Chapter 4

Life is like a box of chocolates

"Huh?" was all Jaune could reply to the girl with the kind smile in front of him. She actually smelt like chocolate and it was frankly making it harder for him to think of a good reply since he hadn't eaten for a while.

"Y'know, you looked a bit sad there, what kind of 2nd year would I be if I left another student to cry on his own?" She joked, her voice portraying a bit of nervousness as she spoke. Even Jaune, in his half dazed state, took notice of it.

Realising he was probably attracting attention with his crying, Jaune stood up quickly and rubbed his eyes thoroughly. The girl jumped slightly as he stood up, her arms raised in a half defensive stance as she stared at him.

"Hmmm? Nah, I'm not crying!" He laughed awkwardly, misinterpreting her stance as surprise at his height "Just allergies! I suffer with them bad! Should see me when I'm near a flower bed"

Relaxing slightly, the girl looked relieved but then a bit peeved as she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Har, har, har" she sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes with a smile. "Listen... erm?"

"... Oh! Jaune!"

"Right. Jaune, I know a sad face when I see one, I've seen plenty in my time so I'm kind of an expert" she was blunt with her answer, but her smooth and sweet accent made it seem a lot gentler. "So what's wrong? My name's Velvet by the way"

Brown eyes stared into his, unwavering and strong. Coupling that with an adorably cute pout and she just made him want to tell her everything, it was just so compelling. Was this what Yang had to deal with when Ruby wanted something? Oum help him.

"L-look" he began, straining to resist the cute. "I'm... Fi-fine ok-k-kay, so please don't worry" he breathed a sigh of relief as he got his words out. Reaching a hand to place it on her shoulder to further try and convince her.

She recoiled as his arm moved towards her, looking fairly scared as she did. She honestly looked like she expected him to try and hit her.

"H-hey!" He cried, immediately getting worried about her. "What's wrong? Are you okay? I'm so sorry! I should have asked before I tried to put my hand on your shoulder! Please forgive me, I didn't know!" He pleaded, putting his hands together and raising them above his head in a form of apology.

Now it was Velvet's turn to give a confused "Huh?"

"W-well, I shoulda asked since all you're trying to be is nice to me... I feel really bad now" he rubbed the back of his head in shame.

"Wait. You were just trying to put your hand on my shoulder? Not... you know... trying to shove me away or pull my ears?" confusingly she stared at him like he was an enigma in time and space, almost as if he was something completely unheard of.

"Oooookay... why the heck would I do that?" he was just as confused as her at this point, probably more to be honest.

"S-sorry... I'm just nervous... people aren't usually very nice to me because I'm a Faunus"

"What?" he almost shouted in surprise, trying to lower his voice so as not to scare her again. "Are you serious? Just because you have bunny ears doesn't mean you're any less a person than me! Heck some of my best friends are Faunus back home, look!" He wrenched his scroll from his pocket and scrolled through the images to one he had been sent a little while ago by a friend.

What it showed honestly shocked Velvet.

On the screen was an image of three Faunus all huddled together and smiling at the screen brightly. One was a girl with olive skin and goat horns that rose up and gently curled slightly around her blonde hair, bright green eyes showed nothing but love and care towards the recipient of the photo. The second was a tall boy with grey hair that was spiked up and pulled back slightly in a more punk style. At first she was confused as to how he was a Faunus before she took a good look at his eyes and teeth. His eyes were canine in nature, with black skin around the edges and an unusual focus to them that a human could never achieve. His canines were more like fangs that looked ready to tear a raw steak to pieces, if it wasn't for the friendly demeanour his whole face practically threw at her, she may have thought he was a bit of a scary person. Third but not least was another girl with mousy brown hair and pale skin, clearly shorter than the rest as she seemed to be having to strain to be in the photo properly. Atop her head were a pair of mouse ears that were focused intently on the screen she had been facing. She looked so innocent and sweet that she could even rival the cuteness of that Ruby girl she had seen running about campus.

"That's Holly, Jack and Mia" Jaune smiled fondly, his past sadness forgotten at the pleasant memories of those three that had been practically his only friends other than his sister's back home. "Those guys are pretty much my best friends in the world. I haven't seen them in ages so they sent me this to remind me they hadn't forgotten about me and missed me"

"I'm so sorry" Velvet mumbled under her breath, looking away in shame as she judged this totally innocent and nice guy by the same standards as she did Cardin Winchester.

"Eh? For what? I know you guys get a bad rap just because you look slightly different, so you had the right to think I was gonna be mean to you but I promise I'm not" he smiled warmly at her.

"But I judged you! I didn't even bother to think you might be this nice. I just saw a guy crying-"

"wasn't crying" he interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh! With "allergies" and I was worried about him. I was already talking to you when I realised you might not like my kind and was too nervous to even bother to think you may a nice per-" she stopped when he raised his hand in a plea for her to stop, she was going a mile a minute and it was making his head hurt.

"Look. I got judged pretty badly earlier by someone and it made me really upset" the bad memories were a back in full force, but he kept a straight face so as not to embarrass himself. "She judged me by the standards of others, though she did kinda have a reason like you, and made me feel terrible. You though? You clearly feel horrible about it and are trying your best to make it up to me. So frankly? I don't care, all I know is you seem like a really nice person who just got a little scared" he raised his hand, showing it to her clearly and gently placed it on her shoulder.

She visibly relaxed and returned his smile with one of her own, happy in knowing she hadn't upset him.

"Nice to know there are humans that won't judge me just because I look like this outside of my team" she grinned, thinking that maybe this guy could possibly be a new friend. She didn't have that many... mostly because of her being a Faunus, but also because of Coco... She could be very scary when she wanted to be.

"Meh, anyone who thinks like that are dirt bags" he sighed, giving her a faint smile, turning his head to the noon day sun. This girl was really nice. He actually wasn't thinking about Weiss while he was talking to her, she just seemed to be able to make him smile. Maybe he could make a friend out of this Velvet girl. Be nice to have someone else he could trust.

"Pffffft!"

In surprise he cocked his head as Velvet began to giggle uncontrollably, holding her stomach as if she was scared it would burst as she did.

"I'm sooooorry!" She laughed, her eyes growing teary. "Oh raspberries! You looked like a bad action movie star when you put your head like that! Oh Mr Bond, please don't try and woo me!" She laughed harder, wiping her eyes to clear them so she could focus on the boy in front of her. "Hoo... Well That's one way to clear the air, sorry Jaune but thank you for making me laugh"

Staring incredulously at her, Jaune couldn't help but laugh as well, imagining himself with a grizzled face and a torn up suit. "No problem, you're helping me forget about my... allergies"

A rabbit ear cocked downwards as she stared at him again, her cheerful demeanour once again turning serious. "Look. I like to think we might be able to be..."

"Friends? Yeah I'd like to think you and me could be friends" he smiled and in return she turned her head and gave a shy smile.

"Right then. Then as your new friend, I must ask; what's wrong?"

"Not gonna let that one go are you?" he grimaced, placing a palm to his face. Great. There were those not-so-good thoughts again.

"Sorry" she replied. "I know what It's like to bottle up negative emotions, my er... Friend on my team is helping me gain some confidence in being open about my problems, so I thought I could help you"

He was defeated. The sincerity in her words. The adorably cute quiver in her lips she made while she waited for his answer. The fact she had been okay with being open about herself to him and cared for his well being. Just the general fact that this girl seemed to radiate the feeling of calm for Jaune. He felt the need to tell her. Hell if It was going to tell someone, it may as well be someone he could get non bias thoughts from.

"Fine. But please, I'll only tell what I feel that I can, so don't try and pry for more?"

Her eyes sparkled as he relented, nodding furiously as she agreed to his terms.

He sat back down with a solid thump, patting beside him for her to sit.

As she did he let out a deep sigh. It wasn't going to be fun having to recall the exact moment he felt his chest hurt with a pain so fierce, he honestly thought he was having a heart attack.

"Heh... Have you ever been in love Velvet?" she looked at him curiously, unsure of how to answer such a question, she did notice that he had gained a certain pained look to his face.

"Ummm... yes, definitely"

"Felt like you just want to make them happy, to prove to them that they were your world?"

"That's what being in love is, right?"

"Ever been told you're basically a monster by the person you love?"

That caught her off guard, her eyes going wide as she stared at him, his eyes were different. Still red and puffy from his tears, but now? Now they just seemed so dull. Like all the life had been drained from them.

"N-no"

"Damn. I was hoping you could offer some advice, hehe" he attempted a smile, but choked as a sudden sob nearly broke free. He flipped his head around so she wouldn't see, forcing his emotions back down in great effort. "The girl I love is rich, famous and utterly beautiful"

This struck a nerve with Velvet, surely Jaune wasn't that kind of guy?

"But I don't care about any of that"

'Knew it' she thought proudly.

"What I do care about though? I love the way she carries herself, so proud and powerful like nothing can touch her. I love that she refuses to let her small stature get in the way of her taking on Grimm and people so much larger than herself. I love just how smart and worldly she is, I feel like she knows the answer to pretty much anything and could walk into any of those posh parties the rich have and just rule. I love how graceful she is in battle, It's almost like watching a dance rather than a fight. I actually even love her scar across her face, it's just a reflection of her. That she isn't just a cut and dry rich girl. That she has flaws but masters them. That she refuses to stay at home and be a little doll to be used as pleased. Yes, she is truly beautiful though. With eyes so intense and clear, I can look in them and imagine what heaven must look like. Her skin as pearlescent as fresh fallen snow but a heart full of burning passion. It's rare to see, but her smile can make my day no matter how bad. You know what I love most about her though? It's her voice. Oh Oum, her singing sets my heart on fire, I actually wrote her a song, I was going to invite her to listen to it today... But well. I didn't get the chance to even ask her" he felt a warm sensation role down his cheek.

"Jaune, you can stop if you-"

"She's been hounded her entire life by guys after her money, fame or... her body. Like all she is, is a trophy to them, that her happiness doesn't even matter. I imagine that after all that, you'd get pretty darn sick of it all" The Faunus girl watched as his fists clenched as the words left his mouth. "Apparently, not surprisingly though, she doesn't trust guys anymore. She thinks that every guy that shows interest in her is after all that the others before were. It's what she thinks I'm after. She said it herself" his heart hurt, oh it hurt so much. He felt like there was a million needles being pressed into it and it beat out a damaged and out of time tune. It hadn't ever been perfect, far from it. But now? It felt like someone had took an axe to the instruments, just keeping them together enough so that they could just about be played.

"B-But! You're so nice!" She squeaked, looking actually offended for him.

"Am I?" he questioned, looking at her with dull, sad eyes. "I tried to make her happy, be a goofball and possibly even get a laugh out of her. But all I did was increase her pain, would a good person do that? Would a good person do things that clearly insanely annoy her and even make her angry to have to suffer through, thinking they were at least being slightly funny to her? Would a good person reinforce the idea that they can't be... loved by anyone because of who she is?" the tears flowed freely and he didn't even try to stop. He openly wept, not caring for who saw him. The half arsed smile still there, but it was closer to a grimace than ever. "I never should of loved her in the first place"

"Excuse me?" came the angered voice of the rabbit girl beside him. Her face was red and her fists were shaking as she balled them up at sides. "How dare you. How dare you think so little of yourself! Do you honestly think that someone who could cry like this over the pain you're clearly in, could be a bad person!? Could openly say how much they love someone and not just for their looks and be a bad person!? Could clearly be so heartbroken that the person they love seems to hate them!? Could look so... so... empty... I've known you for less than and hour Jaune, but I've already learned so much about you. None of those things make me think you're a bad person..." she started to cry herself, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry... Jaune, but I hate it when an actually good person treats themselves so badly... you are a good person Jaune. Please believe me"

Jaune wasn't quite sure how to react, this girl he had just met had gotten him to admit to his pain where his team had failed. Was it just because she was a new face that he doubted would actually become a friend? No he got the feeling that this girl would be involved in his life. So what was it then? It would be funny if her semblance was to make people more comfortable around her. No matter the reason, her words struck a chord in him. He felt a little bit of happiness that he could at least try and cheer her up

"Heh... I'm honestly not too sure if I can, but I'll try. Least I can do for my new friend" he said, his eyes not so dull anymore as he smiled at her. His tears stopping as he spoke. She took notice of this and with a teary smile, she stood up and offered a hand to the boy. He took it and allowed Velvet to pull him to his feet, unsurprisingly she was far shorter than him, by a good few inches, though her ears put her at his height.

"That's a start at least" her smile was genuine, kind and sincere. "I know it may not seem it, but it will get better, Jaune. You'll find someone that will love you as much as you deserve to be"

"Heh... thanks Velvet... I honestly don't feel as crappy right now" Jaune said honestly, feeling at least a small portion of the pain in his heart go a away. The instruments were slightly more in tune than they had been less than 10 minutes ago, their beat now far more smooth and gentle. As he smiled at the girl, she smiled back before a loud beeping on her phone, got her attention.

"Cheese and crackers! That's my team wondering where I am!" She squeaked, looking incredibly stressed out all of a sudden. Looking at Jaune, all he did was smile.

"Go, I'm sure they're worried about you, my team is probably worried about me as well"

"O-okay! Thanks Jaune! I'll see you around!" she suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug, before running off towards the nearest door. Surprised by the physical contact, Jaune couldn't help but keep his smile even as she left. This time it was real. This one of those moments in life where he could allow himself to at least try and be happy.

A new song is playing. This one broken and sad. It has already been tuned. It can be repaired, but only by one who can hear it's song. Who knows, the owner of the song may just find the one to repair their melody in due time...

Oh and yes, I can honestly picture Velvet getting like this in defence of friend, getting angry at them for putting themselves down. I know it may seem weird as to how fast Jaune trusted Velvet, and she him, but I'm basing this off of life experience and It's pretty much the same as this. Plus as Jaune himself says "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet"

Hope you all enjoy this fairly long chapter :)