Jaune sat as far away from the window as he could, clutching his stomach as his body threatened to empty its contents onto the floors of the airship. He could feel the world spinning around him as they flew, every single bump of turbulence seemed as if they were crashing. As his vertigo grew worse, he moved to grab onto the arm rests tightly, closing his eyes and counting slowly to ten. It worked a tiny bit and he sighed in relief. To put the feeling at the back of his mind, he started thinking about other things.
His life seemed like a good thing to think about, mainly, how he got to this point. Riding in airships almost weekly. When he was younger, his motion sickness wasn't as bad, but it was bad enough that he swore to never ride in an airship as long as he lived. Oh, if only he could go back in time and tell his younger self how stupid he would feel for doing that. Hey, he would say, you know that later on in life, you'll sneak your way into one of the top school for hunters in training, and then ride in airships nearly every day? He had a feeling his younger self would scoff at him, perhaps even attempt to beat him up for trying something so stupid.
He knew his sisters would. They would gang up on him, and they wouldn't let him go until he had at least one bruise from each of them, just so he could look at them and remember how stupid he was. He laughed at that, his stomach finally settling a little more. He missed his sisters, especially the youngest of them. She would be finishing fourth soon, oh how fast they grow. She wouldn't need her older sisters to look after her anymore. In fact, if he knew them, they would probably end up making her a weapon and teaching her how to use it for self defense. Or at least, the ones attending Signal would.
He was so proud of all his sisters, and they were proud of him, he would never forget the looks on their faces when he told them all he was going to Beacon. In fact, he was the reason three of them decided to go to Signal. And that is why he could never tell any of them that he faked his way in. He sighed and opened his eyes once more, noticing that snow and frost has gathered on the windows. A voice sounded out of the speakers that they would be landing shortly. He was thankful he brought his coat.
Winter felt not at all like her usual self, and that was utterly terrifying to her. She had tried everything she could that she knew she liked doing, desperate to feel better than she currently was. She wrote poetry, painted, even took a long hot bath, but despite it all, she still didn't feel any different. If she had to describe the feeling, she would call it gray, mostly boring. Kind of like watching paint dry. And while she would often use that to describe her normal life, this kind of watching paint dry felt entirely different than the other kind.
Maybe, she thought, she was just hungry, or something silly like that. But then she thought that that was stupid, and scolded herself for even thinking that. It was a testament to how desperate she was thinking something like that. She sighed, and decided that maybe eating was a good idea. She ate only a few hours ago, but eating always made her feel better. She knew that was a bad sign.
Perhaps, after all these years, after all this time, she was finally letting the loneliness get to her? She shuddered at the thought, if that was the case, she needed help. And needing help is possibly the worst thing in the world when you have no one who CAN help. She walked down to the kitchen, completely dreading how long it took to get there. It gave her time to think, and thinking wasn't something she wanted to do. She found herself thinking a lot more than usual, and very often thinking turned out to be a bad idea, because then she thought of her friends, and in doing so she thought of Jaune. And when she thought of Jaune, her face would flush, and she would get all trembly, and then she would feel weird, and then she would do something awkward.
She continued, opening the kitchen door and immediately stopping as she smelled the bacon on the stove. She blushed and nearly screamed when she saw Jaune cooking food. In her kitchen. Not at Beacon. "Oh, there you are, I've been waiting for you to come down here, I didn't want to disturb you while you were doing whatever. I got hungry so I asked one of the servants if I could make some food." Winter only stared as he continued talking awkwardly. "...and then they let me in and I told them I wanted it to be a surprise. And then they asked if I wanted them to go get you, but I said n-"
"Jaune, what are you doing here?" She asked, her voice wavering. Tears started falling as she smiled, she wiped them away and walked up to him, hugging him tightly.
"I told you I would see you soon, didn't I Snow Angel?" He ran his hand through her hair, she blushed and hugged him tighter. "I missed you." He said as he hugged her back.
"I missed you too, Jaune! I miss all of you so much!" He smiled and let go of her, going back to cooking.
"Do you want some?" She nodded enthusiastically and went to sit down at the table.
"So how long are you going to be here?" She asked.
"A week, more if your father takes longer than expected."
"Wait, what?" She suddenly remembered her father. What would he say to one of her friends staying over? Especially a boy?
"Your father, he's on a business trip isn't he? That's what the maids are telling me, anyway. they say that I'm very lucky he isn't here, as he's been in a bad mood lately."
"I had no idea…" She answered. "I haven't talked to him since I first got back, I've mostly stayed in my room, thinking of-" She blushed again and shook her head. "I've mostly stayed in my room. Some close family we are, huh? All scattered about, and no matter how close we are, we don't talk to each other." Jaune sat the food in front of her and took a seat next to her.
"Hey, some people just don't have a close family, it happens. I know it sucks, but that's what friends are for. That's why I'm here. You have me for a whole week, alright?" She smiled and started eating.
"Alright!" She felt butterflies at his response. A whole week, huh? She was going to make it count.
Winter basically threw open the door to her room, excited that she finally had someone to show her work to. The only person who she had ever shown her creative side to was her sister, who would always compliment her and tell her how much she had improved. But that had been a long time ago, and Jaune was a different person, who knew what kinds of things he would say? Jaune let out a surprised gasp and ran up to the easels that were displaying some of her latest pieces. "Y-you painted these?" He asked, completely breathless. She nodded.
The paintings were done in such a way that they resembled nothing, yet everything all at once. To the untrained eye, they would just be a bunch of paint splotches on white paper, but Jaune knew better, having sisters who had always did stuff like this. If one looked deep enough, you would see magnificent structures, deep seas and perhaps even a portrait of the painter herself. "I know they're not real art, just a bunch of paint smears, but…"
"No, don't say that, this is real art." She looked at him with eyes full of happiness. "Technically, this may be just a bunch of paint, but you could say the same about all those famous paintings in the museums. This still required creativity, this still came from your hand, this is art. And never tell yourself it isn't." She ran up to her bookshelf and picked out one of the leather journals from the section labeled 'poetry'. She danced back to him with glee, handing it to him and entreating him to read it.
He opened it up and began reading, she blushed as he sat down on her bed and furrowed his brow. She watched as he turned a page. And another. And another. She grew even more embarrassed as he began smiling, he looked up to her and handed the book back. Jaune knew based on her excitement, that all of this stuff had to have been very important to her. The fact that she was so eager to show him was endearing. "That's some really good writing, you have quite the way with words." She nearly shut down, numbly sliding the journal back into place.
"Oh… It's not really… That great." She was practically hiding her face behind her hands, more as an instinctive reflex than a cognizant reaction. Jaune laughed and looked around at everything else Winter's room had to offer. It was quite large, much to his astonishment. Certainly a lot more than a girl of Winter's size needs, but he figured that if their roles were reversed he wouldn't much mind it. Not at all actually, when he was a child, he would have killed for a room this big, what with having to share all his space with his sisters. Not that he considered that bad.
His astonishment faded. "So, where exactly am I going to stay? You have a guest room, right?" He asked, hopeful that it was just as large and had a bed that looked as comfortable as hers did. To his surprise, she shook her head. "So then where am I going to sleep?" She blushed again at the question and smiled awkwardly. His expression turned blank and instantly his thoughts began to shut down.
Winter knew she was lying, but honestly, she couldn't care less. This was a perfectly good chance to… Get closer to him, she felt. Even if it was kind of wrong, in some ways. And she really didn't feel like sleeping alone again, so many nights completely alone after getting used to sleeping in the same bed as her sister, she really had enough of it. And it didn't hurt that he had apparently gained some muscle over the time she had left Beacon- No! Bad Winter, no awkward thoughts! Not while he's here! Or at least, not while he's in the same room as you… Yeah, that's better. Winter cursed silently, what the hell was wrong with her, she wondered.
Winter knew exactly what it was of course, she had been warned by Weiss in advance, and even taught these things in ways that she never ever wanted to think back on, but it had never been this bad, it was as if she was just now learning how much puberty sucked, even though she had already been going through it for years. She also never did… That, as much until she had met Jaune. Maybe it was the impact of her first crush that did it to her, but suddenly she had found herself weak willed, and weak kneed when thinking of him, and she absolutely hated that.
It just felt plain wrong to think of someone like that, especially if you know the person, and consider them to be one of your best friends. And now that she really thought about it, she didn't want Jaune to sleep in her bed, not at all, because things would probably get awkward REAL quick! But she had already said there weren't any guest rooms, despite how unlikely that was, Jaune seemed to have fallen for it, and she was kind of upset with his naivety for once.
There was no way she could go back on that without sounding like a creep. Which she totally was for even thinking about doing this in the first place! She sighed, but then immediately tried to hide it with a forced giggle. I suppose this is what I get… I hate karma.
Author's Note: GOD, so awkward. Sorry not sorry, but I just wanted to make this super awkward for everyone. Not as good as my last chapter tbh, but eh, I've put out worse. To be completely honest, since I am not a female, I have no idea how realistic this whole scenario will be, especially since I'm not sexually attracted to guys, but so far, everything has worked out for me when writing these characters, and I haven't had any of my female readers go "this thing you wrote is actually wrong..." Somehow. But please, I beg you female audience, if I get something wrong, send me a PM, correct me. I need to know this stuff. Also, one other thing, what do you guys think I could do to improve? It's gotten to a point where I'm actually considering to write for a living.