Team OPLL- A RWBY story. Volume 1

Chapter 7: Velvet

We left the combat arena. 

"Whoo-hoo. Tomorrow is a free day and we are going into town!" Lapis exclaimed. 

I sighed. 

Usually, trips to town mean lots of walking, me carrying a lot of bags, and losing a lot of Lien. Lapis and Lazuli could shop with the best of them. Carli was a little more restrained. I hardly bought anything. 

We put our weapons back into our lockers and headed for the showers. 

I dried off, threw one of my now many cobalt vests plus my normal cargo shorts and headed back towards the dorms. I almost ran into Velvet turning a corner. 

"Oh, sorry about that. Hey it's you. Velvet, right?" I asked. 

She blushed. "Yeah." 

I held out my hand. "I'm Ox. Good to actually meet you." 

She took it and shook. "Thank you for talking to Cardin." She said. 

"Eh, no problem. I've faced down way worse. Beowolf packs, Ursa packs, Half a dozen King Taijitus, giant Nevermores, nest of Death Stalkers, even a hive of Lancers. When you compare all that Cardin Winchester ranks pretty low." 

She giggled. "You've fought a lot of Grimm." 

"Comes from living in the ruins of an old city. Grimm were all over. You either fought or you died, and I really like living." I said. 

She smiled. She had a beautiful smile. Wait, what was I thinking. Snap out of it. Bad Ox. 

"So, Velvet, what do you have planned for tomorrow?" I asked. Why did I ask that? What was going on with me? 

"Oh, my team and I are studying for a test in Oobleck's class." I felt disappointed, then confused as to why I felt disappointed. 

"Well, have fun with that. Sounds riveting." I said. 

She laughed. She had a very musical laugh. I liked it. 

"Well, it was nice to meet you Ox." 

"Yeah, you too Velvet. Oh, here's my scroll number." I said, writing it down. 

"If Cardin gives you anymore trouble, or if you want to hang out some time just give me a call." I said, handing her a slip of paper. 

She blushed again and man she looked so cute when she did that. Seriously, what was going on with me. I felt a weirdness in my stomach. 

"Will do. Thanks again." She said, as she hurried off. 

I turned and headed towards the room when Lapis came from around the corner. 

"Sooooo. That was...interesting." I ignored her and headed towards the room. When we got in, Carli and Lazuli were already there. 

"Guys, Guys, Guys!" Lapis said in a hurry. 

"What?" Lazuli said. 

"Ox was totally flirting with Velvet." Carli and Lazuli dropped what they were doing and turned towards me, jaws dropped. 

"Ox.... was...flirting?" Lazuli said stunned. 

"ox?" Carli said, shocked. 

I turned towards to Lapis. "I was not." I said, weakly. I couldn't deny it too definitely. In truth, I wasn't sure what I felt about Velvet. 

"He was totally flirting with her. And she was definitely liking it." Lapis said. 

"She was?" I said, more excitedly then I would have liked. Lazuli turned to me. 

"Well, you sound way too excited for someone who was not flirting with Velvet." She said. 

I said nothing and went over to my desk and started working on a design for a dust grenade, while Lapis gave Lazuli and Carli a play-by-play of my conversation with Velvet. 

My mind started to wander from the grenade specs to the lovely Faunus girl. 

She was beautiful, and her accent was cute as all get out. Plus, as a Faunus, she hopefully wouldn't have a problem with my looks. Hopefully. Wait, why would I care. What was going on? Did I have a crush on Velvet? No, that was ridiculous. Or was it? No, focus on the grenade. Ok so if I use dust powder instead of crystals, I'll be able to get a higher range for my grenade. Yeah, that would work. I could pick up the parts in town tomorrow. 

I noticed the silence from the room and turned to see my team staring at me. 

"What?" I asked.

"So, do you like her or not?" Lapis asked. 

I sighed. 

"I don't know. It's not like I have a lot of experience with the whole romance thing. Up until a month and a half ago my life consisted of: Find Food, Kill Grimm, Don't Die. End of list. Romance is a concept I don't have the slightest clue about." I said. 

"That's so sad." Lapis said. 

"You know this already." I said. 

"That doesn't make it any less sad." She fired back. 

I held up my palms in defeat. She was right. 

"So...you going to ask her out?" Lazuli asked. 

"What!? No! I just met the girl." I said. "Why is this so interesting?" I asked. 

"Because you're our friend and we want what's best for you." Lazuli said. 

"Plus, if a fur rug like you can get a date, there's hope for the rest of us." Lapis said. 

"Thanks." I growled. 

She just shrugged. I looked over her shoulder at Carli. 

"How about you partner? Care to add your thoughts?" 

"well. I think that if you like her, then go for it." she said, quietly. 

I looked at her. "You sure?" 

She nodded. 

"Well, I think we've had enough excitement for day. Let's call it a night and get some rest. We got a busy day tomorrow." I said. 

I went over to my desk, partly to compose a shopping list for my grenade and partly so that the girls could change. I got the all clear and turned around. I unzipped my vest and took it off but before I took off my cargo shorts I stopped. 

"Crap. I left my scroll in my locker. I'll be right back." I said, standing. 

"You going to put on a shirt?" Lapis asked. 

"Nope." I said, as I walked out the room. I headed to the locker room and grabbed my scroll out of my locker. 

When I got back to the room everyone was asleep. I closed the door gently and went to bed. I already knew tomorrow was going to be a long day. 

As I closed my eyes, my last conscious thought was of a girl with rabbit ears and the best smile in Beacon.