Hey guys, I'm back! Look, I actually got it out super fast! Well, super fast for me... school has slowed down a bit, and I've had more free time to actually start writing things. Okay, so this is Jaune, and well... he was really really really hard to write for some reason. Just a warning! Anyway, I hope you enjoy -and I own nothing!

Chapter Four –Jaune

If there was anything more awkward than being surrounded by people, it was being surrounded by people that were suddenly paying more attention than was necessary to him. He hadn't done anything remarkable to warrant this kind of attention; going to help was something that anyone would do.

It was for that reason that Jaune made sure he was hidden behind the pillar, with easy access to the punch bowl.

How did Pyrrha do it? How did she manage to cope with all this attention, all the time, and not go absolutely insane? Jaune had thought being a "hero" would come after graduation; he hadn't expected to get all this attention for something like this. They were still students, and they were getting looks that most reserved for full Hunters and Huntresses.

Jaune couldn't wait until the Vytal Festival truly got started, so there was something to talk about besides the Grimm attack. Maybe then people would stop following certain socially awkward people around and focus on something else.

"Jaune!" How? How did someone find him? The attention had been nice at first, especially from the girls, but now it was just…

"Nora." Of course it was Nora who found him; Nora would never dream of letting a teammate hide during a party. Especially since she especially seemed to enjoy her newfound fame, and enjoyed telling the story with more and more embellishment every time. If you listened to her tell it, Team JNPR had rushed in to save the day (which was true in a way), Pyrrha had slain a dozen Nevermores (not true; it was really just one), Ren had gone ninja and jumped out a building to save a running child (actually kind of true, though it was the front door and the child wasn't in any imminent danger), and as the turning point of the battle, Jaune had led the charge fearlessly into a crowd of Ursi.

It was no wonder people wouldn't let it go; Nora was only making it worse!

And now the girl was trying to drag him from his comfortable hiding spot, into the crowd of people who hadn't seen him yet. Distraction! "Nora, I think Ren is looking for you."

What was wrong with him anyway? Jaune thought he would have been happy to gain this kind of attention; even Ruby, who was arguably more socially awkward than Jaune, was enjoying all the attention!

Then again, Ruby had that fascination with weapons and fighting Grimm, so talking about them was kind of her specialty.

"Aw, Ren's fine, all fine! But I came here to ask you something!" Nora pointed in the crowd, jumping a little to see over heads. "I can't find Pyrrha; do you know where she was going?"

Pyrrha left? She was scarce during the dance too… for all her fame, she had discovered secrets to hiding Jaune hadn't learned yet. He could kill two birds with one stone: find Pyrrha for Nora, and get out of here.

Wait… find Pyrrha… for Nora?

"Nora… this isn't about… well, what we talked about before, is it?" If Nora was trying to match-make after Jaune had made it clear not to…

"What? No!" Nora's eyes widened, and she shook her head quickly. "No, Glynda was looking for Pyrrha, but she found me and Ren, and we didn't know where she was! So I thought I'd ask you, because you guys always know where the other is, kinda like with me and Ren, so…"

Glynda needed Pyrrha? That was easy enough to check, and if that was a lie, he knew that Nora was lying about matchmaking. Well, that should be simple enough to figure out… Jaune just had to find Pyrrha and all the mysteries would be solved.

"I'll go look for her. You enjoy the party." Yes! Escape!

"Alrighty! Off you go!" Nora pushed him forward with more force than was necessary before she skipped off towards Ren, jumping on her partner from behind.

Jaune shook his head, managing to make it through the crowd without tripping over someone or making a mess. It was insane sometimes, the way his dance training could make him graceful or the way it could abandon him altogether and send him tumbling through a room.

Now, if I were Pyrrha, where would I be? Not inside, that was for sure. Inside was where all the adoring fans and crazed reporters were. If he were Pyrrha… if he were Pyrrha…

Well, if Jaune were Pyrrha, he'd probably be used to this by now, but that wasn't helpful.

Seriously, where could Pyrrha be? There aren't that many places to hide; I would know. Still, even if Pyrrha was hiding, she'd stay nearby, in case she was needed… but still not inside. She's pretty private, so…

To the balcony. And if Pyrrha wasn't there, Jaune would check the roof; either option seemed the most likely to find a missing Pyrrha.

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

Just judging from all the couples making out on the balcony, Jaune reasonably assumed that Pyrrha was not going to be there. Not only because she was single as far as anyone knew –and he was not going to deny the relief he felt about that- but also because the first time they'd seen Coco and Fox's PDA, Pyrrha had gone bright red and practically ran out of the room.

She wasn't going to be around multiple people engaging in similar activities.

So, off to the roof he had gone, where his efforts were rewarded. There his partner was, looking out towards the city, so still she might have been a statue. "Hey Pyrrha."

"Jaune?" It had taken her a moment to respond, but the small smile was certainly reward enough for his patience. "I thought you were at the party."

"Well, you know, it was a little tame for my tastes," When in doubt, bring out the confidence. Or the bravado, whatever you wanted to call it. "After a Grimm attack, such normal parties seem so dull."

"So, you were tired of all the people crowding you?" Pyrrha knew him well enough to cut through the jokes, her smile growing larger by the second. He tried to deny it –hey, it was all good attention for once- but Pyrrha definitely knew him better than that. "Jaune, please, we've all seen how uncomfortable you get whenever someone mentions it. Why do you think Nora insists on telling the stories so often?"

"Because she gets a kick out of all of it?" That was a good thought though; she seemed particularly interested in spreading everyone else's accomplishments around this time.

"Jaune, Nora thinks of you as a brother," Pyrrha was relaxed enough to laugh easily, moving closer with a shake of the head. "So she teases you in ways that she knows are going to embarrass you."

Jaune blinked, shoving his hands in his pockets with an embarrassed grin. "Has she told you all this?"

"No, but she didn't have to. Ren mentioned it," Pyrrha leaned up against the wall, eyes lit up as she explained. It took Jaune a moment to focus; when Pyrrha looked at him that way, he tended to lose whatever train of thought was there and…

"Jaune?" And he'd done it again. No wonder girls didn't like him back; it always looked like he was ignoring them! Even though no, he didn't want Pyrrha to know that he liked her, so maybe that was a good thing, but he didn't want her to think that he didn't like her at all, and…

"Jaune!" A light shove –light for Pyrrha anyway- got his attention back, though combined with his lack of attention, he found himself on the ground first. "Sorry!"

"It's fine, I'm fine, what were you saying?" Acting as if he'd wanted to be on the ground the whole time, Jaune sent his partner a cheesy grin and a wave.

"…Nothing." Oh no. Did he make her mad because it looked like he was ignoring her? That was the last thing he wanted!

"No, really, I just lost my train of thought. Thinking of Nora's… stories." Use Nora as an excuse, because let's face it, she makes a great one. She's always pretty distracting anyway.

That seemed to be a plausible excuse to Pyrrha, who ended up sitting next to Jaune on the ground easily. "Is she still telling everyone that she flew through the city on Magnhild, taking out the Nightstalkers on the way?"

"No, but she's upgraded you to killing dozens of Nevermores as well as a King Taijitu."

Pyrrha managed to laugh, leaning back slightly to look up at the sky. "How many Grimm were there again?"

"Uh, I don't know. Last of Nora's count, nearly a thousand. Actual account, probably closer to a hundred. Can't tell, since Team CFVY and the robots took a lot out." Jaune lay flat on his back, in no hurry to move and get back to the party. "It seems kind of surreal though… I mean, I know Nora does it with every story she tells, but I don't hear anyone talking about what really happened."

"The stories sound better if you stretch the truth a little," Pyrrha hesitated slightly before lying down next to Jaune, her arm brushing against his. "Sells better. Makes heroes that last generations."

"But we weren't heroes! Well, you were, but me? I was just doing what seemed right, and I was nowhere near what Nora said I was," It was so easy to talk to Pyrrha that it all slipped out. "People are making this big deal about how we were there, and how Team RWBY was there, but no one's mentioning how blocks of the city were destroyed, and how people were dying, or even how the Grimm made it to the city in the first place! It's just… just…."

"They put you on a pedestal and you don't think you deserve it?" Pyrrha broke in easily, almost casually, though when Jaune looked at her, she was determined not to look back.

"Y-yeah… sorry, I know it sounds stupid, it's just-"

"No, it sounds reasonable," Pyrrha interrupted him again, but she actually looked at him this time. "It's uncomfortable, and strange, and people don't really see you for who you are, just one thing that happened. I get it Jaune."

"Y-yeah…" Of course she did, and Jaune was an idiot for not seeing that sooner. He had thought Pyrrha was used to attention, but he hadn't realized that she had to deal with stuff like this all the time.

There was a moment of silence, and oddly enough, it wasn't awkward. Jaune normally filled silences with his own thoughts, while Pyrrha would always listen and reply back, but this was… nice. After all the chaos, and the noise, and the general craziness of the past few days in particular, it was nice to find some quiet.

And the roof was practically always abandoned, so in a sense, it was their spot. It was where they trained, and where they just… talked. Even if something was going on, it was always easy enough to escape to the roof, and no one ever thought to look up here.

"Hey Jaune?" It had been a long time since either one of them had spoken, and the sounds of the party were starting to die down. "I…"

Jaune looked over, a relaxed grin growing on his face. This was a good spot to be, someplace comfortable and private, with the best partner someone could ask for next to him. "Yeah?"

"I… Have you noticed Nora and Ren have been acting strangely?" For some reason, Jaune had the feeling that wasn't what she'd wanted to say, but he didn't want to pry if she didn't want to talk to him.

Needing to force it slightly, Jaune laughed a little. "Nora always acts a little strangely; I think Ren's the only one who really understands everything. But Ren…"

Actually, what was going on with Ren? He'd been even quieter than usual, and really standoffish towards Nora recently. "Maybe someone mentioned Ren and Nora being 'together-together'? He always gets a little off after that."

"But for so long? And so he won't make pancakes?" Pyrrha sat up, a worried expression crossing her face. "I'm not sure… should we keep an eye on them?"

"Well…" They did have to keep the team together after all. But Ren seemed fine now, especially since the breach. "I think they're okay… for now. Last I saw, she was dragging Ren out into the party."

"And he let her, so they're fine," Pyrrha relaxed, glancing back to the door. "Speaking of the party though…"

Jaune barely held back a groan at the thought of going back into the crowds. "Do we… oh right!"

He'd nearly forgotten! He'd gotten so comfortable talking to Pyrrha that he'd forgotten he was looking for her for a reason! Pyrrha was sending him the concerned look, the one that said he was acting a little crazy. "Glynda was looking for you!"

"What? Jaune!" Pyrrha was on her feet in seconds, making sure she didn't have any dirt on her clothes. "Is that why you came up here?"

"Uh… kind of?" Yeah, he was a little late… hopefully whatever Glynda needed wasn't time-sensitive.

"I'll go find her, and then meet you at the party." Oh, now that was harsh. Sending him alone to the party? …Okay, maybe he deserved it a little.

Maybe he'd find another pillar to hide behind.

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

But the dream of sneaking back into the party was unrealized. "Jaune!"

Of course it would be Nora drawing attention to him, although thankfully, a lot of the guests had already left. "Did you find Pyrrha? Glynda was coming around again and I think she was going to rope me and Ren into looking too, but I told her you were on it, and…"

"Pyrrha went to find Glynda." Jaune sent a desperate look towards the punch bowl, wondering if he could escape and get some punch before hiding.

"Jaune! If Pyrrha's looking for Glynda, and Glynda's looking for Pyrrha, then they'll end up walking in circles around each other, and then they'll never find each other! It happened to me once when Ren and I got separated at a carnival back home, and he was running around looking for me while I tried to get back to him and a creepy clown had to stop us from missing each other! And this party doesn't even have a creepy clown!"

"The clown wasn't creepy," Ren appeared with two cups of punch, handing one to his overly excited partner. "You just didn't like how he accidentally popped your balloon."

"Who pops a child's balloon?" Nora went into a rant about the indignity of losing balloons, one that went ignored by the two boys.

"Was Pyrrha alright?" Ren asked, taking a sip from his own cup.

"She had the right idea. Escape until the crowd died down," Jaune replied, eyeing a particularly predatory-looking group of girls. "Ren, is it just me, or has this gone a little… overboard?"

Ren turned to glance over his shoulder at the girls, and in anyone else, a look of horror flashed in his eyes. "Nora…"

The girl broke off mid-rant, then followed Ren's gaze to where his attention was, and the expression on her face would have sent Ozpin running for the hills. To the poor girls who had gained her displeasure, it was even worse.

Jaune didn't think they'd stop looking over their shoulders for months.

"Hmph!" Nora latched herself onto Ren's arm, sticking her tongue out at the retreating group. "They've been doing that all night!"

Jaune's eyes narrowed at the two partners, wondering if he'd missed something. Was Nora always that possessive over Ren? They didn't look like partners, or best friends, but more like boyfriend with jealous girlfriend!

Nora caught the look and stuck her tongue out at Jaune this time. "They're being all clingy because of the attack! It's okay to admire our awesome fighting skills, but they don't get to be all leechy with my best friend when they don't know him!"

"Okay…" Well, if Ren wasn't going to complain, Jaune supposed he had no reason to. After all, she was only chasing away some of the more dangerous girls. "Hey!"

"What?" Nora glanced up at him innocently, taking seconds to eye another girl coming closer warily.

"If you're warding off girls for Ren, you couldn't help me when I was mobbed?" Neither Jaune nor Pyrrha had been happy that day, when he'd practically been carried off when they were eating lunch. It had taken Glynda's intervention to make sure he wasn't actually kidnapped by the crazy girls.

"I was eating!" Nora protested, finishing her punch with a grin. "Besides, Pyrrha was quick enough to grab Glynda and then go find a good sniping position!"

"Sniping…"

"In case Glynda couldn't find you in the crowd of people," Ren explained, although it was only more confusing than a real explanation.

"But…"

"It's easier to spot someone with a higher vantage point," Pyrrha made Nora jump when she appeared behind her, and yes, she had punch that she was handing to Jaune. "I wasn't going to shoot anyone."

"I still say we should have broken their legs…" This musing from Nora seemed more directed at strangers rather than the team, and it had the very entertaining effect of clearing more space around them. Apparently, Nora's affinity for breaking bones had become very common knowledge.

"We all ended up alright, although you didn't have to laugh the whole time," Pyrrha was trying to scold, Jaune could see it, but in hindsight…

It was still terrifying from his point of view, but he could see the humor in it. If only it had happened to someone else.

"Did you find Glynda?" Ren held his punch higher as Nora tried to steal it, looking over her head at Pyrrha easily.

"Yes. She was just… a pat on the back, I suppose?" Pyrrha shrugged; after the attack, everyone was getting some kind of praise from the teachers. Even Jaune had gotten acknowledgement –Professor Port was the first to individually congratulate anyone.

"Makes sense! Glynda likes Pyrrha after all!" Nora was practically climbing towards Ren's punch, giggling maniacally when he gave in and handed it to her. "Because Pyrrha's awesome like that!"

"Not really… I think it's that I don't destroy the school whenever I come up with an idea."

"One time!" Nora protested, bouncing on her heels.

"One time, plus another five," Jaune teased, reaching out to mess up Nora's hair absently. He grinned at his partner over Nora's head, more relaxed now that the crowds had dissipated due to the late hour or fear of Nora. "Not counting the food fight."

"I didn't destroy the cafeteria!"

"Just the roof when you sent Yang flying," Ren joined in, snagging his punch back long enough for a quick sip.

"But… but… this isn't fair! You're all teaming up on me!" Nora pouted, looking as if another taunt would have her stomping her foot. "Even you Ren!"

"Don't worry Nora, we're just teasing," Pyrrha relented, putting a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "Do you want more punch?"

"Punch? Okay! Me and Ren will grab some!" The idea was enough to have her grinning again, grabbing at Ren's arm until they were moving away from their teammates.

"Never a dull moment?" Jaune noted, sipping at his own punch with a wry smile.

"With Nora? No, never," Pyrrha smiled back, glancing over her shoulder. "It's a different kind of training, working with her."

"I don't know…" Jaune shrugged, leaning a little closer. "She kind of reminds me of my sister. They have nothing in common, but she reminds me of my sister. The younger one."

"Jaune, that makes no sense," Pyrrha pointed out, leaning her head to the side.

"It's just… they both have lots of energy… in very different ways," Jaune tried to explain, not sure where he was going with this. His family was very important, but… well, it wasn't as if they knew what he was doing right now.

"But nothing in common?" Pyrrha looked amused, shifting her weight just slightly, showing Jaune that she was interested. He had fallen hard, that he noticed all of these movements and nuances in her behavior.

"Nothing at all. Nothing." Jaune shook his head, leaning up against a nearby pillar with a sigh.

Pyrrha laughed, shaking her head easily. "Well, I think it's…" She stopped mid-sentence, glancing over at the sudden commotion by the punch bowl. "Jaune…"

"I know…" Jaune took a deep breath, glancing over where Nora was now jumping around in circles, knocking random people over. "Maybe we should be getting back to the room."

It took a good twenty minutes before the three other JNPR members could convince Nora to leave, but as they all laid down for the night, Jaune thought back to the end of the party.

What was Pyrrha going to say?

So... that was that! I was trying to focus on Jaune's social awkwardness and seriousness instead of his adorable goofiness, but I'm not sure how well it worked out. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll try to get up the next chapter up soon! Thanks for reading!