Why hello everyone, and how do you do. As the title and summary state, this an omake and a one-shot intended to go with my primary story, Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost. Unlike NATWWAL, which is M-rated and more focused on drama, this is just a fun little thing that I decided to make for the hell of it. None of this is canon in terms of NATWWAL, by the way, purely a little pursuit of fun for the holiday. If you haven't read NATWWAL, then all you really need to know is that Jaune is the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3, who's been transported to Remnant and subsequently decided to start a new life there, just as canon Jaune did. If you haven't read my other story, then feel free to check it out.
Also, be warned that this fic contains some spoilers about what the ship will be in NATWWAL, so if you care for that, be careful. At this point, those caught up with the story should already know what it is, so you guys are fine.
Anyways, enjoy!
"Thank you, Professor Port," the Lone Wanderer said. "I needed the extra help."
"Ha, it's not a problem, Mr. Arc! What kind of teacher would I be if I hadn't provided it?" Port laughed haughtily and leaned back in the large, plush chair. The man pushed back and kicked his legs up, resting his feet up on the desk in front of him.
The Lone Wanderer sat in Professor Port's office, though he was hastily putting away the notes in his lap, stuffing them into the backpack in front of him. He'd needed to catch up on Port's last few lectures, considering he'd been sleeping particularly poorly the last few days, thus paying particularly poor attention as well. This latest spell also coincided with Port actually being productive during his class; it was generally a half-half chance as to whether or not the man would boast about his accomplishments or rigorously dive headfirst into a subject, with vigor and speed that matched even Oobleck's. The Wanderer had done the best he could by looking at Ruby's notes, but he'd definitely needed this time in office hours to catch up.
With a final thanks and goodbye, he hauled his backpack up and turned to walk out the office. Before he heard Port sigh. He knew what kind of sigh it had been. He'd given it himself, plenty of times.
It was the sigh he'd made whenever exasperation had truly hit him. Back in the wasteland, he'd hit it nearly every day, and after coming to Remnant… he'd still made one nearly every day. This world was weird, alright?
And so he couldn't help but look back over his shoulder to see what was the matter, thus spying Port staring down at his scroll. The man's normally jolly face, which could always put even Santa to shame, was now uncharacteristically downcast. Something had bothered him. Obviously the man was upset. He could probably used some help, maybe just someone to vent to or listen to whatever problem there was.
The Lone Wanderer shrugged.
Oh well, not my proble—
"Oh young man, you've no idea how good you have it…" Port muttered.
The Wanderer clenched his teeth. He had been but a second away from walking out, but that moment of hesitation…
"I guess I don't." He took another step towards the door, hoping beyond hope that he hadn't accidentally ensnared himself in one of Port's stories.
"Oh, when I was your age…"
God damn it.
The Wanderer closed his eyes and prepared for the pain.
"Ah yes, the chivalrous young Peter never had to contend with such a petty bureaucracy as I do now. It's ridiculous!" Port shook his head. "No, now that the Vytal Festival is coming upon us, everything is falling apart, or falling in, as it is. Right into my office! Do you have any idea how much my workload has increased!"
"I don't…" The Wanderer took another step closer to the door.
"Why, I just got a notice that I had to cover even more projects for the festival. It's simply ludicrous!"
"I bet it is…" He moved his foot ever so slightly, grabbing another furtive inch that put him ever so slightly closer to freedom.
"When I was young, when I was your age, I only needed to contend with fighting Grimm and pleasing women! Now, now I have to do work!"
"How terrible…" He braved another couple steps, so close now to the door, that he could almost taste the liberty.
"Why, I should really get a holiday sometime soon!"
It was in that moment, that idle thought doomed him. In that moment, when his mind produced a superfluous observation, so seemingly harmless that his mouth spoke it aloud. Nothing more than a single piece of casual chatter that would help cover his escape. Nothing more.
Little did he know, it was bound to be his ruin:
"Heh, tomorrow's actually a holiday where I come from—"
With speed that would have put Ruby Rose herself to shame, with strength that Yang Xiao-long could never hope to attain, with desperation of such an incredible magnitude that none other than the needed could possibly understand, Peter Port dashed across the room, snatched the Wanderer and dragged him close, such that their faces were mere inches apart.
"What did you say?"
An incredible intensity burned in the man's eyes, a furious dedication that honestly made the Wanderer unnerved. He'd dealt with genocidal maniacs and crazed bastards and junked-out junkies, but something about the fire within the fat man's glare made him…
It made him scared.
"Uhh…I said that tomorrow is a holiday where I come from…"
"Really!?" Port jostled the Wanderer in his grasp. "Tell me!" He started shaking him. "Tell me about this holiday!" Port shook the Wanderer even harder, like a baby in a tantrum shaking its rattle. "You must tell me!"
When he finally stopped the shaking, the Wanderer's head still spun like a tornado and he was hardly able to think straight. Some basic sense within him, however, dredged up the answer to the question.
"V-Valentine's Day."
"Valentine's Day?"
"Y-yeah, it's a holiday where I come from…"
Port released him, and the Wanderer wobbled on his feet, still dizzy and possibly suffering from whiplash. He brought his hands up to his heads and massaged his temples with his knuckles, trying to sort things straight again. Meanwhile, Professor Port started mumbling to himself.
"A holiday… a holiday… oh my…" Port looked back to the recovering Wanderer. "Say, where do you come from?"
"The wasteland," he said, before his addled mind quickly reminded him of the important fact that he was from a different universe, and that different facts (which one might call lies) were needed to keep his cover. "Vacuo, the Vacuo wasteland."
"Oh, of course, Vacuo!" Port pointed a finger at him. "Well sir, we here at Beacon place great importance on inclusion, so we'll be sure to give you everything you need to feel welcome!"
"I'm actually pretty good alrea—"
"You must miss your home very much!"
"It was a terrible place—"
"Thus, we shall try to recreate it right here!"
"For the love of everything holy, don't do tha—"
"You shall get your much-needed holiday!"
"I never actua—"
"For you and all our Vacuo students!"
"Literally no one else will know what's going on—"
"Fear not, we shall have the day off tomorrow!"
"It really isn't that big a dea—"
"And of course, since this is such a cherished cultural event, the staff will take the day off too, lest our work pervert the spirit of your sacred day!"
"Wait, are you just trying to—"
"I'll send the news to the headmaster and have school closed, and you may have the honors of preparing the festivities! After all, no one would know what to do better than you!"
And with that, Professor Port shoved the Lone Wanderer out of his office, wearing a smile so big it dwarfed even his own mustache. The door was promptly slammed behind him, leaving the Wanderer alone in the hallway, given company only by a few passing students who shot curious glances at his confused face.
"What the hell just happened?"
Beacon's intercom system crackled to life:
"Attention all students. It has come to our attention that a Vacuon holiday, Valentarts Way, will be occurring tomorrow. As such, school is cancelled for the day. Please report to Jaune Arc, director of festivities preparation, with any questions."
The intercom clicked off, and the Lone Wanderer felt the most incredible headache coming on. He sighed and brought his hands up to his temples, pressing the tips of his fingers into the think skull there, hoping futilely that a massage would stop the inexorable pain.
He walked to side of the side of the hall and leaned back against the wall, left in thought.
So Port had decided to make Valentine's Day official, for no reason other than his own desire to have a day off. Excellent. And he'd placed him in charge of arranging the celebrations, which were supposed to take place tomorrow. Excellent.
He sighed once more. Like hell he'd actually be doing that. He'd finish up whatever work he had today, challenge Ruby and Yang's high scores Grimm Exterminator Ultra, then go to sleep. The students tomorrow would be confused about why they had the day off for apparently no reason, but he couldn't care less. Nobody here would miss not having Valentine's Day, considering nobody even knew about it in the first place.
He smiled. In fact, this wasn't half bad. He'd get a day off for free. No way would anyone get on his case about this, since it was so last-minute. He could easily just blame Port too, and everyone would believe him, considering the Professor's reputation. Yeah, this would be good—
"Jaune!" A red blur shot into his vision, flinging a few rose petals into his face as Ruby Rose screeched to a halt in front of him. She looked up at him, eyes filled with excitement. "Is it true? Are you directing a party?"
"What?"
"That announcement, it said you're preparing for a holiday tomorrow!"
Oh hell. "Well, yeah. That's my role."
"I had no idea it there was a holiday," she said. "I've never heard of Valentarts Way before. Is it something from where you're from?"
"It's Valentine's Day, and yes, it's a holiday from my homeland."
"Valentine's Day…" Ruby formed the words, tasted them as she spoke them and smiled when she found that she liked it. "Sounds neat, what's it about?"
"Well, it's a day in celebration of love."
"Love?"
"Yeah, I think it's based off of ancient times, when an evil king banned marriages or something like that, but one guy named Valentine still went around and performed marriage ceremonies for people in secret." He shrugged. "I heard that from somewhere… though I don't think anyone really knows how it started anymore. It's just an ancient tradition about celebrating love."
"Oh man, that sounds so sweet," Ruby said. Her smile was warm and she leaned closer, interested in the story.
"Anyway, it's all romantic and sappy. Everything gets decked out in different shades of pink and red—"
"Oh, that sounds awesome!"
He smirked. Of course Ruby would love the aesthetic, considering she was obsessed with the color red. "Yeah, there's usually red all over the place, along with lots of decorations of hearts and stuff. Not to mention roses and chocolates." Ruby's eyes lit up at that, in awe, just as he knew she would. Sugar and roses, her favorite things in the whole world.
"This holiday sounds so awesome!" she excitedly said. "But what do you actually do, other than eat candy and dress in red?
"It's when couples go out on special dates, or when people confess their feelings to someone they like."
"O-oh, really?" Ruby asked. Why she stuttered a little, he had no idea.
"Yeah. Usually, you'll give someone a card that you make, asking 'do you want to be my Valentine?' That means you like them, and that you're asking them out."
"Uh-huh," Ruby said. She'd turned away from him a bit and taken a few steps back, whereas just a moment before she'd been just beside him. She normally had no regard for others' personal space and got as close as she liked, which usually within inches. But now, she'd distanced herself by a few feet. Jaune noted it, but thought nothing odd. He also noticed how Ruby looked away, scratching the back of her head, but again, he made no inference.
"So that's what the holiday's about."
"And… what are these cards like?" she asked.
"Oh, they're usually just cards like greeting cards or happy birthday cards, but usually shaped liked hearts or something like that. They'll always be red, and maybe have some romantic poetry inside or something. Again, they always ask: 'will you be my valentine?'
"There's not much else to it," he said. "It's just a sappy holiday for couples to have fun, while single people try to find dates or spend the day alone, trying not to be sad."
"Uh-huh… I got it…"
Strange, Ruby seemed a little less bombastic than she usually did. For what reason, he had no idea.
Suddenly she leapt back into his personal space, not more than few inches away, and smiled brightly. "I can't wait Jaune! This sounds like it'll be so much fun, with red and roses and chocolate everywhere! A-and—"
She retreated again, chuckling nervously. Were her cheeks adopting a shade of red, or was that just him?
"And nothing else," she said. "Nothing else, yeah. Haha. Ha. Ha. Nope!"
Okay…
"A-anyway, I can't wait! It sounds really, really cool! And since you're in charge, I know you'll do a great job!" She gave him a final wave as she turned away. "Sorry, but I gotta go study with Weiss now. Super excited though!"
And with that, she dashed away, leaving him with nothing but a few stray rose petals fluttering through the air.
He chuckled and shook his head as she quickly bolted out of view. She always rushed everywhere, unless she was with one of her friends. Then, Ruby would always be willing to slow down, if it meant spending time with the ones she cared about.
Yeah, being with Ruby was always a nice time. And hey, tomorrow they'd have the whole day off to screw around. Tonight, he could just finish his work, relax, then enjoy the next day's nothingness…
Wait… but then there would be nothing tomorrow. He was literally the only person charged with preparing for the holiday, so if anything was ever going to get done, then he'd have to do it. If he didn't, then there'd be no roses, no red, no chocolates, no Valentine's Day.
No Valentine's Day… which Ruby was so incredibly excited to experience.
He sighed. Oh well, he could just say that it was too much work, that Port had thrown it on him last minute, that no one was willing to help… it was all true. No one would blame him.
But Ruby would be so disappointed…
So?
So…
He sighed.
God damn it. He clenched his teeth and quietly mumbled expletives to himself as he quickly walked to Beacon's main office.
"Alright, this should be everything," he said after putting down another stack of paper. The office had directed him to Beacon's art supplies, a store of crafting materials kept by the school for when the students and clubs wanted to put on events. He'd taken one of the empty classrooms as his headquarters, and filled it with everything he needed.
It was just him, a few pairs of scissors, a few glue sticks, a few boxes of markers and stacks upon stacks of construction paper colored in various shades of red. He sighed. This… where the hell would he even start?
"Oh boy, this'll be so much fun!" Nora said as she bounded into the room. He smiled. At least he wouldn't be doing this alone. The bombastic bomber charged in and immediately said her 'ooohhhs' and her 'aahhhs' at the collection of art supplies, while Ren and Pyrrha followed just behind her.
He knew no one else in the school, and doubted he could just go around asking random strangers if they wanted to help out with a holiday they'd never heard of before. He could probably get Ruby to help, and she could probably enlist her own team to assist, but that would ruin the surprise for her, wouldn't it?
"Alright Jaune, where do we start?" Pyrrha asked, eyeing the mountain of materials he'd gathered. He'd given them all a basic brief on what Valentine's day was about and what the aesthetic was supposed to be, but they were afflicted with the same condition of him: in the face of a task so daunting as preparing all of Beacon for a holiday in a single day, there was no telling what to do first.
"I honestly have no idea… I guess we can just start cutting out lots of hearts, then tape them up around school or something." He nodded his head. "Yeah, that could be a good start to this."
"It will take a while to get through all of these with just scissors," Ren said, gesturing at all the stacks of paper.
Jaune scratched his head and looked quizzically around the room. He'd gotten all the red construction paper they had, which was actually a lot, with a several stacks as tall as he was. But dinky little scissors would never be able to get through it all fast enough…
He smiled.
"Wait here, guys."
And they waited, until he ran out to his locker and came back.
When he returned, it was with a smile and a sword.
"This might get a little messy," he said. "But we can just claim that all the scraps are confetti." He drew his weapon. "Pretend like it's on purpose, you know?"
He revved his ripper.
Construction paper could only get one so far when it came to decorating an entire school for a holiday. He'd torn through all the paper they needed, and left his team with the task of sorting through it all. He liked to think that the rough hearts he'd cut out looked alright… but some cleaning up could never hurt, right?
So while his three companions were busy trying to make sense of the red and pink mess he'd made, he was on a mission. Ruby would be expecting chocolate and roses, of which there was none at Beacon, which would result in a conspicuously underwhelming occasion, compared to what he'd advertised. That couldn't be accepted.
So there he was, out in Vale past sunset. The city's lights flooded the streets, through which he now trudged, glowering at any of the passerby who dared get too close to him. No one would impede him in his quest for flowers and candy.
He pulled out his scroll and looked down again at the news articles he'd selected. He'd decided to come out to Vale on a hunch, assuming that only in the city would he be able to find large enough quantities of roses and chocolate.
And while he'd' made the arduous trek from Beacon to Vale, he'd searched through his scroll (when he wasn't on guard for Grimm, that was) and tried to scour the web for anything that could help him attain his goal. Thankfully, fortune seemed to be on his side for once.
He pulled up the first article, read its headline:
Mayor of Vale Buys Vast Collection of Chocolates as Gift for Pet Iguana
He pulled up the second article:
Vale Man Claims God Possessed a Squirrel and Commanded him to Build a Massive Float of Roses in order to Appease the Spaghetti Lords
Jaune shook his head. Sometimes, it seemed like Remnant was a world even stranger than Earth, the irradiated hell-hole that it was. Everyone here was just so weird…
Oh well, at least this could work out.
God, what the hell was wrong with him? Was he really about to steal a huge float and ransack the Mayor's home just to prepare for a stupid holiday he'd never even cared about?
Ruby would be let down of he didn't.
He sighed and massaged his forehead with his knuckles… what a pain.
Ruby Rose yawned as wakefulness finally coaxed her back to the land of the living.
Her eyes were still covered by her facemask, so the morning light didn't yet bother her. Neither the sun nor her wicked alarm would be rousing her before she wanted to get up, because today was a holiday.
She smiled and pulled the blankets closer, wrapping herself up into a tight, snug bundle. Comfy, comfy, comfy, was all that she desired, all that she was. Because today was a holiday!
Wait… today was Jaune's holiday…
She sat up immediately and tore off her facemask. She leapt out of bed, landing with 'oomph' on the floor, still entangled in her sheets. Nevertheless, she quickly cast them off, shouting out to her team:
"Get up, everyone get up, it's Valentine's Day!"
"Whuh?"
"Huh?"
"Ruby…?"
The rest of RWBY groggily raised their heads and looked at her, all grumpy and less-than-pleased at having been awoken on a day when they really should have been sleeping in as much as they could.
"Come on everybody, get up! It's Valentine's Day, and we got to see everything that Jaune did!"
Ruby rushed into the bathroom without another word, leaving the rest of her team to angrily force themselves out of bed. None of them wanted to wake up so early, but none of them wanted to put up with Ruby's stubborn badgering any more than they needed to.
In just a few minutes, Ruby came back out, wearing her usual outfit, plus something that was a bit of an oddity for her.
"Wait… are you wearing lipstick?" Yang asked.
"No… it's just lip-gloss." Sure enough, Ruby's lips possessed a slightly sheen.
"Well why are you wearing lip-gloss?"
"Uh, just wanted to try something different, y'know?"
She shrugged.
"And I figured that it would taste good."
"Taste good?"
"Yeah, because it's strawberry flavored and I know that he—I! I! I like this strawberry. Me. I." Ruby chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I like the taste of strawberry, so I just put on strawberry lip-gloss, what's so wrong with that?"
"Nothing? I guess."
Weiss snorted. "Is there a reason you woke us up so early?"
"Yeah, it's Valentine's day!"
"What?"
"It's the holiday today," Blake said. "Something from Vacuo; Jaune was preparing it, wasn't he?"
"Yup!" Ruby chirped." Now get ready, we got to go out and see all the stuff that he did!" Ruby started hopping from foot to foot in excitement. "I can't wait! Jaune said it was gonna be awesome!
"Now come on, get ready!"
The girls groaned, but they all readied themselves nonetheless, knowing Ruby would simply make their lives intolerable for them if they tried to get back into bed. The team took a few minutes to prepare, during which Ruby, growing increasingly frustrated, pestered them to hurry up for every second. And when the last piece of clothing was put on, Ruby threw open the door and strode into the hall.
Just in time to run into team JNPR… sans their leader.
"Morning Ruby," Pyrrha said with that polite smile of hers. She wore her usual outfit of armor, but had a clip set in her scarlet hair, colored a soft pink and shaped like a heart. "Excited for Valentine's day?"
"You bet!"
"You had better be!" Nora called out from inside the room. Then the she popped out, and Ruby could only gawk at her ludicrous outfit. She was wearing her usual clothes, just with an innumerable number of hearts cut out of paper, all sorts of shades of pink and red, haphazardly taped all over her. "Because I'm stoked!"
Ruby giggled. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Oh, but Ren's even more excited, aren't you Ren?"
Ruby heard a heavy, forlorn sigh emanate from within the room. Within that exhalation, was contained a sense of melancholy so deep, so complete, so devoid of vitality, that it could only originate from a man whose spirit had finally been broken.
"Yes, I'm very excited," Ren said as he stepped out the room.
Instantly, Ruby collapsed to the floor, laughing.
Little hearts had been drawn all over Ren's face in red marker. He was wrapped up in red and pink tissue paper and tinsel, such that nothing was visible beyond the layer of cheap crafts. Not only that, but it looked like someone had dumped several bottles of glitter on his head, considering his hair was thoroughly drenched in sparkles of various warm colors, which had also dropped down and coated the rest of his body. He looked like someone had tried to make a disco ball out of paper mache, then accidentally brought it to life.
"Nora helped Ren get prepared for the day's festivities," Pyrrha said. "I may have contributed a bottle of glitter or two, as well."
The rest of RWBY left their room and got into the hall. Blake cracked a rare smile after seeing Ren, and Weiss actually had to fight to keep her composure. Yang failed utterly, and joined her sister on the floor, sides and face in pain from the laughter.
After several minutes, the sisters managed to pick themselves up off the floor and wipe the tears from their eyes.
"W-where's Jaune?" Ruby asked when she finally regained her breath.
"Oh, he's somewhere," Nora answered.
"He told us to get some sleep after we finished preparing the decorations," Pyrrha said. "He spent the night setting up the decorations."
"Yes, we're as much in the dark as you are," Ren said. "I hope that the festival is worth all of this…"
"Hmph," Weiss pouted. "Knowing Arc, he probably just threw it about randomly and called it a day. He hardly has the best eye for composition."
"Oh come on Weiss, don't be mean," Ruby said. "I know Jaune tried his best."
"Yes, but is his best good?"
Ruby stuck out her tongue. "Well why don't we go out and see?"
She turned around and led the way, with the rest of the two teams following. Ruby had to admit… she had some of her own reservations as well. She'd always lend Jaune her confidence and stand up for him, as she was now, but she was still unsure of just how good a job he'd do.
Ruby bounded down the stairs of their dorm and shortly reach the exit, pushing open the door.
No matter what kind of job Jaune did, she still—
Her jaw dropped open when she the Beacon courtyard.
All across Beacon's courtyard, roses were strewn out across the ground, bouquets of the flowers propped up so that you saw one wherever you looked. Every shade of red, from pink to deep crimson, was represented through cute little hears taped up onto all the walls and strung up between the columns and lamp-posts. Confetti was scattered across the ground in a colorful miasma of prettiness. Not only that, but little piles of chocolate lay about on just about every flat surface, neatly wrapped in shiny tinfoil.
Everything perfectly fit into a theme of cheery, pretty warmth.
"Alright, this is pretty awesome," Yang said.
Ruby couldn't agree more.
"This is the best!" she shouted as she ran out into the courtyard, closely followed by the others. Of course, she immediately made her way first to the nearest pile of chocolate, ripping the sweets out from their tinfoil wrapping and shoveling them into her mouth.
"Mmmmm…"
The chocolate was rich and creamy, real quality stuff.
It was early in the morning, but the rest of the early risers had also gotten out, shuffling through the courtyard. They were quick to gawk at the decorations, then pull out their scrolls and alert their friends to the holiday.
Within a half hour, many of the students had come out to take a look and eat chocolate. Nora had started picking up handfuls of confetti and throwing it at people, quickly starting a friendly spat between the two teams, throwing roses and chocolates and confetti at each other.
Ruby also noticed several couples holding hands and marveling at the displays, and she smiled. It seemed that things were going just as they were supposed to. She reached her hand into her pocket and felt the paper she'd stashed there.
Hopefully things would keep going well…
"Hey guys, how do you like it?"
Ruby's eyes widened and her heart soared once she heard his voice. She turned around with an ecstatic smile on her face, seeing Jaune. He looked exhausted, disheveled and… covered in ash?
"Sheesh, did you just climb out of a chimney or something?" Yang asked.
"Nah, just had to finish some business." He pointed back behind him.
When she looked over, Ruby saw a trail of smoke tracing its way up into the sky from the forest. She looked at Jaune, one eyebrow raised, questioning.
He shrugged. "I just had to get rid of the evidence." An awkward second of silence passed by, before his eyes widened and he started stammering. "I-I mean, nothing, nothing. I wasn't doing anything. I definitely was burning the remains of a stolen float or something, nope!"
"Uhhh… okay?"
Ruby shook her head.
"But whatever, that doesn't matter! This all looks amazing Jaune!"
He smiled. "Thanks, I've actually got a lot of experience decorating for parties. My best friend growing up, Amata, always volunteered to do the decorations, and she always dragged me along." He shrugged. "So I guess that it's a skill I developed. I—"
His next words were cut off by a long yawn that pried his jaws wide open.
After that, Ruby noticed just how truly haggard he was. Deep bags hung under his eyes, which were also bloodshot. His hair was wild and unkempt, more so than usual. He was even covered in a few receding scrapes and bruises, which his aura was still healing.
"Jaune, what did you do all last night?"
"Yeah, how'd you get all this stuff?" Nora asked. "I don't remember Beacon giving us any roses or chocolate."
"Uhh…" Jaune scratched the back of his head and awkwardly looked around, at anywhere but where they were. "I… I just found it."
Weiss scowled. "You 'found' mounds of chocolate and roses?"
"Yup." He nodded. "Yup, yup, yup. And then I spent all night setting things up and —"
Another yawn still his words. He blinked blearily.
"Sheesh, I'm tired." He gently slapped either of his cheeks to bring back some wakefulness. "It was such a pain getting all this stuff and then setting it back up…"
"Well, it all turned out great," Yang said. "Maybe we can go out into Vale later for a dinner or something, too?"
"I don't think it's a good idea for me to go back out into Vale anytime soon," Jaune said.
"Why not?"
A couple of stray students walked by, chatting to one another.
"Did you see the news this morning?" one of them asked to the other.
"No, what happened?"
"Apparently some psycho crashed through the mayor's house in a big float, then ransacked the place and escaped."
"What the hell?"
"I know, right?"
The girls continued walking away, their chatter fading into the distance.
Jaune chuckled nervously. "I just… don't really feel like going into the city, y'know? Haha."
Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "For the sake of everyone here, I'm going to pretend that I haven't connected the dots."
Everyone nodded.
"Well, anyway," Jaune said, "do you think it turned out well?"
"It's incredible," Ruby said.
And when he saw her smile, warm and strong and big and radiant, he smiled as well.
But then he yawned once more, as exhaustion continued to drive its demands home. He held his head in his hands.
"You guys looks around and enjoy things… I'm going to go and sit down for a bit… I'm just so damn tired after this whole mess."
He strode away to a low-lying wall. He laid down and stretched out on the brick, sighing in relief as he finally got a chance to relax. Funny, that he was relaxing, while Ruby's anxiety was just beginning to increase ever greater.
The rest of their teams split off and went about their business, trying to hunt down the last of the chocolate, avoid Nora's confetti attacks or simply procure a secluded place to relax in some peace after the fun.
But not Ruby Rose. No, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper there. It was red, and she'd cut it out to look like a big heart. She nervously looked around, saw that the other were good and dispersed, and it was now only her near Jaune. If there was a time, then it would be now…
With great trepidation, she took one step closer to him. Then she took one step closer. Then she took another. And another, until she was near enough that she could reach out and poke him.
She cleared her throat and opened her mouth, but words eluded her, and nothing came forth. She closed her mouth and opened it a few more times, looking very much like a fish as she did so, before shutting it with snap. She shook her head and scowled, though the anger was directed only at herself.
This wasn't the time to wuss out!
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Jaune, I—"
A loud snore broke through the air and cut off her speech.
She opened her eyes, and this time, she scrutinized Jaune a bit more carefully. His chest was rising and falling steadily; his eyes were closed; his head was flopped to the side. He snored again, confirming her suspicions.
It looked like he'd gotten so exhausted from the night before, that he'd just fallen right asleep…
"Hey what's this?" Yang asked, having walked up without her sister noticing.
"Eep!" Ruby tried to pull away and hide the paper she was holding, but it was to no avail. Yang, being the nosy big sister that she was, snatched it out of her hands and brought it up before her, before reading it aloud.
"Will you be my valentine?" Yang squinted at the letter, then looked back at Ruby. "What's this supposed to mean?"
Ruby rushed forward and tore the note out of her sister's hands. "It's nothing!" she shouted. She quickly started ripping up the note. "Nothing at all!" She tore the note into a thousand pieces, like confetti. "Nope! Nothing to see here!"
"Uhhh…. okay?" Yang shrugged. "Why are you being so weird… what exactly was that note?"
"NOTHING!" She shook her head. "It was nothing!"
Yang held her hands out in front of her. "Okay, sheesh, it was nothing, it was nothing." She leaned over and looked at Jaune, sound asleep. "We better leave sleeping beauty to take his nap, though. He's deserved it, after putting all of this on."
Ruby nodded. "Yeah… I guess he has."
"Now come on, let's go find the last of the chocolate before everyone else gets it!"
Ruby smiled. "You go ahead, I'll catch up in a sec."
Her sister shrugged. "Whatever you say, sis. Don't take long though!"
With that, Yang turned away and ran after Nora, who looking under every bush and rock for any remaining sweets.
Ruby turned away and dropped her smile. She looked down at Jaune, asleep, then looked at the remains of her note on the ground. She sighed.
For a few seconds, she just stood there, looking at him, observing the contours of his body and face. Then she reached up and unclasped her hood from around her neck. She pulled off her cloak and draped it over him. If he was going to be sleeping, then he should be comfy. He unconsciously shifted slightly under the fabric, before settling, peaceful. Ruby took a few steps back, then looked down at him, before speaking.
"Well, I guess this didn't go how I wanted, but still…"
She smiled.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Jaune."
Awww, how fluffy! Considering the drama that's going down right now in NATWWAL, I wanted to make something that would be fun and sweet, take a break from the ceaseless drama of my other story. The idea for writing this just popped up into my head, and then I couldn't resist it. I've been wanting to write a holiday sort of Omake for a while, and figured: why not?