Team RWVBY
Chapter 12
It was a late morning in the Rose-Xiao Long household. Yang had woken up first, sitting up from her bed and stretching her arms. She crept out of the room, letting Ruby sleep in a bit more. As she made her way downstairs, she could already hear her dad making breakfast.
"Morning Dad." Yang greeted her father, stepping into the kitchen/dining room.
Taiyang Xiao Long, currently flipping some pancakes, turned to his eldest daughter and smiled.
"Good morning, Firecracker." Yang was about to sit down but her dad had stopped her.
"Before you sit, breakfast is almost ready. Can you go wake up Ruby?" He politely asked.
Yang, stepping halfway through the frame leading into the living room shouted, "RUBES! Breakfast is ready! Wake up!" She could hear a loud thump and yelp coming from upstairs. Well, looks like she's up. Yang barely picked out a mumbled morning followed by a shouting,
"Coming!" Ruby came zipping down, no semblance required. "Morning!" Ruby greeted her family again as her and Yang sat down at the dining table.
Tai had slide them both a plate of pancakes and the two sisters started eating.
"So, what's on the agenda for today? You said you two were going to Vale today, right?" Taiyang asked.
"Yup! We invited our team that stayed to go out and see a movie. Blake said she wasn't going to come, something about a limited edition book in sale." Yang rolled her eyes, not fully believing her partner's excuse. "But Cass is going to come." Yang added to Tai's initial confusion.
"Cass? I thought your other teammates name was Weiss?" Their father asked.
"Mmph." Ruby mumbled swallowing down some pancakes before clearing her throat.
"That's right we didn't tell you yet. You're staring at two members of Beacon's first ever 5 person team." She said proudly.
"5 person team! How does that happen?"
"Some alumni from Beacon found Cass like two weeks ago and recommended them for Beacon. The headmaster wanted to introduce a new tournament at the Vytal Festival where one team of 5 from each academy will face each other." Ruby explained before Yang butted in.
"And being the awesome team we are, Headmaster Ozpin personally pick ours to represent Beacon, so Cass joined us and we're now team RWVBY!" Yang boasted.
"Wow, look at my little star students." Tai praised his daughters who looked proud. "So, what's this Cass like?" Tai followed up, asking. Yang and Ruby shared a look at each other, both of them not sure as to what to how much to say to their father. Yang spoke up first.
"Cass was a little… shy… at first." That was a nice way of putting it. "But they opened up, after some serious talking too. They're cool."
"Kinda looks intimidating but really nice! They went all over Vale checking pawn shops when I thought I lost mom's emblem." Ruby spoke after her sister. They had told their father about the missing emblem but at the time had left the details of how it was resolved simply telling him Ruby had gotten it back.
"Well, Cass sounds like a nice girl. I'm glad you two have another good friend on your team." Yang paused at their dad's words.
'Wait a minute.' She thought, a piece of pancake fell off her fork as she realized their dad thought Cass was a girl.
"No Dad, Cass i…." Anything else Ruby was about to say was replaced with mumbled gibberish as Yang quickly put one hand over her, and the other around her waist as she forcibly dragged her sister away from the table.
"Cass is probably going to be heading to Vale soon, so we need to get dressed and head out." Yang said already out the kitchen, still dragging poor Ruby away. Tai merely shrugged and started to do the dishes.
Dragging a struggling Ruby up the stairs was no issue but trying t open the door while doing so was harder than she thought. Luckily enough for her it was part way open. Squeezing through finally, she closed the door shut with her foot and finally let her sister go from her grasp.
"Gah! Yang!? What was that for? Why didn't you let me correct Dad?" Each of Ruby's questions were valid.
"Think about what we're doing later Rubes." Yang said.
"We're going to the movies with Cassian, so what?" She still didn't see the big deal.
"Sooo, you want to tell dad we're going to movies alone with a guy? Remember what happened back in signal when he thought your classmate was into you." Yang watched Ruby's face turn from confusion to abject horror as memories started flooding in. That was an embarrassing day for everyone involved. One of the downsides of going to school with your dad as a parent.
"Okay, I see your point, but it still feels weird lying to Dad."
"It's not lying, we're just not correcting him immediately. We'll tell him the truth later!"
"Okay."
…
The ride into Vale was quick. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road as Yang and Ruby rode on Bumblebee through the streets of Vale.
Finding a nice and empty parking garage, Yang pulled in and parked her beloved bike.
With no need to wear their Huntress attire the two sisters settled for more casual clothes.
Yang wore a knitted lilac corduroy sweater and her cargo pants that had two little patches, one of a bumblebee and other of her emblem. She had her hair put into a ponytail.
Ruby opted in for a simple red hoodie and black jeans.
Together, they left the parking garage and walked towards the theatre. Not taking them long to reach their destination, Ruby spotted Cassian first and called out to him.
"Hey Cass."
Cassian heard the call out as he had smiled and waved to them both. He was also dressed casually, wearing a pair a blue jeans, a beige Henley shirt with a little design on it, and a brown denim jacket that had a fur lining and fur collar.
"Hey Ruby, Yang." He greeted them both as they walked up to him.
"You waiting long?" Ruby asked.
"Nah, got here only a few minutes ago. Any particular movie we seeing?" Cassian followed up.
"There's a new Spruce Willis flick." This time Yang answered. The trio started walking up to the ticket booth.
"Your hair looks good Yang. Well, it always looks good." Yang noticed Cassian stumble on his words from the corner of her eye. "I dig the ponytail." He added.
"Aww, thanks!" Truth of the matter was she wanted to go low effort with how causal today was. She wasn't fully expecting the compliment but would always take it when it came to her hair.
"Looks like it's falling out though, I can help with that." Yang went into pseudo panic mode as his hands reached up for her hair.
No one touched the hair and lived. Ruby who was ahead of her, went wide eyed and turned trying to warn Cass but was too late.
His hands touched the back of her head into where she tied her ponytail. She expected her hair to catch on fire but nothing happened. His hands felt soft? They felt good.
'What was happening' she thought as he gently fixed the hair band. Why did her stomach feel weird.
Ruby watched in shock at the scene, mouth agape, her eyes switching between Cassian and Yang.
Cassian finished, hands back at his side. Yang and Ruby, now looking at him caught his confused look.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" Yang blurted out before walking ahead of them and right up to the lady ticket booth worker.
"3 tickets to One life 2 Many please." Yang called out the order.
"That'll be 36 Lien." Yang quickly shoved the Lien to the lady.
"Theatre 10, enjoy the film." She had gotten the tickets and went inside followed shortly by Ruby and Cassian.
Cassian offered to buy them popcorn and drinks since Yang got the tickets.
Stood off the side with her sister, Yang's mind was working fast. What happened back there? She couldn't describe it. Every time someone ever placed their hands on her hair, she'd get upset. No one knew how to treat it right as her and yet when he fixed her hair tie it felt nice, she enjoyed it even. Then there the weird feeling in her stomach. Couldn't have been the pancakes, but what?
Yang felt something tug at her sleeve.
"Yang… you, okay?" Ruby asked worried.
"Pfffft, of course!" Yang brushed it off with a laugh. Ruby looked at her again, humming, before nodding. Cassian had returned popcorn bucket and a cup holder with three drinks in hand and the trio stepped into the theatre.
…
There were a few things Ruby didn't understand; she didn't understand why people like oatmeal raisin cookies, she didn't understand how Dr. Oobleck talked as fast as she could move with her semblance, she didn't understand the big deal about romance, she had Crescent Rose and that was enough, but one thing she did understand was Yang.
Growing up and practically being raised by her older sister, she knew Yang better than anyone, she was a Yang expert.
Yang was; confident, brave, outgoing, funny, boisterous, she liked to tease and sometimes flirt but it was never serious. Yet right now, she was acting so un-Yang like.
First there was Cassian touching her hair; Ruby couldn't count with the fingers on her hand the number of people Yang hurt for messing with her hair, but when Cassian touched it, she just did nothing. Then, she was acting strange. She seemed so nervous and jittery getting the tickets and after. Her eyes slide to them; Yang had sat next to her and Cassian sat on the other side, she watched as Yang's hand go for some popcorn when her and Cassian's finger touched. Normally, she'd expect Yang to be unfazed and just grab the popcorn and yet, her hand jolted and she looked away.
'Was… was that a blush on her face?' Ruby could barely pick out a hint of red in the dark theatre. It was such a weird look for Ruby to see on her sister and yet it started to look familiar, but where? She knew she had seen that before. Her eyes widened.
Ruby started to figure out. She looked exactly like everyone after Yang teased them back in school. There had been dates with boys from Signal and even one girl but those never went anywhere after the first date. Yang would tease and tease and every time the recipient usually some boy or girl throwing themselves at her would get a similar look as the one, she had now.
'Wait.' Ruby thought for a second on what that could mean. Did Yang like Cassian? She didn't know, she'd never seen her sister show interest first, it was always someone else. That question brought another to her. Did Cassian like Yang? She wasn't too sure, he didn't look like he was flirting with her, at least not like he'd seen guys flirt with Yang. They had spent time with each other though. One question that followed in her head that she did have an answer too, was how she felt if they dated?
Well, Cassian was a good guy, that's what Ruby thought at least, Cassian showed that he was caring. Most of the people Ruby had seen would just care about Yang's body, especially when she started developing up and outward. Her male friend number had skyrocketed. There were even a few guys who tried to be friends with her just to get to Yang. As much as Ruby had said she just needed Yang and Crescent Rose, that had hurt back in signal, a lot. Those boys found themselves in the express lane to the infirmary when Yang found out.
Yang on the other hand, had always been there for her. She was the best sister anyone could ask for, sometimes a little overprotective but she wouldn't change anything about there. Though she'd never admit it, Ruby knew that there were moments where Yang had forgone her own happiness for hers. If Yang was showing interest in Cassian, did that mean she was happy?
In a rare case, Ruby wished she understood more about romance and relationships. Perhaps, just maybe she could help Yang for once.
'But how?"
…
The movie had ended and the trio were making their way out of the theatre. Yang was feeling much better. That incident with the popcorn was weird, her chest felt tight and the weird feeling in her stomach returned. This time she blamed it on the buttery popcorn and fizzy drink. Thankfully the feeling had subsided and the rest of the movie
Yang noticed Ruby was being uncharacteristically quiet. She looked pensive as they exited the theatre and were back on the street.
"I guess we'll head back to Patch now." Yang said. In truth there wasn't that much else they could do, they weren't in a rush to get back, but they didn't want to push it either. They promised their dad they'd be back for dinner. He clearly missed them and wanted to spend much time as he could. They were also meeting up with team the remaining JNPR and Sun for the arcade before the break ended.
"Ooooo, I almost forgot!" She stopped and turned to Ruby who had bursted out shouting.
"There's a uh…" Ruby paused and then eyes brightened. "I need to go to the gunsmith shop a few blocks from here, I want to pick up the weapons catalogue." Yang furrowed her brow.
"I thought you already had this month's issue." Yang pointed out. Ruby looked surprised but she came back with a quick response.
"There's a special double issue this month." Yang didn't know if that was a thing or now but knowing her sister it well of might have been so she didn't question it further. "I'm gonna run to the store real quick, I'll meet you at the parking garage!" And with that Ruby was off and away leaving Cassian and her alone.
"Uh… she do that a lot?" Cassian asked pulling up next to her.
"When it comes to weapons, oh yea! Did you know at initiation she wanted to rush someone when she saw they had a flaming sword." Cassian laughed.
"That does sound like Ruby. I'm more surprised she hasn't tried to steal my arm and tinker with it." Cassian said.
"Trust me, she wants too. She's just being respectful because it's your arm first and weapon second."
"Well, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear I've thought about that blade idea for my arm and I wouldn't mind if she'd help. I don't know the first thing about mecha shift." Cassian scratched his head.
"She'd love that." Yang smiled. That was really sweet of him to include Ruby like that.
"Come on, I'll show you Bumblebee while we wait." Yang started walking ahead.
"Bumblebee?" Cassian asked following her.
"Just the best motorcycle this side of Remnant!" Yang boasted about her baby.
Yang decided to change the subject slightly. "How are things at Beacon? Quiet I bet."
"Pretty much yea, a decent amount of students still there, still the occasional look as well." Yang's expression glowered on hearing that.
"Still?" She asked annoyed.
"It doesn't bother me Yang, people will always talk. You know how many people I heard call Weiss, Ice Queen? I mean yea Weiss can be…"
"Weiss." Yang finished for him.
"Yea, but she also has a sweet side and can be nice when she wants."
"Now you know why I call her Weiss Cream." Yang joked.
"You know they call you a ditzy blonde." Her eyes went red. Who was she going to kill when she got back?
"But you're not. I can tell and if anyone spent more time with you, I'm sure they'd see it too. You're really thoughtful and caring Yang. Going on three weeks here and in every class, you seem to brighten up every room."
That tight feeling in her chest was returning. Damn him! She'd shrug off shit like this easy. Why couldn't he be just like any of the other guys that'd flirt with her. Worse thing was she couldn't tell if he was actually flirting with her.
"Besides…" She caught his hesitation.
"Besides what?" She asked.
"The school board decided to give team CRDL a second chance." That caught Yang off guard.
"What!?" Yang was getting angry.
"I was speaking with Headmaster Ozpin yesterday, when he told me." He paused. "The headmaster wanted my opinion, to see if he should accept the board's decision or not." Yang's eyes widened. Her thoughts on Cardin aside, that was huge. To have that kind of choice on someone else. It was easy to be upset when the decision came from someone else older who didn't deal with the events.
"I told him no, that I didn't think they deserved it, but that he should give it to them anyway." Yang was silent as Cassian continued. "I didn't have an answer as to why I said that but I think it's because a part of me still thinks I don't deserve this chance, and to take it away from not just one person, but 4! How could I do that? I got luc-"
"Nope!" Yang interjected.
"What?" Cassian asked.
"Nope." She repeated with a pop. "No more of that! You belong here, you go that!? You're a part of team RWVBY, you gotta represent!" She lightly punched his shoulder, before slightly walking a head turning her head from him so he couldn't see. "Besides… you have to become a huntsman, so you can help me find my mother. Remember?" She didn't see it but Cassian smiled but heard him chuckle.
"Right, need to help you find your egg donor." Now yang was laughing. "You know, I like talking with you. I don't think I'd be able to do this with the others." Yang was glad he couldn't see her. Fuck, did he not realize the stuff he was saying? Or wait, did he? It was now Yang started to realize what this might have been. Was she crushing on Cassian?
'That's… different.' She thought. She couldn't think any further though; something. Way more important caught her attention. She stopped dead in her tracks; the world outside of it was a blank, she didn't even hear what Cassian was talking about. He finally seemed to noticed as he joined next to her looking at the direction her gaze had not left for the last minute.
"Oh." He said and oh indeed.
"Ho-ly shit." Yang said, as across the block; was none other than their teammate, Blake Belladonna, accompanied by Jaune Arc, walking side by side as they entered a small bookstore called Tukson's.
"LIMITED EDITION BOOK, MY ASS" Yang scoffed then grinned. "Oh ho ho, just you wait kitkat, noodle boy. The teasing gun just got a hell of a lot more ammo." She was now rubbing her hands deviously.
"What happened to Vomit Boy?" Cassian asked.
"Eh, he gets a break after the docks. He's upgraded to noodle boy now. Come on, we're close to the garage." She pulled his arm.
Like she said they were very close, entering the garage she had let go of his arm and they walked side by side to where she parked.
"This… Is Bumblebee." Yang presented both arms wide open to her pride and joy. She watched as Cassian eyed over the motorcycle, a glint of in wonder in his eyes.
"I don't have much to go off of, you know, not a lot of motorcycles in the desert, but she definitely looks impressive." Cassian admitted.
"You have no idea, you gotta tag along for a ride some time." She threw in a flirty wink to see his reaction.
No blush, no stammer, he smiled and said, "Sure, sounds fun."
…
The conversation between the two had changed, and before long Ruby had shown up as promised magazine in hand. They said their goodbyes and Yang drove her and Ruby back home on Bumblebee.
Luckily traveling back, traffic was still manageable, making it back in no time. Pulling up to their house, Ruby had hopped off Bumblebee first, taking off her helmet and started walking to the front door.
"Ruby wait." Yang called out, her sister instantly turning towards her.
"Yea, Yang?"
"Maybe… maybe we don't correct dad just yet about Cassian." Ruby blinked and smiled.
"Sure." She answered.
"Wait, really?" Yang was surprised.
"Yea Yang, No worries." Ruby smiled and went to their home.
'Okay that was weird, but oh well.' Yang shrugged as she thought.
…
Dinner was quant and quiet, right now Ruby and Yang had retired to their shared room, sitting in their respective beds. Ruby was reading her new magazine as she claimed but Yang swore, she had seen her read that issue already. Meanwhile Yang was on scrolling on social media. She had seen a story posted by Coco earlier this morning. Coco's stories were always great so she clicked on it and the video opened in selfie mode.
"Good morning lovies! I know a lot of you are probably wondering, Coco, what are you doing up so early? And well, the answer to that is this." The video flipped and the view changed to look outside her dorm window pointing towards the ground. Yang could see Nora, dressed in her pink shorts, white gym shirt, and pink headband, doing jumping jacks; to her left was Jaune, dressed in the standard Beacon gym outfit, Sun was wearing a pair of blue shorts and to probably no one's surprise, was going shirtless, and lastly was Cassian, also wearing blue shorts but was wearing a tank top that hid very little. Yang had to admit, Cass was built pretty well. Standing next to Sun, they had very similar in the muscle and ab department.
Nora must have noticed Coco cause she was suddenly waving and shouted, "Hey Coco!"
"Hey Queen! You better kick their asses!" Coco shouted back.
"You know I will." Yang could see the wide spread smile across Nora's face as she spoke.
"Looking good boys." Coco whistled.
Jaune looked away embarrassed causing Yang to laugh.
'So noodle like.' She thought as she continued to watch Coco's story.
Sun smiled and gave a thumbs up, while Cassian didn't pay much attention.
"Come on new guy; don't tease us, join your ab brother and take that tank off." Coco teased and too Yang's shock, Cassian shrugged and proceeded to actually take off his tank top.
'Oh fuck.' She mouthed voiceless.
"Oh Fu-" Coco's voice echoed Yang, though she must have dropped her scroll as the next thing Yang saw was the fast-approaching ground and the voice of Coco as she shouted, "Shit! MY SCROLL." Immediately followed by a black screen.
"Well, that was a thing." She said before putting away her scroll. Only Ruby noticed Yang's hair spark for a fraction of a second.
Author's Notes: Fun and fluff. Next chapter will focus on Blake and the little tease towards the end of this chapter. And yes, CRDL will stay. I have ideas on what to do with them. As always, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment/review!