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She’s sixteen when she finds herself unintentionally admiring his physique.
Seated on a wooden fence, Ruby and the rest of the group watch as Oscar spars with Qrow, the latter of which isn’t going on easy on the boy. It’s so one-sided, it’s painful to watch. It doesn’t help that the sun is high in the sky, shining down hotly with unforgiveness on the weary bunch.
Sweat drips down the young boy’s face as he pushes himself off the floor once again, hastily shoving sleeves up each length of arm to reveal well-toned biceps. He runs a hand through unkempt hair, breathing heavily before he resumes a defensive stance.
He may not have been academically trained like they had at Beacon Academy, but he was no pushover in fighting when he was determined as on this occasion he does manage to land one blow to her uncle. All those years of farming had clearly built up muscle that when put to use seriously, paid off.
Ruby isn’t even aware her eyes are trained on him so intently until a large slap against her back makes her yelp and almost fall off the fence. She swivels her head around to glare though there’s no true ire behind it. “Hey!”
Her sister laughs, leaning against the fence at her side. “Sorry, just checking you’re still with us and not stuck on cloud nine.”
“What?”
“Oh come on, you were totally ogling farmer boy,” Yang adds, waggling her eyebrows with a sly smirk.
Ruby feels her face turn bright red. “I-I was not!” Her voice gains a few octaves.
Yang shakes her head with an amused smile as she gives her arm a pat. “Don’t worry sis, my lips are sealed.”
Yeah right.
With a wink Yang walks off to join some of the others taking comfort in the shade of a large tree nearby. Sitting beside Nora, the two begin whispering.
Ruby ducks her head in embarrassment when she hears a loud “No way! Really!?” from the redhead.
Gripping her hood, she tugs it over her head to hide her embarrassed expression.
“Urgh… kill me now.”
…
She’s seventeen when she first realises he’s surpassed her in physical combat.
The pair are sparring once again in the late evening behind the inn they’re lodging at, each breath visible in the frigid cold air. This particular session had been going on for almost an hour. In the beginning they'd had an audience but the others had since retreated inside due to the cold temperature.
Ruby was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger now too. In an attempt to defeat Oscar in one final move she runs at him without hesitation and attempts a flying side kick, foot leaving the ground and leg swinging around as her heavy-clad boot aims for his head.
He grabs her calf in mid-air and slams her around and onto the floor. Her back collides against the solid ground with a thud that knocks the breath out of her and before the huntress can leap back up there’s a sudden pressure against her throat as Oscar straddles her, his bicep pressed against her neck.
Their eyes meet and he flashes her a toothy grin between heavy breaths, obviously overjoyed at his victory. “Give up?”
Her chest heaves with each breath and her eyes narrow briefly before she then relaxes, giving a wry smile as she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I give up. You win.”
“Yes!” He throws both hands in the air, grinning ear to ear-
“Aha!” She attempts to grab him and fling him to the ground but instead Ruby finds she’s the one being disarmed as he grabs her arms with astounding speed and slams them back to the ground. Wait, what? She gapes up at him in surprise as he offers her a cheeky and self-assured grin. She’d been aware he was constantly improving in his combat training but she hadn’t realised how much. Just when had he surpassed her?
“That won’t work on me again, Ruby.”
“Uh…” She wants to reply but finds all words have abandoned her. His eyes twinkle in the dim light as he stares down at her, beads of sweat lining his face and throat that cause his hair to remain plastered to his forehead and his shirt to stick to his torso. Her cheeks heat up slightly and she quickly becomes aware that she's staring too obviously. Averting her gaze quickly, she forces a laugh as she tries to dispel sudden thoughts trying to invade her head. “Haha… fine. I concede defeat. You win for real.”
His grin widens and her heart does a weird flip inside her chest and he was still on top of her and so close and his hands felt so warm against her skin-
“Oh!” As if suddenly realising their position, Oscar abruptly pulls away as his face flushes. “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay.” She somehow manages to sound calm even when her heart was thudding wildly against her ribcage. Pushing herself off the ground, Ruby brushes down her skirt as an excuse to look down and not directly at him. Her face still feels hot and why is she suddenly unable to think of anything but his eyes and smile? Aware she has to act normal she fires him two thumbs up. “Good spar, be prepared for my rematch!” As she declares those words, she begins walking backwards toward the inn in a haste to put distance between them as soon as possible.
He smiles again. “Looking forward to it.”
Her heart flips again. Urgh, stop smiling like that!
“Y-Yeah… haha… bye!” She turns and flees before her calm composure is completely broken to pieces. She says nothing to Weiss as she enters their shared room minutes later, instead flopping onto her bed and shoving a pillow over her face which she proceeds to release a muffled yell into.
Weiss watches her actions with an arched eyebrow. “What happened?”
“Why meeeeee…” Ruby whines, kicking her legs against the mattress.
She had a crush on him.
A big fat crush.
God dammit.
…
She’s eighteen when he finds out she likes him.
It’s preceded by several months of her being a blushing and flustered mess. Her feelings for the boy are obvious to everyone but him and it’s only when Nora accidentally blurts it out in front of everyone at dinner that he finds out.
(Ruby almost strangles the redhead).
As it is however, she instead hides away on the roof of their current accommodation, knees pulled up to her chest as she wishes for a giant Grimm to come and swallow her whole.
“Urgh…”
He hadn’t said anything to her after dinner. He’d been shocked by Nora’s words and had looked to Ruby for confirmation or denial but the older girl had just looked pointedly at her lap before excusing herself.
That had been an hour ago.
The girls had come up to talk with her but she’d refused to come down. Nora had begged for forgiveness and because Ruby was well, Ruby, she had given it. (Though she was definitely making Nora do her laundry or something for the next month or two).
“Ruby?”
She freezes.
Oh no.
The familiar voice is followed by a certain boy clambering onto the roof, his footsteps sounding as he approaches her from behind. Oh no no no.
“…Ruby?” His voice is quiet and hesitant as he remains a few feet behind her. Ruby presses her face against her knees, squeezing her eyes shut. Where's a giant Nevermore to swallow her up when she needs it?
“Um, can I sit here?” Oscar asks eventually when she doesn’t reply.
Please no. But she cant’t exactly reply with that. In the end she gives a noncommittal shrug which is followed by the boy sitting a few feet to the left of her. At least he gave her space.
The two sit in awkward silence.
“…Sorry,” Ruby eventually mumbles.
“Huh? What?”
Several moments pass by before Ruby raises her head so she can stare out across the town. She can see his form in the corner of her eye but stubbornly refuses to look his way as she offers a small smile.
“I’m sorry Nora said that stuff at dinner. I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable so I had never planned on saying anything to begin with. I’m happy to just pretend it never happened if you are?”
“Oh…”
He says nothing more and that only makes her more tense. When she does eventually look his way, it's to the sight of him staring down at his lap with eyebrows pinched together. Despite her wish it seems she really has messed things up between them.
She holds back a sigh and stands. He quickly looks her way in alarm. “W-Wait-“
“It’s getting late and we’re heading off early in the morning, we should get some sleep,” she replies without looking his way, ignoring the painful squeeze of her heart. Things were probably going to be awkward for a while now. All they could do was try their best and hopefully things would go back to normal eventually. Goddammit Nora.
“Oh… right.” Oscar pauses, dropping his head down again.
Ruby goes to leave.
“No, wait-!” He cuts himself off when she turns to look back at him and his shoulders appear tense as he remains seated with his back to her, twiddling his thumbs together. Clearing his throat, he speaks awkwardly. “Uh… is it okay if I… if I don’t want to pretend that never happened?”
Ruby feels her heart thud harder. “What... What do you mean?”
“I… uh…” The boy pauses before drawing in a large breath as if for courage. Standing, he turns to face her. His expression is pinched with seriousness as he clenches and unclenches his hands at his side.
“I... I like you too, Ruby.”
His words fill up the space between them and despite the cold air Ruby feels like there's a fire suddenly burning inside her.
“I-I mean… well, I’ve always admired you in that way b-but I figured you just saw me as a little brother,” he babbles on, rubbing his neck and averting his gaze. “But if you uh, want to… we could, ah, hang out some more? I don’t- I don’t really know what to do in this situation but I’d like to know you better… so, uh… is that okay?”
He peers back to her, anxiety clear on his face and Ruby can’t help but stare.
Then, slowly but surely her lips twitch into a smile.
“Yeah. That’d be great.”
The relieved smile he sends her way makes her heart do somersaults.
…
She’s nineteen when she wakes to the sound of heavy knocking on her door in the early hours of the morning.
The sounds wake not only her but the other three girls currently sharing a room with her too. She grumbles and shoves her pillow over her head. “Make it stooooop!” The sun wasn't even up yet!
Blake's only response is a grunt from where she lays hidden beneath the covers. Yang turns over in her own bed so her back faces the door instead. “Sis, you get it.”
“Why me? Weiss is closer to the door.”
“Not happening,” the girl in question adds.
The knocking persists.
“Argh, fine!” Leaping out of the bed with hair askew, Ruby storms over to the door and throws it open with a scowl. “Do you have any idea what time it-“
Her boyfriend stares back at her with utter devastation.
“…is,” she finishes in a small voice, all irritation swept away by concern in an instant. “Oscar?” She takes a tentative step forward, reaching out for him with worry. He looks as pale as a ghost, expression filled with grief and no sign of his usual smile in sight.
“Sorry… I know it’s early…” he replies, voice quiet and devoid of any real energy. Her heart clenches at this version of him.
“Oscar, what happened?” she asks, several dark thoughts crossing her mind as to what could have happened to cause this response. From behind she hears movement as the girls sit up to observe what's happening when they realise it's serious.
“He’s gone.”
She blinks.
“Ozpin,” he elaborates, head held low as he stares at the floor with a shadow across his expression. “He’s not in my head anymore.” His voice breaks at the end.
Ruby’s lips part but no words escape. The truth of the matter sinks in like a cold weight.
Oscar's shoulders quake and she doesn’t know what to say. So instead she embraces him, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around his torso tightly.
He clings to her desperately as he cries.
…
She’s twenty when they’re preparing to set off for their final battle. They know Salem’s location. They have the backup they need. They’ve been preparing for this day for years and yet it still seemed too soon.
Ruby stands on the shore of a lake and peers down at the still water as her reflection stares back at her.
“You have silver eyes.”
“Gyah!” She jumps and almost falls into the lake, spinning her arms in a cartwheel motion to quickly right herself. She spins around to find Oscar with an arm outstretched as if to pull her to safety. When he sees she’s regained her balance however he drops it, offering a sheepish grin instead.
“Sorry…”
She snorts. “It’s fine." A pause. "What did you say again?”
“Oh, it's... It's the first thing I said when we met,” he explains, stepping forward to stand beside her as they look out over the lake together. Such quiet and serene scenery won't be available when visit Salem's hideout. He takes her hand in his own casually. “Your eyes were the first thing I noticed about you. I thought they were beautiful.”
Her cheeks take on a pink hue at the compliment and she gives a soft smile. He enjoyed saying things abruptly that made her blush. “That was a long time ago, huh?” She looks back to her reflection and for a moment can almost see their past selves in the water. Both so much younger and smaller, both still unaware to how many true horrors there really were in this world.
They’d changed a lot.
He was an entire head taller than her now, their bodies now leaner and stronger from years of training.
They’d both gained multiple scars over the years, both physically and mentally.
Most people would break apart after seeing so much tragedy at such a young age. But they had a large group of friends they regarded as family who allowed them to continue on.
They had each other too.
“Are you ready?” she asks.
“Not really.”
She laughs at the blunt honesty. “Me neither.” Raising her head, she flashes him a smile before her gaze became serious. “But I am ready to end this war.”
She was scared. They all were. They knew the likelihood of any of them dying in this final fight was great. But Salem had to be defeated if they wanted this world to be a happy one. For the sake of everyone's futures they couldn't waver.
He observes her and as if he can read her thoughts he gives her hand a comforting squeeze. "Me too."
He leans his head down toward her and for a moment she thinks he's going to kiss her and closes her eyes in anticipation.
Instead he simply presses his lips to her forehead.
Her eyes reopen and she pouts at him as he pulls away and shoots her a boyish grin.
“…Bully.”
“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” he chuckles, cupping her face in both hands as he leans down to kiss her for real.
“Oi, if you two are done flirting we’ve got an all important war to fight here!” Nora yells from afar, causing the pair to freeze. “Remember? Us vs the greatest evil! The fate of the world as we know it in our hands!?”
“We’ll be right there, Nora!” Oscar calls back with a wave of his hand. The redhead rolls her eyes with a good-natured smile as she turns and leaves.
Oscar looks back down at her flushed face and smiles. “Let’s go.” Leaning down he steals a quick kiss from her lips before walking away.
“Wha- hey, I wasn’t ready! No fair!”
“Hahaha!”
Their teasing voices and laughter follow the pair all the way back to their group.