The sun was in my face when I woke up; I felt the heat of it on my cheeks, and the inside my eyelids were orange. There was an unexplainable pain in my head, like my sleep was caused by a hammer that had smashed into the front of my head. I felt a weights on me, on my right side. Both of these weights seemed to be pressing into me with what felt like soft pillows.
"Mmm. Rue," A familiar voice, near my ear. I wasn't able to pinpoint it. Mornings do that to me. "Stop moving, I'm still sore."
My eyes shot open, and I immediately regretted it. The sun's light attacked my vision and turned it into nothing but a white flash.
"Ack!" I tried to bring my right arm up, but it was held down by something. Instead, I brought up my left arm and blocked my eyes from the offending sunlight. I let my vision recover. Blinking, I finally decided to see who was keeping me held down.
"G'morning." Lyra smiled. "You look like you had a good rest."
"Why. Are. You. In. My. Bed?" I accentuated each word, my morning irritation adding a bit of venom to it.
"Jeez, Rue." The redhead said. "It's not like we did anything. Or… remember anything that we may have did."
"What?" I asked. I could feel a bit of sweat running down my forehead.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure we didn't!" Lyra waved her hands to calm me down. "It's just a prank!"
"Prank?" I repeated, rubbing my temples to relieve the growing headache. I'm not exactly a huge fan of pranks.
"Okay, so calm down please," Lyra sat up now as well. "Let me explain."
"Why are you covering yourself up?" I asked, noticing that she had drawn the covers to just above her shoulders.
"Because I'm just in my shorts and bra."
"ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE WE-"
"Yes, yes, don't worry."
"Everyone else left?" Looking up, I finally noticed the room was void of the other students besides us.
"Yes," Lyra assured me, rubbing her eyes. "Now shut up and let me explain."
"Really, Rue?" Lyra saw her friend had already knocked out on his bed. "Only five beers to get you down and out?"
"He did seem a tad tired after the mock-Shokugeki." Blake pointed out. The Italian was eating a small portion of the Beef Stroganoff he presented earlier, wondering what he did wrong.
"To be fair, Kyu knocked out after two." Steven pointed to a lightly snoring pinkette in the corner on the room.
"We should pull a prank on them." Lyra said, smiling.
"Oh no," Steven said, wisely only having had one beer. "No, you are not."
"But I'm not even drunk," Lyra tried reasoning. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."
"Then what's the prank?" Steven asked. "Hot water, markers on his face?"
"While those classics are all good, I think—" Lyra began, but was cut off by Blake.
"I swear to God, if it has to do with getting in the bed with him, I'm out." The Italian's hands were up, as if being stopped by a police officer.
"It's not, I swear." The redhead replied. The other conscious guests chuckled.
"Hey, are you all still up?" Yuki's voice rang from the wall horns.
"Yes," Steven answered. "What's up, Ms. Yoshino?"
"Tch, don't call me that." The older speaker retorted. "Makes me sound like an old woman. Anyway, I need you all to help me tomorrow."
"What with?" Lyra asked.
"The animals and gardening." Yuki explained. "Just meet me in the garden behind Polar Star as early as you guys can. I know you're are having a little late party, but I'd appreciate the help."
"Sure, Yuki," Blake said, much to Yuki's joy. He yawned, stretching, and continued. "It's starting to get late anyway."
"You're right," Steven agreed. The green-haired boy looked to his pink-haired friend. "I should probably get her to her room."
"I'll help you, Steven." Derya offered. "Her room is very close to mine."
"Thank you, Derya." Steven sounded quite grateful for the assistance. "She can be quite a handful sometimes."
"Then, I guess we'll call it a night?" Blake asked, to the majority's acceptance. "Okay. Well, good night, Lyra. See you in a few hours."
Derya and Steven promptly picked up Kyu by her arms and put them around their shoulders, letting the pinkette's feet drag on the floor slightly.
Lyra bid farewell to the departing friends before checking the clock on her phone; it was well past normal curfew. Her eyes turned to Rue, who was sleeping soundly in his bed.
"Lightweight," Lyra chuckled, before properly tucking him in his sheets. Once finished, she gave a great yawn and stretched; her eyes were drooping heavily. "I guess the drink is getting to me a bit too. I don't think Rue would mind if I crashed here."
I guess this could be a funny prank. Lyra thought, shifting a tad closer to the owner of the bed. His face in the morning would be priceless.
Turning to one side, she ended up looking at Rue, and her eyes rested once more on his left hand. This black ring on his finger sparkled in the moonlight. With that, she made the somewhat conscious choice to join Rue in the bed. Within moments of her lying on the mattress, she was immediately warmed up because of the boy's body heat. She snuggled up closer to get even warmer, going so far as to put her arm around his as she began to knock out.
"That's all you have for a prank on me?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"I was a bit tipsy," The redhead admitted. "So, I could have probably thought of a better one. Your face was still priceless, though. That's what I was waiting for."
"What?" I decided here to make a play for getting revenge, my way. I turned over and propped myself up by my hands and knees over the redhead. I lowered my head down inches from her own; I could feel her catch her breath. "Are you absolutely sure that's what you wanted?"
"I-I-I uh…" She muttered. Looking into her ruby-red eyes, I could see she was thinking of something to say. My position over her just seemed to be overwhelming her." R-Rue, p-please…."
"Hm?" I whispered into her ear. "What do you want?"
"Is that all you're gonna do?" She asked, smirking. Uh-oh.
Her hands flew out suddenly, knocking out my supporting arms and causing our bodies to meet. I could feel our bodies heating up, and the fact that our chests were being pushed together wasn't exactly helping.
"A-ah, Rue?" Lyra's face was blushing hard now, and if the heat on my face was any evidence, so was I. Our faces were inches away from each other, our breath heating up the space between us.
"Y-yeah?" I asked.
"Please tell me that's your phone and you're not just happy to be in this position with me?" I looked up to my bedside table, where my phone was.
"Uh," I immediately got off of her and curled into a ball, taking most of the blanket and wrapping it around me, especially around my waist.
Lyra reciprocated by grabbing a pillow, and curling up with it.
"I am so, so sorry about that." I said. "It's a morning thing."
"That happens every morning?"
I sighed. This wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend.
Two hours later…
"You have to admit, it was funny." Lyra elbowed me as we walked outside. I was in my jogging pants, a white t-shirt, light grey zip-up hoodie, and sneakers. Lyra wore a green tank top and brown capris. Her flip flops showed that her toenails were painted light pink.
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "And I'm sure you wanted the prank to end up like it did this morning."
"Maybe," She waggled her eyebrow and winked at me.
"We're only 14," I gave her a light push. "Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Wait, me?" She yelled. "You were the one on top of—"
"Uh, hey you two…" Blake popped out of nowhere, in a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. He walked up to us with a basket of vegetables and a smirk on his face. "Have a good night? How was the prank, Lyra?"
"We don't talk about that." I answered for both of us. "And please, no more night pranks, Lyra."
"No promises." She shrugged. I sighed.
"Go on ahead," Blake spoke up. "Yuki is waiting for you two."
We thanked our Italian friend and went to join the other residents in taking care of the large garden behind the Polar Star dormitory. The garden complex itself went on for looked like a mile, and the most recent addition was a full-on barn, which was ruled by none other than Totsuki's game queen, Yuki Yoshino.
"Ah, the love birds," Yuki greeted us as we entered the barn, wiping her brow. She was in very light, casual clothes. "Hope you two aren't too tired from last night. You're gonna do some heavy duty cleaning."
"Whoa, whoa," I said, my hands up as if to stop her from continuing. "We aren't love birds."
"Yeah," Lyra added before for unhelpfully saying, "He doesn't even call."
"Lyra, please." I face-palmed.
"Well, you don't!"
"I don't even have your number."
"Oh? Then, come by later and—"
"Okay, you two, cut the flirting!" Yuki laughed at our exchange, much to my and Lyra's embarrassment. The orange-haired woman walked us over to a large cage that seemed to house about fifteen to twenty large, white and brown chickens.
"Wow!" Lyra exclaimed. "I don't think I've seen chickens that look like this before!"
"Yeah," I agreed, peering at the chicken closest to the cage wall. It looked up to me and held my gaze for a while before strutting away. "Are they yours, Yuki?"
"Mhmm!" The Totsuki alumnus nodded with pride, opening the door to the cage slowly so as not to alert her subjects "Been raising these guys since I started living here as a student! They're my pride and joy. I dubbed them: The Polar Star Prime chickens!"
"What's so special about them?" I asked, as we followed her into the pen.
"They're hybrids," Lyra answered, much to my and Yuki's surprise. "They have the genes and positive characteristics of two chicken species, and the result is a hybrid whose meat is a positive combination of the two species.
"That's correct, Lyra. I worked my ass off for these little guys" Yuki commended, lightly patting the head of one chicken. "You two are going to help me sweep and restock the chicken coop. They can be a little finicky, so don't make any sudden movements."
"Sweep?" I looked around at all the chickens strutting around, making it impossible to really use a broom in anyway without the animals messing up the pile. "Here?"
"Not the pen, the coop." Yuki pointed to a smaller wooden building, which I immediately identified as a typical chicken coop. out of nowhere, she pulled out pairs of gloves and two bags. "One of you has to sweep around the nests and stuff, while the other collects the eggs."
Lyra and I put on the gloves and took the bags, determined to do the task. We marched, ready and willing, into the chicken coup. We took a breath in through our noses and immediately made a decision.
"NOPE!" I yelled, and immediately exited, appreciating the slightly fresher air in the barn. I could hear Lyra beside me, trying her best not to puke.
"Jesus, that's gross." Lyra said, putting a hand over her mouth and nose.
"Oh, right!" Yuki spoke up, walking towards us. She handed us two small cloth facemasks to cover our nose and mouth with. "I forgot to give you these. Alright, have fun!"
Lyra and I watched the orange haired tormenter exit and walk away from the pen. Looking towards the pen, I immediately called out.
"Dibs on egg picking!" My statement caught Lyra off guard, but in a second she realized what I had meant. Her face turned to one of slight surprise to despair and sadness.
(A/N: If you also have a pet bird, or have worked on a farm, you also know this struggle.)
"Rue, please?" She pleaded as she put her hand on my shoulder. "Couldn't you be the gentleman and let the kind, beautiful lady do the simpler, less messy job?" She pouted, but I did not let it get to me, despite how cute she looked.
"Lyra, if you hadn't gone through with your little 'prank' last night, I would have." I answered, putting on a facemask and walking into the pen bags in hand. I smiled behind my mask as I could hear my red-haired friend mumble a stream of curses aimed at me. "Make sure you do good in sweeping, Lyra. It shouldn't be too bad."
After about half an hour, we were both done with our job. Chickens kept wandering around and getting in the way, and became territorial over certain areas. Lyra and I were nursing our arms, hands, and shins; the chickens' pecking actually hurts. We were already walking out of the pen, and threw out the facemasks and brushed off bits of wood chips and feather off of our clothing.
"I never want to touch another chicken for the rest of the month." Lyra complained as she was picking feather from her hair. I chuckled at her complaint.
"Seeing as we go to a culinary academy, I doubt that we can hold that idea up." I replied, which was responded with a light punch to my shoulder. "Was that necessary?"
"Was having me sweep up chicken mess and other… things," she shuddered after thinking of what she just went through. "Enough for revenge for last night?"
"Hmmm," I faux-contemplated. "I guess, but this doesn't mean I don't have something to get back at you."
"I'll be waiting, then."
"You say that like you'll enjoy it." I was somewhat surprised by her eagerness for a 'prank' war.
"Oh, I have some ways to make it enjoyable." She fluttered her eye lashes at me, her exuberance shown through her vibrant green eyes. She continued with a wink, "And I'm sure I'll be able to take it."
"I'll have to remember that part for tomorrow night then. "You won't be able to stand…" I stepped closer to her with a lower tone of voice. I let my sentence trail off, watching as her face seemed to be on fire with such a red blush. "…what I have in store for revenge."
"N-now there's witty banter," Lyra stammered a bit, stepping back. "Then there's straight up verbal teasing. You're just too good at both."
I shrug as if to say, I guess. Rolling my eyes, I turn with the bag of eggs to walk back to the dormitory building. Before I could even take three steps, I felt a hand caress my back from top to bottom, eliciting an involuntary shiver. Immediately following was Lyra whispering to me in a low, sultry tone.
"But I know you'll like the way I can tease…" With that, my legs were frozen as my imagination went wild of its own accord. Shaking myself out of it, I watched as the Caldwell succu- I mean, Caldwell girl smirk and walk away with a sense of victory, swinging her hips as an additional way to tease me.
I was shaken out of my stupor once more as another Polar Star resident jogged over. Blake was a tad out of breath as he stopped before the two of us.
"Hey lovebirds!" He recoiled instantly at the simultaneous glaring and disappointed look that we gave the Italian cook. "Sorry, it's practically the dorm-wide joke now."
Great. I thought, face-palming. Now if Ayanna visits, I have to deal with that as well.
"We have a guest cooking brunch for us back at Polar Star!" Blake announced, regaining my attention.
"Who?" Asked Lyra, which was answered by a shrug from Belladonna.
"No clue, but Fumio and Yuki said that we should come and watch them cook."
"Sounds good," Lyra said. She turned to me with a smile. "I guess we're being rewarded for our work! Let's go, Rue!."
With that, the three of us walked back to the dorm. I shifted my grip on the plastic bag, making sure that none of the eggs would hit my leg while we walked. After a few minutes, I noticed that the fields were empty.
"Everyone's already done?" I wondered aloud.
"Yeah," Blake answered. "You two did wake up a bit later than planned. How did your prank go, by the way, Lyra?"
"I thought we said for you to stuff it about that." Lyra answered with a surprisingly straight face. She turned to me and said, "Besides, what happened there, stays there. Ain't that right, Rue?"
"Why." I said flatly, wondering why she thought it was necessary to add the incriminating statement.
"If you two did do something, and something comes out of it, I will flay the both of you alive." Madam Fumio appeared out of practically nowhere, scaring us into running into the dorm and make our way into the kitchen. We could hear her cackle and say, "Damn children need to calm themselves down."
Looking around the kitchen, I saw that everyone else was already sitting down and eating. Derya caught our attention by waving calling us over.
"Rue! Lyra! Come sit over here!" With that, our special guest stood up to look over at us.
"Ah, you two." The Headmistress of Totsuki gave us a small smile. "Join us, will you? I have something important to tell you."
(A/N: So uh, hey everyone! Sorry for the delay between updates! Especially with such a filler-ish kind of chapter. I had a lot of college and personal issues to take priority in as well.
Also, if you're a RWBY fan looking for an OC-oriented fic, check out my other story, which is SYOC-based in Mistral!
With that, I'll see you guys next time, and I'll do my best to do better with updating in the future)