hi i'm trash. this is canon-divergent. the kids grow up, fight some monsters, and keep fighting monsters for a couple years. set four years after volume 5

"What are you, his mom? Leave the kid alone, Ruby!"

Ruby clenched her fists and snarled. Oscar looked between her and Jaune, bewildered. In the two years he'd known her, he'd never seen her look…quite so fierce. He'd seen her angry, and sad, and a million shades of emotion between the two; he'd seen her struggle with loss, with fear, with despair, but this was unexpected, and he didn't understand.

"JAUNE! He could have died! A million different ways! He was alone by himself, in the woods, and he could have – I don't know, he could've gotten eaten! Digested in acid!"

"Guys?" he said, trying to interject. Ruby had squared herself up next to Jaune, and her finger was planted firmly in the middle of his breastplate. They glared at each other.

"Yeah, sure, because the one of us who has Ozpin in their head is completely defenseless. Right."

"Guys, I'm right here," he said, again. "And I'm not a kid."

"See, Ruby? He doesn't want you smothering him. Which you are," Jaune said, and took a step back from Ruby. "He's fine. He's an adult. He can handle himself. We all can. And speaking of handling ourselves, my stomach is in need right now."

Ruby was muttering to herself. Jaune walked backwards and into the house, where all the other members of team RWBY and ORNJ were, as well as Qrow, and Tai, and that cute little dog Zwei. They were holding up in Ruby's childhood home while they figured out what their next move against Salem was.

Oscar liked it. He liked the area. It reminded him of the farm, a little bit, and he liked that they weren't currently being attacked by homicidal maniacs that wanted to rule the world. That was always a nice break.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said, suddenly, and Oscar's eyes were dragged back to her. She was looking at the ground, scuffing the dirt with her foot. "I know you can handle yourself in a fight. I've seen you do it a bunch. I just…I just worry. About all of you, when I'm not around."

"Ruby," he said, because her voice had half-broken in the middle of that last sentence, and because it wasn't like her to stare down so much. "It's okay. It's not a big deal. I made it back fine. I know you just…care."

She sniffed. "It's just – the world is scary. And we keep losing people. And I – I can't protect you when I'm not around. Which is fine, like I said, you don't need protecting, you're very strong, but I – "

He stepped towards her. It seemed like the thing to do. He realized, with a violent lurch of his stomach, that he could stare down at the top of her head now – that she seemed small and vulnerable, even next to him.

(He was so glad Ozpin kept to himself ninety-nine percent of the time now, off…doing whatever he did in the back of Oscar's mind. If Ozpin had heard him think of Ruby Rose as vulnerable, and small, he'd never hear the end of it.)

"It's okay," he said, and laid a hand on her shoulder. Then: "Shh, it's okay," because she was shaking, and he realized, with another violent lurch of his stomach, that she was full-on crying, and he didn't know what to do.

He pulled her towards him in a clumsy attempt at a hug, and she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, and this was his fearless leader, Ruby Rose, who he had – in the past – almost died for – and would gladly do it again – but someone who he had never expected to hold while they were crying, and she smelled like roses, and he shouldn't be thinking of that while someone he admired – loved – was sobbing, and his own brain was bad enough, even without Ozpin providing dry commentary, so he stopped thinking entirely.

"It's okay, Ruby. We're all here. We're all alive. Everyone is inside." He patted her back awkwardly, which only made her cry harder. Shit. None of the things he'd experienced in the past four years had prepared him for this. He moved his hand to her hair, and began stroking it, and kept repeating bits of what he'd said, telling her it was okay, that it was all right, and eventually she got quieter, and stopped shaking. Then he realized he was holding her, and she wasn't crying, so he had no reason to be holding her, and panicked even more.

Ruby was the first one to break away. She laughed and scrubbed her eyes with her fists. "Sorry again, Oscar," she said. "You know I'm not usually such a crybaby, right?"

Then, because he was an idiot from a farm: "I mean, you can come cry in my arms anytime you'd like," and gods, why had he said that? Didn't he have any respect for her? He had so much respect for her, and maybe a terrible crush besides that, but the respect should override the crush, and he was the one who hugged her, and now she was going to think he was a freak, and –

"Oscar!" Ruby squawked and turned as red as the ends of her hair. "I – um – I – "

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I really shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry – "

"No, it's okay, I – appreciate the offer. I guess – I mean, I – I accept your apology -"

They were both talking over each other, and they both stopped at the same time. Ruby was still flushed. Oscar's own face was warm. It was his turn to look down and avoid her eyes.

"Hey," she said, "you know you're bleeding, right? Just a little bit. On your arm. Probably not even from the Grimm, you probably…hit something…at some point."

She grabbed his arm. Oscar wanted to die. Couldn't the torture just end already? He'd already said something so stupid, and she'd cried, and he just…wanted to go hide in his room with a book and ignore everything until his embarrassment went away. Which would probably be never, but he could deal with a lifetime of isolation. It might be nice. Relaxing, even.

Ruby, out of one of her many pockets, produced a handkerchief and began wrapping it around the cut. It was a small one; he hadn't bled that much, and it hadn't been painful. She was so close he wanted to sink into the ground, or hug her again, or do some other stupider thing.

"Thanks, Ruby," he said, when she'd finished tying the handkerchief. "I…really appreciate it. I'll do my best to be careful out there. And I know everyone else tries, too. And you have to keep yourself safe too, all right?"

"All right," she said, and her voice was bright, like she'd never cried, and she gave him the same grin she always wore – like she wasn't afraid of the monsters they faced, the human or the Grimm. Like she wasn't fazed by any of it. "It's a deal, then!"

She turned and walked towards the house. Oscar played with the handkerchief on his arm, sliding it between his fingers, and found himself smiling, a belated reaction to Ruby's own expression.

A deal, he thought. He could live with that promise.