Guilty for all the lies, trusting that he's earned his place, Jaune resolves to tell his friends the truth. No matter how emasculating it is. That's kind of the point, though, and the crew will never look at the boy the same way again because, well-

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. It belongs to RoosterTeeth, and the memory of the master of computer animation. May your brainchild keep moving forward, Monty.

The Emasculating Confession

It was no surprise that Team RWBY was later to the two-team meeting than Team JNPR, considering Jaune who called it in JNPR's quarters. It was a bit surprising to find the Team PR there when they did arrive, though.

"Morning!" Ruby greeted as led her team through the doors. "Where's Jaune?" she asked, noticing his absence.

"Fearless Leader is hiding in the bathroom," Nora said with a chuckle, before turning her head and yelling, "It won't work, Boss Man! We know you're there! Come out and spill the beans!"

Ren rolled his eyes at Nora's teasing. "He's trying to compose himself," he said more tactfully, taking out his scroll as he did so and fiddling with the buttons. "He's been nervous all morning. Pyrrha's in there trying to calm him down."

"Psh. Figures Jaune would be a scaredy cat for his own meeting," Yang said without any real malice. "What's this about, anyway? Care to share?"

Ruby pulled out her own scroll and looked at the message they all received. It seemed pretty obvious to her- a message titled 'Confessions,' which she began to read. "I'm sorry, but I've been lying to you all. You deserve to know the truth. Please come by later at-"

"Yes, yes, we all read that," Weiss interrupted, impatient. "The Dunce even misspelled his own name. She meant, what is the secret? Is he going to admit that he cheated his way into Beacon so that we can end this ridiculous charade? Because if it is, I don't intend to spend all day waiting around while he hides in a bathroom."

Ren blinked. "You knew?" he asked. He had suspected himself, seeing how far behind Jaune had been. But if there was anyone who would have exposed the secret if known, he would have bet on the heiress.

"Of course I figured it out!" Weiss exclaimed, as if her common sense had been doubted. "He was so inept it was practically an open secret!" Which, to be fair, was probably true. Four other heads nodded.

One did not. "Jaune… cheated?" Ruby asked, voice low. She was the only one surprised, and sounded… hurt.

'You have got to be kidding me,' more than person thought. Except for Yang, who felt the urge to punch someone for making her sis frown. Jaune, for lying? Weiss, for revealing it? Eh, either would do, though Jaune was out of punching range at the moment and Weiss was right beside her…

"Ruby," Blake said as gently as she could, "Jaune wasn't exactly… combat ready when we arrived. He still doesn't even have a Semblance. Didn't you think that was suspicious?"

"I just thought he was… awkward?" Ruby tried. "Like me? I'm awkward, and I made it in." But Weiss wouldn't have it.

"You were awkward in the sense of a social runt who makes Penny seem normal," she began-

"Hey!"

"-but you are also a prodigy weapon user. He not only matches you social skills, but barely knew how to hold a sword, let alone use it," she finished. "Calling him dead weight at the beginning would have been fair. Mean, but fair."

Three sets of eyes narrowed briefly at her frank assessment, but Yang intervened before it could escalate. "If you suspected, why didn't you bring it up and get him expelled when you figured it out?" she asked. "You could have had him kicked out and not put up with his flirting all that time."

Weiss paused, and had the grace to look a bit uncomfortable. "I- that is, I-"

"She didn't mind dead weight holding back another team if it made hers look better," Blake supplied from behind a book. There was just the slightest hint of a smile in her tone to make it as much a tease as an accusation.

Weiss looked indignant. "That was only part of the reason!" she exclaimed.

Five disapproving faces looked back at the admission. Weiss tried to outlast them with poise, but soon gave up and gave the less damning reasons.

"And, er, by the time I figured it out we were already past the Initiation and I figured the Teachers wouldn't risk anything too dangerous where he could get himself or anyone else hurt. And then he had a team to pick up the slack, and they trained him and he matured a bit and-" she trailed off, uncomfortable trying to admit nice things about others.

"He became an acceptable student?" Ren supplied.

"He became a better fighter?" Ruby suggested.

"He helped hook you up with your boyfriend?" Yang teased.

"He made pancakes?" Nora suggested. That's what sold her.

"…" Blake said, and became the center of attention. "What?" she asked defensively. "You just gave all his good points."

"You could have said something about his morals," Yang said. "Standing up for Velvet, remember?"

"He already had character," Blank responded evenly with a shrug. "That didn't improve."

"Yes. Anyways. All that." Weiss strained to admit. "He is a… barely tolerable student now. He could possibly even get into Beacon in his own right now if he tried, so I don't see a reason to expel him" she said, feeling dirty. Schnee's weren't meant for unreserved praise. "He's still far behind us, of course, and woefully awkward, but he's come this far because he has a good team behind him."

Backhanded compliments made everything better.

"Yeah, we rock," Nora boasted. "It's because of us Jauney boy had a chance."

"What did you even do?" Yang asked, curious. "Last I remember, you just threatened to kneecap Cardin."

"And a mighty good threat it was," Nora remembered proudly. "That was the moral support of letting him know we had his back."

"I'm just curious as to why he's coming out now?" Ren mused, changing the topic. "If he got away with the deception this long…"

"It's probably because he trusts you enough to do so," Blake said. "It's… not easy keeping a big secret from your friends," the faunus admitted.

Everyone, even Nora and especially Team RWBY, went silent at that.

"I just… thought he already trusted us enough for that," Ruby said quietly. "Weren't we already his friends?" Jaune was- had been- still was?- her first friend at Beacon. Had she messed up being a friend somehow? Had he not trusted her enough to confide in her? They had had meaningful character development talks together! They had even been milk buddies! Had all that been a lie?

"Naw, Rubes, you were his friend," Yang tried to reassure. "I'm sure he would have told his closest friend. The rest of us were just- acquaintances?" she tried. "I mean, just think if Cardin had found out before he told you?"

There was a pause in which the universe injected irony.

"But he didn't tell me," Ruby pointed out, looking even more down.

"Wow, nice foot and mouth there," Weiss muttered.

"Must be genetic," Nora agreed as Blake took over from the fumbling Yang.

"It doesn't mean you weren't friends," Blake reassured. "It just means he wasn't ready to admit certain things. Remember how long it took me?" she asked with a soft smile. Those days had been so hard, fear of how they might take the truth even as she grew closer to them, but looking back at them and how her team had reacted…

Ruby smiled back. "I didn't care," she remembered and reminded. Not in a bad way, at least.

"We all didn't care," Weiss said beside her. "Eventually," she caveated, before being rewarded for her honesty with an elbow from Ruby.

"And we're all not going to care about this," Yang said with finality and a smile. "Jaune may be an embarrassing no-good weak-ass liar who cheated his way into Beacon, but he's our embarrassing no-good weak-ass liar. And he's more than all that too, so we don't have to be too ashamed to call him a friend."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, perking up a little. She probably agreed more with Yang's cheer and conclusion than her description of their friend.

"And the least we can do as friends is wait for him to be ready to talk to us. Isn't that why he invited us? Because he does trust you?" Blake said with one of her unguarded smiles.

Ruby smiled back at her wonderful team. "Yeah," she said again. "Because we're friends." There wasn't a trace of doubt in her voice.

There was a gag and a click, and Team RWBY turned to remember its two person audience. Ren was watching them with his scroll held in their direction. Nora was gagging herself with a finger.

"Ren!" Nora stage whispered.

"Yes Nora?" Ren answered, punching a few buttons which gave an upload tone.

"That was seriously too sweet! I think I'm going to have cavities!"

"I don't think cavities work that way, Nora," Ren replied as he put away the scroll, but he was smiling as well.

Weiss put two and two together, just before everyone else did. "Did you just take a picture of that?" she demanded.

"Not at all," Ren said honestly.

"Yeah!" Nora agreed, backing up her friend. "He recorded it!"

"Thank you, Nora," Ren said with a sigh.

"No problem, Ren!" Nora returned, missing the sarcasm.

Weiss opened her mouth, likely to demand the deletion of the video (because heaven forbid there be any proof that Team RWBY, and her in particular, said anything that might be construed as nice about Jaune), before the man of the hour opened the door and entered the room. Behind him, a reassuring hand on his shoulder (and possibly pushing), was Pyrrha.

"Hey guys," Jaune greeted with a nervous wave.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby waved back, leading the group returning the greeting. "Done hiding in the bathroom yet?"

("Wait, did he just come out of the girl's room?" Blake asked quietly.)

("Typical," Weiss scoffed.)

Jaune laughed weakly. "Yeah. I think so at least. Didn't help as much as I hoped though," he admitted.

"Jaune," Pyrrha reassured with a smile and a helpful shove to get him into the room with the rest of the teams.

"But I'm good now!" he claimed, taking deep breaths and gathering resolve. "I'm ready."

Team RWBY and the other half of Team JNPR sat patiently, ready to listen. No matter what came next, what he was about to say, they steeled their hearts (and their snark) with resolve. They were fellow Hunters and Huntresses in training. They were fellow teens with doubts and insecurities and failings of their own. They were friends.

They could handle this with maturity befitting young adults and future heroes. They were ready.

"Guys," Jaune prepared to admit-

"I'm actually a woman."

They so were not ready.

Author Notes:

Part 1 of 3.

Big thanks go to Anguished One for betaing this. Pro-tip: get a beta done before posting a new story. They can catch all the embarrassing mistakes you make when you pump out a fic in a sleep-deprived haze... like calling Yang 'Wang' or not once spelling 'Pyrrha' right.