Team RNJR were finished protecting a village from a large pack of Ursi in exchange for resources. After three hours of walking they were too tired and injured to walk much further, so they set up camp. "What's for dinner?" Ruby asked as she noticed the sky darken and Jaune getting a fire burning.
"I'll give you three guesses…" Jaune said focused on lighting a spark.
"Right… pancakes…" Ruby rolled her eyes and sat on a log.
"What's wrong with pancakes!" Nora crossed her arms and giving Ruby an intimidating glare.
"What's wrong with wanting a bit of -ah- variety!" Ruby hissed with a grunt from her injury from the Ursa fight but did her best to hide her pain. "You need a hand Jaune?"
"Na I'm fine…" Jaune said as he finally got a flame. "See, I did it!" only for it to die within seconds. "Ugh! These matches are so bad!"
Ruby giggled at Jaune's expense. "Here let me help you…" She went over to him grabbing various materials from her backpack.
"Why do you have those in your bag?" Jaune asked as Ruby sat down next to him.
"Flint and Steel, Qrow says to always carry some with you when camping." Ruby explained before grabbing his hand. "Here I'll -AH- teach you how to do it."
"Ruby…. What're you doing…" Jaune blushed as her warm hand didn't let go of his hand. Despite his armoured glove, he could vividly feel the touch of her hand. Why isn't she letting go? C'mon Jaune be cool, be cool!
She giggled in an attempt to try and maintain her composure. Why did I grab his hand again? Oh right! "First grab the flint and hold it like this," She placed the rock between Jaune's left thumb and forefinger. "Make sure an edge is -OW- hanging out about this long." She pinched her fingers about 2 or 3 inches apart. She took the other material she retrieved from her bag "Now get the Char between your thumb and the flint. Take the back of the steel striker…" She slipped the steel into Jaune's right hand "and strike the steel against the flint!" Jaune followed her directions until sparks from the steel flew off and landed on the char cloth, resulting in a small light. "Now fold up your char cloth into the tinder nest like this…" she demonstrated to Jaune "and gently blow on it to start a flame." Jaune did just that as the fire lit up.
"YES!" Jaune yelled. "Thanks Rubes!" He held her in a hug. Why Jaune why! He let go of her after realising how awkward he made everything. The look on Ruby's place was priceless however.
"Y…. y-you're welcome…" She stuttered still frozen from Jaune's embrace. He probably thinks I'm a big weirdo! It's just Jaune why am I acting so awkward around him!? It's not like I like him or anything… wait, do I? Na of course not!
"Ruby? Jaune? Guys? Guyyyyys! GUYS!" Nora woke the pair up from their own subconscious. "Your cape is burning!"
"Wait what!? AHHHHHHH!" Her panic was stopped by a boot stomping on her singed cape. "Phew… thanks Jaune…." She stood up and sat back over on the log.
The group enjoyed a set of pancakes together and got ready for bed. Ren, Nora and Jaune got in their respective swags with two of three of them quickly dosing off. Jaune however had not been good when it came to sleep. If he wasn't out on secret training sessions with his recordings from Beacon, he was having nightmares of when everything came crashing down. He missed his old life so much, he missed the time when all he had to worry about were assignments and if Weiss will go out with him. He missed not having the weight of the world on his shoulders. But most of all he missed her, the one thing he was searching for was right there all along. The sheer thought of losing more of his friends who were more like family at this point brought him to tears.
He heard sobbing that wasn't his own, so he got out of camping swag to investigate. "Ruby?" he saw her sitting next to a dismantled swag and soaking in the pouring rain.
The red-haired huntress turned around. "J-Jaune… what're you -OW- doing still up? AH!"
"I can't sleep, what about you? Are you ok?"
"I'm -OW- I'm fine…" She mumbled too weak to properly speak.
"By fine do you mean f*cked up, insecure, neurotic and emotional?" He joked walking over to her, "Why aren't you in your swag?"
"Ants…" She answered she pointed at her swag. "OWIEE!" she covered her arm as she screamed in pain.
"What happened?" as he grabs her arm and rolls her sleeve up to reveal a claw lodged halfway into her wrist. "Holy sh*t Ruby! Why didn't you tell me!?"
"I-I…" Ruby couldn't answer due to her painful injury. Jaune looked at the wound. Crap… I'm gonna have to pull it out! I can do this, I can do this! Ruby is counting me, look at her! She's in so much pain! I gotta do this, for her.
"Ok, I'm gonna pull it out. Here…" He tightly gripped her other hand, locking his fingers in between Ruby's as hers did the same. "When I do, squeeze my hand extremely tightly alright?" Ruby replied with a nervous nod. "Do you trust me?" she nodded again but more confident. "3… 2… 1… now." He pulled out the tooth and she squeezed his hand simultaneously.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed and sobbed. "Jaune, it hurts so much!"
"It's ok, it's all ok..." Jaune said soothingly calming her down. She's squeezing my hand so tight! "Come with me, we need to get outta the rain and grab some supplies." He walked with her and returned back to his quite roomie swag grabbing the first aid kit he kept in there and retrieved the supplies. "Rubes… I gotta stitch up the wound." He prepared both her and himself for the stitch. Ew… it looks so gross, I'm gonna be sick! Is that blood spilling!? Ok this isn't good. "You're losing blood!" Oh no, I gotta hurry!
Oh that's why I feel so slee… WAKE UP I gotta stay awake! "P-please hurry… it hurts, and I feel like I'm g-gonna f-faint!" Ruby slurred her words due to her blood loss before looking up at him and closing her eyes, preparing for the took a nervous breath before slowly puncturing her skin with said needle with the thread to follow as he repeated it until the bloody gap in her arm was sealed. "Is it done?"
"Yeah… it's all over now." Jaune wrapped some bandages around her wrist.
Phew… I feel much better… "How did you know how use stitches?"
"One of my sisters is a nurse, when she found out I was leaving to mistral she taught me how to do it."
"I'm surprised you didn't puke" She joked. "Hehe Vomit-Boy…"
"Ha ha Crater-face." He responded sarcastically. "We need to get some rest."
"But my swag is infested with ants…" Ruby objected. "Can't exactly sleep there."
"Well… you can sleep here if you want…" Jaune offered, Ruby's face turned red in response. His comment was followed by an awkward silence.
"I don't really see any other option…" She finally answered. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! They both shuffled around until they were both comfortable, well as comfortable as an, albeit large, camping swag. "Cosy huh…" It's actually not that awkward… It's not that bad.
"At least we aren't cold from the rain." Jaune was surprised to feel her embrace clinging on to him tightly and even more so to feel a blush on his face. "Hey Ruby… why didn't you tell anyone about the claw in your arm?"
"I'm sorry… I didn't want to be a burden on you. I thought I could handle it on my own, I thought if I ignore the pain till I'm alone, I could handle it without disturbing anyone. You and the others always seemed to have your hands full, especially since you've- We've had to cope with everything, I didn't want to add to that."
"You can't repress everything, you need to tell us if you're hurting. We can't help you if we don't know you need help. So, from now on tell me when you're in pain, ok?" Jaune held her even tighter.
"Ok Jaune." Ruby always trusted Jaune, more than anyone else except maybe Yang. She had only ever opened up on a personal level to them and with Yang not around and at an all-time low, Jaune was all she had. Ruby had a realisation as she reminisced her memories with him Crap… I have a crush on him.
AN: I've been wanting to make a story in the context of the show for a while and this is it. I'll probably make another one but as it is right now, this is a one-shot. Thats all.