Hello my awesome readers! I'm back with the next chapter of my story. I don't have much to say other than hope you guys enjoy, and if you do, please Follow, Favourite and leave a review.
Onto review answering!
Gilgamesh The King of Heroes: Jaune's just that kind of guy, nice to the core. He also thinks that he did something to piss off Yang, so getting her in trouble would have been counterproductive to his attempts of making things up to her. Doesn't mean he won't be getting his revenge with another method though...
Eramis8: There is no escape for Jaune, *Insert evil laughter here*.
Benthino: Thank you for the praise! This chapter will have quite a few comedic moments that you will hopefully find delicious!
dracohalo117: Well, it probably won't be as complicated as you'd think. The answer's pretty simple.
Guest (Guest): The ship will be what the ship will be. Although there were bits of Rose Arc/Lancaster/Lunar Rose/You get the point and Arkos, there haven't been any indications on whether Jaune is crushing on someone yet and wont be for a while to come, maybe.
Jake V. Steele: Wow great guess! That was the reference I was looking for. Well, I say reference but it was more of a blunt shout out. I really love Fanart stories for RWBY 'cause they're just so creative.
Tri4ceAwesomeness: Thanks! The Sai reference was actually a reference I didn't realise someone would get, so congrats to you! Unfortunately it wasn't the one I was looking for, but hey, Giant Pancake consolation prize!
Cloy552: Too late, the challenge has already been accepted! Muahahahaha!
And thanks for the praise.
Kirkman: That made me laugh, and thanks!
CrazyTrollR49: Yeah, to me the image of Ruby cuddling anything is cute. That's why I made her one of those people who cuddle whatever's closest in their sleep.
OnTheCobb (Guest): Congratulations, you have solved the secret of the universe. Have a cookie.
DarkElucidator: Fair enough.
Drow79: It would be very hilarious, but you'll have to wait to see.
Isodrink: Thanks for the praise, but if you think it's going to be a love pentagon then wait 'till other characters are introduced! Though unfortunately for them Jaune will only be ending up with one.
Nero The Insane: Thanks, action will more than likely happen in the next chapter.
That's it for the reviews, so onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: RWBY and all mentioned franchises or references to other works do not belong to me, they belong to their respected owners.
Chapter 7: LittleMissPublisher
The next morning found Jaune hastily sneaking out of his dorm room en route to the early morning airship to Vale. The sun had only just risen past the small city and could barely be seen over the horizon in the middle of nowhere towards the sea. As with all mornings the birds were singing and the fresh morning dew was apparent. In his haste Jaune nearly slipped over said dew, but managed to make it on board without a scratch. The blond couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief as he entered the ship seemingly unnoticed. As he waited for the ship to leave he sent a quick text message to his publisher in order to tell her that he would be coming to see her. Last time he had come without messaging her prior he had walked in on her walking around in the nude whilst trying to locate her clothes. It didn't end well.
Jaune: We need to talk.
Not even moments after he had sent the message he received a reply, as if she was waiting for the text.
LittleMissPublisher: I was just about to call you. we can meet at my office and then we can head to the café next to the place youll be signing books at
LittleMissPublisher: ill answer all of your questions there
Jaune grew a tick mark as he cringed at the woman's use of grammar. This was why he disliked texting her. It always felt like she was going out of her way to make blatant grammatical errors in order to annoy him.
Meanwhile within Vale, a woman was slowly savouring some ice cream within her small office whilst she read a rather colourful reply from her cute little author. She smirked happily; satisfied with the knowledge that Jaune was more than likely getting annoyed from her constant grammatical mistakes. She did not do them on purpose of course. That would be mean, and there was no way she would be mean to her cute little author.
Back at the airship, Jaune was prepping himself for the long journey ahead of him after sending his thoughts on his publisher's annoying mannerism. He sighed, it wasn't too long of a trip to Vale via airship, but there was one factor that he had nearly forgotten about until now, his motion sickness. Holding back another sigh Jaune sat down. This was going to be one hell of a ride.
The trip to Vale had gone surprisingly well. Jaune had almost managed to last the whole flight without vomiting, almost. Upon exiting the vehicle from his nightmares Jaune was treated to the sight of a bustling, early morning Vale. Restaurants were in a hurry to get supplies ready for breakfast, shops opened their windows and doors with open arms, and all sorts of different businesses got ready for the day as the early Saturday shoppers walked about the streets in search of their morning coffee. The blond writer took in a large breath of air to steady himself and remove the smell of vomit from his lungs, replacing it with the much more pleasant smell of cinnamon buns from the bakery to his right.
After a brief moments respite Jaune set off to his publisher's office, careful not to get lost again. Taking several lefts and rights within the winding roads Jaune eventually found the place he was looking for. When he had first found the building he was curious as to why she had chosen to have it next to an ice cream parlour. Now that he knew her better, he understood why.
Checking his surrounding carefully to ensure that he hadn't been followed, he entered the building.
"Neo? You here?" he called out. As his voice finished echoing through the eerily quiet building his only answer came in the form of a door at the end of the wooden corridor opening. Not wanting to keep a lady waiting, Jaune walked briskly over to the room and entered, making sure to knock. "You're decent right?" he asked as he hesitantly uncovered his eyes.
The knight gazed at the office impressed. Every single time he had come over, the room was completely different from the last time, and with it never being decorated the same twice.
The inside of the room was quite small, similar to that of it's only occupant- Jaune's thought's were interrupted as the small woman leaped over the desk before her and roughly grasped his hand. The blond writer's eyes flashed brightly as she glared at him.
'You just said that I was small didn't you!?' She shouted at him. He stared directly at her mismatched eyes and decided that there was only one thing he could do.
"Of course not!" He lied. The woman smacked him over the head mercilessly despite being practically half his size, eliciting a loud yelp of pain from the boy.
'I can hear your thoughts when we're connected, remember? Or do I have to hit you again to help the process?'
Jaune laughed nervously, he had forgotten that detail. The connection wasn't just one way. "R-right. Well, uh, you're looking good as always?" He complimented. Kind of.
'Flattery will get you nowhere.' She snapped. A faint tinge of pink on her cheeks as she rolled her eyes betrayed her true thoughts, not that Jaune noticed. The young man laughed nervously once more and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Right. So why did you-" Neo stopped him mid-sentence by pushing her finger onto his lips with a coy expression.
'I thought I told you I'd answer your questions at the café?' She teased. Jaune smiled at the woman and ruffled her pink, brown and white hair playfully.
"That you did." He laughed. His publisher glared menacingly at him as she pouted.
'You are so going to pay for this in the near future.' She threatened. He waved the ice cream themed woman's threat off with a laugh.
The writer scoffed, "I'd like to see you try." The two joined together in a bout of laughter and Neo offered him a seat. The two sat on opposite sides of the publisher's desk as Jaune poured himself a cup of water from the water tank to his left.
Gazing aimlessly around the small room Jaune's eyes gravitated towards a picture frame on Neo's desk that had not been there in all the previous times he had been here, and he's been here a lot of times. On it was Roman, her surrogate father figure, Neo and what appeared to be a smaller Neo, if that was even possible. "Your sister looks cute in this picture." He commented offhandedly.
Neo just grinned evilly and smugly tapped him on the forehead as he took a conveniently large sip from his water. 'Thanks, I'll tell my little brother that.' Jaune spit out the water he had been drinking and flushed in embarrassment. Neo took it a step further, 'If you want I can set a date up for you.'
The knight chuckled, "Thanks, but I prefer my ice cream without nuts."
Back at Beacon Yang couldn't help but grin as she entered the next airship to Vale. "I don't know why, but it feels like someone just pulled off an awesome joke." The bookworm next to her just rolled her eyes at her partner.
Neo burst out in 'laughter' at Jaune's little joke. Smiling, the blond writer extended his hand out to his publisher in a posh manner. "Well milady, I think we should get going before I make an even bigger fool of myself." The ice cream themed lady 'giggled' at his action.
'My, what a gentleman.' She teased as she grasped his open palm. Jaune chuckled and pulled her closer to him, linking his arm with hers in one smooth movement. The boy took pleasure from her surprised expression, grinning the trademark Arc grin.
"Come on Little Miss Publisher, we have a date to attend." After getting over her initial surprise the shorter girl smirked and nodded. With that done, the two exited Neo's office with their arms linked. Unknown to the blond knight, a man and a young child had seen the entire interaction between the two.
The child stared in awe as the door closed behind the two. "Big sis is amazing!" the young child gasped. "She managed to get such a talented writer to work for her!"
The older of the two was less than enthused. "I don't care much money that boy makes me, he is dead." With a reluctant and defeated sigh, he went on to editing the boy's latest masterpiece; making sure that any and all mistakes were eliminated. If there was something the orange haired man was good at, it was taking out anything unneeded or unwanted. Well, that and stealing whilst looking stylish.
Half an hour later the team of publisher and writer had taken a seat at a small café next to the library where Jane Caur would be signing books not too long from now. "So Neo, what exactly will I be doing?" He asked her as he took a sip from his hot chocolate. The knight sighed contently; white hot chocolate was the best.
The ice cream lover gave him a pointed look, 'You'll be signing books.' She stated simply.
Jaune frowned, "Okay… How long will the event be going for? No- Wait, why didn't you just get Lily to do it like always?" He questioned the short- erm, younger looking woman as she inhaled her third bowl of ice cream.
'It will go on for the entire weekend from 10am-4pm. Also, your eldest sister was busy for the weekend so that's why you have to fill in.'
Jaune nodded slowly and took in the information. "So how exactly will I 'fill in'?" He asked curiously. Unfortunately for the writer, Neo had been waiting for this exact question. Not even bothering to hold in her internal glee she answered him.
'Fast acting karma for earlier this morning, that's how.' She smiled as she turned to the waitress to receive her fourth bowl of ice cream. Jaune watched perplexedly as the woman let go of his hand to devour her frozen treat, breaking their link. What is that woman planning? He wondered, blissfully ignorant of the waitress droning on about how cute it was that a couple was holding hands in public to some random man waiting for his breakfast. She was immediately silenced as Neo gave her a death glare over the tip of her bowl.
The blond writer's eyes twitched as he walked out of the back room in the Library… In a dress and a long blond wig. "Well played Neo. Well played." He spoke in defeat. This was retribution for calling the woman short. Walking over to the table where he would be signing books and meeting fans the writer came across Neo, who was looking smugly at him, and another woman. The boy dressed as a woman began to sweat as he approached the two, There is no way this is going to work, there is no way this is going to work- He thought to himself repeatedly.
The woman next to his publisher smiled, "Hello there Jane, I'm just here for a quick interview before the book signing starts. It won't take long as I'd hate to take the time away from your many, many fans here in Vale." True to her word, there were large amounts of people standing in front of the library, humans and Faunus alike. It brought a smile to 'Jane's' face. "So, I'm going to ask you a couple of quick questions and then I would like to record you mentioning a fan of yours who won a small competition of ours. Concerning the questions I will be asking you, the first three are to break the ice and more than likely won't be published, but the last few I would like you to answer as honestly as you can." 'Jane' nodded.
Holy dust it actually worked. The writer thought to 'herself'.
The reporter smiled warmly at the young 'woman', "Ok, so first off: How old are you?"
'Jane's' face twitched uncomfortably as 'she' answered in the girliest voice 'she' could muster. "Twenty seven." It was surprisingly good. If you didn't know beforehand, or were actively trying to tell the difference, you'd never have guessed that the beautiful, yet awkward, lady was actually a young man.
"But you look so young!" Gasped the reporter as she leaned in closer to the young 'woman'. "What's your secret?" 'Jane' blushed at the close contact with the rather beautiful reporter who was giving the writer a rather generous look at her assets. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down. 'She' chanted.
"U-uh… Good genes?" 'She' stuttered out nervously. It wasn't a lie, 'her' mother looked like she was younger than 'her'.
The reporter sat back and fixed her clothing as well as her posture as she cleared her throat in embarrassment. "R-right, um, back to the questions. Which of your books did you enjoy writing the most?"
'Jane' sighed in relief, hopefully the other questions would be like this. "Easy, Crescent Moon." The older woman raised a brow but continued on.
"Ok, final ice breaker question." 'Jane' smiled at her,
"Shoot," 'she' gestured to continue.
"Do you have someone you like?" The young 'woman' nearly did a spit take.
"E-excuse me?" 'She' gasped. The reporter chuckled.
"C'mon we're all women here. You write rather adult-centred novels and novellas, so it would only make sense that you'd be interested in a special someone." Neo leaned in closer curiously and smirked.
The disguised knight laughed nervously, "I, um, haven't really thought about it…"
The black haired reporter winked knowingly, "Sure. Well, onto the actual questions. Why did you begin to write these books eight-ish years ago?" 'Jane' smiled professionally, time for the real questions.
"Well it started off with a dream I had from childhood where the world was peaceful. No Grimm, no suspicion of war, no separation of human and Faunus, nothing. As a young child I had some rather, for lack of a better word, childish ideals that were pretty optimistic for the world we live in currently." The writer paused to see that the reporter was absolutely rapt with 'her' story and wasn't even taking notes. 'She' chuckled, "From there I turned into a young teen, then a young adult and still had the same delusions as I had before, but now I had found a way to translate those ideals into actions. I began writing stories. One's where the good guys always came together at the end and triumphed over evil. At first, no one paid any mind to my stories other than family and my publisher over there, but over the small space of a single year people slowly became aware of the books and actually started to enjoy them. It was from then that I started to write stories not because it was a good way to receive a high amount of income, but because I believed that these small books had the power to achieve my childish ideals of a Remnant with no war." Neo smiled sadly at the boy in a dress. If only it was that simple.
The reporter wiped her eyes, "So why did you begin to write romance novels then?" 'Jane' smiled,
"Isn't it obvious? Because two people coming together and being there for each other, no matter the time, place or circumstance, is beautiful. If I could get people together and make friends, and not enemies, by writing my stories then that is also achieving my rather optimistic, childish dreams."
The reporter gasped as she gazed at the time, "Oh, dear. It appears we've taken more time than we should have. Um, Jane, would you please read this out as sincerely as you can?" The black haired woman asked as she brought out a recording camera from… somewhere. 'Jane' nodded and grabbed the piece of paper the reporter handed to 'her'.
"I would like to give a shout out to… Jake V. Steele? For winning the small competition you win five free Jane Caur novels of your choice and a box of cookies that will arrive at an undetermined date." 'Jane's' eye twitched slightly, that's pretty sketchy. 'She' thought. "Once again, I would like to congratulate Jake V. Steele for winning. Runners-ups will receive a consolation prize and all those who entered will get a participation reward. These prizes are to be decided at a later date." Ok, this is really sketchy now. The reporter seemed to notice 'her' thoughts and laughed as she stopped recording.
"I know it probably sounds untrustworthy, but it was a pretty small competition that just happened one day during a convention." 'Jane' blinked.
"They have conventions at Vale?" The reporter nodded as she packed up her things.
"Yep, you should search them up. Some of them are pretty big. Anyway, thanks for answering all my questions." The writer smiled back at the woman.
"Anytime." With that, the reporter took her leave and let in the flood of fans that had been waiting outside. "Oh boy this is going to take a while…" 'She' muttered under 'her' breath as Neo smiled smugly to 'her' right.
The boy pretending to be a female sent a message to the publisher by grasping her hand. 'So, a dress, wig and strange-smelling perfume can fool a person, but what about a Faunus? Don't they have, like, sense-hacks or something and can smell male pheromones, or hear inconsistencies in your voice, or tell your thoughts by using your heartbeat?" Neo just rolled her eyes.
'While they do have enhanced senses they don't have 'sense-hacks'. It's similar to animals so they won't be able to tell the difference unless they're actively trying, and even then you're wearing a special scent-blocking perfume. It also works on your semblance when you use it to enhance your senses because they're basically on par with a Faunus.' Jaune nodded in slight understanding. 'Also, I could tell that for whatever reason you were being 'in character'. Stop, you're making it too obvious that you're trying to be like your sister.' Jaune laughed, so she could tell huh?
Jaune's eyes wandered around the room as he signed random books that he had written. Initially he had felt bad that he wasn't even paying attention to the excited fans, but after spending at least four hours doing the same thing over and over, hearing the same thing over and over, he had the right to be bored. How did Lily deal with this each time? He groaned inwardly as he signed another copy of 'RWBYsaurus Sir Lyserg: Tales of the Gentleman Utahraptor' and 'To Sapphire with love'. "Oh my dust it's really you!" They'd say, "Nice to meet you." He'd reply politely, it was fairly repetitive. Really all Jaune wanted right now was something different.
"Look Blake, it's actually her!" Squealed a rather excited young woman. Jaune swore colourfully in his head.
"I can see that Yang." Stated her equally excited friend, although she did a better job at hiding it. Jaune blinked, next to them was Amethyst, Beacon's young librarian. He could not believe his luck. Neo put her hand on his exposed shoulder as she noticed the look on his face.
'Friends of yours?' She asked.
Jaune rolled his eyes, You don't know the half of it…
"Hi Jane, I'm Yang and this is Blake." Introduced the blond female before him.
"H-hi." Stuttered the usually composed bookworm. There went doing a better job at hiding it.
"And over there is Amethyst."
The librarian smiled shyly. "Hello." She greeted. Jaune inwardly smiled, he didn't know that Amethyst was a fan of his. The writer smiled warmly at the three girls.
"Nice to meet you three. I take it you're avid readers?" Yang nodded and forced the black haired girl next to her to nod as well. Jaune chuckled; who knew that standing in front of a person of great importance, to Blake at least, would reduce the calm introvert into a stuttering mess? He mentally grinned as he turned to Yang, time for a bit of revenge, for both the teasing at the library and the whole wall-destroying thing. "So how long have you three been reading my books for?" Asked the writer with a polite tone of voice. The roles of the three girls before him reversed as Yang froze up while Blake and Amethyst answered proudly.
"Seven years." Blake smiled proudly, puffing her chest out. Jaune gasped and smiled.
"Glad to know that someone has been reading my books since close to the beginning. If I may ask, how old are you?"
"Seventeen." Jaune blinked in mock confusion.
"If memory serves right, a lot of my books back then weren't exactly 'child friendly'." He 'muttered' to himself just loud enough for the three girls and Neo to overhear. The black haired girl blushed a deep shade of red at hearing his 'private' thought. Amethyst, deciding to cover for her new friend, then answered.
"Six years." She smiled.
Jaune nodded, "And what about you Miss Yang, how long have you been reading my books?" He queried. "Of course, if your two friends here have read them for so many years it would only make sense that you would have read them for a similar amount no?" The blond writer laughed evilly within his head as the two girls squirmed uncomfortably and muttered incoherent excuses. Leaving Amethyst, the only calm one of the three, to fan them in an attempt to cool them down.
Neo, on the other hand, was rather amused and intrigued by the knight. She had never seen this side of him before, and to be honest it interested her slightly. Nevertheless, she had a job to do. She 'glared' at Jaune mockingly.
'I think you've tormented the two girls enough, you've had your fun.' She 'berated'. Jaune chuckled.
"Perhaps you're right." The writer turned to the two squirming girls and the one trying to calm them down. "So what books did you three want me to sign for you?" They snapped out of their embarrassment-induced state and each reached for their respective books. Jaune smiled as he realised one more thing he could do. "Hold on a moment girls, could you hold out your hands a moment? I would like to see something." He spoke, holding out his hand. The boy in a dress grasped their hands as they held them out. Smirking inwardly, he spoke. "I believe that the books you'll be getting signed are…" Pausing for dramatic effect, and so he could prepare himself for the looks on their faces, Jaune's eyes unnoticeably flashed. He turned to gaze at the faces of the girls as he mentioned them. "Ninja's of Love for Miss Blake over there, Knightshade for Miss Amethyst and…" He blinked in confusion at Yang. "Kaori's Diary and Crescent Moon?" He asked in pure surprise. He didn't expect Yang to get his favourite book signed for him. The boy felt a little guilty for making the two squirm.
Meanwhile Amethyst, Yang and Blake were trying to recover from a huge mind blow. How did she know what books we'd be bringing to sign? She's literally written hundreds of different books! Gaped the three as they handed the author their books. After signing the four books and handing them back Jaune turned to Yang curiously. "So, Miss Yang. Why did you bring two books to sign?" The blond bombshell gave the blond writer a grin.
"Why not?" He chuckled at the girl's statement.
"That is a fair point. Well then, it's been a pleasure talking with you Miss Yang, Miss Blake, Miss Amethyst. I wish you a safe trip home." The three fans giggled.
"Bye Jane!" Shouted Yang happily as they walked out of the building. Jaune frowned while he watched the girls exit and sighed. He'd have to make up for teasing them somehow.
After signing dust knows how many books until 4:00 Jaune now had dinner with Neo as her way of making it up to him for having to do this last minute. The two were sat at a relatively empty restaurant. Neo smirked as she watched Jaune order for her and the waiter call him whipped. After watching a rather annoyed Jaune finish of his own order she decided to tease him a little. Jaune blushed and nearly gasped audibly when he felt Neo's exposed foot touch his leg.
'So how come, in all the years we've known each other, you haven't tagged me yet?' She asked curiously. Jaune laughed nervously,
"That's because I felt it would've been rude to write a story including you when you're my publisher." The ice cream loving woman smiled,
'And yet you tagged one of your friends?' Neo snickered at Jaune's next thought, 'Oho, half of your current friends?' Jaune frowned.
"Hey, some of them were accidents!" He cried, but Neo didn't appear to care and just gave him a look.
'Only some?' The knight sighed; there was just no one-upping this woman was there? The ice cream lover grinned, 'Nope.'
The rest of the dinner was thankfully uneventful and was just spent with the usual chatter as the two talked about things from business to favourite flavours of ice cream. Soon the clock struck 6 and the team of writer and publisher had to part ways or else Jaune would miss the last flight back to Beacon. "I'll see you later then, Little Miss Publisher." He grinned as he did an overly dramatic bow and lightly kissed the fingertips of the woman. "'Till we meet again." He smirked. Neo couldn't help but burst into 'laughter' at the young man's overdramatic performance.
'So long, but you owe me another ice cream.' Jaune blinked.
"For what?" He asked confused.
'For the kiss on the fingers of course!' She stated matter-of-factly. The knight rolled his eyes,
"Please, you aren't that special."
'Says the one who got knocked out from being smothered too much. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't get lost in Vale again.'
"How did you know I got smothered into unconsciousness? Wait- I only got lost once and you know it!" He exclaimed defensively, waving his arms to emphasise his statement. Before Neo could retort the loudspeakers above them crackled to life.
"Final call for the last airship! Final call!" Announced the voice that echoed from the device. Neo smiled at the boy,
'You'd better head off to wherever.' Jaune nodded and quickly ran on board.
Neo smiled wistfully at the blond writer as he boarded the airship. She'd never admit it to his face, but she actually looked forward to every meeting they had. To be perfectly honest, most of it just came from the satisfaction of not having to use sign language, writing or other mediums to communicate since she preferred not to talk. So actually speaking to someone, albeit telepathically, felt freeing. However, that wasn't the only reason she enjoyed being around boy and she knew it. The publisher frowned as she walked away, she could only hope that her father's partner's future plans wouldn't hurt her cute little author.
Jaune sighed, after enduring a nearly vomit free airship ride, the knight had finally made it back to Beacon. He smiled as he rounded the corner and saw Blake, Yang and Amethyst. "So how was meeting Jane?" He asked the three.
Amethyst gave him a confused look, "How did you know we went to go see Jane Caur? And how did you know I went with them?" She asked curiously. She hadn't seen the boy all day, so how did he possibly know?
Jaune faked a rather believable surprised expression. "You went with them?"
"…"
"Also, it's obvious that Yang and Blake are big fans of Jane Caur, I mean I had a whole talk about it with them. And when Yang asked me if I wanted to go into Vale with her and Blake after I found out that Jane would be there I kind of just assumed…" He trailed off 'embarrassed'.
Yang smirked, "At any rate, it was awesome. Shame you couldn't be there Vomit Boy." Jaune nodded sadly,
The knight sighed, "Well I guess I was just unlucky I couldn't go with you three then. I really wanted to see if she could sign my favourite book too."
Yang grinned, "Funny you mention that actually. I have a signed copy of Crescent Moon right here." She pulled out the book from… Somewhere. Jaune 'gasped',
"Is that for me?" He asked hopefully.
Yang's grin widened, "Depends, what will you give me in return?"
Jaune blinked. "I don't really have anything."
"Well then, looks like you'll have to find something to trade for it." With that she skipped off.
I change my mind, I no longer feel guilty about tormenting her as Jane. Meanwhile Amethyst and Blake were staring at the quickly disappearing figure of Yang in confusion. Earlier today the girl seemed adamant about getting Jaune's favourite book signed for him because she felt bad about him not being able to go, going so far as to buy a new book because none of them had a spare. So what changed?
Little did they know, around the corner Yang was mentally berating herself. Why did I do that? She thought. Why was she always so weird around the knight? What made him different from all the other men who tried to court her? The buxom blond sighed, she'd sort out her thoughts later. Now was time for some beauty sleep.
Jaune yawned as he entered Nora's Pancake Bar. He had no clue why she kept changing the name, but at the moment he didn't care. It was nearly 8pm and he had spent the entire day dealing with boredom. The Valkyrie grinned as Jaune sat down at the bar. "What would you like sir?" She asked whilst wiping a pair of glasses with a cloth. The knight stared at her in confusion,
"Nora. Why are you wearing a fake moustache while cleaning someone's glasses?" The girl laughed,
"Isn't it obvious Jaune-Jaune Arc? I'm a bartender! They always have moustaches and are wiping glasses!" The boy facepalmed, wrong glasses.
"Right. Well, I'll have a large pancake for two please. Oh, and a white hot chocolate please!" He ordered. Nora nodded but tilted her head slightly,
"But aren't you alone right now? Also, why're your eyes glowing?" Jaune shrugged, leave it to Nora to notice his semblance.
"Allergies? And I'm not alone right now. Someone's following me." The hammer-wielder nodded slowly. She was just a bartender so she had no say in what the customer did. Speaking of which-
"How tender do you want your chocolate bar?" Jaune blinked.
"I, um, what?" Nora rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious.
"I've told you already, I'm a bar-tender! I tenderize bars!" She stated rather annoyed, "Get with the program Jaune-Jaune Arc."
"I… don't think it works like that. And wouldn't it be bar tender-er?" He mumbled. The knight blinked as he heard Ren's voice echo from behind the kitchen window.
"Just go with it. That's the best way to deal with her." He commented. Jaune sighed, he was way too tired for this.
"Uh, can I just have it… as a bar?" He asked slowly. The bar-tender grinned,
"One non-tender bar of chocolate coming up. Also, Renny we have an order of two-slothcakes with a warm snow sloth drink!"
"Nora, I have no idea what that means!" Called out the boy from the kitchen. The blond writer chuckled; those two were definitely his teammates. Now to deal with the person following him.
"So why exactly have you been following me?" He asked curiously as he spun around to confront his stalker. To his surprise it was Blake.
Blake felt rather annoyed as she sat next to the clumsy knight. The girl prided herself on her speed and stealth capabilities so how did Jaune of all people manage to pick up on the fact that she was following him? Jaune smiled, "I bet you're wondering how I knew you were following me huh?" The bookworm nodded. "Well, I'll tell you if you answer a question for me." The black haired girl frowned,
"Depends on the question." If he was able to notice her following him, did that mean he knew other things about her?
"What's your cup size?" Blake cracked her knuckles.
"Care to explain?" Jaune thought about what he said for a moment before laughing,
"Sorry, you'll have to excuse my mistake. I'm not exactly in the best of minds right now." Blake rolled her eyes, I can see that. "Well, what size drink do you want?"
"What?"
"What size drink? According to this brochure, anyone from Team JNPR can eat and drink for free, so I want to treat you to something." He explained, "And I thought that you'd like some white hot chocolate." The introvert tilted her head in confusion,
"White… hot chocolate?" Jaune grinned,
"Yeah, it's like regular hot chocolate, except it uses white chocolate instead. Don't tell me you've never heard of it?" Blake shook her head. Everyone present in the bar turned to the blond knight as he began to yell. "Ren, Nora, JNPR's special white hot chocolate stat!" Before the girl could blink a cup the size of a football was placed before her, filled to the brim with an interesting-smelling white liquid. She turned to Jaune confused but was confronted with him smiling in anticipation for her thoughts. "Go ahead!" He urged her as he gestured towards the cup. Blake frowned as she glanced between Jaune's expecting face and the strangely large cup of molten white chocolate with milk.
The girl hesitantly licked the drink to get an idea of its general heat. Warm, she thought to herself. Slowly the young woman took a sip from the drink.
Then another.
And another.
Jaune, finding her small reoccurring sips to be funny, was unable to stifle his amusement in time and burst out in laughter, much to the embarrassment of the black haired girl. The knight's laughter increased tenfold once he realised she had a milk-moustache, however his laughter stopped instantly when Blake kicked over his chair whilst pouting. "Not fair!" He grumbled as he rubbed his head.
Upon looking up Jaune fell speechless at the scene before him. "How exactly did you finish that so quickly?" He gaped. The girl glared at him as he got back onto his seat.
"You tell no one about this." She growled. Nodding quickly to avoid the immense pain her eyes promised, Jaune smiled as the pancakes arrived with his white hot chocolate and untendered chocolate bar. A second before he could dig into his half of the meal he heard a quiet whimper from next to him. Turning to face Blake he was blown back by the most adorable look of longing he had ever seen, and he had seven sisters and knew Ruby!
"I-if you want, you can have som-" As quick as Nora on sugar, the black haired female drained the cup. "I didn't even finish my sentence…" He mumbled to no one in particular. After a pregnant pause the two burst into laughter. Jaune blinked as he noticed that Blake still had milk on her face. Quickly going into his doting brother mode the knight grabbed a cloth and wiped the milk off. The bookworm blushed as the brother to seven wiped her face.
"I, uh, Jaune?" The blond blushed a similar shade to the girl next to him as he realised what he was doing.
"S-sorry." He apologised, "I've always wiped food off of my sisters' faces after a meal, so it's become second nature after all these years." The black haired girl nodded slowly, still blushing.
"How many sisters do you have?" Jaune laughed,
"Seven." If Blake still had her white hot chocolate she would've done a spit take.
"Seven?" She gasped. Jaune however just nodded as if he was used to people reacting that way.
He smiled nostalgically, "Yeah seven, four older, two younger and one my age. There was one time where Lily, the oldest of us, had the largest piece of pudding possible on her nose and…"
After half an hour of small talk between Blake and Jaune, Nora grinned at her leader, "How are the lovers enjoying their meal?" She asked the two as she served Blake her fourth white hot chocolate. Jaune blushed,
"Nora!" He cried, "It's not like that, and we've only known each other for a week." The black haired girl nodded along as she downed the drink offered to her in one go. Jaune laughed, she reminded him of Neo. As per usual, the laughter earned him an embarrassed punch to the shoulder from Blake. The bar-tender raised a brow, not believing his statement.
"But you two have been talking with each other and exchanging physical contact like you've known the other since childhood! And trust me, I should know." Jaune rolled his eyes,
"Please, I would know if Blake was a childhood friend or not. I only had one friend as a kid because of my protective sisters, and he was a male Faunus." Blake twitched subtly at the mention of Faunus. Jaune was friends with a Faunus as a child? She wondered.
"You were friends with a Faunus?" She repeated aloud. Jaune frowned at her,
"Do you have something against Faunus, the Faunus, Faunus', Fauni, Faun- you get the point." The bookworm shook her head smiling,
"No, not at all. So what happened to him?" She asked curiously. The knight just shrugged and sighed, wistfully staring out the window to his left.
"No clue. He just up and left one day without even a word of goodbye. To this day I still worry that something might've happened to him."
The black haired woman smiled warmly at the boy who had shared a lot about his personal life with her in the past hour. If only she could do the same. "You'll probably meet again one day." She consoled him, patting his shoulder comfortingly. Blake frowned as she looked at the time, "I'm going to have to head back to my dorm room soon so… I guess I'll see you around?" Jaune smiled back at the girl,
"Yeah, Nora's Pancake Bar is about to close soon anyway, so I'll see you later." Nora just smiled at the awkward goodbye. It was always funny watching introverts interact, not that she'd ever tell anyone. With their awkward farewells done, the two left the bar. Unfortunately for them their dorm rooms were literally across the hall from each other so it made for an embarrassing trip back.
Blake, upon entering her room, slapped herself in the face as she realised something important. She had completely forgotten about why she had followed Jaune in the first place, and she also managed to forget that he was supposed to tell her how he knew she was following him. Groaning as she entered her personal bed Blake decided to leave it to a later date.
Jaune sighed in relief as he entered his empty dorm room. That had been embarrassing. He had completely forgotten that their rooms were so close when he had said goodbye so they had spent the entire walk in silence, blushing as they looked in the opposite direction from the other. Though despite the awkwardness of the farewell, Jaune was happy. He had, hopefully, made another friend here at Beacon, and he could only hope that he'd make plenty more. Sure he was friends with all of Team JNPR, but with Team RWBY he was only friends with Ruby and now Blake. He wasn't sure about Yang and Weiss sure as dust hated his guts. Before he could think more about the subject the lights of his room flickered on as Pyrrha spun around on a swivel chair in the middle of the room. "Jaune, where exactly have you been the last five hours? I thought your ship came back at four?" She interrogated him, eyes narrowed. The boy laughed nervously at his partner. Oh boy…
And that is it! Originally because this used to be one chapter with the previous one I was worried that this might be too short, so I added that final scene with Blake. However, I kind of got carried away with it and now this has become the longest chapter so far so… Your welcome?
Sorry that I didn't make Neo the dangerously sexy little minx she's usually portrayed as, but I thought this would work better with what I have planned, and I definitely didn't make Neo have a trap younger brother just so I could incorporate that joke… *Insert nervous laughter here* Definitely not.
Also, we hit 300 Follows! Thank you guys and gals so much for the support, you're all so awesome.
And a bit of Jaune's semblance tease within the chapter as well.
So, thank you wonderful readers for enjoying my story and get excited for the next chapter, which will begin the Jaunedice/Forever Fall arcs.
If you enjoyed the chapter don't be afraid to Favourite, Follow and review!
Anyone who can guess a specific reference gets a white hot chocolate so you can watch your nearest Blake drink it in an adorable manner.
