Oscar groaned, seeing the three huntresses making themselves at home. Ruby and Yang sat in front of the tv playing a videogame while Weiss sat on the couch and read a book. He calmed himself and decided to just grab a snack and roll with it.
"Hi Oscar! Welcome home!" Ruby called when he passed through the living room.
"Hey Ruby. This is becoming too often an occurrence to even get mad anymore. Tai's going to get annoyed eventually if you keep taking his keys." He continued his walk to the kitchen, setting his briefcase on the kitchen table and began rummaging through his cabinets.
"Uh, well actually dad was still at Signal and Raven wouldn't give me the key, so I just took your spare. I found out where you hid it."
"You what?!" Oscar slammed the cabinet door. He ran to the entrance of the living room. He saw Weiss shaking her head. "Ruby! That's hidden for a reason."
"Sorry. I brought it inside so you could hide it again."
"Just keep it," he groaned and sauntered back to the kitchen. "You visit enough anyways."
He grabbed a large bag of pretzels and returned to the others. He sat on the couch next to Weiss. He offered her some, but she refused.
"I'm sorry for showing up like this, Oscar." Weiss apologized. "Ruby said that this was her friend's house and that we could hang out here for a while."
"Hey! Oscar's a friend! So I wasn't lying!" she retorted. Oscar chuckled.
"It's fine. Ruby just sort of shows up here most days. I've gotten pretty used to it."
Oscar looked over to where Ruby and Yang were fighting both physically and in the game. Ruby was trying to kick Yang while Yang blocked all her attempts with her arm. It seemed to be some sibling fight that he just didn't understand. Weiss rolled her eyes.
"They've been like this all day!" she complained. "Ever since we got to Signal!"
"Uh oh, what happened?"
"Your coworker, uh, Flann. Does she always ask about relationships?"
"Yeah. It's her way of teasing the younger teachers like me. What did she do this time?"
"She thought you and Ruby were dat-" A pillow hit the wall right next to Weiss's head.
"Missed!" Ruby grumbled. Weiss grabbed a pillow and threw it back at Ruby.
"You are so immature! I was just explaining!"
"Don't! It's embarrassing!" Ruby screamed in embarrassment. Yang was laughing as Weiss rolled her eyes again.
"Ruby don't think too much about it," Oscar smiled at her. "Flann is the type to ask her children when she's getting grandchildren. She's really nice and means no harm."
"But it was still embarrassing…"
"I'll talk to her about it tomorrow." He smiled again. Next thing he knew there was a pillow in his face.
"Never let your guard down, Pine," she laughed maniacally.
"Oh? You know I think today I'll beat you in your little games."
"Just you try!" Ruby bounced up and went into a ninja pose.
"Ok, ok you two. I'm getting hungry," Yang cut in. "Let's settle this with a race to For Pizza's Sake!"
"You're on!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Loser has to pay," Oscar challenged.
"Hah! Hope your wallet is ready because there's no way I'm gonna lose!"
"Why pizza?" Weiss asked Yang.
"Dad used to take us all the time when he was working late. I kid you not, best pizza in all of Patch!" she explained. "Now… on your marks… get set… go!"
Ruby burst into a cloud of rose petals.
"Hey! No using your semblance!" Oscar shouted after her.
"It wasn't in the rules!" she laughed. He ran to the front door to grab his coat. He was just in time to see Ruby disappear out the door. He hurriedly grabbed his coat and started putting on his shoes. He was right about to leave when Yang grabbed his shoulder, holding him back.
"I knew she was going to do that. But I wanted to talk to you."
Oscar looked out the door to where Ruby disappeared to. He sighed, knowing there was no way to catch up with her. He waited for Yang and Weiss to put their coats on and leave with him.
"Ruby told you about those black marks, didn't she?" Yang asked.
"Yeah…" He looked at his feet. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Weiss smiling kindly at him.
"Any idea of what they are?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but unfortunately I have a pretty good idea."
"Grimmification?" Oscar shook his head. He could hear Weiss and Yang sigh in relief.
"It's… a curse."
"A curse? How can you be so sure?" Weiss asked.
"From my predecessor's memories. Curses like it used to be common."
"Is there any way to break it?" Yang asked. Oscar shook her head.
"The curse she has takes just a small portion of their aura. You know, to weaken them a bit. Normally it should go away after a few days, but Ruby's hasn't. Her aura… her life is slowly being taken from her." His teeth clenched together as his hands tightened into fists. "I don't know what to do."
"It's not fair," Yang quietly said. "After everything she's been through, this is what happens?"
"Some heroes never get to see what their endeavors accomplished."
"We're acting like she's already dead!" Weiss snapped. "It's Ruby we're talking about! She'll find a way to pull through this."
"Weiss-" Oscar began with a shake of his head.
"No, she's right," Yang cut him off. "Ruby's strong. Besides, she has Oscar now."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah. You haven't noticed? She's been looking way better since you two started hanging out again."
"I can't say that I have…"
"Well either way, I'm glad that she's happier. I can't be there for her right now, so could you watch after her for me?" Oscar was going to say something, but he looked at Yang's face. He had always seen her as the strong one, but when he looked at her, her expression was gentle. It was almost pleading.
"I will."
"Good. Now let's concentrate on pizza! Ruby better have ordered something good!"
"I almost forgot!" Oscar started running. "I'll see you guys there!"
He ran the rest of the way to the pizzeria. When he got there, Ruby was already seated at a table. She smiled and waved him over when she saw him. He was almost completely out of breath when he sat down. Regardless, he couldn't help but smile when he saw her.
"What took you so long?!" she laughed. She pushed her drink closer to him which he chugged down in a single gulp. "Hey! I was drinking that!"
"That's what you get for using your semblance like that." He slammed the glass down with a laugh.
"So where's Weiss and Yang?"
"They're coming. I don't think they were too interested in joining our race."
"I wonder if we should make them pay."
"Hey if it means I don't have to pay, let's do it."
A waitress came up to take his drink order. She briefly left after he ordered. As she was walking away, Oscar recognized a familiar face passing by the table.
"Marigold!" Oscar waved to his coworker. She turned and waved back. She split from her friend group to talk to him.
"Hi Oscar! Funny seeing you here. I didn't know you uh… well had a social life."
"He never really has," Ruby joked.
"Ruby!" he hissed.
"And you're Ruby Rose, right? Tai's daughter."
"That's right!" she chirped.
"Tell him that I said hi."
"Will do!"
"So what are you doing here?" Oscar asked Marigold.
"Just a girl's night out. You?"
"I guess you could say so. Just meeting with some friends."
"Fun," she laughed a little. "I'm going to head back to my friends, but I'll see you tomorrow, Oscar. And it was nice seeing you again, Ruby."
"Bye Marigold." Oscar waved to her as she left.
"You have quite a few friends at Signal," Ruby commented. She absentmindedly stirred her cup of ice.
"Jealous?" he said with a chuckle. She stopped stirring her cup and fervently shook her head.
"No! Not at all! In fact I'm glad! You have a bunch of friends now."
"Well if it's any consolation, you'll always be my best friend."
"I'm not jealous, but… thanks," she sheepishly muttered the last part. "Wow! Yang and Weiss are taking a long time! I wonder what's the hold up?"
He knew that she was trying to change the subject. He wanted to tease her, but her expression was a bit strange. Oscar decided to drop it and play along. It wasn't long before Weiss and Yang appeared at their table. Yang kept sharing stories of things that had happened when she and Ruby were children. Their chatting didn't stop when the pizza arrived.
"Same recipe. It's great," Yang laughed. "Whenever Ruby and I had a sleepover with friends, we'd always get the pizza here."
"We? I never had sleepovers. You and your friends always kept me up until I shut myself in the guest room," Ruby retorted.
"Oh come on, we always invited you in."
"But you and your friends did nothing but talk about boys! It was boring!"
"Yeah? Didn't you once look around for a boyfriend at Beacon? Wasn't so boring then."
"I was young!" Ruby blushed.
"And what about your old crush on Oscar?" Oscar began choking on his slice of pizza. He banged on his chest a few times before chugging his water.
"Yang!" Ruby's face matched her cape.
"You had a crush on me?!" Oscar nearly screamed. Ruby tried burying her head in the table. When that didn't work, she covered her head with her arms.
"It was a really really long time ago, ok? I'm over it now."
"I can't believe you both had a crush on each other and didn't notice," Yang snickered. Oscar turned red.
"How did you know?!" His jaw dropped.
"Uh, it was pretty obvious," Weiss answered.
"And nobody said anything?!"
"Why would I? There were bigger fish to fry at the time," Yang shrugged. Oscar buried his face in his hands.
"Ruby? Not weird?"
"Not weird," she replied. She lifted her head. They both shook on it. By now Yang and Weiss were laughing their heads off. "We're making them pay for dinner."
"Agreed."
"Worth it," Yang laughed.
"Hey Ruby? Any embarrassing stories about Yang?" Oscar asked. An evil grin etched its way onto her face.
"Plenty," Ruby smirked.
She took a deep breath before telling the table of some funny accident Yang made when they were kids. Yang began screeching like her sister had moments before. She began poking Ruby in the sides to make her stop. The two sisters laughed as they tortured each other. It wasn't long before Weiss started lecturing them.
Oscar ignored it all. He stared out the window. He looked briefly at Ruby and her dazzling smiling face. The feelings did not go away.