Chapter Text
Ruby stood stock-still, eyes wide, fingers trembling, as stranger after stranger shoved past her in disinterest. “There's a whooole lot of people here, Yang.”
Yang hesitated, confused, then wrapped her arms around her sister protectively, comfortingly. “I know.” The airport corridor was packed, every square meter occupied, every seat taken, and even the ever-clubbing Yang was made a bit uncomfortable by the crowd.
“There are like fifteen alphas in this room.”
Yang flinched. “Jesus, Ruby. Explains why you've been so on-edge today. You... knew? Before we got here, I mean.”
Ruby nodded slowly, ever-so-subtly relaxing into her sister's arms. “Did you know that one in ten Hunters is an Alpha? I did my research, Yang. I tried to prepare, but we got here and it just...”
“Yeah.” Yang would've usually let Ruby squirm out of her arms by this point, but then, Ruby still hadn't moved a muscle. She loosened her grip, giving Ruby's chronically abused ribs some slight reprieve, but didn't let go.
“A-and one in ten like me too, apparently, though that's not really the issue, you know? Sorry, sorry, that was completely off-topic and not relevant at all, but it felt weird not to... Sorry.” Finally, Ruby struggled lightly against her restraints, unable to hide her embarrassment behind overblown, full-body gestures while being smothered.
Yang chuckled at her sister's familiar rambling, then let go, ruffling her hair on the way out (and prompting a relievingly familiar indignant squeal). “That's more like the Ruby that was ready to explode her way into Huntress-ing just this morning. Right!” Yang clapped her hands together, the sudden noise causing a few passersby to flinch, and grinned conspiratorially. “We're gonna find you some friends!” She made a show of scanning the room.
“Yaang! Stop that! I'll find friends just fine, promise! And you'll just try to match-make me with everyone in the room, anyway,” Ruby pouted, refusing to meet her sister's eyes as her smirk grew even wider.
“Oh, psshaw, only the ones you make eyes at first. Which, you know, all of 'em.” Ruby's eyes widened in a different kind of horror. “Yes, Ruby, I know. I've been watching you for fifteen years" - She puffed out her chest - “And nothing escapes my sisterly intuition! Hmm, who to interrogate first...”
Ruby gave in first, failing to contain a soft twitch of her lips as she shook her head begrudgingly. “Best wingwoman Yang, back at it again.” For the first time, she properly scanned the hall – not just for pheromones, but with her eyes, on her tiptoes, jumping about to get a better look past obstacles like a normal person. “Ooh, how about her? She's cute!”
Yang followed her pointed finger to a curly-black-haired girl in the corner, face half-buried in an old, leather-bound tome straight out of a colonial Mantle period piece. “Comfortable but sufficiently stylish – loving that black jeans 'n crop combo – and with enough focus to read something that boring-looking in a crowd... Well, tuning out Ruby's rambling is definitely a useful life skill...” Yang nodded imperiously, ignoring her sister's halfhearted denial of such. “I approve. Good pick. … Well? Go get her!”
Ruby blinked, flushing, then grinned wide and disappeared in a flash of rose petals. A sting of unexpected but familiar jealousy curled in Yang's stomach, but practicedly ignored it. She told herself she was used to it, that she needed to move on anyway, and so she pretended she had.
Yang watched from afar as Ruby's accompanying back-draft drew the girl's attention just enough to close the book, one finger still slipped between the pages, and glance up questioningly. Ruby chattered excitedly for a few seconds and held out her hand to shake, then blinked, sighed, backed away wearily, hand falling to her side. The girl quirked her head curiously, never saying a word as Ruby dejectedly shuffled back over.
“Aaaaaaahyaaang she's one of theeeeeeeemmmmmmm!” Ruby fell dramatically against Yang, halfheartedly pounding on her shoulders with unclenched fists.
“Ya know, Rubes, you're gonna have to get used to it some day, right? And you handled it better than you usually do, at least! Remember the platinum blonde from earlier?”
Ruby shuddered, recalling her supreme embarrassment at getting just a sniff of the hoity-toity, stuck-up princess and locking up, before getting yelled at for mussing up her baggage. And when it was her fault! Pheromones of that strength were a deadly weapon to be pointed only at your target, not broadcast about all obnoxious like that, thank you very much! “Yeah, 'least this one didn't say anything mean. Or... Anything.” She buried her face in her hands, groaning. “Uuugh and she seemed so cool, too!”
“Want me to go and smooth things over?”
“I'm tempted, but no, I think I'm just gonna make a hasty, tactical retreat to the food court, if that's okay with you. Ohhh and here she comes I gotta gooooo--” The girl, book still in hand, quirked an eyebrow at the now-disappeared sister.
“She's... bad with alphas. You know how it is.” She stuck out a hand. “Yang.”
“Blake. Belladonna. And, nice to make your acquaintance, but... What?” She blinked in confusion. “Is it really that bad for them? My omega friends have never even mentioned it.”
“Not all of them, and not always, but Ruby's a special case. Not a lot of exposure, and of course it's ten times worse with crushes.” Yang chuckled awkwardly, and Blake's eyes widened in sudden half-understanding.
“I haven't said a word to her yet, how can she...?”
Yang shrugged. “She falls fast. And hard. Aaaand you're pretty hot, so. Good luck? I gotta go find her, and a snack, but honestly I'd love to see her reaction if you came with?”
Blake simply stared in bemusement. “Okay.” She slipped an obviously well-loved bookmark in place and followed.
When they found Ruby, she seemed to be deep in thought, and simultaneously face-deep in the most overstuffed burrito Yang had ever seen. It was quite the impressive feat, she decided, as she slipped into the booth across from her, Blake carefully setting loaded trays on the table shortly behind. Soon enough, Ruby was pulled from her trance and stared at Yang, terror writ clear across her face. “Yang, what did you do?”
“Lured your crush-at-first-sight with the promise of free airport seafood? Honestly, Rubes, the things I do for my poor, ungrateful sister.” Yang waggled a greasy fork at her, and she sputtered indignantly.
Blake pushed a hand over the table, curling it over Ruby's own as she leaned forward. “Hey, don't worry about it. We all have rough starts sometimes, especially when... instincts kick in.” Yang raised an eyebrow, but refrained from commenting, preferring to soak contentedly in the glory of a plan coming together as Ruby's face flushed bright pink and she yanked her hand back. Ruby glared at Yang. “And you told her that!?”
A pang of guilt. “Er... Yes? But she was cool, she gets it!”
“Not often enough, no,” Blake quipped under her breath, and Yang let out a sharp, shocked laugh.
Ruby, mortified, sank dejectedly into the thankfully heavily-cushioned seat. Another pout. Yang grinned softly, watching Blake's face flush up just a bit, exposed for the first time to Ruby's legendary pouts and realizing what she'd just said and. She blinked, expression schooled to blankness. “Right, well,” and she started shoveling the shrimp-on-noodles into her mouth, eyes trained down to her plate and blush growing all the while. Ruby saw fit to follow in turn, and Yang observed their impromptu mating display with avid curiosity.
Thirty seconds and two bites of Yang's hamburger later, the lovebirds' plates had been licked clean and Ruby was back to her mumbling. “So it was real nice meeting you you seem pretty cool and oh ugh ow I shouldn't've eaten so fast can we start as friends? Please? I'm just so bad at the whole dating thing and I don't really know you and also you don't know me, yet! Yet, but I'd really like to get to kn--”
Blake shut her up by grabbing her hand again, her gaze remaining averted. “Yes, I'd love that.”
Ruby blinked in surprise. “D-do you have a scroll?”
Yang whistled conspicuously as Blake passed it over, Ruby punching in her number twice (her nerves had jumbled it all up the first time) and passing it back, still failing to make eye contact. “Jeez, do I need to call a hotel?”
“As friends, Yang! Did you not just hear what-- Uugh! THE worst!” Ruby threw her hands up in the air and stormed off.
“Twenty lien she breaks in under a week.”
“No deal. It was... Yang, right? Rose?”
“Nah – Xiao Long - but good guess. Different moms, don't worry about it.” Yang glanced away. “Um, so, I am cool with you and Ruby and all, but do try and use protection, she'd be devastated to be out of action for any considerable length of--”
“Okay, nope. No, not doing this, I literally just met both of you, not doing it!” Blake swiped her dishes from the table, unceremoniously plopping them down on the designated “used” counter, and swung her bag over her shoulder as she rushed in the opposite direction from where Ruby had gone.
When Yang found Ruby ten minutes later, she was once again standing petrified at the edge of the walkway, staring at her scroll in an unfamiliar combination of awe, embarrassment, excitement, and shock. Wide-eyed, she turned up to Yang, tilting her scroll to give her a better view.
I very much look forward to making your acquaintance. For the record, I think you're pretty cute too. -B
“Right. Um. So, sleeping arrangements, huh?”
The team of four stood outside their dorm room, looking over the four beds squished up against each other in a row. Their, plural, as in all four of them, as in she'd be living in the same room as two hormonal, unbearably attractive alphas. This'll be a nightmare, she silently opined.
Yang, leaning in the doorway, gave a sympathetic sigh. “Right. Let me just get this out there – I'm going to be sleeping between you two and my sister, just to preserve what small bit of sanity she might be still hanging on to.” Blake nodded in agreement, Weiss in solemn (if begrudging) understanding. Ruby's dejected slump held until she plopped lifelessly onto a bed by the wall, leaving her bags behind for Yang to toss over later.
“Furthermore, I'll need to ask all of you to use the strongest suppressing deodorant you can stomach.” More hesitant nods. “I know it sucks, and it won't ever be completely effective, but just for the sake of everyone's sanity, it's probably necessary.”
Weiss took the opportunity to chime in in her typical arrogant fashion. “I, for one, can control myself. I'm not interested in pursuing that... utter piece of work I've been chained to.”
Blake shot her a quick, frosty glare, scent spiking with possessiveness, offense, greed. “I'll hold you to that, Schnee.”
Weiss snarled, her Alpha taking over for only the slightest, terrible moment as their eyes met, sparks flying and scents battling overwhelmingly for Ruby's attention, for the other to back down. Ruby whimpered, pushing her head deeper into the pillow, and that shocked the resident alphas back to reality.
Blake met Yang's glare with a weak, tired grin. “Right. I'll get on the whole, uh, scent suppressant thing. Today. After a nap.”
Weiss grumbled in reluctant agreement. “I'll admit, taking down that Nevermore was pretty exhausting.”
Yang nodded, humming brightly, uncomfortably, a bit too loudly. “Great! Team naptime, coming right up. Uh, anything else to, er... Clear the air about?”
Ruby and Blake groaned in unison. It was a moment before Weiss joined them, taking in Yang's smirk with blatant disgust. “Does she do that often?”
Ruby rolled over, back against the wall, skirt and sheets shifting softly against each other as she burrowed in. “Take one pun aurally, twice daily and whenever you need a headache,” she deadpanned. Blake blinked, before groaning again, and Yang shot Ruby an excited air-high five. Ruby met her with a raised eyebrow. “Don't get used to it.” Yang pouted – to far less effect on Blake, Ruby happily noted, than her own had had.
Ruby glanced back over to Weiss, who seemed to have left bruising indents at either side of the bridge of her nose, and was presently mumbling something about “brutes” and 'not just the one sister being actually impossible to have a coherent and intelligent conversation with.' Given the circumstances, she let that slide.
Ruby tried really, really hard to sleep. She knew she needed it, and she knew that at least Yang had fallen under – the snores tended to give her away – but Yang didn't have the pure, unadulterated distraction that was two hot alphas flaunting their enticing, addictive, exhilarating scents, let alone when she was totally hard-crushing on the closer of the two. Blake had chosen the bed next to Yang's, claiming to be accustomed to sleeping with company, while Weiss was more comfortable 'as far from that barbaric duo as possible.' Honestly, it's like she's never met friendly people before.
And therein lie, tossing and turning in her stomach like a petulant child past their bedtime, the real issue. The scents, and just Blake's presence, were distracting enough. But part of Ruby was more worried about what came next – Trying to work effectively with this hodgepodge team, let alone lead it. Blake, she figured she'd get along with once she opened up a bit more, and Yang, while two years her elder and in many ways a mother figure, had accepted her leadership proudly, with open arms. But it had to be stifling, being forced to work with people in many ways your opposite, for a rich, stuck-up, 'sophisticated' alpha to take orders from Ruby, of all people.
She wasn't sure she was cut out for leadership. She'd certainly been proud at the opening ceremony, being chosen for the role and the team named for her, but... Alphas didn't usually take well to higher-ups, especially omegas. It wasn't really their fault, she knew, it was an instinctual, ingrained role they played, but it didn't change that it'd quickly become an issue at this rate. And that was without even taking in Weiss' personality, her obvious and overwhelming desire to lead a team for herself, her expectancy of and entitlement to such a role.
Ruby Rose had her work cut out for her, and it hadn't even been a day.
She jumped as someone shifted on the other end of the room. The sharp tang of Blake's heavy, alluring scent came overflowing, a dam unleashed, carrying on it the sweet pull of contentment, desire... arousal?
She could hear a soft gasp as the scent abruptly shifted - mortification, fear – and Blake hopped out of bed, blushing face just barely visible over Yang's ever-undulating pile of blankets. Ruby flinched, instinctively closing her eyes and pretending to sleep, but Blake didn't seem to notice as she purposefully stalked away, the bathroom door clicking shut behind her. Ruby's eyes burst open and she hopped out of bed – Stealthily! Like the ninja she totally was! - and went to investigate the – Yep, okay, her sheets were slightly damp and smelled of Blake and her lavender perfume and honey-nectar ambrosia and Ruby was just gonna go lie back down and pretend she didn't just witness her crush waking up from a sex dream in the middle of the afternoon, nope, not gonna think about that at all just gonna sleep gotta be asle--
The door clicked open, and Blake blinked rapidly in surprise. Ruby's scent was strong, now, and she didn't quite know what to make of it. Suspicious, she glanced over at her bed – Ruby's eyes were squeezed shut, like an adorable toddler trying her hardest to feign sleep, and Blake couldn't help but grin softly at the wash of contentment, amusement, familiarity, rightness that spread up from her belly and out through every limb.
She padded silently over to Ruby's bed as though pulled magnetically, wholly unable to stop herself from taking advantage of the rare moment. She'd long since learned the art of suppressing her scent just slightly, pulling back only for a moment, so that the pheromone-sensitive wouldn't feel her approach, and so when she laid a soft, selfish kiss on Ruby's forehead, it was to her victim's complete surprise. She stiffened, and Blake chuckled. “So damn cute.” Another peck into her beautiful, silky hair, threading two fingers through her short, messy locks, lingering just long enough to inhale, greedily memorizing its utterly addicting rose petal and petrichor, anticipation and surprise and innocent allure.
Soon she found her fingers untangling from fiery tips, and her wrist instinctively sliding down, rubbing across that entrancing neck, kneading softly against that beautiful curve down to shapely collarbone...
She snapped out of it when Ruby inhaled sharply through her nose, eyelids just holding back from slamming open. Blake jerked away and blinked in shock. Did I really just...? Holy shit. “Holy shit,” she whispered under her breath. “Oh, Maidens, I am so sorry.” She scampered off to her own bed, unconsciously pulling the comforter tight. She'd lost control. She never lost control, she couldn't afford to, but she just had. Why?
Two very confused, very mortified girls with very red cheeks curled in on themselves tighter under their blankets, trying and failing to make sense of what had just happened.
When morning came shining offensively through the blinds – and it did, to Blake's abject disappointment – Weiss and Yang finally stirred. They'd somehow managed both to sleep through the afternoon and evening – an impressive feat with Blake and Ruby laying awake or tossing about fitfully all the while. Yang seemed unphased by the extra sleep – As her sister and occasional cuddle-partner, Ruby could attest that Yang was no stranger to hibernation - but Weiss was springing out of bed with all the urgency of a flock of songbirds fleeing from Ruby's semblance.
“How did I sleep so long? How!?” Weiss mumbled loudly to herself. “It's past 7:30, we hardly have time to prepare for class!” She staggered hurriedly into the bathroom, throwing open her suitcase and yanking out a bag of toiletries on the way. Ruby shot up, confused, and started rapidly changing to head down to breakfast.
Blake reluctantly disentangled herself from her sheets, scrunching her eyes and quietly stretching. No sleep now, I guess. “Weiss!” She and Ruby both flinched at her unexpectedly loud voice.
“Yes?” she huffed through the door.
“It's Saturday.” She flopped back down on the bed. Ruby blinked owlishly and followed in turn, eyes pointedly avoiding Blake.
“And? We've important things to accomplish today! Picking up our textbooks, at least two hours of exercise, morning and evening...” The sound of running water came to an abrupt halt, and Weiss came strutting back into the room, one hand ticking off the day's chores and the other expertly pulling her exquisite hair into that adorably crooked ponytail. “There's a campus tour at 10, which is non-mandatory for students but I won't be letting you lazy oafs skip it just so I have to drag you everywhere for the next three months.” She leveled a hard glare at Yang in particular, and the blonde scratched her neck, sheepishly avoiding eye contact. “Also, I personally have an important meeting with Headmaster Ozpin scheduled for this afternoon, which leaves precious little time for going over class material to prepare for Monday. I assure you, we have little time to laze about. Move!”
Ruby and Yang reluctantly got to their feet, Ruby halfheartedly smoothing out wrinkles that had formed from snuggling back into bed in her uniform and letting out a huge yawn. Blake froze, staring. Her neck was pale, smooth but for an old scar traveling past her ear and down past her collar, stretched taught, slightly-swollen scent gland on full display. Her heart rate doubled, and Ruby stiffened. Their widened eyes briefly met, and Blake flinched away, throwing herself into the day's preparations with manufactured gusto.
Weiss sniffed once, frowning. “Okay, what was that?”
Yang finished struggling to pull a blouse over her head, and glanced about the room before raising an eyebrow at Weiss. “What was what?”
Ruby stared at the ground, nerves on-end, as Weiss eyed her suspiciously. “Their scents just... spiked, is all. Towards each other. Frankly, I don't need to know what's going on, but it's distracting and if this is going to be a regular thing, then Yang was definitely right about those scent-blockers. I'll add that to the list of today's tasks.” She brusquely pulled out her scroll, and started tapping. Ruby shot her a nervous grin, then made for the bathroom herself.
Once she'd shut the door, Yang locked eyes with her partner, lips pulling into a shit-eating grin. “Start as friends, huh?” Blake's cheeks went bright pink and she scowled, stalking out of the room letting the door slam closed behind her. Why can't I just control myself? She'd just had to go and make things all weird from day 1. She sneaked a glance down the hall, ensuring nobody was there to watch, then wiggled her ears, sighing in satisfaction at the momentary relief after days without removing her bow.
She heard someone past the corner, and schooled her ears and expression both into stony stillness. She smelled him before she could get a good look – male, omega, nervousness and faint traces of vomit. Ah, the boy who'd lost his lunch on the airship. She thanked her good graces that inhaling a pound of seafood in under a minute hadn't left her in the same predicament.
“Oh, hey! I'm Jaune, your dorm-building-mate I suppose,” He called out good-naturedly, waving, as he approached. He took her in curiously for a moment, then his eyes flashed in recognition. “Blake, right? Ruby was saying good things about you when we met yesterday. Nice to meet you in person!”
“You talked with Ruby yesterday?”
“Yup!” Jaune grinned.
“And she talked about me? Long enough to get out multiple compliments?”
“I mean, yeah? Seemed like you were on her mind at the time, for sure.”
“Jaune, we went to sleep immediately after getting to the dorms. When did you even meet?”
He tilted his head curiously. “We kinda got lost together for a while between the airship landing and initiation. Wandered around campus wishing we had a map? I'm surprised she didn't tell you.”
Blake blinked. Somehow, the time between meeting Ruby and becoming her teammate had entirely slipped her mind, as though they'd never truly been separated. “Right. Yeah, you're right. Huh.”
Jaune considered her for a moment. “Wait, don't tell me that's why you smell taken today?”
She choked on air, pounding her chest as she doubled over trying to breathe. “What!?”
Jaune backed a step away, scent tinging with confusion and uncomfortable tension, a ceiling fan with a screw loose, a forest lacking birdsong. “Yeah, like... Like I'm not supposed to come near you, 'cuz you're claimed? You know, that heavy kinda 'do not approach, look elsewhere' feeling.” Jaune held his hands up in surrender. “Um. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed it was Ruby, huh? That was really rude of me. You only just met, and I'm sure a strong, p-pretty alpha like you could have definitely found someone wherever you came here from! And... I'm just realizing you're kinda really terrifying and I'm just gonna stop talking now.”
The blond shuffled past her in tactical retreat, head bowed deferentially, and Blake slumped in place. Forced scenting on the first day... Hell of a team building exercise. Weiss certainly knew after this morning's antics, and Ruby would figure it out soon enough. She only hoped the others would forgive her and be amenable to working through the situation like the adults Yang and Ruby definitely weren't – and that her 'friendship' with Ruby wasn't over before it'd even begun.