"Uh, hello.." Jaune muttered groggily into his scroll, blinking a few times to clear his vision.
"Jauney boy, what are you doing? You're late! Get out of your onesie and get your butt over here." A voice yelled through the scroll screen.
"Nora? What are you calling for? And I thought we talked about the whole onesie thing. That was in the past." Jaune yawned, checking his alarm clock.
"Holly! I can't believe it! Sorry Nora, I'll be right there." Jaune yelped, tossing his scroll aside and leaping out of bed. Jaune ran around the room, pulling on a relatively clean outfit and his weapon. He quickly left his small apartment and fled to the café down the street near his workplace.
"Sorry I'm late everyone." Jaune said with a nervous smile as he approached a table in the back of the café.
"Jauney boy, it's about time." Nora exclaimed giving her friend an aggressive hug.
"We were beginning to think you weren't going to come." Ren muttered sipping his green tea calmly.
"I guess I just overslept." The blonde chuckled, taking a seat across from the pair.
Jaune was about to ask Ren a question when he heard the sound of footsteps and turned his head to see who it was. "Yay! Pyrrha you're back!" Nora exclaimed.
"Yes and I have your pancakes." The redhead said setting a large pink plate of pancakes in front of her hyperactive friend. "Oh Jaune! You made it! Oh um, I'm sorry if I knew you were going to be here I would've gotten you something. Would you like me to order something for you?" Pyrrha stuttered.
"Thanks, but I'll just get it myself later. It's fine." Jaune replied, smiling gently before Nora began to tickle him, causing him to burst into a fit of laughter. The pair began causing quite a commotion, Jaune cursing loudly as Nora tickled him. Finally after a minute Jaune was finally able to swat his energetic friend away and took a moment to catch his breath.
Nora giggled like a child at Jaune's panting but proceeded to sit down. "I feel like it's been foreverrrrrr. Right Ren?" Nora commented, asking her best friend.
"It has been a while. I heard that you, Jaune got a position at Beacon." Ren said pensively.
"Yeah, I start on Monday. You and Nora are still stationed in Kuroyuri right?" The scraggly blonde replied fumbling with his jacket.
"Yes. It's been very quiet lately. The grimm seem to have disappeared." Ren explained, following a sip of tea.
"How about you Pyrrha? How's work been? It must be tough working with the corps in Atlas" Jaune asked his former partner.
"Oh, it's been alright. Ironwood is actually very kind." Pyrrha chuckled quietly.
"Weiss is there too! So, it shouldn't be too lonely. Right Pyrrha?" Nora asked. "Yes, well it's been interesting. She and Winter are... um uh very headstrong at times." Pyrrha mumbled.
"Oh has anyone heard from Ruby and Yang lately?" Pyrrha inquired, switching the topic.
"Last I heard Ruby was still working with Qrow, and Yang was well... you know doing super secret missions." Jaune said taking one of Nora's pancakes.
"Hey! That's mine!" Nora growled, her lips quivering into a pout.
"I spoke with Yang the other day actually, she said she was heading back early for the anniversary." Ren said with a halfhearted smile ignoring Nora's cries over her stolen pancakes, the girl muttering over how she felt sorry for her precious brunch.
"Oh yeah... that's coming up in a few days." Nora sighed, her expression becoming melancholy.
"Yeah it is... I can't believe it's been that long already." Jaune shuddered, Pyrrha placing a hand on his shoulder sympathetically.
"I-I miss her." Nora grimaced, her eyes tearing up.
"We all do." Ren uttered, wrapping an arm around his friend.
"I-I'm going to get something to uh eat. Yeah, eat." Jaune fumbled standing up and walking over to the counter. "Hey Gwen, the usual please." He told the dark haired barista.
"Sure thing Jaune. Order up." She winked, handing him a cup of coffee and a chocolate muffin.
"Thanks Gwen." Jaune replied, placing his money on the counter and slowly walking back to the table.
Jaune sat back down on his comfy cushioned chair, setting his stuff down. Nora quickly scooped up his chocolate muffin and without hesitation crammed the whole thing into her mouth. "Sweet, sweet revenge." She smirked, licking her lips.
"Whatever." Jaune said indifferently, rolling his eyes.
"Nora, we better get going." Ren interrupted suddenly after checking his scroll.
"Already?" Jaune asked with surprise which quickly turned into disappointment.
"Well you were the one who was late Jauney boy." Nora chuckled.
"I have to get going too. I guess we'll all meet next week for the memorial." Pyrrha muttered, hugging her friends.
"See you next week." Jaune smiled, waving his friends goodbye as they filed out of the building. Jaune who had decided to stay behind, settled himself in his chair and sipped his coffee slowly with an air of pensiveness.
All the alumni from Beacon had changed a lot, including Jaune himself. They had been through hell and back. Jaune, though thankful for the relative peace and somewhat more confident with himself, felt a bit lost. All his friends had started to pursue their own dreams and goals, whereas Jaune faltered.
Jaune wasn't sure what he wanted to do and thus when he was asked to work at Beacon, he gratefully accepted. Jaune quickly gulped down his coffee feeling a sudden burst of loneliness, returned his mug to Gwen and left the café, whistling a soft tune.
It was after all just another quiet day in Vale.