For a moment you wondered why it felt weird that your scroll had woken you up. You always had it set to wake you up so it's not like this was anything out of the ordinary. But as quickly as you were woken up you realized that it wasn't your alarm that had woken you up but instead somebody sending you a message. It was just gone nine o clock, three and half hours until your alarm was supposed to go off and another hour to go until your parents opened the shop downstairs. You knew the message wasn't from them, they usually just woke you up in person if they needed to.

You grabbed the scroll and to see who sent the message. You then felt a rush of excitement upon seeing it was from your friend Ivan. The two of you hadn't seen each other since he left to attend Beacon Academy. Communication with him was kept to minimum, usually just 'how are things going' and 'any news'. Ivan preferred talking in person as opposed to communicating via scroll. Without a further hesitation you played the message.

"Hey bud don't know if you're awake yet but just wanted to tell you I'll come by later when I'm finished classes today. Talk to you then."

"It's about time he came over for a visit."

You knew the students of Beacon could head into Vale if they wanted to during their free time. It would have been foolish to assume Ivan would be visiting you every chance he got but you thought he would have at least once or twice by now. Whatever the reason you knew he would probably explain once he came over.

It wasn't all his fault though, you were hesitant to get in touch with him. You would never admit it to anybody but you were jealous of him. After you dropped out of combat school that meant the end of any chance you had of becoming a huntsman and it became hard not to become envious of him in the slightest. Ivan was just as upset as you were when you decided to drop out, it was hard to tell which one of you was more excited about the idea of being a team of huntsmen together. But both of you had to accept that that had no chance of happening, Ivan continued with his training and you had to find something else to do with your life.

Right now that something else was working the shop with your parents every now and again. You knew both your parents weren't too thrilled when you wanted to become a huntsman, not that they were against it, they just preferred the thought of you doing something safer. The shop itself was run by your family for generations and, in keeping with tradition, you would be given the shop when you were older.

Going back to bed now seemed pointless, the small rush of excitement you felt from getting Ivan's message was enough to wake you fully.

"What am I gonna do now ?" you said to yourself before a thought immediately came to mind. The last time you chatted with Ivan he mentioned that him and his team would be going on a mission soon. When you began combat school both of you began working on a weapon that you would have used, you even started construction on it. Right now it was put away in a chest in your room. You always thought it was a shame that you never even bothered to finish it, but maybe Ivan could get some use from it. You could easily finish it in the next week or so if you could get the parts needed.

You got dressed and decided to go out and find the parts you needed.

Hours later.

For a good part of the day you were in your room. Your search for parts earlier hadn't gone as well as you hoped. Several things you needed weren't available but fortunately would be in again in the next day or two. If the weapon was to be ready by the time Ivan would be going on his mission then you would need to spend most of your time working on it.

You heard knocking on your door. It could only be one person. Opening the door you were greeted by the smiling face of Ivan. Not much had changed since you last saw him. His black hair was cut shorter than he normally used to have it. You were still slightly taller than he was.

"Miss me bud ?" he asked.

"Miss seeing your ugly face? Not a chance." You mocked.

"Aww that hurts."

You laughed at his comment and move out of the way to let him in. Both of make your way to the kitchen and take a seat at the table after grabbing something to drink from the fridge.

"So you're enjoying yourself at Beacon?"

"You won't believe some of the stories I have. I've been trying to do one of our old tricks for a while."

"Which one ?"

"The one where we stack all the beds in a room on top of one another."

You couldn't help but laugh.

"You haven't been able to do it once? I thought you were better."

"I can't get into any of the rooms when they're empty. Owen and I tried to get into some rooms through the windows and that went about as well as you think."

"You're losing your touch. How's training going ?"

"A lot tougher than it was in combat school. Working with a team is pretty cool though."

"When are you going out on your mission ?"

"The week after next."

"That'll give me time."

"For what ?"

"I decided to finish Turraing Tonn. I figured you might get some use from it. If you want to take it."

"You want to give me your weapon ?" he asked surprised.

"I never finished and used it so it's not really mine. It would be a shame if I didn't finish what I started and it's not like I'm ever gonna get any use from it. I can get it finished before you go."

"Are you sure? You were pretty excited when you came up with it and couldn't wait until you could use it."

"That's all gone now. Just consider it my own way of being a part of your team."

The moments silence between both of you was all you needed to know that Ivan would take it before he spoke again, changing the subject.

"Actually you just reminded me why I'm really here. Before we leave Beacon is having dance and we're allowed a plus one. It seems like it'll be fun night and you can stay overnight in my teams dorm."

"Doesn't your room only have four beds ?"

"We'll sort something out."

"Besides that, I don't think I'd enjoy myself too much at a dance."

"You've never been to one."

"Like I said, I don't think I'd enjoy myself at one. Too many people."

"That should be a reason to go, you could make some new friends, which isn't a bad thing."

"I know it's not a bad thing but ..."

"Then what's the problem? We haven't done anything together since I started at Beacon and I really want you to meet my teammates."

You thought about arguing further with him but in the end you knew it would be pointless. Ivan wasn't trying to force you into doing something you didn't like. He just wanted you to do something he thought you might enjoy.

"You're not gonna stop until I say yes." you sighed.

"You know me too well. Besides what if I don't make it back from my mission." Ivan joked.

The next week flew by quickly, mostly because you became so engrossed in completing the weapon for Ivan. You were able to finish it just a few hours before you were expecting him to arrive. He was in the city getting his suit for the dance and once that was done he would meet up with you at your house and you would head back to Beacon with him.

The trip to Beacon seemed to go by quickly. As both you and Ivan exit the airship, with you carrying the weapon, you notice the abundance of students around. You saw that some were in different uniforms while others were in their normal clothes.

"They're here for the Vytal Festival." Ivan said noticing you.

"I forgot it was being held in Vale."

"You forgot." he replied to your comment, pretending to be shocked in a joking manner. "But then that means you wouldn't have been there to cheer me in the fighting tournament."

Both of you continued to walk, with the weapon occasionally drawing the attention of students. It was understandable, Turraing Tonn was a huge weapon, essentially a portable cannon. Most huntsmen and huntresses using weapons that are big were melee fighters, at least that's what you had always seen. You had wanted to make something ranged that would deal massive damage, feeling that type of combat would suit you best.

For moment you continue walking forward forward, not paying attention to any of your surroundings. Ivan tapped you on your shoulder to let you know that you were heading in the wrong direction. You were about to walk into the main building, while the dorms were in another direction.

You finally reach the dorm room and upon entering you were surprised to see that wasn't very big, with a good amount of space taken up by everyone's bed. On one of those beds was Owen, you had heard about him from Ivan more than noticed both of you almost immediately and just as quickly his attention was drawn to Turraing Tonn.

"Holy crap that's huge !" he almost shouted.

"Yeah. Can only imagine what Ruby's reaction will be when she sees it."

"You have to use it next time you doing a practice match."

Ivan lit up at the thought of this.

"You must (Y/N). I'm Owen." he greeted.

"Nice to meet you. Ivan told me about you."

"Where's Nima and Deena ?" Ivan asked.

"Haven't seen them all day but I did get a message from Nima saying they'll see us later tonight."

You remove your arm from Turraing Tonn and place the weapon on the ground.

"Maybe we should have stopped by my locker first."Ivan commented. "I'll do it later."

"So how are we gonna sort out the sleeping arrangements ?" Owen asked. You noticed a suitable spot where the wall wasn't obscured by anything next to where you were standing.

"I'll sleep against the wall here."

"No." Ivan protested. "You're not sleeping against the wall."

"We might be able to make space on the floor if we stack our beds on top of one another. I don't mind sleeping on floor." Owen said.

"Neither do I."

"You don't have to. I'll be fine sleeping against the wall." you tried to convince them.

"Forget it we've both decided now give us a hand."

It wasn't long until it was time for the dance. The three of you were dressed for it quickly. Throughout the day you were growing increasingly nervous and by now it had reached its peak. You knew Ivan probably wasn't going stay with you the entire night and it wouldn't be right for you to make him. You already planned to find yourself a place to sit down, preferably alone, if it happens.

As you enter the ballroom the three of you are greeted by a blonde haired girl.

"Where's the rest of your team ?" she asked.

"Out all day. I thought they'd be here before us but I guess not." Ivan replied.

"You've done great job organizing this Yang." Owen said as he looked around.

"Thanks. Weiss was a bit of a pain to work with but in the end it all worked out."

You didn't pay much attention to them talking, instead you just stared blankly at the ballroom. There was a good crowd already there but not so much that you would say the place is crowded. You, Ivan and Owen had arrived relatively early so you assumed that there would be plenty more people would be arriving soon.

"Is this your friend that you were talking about ?" you heard Yang ask. You turned your attention to her.

"Yeah this is (Y/N)." Ivan replied.

"Hi." was all you said.

"I'm Yang." she introduced. "Nice to meet you. Ivan was talking about you coming over for the last week and about some of stuff you used to get up to. "

You shudder at the thought of what stories he told her about, recalling times when your misadventures had ended badly for both you and Ivan.

"Just so you know Ivan dragged me into all them." you joked.

"Oh you're gonna betray me like that after I bring you over here." Ivan said sarcastically.
Yang chuckled at this before speaking to you again.

"Well I hope you enjoy yourself tonight. Maybe I'll see you around when I get some time free."

"Thanks. " you replied. Before walking away with Ivan and Owen.

"I'm hoping I have a good time here myself." you muttered to yourself.

Unfortunately it seemed like that wasn't going to happen. Around half an hour earlier you were introduced to the remaining two members of Ivan's team. Their leader, Deena and Nima. Both were friendly towards you but for the most part you kept quiet. You listened, as best as you could with the music playing, to Ivan and his team talking with one another. Most of their conversation was about schoolwork and people you didn't know about. Occasionally you would try to bring yourself into the conversation, talking directly to Ivan in order to get him to bring up something that both of you could talk about. It only worked briefly and so you would go back to being quiet, making a brief comment every few minutes or so. There was one moment where a guy arrived in a dress where you laughed along with everyone else. For a while you believed that was the only highlight of your night.

After that Ivan and his team went out to the dance floor. For a handful of minutes you were with them, doing what you could only describe as making yourself look like a complete fool, despite your movements being rather minimal. Whether or not others found your 'dancing' as stupid as you did remained in question, you felt like you were making a fool of yourself and wanted an excuse to leave. That excuse came in the form of you having to go to the bathroom. Once you returned from it you found an empty table to sit down at. Ivan didn't seem to notice you were back so you decided to wait another few minutes before you go back, thinking you could give the excuse that you got lost.

You were hoping the dance would be over soon. Knowing Ivan he would want to stay to the very end, something you never yourself doing unless you were really enjoying yourself. By now you were bored, having done everything that you were expecting yourself to do for the night. If you didn't have to spend the night at Beacon you would have gone home by now. While you were content with being by yourself for a while the sound of a familiar voice got your attention.

"All danced out ?" Yang asked taking a seat next to you.

"I just needed to sit down for a bit." you replied.

"Where's Ivan ?"

You looked over at the spot where you last saw him. He was still there, dancing with his team leader. You simply pointed at him.

"They look like they're enjoying themselves." she commented.

"Yeah. What about you ? Don't you have a date ?"

.
"Nah I was too busy getting everything ready to bother with getting one. I can finally enjoy myself now that everyone is here."

"Well for what it's worth you did a great job. Everyone seems to be enjoying it."

"Everyone except you."

"I am enjoying myself."

That was something you had been saying a lot in recent years, usually at family gatherings when you had gotten bored and wanted to leave. You were usually asked 'are you ok' before. You usually assumed they knew you weren't given how quiet you usually were at these events.

"You don't seem to be, so I'm gonna change that."

You looked at her confused as she stood up from her seat and extended her hand towards you.

"Come on and dance with me."

When she said that you could feel your face turn red.

"I... I don't really know how to dance."

"Don't worry it's easy."

Before you tried to say something to convince her not to something stopped you from talking. Every time you returned from something that you didn't enjoy you often felt an urge to slap yourself. You never bothered to make any attempt to enjoy yourself and ended up regretting not doing so. You would just sit around and stay quiet. There was a part of you that didn't want to dance, worrying that you might make a fool of yourself. Normally that was the part you would listen to. But at that moment you didn't listen to it. You decided that this wouldn't be something you would look back on and regret.

You took her hand and stood up. Your heart began beating faster with a feeling of excitement and nervousness as you looked at her smiling face. In the few seconds it took for both of you to reach the dance floor you looked at the other couples to give yourself an idea of what to do. You placed your right hand on her waist and took her right hand in your left.

"It's easy. Just follow my lead." she said.

"Ok."

The two of you began swaying back and forth, keeping in rhythm with the music, following Yang's lead as she had told you. Initially you were worried about messing something up, such as stepping on her foot, but as the two of you proceeded that worry left. Your movements were simple, not going too far from the spot where you both started dancing.

There was no denying that you were enjoying this, you felt like you were about to enter a trance. You wanted this to last as long as possible so you began to fill your mind with thoughts about what time it was, remembering past experiences where doing such a thing made the passage of time feel like it slowed down. Everything was going well and suddenly you felt a rush of confidence and tried something that surprised even yourself. You raised your left arm and twirled Yang around. For a moment you thought that you were after messing up until you saw that she was laughing, clearly having enjoyed it. She then did the same thing with you.

"Now it looks like you're having fun." she remarked.

"Yeah. I'm starting to think I made the right choice coming here tonight."

For once you weren't lying.

"You're doing very good for someone who says he never danced before."

"Just following your lead like you said."

"Then how about one more dance ?"

You didn't hesitate. You didn't say a single word. You taking hold of her hand again was all the confirmation that she needed.

That 'one more dance' kept on going until eventually the dance had to end for everybody. Needless to say you were upset that it did, but you did a good job at not letting it show. You were right about Ivan wanting to stay for the whole thing You spotted him at the door waiting for you, the rest of his team was nowhere to be seen, either they already had left or you just couldn't find them in the crowd. Yang went off with her team but not before letting you know that she enjoyed her time with you. You told her the same thing.

Once you met up with Ivan he flashed you a rather smug smile that said 'I told you so'.

"Ok you were right. I had great time."

He never said anything, he just started walking towards his dorm with you following in suit.

It was only when you reached the dorm that you realized how tired you really become. The rest of Ivan's team were there, already falling asleep. As you fell asleep all that was on your mind was Yang. You replayed every second over and over again, each time making the joyous feeling you had grow more and more.

In the morning you would have to go back home. Initially you were going to leave first thing in the morning but Ivan had convinced you to stay for breakfast earlier. It wasn't something you initially wanted to do but now you realized what this meant, you could see Yang one more time before you left Beacon. Even if it was just for a minute.