Author's Note:
So, I'd been reading a bunch of high school AUs and they inspired me to start my own. This is a very slightly different world to the normal human one as it's sort of a mix of the UK and US. Faunus are real in this as well, but Grimm aren't. Each chapter will cover a month, and there is no relation to the Queen song, I just thought it sounded like a cool title. I may change it later.
First chapter covers the first day of school and the last day of August.
Also, a bit of a trigger warning: There's some anxiety in here and a brief description of a panic attack.
It was the last day of August and it was colder than normal when Ruby woke up, and she figured that matched the way she was feeling today. Lying in bed staring at the ceiling she tried to ignore the echoes in her chest and how they were building up. "Just a normal day. That's all it is. A normal day at school." She lay there for several more minutes, breathing slowly and deeply, before her scroll started beeping loudly and incessantly. Groaning she leaned over and grabbed her scroll, turning the alarm off. She lay in bed for another five minutes, scrolling through various social media before a second alarm, less raucous than the first, started. Turning this one off as well, she got up and walked over to her wardrobe, eyes looking over the large pile of clothes at the bottom before rummaging and grabbing a pair of dark jeans with a little bit of fading, as well as a short sleeve black t-shirt, a small but ornate rose design on the left breast. Ruby moved the clothes from the pile in her wardrobe to the bed before kicking a few clothes back into the wardrobe and closing the doors, sealing them shut with a little hook.
Slipping into the hallway she looked across the hall at her sister's door, mercifully it was still closed. Maybe if she was quick enough, she'd actually be able to get a hot shower before Yang used every last drop of the hot water. Tiptoeing down the hall she opened the bathroom door very slowly, waiting for any sound of protest inside (since having once accidentally walked in on her dad using the toilet, she was ALWAYS cautious when opening the door). As she'd expected there wasn't any, so Ruby nipped inside, closed and locked the door, before turning the shower on. Big enough for two people, she had always liked the shower, enough pressure to almost give a mini massage on your shoulders, but light enough that it never hurt. Stripping down she dropped her pyjamas in a pile near the door, placed a fresh towel within arms reach of the shower, and then looked in the mirror.
Large silver eyes stared back at Ruby, thin eyebrows above them were raised ever so slightly, slightly pale skin decorated her body, and her black hair reached just above her shoulders, the tips were a dark red fading upwards into the black. No one had ever been able to explain how that was natural, but for her and her Mum it just had been. Shaking her head to move her thoughts away from her Mum she looked at the rest of her body. Skinny, with little muscle definition, she looked over herself, not exactly liking what she saw, a bit too thin for her liking, she always felt like she could do with filling out a bit more, but her metabolism was just too quick. No matter how many cookies she ate she never seemed to put on weight.
By this time the mirror had been slowly covered in condensation and when Ruby opened her eyes again, she was unable to make any details out in the mirror. Sighing, she stepped into the shower, appreciating the waterfall on her shoulders for a minute or two before grabbing her shampoo from the caddy on the wall. Getting out of the shower a few minutes later she dried off, wrapped the towel around herself, stuck her head out to check the coast was clear, then grabbed her pyjamas and went back to her room. Throwing them onto her bed she rooted in a drawer, got some fresh underwear out and put it on, before drying her hair with the towel. Once it was no longer soaking and merely damp, Ruby put the top and jeans on, found some socks, and headed downstairs to see what was in the kitchen for breakfast. As she left her room a tantalising smell hit her nose and she grinned. Bacon. Yang's door was still closed, so that meant it was Dad. And if it was Dad, then it wasn't just going to be bacon alone. Skipping into the kitchen, her mind fully focused on the delicious smells before her, she smiled widely upon spotting her Dad in front of the oven.
"Hey Dad! Special breakfast by any chance?"
Her Dad turned around and he grinned right back, "You know it kiddo, bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes, the full works." Giving him a tight hug around his waist, Ruby headed away from the kitchen to the sofa and TV, jumping into it and firing up Netflix to see what was on. She'd just turned the latest season of She-Ra on when she heard a noise that wouldn't have sounded out of place in a horror movie.
"Mmmmrrraaaaargghh" Spinning around, Ruby stared at the source of the noise. Bare legs staggered down the stairs, the hem of an oversized t-shirt reaching the thighs, and curls of blonde hair was visible around the lower back. Rubbing her lilac eyes with the back of one hand, her older sister Yang came down the stairs, clearly still waking up. "Is that…" She yawned again, "Is that bacon?"
"No, I'm using the grill actually." Ruby rolled her eyes, of course her Dad would be making puns. Yang had to have got it from somewhere. "Yes sunflower, it's bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, and there'll be coffee ready to go with it by the time your butts on a seat."
Yang nodded, still yawning as she pulled a seat up at the breakfast bar. The table in the living room, a large and very solid oak table, was only used for special occasions and other than that it was never used except as somewhere to pile things. Ruby clambered over the sofa and jumped in one of the seats, her feet swinging underneath as they were just that little bit too short to reach the foot bar. Their Dad turned around with a plate of food piled up in each hand, slid them across the bar and turned back to get the coffee.
"One strong black coffee with one sugar, and one coffee with cream and five sugars." He placed the coffees next to the plates and then got his own food and sat opposite them.
Ruby tucked into the food straight away, drinking coffee to occasionally wash it down. Yang meanwhile started with the coffee, downing it in three large gulps, and then started eating the food afterwards. She slowly straightened up as she ate, becoming more lifelike and less like a zombie as each minute ticked by. When they'd finished, Ruby a few minutes ahead of Yang, they sat back drinking the refills their Dad had brought them. Now fully awake, Yang finished her coffee, ruffled Ruby's hair despite the protests, thanked their Dad for breakfast and headed upstairs, a minute or two later they both heard the shower start. Ruby, still holding her coffee, climbed back into the sofa and started watching She-Ra again. Patting the sofa beside her she called "Zwei! Here boy!" A small black and white corgi came trotting into the living room, tiny tail wagging so hard his butt moved with it. A quick running start provided the momentum for the dog to leap onto the sofa and curled up next to Ruby, who started absentmindedly scratching him behind the ears Just as the episode finished, she heard the shower turn off and Yang leave the bathroom. Twenty minutes later Ruby heard Yang come out her room, dressed in a flannel shirt and denim jeans. Grabbing a rucksack that was next to the floor, she swung it over her shoulder and looked to Ruby, "Coming sis?"
Ruby nodded, then switched Netflix and the TV off before grabbing her messenger bag from near the door and checked inside it again, making sure she had what she needed for the first day at the new school: Pen, notebook, water bottle. No books as they wouldn't know be told what books they needed until they started the lessons. Grabbing her red hoody that hung on a peg by the door she put it on and then slid her feet into her boots, sat down to lace them up, and stood up next to Yang, who had slipped her feet straight into her shoes without undoing the laces. They both turned to say bye to their Dad who was standing opposite the small hallway, his scroll in his hands grinning expectantly, Zwei sat by his feet.
"Really? Come on Dad, we're teenagers," Yang rolled her eyes. Even Ruby agreed with the protest. As much as she loved her Dad, she was 14, 15 in the next couple of months!
"Teenagers you may be, but you're still my daughters, so first day of school means a first day of school photo!" Their Dad looked at them meaningfully until they both sighed and acquiesced, Yang throwing her arm around Ruby's shoulders and squeezing her tight, whilst Ruby grinned and threw up a couple of peace signs. After taking a couple of pictures their Dad smiled softly and told them to hurry up or they'd be late.
"Nah, we've got plenty of time, Beacon High is only fifteen minutes away, not like Signal on the other side of town, now that we would have been late for!" Yang chuckled, waving bye as she headed out the door. Ruby double checked her keys were still in her pocket before giving her Dad a big hug, then sprinting out after Yang. Catching up to her sister they fell into step with one another. Despite Yang's longer legs, Ruby's natural speed helped her keep pace. They chatted as they walked, not talking about anything important, mostly avoiding the dreaded topic of school.
They couldn't avoid it forever though, and they rounded the final corner and Beacon High came into sight. "Ready sis?" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair who immediately started to slap at her sister's hands.
"Yaaaaang stop it!"
Yang laughed before taking on a less jovial tone, "Seriously though, are you gonna be alright? Remember, any trouble, you just come straight to me. Don't bother with the teachers, just come to me and I'll handle it."
Ruby nodded thinking back to Signal Academy where they'd been before. Whilst the bullying there hadn't been constant, it had definitely existed. Ruby had only told the teachers once, and it had only made it worse, even their Dad had admitted that sometimes teachers only made things worse. Yang however had ambushed the ring leader Emerald after school one day, and whilst she'd been given detention for a week, Yang considered it worth it as she knew she'd sent a message loud and clear: mess with Ruby and you messed with her. And messing with Yang meant messing with one of the best boxers in the state. Not something anyone wanted to do lightly. After that, the only bullying had been snide comments, or leaving Ruby out of things. Fortunately, her best friend Penny never stopped hanging out with her, and was completely immune to any kind of insult, purely because she was such a happy person at heart. That and Yang and her friends being happy to have Ruby around most of the time meant she managed to get through Signal.
"I... I think I'll be ok. It's the first day of a new school, everyone is going to be nervous. It'll be fine." Ruby smiled weakly, knowing that whilst that was true, not everyone else had skipped over an entire year and was going to a school with people two years older than them. Ruby, however, was. And the thought terrified her.
Yang stopped and looked at her, "You're gonna be fine Rubes. I promise, alright? You're gonna be absolutely fine, and everything is gonna turn out great." Yang beamed at Ruby, who couldn't help but smile back at Yang's infectious optimism. They continued walking to school, arriving just in time to see a tall, red haired girl climb off the bus that had stopped just ahead of them.
"Hel-loooo!" Yang called out, putting a hand to her mouth to increase the volume.
The red-haired girl turned at the sound and beamed, jogging over to Yang and Ruby. "Hello Yang, hello Ruby. It's good to see you're both nice and early today."
Ruby smiled back, "Hi Pyrrha." Pyrrha had been one of Yang's closest friends for the last four years or so and had always treated Ruby like a little sister - in a good way - and Ruby genuinely viewed Pyrrha as another older sister, something they both knew. Walking together the three of them headed closer to the school discussing the last week or so, as Pyrrha had been in Mistral visiting her cousins, and whilst her and Yang did message each other, it was still good to catch up in person. Heading inside, they saw signs indicating first years were to head for an assembly first thing. A tall, blonde woman, her hair mostly pulled back in a bun and with small oval glasses that she seemed to be permanently staring over, directed them to follow the signs to the auditorium, which they did. When they got to the auditorium it already had quite a few students in there, and there was another student looking quite bored behind a table. She checked people's names against a list then handed them a small pack of paper and directed them to a specific seat in the hall.
Ruby and Yang were separated from Pyrrha, who headed further up whilst they stayed in the bottom few rows, before they were slightly separated again, though only by a few empty seats this time. Sitting down, they opened the packs and started having a quick read through, curiosity getting the better of them both. The packs were very simple: a map of the school (a large horseshoe shape) showing the ground floor and first floor, with a single room highlighted on the ground floor, over to the right-hand side of the map. There was a key on a key ring, clearly meant for a locker, and the other bit of information in the pack was the student handbook, something Ruby flicked through, whilst Yang immediately shoved it into her bag, preferring to study the map intently. She called over to Ruby, "Which room is highlighted on yours?"
Ruby hastily pulled her nap out and glanced over it, searching for the highlighted room. "Errrr...A4!"
"Yes! Same here!" Yang grinned, "Think that means we'll share home room together?"
Ruby's face lit up, "Hopefully, yeah!"
Ruby looked over the map again, trying to work out where various rooms were, trying to prevent herself from getting lost in the future. The sports hall took up a fairly large section of one side of the school, with the gym and changing rooms attached to it leading out to the pitches and track in the middle of the space. On the other side of the grassy area was the cafeteria, not as large as the sports hall opposite but still a decent size. Then a corridor with some classrooms between it and the library in the corner, the auditorium in the opposite corner nearer to the gym, and the rest of the building was made up of classrooms. The gym, sports hall, cafeteria, auditorium, and library took up space on both floors, but other than that it was classrooms.
By the time Ruby had finished looking over the map the auditorium had been filled out to about half. A loud sound, clearly coming from someone tapping on a microphone, sounded out across the room, and everyone's eyes turned to face the stage. Seated at the back were five people, three men and two women, and a tall man in a dark green suit stood at the front, glasses on the end of his nose and thick grey hair that stood up everywhere. He had a cane in one hand and was placing the other in his pocket as he waited a moment for everyone to look at him.
"My name is Professor Ozpin, and I am both the headmaster of this school and chair of Beacon University. You are all here because you passed either the rigorous entrance exam or got in through sporting talent alone. You will spend the next two years with us honing and enhancing your skills in whatever it is that allowed you entrance into this prestigious school. At the end of that time, the vast majority of you will continue onto the university here in Beacon. Be warned however, that you will not be allowed to take it easy purely because you made it through the doors here, and it does not guarantee you access through their doors." Ending his speech, he turned and left the stage, walking with a very slight limp in his right leg. Ruby looked at Yang out the corner of her eyes and they shared the same thought. That was...interesting. From the low buzz of noise in the room it was not a view exclusive to the sisters.
The strict-looking blonde woman who had directed them to the auditorium came up to the microphone and started talking immediately. "You are all currently sat in specific groupings. Rows I and J follow Professor Peach to your new home room." There was a smattering of seats flicking back up as two rows of students stood up and followed the thin, but kindly looking, brunette out the doors. Rows G and H followed a tall grinning man by the name of Professor Mulberry out, E and F followed Professor Port, a rotund man with a large grey moustache, and Yang noticed Pyrrha and two of their other friends, Nora and Ren, following him out. C and D followed a gangly man with large glasses and green hair that could only be described as a bird's nest. "And the final two rows, A and B for those who struggle with the alphabet, will follow me." The blonde woman immediately marched down the steps of the stage and headed towards the doors, not giving much time for those to follow her.
Ruby grabbed her bag and hurried after her, making sure to stick close to Yang as they moved through the corridors towards the entrance of the school, passing by it and the staircase to the upper floor. Halfway towards the library she pushed open a door and walked into the classroom beyond, the train of students behind her following. "Your name is on the desk where you will be sitting. Do not try and move it elsewhere." She repeated this as more students came into the room and everyone tried to figure out where they were sitting. Yang sat in the back corner, Ruby in the of the middle of the row in front of her. The rest of the students finished sitting, with a couple chatting to their neighbours, Yang included. Ruby was quiet and looked around, hoping to spot a familiar face, but the only face she saw that was recognisable was Yang's.
Whilst looking around, she spotted the girl to her right and she felt her breath catch in her throat. Platinum white hair tied back into a ponytail that was off centre cascaded down her back, a comfy looking white turtleneck sweater, clearly expensive, covered her neck and upper body, hugging quite close to her arms and torso, but with a little slack around the neck. Ruby could only see part of her face as she was staring directly ahead, her back perfectly straight and her hands clasped together on the table. But what a face it was, it was as smooth as a doll, her fringe stopped just above her eyes, which were a cool, icy blue. Her left eye had a strange slash across the skin, extending downwards as well as upwards, cutting through her eyebrow, that was also platinum white. Either the girl dyed every bit of hair that was visible, or, like Ruby, she had a strange hair colour naturally. Either way, Ruby didn't think she'd seen a more beautiful person in her life.
Sensing someone looking at her, the girl turned her head slightly to look at Ruby, showing that the slash was only on one side, and whilst it was slightly pale, even against her already pale porcelain skin, it still stood out enough to be clearly visible. She narrowed her eyes slightly, then snapped her head back to the front, giving no more attention to Ruby beside her.
Following that reaction there was no way Ruby had any plans to say hello, so continued to look around for a minute or two before a loud smack at the front of the class caught everyone's attention. The teacher was standing at the front, a riding crop in her hand that was still held against the board, below the words "Professor Goodwitch" written in cursive. Where she got the riding crop and why she was allowed to have it in school were two of the questions that popped into Ruby's head briefly before Professor Goodwitch started talking.
"As you can clearly see, I am Professor Goodwitch, and will be your home room teacher for the next two years. I'm now going to pass out your timetables for this year, and they are unique to you, so hopefully nobody will get confused as you all sat exactly where you were supposed to." A small smile crossed her face, one that Ruby didn't think was there to make people feel at ease.
Professor Goodwitch went round handing the timetables out to everyone and Ruby took hers with a quiet "Thank you."
Back at the front of the class, timetables handed out, Professor Goodwitch informed everyone that "Now would be a good time to use the maps provided and make notes on where each of your classes will be held." So, most people set about doing just that. Ruby pulled out her pen and started circling classrooms, writing down in the gaps what each room was for. "Your lockers are all located opposite this classroom, so you can have five minutes at the end to find out where your locker is." Once Ruby had finished marking down where all of her classes were, she started looking at the timetable and seeing whether there were any days she wasn't going to enjoy much.
Turns out today was one of those. After home room was double Spanish, Biology, lunch, then double English to end. Not exactly her favourite subjects. Monday's looked a lot better though, Maths, Physics, Physical Education, Lunch, and then double Workshop to finish. Pretty much her perfect day. The rest of the week was mostly balanced between good and bad, and there were only two days left in the week after today. Home room was over fairly quickly, and Ruby headed over to Yang, "What've you got today?"
Yang checked her timetable, "Err double Art, Biology, lunch, and then double English?"
Ruby grinned, well at least she had English with her sister so wouldn't have to suffer it alone. Unfortunately, the art rooms were located upstairs, and the Spanish rooms further away on the other side of the school. So, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Spanish was, interesting, is probably the best word Ruby would use to describe it. There were two boys who got along very well, one of them highly excitable and the other trying to play off a lot cooler. The double period meant by the end of it, Ruby's head was thoroughly scrambled, and she was thinking in a mix of English and Spanish that only served to confuse her even more. Heading to Biology she followed her map to the science labs upstairs, arriving a few minutes after Yang did. Yang had, unfortunately for Ruby, already got someone sitting next to her, so Ruby gave her sister evils as she walked past and sat at an empty table. Just before the bell rang a tall guy with blonde hair and a hoody scrambled into the seat next to her, nearly falling off in his hurry to sit down before the bell. Ruby bit back a snort of laughter as their teacher, the kindly looking brunette from the auditorium walked in wearing a white lab coat. What was her name again? Professor Plum? No that wasn't it…Professor Pear? No…she'd get it in a minute.
"Hello everyone and welcome to Biology. I'm Professor Peach."
That was it, Peach!
Professor Peach continued to introduce herself, saying that she was both a doctor and a professor, but she didn't mind what people called her, provided it was polite, which got a quick chuckle from some of the students. She pulled a bag out from behind the desk and dropped a stack of books on each table in the front row, the loud thump that accompanied each stack indicating the professor was a lot stronger than she first appeared. From the front the books were passed backwards until everyone had a book. Whilst the books were being passed around, Ruby decided that if she was sat with someone, she should probably introduce herself. "Hi…I'm Ruby." She was still a little nervous but managed to get her words out without stumbling over them.
"Hi," The blonde next to her flicked his head back and attempted a smile that was supposed to be sultry…maybe? Ruby wasn't sure as it just looked weird. "Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."
Ruby just stared at him for a minute or so before finally saying the only thing she could think of, "Do they?"
"Huh?"
"Do…do the ladies love it?" Ruby was feeling preeeeetty awkward now and regretting some life choices. Mostly getting to Biology later than Yang, and also trying to say hi to the blonde noodle next to her.
"Erm. Well. From your reaction and everyone else's so far today I'd say no." His shoulders dropped considerably and seemed really dejected, "Sorry. My mum always said people love confidence, but that's clearly not right."
Ruby's feelings went from second-hand embarrassment to pity pretty quickly. Trying to find something to make him feel a bit better she came up with, "Well they do sometimes?" Which might not have been the best thing to say in hindsight, but too late now.
Jaune sighed. "Can we start over please? Preferably one where I don't look like an idiot?"
Yang leaned over and whispered "Kinda failed on that one when you nearly fell over your own feet lady-killer."
"Yang!" Ruby hissed at her, and Yang leaned back.
"Sorry." She whispered.
Seeing all the books had finished being handed out, Professor Peach directed them to the front of the books and started the lesson. She wrapped class up a minute or two before the bell for lunch, the majority of the class having been spent reading or making notes. During the note taking, Jaune had managed to reintroduce himself to Ruby, this time without being overconfident, and she guessed he was probably nice enough, he definitely seemed pretty awkward at times, which was something Ruby could relate to.
Ruby and Yang left biology at the same time, Yang waiting for Ruby by the door, and they headed for lunch together. Ruby was still annoyed at Yang for not sitting with her in Biology and was grumbling about it until they sat down, and Yang passed her cookie over. "It's a peace offering, ok?"
Ruby narrowed her eyes and accepted it, "Fine, but don't skip out on me with English! You know I'll need your help to get through it..." She mumbled the last part, but Yang smiled and nodded, having heard her all the same.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha walked over to their table and sat down, a ginger ball of excitement and energy behind her, and a calm and silent black-haired guy coming round to sit next to Yang.
"Hey Nora, hey Ren." Yang and Ruby said hellos to two of their other friends from Signal. Nora was just pure energy, constantly excited and hyperactive. Whilst she didn't have the best brain for academics in the world, she had made it into the school through one of the sport programmes for athletics. Her biceps and "thunder thighs" as she termed them gave a hint to her preferred sport, the hammer throw. Ren on the other hand was her closest and oldest friend, and pretty much the exact opposite of Nora in nearly every way. Where she was excited and hyperactive, he was calm and collected, taking pretty much everything in his stride. He also had the academics side of their pairing down too, and it had been no surprise to anyone when he'd followed Nora to Beacon through the more traditional entrance exam route. Making it better for them was not only getting to be in the same home room, but also having Pyrrha there as well! Ruby was pretty jealous there, she only had Yang and whilst she didn't fault her older sister for much, she was definitely the more outgoing of the two.
All too soon the bell sounded, and lunch was over. Everyone clattered tomorrow their feet, climbing off the benches and putting their trays on the trolleys designed to hold them. Yang and Ruby headed towards their English class, Ren coming with them as it turned out he shared a class with the two sisters, whilst the others headed to their own classes. As it turned out the blonde noodle, Jean? Something like that Ruby thought too herself, was in their English class too, and seemed to be in the same home room as Ren as they both greeted each other and sat down together on the same table, Yang meanwhile stuck to her word and didn't desert Ruby, sitting with her.
That turned out to be a good thing, as Ruby struggled pretty quickly with the level of work they were doing, as English hadn't been her strongest subject back at Signal, and that was when it was her own year group level, never mind two years ahead...
By the time the double period ended Ruby's brain was thoroughly scrambled. Again. She had no idea how she was going to make it through Wednesdays every week, what with double Spanish in the morning and double English in the afternoon, her brain didn't get much of a chance to rest in Biology or lunch. Fortunately, this was by far her worst day, and she could probably just about handle it once a week. Today had mostly been alright, but she knew it would only get worse from next week. Ruby dropped her books off in her locker, having attached the key to her rather large collection of keychains already with various things either stuck on or hanging on. She was distracted as she headed down the steps and started to walk towards home, Yang having gone to boxing practice just to "meet everyone" apparently, no actual fighting, but Ruby hadn't wanted to hang around to wait, preferring instead to head home straight away, she needed a bit of time to relax as she could feel her nerves twitching a little.
A loud thump as she walked into someone, knocking them both over, shook Ruby from her head.
Oh fuck.
Please be someone nice. Please be someone nice.
"I...I'm so sorry. It was an accident I..." Ruby started to apologise before being cut off.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Do you not look where you walk?! You idiot! You dunce! You absolutely careless, clumsy...dolt!" A very angry voice interrupted her, broke her hopes of it being a nice person, and then shattered them. The angelic beauty from home room, with the ice blue eyes and platinum white hair was standing over Ruby, who was still sitting on the floor. Those eyes, which whilst not exactly friendly beforehand but not strictly unfriendly, were way past unfriendly and now bordered on anger and hatred. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?! How did you even get here? This school is only for the best, and you're clearly not it, so why don't you just go back to wherever you came from!" With that last insult she stormed off, ponytail swishing behind her.
Ruby meanwhile scrambled to her feet and, feeling what seemed to be the eyes of everyone in school boring into her, practically sprinted back home, went straight upstairs and sat down at her desk, hands trembling and her breath coming in very quick and shallow gasps. She closed her eyes and tried to drag up the memories of her coping strategies, and murmured out loud "In for seven, out for eleven. In for seven, out for eleven." She deliberately breathed slowly, counting in her head in time to make sure the breaths were long and slow. After doing it four times, her hands had stopped shaking quite so badly, but her heart still felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest.
Breathing a little slower, but still more than normal, she reached over and turned her computer on. Then, on slightly shaky legs, walked over and picked a small box up with a highly designed and, in her view at least, cool mech on the top and put it on her desk to one side of the monitors. Lifting the lid up she took the trays of parts out and put them to one side, alongside the half-built torso. Opening a tab on her browser she found one of her favourite streamers for moments like this, a large guy with a beard and a deep calming voice. Loading one of his LEGO build streams she put her wireless headphones on, shutting the rest of the world out, settled down and threw herself into the build.
An hour and a half later Ruby pulled herself out of her build, paused the stream, and headed to get a drink. Her Dad still hadn't returned from work, but Yang was downstairs, watching Netflix with Zwei curled up next to her. She turned as she heard Ruby's soft footfalls on the stairs, got up, and wordlessly pulled Ruby into a hug. Ruby hugged her back, squeezing tight, knowing that Yang wouldn't pry or ask questions, it only made her clam up and struggle to get back to normal. True to her thoughts, her sister just gently kissed the top of her head before going back to Netflix. Ruby grabbed some water, downed it in a single go, then poured herself some milk and grabbed the last couple of cookies and sat down on the other side of Zwei, pulling her knees up. They watched Netflix together, Ruby not really paying attention to anything, just scratching Zwei's back with the cookies balanced on her knee.
Before too long their Dad turned up, a Chinese takeaway in hand. Ruby and Yang scrambled to get to the food as their Dad laughed and held it aloft with cries of "At least let me put it down before mobbing me to death!" They got plates and shared the food out, eating it and talking about nothing in particular. Her Dad hadn't asked how the day had gone, so Yang had clearly messaged him in advance, and Ruby appreciated it. She'd talk to them both about it tomorrow, but tonight? Tonight, she wanted to relax and feel good.
Author's note two:
So yes, I've given Ruby some anxiety and a history of panic attacks. It will crop up later on in the story as well, but I felt like it would fit in with her. This is mostly going to be told from Ruby's perspective along with a little bit from the other three girls. Don't worry, Blake will come into it a little bit in the next chapter, and then much more in the third chapter. There's not a release schedule like with my other fanfic Road to Graduation (which is weekly on a Saturday and set in the actual RWBYverse). This is very much "I'll release once I've finished the next chapter" sort of thing, so it could be quickly, it could be a while, depends on how quickly I write. Anyway, thank you very much to anyone who reads this!