Chapter 8: Flowers on the Wall
"In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail."
Yang lay in bed, staring at her hands. She hadn't meant to start a fight; no point in it. It'd be like picking a fight with Jaune or Ruby without Crescent Rose. Just thinking back on his words still brought a small spark of anger to her chest, but it was quickly snuffed out by fear.
By all rights, this could get her suspended, at the least. She could also be expelled, or worse, if Robin went public with it. He should have. She would have already gotten the professors on it by now.
She kept staring at her hands, ticking off fingers, anything to keep her mind off what could happen. Blake sat across the room, flipping through a book and refusing to meet her eyes.
Her fate was in the hands of one of the most annoying people she had ever met. Robin Dubois, again his mere name, drew some anger to her gut. None of this would have happened if he wasn't such an asshole. None of this would have happened if he just knew when to shut his mouth like he knew anything about her.
None of this would have happened…
If she could just keep her anger under control for once. She didn't like getting angry. She knew it was wrong. But it kept happening, and no matter how right it felt in the moment… Sometimes, the worst decisions she made were the ones that felt right.
She sighed and went back to counting her fingers, mindless work. This was going to end poorly; she knew it.
-2-
In the days after the fight, or well, it was unfair to call it a fight more of a beatdown, things had begun to change. Robin's team stuck to him like glue, which had its own pros and cons. Pro, they weren't running around bullying people anymore. Con, they were around him nearly constantly. Pro, very few people would try and start shit. Con, they were around him constantly.
"How much fucking time do you spend here?" Cardin groaned, leaning back in his chair. The team was at the library. Well, more accurately, Robin was at the library, and his team had followed, and of them, it seemed Cardin was unable to entertain himself. Sky had lost himself in some game on his scroll, and Dove had picked up a fantasy novel. Robin was attempting to continue filling out his journal. Key word: attempting.
"I spend a lot of time here, Cardin. I like living, after all, so I need to know what we will be fighting for the rest of our lives on this planet." Robin sighed and put his journal down.
"What is there to know? I just hit them hard enough with my mace, and they eventually stop moving." Cardin smirked.
"And what are you gonna do when you run into something that don't go down when ya hit it hard?" Robin raised an eyebrow.
"That just means I ain't hit it hard enough yet; it'll go down eventually." Cardin nodded.
"How are you not dead yet?" Robin asked.
"Cause I'm fuckin with you." Cardin finally laughed.
"Cunt." Robin attempted to keep a straight face but failed, a slight laugh overtaking him for a moment.
Across the table, Sky leaned, and stage whispered to Dove. "Mum and Dad are fighting again."
"Do I even want to know who is who in that analogy?" Robin asked.
"Probably not." Sky chirped.
"You worry me sometimes, seriously," Cardin spoke.
"Oh, so it's okay for you two to pretend to be at each other's throats all the time, but the moment I make a joke, it's weird and worrying." Sky pouted.
"Yes." Robin and Cardin spoke at the same time, only to quickly turn to each other.
"Jinx." They both shouted out at the same time.
"I said it first," Cardin claimed.
"Bullshit, I did," Robin said.
"Nuh-uh." Cardin said.
"Don't you fucking nuh-uh me. I'll demolish you." Robin jerked a finger at the ginger.
"You don't stand a fucking chance." Cardin stood.
"You're right, but I'm also injured right now. You wouldn't force an injured teammate to move too much, would you?" Robin asked.
"Your nose is broken, and you got a black eye; your legs are fine, bozo. Get going." Cardin pointed out into the hallway.
Robin held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright, you win this round."
He walked away from the table as Cardin and Sky fell into some muted conversation. The library was mostly deserted, aside from the stray cat sitting in the corner reading something that totally wasn't smut. The two glanced at each other for a moment as he walked past, but she quickly looked away. He didn't look that bad, did he?
He put it out of his mind as he continued on his quest to the vending machine, stepping out into the hallway. Another chance encounter happened as he trekked. Miss Goodwitch walked down the hall, seemingly in a rush. Probably something school-related.
"Morning, Miss Goodwitch," Robin said as she walked by.
"Morni-" She reflexively spoke, then came to a grinding halt. "Mr. Dubois, stop and turn around."
His walk stopped as he followed her orders, all but spinning around. Uh oh, why'd she look so annoyed? He didn't accidentally break some rule or breathe wrong, did he? She grabbed him by the chin and angled his head forcefully, looking his injuries over.
"What in the world happened to you, Mr. Dubois?" She finally asked, after an examination. Something like concern tinged the professional tone she always held.
Robin paused, looking up at her. He could tell her; his team would probably say he should tell her. Get things settled, even the score. Whatever term one uses when wanting to get 'justice.'
His mouth almost opened, ready to speak, before he stopped and thought. If he did tell Goodwitch, and the school came down on Yang because of it, what next? Does she get suspended? Expelled? The latter would ruin things, because for better or worse. Yang was important, and he wasn't.
So Robin spoke. "I tripped a door knob, ma'am. I nearly fit it in my mouth, but I have to practice more."
She stared down at him, her face twisting into a mix of disappointment and disbelief. "Try again." She spoke simply.
"I stole Ozpin's magic chess piece from his office, and he beat me over the head with his cane?" Robin tried.
Her look told him all he needed to know. "Alright," He started slowly. "The truth is I went out into the forest and bare-knuckle boxed a Beowolf named Grimmbles."
Goodwitch sighed. "If you don't want to tell me, say so. I'll question your sanity, but respect your choice. I am not your mother, after all. Just make sure it's not hampering you by the field trip to Forever Fall next week."
Robin snapped off a sloppy salute. "Yes, ma'am."
She stared at him for a few long moments. Then she let out another sigh and began to walk away. "Try to stay away from boxing Beowolves, door knobs, or irate old men." It may have just been his imagination, but he could almost hear the slight smile as she spoke the last one.
Robin turned back to the vending machine as she walked away. He made his choice, which didn't leave him satisfied, but it was done. Now, he just had to get some drinks before Cardin wandered out and started yelling again.
-3-
Later that same day, Robin lay in bed, window open, simply listening to whatever idle sounds the world conjured. It was quiet; it was peaceful. Cardin wasn't shit-talking for once.
He closed his eyes, prepared to drift off to sleep. Only for the peaceful quiet to be interrupted by the noise of two people distantly talking. It sounded like it was coming from above, given his dorm was on the top floor; the only place above was the roof. He tried to simply block it out, flipping over in bed and placing a pillow over his ears. However, he was unsuccessful. The talking turned into almost shouting.
However, the straw that broke the camel's back wasn't from the talking students on the roof. It was from Cardin, silently moving over to the window to listen in.
Robin roughly stood out of bed and leaned his head out the window. Vaguely, part of his mind recognized the voices as belonging to Jaune and Pyrrha. It didn't stop him from shouting.
"Get a fucking room, you two! Everyone can hear you!" He shouted and then slammed his window shut, not waiting to see if they responded.
"Dude," Cardin spoke, staring at Robin, somewhat annoyed.
"What? It was annoying." Robin spoke as he sat back down on the edge of his bed.
"That was Jaune and Pyrrha. He was totally gonna try and ask her out. I wanted to hear that shit, it was gonna be hilarious." Cardin whined.
"I can't believe it. NTR is a trash fetish, Cardin." Robin fell backward onto his bed.
"What's an NTR?" Cardin asked.
"I'll tell you when you're older, go the fuck to bed." Robin closed his eyes, ready to drift off to sleep for real this time.
Note: bit of a shorter one, I kinda struggled with that tiny scene at the start, but got it somewhere where I was sorta happy. Y'all know the deal, call out any mistakes and such. Hope y'all enjoy and have a wonderful day!