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The first time it happened was because of a training accident. They had been focusing on evasion today. Which meant James would try to hit Oscar and Oscar would try to dodge. Simple. Of course, things don’t usually go according to plan.
“Dodge!” James cried as he lunged at Oscar.
Oscar yelped and stumbled back, ultimately falling and landing with a sharp cry of pain. He tried to stand back up but stumbled back down with a hiss of pain, his hand flying to his ankle. James was quick to rush to Oscar’s side.
“Oscar? Are you alright?” James worriedly asked, kneeling down to check on the boy.
“I think I twisted my ankle.” Oscar said, before looking sheepishly at James. “Sorry sir, I guess I didn't notice my aura break.”
“It’s fine, do you think you can walk?” James asked.
Oscar tried to stand again, but cried out as soon as he put weight on his ankle and fell again. “Nope, nope I cannot.” he hissed, a pained expression on his face.
James’s brow furrowed and hummed, seemingly contemplating something. “Alright, let’s get you to the infirmary then.” And after only a moment of hesitation, James carefully lifted Oscar into the crook of his arm.
Oscar gasped in surprise and flailed his arms a bit before settling down, an embarrassed blush prevalent on his cheeks. “You don’t need to do this sir. I could just use Long Memory to get there.”
“It’s fine, also I sort of do. You can’t walk right now, and I cannot let you possibly hurt yourself more trying to walk alone. So this is kind of the only option.” James replied with a small smile.
“Right. Umm, thank you sir.” Oscar said sheepishly.
James laughed softly, “You’re welcome Oscar. Now let’s get that ankle looked at shall we?”
“Uh, yeah ok sir.” Oscar replied, looking anywhere that wasn’t the General.
With that they left the training room, and headed to the infirmary.
~
The second time it happened, James had found Oscar dead asleep in the library. The boy was curled up in a mostly hidden away nook at the back, and he was surrounded by books. He sighed in relief and shot a text to Qrow and the others, telling them he had found the wayward child. When he had stopped responding to everyone’s calls and texts, it had sent the other children into a frenzy. Calls of “He ran away again!” and “Where’s my boy?” rang out in the academy. James had joined the search for Oscar, he didn’t fancy the poor boy being lost in Atlas, or worse, Mantle.
“Oscar.” James said softly, “Oscar wake up.”
Oscar didn’t stir, simply kept on snoozing. James sighed with a chuckle, what on Remnant was he going to do.
“Oscar.” he whispered, stepping closer and lightly jostling the boy, “Oscar, you need to wake up.”
“Five more minutes.” Oscar murmured, curling further around the book in his arms.
James had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, “Oscar please.”
The boy whined slightly but still didn’t wake up.
James sighed and shook his head, he shot a text to Qrow asking if he knew how Oscar had been sleeping recently. Qrow was quick to reply that the boy hadn’t been sleeping well, he apparently had been having nightmares lately.
James’s brows furrowed, “You are not making this easy for me Oscar.”
Oscar whimpered slightly, his face scrunching up in discomfort. James, without thinking, reached out and gently brushed Oscar’s bangs out of his face, seeming to sooth Oscar.
“Fine, fine.” James softly chuckled, “You win.”
Oscar didn’t wake up when James, very carefully, took his book from him and picked him up like a sleepy toddler. The farm boy made a sleepy noise and snuggled into James’s arms unconsciously, bringing a small smile to James’s face before he could stop it.
“You know, you really don’t play fair.” he chuckled, taking the sleeping teen to Qrow and others to care for. Though, he might have taken a slightly longer time to get to them than was strictly necessary. But no one can prove anything.
~
The third time was because Oscar was an idiot, and decided to try and climb to the top of a bookshelf in the library. He had climbed the movable ladder, resisted the urge to push off and roll along the shelves on it, and was reaching for a really high up book. Then out of nowhere the ladder was yanked out from under him and he had to hold onto the bookshelf for dear life. It was at least a 6 foot drop and Oscar had just gotten off a training session with Jaune, his aura was low and a drop like that would probably really hurt.
He was just contemplating his eminent demise when he heard a familiar voice from below him, “OSCAR! Oh my goodness! Hold tight I’ll be right there!” the General said from below him.
“Hi General Ironwood.” he called back lamely.
“What are you doing up there?” he asked.
“Oh ya know.” Oscar said, “Just hanging around.”
“Oscar, I swear on the Brothers I will leave you up there.” the General deadpanned.
Oscar laughed weakly, “Please don’t, I’m sorry! I guess you could say it was… low hanging fruit!”
“Oscar.” Ironwood said, sounding 1000% done with the teen.
“Comedy is my coping mechanism! It’s what keeps me hanging on!” Oscar replied, unable to help himself.
“I’m leaving. Good luck.” Ironwood said, already sounding like he was walking away.
“General wait! Please! I’m sorry I won’t make any more jokes! Please help me!” Oscar called, barely holding back a laugh.
He heard the General sigh dramatically and walk back, “Alright, just let go and I’ll catch you ok?”
“Ok.” Oscar replied nervously, before taking a deep breath, looking below him at the General, and letting go. There was a brief terrifying drop before he was deposited in the big strong arms of General Ironwood.
“Are you alright?” he asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“Yeah, but General. I think I just fell for you.” Oscar said, batting his eyelashes dramatically.
He laughed as Ironwood dropped him unceremoniously on the ground and walked away.
~
The fourth time was on a mission, one of the rare ones Oscar was allowed to go on. James had insisted on accompanying the teen throughout the mission to make sure he stayed safe. Though, since this was less of a mission and more of a cave patrol, Oscar was pretty sure they would be fine.
But he should really learn not to think like that, after all, thinking like that leads to moments like this. It really was his fault, he shouldn’t have poked that support with Long Memory, if he had just left it alone then the cave might have stayed up a bit longer.
“Oscar look out!” Ironwood called, pulling out his gun and shooting a large piece of ice from hitting Oscar.
“Thanks sir!” he called back.
Though with that brief distraction he didn’t notice the crack in the ice ahead of him. He tripped gracelessly and nearly dropped Long Memory. He tried to get up but he kept slipping on the ice and was starting to panic.
“OSCAR!” he heard before he was suddenly hoisted up and thrown over the shoulder of General Ironwood.
Oscar watched as the cave-in drew ever closer to them, the General running as fast as his legs would carry him. Finally taking Oscar down from his shoulder and held him close to his chest as he leapt out of the cave, just as it finally collapsed behind them.
The General didn’t let him go as he laid on his back in the snow, breathing heavy, and from what Oscar could tell, his heart beating a thousand miles an hour.
“Are you alright?” he asked through his breaths.
“Yup. I’m good. You?” Oscar replied, slightly shaking from the adrenaline.
“I’m fine.” he replied, waving a hand lazily in the air. “Hell of a cave in.”
“Yup.” Oscar replied, looking up at the General, who looked down at him.
“Pfft.” he snorted before starting to laugh loudly. “Let’s-haha-let’s not do that again!”
Oscar laughed with him and nodded, “Yeah, I think I can manage that! Hahaha!”
They laid there a moment and laughed before finally sitting up, brushing the snow off their clothes, and heading back to the academy.
~
The fifth time was during a sparring session with Yang; she was helping Oscar with grappling and hand to hand. He was actually doing fairly well, and that seemed to really encourage Yang. She was getting really into the sparring session.
“Yang can you chill?” Oscar cried as he dodged another hit from the blonde brawler.
“NEVER!” she shouted back, grabbing his arm and lifting him over her head.
“YANG! PUT ME DOWN!” he exclaimed, wriggling around in her grip.
“AAAAHHHH!” she screamed in response before she threw him full force at the doors.
He screamed as he was sent hurdling in the air before he suddenly collided with something solid. But when he felt arms wrap around him he grew highly confused.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you two ok?” Yang asked, rushing over to Oscar and his unknown savior.
“I’m fine, Oscar? Are you ok?” oh, it was General Ironwood.
Oscar looked back to see a mildly amused look on Ironwood’s face, “I’m good!” he grinned with a double thumbs up.
The General chuckled and put Oscar back on the ground, “That’s good, but Miss.Xiao-long, do try to control yourself going forward.”
She chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck, “Yeah, I will. Sorry sir.”
“It’s fine, also your mission with Qrow and Ruby is in an hour.” Ironwood smirked before he turned heel and left.
“Oh shiiiii-” she looked at Oscar, “iiiooot. Oh shoot! I gotta go Oscar! See you later!”
Oscar watched as she left and shrugged before turning to follow the General, “Hey! General Ironwood! Wanna spar?”
The General stopped and turned partly to Oscar, his eyes narrowed, “I thought you would never ask.”
~
Ironwood didn’t go to the gym very often, usually his training was out in the tundra helping his troops. But with all of this political nonsense going on, he hadn’t really been able to go on missions quite as much. He did train with Qrow’s kids fairly often, mostly Oscar, but sometimes he needed something else. So today, he put on his workout clothes, and headed to the school's gym; with classes still in full swing it should be empty.
Entering the room he was mildly surprised to find another person there, a familiar farm boy sitting on the bench pressing equipment with a book in his hand. “Oscar? What are you doing here? And why are you reading? Gym’s aren’t exactly good reading spaces.”
“Hi General Ironwood.” Oscar greeted him, “I’m just taking a break from my work out, and this is a really good book.”
James could appreciate that, “Alright, well I hope you don’t mind me joining you in here.”
“Do whatever you want sir.” Oscar said flippantly, already turning back to his book.
“Where are you in the book?” he asked, settling himself on the bench behind Oscar.
“I’m on chapter tWO?” he yelped as James suddenly began lifting him on the bar. “Sir?”
“Let me know when you’re on chapter 10.” James responded with a cheeky smile.
Oscar giggled and nodded, keeping one hand on the bar and the other holding his book. “Will do sir.”
It took a surprisingly short amount of time for Oscar to reach chapter 10 in his book, so once James was given the go ahead he put the bar, and Oscar, down.
“Well that was fun.” Oscar chirped, hopping onto his feet and putting a bookmark in his book.
James chuckled as he sat up, “I suppose. Not much of a work out though, what do you weigh? Two pounds? You were like a feather!”
Oscar pouted at him and turned away, “Well if that’s how you’re going to be then fine. I’m leaving.”
“Wait, Oscar I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” James laughed, catching the boy by the wrist.
“Didn’t mean what?” Oscar asked cheekily.
“I didn’t mean that you were a feather.” he replied before grinning, “You weighed much less.”
Oscar stuck his tongue out at the General and marched back to the door. “Well good day to you then sir!”
James laughed, “Oscar-”
“I said good day!” Oscar shot back before exiting the training room, leaving James alone to laugh heartily.