February 14th 1999...
It was around the same time that Yang and Neptune were eating dinner at the local Chinese restaurant, and Weiss and Blake were about half way through the movie there were watching across town at the local AMC theater do we find Ruby and Jaune.
Jaune was thumbing through a copy of the "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" while Ruby was reading the first book of the "Animorphs" series. Both sat in a comfortable silence with ruby resting her head against his side while he had an arm wrapped around her. It didn't even matter that the waitress had apologized for the long wait on their orders almost three times now. They just didn't care because they were with each other.
Ruby was barely reading though, I mean the book was good, she just didn't have it in her to do any serious reading at the moment. Ruby was just lost in thought about a conversation she had with her Mom and Dad the night before.
February 13th 1999...
The thing people need to understand about being Ruby Long, is that she has to factor her deafness into every single decision she makes through her day. For example one of the first things she did after homework was to stand at the edge of her doorway to her room, and just stare at her room.
After the argument she had with her mother, also known to her as "the bitch", she had decided that she needed to make a few changes in her room. She was tired of being snuck up on by family members while she was watching tv, let alone when she was talking to someone on IM. It was with that in mind that Ruby decided she needed to move things around so she could always see the door no matter where she was sitting and doing in her room.
The first thing she moved was her bed. moving it from where it was against the south wall of her room, to the east wall of the room. Her door was on the west end of the room and since it was a lightweight twin sized bed that was not hard for her to do on her own. After that she decided to move her computer and work desk to the south wall so her bedroom door was right where she could see someone coming in and out. She also moved her TV to the right of her desk, so if someone came in while she was watching it, she would see them come in as well
When it was all said and done and Ruby sat down. Firmly tired and sweaty from moving everything around in her room for that one single goal of keeping her mother from sneaking up on her like she did the previous afternoon. Ruby allowed herself the luxury of closing her eyes. Sitting around with her eyes closed was not something she did often as it had the side effect of completely cutting her off from the world around her, unless you were stomping around near her she wouldn't know you were there..
So when she felt a stomp on the floor to get attention she looked at her dad who was standing in the door frame waving.
[Hey kiddo me and your mother needed to talk to you.] Tai signed to her.
[Do we need to include mom?] Ruby signed back.
[Yes we do.] Tai said with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
As Ruby walked out she saw her dad sign to her [Like what you did with your room.] Which got a hug from Ruby as she walked by him towards the family she saw her mother sitting reading a small pamphlet on Cochlear Implants.
Ruby sat in a seat that faced the par as Tai sat down next to his wife.
Tai sign interpreted for his wife as Summer spoke "Ruby, Look you know we both love you right."
[Yeah that's the rumor you seem to be spreading as of late, why?] Ruby signed back. Tai didn't exactly translate it verbatim.
"Look the thing is your father and I talked about it for a while. We think that if you really think your really interested in getting these gaudy implants in your head. We will be willing to put off our New York trip for a few years so we can help you get them" Summer said with a disingenuous smile to her daughter.
Ruby looked at her dad [Let me guess, you put this on the table next to sign language lessons and she went with this?]
"She's asking what made you change your mind, i'll answer this one" Tai said to Summer before he signed to Ruby [Well I mean this is what you wanted right?]
Ruby sighed and signed [No, your right, this is what I wanted. I think I would of preferred to think this was because mom was actually on board with this and not because it's easier for her.]
Tai smiled [Well just put on a smile and I'll tell her you said thank you. We can keep any frustrated chatter about this between us.]
Ruby Smiled for her dad as Tai said to Summer "She had some concerns about the Vacation we canceled, but she wanted me to say thank you"
Summer smiled with a slight blush in total ignorance of what they said...
Back in the present Ruby sighed as she failed to notice that while she was lost in her thoughts Jaune had started looking at her. Once she finally noticed Jaune looking at her she shook off the thought and signed [Yeah what's up?]
Jaune smiled and signed [Our food is here.] he signed before he pointed at the plates in front of them.
Ruby's eyes shot wide as she looked at the plate and started eating her meal. As she did Jaune took small bites out of his own meal and signed at her when her eyes turned to look at him [You good? You were kinda zoning out there for a bit.]
Ruby Shrugged and signed [I'm sorry i'm being a terrible date tonight.] Looking a bit tense as she did so.
Jaune shook his head [Not at all, but I can tell something is bothering you.]
Ruby felt a look of worry creep on her face [Jaune, if I did something that dramatically changed how I looked, would you still want to be with me?]
Jaune took a bite of his burger and signed out [What are we talking here? Because you know I wouldn't noticed you change your hair color unless you went full Yang or Weiss.]
Ruby rubbed her hands before signing [Do you remember when I told you I was looking into hearing aids and I was told it wouldn't work for me?]
[Yeah, you were pretty upset at the time hon, why did something change?] Jaune signed out in between bites of his meal.
Ruby say largely ignoring her food for the moment. [I might of convinced my family to let me look into Cochlear Implants, but it would require an operation, about a day in the hospital, and about four to six weeks in the hospital before they can even fit me for the second half of the procedure]
[but they would let you hear right?] Jaune signed to her.
[Yeah, I mean I would be able to hear, and maybe in a year or two be able to understand spoken English with a tutor, hell I might even be able to talk normally someday] Ruby signed out.
[That sounds pretty awesome Hon, what's the problem then?] Jaune signed to her.
Ruby pulled out a pamphlet and rested it on the table where Jaune could see and pointing at the picture of the incision point, and the somewhat noticeable looking plastic box that would fit behind her ear and the round circular attachment that looks like would stick to the side of her head. Ruby eventually signed out after Jaune had a chance to look it over [This is not some trivial operation, it's one way trip for me. Once I do this i'm going to have wires in my head sending sound signals into my brain, my ears would only exist to hold the microphone and speech processor.] she signed before pointing at the object on the figures ear.
Jaune taped on the page at the round disk on the table [So that just kinda sticks to your head, it's not bolted there, also it looks like you can take the entire box thing off at night right? so it's just the stuff under the skin that's permanent?]
Ruby signed out [Well yeah, but i'm sure it'll leave scars] as she pondered.
[So what your saying, is you'll be my cute cyborg girlfriend after the operation?] Jaune signed out with a smile.
Ruby was taken back [Cyborg girlfriend? That's your takeaway from what i'm saying?]
Jaune rubbed his hands together as he thought for a second. [Well I mean if the major downside is you'd have so gadgets stuck to your head for part of the time that lets you hear. Then I'm all for this!] Jaune signed out with a smile [I mean I'm all for anything that puts you on a more even footing with the rest of us.]
Ruby quickly swallowed a bite as she was finally eating her own burger and signed as she ate [Well yeah that's one way of looking this, there's other risks though.]
[This is what you want though Ruby. I can tell your only asking me because your worried that I'd dump you over it. Well i'm not going to kick you to the curb because your doing something that makes your life better Jaune signed out.
Ruby smiled [Well I mean it the first operation is going to be this summer if my dad's insurance covers it. But they started working with my doctor behind my back already.]
Jaune ate the last bites of his burger at about the same time as Ruby and smiled [Well we didn't get much reading done, but I'd say it was still a good date so far then.]
Ruby smiled and narrowed her eyes at Jaune [Oh I got something else in mind for you, but we need to go to your place.]
Jaune raised an eyebrow and waved out for the check for their meal. [Okay, I'm a bit worried now but I'll play along just to see what you had in mind for me.]
Later that evening...
Jaune had a lot of idea's going through his head when Ruby said she had something "special planned" for the end of the night. He didn't dare consider the idea of it would involve his bedroom however, he also didn't also consider the idea of her signing out that simple request.
[I want to draw me] Ruby signed to him with a playful smirk on her face.
Jaune shook his head and signed out as well [Ruby I've drawn you at least a dozen times, you didn't even have to ask me to bus back to my place for this.]
[Let me finish.] Ruby signed [I want you to draw me on your bed, in only my underwear.]
Jaune dropped his drawing pencil when it hit him what she just asked, he quickly picked it back up. [Well I'm not going to say no!] he signed out with a blush
Ruby did her best to put on a bit of a show as she slipped out of her outfit, as she reached up for her bra Jaune waived at her she signed back at him [Yeah what's up?]
Jaune signed with a heavy blush on his face [Let's not take it further than that, you've only dated me for a couple months right?]
Ruby smiled and nodded as she took a comfortable pose on his bed looking at him with a playful smirk the whole time. Jaune couldn't help but think "Holy crap I never seen a girl in her undies before like this, this is freaking insane!" as he started working on his drawing. Unlike his normal sketches he did for practice he took care to make sure he captured the moment as best as he could.
Jaune smiled at Ruby when he looked at her, she playfully signed [Your really trying to burn this into your memories huh?]
Jaune shook her head as he was trying to deny it as he kept working making sure to capture every cure and as much detail as his skills allowed him to, even catching the small freckles on her chest, the small blemish on her stomach.
The scar on her arm, well maybe he didn't have to put that much detail into that particular part of her.
Overall he spent about an hour getting a decent drawing of her done. Once he was finished he waved her over to see the results. When Ruby looked at the picture it was her turn to get an embarrassed blush on her face as she signed [Oh wow, now that I see what you saw I kinda feel all embarrassed by this. Your not going show anyone right?]
Jaune smiled and signed back [Nope, I won't show anyone. Do you need me to take off something as well or..."]
Ruby blushed hard as she thought about it, her face turning a beat red [Ah no, you don't need to do that. But I think that might be your best drawing to date.]
Jaune said with a heavy blush [Well my model was easy on my eyes]
Ruby smiled and kissed him deeply which Jaune had no trouble returning. Jaune was worried things would move too far. Had it not been for his phone ringing it might have right then and there. When he pointed at the phone Ruby took a step back as he picked it up and hit the "1" button to let whoever it was know it was him answering.
"Hey Jaune it's mom, just wanted to call to see if you were home... I'm going to be coming back home tonight after all, something came up I needed to talk to you about okay?" Mina said with a certain off tone to her voice.
Jaune beeped the phone for yes.
"I'll see you in a while okay?" Mina said before she ended the call.,
Jaune had a concerned look on his face as Ruby quickly put her outfit back on. "She sounded a bit overwhelmed... I hope everything went okay with Ozpin..."
Jaune would find out soon enough he supposed.
Well here we are on chapter 25 of this particular fic, and it looks like that I'm going to be splitting off Mina's part into it's own chapter after all, which is fine because we have a whole lot of ground to cover for her anyways. I am going to try and put a bit more focus on the other cast members as we go through this but the main characters are still going to be Ruby and Jaune for now at least. So we got that going for us.
Nothing to really comment on for reviews this chapter except to say thanks again to everyone who took the time to write them out in the first place. I'll see you all next chapter, which is going to be very much Mina and Ozpin focused.
