The next day, Weiss meets up for their workout

True to her word, Weiss visited the gym once more the day thereafter. She brought her workout gear with her, though not without being questioned by her team. Was it that hard to believe she wanted to improve herself? Apparently so. They'd interrogated her thoroughly, and Yang – being the jester she was – had made inappropriate jokes about her having a romantic interest in Oscar. Honestly, it only further reinforced her opinion of Yang having a terrible sense of humor. The older girl's puns were bad enough, but this was just sad.

Sure, he was cute. But that didn’t mean she necessarily had a romantic interest in the boy.

That being said, they hadn't made much of a fuss. Nothing aside from the usual teasing and Ruby wanting to follow her like a lost puppy. Perks of being the reaper's best friend, she supposed. Weiss shook her head in amusement. The friendship between herself and Ruby was one she had begun to cherish, despite their initial troubles. If she could go back in time and prevent herself from being so harsh on her, Weiss would do it in a heartbeat.

Since the gym was closed today, there was no one there aside from Oscar. She liked that. Weiss was by no means a shy or introvert person, but she wasn't keen on being watched while working up a sweat, which would without a doubt occur. Call her old-fashioned or shy, but it just wasn’t something she wanted to happen. Who knows what people would stare at. Besides, she’d be distracted otherwise because of all the looks.

Weiss entered the gym as she walked through unlocked doors. The sign said they were closed, but Oscar had assured her that they would be open this time of day, just for her. The young man was already proving to be far **** than most. Unless he had other motives. If so, she’d freeze him solid for wasting her time. Not that she believed any of that, of course! Oscar seemed far too pure to take advantage.

Keeping those thoughts at bay for now, the heiress walked over to the end of the gym, where said farmboy was busy preparing. He wasn’t dressed in normal civvie clothes like yesterday. Instead, he wore his own gym clothes; a black shirt with orange shorts. It was simple, but that was the point anyway. Not like Weiss was planning on lifting weights while dressed up in a combat skirt either. She wore her own set of clothes; completely white with a few blue accents.

She greeted him with a friendly wave. “Good morning, Oscar.”

“Oh! hey, Weiss! Good morning. I’m glad you could come.”

“That was the agreement. So, you said you could help me out?” She inquired, dropping her bag next to one of the machines.

Oscar nodded. “Sure, but I guess I should ask what your goal is for now. Best to make sure we know what it is, seeing as the workout will depend on that.”

That was a fair point. Weiss thought about it, wondering how much she wanted to get out of this. She didn’t have any plans to become a pro bodybuilder, but a physique like Yang’s wouldn’t be too bad either. As long as she upped her endurance and strength. Weiss was too weak as a huntress right now, and that needed to be fixed. Aside from this main goal, it wouldn’t hurt to work on her legs a bit. She knew from others that adding some muscles to your legs made them more attractive. Xiao-Long and Belladonna were proof of that. She told Oscar as much.

“Mhm, true. Most women who visit our gym work primarily on their lower bodies. Squats are great for your glutes, for example. I guess we can adjust your schedule a bit to make sure we put emphasis on your legs.” Oscar explained. The younger teen gestured towards the treadmills. “For now, let’s warm up with a short run. Then we’ll do some stretches. Once we’re done with those, we’ll get started on the weights. Sound good?”

“That is more than acceptable, yes.” The way she phrased it sounded a bit too proper, even to Weiss. She coughed embarrassedly into her fist. “I mean, you’ve clearly put more thought into this than I did. Let’s follow your lead. And thank you again, Oscar.”

He merely smiled in return. “Not a problem. After all, I get to help out a really pretty girl. That’s better than any plans I might have come up with for today.”

His compliment sounded honest, which is why Weiss smiled in return. Had it been any other guy with an obvious agenda to woo her, she would have already left. Not with Oscar. He seemed to genuinely want to help her work on her physique.

“Great. Let’s get started then.”

And so they did. Weiss quickly learned that Oscar really did know his stuff. She was surprised to see him keep up with her, displaying an athletic skill she hadn’t expected from him. Maybe because he was both used to physical labor, having worked on a farm, and being the nephew of a gym owner. Oscar’s stamina managed to match hers, which was impressive. After all, Weiss was a huntress-in-training, and thus far more athletic than regular civilians. You had to be, if you wanted to be a warrior fighting the Grimm threat.

Pyrrha had drilled that tidbit of knowledge into Jaune’s skull – with great results. The scraggly, lanky blonde had developed a good amount of muscle. While she had no intentions of going out with him, Weiss wouldn’t deny that he looked a lot better now.

Once they completed their run, they took a moment to calm down. Just to give their bodies the necessary moment of rest. It passed by quickly, however, as they got started with the machines. Weiss pushed herself to match Oscar’s expectations. He’d prepared the weights for them, accurately judging which sets would work best for the heiress. Again, he surprised her with his insight. Oscar kept providing useful tips to her, and made sure to encourage Weiss whenever it got difficult. They worked on her legs first, doing several sets of squats followed by a trip to the legpress.

Admittedly, it was… not as easy as she thought. Weiss’ strength wasn’t great by any means, after all. That being said, Oscar reassured her that this was the point of the workout. If she didn’t feel the strain, then they wouldn’t be doing it right. Her muscles burned as they gradually progressed. Weiss was beginning to feel it, and again he explained that this was to be expected. Luckily she didn’t hate it. Truth be told, the white-haired beauty had expected to dislike feeling so exhausted, but the workout had its charms. It allowed her to focus on something. To put her worries and stress aside. And while she was at it, she was also improving her body; a win-win situation.

More than an hour had already passed by when Weiss asked for a break. Both her and Oscar had worked up a sweat. Him less so, seeing as he mostly acted as an instructor. His job was to manage her workout, while also telling encouraging words. And it worked!

“That went surprisingly well.” Weiss said after taking a big sip of her water bottle. She’d brought her own this time around. The towel Oscar had gifted her yesterday was at her side, drenched in fresh sweat. She still needed to properly repau his kindness, now that she thought about it. “You know your stuff. I take it your uncle taught you a lot?”

Oscar confirmed her assumption. “Yeah. Since we’re approaching summer, a lot of people want to work on their bodies to look good in their swimming gear. Uncle needs help if it gets too busy, and can’t always help newcomers. Money is tight, though. Hiring family is cheaper.”

“That’s smart of him. But you seem to be perfectly capable yourself. You don’t look exhausted at all, despite having worked out alongside me.” She pointed out.

“Ah, well…” He rubbed the back of his neck again. Appearing to be uncomfortable. “That’s actually because of my semblance.”

“You have a semblance?!”

Weiss’ pale, blue eyes widened in shock. It was unheard of for a boy like him, who wasn’t even training to become a huntsman, to have an unlocked semblance. Not even all students at Beacon had theirs unlocked. Some people, like Arc, were late-bloomers so to speak. But for Oscar to already have his?

“Only by accident. Two years ago, I was working out in the field when the village was attacked by a pack of Creeps; a small kind of Grimm. Most of them were dealt with before they could enter the village, so no one died – luckily. But one of them must have gotten separated from its pack, because while I was harvesting potatoes, it suddenly pounced on me.”

“Oh no…” Weiss put a hand over her mouth, horrified by the event that had happened to Oscar. Someone as kind as him didn’t deserve to go through a traumatic experience like that.

“It’s alright. It happened a long time ago.” Oscar smiled meekly. “Still, I only managed to live through it by stabbing the Grimm with my tools. My aura was unlocked afterwards, even though I didn’t notice at first. My semblance came about three months later – also while farming.”

“I’m starting to notice a pattern here.”

He laughed at her teasing. “Seems like it. I don’t have a name for it, since I never really knew how to use it, but it gives me a stamina boost when I use it. Makes me a bit stronger, too. It’s really helped me out during the harvests and here at the gym.”

Weiss could imagine that. His semblance sounded really useful in all honesty. People like Yang or Cardin, who were made to be tanks, could use such a semblance to better protect their teams or maximize their damage output. For someone like her, it could help balance out her flaws. That made her think…

“Can you use it on others?” Oscar blinked in surprise at her sudden question. Weiss quickly elaborated on what she meant so he could understand her properly. “Can you use your semblance to give others a boost? Like me, for example.”

“Um… I’m not sure.” Oscar tapped his chin; thinking on the matter. “I haven’t tried it on anyone else. My parents never asked, and I didn’t have many friends back home. Though maybe it can’t hurt to try?”

Weiss smirked. “My turn to give you instructions then. Here, I’ll show you how it works.”

Explaining aura and semblances to a young boy wasn’t too difficult. Oscar was smart, too. He understood the theory behind aura fairly quickly, and listened closely to her small lecture on how to call upon his semblance. It took them a while – more than half an hour actually. Their little session would mess up her schedule, although that was an acceptable consequence.

But Oscar got a quick grasp on his semblance as his hands began to glow a soft, calming green. Clearly the boy was ecstatic. He eyed his own hands with awe, mesmerized by the soft glow.

“Wow! This has never happened before.”

“Probably an emitter type, if it can do this. I’ve heard about healing semblances that look similar.” Weiss hummed, examining the boy in front of her. She was expecting his semblance to take way her fatigue or something, but wouldn’t know before they tried. “Let’s do a quick test. Give me your hand, Oscar.”

The farmboy complied and reached out, touching her own hand.