Disclaimer: Don't own RWBY or any of it's characters.
Rating: T, with slight M elements
Based off Vol. 2, Chapter 6 as it was seen this last Thursday :) So seriously, if you haven't seen the episode yet, do not read this fic. If you have, ignore that and enjoy.
"Ahh" he breathed, walking across the corridor. Much like he'd thought sometime earlier, showers were infinitely preferable to baths overall, though the latter was required sometimes for heavy cleaning.
So he walked on, unassuming, towel secure over his waist and bottle of shampoo in hand.
A blur crossed the corner ahead of him.
To his utter surprise though, even as he reacted, it wasn't Nora who appeared before him but Jaune. "We need to talk" he said intently, grabbing him by the wrist.
Oh no...
"Wah!"
Sure enough, the bottle of shampoo slipped out of his hand by Jaune's hurry; he really hoped no one would slip on it.
In short order, Jaune dragged him back to their dorm room, unlocked it and then had him sit down on the bed. On the bed across from that one, Nora looked up from her spot, cheerily waving at them - and in the moment Jaune wasn't looked, gave her the slightest lip curve in return. He also noticed her 'Boop' shirt (appropriate), the pink shorts with small lightning bolts, the headphones, and the (surprising) small book in her lap. "Hey, what's up?" she asked of them, headphones coming down.
"Nora, I am gonna have a serious conversation with Ren, so I need you to keep those headphones on, okay" he said, his hands together. "Please?"
She blinked, surprised, then she glanced at him - he merely shrugged. Then Nora giggled in a 'whatever' fashion, putting them back on.
Now, about that serious talk...
"*sigh* Ren, I'm just gonna come out and say it..."
Wow, some serious confession vibes from him right now... anyway, sensing this could take awhile, he slowly glanced up a bit as he waited patiently. He wasn't being disrespectful to Jaune, because he was listening, but he wasn't sure where this was going yet - it clearly wasn't a confession though despite the vibes.
"-you are one of my best friends! These past few months I feel like we've really bonded! Even though you don't say much... I mean, you're really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you personally, but darn it, I consider you to be the brother I never had!"
He glanced down and at Jaune when a full second went by, then it became clear that he'd finished. "And I you" he said mildly.
The boy took this well, as he thought he might, and he took that moment to glance at his clothes, which hung on the door beside him. "Which is why I wanted to get your advice... about girls" Jaune continued.
"Girls?" he asked, surprised. Oh boy, this was gonna take longer than he thought... maybe he could still get dressed while Jaune was getting to his full point. He still listened of course, but he slowly and discreetly tried to reach for his clothes.
In hindsight though, not watching Jaune's movements was a mistake.
"I mean, how did you and Nora...?"
In the space of a split-second, that question registered, then translated to shock; did Jaune just find out!? He quickly turned back, trying to speak, but not very well; "Uhhh... gaaah... uhh-"
To their complete surprise though, Nora came to his rescue: "Ehehehe" she breathed, sheepish, still sitting there with her headphones down now. "Uh, we're not actually together together" she continued, still very sheepish and surprisingly with little hitch in her voice.
"Nora, I said headphones on!"
"OH!"
Hmm, Jaune seemed to have accepted that outright. Whew...
Still, before this could lead to more awkward questions, he got right to the point himself. "Jaune, what is this all about?" he asked.
The blond-haired boy sighed. "It's Weiss; I'm completely head-over-heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but, she's also incredible, smart, graceful, and talented- I mean have you heard her sing? I mean, I just wish she'd take me seriously, you know? I wish I could tell her how I feel, without messing it all up..."
Mentally, he sighed, looking at him - he wanted to give him good advice, and he'd do his best, but the core problem was how incompatible Jaune and Weiss seemed to be. He couldn't just make her magically love him, or suddenly make Jaune do/say the right things-
"Then do it."
The statement surprised the room, but mostly Jaune, who it had also been directed at - still, he saw Nora drop her headphones, cheerfulness gone.
He knew why; because the third thing compounding this whole situation, which Jaune remained unaware of; the red-haired girl currently looking at him, who's feelings for their leader remained unspoken for now.
"Uh, what-?"
"Tell her exactly what you've just said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines- just, be honest."
"But, what if she-?"
"Jaune - you can't get it wrong if it's the truth."
"...you're right. Thanks Pyrrha! Good talk, Ren!"
"Glad to be of service" he thought mildly, half-raising his hand in response to that. Still, the moment Jaune was out that door, he saw Pyrrha's entire outward act dissolve, and she slowly turned away. Then he glanced at Nora, who was sadly watching her walk on as well, before she sighed. "Practice what you preach, Pyrrha" she said faintly.
Pyrrha made no response, other than a brief grip on the chair, before she too left the room.
He slowly sighed, feeling bad for them both, but in different ways - still, he looked at Nora, aware of how serious this must make her feel that she'd said that.
"Nora?" he asked, ignoring his clothes for the moment.
For all the notice Nora took though, he might as well have been invisible, even if he was still present. "Sorry, Ren" she said, looking down. "Seeing them like each other that way and not telling each other is driving me crazy. And I won't look at all."
The complete lack of enthusiasm, and general 'Nora-ness', concerned him, even as he slowly acknowledged that she wouldn't look... so he slowly got himself dressed, keeping his senses open should anyone get near their room and barge in on this. Then he walked over to her bed, where she looked up at him, but still not quite like herself.
He was aware of this, but felt it might come sooner if he approached it more naturally, rather than forcing the issue. "Thanks for coming to my rescue back there" he said sincerely.
That got a little smile out of her, least by her standards. "Well, I couldn't let them know that we actually are together together..." she breathed, still sheepish, before she made a sound. "Why can't we let the world know that we're together together, Ren?"
The plaintive note made him slowly smile, which he had surprisingly found cute, or something similar. Still, he sat down: "Well, for one thing, I don't want to make things awkward difficult for this team" he said carefully, but he still took her hand, which did cheer her up a little.
"You mean, for Pyrrha and Jaune, right?"
"Of course" he said with gravity. "We both saw how they feel - Pyrrha really likes our leader, and Jaune is attracted to her, but he thinks he's not worthy, and/or she couldn't like him because of that unworthiness. If we were public in being together together, even in just this room, it'd make things... harder for them, maybe even worse."
"Mmh, that's very likely true" she breathed, before tilting her head. "And how worse?" she asked, sounding more like herself. "Like, team-destroying worse? Never-friends again worse? Or so-choked-up-about-their-feelings-that-they-go-on-a-rampage-and-destroy-Beacon-until-there's-nothing-left-but-rubble worse?"
He slowly raised an eyebrow. "The first two are worst-case scenarios" he answered mildly, stroking her fingers a little, which she giggled at. "The third is just what you'd do, Nora."
"Well of course it is, because I'm me!" she said cheerfully; there was Nora.
"Yes you are."
For that, she just grinned, and gave him a little kiss - which they both liked a lot. And when she finished, she promptly threw herself at him, book and headphones abandoned as she threatened to tip them over the bed; luckily he held her away from the edge.
"And you know, I liked seeing you in a towel" she breathed, with a heavy string of giggles. "You, all muscle-y, and pink."
"I hope you mean my towel..."
"Heheheheheheheheeee."
He breathed out, amused, but still thinking he should have known better. Still, he was a little surprised when she looked at him, really close.
"And you know, when you say 'soon', you reeeally don't mean it" she whispered, in the really breathy way that he had nothing against.
"...huh?"
"Oh, you know, 'doing it' and stuff."
His cheeks started to turn red, but he had to admit, he had nothing for his own defense... but surprisingly, after the little look, Nora had just grinned at him. As he slowly determined, she was not mad, annoyed, or even really holding him to his words; she was just pointing it out to get at him. Heh, classic
"You really want it to happen that bad?" he slowly fired back.
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on, cold and hot are both sooo good" she drew out, suddenly pushing him onto the bed back-first, her above him with a crazy grin only she could pull off. "And you know it!"
"I-I'm not denying that-"
"Good!"
"Uh!" he breathed, when Nora basically landed on him... however, her complete stop seconds after that slowly confused him. "Nora?"
"Ahhhaaahhaaa" she breathed, just content to be laying on him by the sound of it. "You just do it when you feel like it; that's how you are! And I'll keep doing what I do best!"
"Surprising me at every possible moment?" he asked playfully, hugging her back.
"Exactly!"
/
"Nora?"
"Not done yet!"
He slowly groaned a bit, irritated despite himself. "You've been in there for fifteen minutes with no noise whatsoever; that speaks impending doom to me" he told her, hearing her merely laugh in response. He was exaggerating of course, and he was glad she'd recognized that, but there were better uses of time than this - well, least he was already wearing his tux.
The door opened, and her head poked out of there, grinning. "I just wanted to see how antsy you'd get" she breathed, sticking her tongue out before stepping out for real, closing the door behind him. For this dance, she wore a strapless pink dress (of course) that went down to mid-thigh, along with detached sleeve things... and her usual shoes. Oh man, Nora...
"Tell me again, what are these for?" she asked, holding up an arm straight up, the other tracing the linings on her detached sleeve.
"Drawing attention, I think" he answered after a moment, before he stepped forward. "I find it works."
"Ooooh, you like it! That's so great!" she basically squeed, jumping toward him and hugging him half-to-death in that split-second she spun them around. "Now, shall we go in?"
"Nora-"
"Yes, Ren?"
His lip curved a little. "Remember that the school doesn't know we're together together" he said, she tilting her head at this, with a fairly shrewd expression. "So there are certain things we can't do."
"There always are" she started, a little faint, before, "Now hit me with them!"
He chuckled a little, delighting Nora. "Obviously, no kissing (she went 'Ahhh') or anything like that - however, you can still slip your arm into mine, dance, and other such things."
"Really!?" she exclaimed, even more delighted. "I thought you'd say we'd never be able to do those!"
"We can, but it has to be right, Nora" he corrected, lip curving. "You can be your normal self, do all that, and no one will think it's unusual - I just have to pretend like you're forcing me, or we're just friends, and/or otherwise look awkward."
She giggled a lot, which he did like, but it still confused him.
"What?"
"Oh, just that you do awkward quite well" she breathed, really low and close to him.
"Uh-"
"Like you did earlier!" she said earlier, before imitating his actions from earlier, except her eyes were wider and the expression was more animated than his had been. ""Uhhh... gaaah... uhh- hehehe! That was so funny!"
He was surprised, but not at the imitation. "How did you keep yourself from laughing, Nora?"
"Oh, that's easy; love" she breathed easily, reaching up with a finger. "Boop" she tapped and sang.
Despite himself, he smiled at her; she was adorable.
"Now, let's go out there and party my good little sloth! Oh, I mean friend, Ren!"
"Waaah!"
Having grabbed his arm, she then promptly dragged him right through the doors, and into the festivities. As could be expected, the place was decorated for a dance event (though it also included doilies and fog machines, hmm), and many people had already paired up and were dancing to a slower song - despite himself, he hoped there wouldn't be too many of those. Still, he discreetly enjoying the oohing-and-aahing bundle that was in his arms, even if he couldn't be open about that like.
"Can we dance right away?" she said, in a playful tone.
He opened his mouth-
"Oh... hey guys."
They both turned, seeing a trying-to-be-strong Jaune standing there, giving his best impression of a smile... and not quite succeeding at either part.
"Hey Jaune!" Nora said happily. "Look who I got to drag to the dance!"
"Nora..." he breathed, as if in annoyance that she was telling people that.
Jaune made a little sound as he realized this, but otherwise thought nothing of it; like he'd planned. "That's great, but, have you guys seen Pyrrha around?" he said, sorta distracted. "I mean, I might as well see who's she brought as a date-"
"Pyrrha didn't bring a date" Nora said, not in her usual way, discreetly looking at him with worry. "I thought you knew?"
With one word, Jaune made it clear that he had not: "What!?" he exclaimed, utterly thrown by that. "But I- and she- well, did she even come to the dance anyway!?"
Having been discreetly surveying the hall, he looked back at Jaune. "She's coming this way now" he merely said, causing Jaune to whir around; and it was true, she was walking slowly in their general direction, but unseeing of their presence. Discreetly, he motioned for Nora to back up with him, and she caught this with a little silent 'Oh!', quickly doing so. Still, they sadly observed as Jaune tried to get her attention, but Pyrrha was too deep in something to hear his greeting - so, sad and confused, Jaune watched as Pyrrha slowly walked up the steps to the balcony.
It took Jaune a full minute of confused decision-making for him to follow.
"Mmh... so what now?" Nora asked sadly, holding onto his arm tighter.
"Well... all may not be lost" he said slowly, seeing Weiss in another corner, with the rest of Team RWBY before they separated. Nora just looked at him, blinking, which he sensed without looking - "This is just a hunch, but, despite Pyrrha's advice, Jaune doesn't appear to have Weiss as his date. Now they're both alone up there without dates..."
It took her a moment, complete with 'thinking' expressions, then she brightened. "And then they just might have that ultra-close romantic talk that finally leads them to confessing their feelings! Like in the movies! Eeeeee! That would be so great!"
"We can hope for them" he merely said, secretly wishing it would happen as well; the three-way tension drama (even if Jaune was currently oblivious to it) was hard to watch. "Now, about that dance-"
"Just promise you'll look like you were anywhere else, my little sloth!" she said cheerfully, then quietly in his ear for that last part.
"It'll be hard, but done" he agreed.
Certainly interesting, hooking that conversation in while having them 'together together' - how do you think I did?
But still, now my interconnected RenXNora stories actually have a confirmed time-frame; during Vol. 2 lol - still, taking place during this episode voids the previous 'They've been holding hands, Nora' line way back from the first one XD Heh... though that could have been Ren exaggerating, and Nora buying it - but that's sorta flimsy