somehow, hope remains

Ruby and Oscar found a cave, thankfully. The sandstorm had hit sooner than they thought. Ruby was barely able to get out a call before the sandstorm ended all transmissions.

Oscar winced as he sat down. He had taken a big hit from a Grimm. It was lucky, getting a surprise attack. Even that wouldn’t have been so bad if he wasn’t flung into a rock.

She helped him slide into the cave, and found in her bag and found the cover. She locked the cave entrance and moved back to Oscar.

“Glad Theo made sure we had those covers now,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, it’s helpful,” Oscar said. He moved, then winced.

“Oscar,” Ruby said. She moved towards him and moved his jacket out of the way. There wasn’t too much blood, but there was some.

Oscar handed Ruby his first aid kit. Ruby helped Oscar out of his jacket, his back was bleeding more. He would need some bandages.

“Oscar, we need to take your shirt off,” Ruby said.

“Yeah, yeah… go for it,” Oscar said. Ruby helped him out of his shirt. Ruby saw his chest. She should have focused on the wound, but well… he was well built. She blushed.

“How long have you had these?” Ruby asked. Oscar looked down. It took his a second to realize what she was talking about.

“Oh, yeah,.. remember that I’m a farm boy,” Oscar said.

“Well… you hide it well,” Ruby said. Her face was burning. But she needed to focus on his wounds.

“Do these hurt?” Ruby asked. She took out an alcohol spray, and bandages.

“Yeah… but I just need some rest. My aura needs to come back,” Oscar said. He winced as Ruby cleaned the wound.

“Sorry,” Ruby said. She continued to clean the wound.

Oscar was quiet until after Ruby was done. She tied off the bandage. Ruby sat back. All the two of them had to do now was wait.

“Thank you,” Oscar said.

“It’s no problem,” Ruby said.

“I’m sorry I got hurt. If I didn’t we may have made it back,” Oscar said. Ruby rolled her eyes, then crossed her arms.

“Can you not blame yourself for a sneak attack?” Ruby asked.

“But…”

“There is no but.”

Ruby moved next to Oscar. She sat down next to him.

“You did all that you could. That’s enough…” Ruby started. “Despite what you tell yourself.”

Oscar didn’t know much about the ever after, but he knew it was a place where Ruby had to face her demons. He reached over and held Ruby’s hand.

“Thank you,” Oscar whispered.

Ruby turned to him, and put her head on his shoulder.

He tossed and turned in their bed. No matter what, sleep alluded him. It hurt to miss someone this much. He turned back over and just stared at her side of the bed. Just… wishing Ruby would be there.

He tried closing his eyes again. He put headphones in, and searched for the perfect thing to make him fall asleep. Of course, the perfect thing would be having Ruby here with him, so he was looking for the second best thing.

He searched for advice and finally… he sighed and knew he would have to try it at some point. ASMR. He already tried sleeping music, thunder sounds, and white noise. This was his last resort.

He pressed play and closed his eyes.

He opened them wide when he realized what he was listening to. Ruby’s voice. Oscar blushed. This was… the right playlist. But it was Ruby’s voice.

He saw the playlist was edited yesterday. Ruby did this for him. He had no idea how she got the microphone to work, but it was.

“Hey there, Oscar,” Ruby said. “I know you can’t respond, but you can listen to your wife’s voice.”

Oscar smiled.

“So, Jaune told me about this type of… recording. He told me that it helps with sleeping, and I’m guessing you may be having some trouble with that right now. Let’s try to fix that,” Ruby said.

Ruby started talking about fun stories from the past. Hearing her voice again… it made him feel calm. Feel good.

He fell asleep. It was a DEEP sleep, so deep he didn’t recognize when the door to the apartment was opened, or when the earphones were taken out of his ear.

Ruby smiled at Oscar. She saw he was listening to what she sent. She left him to get cleaned. And today would be just for them. He was still asleep when she got back to their bedroom.

Ruby slipped in next to Oscar, wrapping an arm around him.

“I love you,” Ruby whispered.

“I love you,” Oscar replied in that barely audible sleep language.

Oscar opened his eyes a minute later, feeling arms holding him. He turned his head and saw Ruby there.

“Good morning,” Ruby said.

“Ruby? I thought…”

“The mission ended early. I’m back.”

“Good,” Oscar said. He turned to face her, and kissed her deeply. They both loved it. Eventually they had to break apart.

“I missed you,” Oscar said.

“I missed you, too,” Ruby said. “But you know what? There’s nothing going on today. I made sure of that.”

Oscar wrapped his arms around Ruby.

"Imagine there is a button. If you press it, you'll steal every heart in the world in one fell swoop."

I wish I could say I planned this, but no. That is just how Oscar reacts upon meeting Ruby in every universe.

So many Whitley’s!