Blake Belladonna is a secretive person.
To be fair, she has good reason for being secretive. Blake used to be part of a terrorist organization, called the White Fang. USED TO, being the key phrase. She is also a faunus who kept her faunus heritage hidden under a black bow which she always wears. The fear that she felt that her team, her friends, wouldn't accept her for who she was, both in the past and now, was a very real and logical fear.
To her genuine surprise, when both these secrets came out, no one on her team seemed to mind. Okay, that isn't completely true. Weiss had minded, minded quite a bit about her once belonging to the White Fang. But they had gotten through that, as a team. Blake felt her bond with her friends strengthen. Perhaps secrets were something meant to be shared with your close friends?
Blake was regretting this sentiment immensely now.
She shared a secret she had, one she had told no one before, not her compatriots in the White Fang, not even Adam. To be perfectly fair, it didn't have a rational reason... in fact it was quite irrational. She could admit that. But it didn't change her fear of it.
Blake Belladonna is afraid of heights.
Initiation had been a...harrowing experience. She knew she had been launched from the cliff, and her mind had gone blank. Next thing she knew, she was in a tree, clinging to it as if her life had depended on it. The fight against the deathstalker had been nerve wracking, especially when that pink girl had knocked her off the bridge. Airships were okay as long as she stayed away from the window and didn't think about the fact that it was only a few inches of metal that separated her from certain death, ONLY A INCH!
Maybe that was why she had confided in her partner, Yang, about her fear. She should of known better to tell Yang. The blonde girl may have her best interests in heart, but being told you are going sky diving is definitely not a way to conquer the fear. It had taken all of her cunning to escape from that, as well as copious amounts of threats to the yellow mane that defined her partner's appearance.
Yet it hadn't been enough, next Ruby tried to help in her own, innocent way. It was... cute seeing the redhead attempt to lead Blake to an airship with a trail of tuna. Admittedly a bit racist, but cute in an endearing way. Lastly there was Weiss who tried to convince her that being launched off the cliff would be a great idea to get over it. Promptly ignoring the heiress had not been the best idea, as she only got louder. Under the combined pressure of her team, Blake could only do one thing.
She fled to the library.
Or she would of, had Yang not been waiting for her there. As night descended on Beacon, she had fled to some dark area to read, the lack of light not being an issue for her due to her faunus eyes. It did become an issue when she finally pulled her eyes off the book and realized where she was.
On the roof.
Going for the door yielded distressing results. It had locked behind her. Leaving her on the roof. Alone. Pulling out her scroll, she couldn't help but make a noise akin to distressed whining. Her scroll was nearly dead. Time to review her options
I could call for help... but my team is just going to try and use it as some kind of excuse for helping me get over my... fear, and probably keep me out here. So they are out of the question. Who else do I know? Team JNPR.
Blake was not particularly close to team JNPR, or rather, she was only 'friends' with one member of the team. Lie Ren. He was quiet, well read, had a incredible amount of patience (having to put up with Nora the majority of his life), and was in general a very... considerate person.
With that in mind, Blake shakily entered his number before calling, "I'm stuck on the roof, can you unlock the do-"
Beep
Looking at her scroll, Blake paled; it had died. There was little left to do for her. Backed up against the door, Blake attempted to read her book.
An hour later she was shaking, both from the cold and from the glancing at the edge of the roof, no further progress in her book. It was a nightmare incarnate for her, being trapped between a rock and a hard place. So engrossed mentally, she failed to notice the door opening, until it pushed her.
"Blake?" Looking up with hopeful amber eyes, Blake was not met with unwavering magenta eyes, but rather curious blue eyes.
"Jaune?" The fear even gone for a brief respite, if only due to incredulity, "what are you doing here?"
"Y-you called me for help, remember?" Blake's eyes narrowed, "I sor-rta got lost on the way h-here, let me help you up..."
Blake's eyes widened in alarm, she made a mad scramble towards the doorway "Don't let the door-
Click
"-close..."
"...We're locked out aren't we?" Blake nodded her head slowly, as the fear slowly started to claw its way back into her head, her eyes tightly screwed shut. No this isn't real, this isn't real, find your happy place. Books. Yes. Read the books. I have books here. Cracking her eyes open, she started to read the book. Or she would of, had it been in her grasp. In her scramble to not let Jaune close to the door, she had dropped her book. Which had slide to the edge of the roof. Her vision started to spin, as she felt increasingly dizzy.
"N-n-no..." Blake whimpered as she curled up against the door. No scroll. No books. She'd even have taken her team at this point, if only to have a frie-
"A-are you okay?" Blake looked towards the source of the noise. Jaune was crouching by her, concern evident on his rather gentle face. Blake shook her head. "What's wrong?"
Taking a deep breath, if only to steady her own voice, "I don't like heights", her voice incredibly small, lacking its usual confidence.
Jaune looked at her with confusion, "We're only four stories up, its nothing compared to initiation, right?" Blake groaned at the memory, she had tried her hardest to forgot being flinged, just the thought of it caused her to start to shake. I'm going to fall and die up here. I'm going to die, and I won't even have my books or my friends, and I will not of done anything to help the faunus, why did I have to come to the roof?! W- A warm feeling engulfed Blake, causing her to be pulled from her mental breakdown.
"Wha?"
Jaune had pulled her into a huge hug, the large teen encompassing the girl with his arms. "It'll be okay. I promise" he cracked a reassuring, if not cocky smile at her, before pulling her deeper into the hug. It felt unlike the hugs she had experienced before; there was a lack of bone crushing that Yang's hugs tended to include, nor was there the giddy excitement that Ruby's held. Rather, it had a certain amount of tenderness that she hadn't felt in a long time. More importantly, it helped, Blake was no longer thinking about impending falling related death. Instead she was feeling a pleasant warmth as she sunk into the blonde boy's hoody clad embraced. She didn't even notice when the door start to open until Jaune ushered her into the building proper. Pulling herself slowly off of boy, she barely noticed Pyrrha close the door behind them. Fully extracted off him, she started to want to return to his embrace.
Another irrational thought, yet one she would love to indulge in.
AU: I asked Super Saiyan Cyndaquil for a Blake/Jaune prompt. He said something involving heights and one of them helping the other getting over their fear of it. Though I think in hindsight it was suppose to be the other way around? For now, this is just a one-shot, I may add more some other time, but that time is not now.
Update: Oh man I tried to do a second chapter and it turned out to be garbage. That's not say I won't make a second chapter, but my attempts at writing Jaune suck like you wouldn't believe. Hopefully another attempt won't suck as much ass as that did. Its possible I can still salvage that chapter so that's possible avenue for me.
