Chapter Text
Yang was officially convinced that Weiss was a hair-width away from losing her mind.
Before leaving their apartment, she had thrown up her hair in her signature off-center ponytail about 17 times before she was satisfied. It took all of Yang’s mental strength not to give her a hard time as she waited on the couch with Ruby to finally leave. But even she could tell that the tension in Weiss’ shoulders was a little too tight, and her eyes were a little too off for Yang even to attempt to poke fun at her. Ruby was a little skittish around Weiss these days, and she hadn't seen her little sister like that since the two of them first met almost four years ago.
Despite Ruby and Weiss’ rough start, they soon became the two close friends that no one saw coming, but at the same time, if you saw them interact, it would take little to no time to realize that somehow, they just worked.
But right now? Neither Yang nor Ruby could get Weiss to take it easy. School hadn’t even started yet, so they couldn’t even imagine what was causing their friend to behave this particular way.
Yang and Ruby had this agreement to just go with whatever Weiss said until they could figure out whatever the hell was going on. They wanted to help her, but they didn’t want to do that while making it worse in the process.
“Maybe it was her Dad?” Ruby whispered from her spot on the couch next to her the night before. Weiss had just gone to her room with a sigh that was the most pathetic thing she had ever heard.
“No, I don’t think so,” Yang responded quietly, looking up from the half-assed doodles she mindlessly drew. “If it was her Dad, she wouldn’t be so quiet. She would be ranting and raving until she passed out,” Yang chuckled softly.
Both of them had experienced plenty of moments where Weiss would go off about her father until her face was red with anger and her voice became hoarse. Ruby and Yang usually let her go off whenever she got like that. They could tell that she needed to let off some steam, and the sisters secretly found it incredibly entertaining.
Ruby couldn’t help but let out a snort. “True. Like she gets stressed before a semester starts every year, but this has got to be on another level…” She turned her head towards the stairs that led to Weiss’ room. She was most likely in there with the lights out and silent. That’s how it had been the past few days. “Maybe because it’s your senior year? Is she worried about what comes next?”
Yang looked back down at her sketchbook. There were only a few pages left; she needed to get a new one if she wanted to draw anything in the coming weeks. Next week officially started Weiss and Yang’s last year at Vale University, and the thought of the finality of it all made Yang’s arm shake. She really thought she was over that by now. The tremors, the shakes, the unwelcomed anxiety, but the most random things can set her off and trap her inside her head, even if they weren’t even remotely related to the accident.
Grasping onto her prosthetic with her left hand, she shrugged. “Yeah, maybe… we’ll see, I guess.”
And that led the two sisters to the next morning. Weiss abruptly stated that she was determined to be as prepared for this last year of university as possible.
“I want to get all my required and suggested books today from Tukson’s,” Weiss stated as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
Hearing Weiss speak after days of awkward silence and small talk with her was so jarring that Yang was pretty sure that she heard Ruby choke on her cup of coffee (if one could even call it that from its plethora of milk and sugar) from the seat beside her.
After a few coughs, Ruby finally replied, “Oh, uh, nice! Cool—yeah, of course!” Silver eyes turned to her violet ones, waiting for Yang to hop in any time now.
Yang decided to throw Ruby a bone.
“That’s great! You’ll have the readings probably memorized before Monday comes around, huh?”
After taking a sip from her mug, Weiss walked towards the small table the two sisters sat at. “Yes, that is the plan. If only my Society and Politics professor would post the syllabus already.” She grumbled.
Ruby chimed back in, “Oh, that’s so annoying!” She watched her sister look down into her mug, and by the slight pout that crossed her mouth, Ruby realized that it was empty. Standing up and making her way over to the sink, she added, “I mean, I, uh, never really check that stuff before classes start but—”
“You two will come with me,” Weiss bluntly stated.
“What?” Yang replied as Ruby went, “Huh?”
“Being aware of what is to come before a semester starts is essential to academic success. It also can minimize stress, which is also important to one’s ability to perform well,” Weiss replied.
Yang wasn’t sure if Weiss was trying to convince her and Ruby that being as prepared as physically possible would be enough to secure whatever future they decided to conjure up or if she was trying to convince herself.
The future was never something that scared Yang. If anything, the unknown brought a sense of relief and adventure that spoke to something inside her. It had always been there since she was a little girl, a yearning for spontaneity… a comfort in not knowing what tomorrow was to bring.
But the accident slowly changed that. Yang knew she wasn’t the same after everything went down, but she knew that she wasn’t the daring pig-tailed child she once was. She didn’t fully understand who she was entirely or where the hell she was heading. And all of a sudden, that slowly started to scare Yang.
Ruby’s voice broke Yang’s wandering thoughts, “Oh sure! Sounds good.” she said, a tone of excitement peeking out, “When did you want to go there?”
Weiss’ blue eyes shifted to the clock on their microwave. 10:08 am. “Be ready by 11:30?”
❂❂❂
An hour and ten minutes later had Yang and Ruby in the same seats on the couch a few nights prior. Yang wasn’t too worried about looking all that presentable. They were just going to Tukson’s, not to Junior’s Club on 6th Street. She threw on an old orange tank top and shorts and decided to put her hair up, too lazy to go through her whole hair routine today.
Weiss stood across from the two sisters in front of the mirror they had in their living area. If Yang had counted correctly, this was her 17th or 18th time pulling up her hair. It looked the same as usual each time, but Weiss was obviously not satisfied with any of her attempts so far. Yang wasn’t sure if interrupting her process was a good idea, but it was painful to watch to some degree. She could tell that Ruby was feeling the same way by the way her left leg kept bouncing up and down, and she kept shooting a concerned glance towards their friend.
After aggressively ripping out her hair tie once again, Yang couldn’t take it anymore. “Weiss. You good?”
Turning around with a dramatic sigh, “I’m fine… Or I will be,” she said.
Ruby’s leg stopped bouncing as she piped in, “You know you can talk to us, right? We’ve known each other for how long now? We got your back.”
Weiss nodded and turned back towards the mirror, and put up her hair once again. She stared herself down in the mirror, and Yang couldn’t help but feel bad for her friend. She didn’t want to force her to talk if she wasn’t ready, but she felt helpless. All she could do was continue to be Yang. Which ultimately meant annoying the shit out of Weiss to get her out of her own head.
Yang pulled herself off the couch and stretched out her arms. “Yeah, Weiss, what did your hair ever do to you?”
With a huff, Yang caught the end of her signature eye-roll in the mirror. She called that a win.
“I am just a little stressed, okay?” Weiss stated. She moved away from the mirror, finally. “I know I haven’t really been-”
“Alive?” Yang mumbled. She heard her sister try to muffle her snort from the couch.
Weiss shot her a minor glare. “I was going to say that I haven’t been all here.”
Ruby jumped up from the couch and headed over to Weiss, wrapping her arm around her shoulders, “That’s okay! Like I said, we got your back!”
Some softness returned to Weiss’ eyes. Ruby had always been able to do that with people. She could simply lift the weight off of their shoulders in an instant with a smile or a few words. Summer was the same way. Yang wondered if Ruby was aware of that gift or if she was too young to remember that part of their mom before she passed.
Grabbing the keys to their apartment, Yang faced her two roommates, “So, are we ready?”
“Yup!” her sister added.
Weiss gave the both of them a solid nod, and for now, that was enough for all of them.