It was a Friday afternoon, and Jaune was spending it in the city of Vale, anxiously awaiting a message from his, he can't believe he was able to say the word, girlfriend. When he had asked her to hang out, she said she'd be able to near the end of the week, and that she heard about another place that serves ice cream by the docks. She had heard that there was a lot of new flavours, so she wanted to test it and see which was better.
This, is why Jaune, was hanging around the pier, trying to get the smell of fish out of his nose. As he wandered, he allowed his mind to think of answers to questions he had. Namely, why the hell did he basically tell Coco everything he felt about Neo. Did she have a knack for getting people to confess to things? Did she just happen to catch him at a good time? Was it maybe that he felt like he needed to tell someone how he felt, and better it be a person who wouldn't have as bad a reaction than if he told his team he was keeping another secret from them.
He didn't know. Maybe eventually he would find out, but for now, he just looked at the sights that Vale had to offer. He noticed a hastily made sign strung up from two lamp posts that read "Welcome to Vale". Before Jaune could wonder why the sign was strung up, he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
Jaune whirled around to see, someone he didn't know. It was a girl, but, she was dressed in black, with pigtails the same colour, and bright green eyes. "Um, can I help you?" Jaune asked uncertainly. The girl squinted her eyes, then looked down at herself. Her mouth made an 'o' shape in realisation. The girl blinked, and when she lifted her eyelids, her emerald eyes, had been replaced with pink and brown.
"Neo!" Jaune exclaimed. Said girl smiled at his reaction. "How did you do that?" Jaune instinctively reached out to touch the girl's ponytails, to see if they were actually real. They were as real as the hair on his own head. "How long did this take you?" He asked, staring at the not-so ice cream coloured girl.
Neo smiled, and suddenly, it looked like she began to break apart. It started from her feet, and when it finally reached the top of her head, she looked like her old self again. Jaune was just standing there, mouth wide open. "Is, that your," He began clicking his fingers, trying to recall what Pyhrra had told him, as well as what he had learned in classes. "Semblance?" He finally got the word out of his mouth.
Neo nodded, going through several disguises, before finally ending, at what Jaune thought was amazing. Jaune was looking at himself. He was amazed that Neo was so skilled with her semblance that she could imitate other people. As amazed as Jaune was, he still found time to be an idiot. "Well who's this handsome devil?" Jaune mused, putting a hand on his chin, staring at himself. He then saw himself bend over in giggles.
Jaune seeing himself giggling was quite something to watch. "Well now, how about I bring this beautiful person to grab some ice cream." Jaune asked, holding out his hand. Neo-Jaune took it gently, and wrapped her arms around the real Jaune. "I meant the other beautiful person." Jaune said, looking into Neo's eyes. Jaune watched as he blushed, then became a lot shorter. Once Neo was back to normal, she looked up at Jaune, both of her eyes now the same colour as her cheeks.
"So, where is this seaside ice cream shop?" Jaune asked his date, as they linked arms and walked around Vale. Neo looked around, and pointed in a direction. "Well then, let's go get some sweet stuff." Jaune said, a bright smile on his face as he looked down on Neo. Neo returned the smile and walked in time with Jaune, a small skip in her step.
As they turned a corner however, a blonde monkey-Faunus ran past them, followed by two officers of the V.P.D. Jaune stopped. "Was that a yellow monkey being chased by cops?" He asked, genuinely confused, as he had only caught a glimpse of the person running by, and that glimpse was the tail. Neo, equally confused just shrugged her shoulders. Soon after, a group of four girls rushed past, not noticing their blonde friend.
"And those were my neighbours. This day is starting off weirdly." Jaune mused, as he continued his date, hoping that none of his friends noticed him with his girlfriend. Jaune still had to remind himself that this wasn't a dream each time he said the word.
A short while later, Neo tugged on Jaune's arm, stopping him in his tracks. Jaune looked down at Neo, who was pointing to a nearby shop. Following her gaze, Jaune noticed they were in front of a shop titled 'Scrumdiddly's'. The shop had an overhang of wooden beams, with foliage draped strategically to make it look more welcoming. There were sofas and armchairs in front of the shop, but they were all taken, plus, with just him and Neo, it would be rude to take a place meant for such a large group.
"Weird name." Jaune murmured as he pushed through the glass door, a tinkling of a bell announcing their entrance. There were a few other people in the room, he didn't recognise any of them. The room had sea shells decorating the walls, and a light blue paint job. He didn't know whether the shells were real or not, but he noticed a staircase a bit closer to the registers. As he walked up to order, he was looking at the menus behind the counter, and noticed that this place served several types of tea too.
"Maybe I should tell Ren about this place." Jaune thought, before realising that if he did so, there was a chance he would run into the green ninja while on a date. He stopped before the counter. "Hi, can I have two," He scanned the menus "Seaside Specials?" It was more of a question then a request.
The person working the counter nodded, and put some numbers into the register. Jaune handed her the appropriate number of Lien, and was then told to find a seat, and the food would be delivered. Jaune tugged Neo towards the staircase, where he made sure to look down, as Neo went up the stairs before him.
They exited the door and found themselves on a large balcony. There were round tables with two chairs, their backs ornately decorated. Neo and Jaune took a seat at a table by the railing, so they could look out on the ocean.
They took their seats, and looked at each other. Jaune let out a small smile, remembering how Coco told him how lucky he must be, and right now, he was inclined to agree. "So," Jaune began "we, don't actually know much about each other do we?" He gave an awkward laugh. Neo nodded in reply, although, she didn't really want Jaune to know about her past.
"So, ladies first?" Jaune asked nervously. Neo just raised an eyebrow at him. "Right right, sort of abusing the chivalry thing huh." He said, rubbing the back of head with his hand. Neo have a slight chuckle and a nod. Jaune sighed, leaning back into his chair. "Alright, well, nothing much to tell really. I'm, pretty boring actually."
Neo's eyebrow told him that she didn't believe that. "Uh, I've got a big family I guess, seven sisters, a dog, mom and dad." Neo's face showed a lot more emotion than she would have liked at the fact of Jaune and his several siblings. Jaune simply chuckled. "I use a sword?" He said, questioning his own prowess with the weapon. Neo noticed this, and leaned forward, wanting him to continue.
Jaune sighed. "Well, I'm, not actually that good at fighting." He confessed. Neo didn't believe this, as she had seen him take down a man bigger than himself in a single punch. Neo mimed the night she had met the knight, reminding him of the punch. "Yeah, but, that wasn't with my sword. I can't exactly go around punching Grimm." He chuckled. "Wait, that's what Yang does." He muttered. He shook his head and looked back to Neo, who was deep in thought.
"What's up?" He asked. To Jaune, it looked like Neo had had a lightbulb go off inside her head, as she darted to her pockets to retrieve her scroll. His own got a message shortly after. Jaune looked at his pocket, then at Neo, who egged him on. Jaune reached for his scroll and read the message.
"I know someone who can help". Jaune looked up at Neo. "Help with what? Me being bad with a sword?" Neo nodded. "Well, as long as it's not a guy who'll give me something that shoots. I've got terrible aim." He joked. Neo giggled as well, and typed into her scroll again.
"no lol he's just a guy who's good with a spear" Jaune looked up at Neo oddly, who returned the gaze, then looked back down at her scroll. "*sword". "Ah, and you think he can help?" Neo nodded, and sent another message. "I'd help you myself but, I'm only good with Politan." Jaune looked up, to see Neo holding her treasured umbrella.
"Oh, is that it's name, Politan?" Neo nodded. Jaune held up his scabbard which held the sword. "What's it do?" He asked, curious as to how an umbrella was useful in a fight. Neo made sure to point the tip of her umbrella away from Jaune, as she shot out a blade form the top. Jaune nodded, recalling how she wanted to use it against the man the night they met.
Neo retracted the blade, and then pulled the handle of her umbrella back. The whole handle came out, showing a rather long and nasty looking blade. For a moment, Jaune wondered why she couldn't teach him herself if they both used blades. Then, after actually inspecting the blade, he noticed it was not similar to his, but more like Weiss' weapon, a kind of rapier.
"Ok, so, two sharp things for the price of one." He noted, causing Neo to giggle and roll her eyes. She put the sword back and extended the umbrella. She pointed to the fabric on it, and then made a face, holding up her arm and acting like a man who wanted to show off his muscles.
Jaune was surprised that he understood what she meant. "It's tough?" He asked, reaching out a fist and rapping it on the umbrella. She was right, it felt like a flexible steel, probably infused with dust or something. Neo nodded, putting her weapon away, and then gestured at Jaunes.
Jaune picked up his sword by the sheath, showing it to Neo. "Mine's called Crocea Mors, it means, 'Yellow Death', and it belonged to my, great-great-grandfather." Jaune explained, counting off the 'greats' on his fingers. "It, doesn't really do much. The sheath turns into a shield, but that's about it." Jaune told her, demonstrating how the sheath extended into a shield, and then returned to it's proper size. Neo, was simply surprised at the name.
"Yeah, apparently he was pretty blunt when naming weapons. His wife's weapon was a sword too, I think. He called it 'Gladium Acutum', it means sharp blade." Neo giggled at this. Jaune probably would have went on, but a waiter arrived, carrying two flat bowls in their hands. He set down the bowls in front of the couple, who looked upon the food with interest.
The base was vanilla, but on one side, it had crumbled biscuits, and on the other, was blue sprinkles. To top it off, on the crumbled side, there was a small umbrella. It was a very good imitation of a beach. Jaune looked at Neo, who was eyeing the platter hungrily. Well, at least this place had her approval. As they both dug in, Jaune eyed his umbrella. His was a bright pink, and Neo's was a deep blue. With only a second to think of the joke, Jaune plucked the umbrella from the 'beach' and held it aloft.
"Hey Neo." He called, Neo looked up from her own dish. "I'm you." He said, giving the umbrella a little twirl. Neo's face gave a look that Jaune read as "Oh really". In a blink, he was eating ice cream with himself again. Jaune's face fell into an adorable pout. "Ok that's just unfair." Neo laughed and changed back into herself, looking at Jaune. Jaune smiled at her, clearly feigning annoyance at his joke being one-upped.
Neo smiled, and put a spoon into her ice cream, and held it in front of Jaune. Jaune looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Are we going to do this every time?" Neo smiled and nodded. Jaune couldn't help himself as he smiled back. "Well, I don't see a problem with that." He took the spoon into the mouth and tasted it. For some reason, food always tastes better if it is given to you affectionately. He remembered eating food as a child in a similar way off his sisters. It had always tasted better.
Jaune returned the favour, placing his own spoon into his ice cream and giving it to Neo. Neo took it gratefully, happy that she had someone to share the wonders of ice cream with. Now that they had finished their dating ritual, they began to eat their ice cream, only talking in snippets, Neo replying through her scroll. When they were halfway through, Jaune wondered if they should come back.
"So, do you think this place would be good for another date?" He asked casually. Neo put a finger to her lip for a moment, in a thinking pose. She nodded confirming Jaune's question. Jaune smiled, the simplest things she did were so cute. He thought in his head when the date should be. Not too far, that would make him seem distant, not tomorrow though, too clingy. Sunday. Today was Friday, two days should be a good amount of time.
"How about Sunday?" He questioned. Neo's eyes wandered for a moment, obviously mentally checking her own schedule. She nodded once more, her eyes on Jaune. Jaune was very happy. A third date with a girl! And a very attractive one at that! "I'm so lucky to be with you." Jaune thought. However, noticing the blush on Neo's face, he came to a realisation.
"I said that out loud didn't I."