IT'S ME. No, not the old spice guys. just me.
But anyway, here you go with another story, with the wonderful members of team JNPR!
Thanks to claraowl on Tumblr for the idea, and again, thank you Monty.
Enjoy, y'all's!
Ren was tired.
As a matter of fact, he always seemed to be tired nowadays.
It didn't help now that winter had finally come, and every other day seemed to end with a certain pancake (and now snow) obsessed member of team JNPR dragging the team out to play in the snow and picking snowball fights with other teams.
Despite the fact that he rather enjoyed watching Jaune smack Cardin Winchester upside the head with an Aura-infused snowball or Nora using the rest of team CRDL as impromptu bowling pins, Ren had his limits, as did Jaune and Pyrrha.
Nora, however...
Ren's extremely energetic partner, even at 11 in the night, somehow still had the energy reserves to be building a giant snow castle and challenging passerby to snowball duels.
After these last few weeks, Ren would develop a new respect for anyone brave (or foolish) enough to challenge Nora Valkyrie to mortal combat in the snow.
"Ren, you packing it in early?" Jaune called over from the other side of the room, where he and Pyrrha had cleared out room for a Saturday night movie marathon.
"It's only 11, and X-Ray and Vav III is starting in half an hour", Pyrrha added.
Ren thought about it a moment. "Sure, why not. I'll just grab some tea first."
He took a few steps towards the kitchenette before the front door flew open with a bang, interrupting him as a pink and white ball of energy shot through and clung to him like a sloth on a tree, quaking with cold. Pyrrha and Jaune looked over suddenly at the commotion.
"REN REN RENRENRENREN!" Nora smiled brightly despite shivering intensely. "It was so fun out there and you should have stayed a bit! Even Professor Ozpin was out and he even wanted to start a snowball fight but he accidentally hit Professor Goodwitch with a snowball and then-"
Ren didn't think it was possible for Nora to speak any faster then she usually did, but somehow the shivering made her words morph into one another, rendering her unintelligible.
"Nora?" Ren cut in.
"Yes Renny?"
"Aren't you tired at all?"
Nora cocked her head. "Of course not silly! I'm just super-duper cold and excited from the snow and winning that match against Professor Ozpin and Port and CRDL again and all and building that amazing snow fort and all and now I kinda am a little tired from all that but I guess I need my energy if I'm gonna get that rematch with CRDL tomorrow..."
Nora's voice trailed off as she stifled a yawn.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Ren carried Nora over to her bed and set her down, where she proceeded to shed her winter coat, poke him playfully on the nose and burrow headfirst into her mass of blankets.
Ren allowed himself a small smile as he proceeded into the kitchenette for a mug of tea, and returned to join Jaune and Pyrrha for the movie.
He was not cut out for late nights.
Eyes drooping from fatigue, he wished Jaune and Pyrrha a good night, shut off the light, and retreated to his bed, leaving the two to enjoy their all night movie marathon in peace.
Ren flopped down on his bed, pulled the covers around him and let himself drift off into darkness.
Something poked him in the shoulder.
"Mmmph?"
That something poked again.
"R-Ren?"
He opened his eyes to see Nora standing over him, covered in blankets, but still visibly quivering despite the dark.
"Are you ok?" Ren asked, concerned, his sleepiness momentarily forgotten.
"R-Ren, I'm so sorry, I-I don't know, I had this awful nightmare, a-and now I'm j-just so cold and scared now Ren, w-what do I do? I don't wanna bother you but I just can't shake it all off", she whimpered.
Ren sat up, and moved over on his bed, allowing Nora to dart under the covers. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head down on his chest as Ren hugged her back, comforting and warming her like he had ever since they were small children.
Despite Nora's rough-and-tumble tomboy-ish nature, Ren always found himself comforting her in such a manner.
From the village as small children, whenever a storm rolled around, Nora would always find her way to his house and climb into his room. He found himself holding her and singing her to sleep on the first few weeks after the Grimm came. And even though the dorms back at Signal were not co-ed, Nora had always found her way to him on the darkest of nights. And now, in this night...
He always felt so powerless.
He hated it so much, he hated the fact that Nora could never seem to find peace at night. Some nights, he would lay awake, holding onto her, wishing so badly he could take the demons that tormented her so and bury them deep, deep in a place where none would dare return to his friend. It physically hurt him to see his best friend in such a manner, and it hurt even more knowing there wasn't any one thing he could do to make her feel better.
But for the time being, he would do his best.
He squeezed her tight and slowly rubbed her back as her shivering subsided. She turned her head and looked up at him.
"Ren?"
"Yes Nora?"
"I-I'm so sorry I had to wake you up again," she said softly. "But it's happening again, that nightmare, where you're...you're..." She trailed off, then spoke up again. "Ren? Can you sing that song you always did when we were little? Please?"
Ren brushed a tear from Nora's cheek, and looked down at her.
"Of course."
Softly, as to not bother Jaune and Pyrrha, he began to sing.
"Don't you worry about the dark, I will light up the night with the love in my heart..."
Nora's breathing began to slow as she began to calm down.
"...I will burn like the sun, I will keep you safe and warm..."
"Ren?" Nora whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you," she murmured sleepily. "I'm glad we're together...well not together together but...thanks, Renny. You're the best..." She trailed off, a soft smile on her face.
Ren gave her a comforting squeeze. He opened his mouth to say something to her but a content sigh from Nora indicated she was finally beginning to drift off to sleep. So instead, Ren was content in lying back down and holding her close as they both drifted off to sleep.
"Good night, Nora," he murmured.
Sleep was just beginning to wash over Ren until a loud (and somewhat exaggerated) yawn broke over the soft noise of the television. Ren opened an eye, slightly annoyed.
Jaune had been the one to wake him up again with that yawn and a large stretch, evidently deciding that this all-night movie marathon was too much for him. Looking back around the room, his gaze drifted over to the bed where Nora was currently snuggled up to Ren. With a smirk, he whispered teasingly:
"Psst! Hey, I think you should kiss her!"
Ren shot him a disparaging glare at him and swiped a finger across his throat, effectively shutting him up. With an apologetic look, he turned back to the TV.
Pyrrha, completely oblivious to this, turned to face Jaune.
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"Uh... No... I just said..." Jaune stumbled over his words. Flustered by Ren's silent admonition, he stammered, "Uh... I uh, said I think you...uh... should...kiss..."
Jaune's nervous butchery of his sentence was cut short as Pyrrha, being completely oblivious to his joke and its recipient, leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Jaune's eyes shot open in surprise.
Even from the corner of the room, Ren could see Jaune's face turn a shade of red to rival even Pyrrha's hair.
And there they sat: Pyrrha beaming, Jaune with mouth agape in utter surprise, and Ren watching with sleepy amusement from his bed with Nora in his arms.
The silence was broken when Jaune started to sputter.
"Puh- Pyr- Pur- P- What just- what?" He managed to squeak out.
"Oh Jaune, I thought you'd never ask!" Pyrrha was positively glowing at this point.
"…Pyrrha? What just happened?"
"The smile began to droop from Pyrrha's face. "Didn't… Didn't you ask me to kiss you?"
"Um… not exactly… I-I… I meant…"
Pyrrha looked down towards the floor, disappointment and sadness clear on her face.
"Oh… I'm… I'm sorry, Jaune… I just thought that… I must have heard wrong," she muttered, heart sinking
"But Pyrrha?" Jaune piped up uncertainly.
"…yes?" Pyrrha looked up at him, not quite meeting his eye.
"It's not exactly what I meant, but… oh for Dust's sake…what the heck."
And with that, Jaune leaned back in towards Pyrrha and kissed her full on the lips, wrapping his arms around her.
Pyrrha let out a squeak, eyes wide with surprise, before finally closing them and giving in to the kiss.
After a while, the two broke apart, beaming happily at each other, not saying a word.
A drowsy voice broke the silence.
"About time," Ren chuckled from the other side of the room.
Pyrrha and Jaune looked over at him, smiles still etched on their faces. "Yeah, I guess it was," quipped Jaune.
Pyrrha giggled, wrapping an arm around him, and together, the new couple turned back towards the TV to finish the movie.
Ren allowed himself one last smile, before closing his eyes, the blissful quiet broken only by the soft sounds of the television and Nora's content sighs and sleepy murmurings about sloths.
The next morning
"So there I was, in the middle of the night!"
Nora was leaning over over the table, deep in storytelling mode, as Jaune and the two sisters from team RWBY, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, looked on, engrossed in the epic tale. Ren looked on in amusement.
"It was day," Ren corrected her.
"We were surrounded... by ROBOT LASER SHARKS."
"They were still Beowolves...?"
"I thought it was hopeless, there were MILLIONS of them!"
"There were two."
"And they just. Kept. Getting. BIGGER!" Nora accentuated the word "bigger" by slamming her coffee mug down on the table, causing Jaune to fall out of his seat in surprise and turning heads from other tables. Ren raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"But then... when all hope seemed lost... IT CAME."
Ruby spoke up, eyes gleaming with anticipation. "What was it, Nora? What saved you?"
"It was he, the NOBLE SLOTHY STEED LASER OVERLORD."
Ren chuckled. "I actually have not heard this dream before."
Nora continued, undeterred. "And then, he shot laser pancakes at the robot laser sharks and blew them all up, and we ended up flying into the sunrise with a trophy made of laser shark heads!"
Ren cocked an eyebrow at her. "Someone had an eventful night."
Yang butted in. "Nora, I think that was the most jaw-some story yet, but now i'm sad that you've fin-ished."
The puns were met with blank stares as Yang grinned from ear to ear and pointed pistol fingers at her friends with a loud "eyyyyyy!"
"So," Ruby broke the silence. "You look chipper today!" Indeed, Jaune was munching away at a pancake with a vigor they hadn't seen since they stomped team BRNZ in the tournament several months ago. Jaune barely had a chance to respond before Pyrrha walked by with a plate of waffles, humming brightly to herself as she sat down next to Jaune.
"Hey Pyrrha," quipped Yang, "You know you just missed the most fin-tastic pun session this side of Vacuo."
The table groaned collectively as Yang laughed triumphantly. "But anyway, something got your spirits up? You're always humming whenever you're happy."
"Oh?" Pyrrha replied. "I never noticed, but I'm just having a good morning today!" She smiled, and not-quite-accidentally nudged Jaune in the side.
The table ate and chatted for a few more minutes, punctuated by more of Yang's puns and rounds of groaning. Pyrrha finished her food and stood up.
"I have to go down to Vale to pick something up." She offered a hand to Jaune. "Jaune, do you want to come with me?"
Jaune grunted an affirmative reply through a mouthful of pancakes. "Mmf shrr thng," he mumbled, wolfing down his food hurriedly. He bid his friends farewell, and walked out of the room with Pyrrha.
Nora had finished her fourth plate of pancakes, and stood up to wave goodbye to her friends. Her words, however, stuck in her throat, however, as she caught sight of her departing teammates.
Jaune and Pyrrha were holding hands.
Nora looked down at Ren and the sisters with a look of utter shock and surprise.
"GUYS!? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN!?" Ruby and Yang wore similar expressions; only Ren kept a neutral expression on his face.
"It's about time," she continued. "I KNEW it was coming from even before the dance but dense Jaune had to be so dense and he didn't even know Pyrrha liked him and even after I could tell he was feeling something too-"
The sisters of team RWBY began to leave as well, scratching their heads in confusion, while Nora rambled on about the new couple.
"Ren!" Nora practically shouted his name. "When was this? Oh don't tell me I missed this last night while they were watching movies? Why'd I have to fall asleeeeeep!?" She was practically clinging to him at that point.
"Nora, I-"
"Ren, you could have woken me up," she pouted. "Why didn't you?"
"Well, you looked quite comfy last night, I didn't want to wake you up."
Nora stared at him blankly for a few seconds before breaking into a smile and poking him playfully on the nose.
"You're sweet, you know that?" She giggled, finishing the last of her pancakes and getting up to grab some more. "But next time don't be such a silly and wake me up... Oh wait, there won't be a next time since now this is totally happening..." Her voice trailed off as she skipped merrily towards the pancake line. Halfway there, she stopped, turned around, and skipped back to Ren.
"But thanks for last night, Renny. That really meant a lot."
And with that, Nora bent down to give Ren a quick hug, tapped him on the nose, and skipped back to the pancake line.
Ren allowed himself a smile. He really was lucky to have such a quirky friend and partner, and as long as they were friends, he would always try his best to-
"REN!" Nora's voice cut through his thoughts faster than Stormflower through an Ursa. "Come on! We need more pancakes or else we won't have energy to beat team RWBY in the snowball fight later!"
A look of horror crept onto Ren's face.
"...fight... team... RWBY...?"
Here we are again, regrettably at the end of another story. But thank you for reading, and I really hope y'all's enjoyed!
Read, review, fa... oh who am i kidding. Y'all know the drill.
i-pie. Stay crispy, my friends