

Dear God, please don't kill me.

Yang steadily narrowed her eyes and started to step closer to me, much to my discomfort. I stayed silent though, as she peered her head over and around as if she was studying me like a modern art exhibit. Then she leaned back with a nod, like she was impressed.

"So you're the ice cream boy my sister keeps talking about, huh?" She sniffed in an exaggeratedly pompous manner. "Not bad. I approve."

"Uh… Approve of what?" I blinked.

Without uttering another word, she went over to Ruby and slung her over her shoulder. She then winked at me, before leaving the shop with her unconscious sister in tow.

I could only stand there, slightly confused at what just happened.

Life sure has gotten more… interesting since I met Ruby.

Hm…

She stayed up for three nights just to research something I was secretly into. I dunno why, but… I actually felt a little happy inside, knowing that. It was still freaking dumb of her to do that, but I just couldn't help but feel kinda happy from it.

I would have never expected a human to go to great lengths for me like that.

I would have never expected anyone to do that, now that I think about it.


Ninth week…

Tenth week…

Twelfth week…

Fifteenth week…


Twentieth Sunday.

Ruby took a spoonful of mint sundae and swallowed the last of her snack, before balancing the spoon on her pinky finger.

I watched her intently, patient for my signal.

Cautiously, she took another spoon in front of her and balanced it on top of her other spoon. Then, she nodded at me to proceed.

Taking my cue, I precariously set a small cherry on my custom Spoon Catapult. With careful aiming, I slammed the other end of the spoon and launched the cherry to the air, directly at Ruby's spoon tower.

With her quick reflexes, she shifted her hand downwards and pulled it back up, just in time to catch the cherry in mid-air with her spoon tower. She whimpered a bit as the tower started to lose balance from the sudden weight, but was able to stabilize it just in time.

And there we go. One spoon balancing on top of another, with a cherry to finish it off.

Now we just wait around to see how long she can keep that balance.

I leaned on my palm and watched her intently as she effortlessly kept the balance up. Ruby smiled to herself, proud to be one of the masters of "not being lame at balancing two spoons and a cherry on a finger." If there was a tournament for something like this, she would definitely get first place.

After about five minutes of watching her do her balancing trick, my mind began to wander. Little tidbits of random thoughts flew by, with no real connection to any of them. Random stuff just to pass the time.

My eyes subconsciously wandered over to Ruby's face.

I like her face. It's cute. A lot of things about her is cute. Her hair, her eyes, her nose. Smile was definitely cute. She's cute.

Known her for almost half a year now. Time sure flies. Still remembered the day we first met.

It was so weird to know that she was usually so socially awkward around others. She never acted socially awkward when we first met. Then again, there was no need to be socially awkward when chasing down someone you thought was a criminal.

She always seemed so confident in herself. I liked her confidence. It was one of her admirable traits.

Admirable and cute.

It'd be nice if I could sit closer to her and hold her face in my hand. I'd bet it would feel warm. Warm to touch-

I blinked, realizing she was staring at me. Then realized that I had been staring at her while I let my mind wander. I rubbed my face briefly to hide my blush, before looking away to check on my Scroll.

Timer said seven minutes had passed.

I gave her a thumbs up.

She smiled back at me, feeling victorious at breaking her old record.

Letting her spoon tower fall, she caught both of the spoons in each of her hands and ducked her head forward to let the cherry land on her nose. Then with a quick bounce, she dropped the cherry into her mouth.

I chuckled.

She giggled back.

No words were spoken. No words needed to be spoken. It was a comforting atmosphere that didn't need to be ruined. I was here, hanging out with her after a whole week of juggling between my job and my secret life. She was here, hangout out with me after a whole week of juggling her school work and her Huntress duties.

We were both here to be with each other. And it was nice. Everything just felt nice.

I don't know when I started to like her. She had begun popping up in my head more often, and it was hard to ignore her. When I started feeling my chest churn at just the thought of her, it kind of became obvious that I had a crush on her.

Maybe it was because Cambridge kept teasing me about being her boyfriend. Maybe it was because she started looking more cute all of a sudden.

Maybe I just liked her because I liked her. Who knows?

Sitting here, across from her, doing nothing but just hanging out… it made me wonder…

I looked up to take a glance at her again, only to find her staring at me. I stared at her back.

She smiled.

I smiled.

This was nice.

I wished we could do this kind of thing forever. Just be in each other's presence.

If I told her how I felt about her, right now at this second, how would she react? Flustered? Panicked?

Would she like me back?

Does she already like me?

Would she start to like me if I asked her?

There was a rumbling noise.

We both shifted our attention to the cause of the noise. Her Scroll, vibrating on the table.

She gave an exasperated sigh, "It's my alarm. I gotta leave early for tomorrow morning's exams."

"Oh…" I mumbled disappointedly.

Pocketing the moment killer, she gave me a sad smile, "See you next week?"

I gave her a reassuring smile back, "Yeah. You know where to find me."

She nodded, before getting up from her seat and slowly walking towards the door. She was almost hesitant in her steps.

I didn't want her to leave either, to be honest. It was starting to get really boring without her around.

I wouldn't be able to see her again until the next week either… each week felt like it was beginning to stretch out longer than the last.

Ugh… This might be my last chance for today… Should I?

Screw it. I'm going for it.

Right when she set her hand on the door handle, I stopped her, "Hey Ruby?"

She stopped and immediately turned around, "Yeah?'

"Do you…" I stuttered a bit, before pushing on. "Do you maybe want to hang out next week? You know, the two of us. Together."

She raised an eyebrow at the question. "Uh… yeah. Sure? I mean, was that not going to be the plan?"

It took me a moment to realize my choice of words, before slapping myself in the face for being an idiot. "No-no, I didn't mean like how we normally do it. I meant like… well... like on a date. Boy and girl… date… thing…"

Her eyes began to widen, before she stuttered out, "A-A date? A date date? Like, someone asking their crush out on a date sort of date?'

"Well… yeah." I scratched my neck, feeling very embarrassed all of a sudden. Maybe this was a bad idea. Welp, no want for naught. I already started, it'd be weird and confusing for her if I backed out now. "I was hoping... we didn't go out as friends… I wanted to be- uh… something more special. Between us."

I could already feel my face going red. I actually noticed that Ruby's face was too.

"I- uh, well, I mean... " She mumbled, looking away from me while fidgeting with her skirt. It took her a while before she finally answered. "I… I've never gone out on a date with a boy before… but… I mean…"

I held my breath in trepidation for her to finish.

"Okay."

I breathed in.

Cambridge suddenly popped out of nowhere and threw confetti to the air, blowing on a party blower.

"TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!"

We both stared at Cambridge with bewilderment as he danced all the way to the back of the shop.

We looked at each other.

Then I laughed like an idiot.