I don't own RWBY, Rooster Teeth does and it was created by Monty Oum. If I did, Jaune and Ren would have interacted with Team RWBY way more than they did.
Yang Xiao Long was many things; party girl, brawler, short tempered, impatient, confrontational, and had a fine appreciation for the male body, so long as it was nicely toned.
Most would call her brash, and they'd be right. They'd called her blunt, and they'd be right about that too. But while she was all this and probably more, there was one thing Yang Xiao Long also was; a mother to her team, and to others.
Yes, Yang had a MUCH softer side to her that few actually got to see. Her motherly side. If there was someone in need, friend or stranger, Yang was there to do her best to help.
Blake had been the first to see it, and Yang had no qualms about the Cat Faunus knowing, because she was such a dear friend and her partner. When Yang allowed Sun to dance with Blake, she felt like a mother giving her daughter away at the wedding.
It stemmed from years raising Ruby, after their dad shut down. Sure, she lightened up once her Uncle Qrow stepped in and started training her baby sister, but Yang never really lost that urge to step in and try making things better for others.
She just didn't realize that she'd end up one day doing it for Jaune Arc.
There was nothing happening that day. Indeed, it was a peaceful. Blake and Sun were off talking, it seemed Weiss and Neptune were studying, and Ruby was actually talking to Doctor Oobleck about the qualities of a Huntsman and Huntress. It was a quiet day, and Yang actually liked it that way.
She decided that it was a great day to just relax in the library, lounge on a couch, and play one of the games she had on her scroll, and that's exactly what she did. And that's how a better part of the hour was spent, until Jaune entered the library.
Yang had an alright opinion of her fellow blond. He could be funny, he was a nice guy, and he was Ruby's first friend at Beacon, which was definitely something to remember! He and Ruby had hit it off rather well, and Ruby was never the outgoing type.
She approved of him, even if he had some flaws. So seeing him look so down was a cause for concern, and Yang sat up straighter on the couch.
"Hey Jaune!" she called out softly, getting his attention.
"Oh, hey Yang," he said, trying to put up a friendly front, but Yang had already seen past it, "What'cha doing?"
"Just relaxing. What about you?"
"Oh, er, I'm just, y'know, walking about. Feeling great, enjoying the day, things like that, heh..."
She just stared at him, evidently unimpressed with how badly he was lying, and sighed.
"Jaune," she started, staring him in the eye, "You know, if there's something on your chest, you should talk to someone about it. Keeping it inside isn't good for you, trust me. I know firsthand."
And indeed she did. Her little story she had told Blake had been one she kept inside for years, and it had felt good to finally tell someone, especially if it helped said person stop running herself into the ground.
"So," she continued with a small smile, "If there's anything you need to talk about, I'm all ears."
Her fellow blond sighed heavily, and seemed to contemplate something internally. Finally he looked up at her, his mind made up.
"Yang, can I confess something to you?"
She arched an eyebrow at that, but chose not to remark on it. Instead she merely nodded.
"I...haven't been feeling too great lately, actually. I called my folks recently, told them how I was doing, and that I made it to Beacon, and well, they simply said that my room was still waiting for me when I came back home. Even now, they don't believe I'll stay here, and they're not proud of me."
Jaune ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled weakly, looking down at the floor.
"You know, besides wanting to be a hero, there was another reason for me attending Beacon. I wanted at least someone to be proud of me, to acknowledge my worth. I guess being a hero was the only way I could think of achieving that, but now..."
He trailed off, and Yang just stared at him. For once, she was at a loss of what to do. She never really needed to work that hard for her father to be proud of her, Ruby had always looked up to her, and she hadn't cared too much about what others thought of her. She felt that just saying that she was sure someone was proud of him wouldn't help him or make him feel better. That would feel so...empty.
She looked at Jaune, looking so depressed, and felt bad for him. It reminded her of the time early on in the school year, when Cardin had been bullying him. Sure, he'd come a long way since then, but still...
And then it clicked in her mind, and she grinned, partly because it was perfect, and partly because she could only imagine his reaction. Oh, this was going to be good.
"Jaune," she said, voice serious, face stern, "Come here, I have something to tell you."
The young man cocked his head in confusion, but listened, standing up from where he had sat in a chair and walking over to the couch that Yang sat on. She motioned for him to lean down, and he did so.
He certainly wasn't expecting her to suddenly reach out, grab him, and drag him across her body so he was laying on the couch between her legs, face on her chest like it was a pillow.
"Y-Yang?!" he said, startled and extremely red in the face, but Yang shushed him and put her hand on his head, running her fingers through his hair as she held him tightly.
"Jaune, I'm proud of you," she said and he stopped trying to wriggle out of her grasp and froze, "No, seriously, I am. When I first saw you on that airship as we headed towards Beacon, my opinion of you was an all time low, thanks to you throwing up on my shoes."
Her voice had grown stern at that last bit, and she could hear Jaune give a squeak of fear from her bosom, but she grinned and kept talking.
"However, I later learned that you helped Ruby up off the ground, and the two of you had become friends. Ruby had always been a very shy girl back then, so when I heard you helped her, I was happy. Ruby had made a friend on her very first day. Of course my opinion of you didn't change that much. You were nice, sure, and you were Ruby's friend, but you didn't strike me as impressive, so I never gave you much thought. I did feel bad that you were being bullied by Cardin, but that was because you were Ruby's friend."
She sighed at that, remembering how nobody had done anything to help him during that time, before she resumed talking, remembering what he had done over the year.
"My opinion of you slowly started to change after Ruby told me that you killed an Ursa Major by yourself. That impressed me, because you didn't seem like the type to be able to pull that off. You slowly started to improve, and so did my impression of you."
She chuckled at the memory that presented itself to her, and shook her head.
"You know, I was rooting for you to get with Weiss at first. It was kind of funny seeing you try and court her like that. I had to hold in my laughter when you serenaded her with that guitar."
With that, she moved her hand from his head to under his chin and propped his face up to look at her from her chest, and smiled.
"You're also pretty good with it. I won't complain if you ever decide to play for me."
She winked at him and pushed his head back down onto her chest and continued running her fingers through his hair.
"You've come a long way since that first day on the airship. You're a leader of your own team, you've befriended Pyrrha Nikos herself, you helped Ruby open up to others just by extending a hand in friendship, and you've even got Weiss treating you better.
So even if your parents don't say it, I will, and I mean it. Jaune, I'm proud of you."
She fell silent and it was quiet for a few seconds, before she heard a sniffle from her chest. She smiled as she felt the young man in her arms shake as his shoulders fell up and down.
"Shhh...there there." she said gently, stroking his head once more and rubbing circles on his back. This continued without change until slowly, gradually, his shaking stopped, though her shirt was just the slightest bit wet. She could feeling his breathing deepen, surprisingly, and when she carefully looked down, she saw him passed out, a few tear stains on his cheeks.
She gave a good-natured sigh and gently wiped them away with her right hand, before shifting into a more comfortable position for the two of them, holding him close.
Still stroking his head with her left hand, she pulled out her scroll and resumed her game, a content smile on her face.
Author's Notes: This happened because I just wanted a oneshot where Yang comforts Jaune in this way. Don't ask why. I would have liked to see those two interact some in the show proper. Plus we need more fanfics between Jaune and the girls like this where it's just platonic cuddling. Yang is most definitely the mother of Team RWBY, which shows when she helps Blake. It'd be heartwarming if she acted as a mother for Team JNPR too.