Puppy Love is Sickening
One week later….
"I wonder which one looks better?" Ruby wondered aloud, holding up two outfits in front of a mirror: one was her regular combat outfit that she wore, the other was the outfit she'd worn when her team (plus Sun and Neptune) tried to gather information on the White Fang that one time.
For some reason she was having a harder time than usual picking which one to go with. In just about any other circumstance she'd have grabbed her combat outfit and threw that on without thinking twice, but now that she and Jaune were dating picking between the two sets of clothes suddenly got a million times harder!
And she was supposed to meet him for their date (Pyrrha was their designated chaperon this time) in less than an hour!
"...hey Weiss?" she asked, eyeing her partner in the reflection; Weiss was sitting at the room's desk, apparently writing something down.
"The third one!" the heiress called back, not looking up from her project.
Ruby groaned. "I only have the two outfits, Weiss!"
"No, you have three; I've seen your laundry."
"That one's my backup combat outfit!" she protested. "What are you even doing over there, anyway?"
This caused Weiss to put her pen down and faced her diminutive partner. "If you must know, I'm writing a letter to my sister," she explained, "I promised her I'd give regular updates on my time at Beacon."
Ruby pouted. "Fine, just don't say anything about me and Jaune, that's private!"
"'Jaune and I'," Weiss corrected, "and don't worry; it's bad enough that I know about your sex life, Winter doesn't need that curse as well."
"Thanks, Weiss!" She let Weiss return to her letter, focusing on her own dilemma once again. Argh, why does this have to be so hard? ...I like my normal clothes better, but what if Jaune thinks they make me look like a little kid? ...but the other one looks boring!
After another minute of fretting she heard the door to their room open, accompanied by the sound of her sister and Blake's arguing voices.
"I said a was sorry already, you didn't have to break it!"
"It was embarrassing! Why do you even have that thing, anyway?"
"For laughs. *sigh*, now I'm out another thousand Lien…."
"Well it serves you right for pulling it out with so many people around!"
Weiss sighed and put her pen down again. "I know I shouldn't ask, but...why are you two arguing?"
"Blake broke my laser pointer…," Yang pouted, hopping up to her bunk after kicking her boots off. "Now I have to go buy a new one…."
"Again, serves you right." Blake repeated. Before the subject could be dragged on she turned to Ruby and asked "You're not ready yet?"
"No, I can't decide what to wear!" she wailed. She quickly turned around and held each outfit up in front of her. "Which one looks better?"
"...I dunno, they both look good," Blake said after a quick glance.
"Ugh! You're no help either!" Now visibly frustrated, she turned to Yang. "Yang, which if these make me look prettier?"
Previously reclining, Yang shot up (hitting her head on the ceiling in the process) and stared at her sister with wide, horrified eyes.
"Who are you and what have you done with Ruby?" she demanded (while rubbing her head).
"Ya-ang!"
"Just answer the question, Yang!" Weiss urged, annoyed, "Then I can finish my letter in peace!"
"Why do you suddenly care about looking 'pretty'?" Yang asked, ignoring Weiss, "You never used to care about stuff like this before."
Ruby lowered the outfits, her face becoming rouge. "Because, well...Jaune and I-" she looked directly at Weiss when she said "I", "-are dating now, like, officially, and, well...I just wanna look nice for him."
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"...I just don't want her to feel like she's hanging out with a bum, you know?"
Across the hall Jaune was explaining to the rest of his team why he was freaking out about not having any good clothes for their date. Aside from his uniform and his casual/combat outfit his metaphorical closet was quite bare, and he no longer possessed the suit he originally wore to the Dance. (Though for some reason he still had the dress from that night….) He wasn't loaded like Pyrrha was from all her endorsements, nor was he as handy with a needle as Ren was, so making his own clothes was equally out of the question. Not that it really mattered, given how little time was left before he had to meet up with Ruby.
Pyrrha, with whom Jaune was currently baring his soul, nodded once he was done talking. "I see…," she said, looking contemplative. Eventually she spoke up again. "Jaune, how long have you known Ruby?" she asked.
"Since coming here," he answered, "but what does that-"
She held up a finger for him to "shut up for a moment", "And has she ever struck you as the kind of person who would care how another person looks?"
He shook his head. "No, just their weapons."
She put a hand in his shoulder, "Then you don't have to worry. I'm sure the two of will be just...fine…." A dismal expression passed over Pyrrha's face, but it was gone in less than a second. "I mean, it's not as though we're going to a place with a strict dress code or anything, right?"
Jaune didn't respond immediately, instead rubbing the beck if his head and chuckling nervously.
"Um, well…."
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"Gavino's?!" Yang, Blake and Weiss exclaimed in unison as Ruby sheepishly poking her fingers together.
"Yeah…."
"How in the name of Remnant did Jaune of all people get a reservation at Gavino's?" Weiss demanded, "Even my family's on the waiting list for that place!"
"Well, the Arcs are pretty famous Huntsmen…," Yang mused.
"Are you sure he didn't mean El Pizza Bandito's instead?" asked Blake.
Ruby shook her head. "Nope, he showed me a menu and everything; that's the other reason I can't decide what to wear."
Slamming her pen down Weiss stood up and grabbed the outfits from Ruby, tossing them on her bunk before heading over to the room's closet.
"Be careful!" the young Huntress wailed, diving after her clothes, "These are the only clothes I have here!"
"No, you have something else," Weiss reminded her partner, pulling out the red dress Ruby wore to the Dance and handing it to her, "this is the most appropriate thing thing you own if you're going to Gavino's." She then dug out a pair of high heeled shoes.
"But I hate wearing those stupid lady stilts!" she whined.
"It's for your own good!"
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"Pyrrha, I can't let you do this!" Jaune protested as his partner attempted to drag him out the door, "It's too much!"
"You need a suit," she insisted, "or else they won't let you in!"
"Yeah, but-"
"Jaune, I've been to Gavino's before; if you don't want to disappoint Ruby, you'll let me buy you a suit."
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"But I don't want to!" whined Ruby as Yang and Blake held her down so Weiss could put the heels on her, "They su-u-uck!"
"It's the price you have pay for going to such a prestigious restaurant." Weiss managed to shove one of Ruby's feet into the shoes and started to work on the other. "You'll be sitting most of the time, so just put up with it."
Unsurprisingly, this didn't cause Ruby to struggle any less.
"It's only for the evening, right? So stop being a dunce and-"
"You love Jaune, right?" Yang asked, interrupting Weiss in the process.
Ruby stopped struggling for a moment and gave her sister a confused look. "Yeah," she nodded, "I told him that yesterday when he gave me those flowers."
A satisfied grin. "So then how much do you think he loves you if he went through the trouble of getting dinner reservations at Gavino's on such short notice?"
Ruby thought for a minute. She'd heard tales of how difficult it was to eat at Gavino's, and if Weiss said her family had trouble getting reservations there then there must be some truth to those stories.
Which, now that she thought about it, made it all the more miraculous that Jaune had been able to get them at all!
"...a lot."
Yang nodded. "So don't you think you should put up with the shoes and enjoy yourself tonight? I'm sure Jaune would appreciate it if you had a good time, especially since he went through all the trouble to set this up."
He probably would….
"Yeah, you're right," the 15 year old girl relented, "...fine, I'll wear the stupid shoes…."
"Atta girl!" Yang patted Ruby on the shoulder, "You'll have a great time, trust me!"
"Still though, we need to do something about your face," Weiss mused, finally getting the other shoe in her team leader. She rubbed her chin for a minute before snapping her fingers. "Blake, get me your make up kit!"
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"What's the big deal?" protested Jaune, "I could just borrow something from Neptune or someone."
Pyrrha groaned in frustration. "It's a 'big deal' because-" She stopped abruptly. "...because I want to pay you back for what you did for me at the Dance."
This actually gave Jaune pause as he blinked in surprise. "But...I was returning the favor to you then."
"I know, but you were the only person there who asked me to dance. ...not to mention everything else you've done for me…." She whispered the last bit.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Never mind!" She quickly composed herself, "Anyway, consider us even after this."
Right after Pyrrha said this, and before Jaune could respond, there was a knock at the door.
"Jaune, you ready yet?" came Ruby's voice from the other side, "Don't we have to be at the restaurant soon?"
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
"So, um…," Jaune stammered as he and Ruby sat at their reserved table at Gavino's; Pyrrha wasn't able to join them because the reservations were only made for a party of two, so she decided to spend time window shopping until the two young lovers were done with their meal. In the meantime, they were mostly fidgeting uncomfortably in the oppressively fancy atmosphere of the place. "...you look nice."
Ruby blushed. "Um...thanks…." Weiss had done a complete number on her; in addition to her dress from the Dance she wore her cloak around her neck like a scarf, with Yang's purple pendant necklace sticking out from underneath and a brooch of her symbol clipped on the side. Her face had more makeup on than she'd ever worn before, most noticeable on her cheeks and around her silver eyes where they were outlined in mascara. It made her look a good couple years older than she actually was, as well as "fine", as Yang put it. "I had some help…."
"Cool…."
Aside from how they marveled at the place when they first arrived, Jaune couldn't think of anything to say. Normally he'd talk with Ruby about comics and stuff, but for some reason that felt taboo in somewhere so high class, which left very few avenues of conversation left to him.
"Your suit looks nice, too," Ruby said, "Good thing Pyrrha had us stop by the rental place first, huh?"
"Yeah; I don't want to think about what I'd say to my parents if we were turned away at the door." He twiddled his thumbs. "They uh...say they want to meet you."
"Oh. …did you tell them about…?"
"I kinda had to, it's why my parents reserved this for us." Now it was Jaune's turn to blush. "My mom wants grand kids now..."
Ruby blushed even harder.
"I still haven't told my dad about this yet," she admitted, "He's kind of...obsessively protective."
Jaune gulped.
"...really?"
"Oh yeah," she nodded, "he once chased some boy halfway across Patch because he caught him making out with Yang."
Jaune was speechless. He was worried about Ruby's dad finding out what happened between the two of them, and now he was mentally preparing his last will and testament for when Taiyang Xiao-Long found he'd stolen his daughter's virginity.
Fortunately the wait staff chose that moment to bring their food over, thankfully saving him from contemplating exactly how the man would pummel him into the ground. A man in an impressive chef's hat walked up to their table, followed by two waiters each pushing a trolley with covered platters on them.
"Monsieur, Madame," he said, addressing Ruby and Jaune. He then snapped his fingers and the two waiters maneuvered next to them. He then turned to Ruby, "For you, Madame, the finest linguini puttanesca, with freshly grown vegetables, and top grade Tuna for that extra bit of flavor. Plus a dash of cheese." The accompanying waiter lifted the cover, revealing the dish in question.
For some reason, despite it being what she ordered, Ruby suddenly felt sick to her stomach once the smell reached her.
"And for Monsieur-" the other cover was lifted, "-spaghetti noodles and 100 percent grade A beef meatballs, topped with a succulent, spicy tomato sauce, and a sharp cheese garnish. I take it you're one who appreciates the classics?"
While Jaune was acting bashful from the (perceived) praise, Ruby was fighting to keep her stomach from turning over. She didn't know why, but there was just something about the smell of her and Jaune's meals mixing together was too much for her senses; it was the grossest, wettest, most unpleasant thing she ever remembered smelling before, even worse than her dad's dirty laundry, and in no time it proved too much for her to handle.
"Um...where's the bathroom?" she asked, groaning a little. The chef raised an eyebrow.
"It's that way," he gestured, "why?"
"Thanks!" Moving so quickly she might as well have been using her semblance Ruby leaped out of her chair and rushed in the direction the chef indicated, bumping into the other tables once or twice before disappearing behind a door that said "Restroom".
The chef glanced back at Jaune, who chuckled nervously.
"Eh heh...must have been something she ate?"
to be continued….
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Told ya this one would be fluffy. Also, the heck did Ruby eat earlier? Questions for another time, I guess.
Anyway, I wonder how Pyrrha feels about all this? I mean, she seemed fine with Jaune taking Ruby on a date to a fancy restaurant, and she even got him a nice suit for the occasion! Yeah, I think she'll be fine!
So Teams RWBY and JNPR know about Jaune and Ruby, and at least Velvet knows...what about the rest of the school? We'll find that out next time. Until then, follow me on Twitter (at "the_layman215") for updates, RWBY retweets, and other fun stuff!