Chapter Text
Really, Raven had gotten a good night's sleep- for once. She thinks it has something to do with the field of daisies that she ran through in her dream, white and gentle in the breeze. Maybe it's how the pink sky had featured a thin crescent, silver and bright(she doesn't think too much about it, knowing it'd only conclude with what she already knew).
Her usual workout goes by fine, and when she finishes Qrow's already out. He leaves her some of the breakfast he'd cooked, and she grins a little, knowing he cooks a portion for her every time but never admits. Really, it had been great.
And then the coffee machine fucking broke .
Which was really bad- even with a good sleep, no one could expect her to make it through morning classes without her usual magic bean water. She needed that concoction to stay awake throughout as the professor would drone on about whatever her notes would say later.
So, she has to go all the way to the cafe to get her usual fix of caffeine, line up for a few minutes in the troops of students, some of whom are probably more than a little hungover judging by the misery radiating off of them. The barista for some reason remembers how she takes it, so that's a silver lining, maybe.
Pair all of this with consecutive lectures for four hours, and it's understandable that Raven is a little cranky when her phone beeps with the sound she's delegated to her brother's texts.
come over to the cafeteria, it reads, and she plans to ignore it when another one pops up.
tai and summer are here ;)
Tai, she knows, is the guy he's been pining after for months. She's met him a couple times- he's kind, good for Qrow's brooding persona, and honestly? He looks at Qrow the same disgusting way Qrow looks at him.. She'd been ready to lock them both in a closet herself.
But it's Summer's name that gives her pause.
A few minutes later, she finds herself at the entrance to the cafeteria, fingers clutched around the strap of her bag as her eyes scan over for her brother's table. He catches her eyes soon, waving at her.
It's surprisingly quiet, she realises as she walks between the tables to the corner one they've taken. There's only about ten or so other students milling about, and they're all absorbed in their work, hunched over textbooks or laptops with tall cups beside them, no doubt filled with coffee, its scent lingering in the air.
"Yo," Qrow greets as she arrives at the table, and Tai says, "Hey!"
But her eyes are drawn to the girl sitting from across her, to the way her bangs frame her small face and fall over her silver eyes, the way she smiles up at Raven, rose blooming on her cheeks.
"Hi," Summer says simply, still smiling at her.
Raven allows herself a small smile, "Hi."
They stay like that for a small while- eyes trained on each other, smiling softly as if no one else around them exists. It's not that long if you ask Raven, but it's enough that Qrow coughs loudly, snapping them out of it.
"Yeah, so," He says, clearly trying to dispel this energy they've ended up creating, "We were studying together." He looks at her while he says that, an eyebrow raised, and he'll bring it up later. She knows he will.
"And you thought I'd be helpful?"
"We take a class together, right?" Summer chirps, tapping a pen against her chin, "Professor Port's?"
Raven remembers faintly, recalls where she's seen the girl before, and she nods, "Yeah, we do."
Summer pushes forward a binder so it rests between the two, scowling at it, "Well, I've been having trouble with the recent case studies he assigned us." Raven's almost blinded then, by the smile that Summer gives her, light spilling out of her mouth.
"I could use your help with it."
Maybe studying together isn't so bad.
She ignores Qrow and Tai's prying gazes as they start to go over the work. Summer's handwriting is absolutely adorable, she notes, like those cute fonts. Sometimes she dots her i's and j's with little hearts or puts swirls at the ends of her strokes, and yeah, it's fucking adorable.
Her entire note system is neat, so much neater than Raven's own, who just writes down whatever her mind picks up from the professor's words in paragraphs she picks apart later.
"You can't have taken these in class," Raven says at one point, voice flat.
Summer brightens up, "I did, actually!"
"You're lying."
"Well, maybe you can see for yourself in our next shared class," Summer huffs at her, her nose wrinkling up a little. It's cute, but it doesn't distract her from the challenge lacing the words, and she latches onto it quickly.
"You're on, sunshine," The nickname slips out without much regard from her brain, and she almost takes it back. But she sees how it colors on Summer's cheeks, a smile curling on her lips.
Neither of them mention it.
They're halfway into highlighting the case in the textbook, paired with sticky notes that they write their observations on when the boys speak to them again.
"Wait," Tai says, his eyes set somewhere by the side of Raven's head, and she doesn't get it until his next words hit her, "Sum, isn't that your hair clip?"
Raven freezes, and at the same time, Summer does too, pen hovering over the textbook.
"No wonder," Qrow drawls, leaning back in his seat, "I knew the clip on your dresser wasn't yours."
Summer's eyes flick to her, once, and Raven mutters, "Shut the fuck up."
She'd depend on her bangs to hide the warmth in her cheeks, but of all days, she'd pinned one of the sides back today.
With the flower hair clip.
"Well," Summer starts, pulling on a strand of her hair, "Yes."
"I gave it to her!" She protests when Tai gives her a look.
"I just put on the one I could find in a hurry," Raven says. No one believes her, least of all Summer, which is not a problem(she'd hoped for it, actually), but the other two might be…
"Liar," Qrow speaks then, and Raven wishes she could staple his mouth shut, "You have a regular pin underneath, I can see it." She kicks him under the table. He shoves her back.
Summer seems to find their scuffle amusing, as she giggles behind her hand, eyes sparkling with mirth and yeah, maybe this studying together thing isn't so bad after all.
---
To say Summer is sad when the alarm rings, informing her that her next class is in ten minutes, would be inaccurate. Disappointed, yes, sad… maybe. She lets out a small groan, knocking her forehead against the table. But then she checks her schedule, and all her broodiness washes away like it was never even there in the first place.
"We have to get to class," She looks up from her phone, clicks it off.
"'We?'" Tai echoes.
"Me and Raven." Qrow snorts at that, and Raven shoots a glare at him. Her ruby gaze is softer when it turns back to Summer, the hard lines of her mouth loosening. She pushes Summer's textbook towards her.
"We should pack up then, no?"
Summer smiles at her, the action as easy as breathing and makes an affirmative noise. Gathering her pens, she throws them into her pouch, zips it shut before remembering she has Raven's notebook and slides it over to her.
Everything is thrown into their bags, a little more hastily than she usually would have, but her excitement takes the reins, makes her bubblier than usual.
She stands up, shouldering her bag, "Come on!"
Raven raises an eyebrow at her, "Isn't there five minutes left?"
"We can get there before class starts," Summer says, and a grin curls on Qrow's face, big and cheshire. He aims it towards his sister, who shoves at his shoulder as she gets up.
Her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail today, the jagged edges curling around her shoulders and back, swaying with her movement gently. Summer's eyes flick once to the daisy beside her temple(she feels her ears reddening a little, but her bangs hide them.)
She goes around the table to Raven, tugs on her jacket sleeve once(it's the same one as last night, with the silver studs on the collar). Raven falls into step beside her easily, and she looks back over her shoulder to wave at the boys.
"Byebye!"
"Have fun!" Tai calls back.
The corridors aren't as empty now, since the noon classes are in full swing. She's small-not that she would ever admit it to anyone else-, so usually when she's walking through the crowded halls alone, she sticks to the sides, has to do some mild parkour to avoid rushing students.
But Raven's beside her- she has a distinct bubble around her, lined with caution tape and spikes that makes people wary. Dangerous, the word comes to her again, and she shifts closer to the taller girl. Raven doesn't seem to mind. Her hand even comes down to hold Summer's wrist(her fingers fully wrap around, scorching skin where they touch.)
The walk is a lot shorter than she'd have liked, but Port is already at his desk when they enter, and he looks up.
His eyes catch Raven first, and they widen, visible shock painting his features.
"Miss Branwen, you're surprisingly early today," Then his eyes shift to her companion-that's her!- and he says simply, "Ah, I see." Raven scowls a little at that, prompting a small laugh out of Summer that she hides behind her hand.
"Where do you usually sit?" Raven asks as they step up onto the aisle between the seats.
"Closer to the back," She points, "It's easier for me to see the screen from there."
Raven sighs then, looking a little too relieved, "Good, I thought I was gonna have to sit at the front."
That pulls at her lips, tugging them into a smirk, "And if I'd sat at the front, you would've?"
"You'd be surprised," She mutters, causing her smirk to grow even further.
They find their seats easily, and Summer gets to placing out her things. Raven simply watches her while she does that, cheek pressed against a hand.
"You put glitter on your eyes," She points out, when Summer looks up.
Summer shrugs in response, more than a little happy that she noticed, "I like it." There's a smile at that, miniscule, but it's there, mouth like flower petals and Summer has the sudden, insatiable urge to touch her lips. She tries to avert her eyes- her notebook, the projector screen, anywhere, but they're drawn back to Raven, like a magnet.
Her fingers itch where she's keeping them curled on her thighs, and she clutches onto the hem of her hoodie, bites down on her lip hard enough to break skin. Raven's other hand is placed on the seat, right beside her legs, just shy of touching her.
The lecture starts then, thankfully, snapping her attention to the words and not how she had been about to do something drastic.
She focuses on taking her notes, highlighting where needed. Her gaze is on the presentation slides when it isn't on her notebook, and sometimes, she glances over to Raven to see her scribbling on her page with a fountain pen.
Her handwriting is pretty, cursive, but a little messy and loose. It reminds her of an old journal or love letters(that one makes her wistful). When she's not writing, she's doodling in the margins- at one point she draws a sad face beside a paragraph, and Summer smiles a little.
The hour long class wraps up quickly, and they're out of their seats. One of her friends, Jamie catches her eye, waves her over. Summer nods at her, holding up a hand to indicate she's coming.
"I'll wait outside," Raven says when she turns to her, and Summer answers with, "All right then!"
She looks over once to see Raven by the door, while she herself makes her way to her friend. Jamie's sitting at her usual place, bag placed up on the table. She leans closer to Summer, lowering her voice.
"Isn't that the Branwen girl you're with?"
Summer feels the beginnings of a frown tug at her lips, "Yeah, why?"
"She's trouble," Jamie whispers, "I'm telling you to be careful around her."
Her lips twist downwards, and she hears something go crack inside- fill her chest with heat that spills below and curls into her stomach like lead.
Fists curling at her sides, she snaps, "She's my friend. "
She doesn't wait to hear what Jamie says, what she follows up with. Instead she turns around and leaves the classroom, fingers a little too tight on the strap of her backpack.
Raven's leaning on the wall outside, and she straightens when she spots her.
"You ready to go?" She asks. Summer's anger dissipates at the edges, fraying into threads so miniscule they don't even matter anymore, her fingers loosening on the fabric.
She nods, stepping up beside Raven. Her hand goes up to Raven's elbow soon, curling around the inside. She keeps her eyes trained on the floor, somewhere in front of her, and she's not even aware of the trail of lava behind them until Raven speaks.
"Everything okay?"
It catches her attention quickly- she looks up, into the waiting gaze. Trouble, she thinks, searching the rose red of her eyes only to find something that melts her from the inside, as if.
"Yeah," She hums, "Why?"
Raven presses her lips together, "You look upset." Summer's hand tightens a little, and she steps closer, presses her cheek against Raven's arm, leather cool against her skin.
"It's nothing," She mutters, before quickly adding, "Just something a friend said."
"Do you want me to deal with them?" Summer almost laughs, but Raven is actually serious about it.
She shakes her head, a small smile creeping up as she wraps both arms around Raven's. Her fingers goes between one of the thin chains on the outfit, and she plays with it as they walk together.
“No- don’t worry about it.”