One of those Little Umbrella Thingies
Bumblebee roared one last time as Yang hit the kill switch before letting go of the clutch and locking the bike, she then took out the keys before unbuckling her helmet and getting off. She placed the helmet inside the box compartment below the handlebars and grinned when she looked at the building in front of her. "How did I not guess? I mean really, where else would he work besides the one and only Club?" Yang laughed as she strolled down the sidewalk and up the stairs of the club before bursting open the doors and strutting in the same way Melanie and Miltia would.
Most people didn't bat an eye, but every guard remembered Yang after the first time she entered the place and each one of them felt conflicted to both throw their weapons down and beg or to attempt to fight once more. Luckily none of them had to make the decision themselves as Melanie ran up to Yang and immediately started screaming.
"What do you think you're doing back here Little Miss Firefist?!" Yang smirked as she walked right passed her and continued towards her destination.
"Firefist, huh? That's actually a new one." Melanie followed after her and only felt her hatred towards the blonde deepen.
"Oh, so now you think you're better than us?! That you can just walk in like you own the place?!" Yang didn't bother replying when she saw who was behind the counter of the bar and simply took a seat at one of the stools. By this point all the guards were looking the other way while Melanie was literally red in the face. The bartender was facing the other way when Yang arrived so she knocked on the countertop twice and smiled playfully.
"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice."
"Right away miss." The bartender replied as he started taking drinks from the shelves and began mixing.
"Don't think you can just order whatever you want either! Especially not from him, he's our best tender here and I don't want you tainting him!" Yang started giggling but managed to hold her laughs in so that Jaune wouldn't realize just who she was yet.
"Come on, Melanie, don't you think you're being a little too harsh on her?" Jaune asked without turning around. "I'm sure she's good for the money." Melanie was quick to turn her rage onto Jaune after he spoke.
"You don't know what she's done, Jaune! Last time she came here she destroyed so much property that we're still low on funds because of it, and that was months ago!" Jaune stopped just as he finished Yang's drinks and shuddered.
"Really?" Jaune asked as he slowly turned around and placed the drink on the table. "Why would you do something like tha- YANG?!" Without a moment's notice Yang burst out laughing and held her stomach so as not to fall onto the floor. She clenched her eyes as tight as possible and without remorse, pointed a finger right at Jaune.
"Oh my gods you're FACE!" She screamed as her guffaws continued. "You were all like 'How do you do?' But then you were all like 'Uwah?!' And you just-" Yang couldn't continue to speak after she ran out of air and simply laughed more and more without breathing. She soon fell to the floor and begged for help as she struggled to laugh and breathe at the same time.
"Jaune, you know this girl?!" Melanie screamed as she and Jaune both ignored Yang's pleads.
"Yeah… She's a good friend of mine from school, she kept hassling me to tell her where I worked so I gave her the address." He looked over the bar and down at the blonde girl laughing her lungs dry and shook his head softly. "I hadn't expected her to have had history here." Eventually Yang's laughs died down and she managed to claw her way back onto her stool and situate herself into a more lady like position.
"Oh she has a lot of history here, every grunt knows to stay away from her, and she hurt both the building, and us!" At that statement, Jaune's mood quickly shifted to one of concern.
"What? Yang, why would you get into a fight like that? Did they do something to make you mad?" At this, Yang giggled softly and looked away, mildly embarrassed.
"Not… really? To be honest, I don't even know why the fight started. Or who started it."
"You did." Melanie stated coldly as she stared daggers into Yang's back. "And now I think it's time you left." Before Melanie had a chance to touch Yang, the blonde girl placed seventeen Lien onto the counter and looked Melanie in the eyes.
"You wouldn't dare touch a paying customer, would you…?" She asked innocently, as if she were a child. Melanie, fully aware of the rules of the Club knew better than to call her bluff, and instead quickly left in a huff in the direction of Junior's office. Yang snickered, took a sip of her drink and turned her full attention onto Jaune. "I can tell why they hired you, you do look pretty spiffy in that getup." She took another swig of her drink. "And this is the best Strawberry Sunrise I've had in a long time, whoever thought little ol' LadyKiller was a bartender at heart…"
Jaune noticed Yang's odd mood and decided not to question her on it, instead he gave the club a once over and saw every single grunt on shift was looking the other way, and any on break were nowhere in sight.
'Guess she really does have a reputation here…'
The approaching footsteps were heard by all partygoers and Jaune knew the massive weight of Junior was coming near before he even had to look up. The somewhat bored expression on Yang's face said the same thing when she turned in the direction the rumbling was coming from. Soon, Junior stood before the students, looking more annoyed than anything and looked between Yang and Jaune before sighing.
"Kid, you're lucky I don't dock your pay for this…" He then turned his attention to Yang and grunted. "Blondie, what are you doing back here? I told you last time I don't have any information on the broad you're looking for." Yang smiled and shook her head.
"Junior, I remember telling you last time that it's not Blondie, its Sir." Yang's demeanour changed to one of a much more threatening nature, and Junior noticed it. He sighed, glared at Jaune, and then turned back to Yang.
"Why are you here then, Sir?" His words dripped with disgust as he treated Yang like a superior, and Jaune wasn't very comfortable with the situation in the slightest.
"Just dropped in to say hi to my favourite bartender and have a few drinks, maybe meet one of his fabled girlfriends in person." Jaune did his best to look innocent as he felt the wave of bitterness wash over him from one of Melanie's trademarked glares. "If it makes you feel any better, I promise not to get into any fights if you won't." The wink Yang offered felt just as trustworthy as her compromise, but Junior knew he couldn't afford another fight, so he grunted a response, ordered Jaune to keep 'Sir' in line and left back to his office, with a gobsmacked Melanie in his wake.
At their absence, Yang relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I wasn't sure if that was going to work out in my favour or not," she laughed, "that Melanie chick sure knows how to throw a glare. She reminds me a lot of Weiss, you know?" Jaune nodded absentmindedly as he cleaned an empty glass. Luckily for him, Yang decided to come by on a rather slow night. "So, who's the other one again? 'Miss Miltiades' was it? How would you even spell that…" Jaune ignored the question and looked over the upstairs section of the main room and couldn't see the girl anywhere.
"That's her, although everyone just calls her Miltia, I really just use the formality because it annoys her." He scanned the building again. "I've got no clue where she is though; she's usually just hanging around the club most nights." He shrugged. "I'm sure she'll show up eventually." Yang grinned as an idea rang into her head.
"I think I know a way to make her show up." She said as she leant over the bar and pressed her… 'assets' against the polished wood. It took all of Jaune's focus not to look at the buxom blonde, shamelessly showing off her body.
'I knew she was confident, but by the gods…'
As Yang leaned in further, Jaune began a nervous reply to her flawed, confusing idea, until out of nowhere, Miltia appeared next to Yang with an arm on her shoulder, pulling her off the bar.
"You need to leave. Now." Her tone left no room for argument from any sane person. Unluckily for Jaune, Yang seemed to be feeling a little out of her mind recently.
"Why would I ever want to leave the company of such a talented, handsome bartender and the delicious drinks he serves?" Yang teased, somehow more to Miltia than to Jaune as she stared the small girl in the eyes.
"Because you're not welcome here." Miltia replied, slightly annoyed by the blondes words.
"Oh?" Yang asked, feigning ignorance, "but Jaune here wants me to stay, isn't that right Jaune?" Both girls turned their attention to the poor teen and Jaune really wished he could turn into a ninja to hide among the glass bottles.
"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement." He replied, slightly lowering himself to hide bellow the counter. Miltia rolled her eyes as Yang grinned, and she took it upon herself to worsen Miltia's mood further.
"I'm not the only one he wants here, I'm sure you remember Pyrrha and Nora, from his team. He'd love to have them here, two beautiful, single girls. Hell, they even sleep in the same room together. Just across the hall from me and three other beautiful girls…" Under normal circumstances, Yang would never stoop to such levels to annoy someone, but she was a lightweight and her Strawberry Sunrise was quickly taking effect. She also knew it was the only way to quicken the slow pace that Juane and the girl seemed to enjoy taking things at. Miltia, however, would be having none of it.
"Oh? I had no idea, Jaune never mentioned them. Probably because he didn't really care about whether they came by or not, because he was too distracted by all the beautiful girls working with him to care." By this point, Jaune had literally hid bellow the counter. He questioned himself as to sneaking off to help other customers, but he knew no one would be up there, and so he stayed and hid instead. He could hear Yang laugh just as loudly as if he were right next to her.
"You're cute Miltia, but you're not that cute. You're lacking a certain few traits that all guys desire…" She puffed her chest up as she spoke, as if her words weren't obvious enough for the girl. "I mean, why do you care about who Jaune sees and doesn't see when he's not at work? You're just a co-worker." Jaune knew Miltia was reaching her breaking point with Yang, but he didn't want to intervene. He knew better than anyone that he couldn't stop the blonde girl from her teasing.
"Because we care about those who work here; I'm not going to stand idly by while Jaune hangs out with a bunch of hussies when he's not in the club." Yang chose wisely to ignore the hussy comment when it did technically refer to her younger sister, and instead decided to redouble her efforts in annoying the girl, rather than her original plan.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. There's concern and then there's what you've been doing. I think there's something else you're not mentioning, something more… personal." Yang's grin could be seen from every partygoer in the club, and all patrons were smart enough to steer clear of the fight that was yet to ensue.
Melanie could see the bubble of people forming around the area and knew things were going to get worse a lot faster than they were going to get better. She decided to head over and end the conversation before it ended with a brawl, but when she heard the unique sound of Miltia's claws extending from her vambraces, she could tell it was already over.
"Because I like him, okay?!"
Everyone in the club heard the outburst and turned to the source of it. Even Jaune managed enough courage to peer out from under the bar to see Miltia's pained and angry expression. He knew he had to speak, but wasn't sure what to say.
"Miltia…?" He spoke, using every ounce of knowledge and power within his lexicon of understanding to form the perfect response. "Are you okay?"
The black liquid trickling down Miltia's face from her mascara was all the sign he needed. But before anyone had a chance to do anything, Miltia sprinted from the premises of the building, and the door slammed shut behind her.
Jaune vaulted over the counter, informed Yang that she needed to be gone before he got back or there would be problems, and bolted out the door after Miltia. He could hear a sigh from Yang's general direction as he left and knew Melanie would be running to Junior to inform him of what had happened and that Miltia was gone. But none of that mattered to Jaune; all that mattered to him now were the city streets of Vale and their labyrinthian layout.
He wished he listened better when Miltia talked about the city, as he may have been able to discern where she liked to go, and from there where she may be now, but he decided he could berate himself for that later and instead started searching the major locations. There was the park, the mall, the harbour, the airdock and the club. He knew the last two locations were out, since the twins never left the city and the club was the last place Miltia would be. The mall was also a no-go, since it would be far too populated for a crying girl to wish to go, so that left only the park and the harbour.
It didn't seem like her scene very much, but Jaune decided to start at the park.
It took him roughly twenty minutes to arrive at the large grassy plain in the middle of the city, only managing to make it so quickly thanks to his aura. Jaune didn't really know where to start looking from there, but luckily for him, he didn't really have to. The pained whimpers and sniffles could be heard from anywhere near the park, and he could tell they were coming from the swings. Jaune took a deep breath, resolved to help the girl no matter what, and calmly walked over to the swings to sit down next to Miltia.
Unsurprisingly, she was seated in the larger swing, so Jaune awkwardly sat in the much more uncomfortable, baby swing and once situated properly, held his hands in his lap and waited.
It took Miltia about five minutes to stop letting the tears run and retract her claws before standing up and across from Jaune. The student himself stood the moment she did and scratched the back of his head as he did his best not to look Miltia in the eye.
"I'm sorry." She said, "I shouldn't have yelled like that, it probably just put stress on you, and then you ran out here to find me and I was just being a burden and-" Jaune cut her off with a hug.
"Please…" he asked softly, "please don't ever apologize for your feelings. You can't control them, and although your outburst back at the club was… shocking." Jaune squeezed her slightly tighter, "I'm not exactly complaining either." He took a deep breath and leant in to kiss Miltia on the forehead.
"I've never really been good with girls." Jaune stated, feeling a slight warmth on his cheeks when Miltia wrapped her arms around him. "I've had a few girlfriends here and there ever since high school started, but all of them dumped me after about a week. It didn't take long for me to realize I wasn't very good at relationships, so I stopped looking for them after about the fifth failed attempt." He looked up at the night sky, only slightly polluted by the holographic streetlights and indoor lighting across the city. The sight was much better than Beacon's one, that was for sure; having a giant lighthouse in the middle of the school would do that.
"But when I met you, I knew you were different. You were so much nicer than all those other girls that seemed interested in me, you were caring and you forgave me for every mistake I made." Jaune took another deep breath as Miltia hid her face in his chest. "I guess what I'm trying to say is… I like you too Miltia, a lot. I don't know much about relationships and I'm not very good at them. But if it means being with you and making you happy, I think I'm willing to try." When Miltia didn't reply, Jaune was afraid he said something wrong, but all thoughts of that calibre were quickly dashed when Miltia pulled back from the hug, stood on her toes and gave Jaune a kiss on the cheek. The dumbfounded look on his face cheered the girl right up, but it was what he said next that pushed her over the limit.
"Will you go out with me…?" Miltia literally squealed in delight and hugged Jaune as tightly as she could; Jaune laughed and hugged her back.
"Yes Jaune, of course I'll go out with you!" The two of them laughed and held each other in their arms for a long while after that, and decided to simply walk around the streets of Vale before heading back to the club.
"Should we be out there looking for her too?" Melanie asked as a grunt closed the door to the club and left it unlocked for the pair before heading home. Yang had left not long after Jaune did, and as soon as Junior was informed of what happened, he closed the club for the night and retired back to his office with Melanie.
"No need, the kid knows what he's doing. They'll be back soon, I'm sure." He looked Melanie up and down and easily noticed the concern written on her face. "You though, I'm not so sure." Melanie looked up from a rather interesting patch of carpet on the ground and stared at Junior in shock.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, aggravation evident in her tone.
"I know you're worried about Miltia, but you're also worried about what he'll say to her when they meet up, aren't you?" Melanie sighed and glared at that same patch of carpet. She figured Junior was always too smart for his own good.
"She shouldn't have said what she did. We agreed we'd let him make the choice, not to just confess and obviously take him for ourselves." Melanie was not pleased with her sister in the slightest, she had hoped Jaune would let her down easy and then come back to work, but she knew better.
"I can't say I understand how you feel," Junior started, "but Miltia said what she said, and we're all going to have to see how things play out because of it." Melanie felt like berating Junior some more, but knew it wouldn't change the situation. She did, however, know that Junior would have to try to make her feel better, and one way he could was to tell her stuff she wanted to know.
"Junior, you have to tell me now: What's this dumb connection you have between you and Jaune that's just so dramatic?" She let her 'so' drag on for a bit as she asked, and looked Junior in the eye with a questioning expression on her face. Junior just sighed, as if he already knew she would ask that.
"Because I…" Junior heaved another deep sigh. "I'm his godfather."
I'm coming back with a Yang, babyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
