Author's Notes: Kicking this off with an AU. A childhood friend AU that Maxaro and I came up with. Basically, the Schnee's and the Arc's are friends, and Winter is the Arc's official babysitter. Because it's cute. And we need more stuff for no other reason than cute. Weiss and Jaune are inseparable in this AU, but the prompt given to me by Maxaro wasn't of childhood fluff, it was of Jaune having a crush on Winter, and begging her to tell him a story. And I kind of had fun with the idea.
Winter sat on the edge of Jaune's bed with a small smile decorating her pale features, the request from the small boy making her night more than anything else so far. Having been hired by the Arcs to babysit their youngest children was always a treat in her opinion. Rose and Jaune were lovely children. Shining beacons of innocence in a world full of bad things.
"So you want me to tell you a story?" She asked, and Jaune nodded his head enthusiastically, clutching the stuffed bunny he always slept with tightly to his chest. Her little sister, Weiss, who she had been charged with watching from her father whilst she babysat for the Arcs, was cuddled up against his side. They always were the best of friends.
"Yeah, yeah! Tell me an exciting story, one full of adventure, and kissy stuff!" Jaune said excitedly, hugging his bunny even tighter than before. Winter chuckled softly at his demand for 'kissy stuff', his taste in stories as ever being excellent.
"Okay, Jaune, kissy stuff it is." Jaune giggled as she made a kissy face, and leaned down to plant her lips gently against his forehead. He pretended to be grossed out and wiped the kiss from his forehead, but Winter knew he liked it. "Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a proud knight riding on his white horse through a forest. He had been told of a castle, a great big one, where the weather was quite different. It was almost always winter there," here she stopped to let Jaune giggle at the fact that her name was mentioned, "And everybody was frozen!"
Jaune gasped as she continued. "The frozen people could never be thawed, the people had told him. It was all due to a curse cast upon the castle by an evil old witch. A nasty witch with terrible powers, though no one knew just why she did it. It was said that in this castle there lived a queen, fairest of them all. Proud, beautiful, noble. But she too was frozen, and the key to lifting the curse, he had heard, was a kiss."
Jaune blew her a kiss, and Winter pretended to catch it and place it upon her cheek, resulting in even more giggles from the young boy and bun-bun hugging. "Now, the knight, he wanted to see this queen and her beauty for himself. He didn't quite believe such a beauty could exist, but upon arriving at the castle, and seeing for himself the cold of the area, and the frozen people, he began to believe that just maybe her beauty could be just as true."
Jaune started bouncing up and down. "Ooh, ooh," he said, "But she couldn't possibly have been as pretty as you!" Winter smiled the biggest she had all day.
"Oh my, why thank you Jaune. You're quite the handsome little man yourself." Jaune rubbed at his sheets bashfully. "Now where was I? Oh yes; the knight found his way to the throne room, where the queen sat on her throne, as frozen as could be. But even though she was frozen, he could clearly see her beauty. She was truly the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. Icy blue eyes, white, snowy hair done up in a ponytail that seemed to go on forever."
"She sounds so pretty!" Jaune commented.
"Oh she was indeed so pretty that the knight found that he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Whenever he tried, they were pulled right back. A feeling swelled in his chest, and he felt that maybe, just one kiss could save her. He followed his instincts, and stepped up the steep steps to the throne, and placed a gentle kiss on her icy cold lips. And then they were warm, and the ice queen thawed." Jaune's eyes widened.
"What happened next?!"
"What happened next," Winter answered with a smile, "Is entirely up to you. I'll tell you more tomorrow, but it's getting late, and you need to get to bed, or your mom is going to be very upset with me." She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead again, and though Jaune pouted, he understood.
"Okay... goodnight, Winnie..." he yawned as he laid down fully and the grasping hands of Weiss could take hold of him, pulling the two children together, and Winter felt her heart melt at the sight.
"Goodnight, Jaune." She watched as he cuddled up against Weiss even more before she threw the blanket over them more snugly. "Somehow I feel like that little crush on me is going to be directed elsewhere in a few years..." Winter whispered with a smile as she turned off the lights in the room, closing the door only a little before making her way to the guest bedroom to get some sleep herself.