It had been a couple of days since they had arrived in the small town to treat Ruby's injury. Jaune was having problems keeping his head clear of the thoughts that kept entering at the very moment he took his mind off whatever self-assigned task he took up during their stay. He did anything he could do inside the small town, chop firewood. Helping out with hunting deer or setting traps for rabbits. Carrying tools for the blacksmith and filling the food troughs at the stables.

"Jaune?"

Snapping out of his trance, he looked over to Ren. The two of them were helping prepare dinner for the house. An elderly woman gave them rooms to sleep in while Ruby was healing inside of her house, she said that the rooms of her children were always empty so she did not mind the company. Inside the kitchen, a pot was bubbling away with the ingredients they had already prepared while they were chopping up a few more things to add to it.

"Are you okay?" The dark-haired man asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because you just cut your finger..."

Looking down at his cutting board, he saw blood on the knife he was using as well on a few carrots he had cut. His Aura had already sealed the wound but the blood remained. With a sigh, he shook his head lightly and dropped the knife in the sink to be cleaned while washing the blood off his fingers. "Sorry." He said simply as he dried his hands off and began to separate the contaminated carrot slices from the clean ones and began to eat the ones he bled on. No use letting it go to waste since it was his blood anyways.

"Are you sure you're okay, Jaune? You've been kinda out of it for a while now..." Ren said as he collected the pieces of celery he cut up and deposited them into the stew.

"Yeah, just a lot of my mind, y'know?" He was not lying, just neglected to mention what was on his mind. He chewed on the few slices of carrots he soiled as Ren put the rest of the ingredients into the stew.

"Does this have anything to do with why you're flipping between caring for Ruby and completely ignoring her?" He asked. Jaune sighed as he rubbed his head gently. Of course, Ren noticed. The man is a ninja in a green shirt and a pink stripe in his hair currently wearing a pink apron. Jaune had been tearing himself apart trying to help Ruby recover as fast as she could, this meant that he would help her out of bed to change the sheets, help her move to the bathroom where Nora or the nice woman would help out for more womanly things and taking meals to her.

But then he would notice the look in her eyes, the smile on her lips. The sound of her voice as she thanked him or the way she simply said his name. All of that would remind him of what she had told him, what she confessed to him their first day here. Then, he would panic. He would avoid her and go on his self-appointed tasks to try and forget about the fact that she liked him like that, the same way that Pyrrha did. Then, after a few hours, he would feel guilty by ignoring her since it was his fault she was hurt in the first place and try and help her every way possible, creating a cycle he could not escape from.

"Kinda..."

"Jaune." Ren placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "It may be your fault that Ruby got hurt, but she already forgave you. You don't have to feel guilty about it. Without you being there, she probably would have died from her infection." Jaune let his shoulders drop as he listened to his friend. How easy it would be if that was the only thing that was bothering him. With a sigh, he popped the rest of the carrots into his mouth and took his time to chew them, buying more time to think.

"Ren," Jaune asked as their dinner stewed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anytime you need, Jaune," Ren said as he pulled off the cooking apron off his body and neatly folded it in the table.

"Okay. So, hypothetically-" Jaune began.

"Hypothetically," Ren nodded.

"-What if you knew a girl for almost a year-"

"mmhm,"

"And, hypothetically, something happens to her-"

Ren nodded as he listened, cleaning up the kitchen as Jaune continued.

"And, hypothetically, in a delirium of some sort brought on by some idiot that just happens to be you, she admits that she likes you..."

At that, his friend paused mid movement of turning on the tap and simply blinked a few times. Once he was done processes the information, he resumed his task and began to wash the tools they used to cook dinner.

"Well, hypothetically-" Ren started.

"Hypothetically." Jaune agreed.

"I would take her feelings into consideration and do what I believe is the right thing to do by both her and myself." The man said as he began to dry off the knives before placing them back into the stand. "I hope that helps." Jaune just nodded as he looked out the frosted window into the dark, winter evening. He needed to think about this some more and he was not sure how long that would take. Eventually, the stew was finished and they carried four bowls between the two of them down the halls towards the room Ruby and Nora were currently occupying.

With a soft knock and waiting for a few seconds, Jaune balanced the third bowl as Ren opened the door. Inside, Ruby was still confined to bed and was just barely keeping it together. Not being able to move around like she wanted to, she was slowly losing her mind. She was scolded by the nice woman who let them into her house when she tried to explore a little bit the second day. Her only saving grace was the fact that she could perform simple maintenance on her weapon while sitting in bed and a few card games with whoever was around.

Currently, the two women of their team were engaged in some form of card game on the bed. Jaune was not sure who was winning when they came in since Ruby threw her arms in the air, sending her hand flying into the air. "Hurray! Food!" She called out. Nora looked up from her hand and saw Ren and Jaune bringing dinner and did the same thing, sending cards fluttering through the air and onto the ground and joining Ruby in calling out for food.

Jaune let out a small laugh as Ren just sighed and shook his head. The two of them made their way to the bed and handed out the bowls of stew. "You're going to have to clean those up, Nora," Ren told her as he pulled over another chair and sat down in it. Jaune simply leant against the nightstand and took his first mouthful of stew. A chunk of beef and a carrot made him feel like he could forget the whole ordeal. Real food had nothing on the ration packs they were eating before they arrived.

The meal was shared with casual conversations about what was going on outside, what everyone did during the day and how Ruby will try to walk around a bit tomorrow. With a few comments from everyone else, Jaune began to collect the bowls to be washed before heading in for the night. As Ruby handed hers out to him, his fingers brushed up against hers lightly, he was about to say sorry for it when he looked into her eyes.

Large pools of silvers stared into the deep blue of his as his fingers slipped over her knuckles as he gripped her bowl lightly. "Thanks, Jaune." She said quietly.

There it was again.

The way she spoke his name. He heard her say his name hundreds of times back at Beacon, but like with Pyrrha, he only noticed affection directed towards him when he was slapped in the face by it. First, it was Pyrrha's kiss before she forced him into a rocket locker and sent him to safety. Now, it was Ruby, who confessed to him after nearly losing her to an infection. He did not know how long he looked into her eyes, but obviously, it was long enough for someone to notice.

"Oh. My. God." Nora whispered not so quietly. Looking over to the red head, she was looking between Jaune and Ruby with wide eyes and a grin creeping across her face. Jaune quickly yanked the bowl from Ruby's hand as she yanked her hand away at the same time, her face glowing red as she tried to look away from him while he did the same. "Ruby, do you hav-" Nora was interpreted by a pillow flying wrapping around her face with so much force, it knocked her to the ground as red petals fell around her.

Looking back at Ruby, Jaune saw her face was red and had her arm stretched out from where she threw her pillow at Nora. Undeterred by the sudden appearance of the pillow on her face or her new position on the ground, Nora simply raised the pillow off her face and looked down at the bed. "You do have-" Once again, her comment was cut off by Ruby, this time the younger woman leapt off the bed using her semblance and forced the pillow back onto her face. Nora continued to talk, even though her words were being muffled by the pillow.

"Didn't that hurt?" Jaune asked as he stood by and watched Ruby try to smoother his teammate.

"Yes. Yes, it did..."

Suddenly, Nora simply puts her hands under Ruby and lifted her up like she weighed nothing and got up as if nothing happened. Letting out an undignified squeak, she slipped into bridal style in Nora's arms and was simply deposited back into her bed. Before either male member of the team could say anything, the hammer wielder of their group began to shove them out of the door. "Out out out out!" She said as she forced them to start walking.

"What, why?" The blond boy asked.

"Girl talk."

"What?"

"Girl talk!" Nora said as a way of clarification. With one more maniacal grin, she all but slammed the door in their faces before muffled yelling and shouting was heard from behind the door. The two men just stared at the wooden door in silence as they just took in what had just happened. Finally, with a breath, Ren broke through.

"Jaune,"

"Yes, Ren?"

"Hypothetically-"

"Hypothetically." Jaune nodded.

"-Did Ruby confess feelings to you?" Ren asked as he looked over at his teammate.

He took a deep breath and held it as he tried to think of an answer that did not sound so defeated. "Yeah..." He breathed out finally as his shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat. Ren simply nodded as he turned to follow Jaune as he made his way to the bedroom that he was sleeping in during their stay here. Flopping onto the single bed, he stared up at the ceiling and ran his hands over his face, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"What do I do, Ren?" Jaune asked finally.

Ren simply walked up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. Did she say anything?" He said simply.

"She said she would wait for me..." He mumbled out as he draped his arm over his face.

Ren simply gave his shoulder a squeeze and began to walk away. "Then, perhaps time will hold the answers..." Jaune simply hummed as the door clicked closed gently, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

As it turned out, time did not wait long before the answer presented itself. Ren was just sitting at the desk in the two-bed room he and Nora shared when the woman in question busted into the room like she did with every room she ever entered. He did not even look up from his oiled cloth as he cleaned his weapon. "This. Is. Happening!" Nora said as she rushed to Ren's side like she always did. Her bright aqua eyes shining as she practically vibrated with excitement.

"Nora, no."

"Nora yes!"

"Nora-"

"But, Ren. Think about it!"

"Nora-"

"If they get together-together,"

"Nora-"

"Then they can stop being so mopey,"

"Nora-"

"And start being happy!"

"Nora." Ren grabbed her by her shoulders to stop her from talking. "We can't just set our friends up like that..."

Confusion crossed Nora's face as she looked at him. "Why not? Ruby likes him."

Ren sighed as he released her shoulders and sat back down in the chair. "Jaune doesn't know how he feels about her."

Then, Nora looked out into the great void, her eyes movings quickly as she unravelled the very fabric of reality to find the cosmic answer on what to do next. She stared out for a few seconds before she looked back at him with a smile. "So, we make him like her!"

"Nora..." He sighed heavily as he placed his face in the palm of his hands as he leant on his elbows, exasperated with his partner.

"And if they like each other, then they'll be happy! And if they're happy, then all the Grimm will stop coming after us!"

Ren was about to counter her train of thought but stopped. She was right. Ever since they had left patch and began to trek across the Kingdom of Vale to get to Mistral, they barely went a few days without meeting a band of Grimm. Even with the increased volume of the dark creatures because of the citie's fall, they were far enough away from the epicentre to avoid most of them. But something was drawing them to their group, and it less of a second to understand why.

With Jaune's grief of losing Pyrrha, his best friend and a woman who's last moment with her were a kiss goodbye, and Ruby's guilt of not doing enough to save her. Between the two of them, there were enough negative feelings to draw even more Grimm towards them. It was putting the team and every town they visited or staying in for any length of time a target for Grimm attack. Including this one. Even with their weapons and skill, they will eventually exhaust their ammunition and grow tired of fighting all the time with barely a moment of reprieve.

He did not know what scared him more, the fact that Nora was right. Or the fact that he was going to help her because she was right.

With one final sigh, Ren pulled his face out of his hands and looked at his partner and oldest friend. "I'm assuming you have a plan already?" He asked. Her grin grew three times the size when she knew that he was going to help her. He suddenly felt very afraid, for Ruby, Jaune, himself, and anyone who got caught up in the crossfire as Nora prepared to play matchmaker.

AN: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I've pretty much hit a brick wall with this one but somehow I found a way!

Even after I finished writing it, I'm not sure if I did a good job at portraying everyone properly, so any and all feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

If you enjoyed, please leave a favourite. If you already have, leave a comment, I love reading them and replying to them. I also have a Tumblr (AngryFaceWritings) Which I don't know how to use properly, I also post on Archive Of Our Own under the name Angry_Face. If you read there too, show your support!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read through my little slice of Dork-love.