Finally some BakedAlaska (Yang/Neo) in this fic! Yang supports her sister but that doesn't mean she isn't going to tease her either way! Roman finally starts to figure things out as him and Ruby head out on their own little adventure!
Yang laughed at the blush on her sister's face.
"Stop laughing at me!" Ruby whined as she loaded her scythe with ammo.
"I can't help it! You go off to rob the museum and you come back giggling about how you got Roman Torchwick's number! You definitely have a crush Ruby." Yang prepared Ember Cecila as the two sisters made their way through the forest for some much needed bonding time.
"Yang!"
"What? Don't tell me you still hadn't figured that out…" Yang said cautiously, she knew her baby sister could be oblivious sometimes but her and Neo had done a pretty good job knocking that out of her.
"It's not that… it's just, what if I'm reading too much into this? How do I know I'm not the only one feeling this way?"
Yang frowned for a second, "I can't answer that but when he knows, you'll know. It also won't happen overnight Rubes. Me and Neo were friends for ages and when I kissed her in the middle of one of our spars I thought for sure that she was going to kick my ass and never speak to me again but-"
"She kicked your ass and then knocked you to the ground before kissing you back. Believe me, I remember, Adam and I are the ones who walked in on you!"
Yang laughed when her sister's blush came back full force at the memory.
"Did he respond to your message yet?" Yang asked when Ruby reached for her scroll.
Ruby frowned, "No, just Weiss telling us to hurry up because we are wasting valuable study time." The sisters both scoffed at that.
"So what did your message to Roman say anyway?"
"All I said was, should I save your number as Carrot Stick or Ginger Snaps? Was that too forward? Do you think I upset him? Should I-"
Yang burst out laughing, "Only you would think that was forward Ruby. Honestly he's probably asleep! I'm surprised you aren't!"
"How could I sleep?! So much happened and the adrenaline won't stop coursing through my veins!" Ruby said as she jumped around excitedly.
"You didn't come home until after 3am and it's just now 7. I'm surprised you're even standing!" Ruby only grinned as she zoomed off ahead of her sister, Yang could hear her firing off several rounds but wasn't worried. Instead she focused on the Beowolves that were trying to sneak up behind her.
The sister huntress duo continued to blast through Grimm until Ruby decided that they should probably get breakfast before they had to be in class.
Just as she put Crescent Rose away, Ruby felt her scroll buzz. Any amount of calm she had reached while fighting was completely destroyed as her heart instantly started racing again.
Yang glanced at the smile that had spread across her sisters face, "So which one did he pick?" Yang asked peeking over Ruby's shoulder.
"Neither." Ruby said with a giggle as she showed her scroll to her sister.
'Do you often message people at 3 in the morning? Also can you pick something that doesn't revolve around the color of my hair?'
"What should I say?"
"Whatever you want! You should totally go with my idea of 'Vanilla' or 'Sarcastic'."
"Yang, the only reason you like either of those is because you add 'in the sheets' at the end!"
"So?" Ruby's face turned bright red.
"I don't know if he's either of those things in the sheets!"
"Only one way to find out!"
"Yang!"
"What? I'm sure you'll get there eventually… Oohh does this mean I finally get to give someone the 'hurt my sister and die' speech!? This is gonna be awesome!"
"Ugh… Yang…I'm not even sure if he considers us friends at this point. But fine, as long as you and Neo don't gang up on him-" Ruby felt the bottom of her stomach drop out when she caught the crazed look enter her sisters eyes as they made their way to the cafeteria.
"Yang…?" but it was too late. Yang was already whipping out her scroll to message her girlfriend.
"You realize that in order for you to give him the speech we have to be dating first right?"
"Semantics!" Yang yelled as she waited for her girlfriend to answer her scroll.
"Good morning delicious. How are you?" Ruby heard Neo's voice through the scroll and immediately wanted to run away but Yang had a death drip on the back of her hood.
"Doing great now that I hear your sexy voice." Yang purred, "But I called because a certain little scythe wielder just gave a certain orange haired thief her number last night."
Neo's shriek could be heard echoing down the halls of Beacon. Ruby was sure Yang would be permanently deaf by the end of her call.
"Oh my god this is amazing! We can start going on double dates! I need to start teaching him how to properly pleasure a girl, he's still a virgin you know." Yang was practically cackling at the burn that had graced Ruby's face, she could feel the heat coming off of her.
"No I didn't." Yang laughed, "But now Ruby does."
"Oops!" Neo giggled, "You do realize that I have to give Ruby the speech now right? I love her to bits but I can't have her breaking my Dum-Dums heart."
Yang gave a slight frown, "Funny I was thinking I need to do the same for him." There was an awkward pause before the two lovers suddenly had a great idea.
"We can do it together!" the both shouted simultaneously.
Ruby couldn't run away thanks to Yang's grip, so doing the only thing she could, Ruby whipped out her scroll.
'Your sister is going to be the death of me.'
'Why?'
'I'm sure she'll call you the second she gets off the scroll with Yang.'
'Joy. What are you doing this afternoon?'
Ruby smiled, she might not be sure what was going on between them but his simple little question made her feel all fluttery.
'Nothing. Wanna hang out after your heist at Dust in the Wind?'
'How do you know about that!? But yes. Where?'
'Magic!... And the fact that your boss is an idiot and doesn't lock up any of her files. But how about The Sunshine Cafe, it's far enough away from Beacon that I won't run into my team!'
'Trying to keep me a secret Red?'
'Just one of many ;) BTW, if you go in the back door the alarm is broken.'
Roman frowned at his scroll wondering if she was helping him or warning him.
Deciding not to answer Roman looked down at all the plans he had laid out for his upcoming heists across his kitchen counter. A few were personal and three were for Cinder, briefly he wondered if he should ask Red her opinion about them but quickly banished the thought.
"There is no way I am asking Red for help." he mumbled to himself as he re-examined his plans for later that afternoon.
Before he could get any further just like she predicted, Roman's scroll began to buzz.
"So what'd you do to little Red?" Roman said instead of an actual greeting.
"Why do you assume I did something to her?"
"Well she messaged me and said you were going to be the death of her so…" Roman let the statement hang as Neo laughed.
"Yang and I were just enjoying the plan to embarrass the two of you."
"What!? Why me too?!"
"Don't get your panties in a twist. The damage is already done anyway. I was telling Yang that you were still a virgin and Ruby overheard. I-"
"YOU DID WHAT!?" Roman screamed into his scroll making Neo wince back from the sound.
"It's not like it's a big deal. Besides we were mostly talking about how cute the two of you are together!"
"NEO! We are not cute together! We aren't even together!"
"But you asked her out today!" Roman stuttered for a good minute.
"To hang out! As friends! I just want to know more about her since-"
"Since you found out she's not a complete goody two shoes and actually fun to be around?" If Neo had actually been physically present she would have laughed at the blush painting Roman's cheeks.
"I'm pretty sure that's the precursor to dating Dum-dum."
Neo could barely hear Roman grumbling to himself, "I'm gonna get ready for this heist Neo, I'll talk to you later." He hung up before she could protest and was once again glaring at his paperwork.
"Should I take my cloak with me?" Ruby asked as she tried to decide what to wear on her… not date…
"Do you plan on robbing someone?" Yang asked as she flipped threw her latest boxing magazine.
Class had gotten out early since Ms. Goodwitch was leading a group of second years on an away mission. Blake had instantly disappeared to the library, or at least that's where she said she was going, and Weiss had decided to try and go flirt with Neptune under the guise of 'weapon maintenance', at least that's what Yang assumed she was doing.
Thus leaving the two sisters alone in their dorm.
Ruby thought it was an amazing stroke of luck since she didn't have to explain to the other half of her team where it was she was going.
"No, but I can't wear my normal outfit in case we run into people who might recognize either one of us."
Yang suddenly got up, digging threw some of her old clothes before pulling out a bright green t-shirt. Throwing it at her sister's head Yang continued to dig threw her closet.
"Wear that and a pair of jeans with your sneakers. Then put your cloak in this!" Yang cheered as she showed off a small black backpack. It was too small to be super useful but it was cute and just big enough to stash her cloak and maybe one or two of her spare weapons.
"Awesome! Thanks Yang!" Ruby quickly changed in their shared bathroom but refused to come out.
"Yang, I don't think this shirt is gonna work.."
"Why not?" Yang asked as she forced the door open to see what her sister was talking about. Yang blinked in surprise, her sister was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that showed off what little curves she had and the t-shirt was just snug enough to make it look like Ruby actually had a chest.
"I think this shirt is a little too tight." Ruby whined.
"That's because everything you wear makes you look like a string bean! Show off those curves girl! Gotta prove that we share some genetics!" Yang laughed as her sister turned bright red.
"Yaaang!"
"Ruby, you look great, seriously you do. No one will recognize you this way and you can have your black cloak with you just in case. Are you going to bring one of your weapons?"
"Yea, I was probably going to bring Swift Rose and maybe one of my Thorns."
Yang snickered behind her hand as she watched her sister awkwardly make her way towards her weapons locker trying to avoid as many people as possible.
"Good luck lil' sis." she whispered as she closed their dorm room door, hoping her baby sister would have a good time.
Ruby made her way down the streets of Vale several hours earlier than originally planned but was excited all the same.
Figuring Roman would already be done with his heist Ruby decided to make her way by the shop she knew he had raided to see what the damage was. She also wanted to see if the police had any new information that she could use to her advantage.
Before she could take that thought any further she froze at the sight of at least half a dozen Atlesian battle drones forcing their way into 'Dust in the Wind'. Quickly darting down an alley she donned her black cloak and disappeared into the shadows of Vale.
"Ok… so maybe I should've listened to Red's warning…." Roman mumbled to himself as he hid behind several storage crates as the Atlesian drones marched into the building he was trying to rob.
Thinking fast he snuck out the back door he should have used to begin with and quickly made his way to the alley. Immensely grateful that he had sent his White Fang grunts to the other side of town to rob a different store themselves, he briefly hoped that they would steal enough to make Cinder happy.
"Stop. You are under arrest. Surrender yourself now." A robotic voice droned right behind him.
"Crap!" Roman ran as the sound of heavy metal robotic feet got closer and closer.
Just as he reached the shadows a black wind seemed to envelope him and sent him flying through the air.
Heart racing, he braced himself to land on something hard but was surprised when he heard a voice he never thought he'd be relieved to hear.
"You know, when I give out free advice, people usually take it." Suddenly his feet were on the ground again and Red was there in her black cloak.
Before he could even open his mouth to respond bullets started flying at them and she shoved him to the ground.
"Don't move!" Roman looked up to see that she had somehow gotten them to the roof and he was staring at the clear blue sky.
He glanced over to see that Ruby was firing back with a small revolver that he was sure he had never seen her use before.
"What the-" he watched as Ruby reached back to load a new magazine and found none. "Darnit! If I had known I was going to be in a firefight today I would have worn my entire outfit!" Ruby shouted at herself looking back at Roman, their eyes met and an idea sparked.
"I've got it!" Ruby dashed to his side faster than he could blink, "I've got an idea! Just roll with it ok?"
He didn't have time to respond as she grabbed his hand and jumped over the ledge of the building.
He had to bite his lip to stop himself from screaming at the feeling of falling but just as quickly as the sensation came, it changed to the feeling of moving at light speed.
A flash of red entered his vision and Ruby suddenly stopped.
The world felt like it was spinning the wrong way for him as Ruby tugged his jacket off and quickly pulled something over his head.
Before he could figure out just what the heck was going on, Ruby gripped his hand again and dashed off. It didn't seem to be as fast this time and before he knew it he was being thrown into a chair.
Relieved and somewhat nauseous Roman could only blink as Ruby shoved a menu in his face.
They sat in silence for several minutes as Roman tried to get ahold of his bearings. Quickly glancing around he realized that they were at the restaurant they had planned to meet up at later that day.
The restaurant was a tiny little place but they utilized the park next to them as much as the city would allow. Ruby had managed to grab one of the tables that was shaded under a large tree, keeping them just covered enough to not be suspicious.
Moving the menu Roman blinked at the girl in front of him, he almost didn't recognize her.
The cloak was gone and the bright green t-shirt she was wearing made her skin look even paler than normal while her dark black and red hair popped.
He almost laughed realizing that he couldn't really call her Red at the moment. He watched as she continued to stake the place out with her eyes.
Looking behind her he could see two Atlesian drones walking down the sidewalk, presumably looking for them.
Neither one of them took their eyes off of the drones until they finally passed by. Breathing a sigh of relief Roman couldn't help but stare at the little mystery before him.
"Um, thanks for the save Red, but aren't you supposed to be in school? I thought we weren't meeting until later?"
"Eh, no problem. Class got out early because Ms. Goodwitch is leading a field mission for some second years. I thought you'd have been done with your heist by now so I decided to stop by and see what the police knew. I saw the drones and figured you could use a hand." Ruby patted her little backpack that Roman finally noticed. "Good thing I brought my cloak!"
"Speaking of things you brought, since when do you carry a revolver? Trade in your giant scythe for something a little more compact?"
Ruby's head finally snapped up to look at him seeming absolutely scandalized.
"I would never trade in my precious Crescent Rose! Especially for a revolver!" Ruby reached around to take off her backpack and hold it in her lap. Digging around she pulled out the gun she had been wielding earlier on the roof.
"This is Thorn. I actually have a few of these back at Junior's place too. They are the original guns that Junior and Qrow taught me how to use when I was first learning to fight. I can't use my scythe when commiting crimes because people would recognize me in an instant!"
Roman looked at the gun and realized she must have painted it using dust because it had the same eerie quality as her black cloak, it almost looked like it could disappear into the shadows.
Ruby shoved the weapon back into her pack as Roman tried to peek inside.
"So what else do you have hidden in there?" she shrugged.
"Besides my cloak and your jacket, just Swift Rose." Ruby held up a dark black cylinder that fit in the palm of her hand.
"And what exactly is Swift Rose?"
Ruby smiled moving her hand to the side and giving the little cylinder a squeeze. Roman jumped when it instantly expanded out from both sides of her hand.
"She's a staff. Also one of my original training weapons before I designed Crescent Rose."
"I see. Do you base all of your weapons names off roses?"
"Of course!" Ruby cheered not noticing how honest she was being.
"But why?"
"Cause it's my name!..." Roman and Ruby's eyes went wide as she slapped her hands over her mouth realizing her mistake.
"Oops…."
"You! You're- Wh-"
Ruby banged her head on the table as she dug her scroll out of her pocket.
"Darnit! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Me and my big mouth... I owe 'Nesh and Neo ten grand now!" Ruby grumbled as she glared at her scroll while Roman tried to get his thoughts to come out in complete sentences.
After several minutes of Roman mumbling to himself Ruby was starting to wonder if she had permanently broken him.
"Are you ok?" Roman blinked several times before sighing in defeat.
"Yes... I just realized that Adam was right!"
"Huh?" It was Roman's turn to bang his head on the table.
"I'm an idiot!" he mumbled into the table and Ruby couldn't help but laugh. "Don't laugh at me! It's embarrassing to realize how dense I've been!" Roman grumbled refusing to look at her just yet.
"Oh, no sorry. It's not that, it's just funny to see you look and act your age for once." Roman barely tilted his head up from its perch on the table, giving her a questioning look.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, it's just without your hat, your hair is all ruffled and with your stiff white coat gone you actually look nineteen for once. It's nice to see."
If Roman's eyes could get any bigger they would have rolled out of his skull. His mouth hung open in shock as he gaped at the unfazed huntress.
Before he could speak Ruby put her hand up signaling him to stay quiet.
"Before you screech, 'How do you know that!?', I have a question for you." Ruby waited until Roman nodded his head for her to continue, "Do you remember the day we met?"
Roman's face furled in confusion as he finally sat up straight again, "The dust shop? That wasn't that long ago Red-"
"That, was not the first time we met."
"I'm pretty sure it was Red." Ruby just shook her head.
"Nope. Technically we've known each other a really long time. Next question, do you remember the day you met Junior?" Roman seemed surprised by the question but appeared to be thinking about it.
"Kind of, I think a couple of Junior's men found me in the alley as I dug through the trash looking for something to eat. It's not a time in my life I enjoy thinking about. I'd been living on the street for a while at that point and I didn't really care where my food came form anymore. I remember waking up and a few of his men dragging me towards the bar, Junior was standing there, he took one look at me and then looked down at this - girl," Roman stutterd looking at Ruby in shock as she gave him a knowing smile, " - he told her… to go get me some food… that was you, wasn't it?"
Ruby smiled, "That's not exactly how it happened but yes, that was me."
The two of them remained silent as a waiter finally appeared and took their orders, Ruby had a small smile on her face while Roman just looked amazed.
"If- if we've known each other for so long how come I didn't run into you more often?" Roman finally asked, Ruby shrugged.
"Beats me! I never realized you didn't know who I was until Uncle Qrow started his little game. I mean, I know I saw you at least once a week at Junior's, but I guess you just never saw me."
"Can't imagine how."
"I'm pretty good at sneaking around."
They continued to sit in peaceful silence until Roman remembered something.
"Wait, when I saw you there at the bar, why did you have a black eye?" Roman asked, his voice giving away just how concerned he was.
Ruby winced, "Uhm, my- my dad wasn't always the nicest person when drunk-"
"So he hit you!?" Ruby was shocked by how angry Roman was.
"No! He just liked to throw things. I got hit in the face with a book that time. He still isn't really someone you want to be around when he's wasted, but now he just yells a lot...That's actually why I was in the dust shop when you tried to rob it. He was on one of his drunken rants about how unfair his life was and Yang and I decided to hang out in town. While Professor Ozpin questioned me about the heist I had just interrupted, Yang was trashing the club."
"Why didn't Yang just ask Junior for his help instead of destroying the bar?"
"Oh, she's asked him several times about how to find her biological mother but he always told her not to go looking for her because it wouldn't solve anything. Yang was in a bit of a mood, especially after dealing with our father and figured that a more public approach might get her some answers. Yang likes to show off. Turns out Junior really didn't know where her mother was, all he knew was that Uncle Qrow was the only one that knows how to find her."
Suddenly their food arrived and the two of them silently agreed to just enjoy their meal.
Well Ruby was at least, Roman on the other hand was reeling about all of the things he had learned in such a short time. Learning about her past and their shared history had been surprising but he still couldn't understand why she had agreed to the bet that had started the whole thing. Halfway through their meal Roman finally asked.
"So how much money did you end up losing?"
Ruby groaned dramatically as she reached for her scroll again and turned it to show him a picture of a hand drawn chart.
"That's the list of everyone's bets. If I had just been able to keep my mouth shut for two more weeks Junior and Uncle Qrow would have owed me fifty grand!... I have got to learn how to lie!" Ruby grumbled as Roman looked at the chart on her scroll.
"Why did you even agree to it?"
"I didn't exactly know about it until the week after."
"Okay… but you still agreed to let me ask you out-"
"Technically you already did."
"I did?"
"We're sitting here aren't we?"
Roman coughed trying to cover up his blush, "True but why did you agree to it?"
"Well… I did get 3000 grams of Vacuovian steel for agreeing to go along with Uncle Qrow's little prank," Roman's face instantly fell as he stared down at his food, "Like Adam said, I don't really 'get' people and I don't have time to mess around but... I don't know. When I found out about the bet I was pretty upset, but..." Roman finally looked up at her, a weird fluttery feeling growing in his chest, "I guess for the first time I was, curious, to see how things would play out."
Roman smiled as they both blushed, realizing that neither one was really sure on their feelings just yet or willing to admit that they were there to begin with, but they were at least on the same page.
"So, uh, what do you want to do now?"
"I don't know, what do you want to do?" Roman sighed.
"I'd like to spend more time with you-"
"But?"
"But, Cinder is going to set me on fire if I don't show up with something. I need to go dig threw some other plans to see if there is anything I can do last minute."
"Or…"
"Or?" Roman asked quirking a brow at the sinister smile that crossed her face.
"Or you let me help you."
Roman couldn't have hidden his shock even if he had tried.
"Seriously Roman, let me help you." There it was again, she said his name and his heart gave a little flutter. Knowing better than to argue this time Roman smirked.
"What'd you have in mind Red?"
