Jaune was always an early riser and a morning person. More so, after training with his teacher. So, it was natural that he was the first one up out of his teammates. He looked over at them to make sure if they were asleep or not. Ren was dead asleep, normal, so much so most would have actually thought he was dead. Pyrrha was also out, but she was holding one of her pillows against her chest tightly. Jaune chuckled at how adorable it was to see the champion look like that. He looked around for Nora before he remembered what happened last night and looked down. Nora was holding onto him tightly and had her head laying on his chest. This is what he and more often Ren had to deal with when Nora had nightmares. He sighed and started the slow process of untangling Nora from himself while trying not to wake her. Jaune was too nice to do that. After ten minutes he was free and made his way to the bathroom and got dressed in his Beacon uniform. After he was done freshening up and fully dressed. He saw that Nora and Pyrrha were getting up. Nora was already sitting up still half asleep. Jaune walked over to her and started messing up her already disheveled hair.
"You feeling better, Nora?" Jaune asked with his usual smile.
Nora was trying to stop Jaune with little success. Nora was powerless when she first got up. She tiredly whined, "Jaune, stop. You're messing up my hair."
Jaune chuckled, "It's already a mess, Nora." He finally let her push his hand away and looked over to his partner who was looking like she got hit by a train, a stark contrast to the adorable way she looked while sleeping. He chuckled again. It was fun to be the only morning person in the group. "Morning, Pyrrha."
Pyrrha slowly looked over at him and groggily said, "Morning." with a yawn. She was about to flop onto her bed again before Jaune put his arm under her to stop her. She looked to see what had stopped her from going back to sleep and saw her partner looking down at her with his usual endearing smile. After about a minute of staying like that, her tired mind connected the dots and her eyes snapped open wide along with a blush. She quickly tried to jump out of her bed and away from Jaune but her leg was tangled in her bed sheet. She would've gone head first into the floor if Jaune hadn't caught her. She looked up at him again when she realized she was in his arms and her blush deepened.
Jaune sighed at his partner before he gently put her back on her bed. "Let's save you from your bed before you try that again." He said with a small smile. She bashfully nodded while he went to work freeing her. When he was done she gave him a quiet 'Thank you' before he just looked at her. "No problem." He motioned to the bathroom. "It's free if you want it. Nora and Ren are still out." She nodded and quickly made her way to the bathroom. She stopped as she saw Nora still sitting on his bed.
"Jaune, why is Nora in your bed?" she asked.
He turned back to her, "Oh, Nora gets some intense nightmares on occasions. She usually asks to sleep with Ren or I when that happens." Jaune than rubbed the back of his head nervously. "My little fight with the Beringel really freaked her out." He said guiltily.
Pyrrha nodded before smiling. "You're a nice guy, Jaune."
He smiled before Nora interrupted them, gaining some of her usual energy. "That's our Fearless Leader!" The two laughed at that before Pyrrha retreated into the bathroom. Jaune started to gather his books he'd need for the day. He heard a strange creaking sound and turned to see Nora flying through the air after jumping off of his bed. She was flying right towards Ren's bed. "Ren!" she shouted before she landed on him and the two toppled off the bed.
Jaune sighed again than smiled, thinking 'She's back to normal alright.'
Ren slowly got up from the floor and looked at Jaune. They stared at each other for a minute before Ren spoke, "Why?"
Jaune shrugged, "She was already in the air and more than halfway to you. There was no stopping her at that point and if I tried I'd be on the floor with you two."
Ren accepted the truth and sighed before Nora jumped back to her feet. She started rambling about how excited she was, Ren just listening stoically and Jaune was listening while gathering the rest of his things. Pyrrha came out of the bathroom in her uniform and saw the three interacting and smiled sadly. Jaune noticed this. "Pyrrha, what's up?"
She quickly put her polite smile on, "Nothing, Jaune."
Jaune raised an eyebrow at her, "Really?" He kept looking at her. She looked away but when she turned back he was still giving her that same look. She finally relented.
"I'm just feeling a little… left out is all."
"Why?" Jaune asked in shock and curiosity.
She was nervously rubbing her one arm. "Well, you three have known each other for a while and now I just come out of nowhere. I just feel like I'm intruding." she said sadly.
Jaune was about to deny that before Nora bolted across the room and stopped in front of her and clearing in her personal space. "That's silly." she plainly said.
Pyrrha was slightly taken back. "What?"
"You're part of our team now, that makes you a part of our family. No excuses." To emphasize her point, she hugged her close.
She just looked down at Nora and then at her two other teammates, who were now standing next to each other. Jaune had his arm on Ren's shoulder with a grin. "I told you before Pyr, we aren't just friends. We're a family. When you became my partner, you became a part of this family. Hope you're okay with that because you're stuck with us now." He smiled widely and Ren gave her a nod and a reassuring grin.
She then looked at Nora still holding her, she smiled warmly and returned the hug. "That sounds perfect."
"Yeah! I finally get a sister!" They all shared a laugh after that.
Shortly after that, they all got done getting ready for their first day and were making their way to the cafeteria. Jaune stopped when he heard what sounded like power tools coming from RWBY's dorm. His curiosity won out, "You guys go on. I need to check on something." They nodded and carried on. Jaune went to the door and knocked politely on said door. The sound stopped and a couple seconds later, the door was opened up by Ruby, who smiled warmly at him.
"Hey Jaune, what's up?"
"Not much. I heard a racket coming from your girl's room and was concerned. Everything okay?"
She nodded, "Yup. We were just setting up our bunk beds." She said cheerfully.
"Bunk beds?" She stepped aside so Jaune could see their handy work. He was not liking what he saw. Seeing the beds being held up by books and ropes was not a reassuring sight. "That can't be safe. Like at all."
Yang quickly came into the conversation. "Nah, it's fine. They turned out awesome." She grinned.
"Uh huh." Jaune was unconvinced. He looked back at the suspended bed. "Who is the unfortunate one sleeping under that?" he motioned to it.
He heard an annoyed huff before Weiss spoke, "That would be me."
He looked at her for a second before bowing his head. "It was an honor to know you." he said jokingly.
She just gave him a glare before she shouted, "Hey!"
He smirked as he raised his head, "Than you'll really be a Snow Angel." She blushed and looked away with another huff. He chuckled a bit and so did Yang and Ruby. "But seriously, why don't you girls just request some actual bunk beds. I doubt Professor Ozpin would mind. Considering its that or these." he motioned to the beds again. No one said a thing. "You girls didn't think of that did you?" All four of them were avoiding his gaze. He started to laugh. "Anyways, my team is already heading to the cafeteria before class. Wanna tag along?" They all agreed and started to make their way there.
About halfway there Yang grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. "Mind hanging back for a second?"
He nodded, "Sure."
Once the rest of her team was out of earshot she started to talk. She pulled her hair over shoulder and started playing with it. "I wanted to apologize to you, Jaune."
Jaune raised an eyebrow, "For what?"
She was looking down now, "I asked you something I shouldn't have and made you bring up some painful memories. I shouldn't have done that and I feel really bad about it."
Jaune just looked at her. "Yang, it's fine."
"No, it's not!" she nearly yelled and looked up at him eyes red. "I can understand how you felt and I know how painful that can be. We felt the same when we lost…" Yang stopped and looked down again.
Jaune reached over and rested her hand on her shoulder. Yang looked him in the eye and saw only forgiveness. "Yang, it's fine. I've had all that bottled up for a long time now. I refused to speak about it until yesterday. But talking helped me move forward, even if it's just a little bit. Made me remember that Amber wouldn't want me suffering like that. So if anything, I should thank you for helping me onto the right path. So, thank you, Yang" he gave her a warm smile.
She just stared at him for a second before she gave him a grin, "Kinda hard to feel bad when you smile like that." He chuckled for a bit before she continued. "I know how you can thank me later though." She smirked.
"I'm all ears." He was still smiling.
"When you're ready to move on, you have to promise to give me a fair shot." she gave him a teasing smile as she said that.
Jaune was stunned for a second and blushed before he grinned, "I would consider it an honor." Trying to return he teasing.
She blushed slightly from his words and her realization that she was half serious about that. She quickly punched Jaune in the shoulder to divert attention. "Don't go falling for me yet, Hero." she teased.
"Ow! Oum Yang, that hurt." He was rubbing his arm trying to regain feeling in it.
"Come on, you saying I hit harder than that Death Stalker or Beringel? Stop being a baby."
"I'm not using my Semblance and I've seen what your punches can do. So, excuse me for not being indestructible." They met up with their teams and had their breakfast before they headed to their first class, Grimm Studies. Jaune was excited for this class. He'd been fighting Grimm for years with Ren and Nora. He wasn't an expert but he was looking forward to learning more about the creatures and probably doing fairly well from all his experiences so far.
The excitement went away when Professor Port started to ramble on and on about himself. Jaune tried to pay attention and learn but it was a losing battle and he eventually started to tune out. He looked at his team to see how they were fairing. Nora was fully engrossed in the story but that made sense considering it was Nora. Ren was looking like he was paying attention but Jaune could tell he was meditating and focusing on his aura. Pyrrha was actually trying to take notes, had to give her credit for that. He then looked down to Team RWBY sitting in front of him. Yang was on her scroll, Blake looked like she was about to nod off, Weiss was paying attention and Ruby was just as bored as him. She was making a poor drawing of the Professor. He had to smile at her antics, although Weiss didn't agree with him on that. She looked like she was getting angrier by the second. He was worried until he tuned back into Professor Port's rambling.
"A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Weiss raised her hand and nearly shouted, "I do, sir!"
"Excellent, Miss Schnee!" he boomed "Now usually I would take that as a volunteer but today I will call on someone who showed remarkable skill in slaying Grimm during initiation!"
Weiss seemed deflated at that and everyone was curious who this someone was. Before Professor Port pointed directly to that person. "Are you ready, Mr. Arc!"
Jaune jumped at that and everyone turned to look at him. "I guess, sir. But I'm not that skilled though." He tried to defuse this situation before it was too late.
Professor Port merely laughed, "You show modesty, my boy! Not many first years can take out seven Beowolves along with an Alpha, figure out an ingenious plan for taking down a Death Stalker and then take down a Beringel, nearly single handedly!"
At that point everyone was either staring at him or discussing what they heard with each other. Jaune promptly slammed his head on his desk and sighed tiredly. He muttered to himself, "Should've kept my big mouth shut." Jaune knew rumors would spread now and he was never one for the limelight. He called his aura to calm himself, causing his body to faintly glow white but only his team and RWBY noticed, before he stood up and looked at the professor with a determined look. "You got it, sir."
