Edited by: Crescent Sunrise
"Okay May, I think you're ready for your date." Dew comments. May's earlier irritation having managed to get as far as the lunch table with her friends before melting away as they started to congratulate her on getting her first date with the pretty Rose.
"G-girls I've said I-it before. It's n-not a d-date. She s-said she would give L-longshot a chance s-so this c-can't be a date. J-just two friends sh-shopping." May insists weakly. Wishing the not-a-date were actually a date. Still it's time she gets to spend with Ruby and that's good enough for her. She turns to Gwen with a pleading look biting her lip to hear the stoic girl's opinion.
Staring back the sniper wonders if Gwen will pass without comment before she sighs and walks over circling May slowly before nodding. "You're using the colors on your usual jacket as an overall theme. Smart, red and white work well on you. Looks good May, go have fun and try to relax. The crowds matter a lot less than the cute girl you're walking with." Gwen adds before nodding and stepping back earning herself a grateful smile as Octavia hugs May before letting her leave the room.
"You three are going to spy on them aren't you?" Gwen asks the room at large once the beanie clad sniper is gone getting an incredulous look from her teammates.
"Well duh, was there ever any question? We've been helping her all this time. There's no way we aren't following through now. The puppies are playing with the kittens and I'll be damned if I'm going to miss seeing our hard work in action." Dew states already grabbing her things.
"What hard work? Stalking doesn't actually count as work… does count as a crime however." Gwen replies without skipping a beat earning an indignant huff from Dew and chuckling from Nebula and Octavia.
"Now if only I could have gotten her to get rid of that hat." Dew mutters.
~With May~
'Stay cool May. Okay bad idea, you're plenty cold already. Just try not to shiver too much. I blame Dew for this, my jacket was perfectly fine to wear! It's not a date!' Our sniper complains to herself as she pulls the light white zipper hoodie tighter around her front resisting the urge to zip it up because Dew told her not to.
'She said I want to show off the red shirt otherwise there's too much white between the hoodie and the pants.' She pauses tugging a bit at the rich crimson fabric as she looks at herself in a hallway mirror, tugging her beanie firmly in place before nodding to herself and adjusting her shouldered rifle. Students encouraged to keep their weapons on them in town due to the increase in robberies of late.
With one last micro adjustment and a lot of anxiety, the sniper steps out and into the open. The sun still shining overhead as she makes her way towards the statue. She's early, she knows it but the last thing she wanted to do was make Ruby wait for her if she decided to do the same thing.
With a soft sigh of relief May notices the vicinity is lacking a certain ebon haired girl and sits at the base of the statue trying not to fidget. 'She still has half an hour. There's plenty of time.'
She barely completes the thought when a blur of red comes to a stop in front of her swirling cloak trailing rose petals that slowly dissipate. Silver eyes look around quickly missing the figure sitting behind her before she lets out a similar sound only to erupt in a startled squeak when May speaks up.
"H-hello Ruby, l-looks like we're b-both early." The sniper comments with a tiny smile on her lips before standing and gently patting her pants to make sure there's nothing clinging to it.
"Heya May, you weren't waiting long were you? I mean I know I said half an hour from now but I wanted to get here early and I did but you're still waiting. You look good by the way, now I kinda wish I had put on something different too. Is it too late to run back and put on something different or would that be rude? I could bring you with me if you wanted I don't think you've seen the dorms here have you? Would you want to? I—" Ruby pauses to look at May, her not-date is standing there with mirth in her visible eye as she tries desperately to stifle her giggling.
"T-twice in o-one day. W-words really run away with y-you don't they?" She asks gently smiling warmly as she looks at a now thoroughly blushing Ruby before gently shaking her head. "I-its fine Ruby, I just got here t-too so it's no trouble. You look nice, I usually see you in your uniform." May compliments not helping the blush on the shorter girl any.
"Oh thanks. I um... You look good too." Ruby replies repeating herself from mid ramble shifting side to side in uncertainty
They stand there awkwardly for a moment, both fidgeting as they wait for the other person to say or do something. Ruby finally can't seem to take it anymore and speaks up again. "So, want to head to the air docks? We can catch a ride there into the city." Getting a nod she smiles and starts heading that way, happy to be doing something, anything besides standing in front of the cute sniper after letting her mouth run off once more. She rambles when nervous, Ruby knows this well. But why is she nervous around May? They're friends already the awkward getting to know you part is over so why the frayed nerves? It frustrates the red cloaked girl to no end trying to figure out and she eventually gives up completely.
"Want to do anything else while we look around?" She asks, kind of hoping they could do something other than just look for a cloak and come back. It felt like a waste though she doesn't quite know why she feels that way.
"L-let's just h-head down and s-see what catches our attention?" May replies uncertainly, trying not to show that she doesn't want to hang around the city any longer than necessary. While also trying to relax as much as she can before getting there.
Getting into one of the school-to-city transports, May takes a seat and tries to relax as Ruby sits next to her. Suddenly very grateful for her lighter outfit as her skin starts to heat up again like a fire burning brightly in her chest. She rubs the spot over her head for a moment before shifting in her seat.
Spotting something odd she groans softly and closes her eyes letting her head lean back against the head rest. 'Just pretend they aren't there May, maybe Ruby won't notice. The last thing you want is her getting nervous about your shopping trip. But seriously? I told them it's not a date! What are they even coming to watch?'
"Everything okay?" Ruby asks eyes glimmering with concern as she looks the sniper over. Getting a little nod in return.
"Y-yes, just the seat missing some padding." May lies shifting again a little bit before sitting up straighter. "It's fine, W-we won't be on the transport that l-long anyway." She replies opening her eyes and feeling her heart clench in her chest at the emotion in Ruby's eyes.
"Y-your eyes a-are so very expressive, it's beautiful..." May comments in a wondrous tone. It isn't until Ruby's eyes go wide in surprise that the sniper realizes what she said, looking away and clearing her throat. Blush spreading all over she misses the mirrored reaction from Ruby. The two unable to look at each other for the duration of the trip to the city.
Fortunately by that point, Ruby manages to get some of her composure back interrupting May's mental chastising of herself by clearing her throat again and standing to stretch as a way of putting her mind elsewhere. "Well let's just... Yeah, let's get looking okay? If something else draws your attention though we can make other stops." Ruby reminds the sniper softly getting her stride back and leading the way into the city.
May nods quietly and follows Ruby closely as if trying to hide behind the smaller girl. She can't keep it up for long however. A few minutes in Ruby seems to notice and slows down, moving aside so she's walking next to May instead, a sheepish look on her face. "Hehe, sorry May. I didn't mean to walk so fast, if you had trouble keeping up you should have just let me know." Ruby comments getting May to shake her head rapidly.
"N-no it's okay. You know th-the city r-right? You leading is only n-natural. I don't mind." May replies, but doesn't try to move behind Ruby again. Even when an actual couple walks by in the opposite direction forcing May to move closer to her crush. Something neither of them makes any effort to correct, leaving May feeling a bit elated. "S-so is there anywhere you want to s-stop by while we're here Ruby? Since we're just looking around for cloaks without a goal if there's somewhere you want to stop by w-we can look on the way there."
The suggestion seems to work as Ruby nods after tapping her chin. "There are a couple of places I should visit if you really don't mind. They're in the commercial district so it's not out of our way." She replies taking May's hand without a thought, leading the now flustered older girl around a corner at a brisk walk. "So May, what school are you from? I've never seen you in a uniform." Ruby asks.
"O-oh, I'm from Sh-shade. There is n-no dress c-code there so long as you c-cover the important places. It's because Vacuo is a desert s-so any uniform w-would have to be light and breathing s-so there wasn't seen t-to be a real p-point." May replies trying desperately to hide how hard her heart is pounding from the soft contact of Ruby's hand. The heat from the girls touch scorching hotter than the sands at noon to the poor sniper.
"I hope I can visit Vacuo some time. Maybe my team should take a mission out that way next time we get the chance? We could meet up and you could show me around your city then!" Ruby chimes with innocent exuberance as they cross a street.
"O-oh! Sure Ruby, I-I would love to escort you." May replies, once more amending it mentally but failing to notice how, with her current companion distracting her, this trip hasn't frayed on her nerves nearly as much as she thought it would. "S-so what's our first stop?" She asks curious now where she's being led.
"A Dust shop called 'From Dust Till Dawn', it's my favorite and the old guy that owns it is really nice. He even keeps magazines aimed towards hunters and military types at the back. The only way it would be better is if he had weapon parts too. Can you imagine a dust slash magazine slash weapon shop? It would be great! Oh, oh! And add a slash bakery! I would have to move in then because I would live in that store. If I weren't becoming a huntress I would totally... I'm rambling again aren't I?" She admits bringing herself short as May's free hand covers her mouth to muffle her giggles.
"A-at least th-this time I c-could keep up Ruby. But please, what would you really do if you weren't a Huntress? I'm really curious." May asks trying to roll over the rambling to keep Ruby from getting too embarrassed over it.
"Oh, Actually? I don't know. I've wanted to be a Huntress my whole life. Just like my mom was you know? Protecting people who can't protect themselves. The world is full of monsters and it's a Huntress's job to make sure there exists a wall between them and the helpless. I was raised on those old stories of brave knights and heroes. It only makes sense I would want to do the same thing. What about you May, what would you do?" Ruby asks curiously as she looks over at her not-a-date.
"A pilot?" May questions herself aloud. "I've always felt comfortable in high places so I think being able to pilot small aircraft would be appealing to me. Maybe a small charter airship?" May suggests putting serious thought into it and carefully. Not letting her thoughts on what Ruby just let slip about her mother show. 'Was, not is. If her mother gave her that cloak no wonder she's so attached to it. I would be too.'
"We're here!" Ruby announces, stopping in front of the shop and waving the hand not holding May's hand in a flourish towards the shops sign. It's that moment she seems to notice that she's holding May's hand and quickly releases May's hand, hiding the limb behind her back and blushing darkly. "Sorry about that May." She murmurs before shaking her head rapidly as if the act itself will reset her emotions. And it seems to work because May is rewarded with a beaming smile as the excitable girl opens the door leading the way in.
'Though I wouldn't have minded if it was a bit further away. Her hand is so small like the rest of her but it fits so well in mine...' May thinks with a small shy smile as she steps inside and waves to the old man behind the counter.
AN:
I'm so excited to be writing this part. it's great but also difficult because I have to keep a leash on my hands while writing so I don't get to far ahead of myself. Still I'm having a lot of fun with this and broke the date up into two parts. be happy, it means more adorable awkwardness from our favorite sharp shooters. which is always a good thing.
So as you all know by now I've had a poll up for the past week or so asking what should I work on next. so far two stories took the lead at the start and have since remained close. the choices being jewels in the rough (a emerald/ruby story I got a persistant idea for) or MUST KILL: May Zedong (the original long distance fic I had planned to write from the beginning.) Tomorrow I will be closing that poll and putting up a new one. I will remind you all that as it says in the description the winning story does not mean it will be the next story. but it does have a strong possibility. I could have a muse run away with me like I did with this story and all my wonderful readers know how fantastic that has turned out. Or I could just decide to work on two simultaniously, who knows. I'm not from the future.
About this chapter. I love it, I enjoyed writing it. I enjoyed re-reading it during my proofreading. And Im excited to write the second part of their not-a-date. so all is well. Yes the ladies from RWBY, JNPR, and NDGO are following them. You'll see more of them either next time or the chapter after that. probably the one after that. depending on how much room the second half of the date takes up. Gwen has been an interesting character to write. there's something about her I'm torn about writing into the story more obviously or just leaving as it is and seeing if anyone gets it.
NOW reviewer responses!
Guest 1: why... do I have the sudden urge to abandon this story? I kid. I'm honored if you would call this story your favorite. it's really awesome to hear you even subtly imply it.
Bolliechr: Yes it is, yes she is. I do try and it's fun to make the poor sniper squirm
Antonslavik020: It will be, and I'm itching to write it. but it will come when it's time. May's not so much in a dilemma right now as she is just out of her depth.
RatedRsuperstar: Ruby is absolutely the puppies and May is the kittens. no contest for those roles. Ruby is just a ball of irrepressable energy so very puppy like.
SanDemonMax: At that point may was more worried about the implication than anything else. Dealing with Nolan she knows if she denied it was about Ruby even if it really wasn't he would never have believed her so she just denied that it was perverted.
Guest 2: I hope you didn't die yet because there's a lot more cuteness comming.
Archer1eye: I'm glad you're enjoying it! now after i'm done with this and I finish a few storyies i'm following that recently updated I'm going to binge read Bound Rose.
Imoshen: No one ever said people in love think logically, and anyone who does is lying. and remember it's a not-a-date a very important distinction. Still I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much.
Uberparagon: the wait is over! more has arrived!
CinderBurn: ruby doesn't know wut ur on aboot m8, she's clearly just asking her new friend May on a shopping trip to get her a cloak and get her aquainted with the city. it is very clearly a not-a-date.
Thats all for this time. I love you all very much and I will see you next time!