Shoutout to RaXieF, who requested this ship. I'd like to clarify that, when you make a request, you should specify the nature of the ship. Friend is a ship. Romance is a ship. Angst is a ship. Rivalry is a ship. Otherwise, I'll choose.
Neptune had mastered suavery. He could strut, swashbuckle, model, and look pretty all day. He could pull off blue hair. Then he was stricken with a schnee. And for the first time in his life, he knew that he had to step up his game. He was outclassed in all possible ways.
Weiss sat across from him at a table he'd paid for. She was examining her nails on one hand. He glanced away, searching for inspiration, and missed that she had glanced to him. He looked back, and saw her staring at her nails. He knew he had to try.
"Uh. So..."
But her scroll vibrated, and she turned away to check it. She looked upset. She snapped it shut and flicked her hair, and resumed examining her nails.
"You don't have to be cool all the time," Jaune had said.
"But you do have to be honest," was the implication.
Neptune swallowed. He was in public, in a restaurant he couldn't afford, with a girl who could buy his whole family's net worth. Despite this, he chose to be brave, as the great man Jaune Arc had done. He lowered his armor. He dropped his cool, and let the fear consume him. He leaned forward over the table, his heart beating at his ribcage as if trying to escape rising lava. As he leaned, Weiss' eyes snapped up to him, suspicious.
"I'm super nervous," he squeaked.
The moment of truth had come. Either this would work, or he would learn from it. At worst, Sun would laugh for days about his failure, and he would cry forever about the girl who got away. That was the source of his worry, the bane of his cool: The imperative that he attract this one, specific girl.
Weiss hadn't reacted, beyond freezing and looking like he'd just kissed her out of turn. She looked away from the table as if seeking a waiter, then checked her other shoulder, then leaned in suddenly to whisper, "Me too."
Neptune nodded.
"I'm not good with dates, and this is actually really formal which is intimidating because I know your manners are better than mine and I'll make a fool of myself if I eat in front of you and if we actually order anything here I'll go bankrupt so I really don't want to I just thought since you're used to this kind of thing I didn't want to disappoint you right off the bat because I..."
The words seized in his throat. Through great effort, he choked them out.
"I... Really, really like you. And the one thing I didn't want to do is lose your attention right off the bat."
She didn't answer. She was thinking.
"But that just happened," he realized.
She looked away, not to a waiter, but to her thoughts. In order, they were: Father won't hate this one, Winter will consider him a fixer-upper, he's honest, he doesn't have a bad reputation, I'll have to research his lineage since he's from Vacuo and might be part faunus, and... He isn't Jaune.
She had spent many hours staring into space about this subject. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss had all caught her doing it.
Ruby had asked, "Weiss, whatcha thinkin' about?"
Yang: "Is he cute?"
Blake had glanced up from her book and stared, wordlessly, as if counting the seconds to evaluate the depth of the thought. Then, after Weiss had noticed her noticing- after they had shared a long, standoffish stare- Blake released a slow and knowing smile.
She had spent a long time evaluating Neptune. Because, she realized, "I like you."
She blinked. Was that out loud?
"You do?!"
Neptune grinned like the moon, then corected himself.
"No, I mean yeah, who doesn't, right?"
Too aloof, he thought to himself. He added, "I mean, yeah, because I like you, too."
"I don't like formal dinners," Weiss admitted.
They stood and left as the waiter arrived.
That night, they watched the moon enter phase, and the debris field glow as it passed through the horizon. Then they descended the CCT Tower and watched it again.
They threw bread crumbs at fish in the emerald gardens, and giggled to no end when Neptune revealed how to coax the creatures to glow.
They laughed often and long into the night.
Then they spoke and traded childhoods. The experience was novel for both: To tell the truth, unabridged, and receive empathy without judgment. As the moon rose high above them, they felt a warm breeze wishing its last farewell to summer in Vale. The felt the weight of each other's attention. Lying on their backs on the grass, they had forgotten about every star in the sky or the vast and overwhelming darkness looming above them. They studied the lights in each other's eyes, and held the embers of their union tight as they closed.
The first kiss was formal and terse. They parted and evaluated it. Neptune swallowed, and reminded himself to lower his armor. The second kiss was looser, exploratory, threatening to undo all temperance in them. When Weiss pulled away, Neptune sighed with longing.
The third kiss was goodnight. Weiss entered her dorm room with crimson blushing all across her cheeks and her chest. Blake glanced up from a book, first to her clock, then to her friend. The accusatory grin was judge, jury, and executioner.
"Don't you dare say anything," Weiss threatened.
Blake Blaked. But Yang Yanged.
"Hey there lover-girl," she chimed.
"EWWWW, BOY-KISSER," Ruby shrieked.
Weiss flicked her hair.
"You'll do it too, someday. Grow up, Ruby," she ordered.
At Neptune's dorm, there was a sudden, deep silence. He had entered with his armor on, all coolness orbiting him and shining.
"Sup," was his introduction.
Sun and their rando roomies nodded. Sun was waiting for the night's evaluation. Neptune had to set the mood before his dude friend could react. They all waited. It was quiet. Then Neptune held out a fist, and Sun dapped it.
