Prompt - Cinder and Jaune, first date.

"Bring me the boy."

Cinder sneered. There was already a great many things that could go wrong with this plan. One slip-up could spell the end. Not just for the mission, but quite possibly her life as well.

Her heels clicked down the hall. Her tight red dress clung to all the curves of her body. She even made sure to walk with an extra bit of sway in her hips as she moved. "Bring me the boy." It wasn't some sort of side objective for her infiltration of Beacon. It had been a command. Cinder looked up at the door in front of her. She took a breath to collect her emotions, and knocked. Not because she wanted to, but because her mistress had demanded it.

There was scurrying on the other side of the wooden door. The boy must be just as nervous as the moment she had asked him out on this 'date'. Good. Nerves just made the fool that much more pliable. The knob turned and blond hair poked itself around the frame. "Cinder!" He tried to sound excited, but when his eyes met her outfit the nerves shot back to his throat. "I… Uh… I'm ready?"

Cinder brought her hand up to her mouth to cover it while she laughed. To the boy, it may seem like she was enjoying the fact that his statement had come as a question. To her, the laugh was a sign of an easy victory. She eyed the boy in his black suit. "Well, don't you look handsome." The boy's face lit up in a bright red flush. "I can only imagine what you might look like at the dance later this semester, Jaune."

The thoughts of going to the dance with her seemed to freeze him in place. Or, maybe it was the way she had practically purred his name. It didn't matter which. One date was all she would need to seduce the boy and continue forward with her true mission.

She held out a hand for him to hold. He would be leading her to dinner. If anything, giving him a sense of control might expedite the process of bringing him to her aid. When he grasped it without a word, she was a bit taken aback by just how firm his grip was. His sweaty palms would ruin the black sleeves that ran up her arm. Normally, she would have ended everything there. If the boy were truly that nervous, surely he would not be worth her time. This time, however, her orders demanded that they be treated as a minor casualty of the mission.

As Jaune took his first few steps forward, a voice called out to them from inside team JNPR's room. Both he and Cinder turned their heads back to see Pyrrha Nikos wave from the doorway. "Have fun you two!" She called to them. Jaune waved back to her with a smile, but Cinder eyed the girl. She was well practiced in the way she hid her pain. However, her experience wasn't great enough to get it past Cinder's perception. She was jealous. The invincible girl was jealous that Jaune wanted her. Perhaps this mission would be more worthwhile than originally thought.

The walk to the restaurant was dull. The boy had attempted to make small talk the entire ride into Vale. If that hadn't been bad enough, his hand had refused to let hers go. Cinder was beginning to feel sickened from the dampness that spread across the palm of her sleeves. The only upside to this was that they had finally arrived at their destination. A simple pasta shop that their dressy outfits had no place being in.

She had suggested they go somewhere nice. It was her way of making sure her overly sexy outfit would blend in with the crowd. Jaune had insisted on paying though. Apparently, this place was all he was able to afford. Because of that, he had asked if they could just pretend it was a bit fancier as a way to make it up to her. At the time, it seemed that the idea could fit her plans. Now, as she walked closer to one of the wooden tables among families wearing jeans and t-shirts, she realized just how out in the open she was.

Jaune shifted behind her to help her into her seat. The scraping of the metal chair along the tiled floor seemed to irritate everyone in the surrounding area. Great, even more attention had been called to her. The situation was getting worse by the minute. Still, she gave Jaune a smile for the kind gesture and moved to sit down.

Her hips fell back towards the chair, only to find air. She heard the sound of metal digging into the floor once again, along with Jaune's yell as she tumbled to the tile floor. There was a loud thump when she landed. The unexpected fall brought a great pain towards her tailbone. She gripped at the source while Jaune looked at her in horror.

"Cinder… I'm so sorry! I was going to help you sit, but the chair just kinda moved on its own! I didn't mean it! I swear!" His panicked voice only drew more attention to the two of them. Cinder winced. Everyone wanted to stare at the girl in the red dress sitting on the floor. It was an embarrassment.

An embarrassment that he would have to pay for after her mission was complete. Cinder propped herself back onto the chair and shifted herself into place at the table. She did her best not to grind her teeth as she beckoned Jaune to his side of the table. "Accidents happen, Jaune." She ran her hand up his arm as he moved away. "How can I be mad at you while you're taking me on such a lovely date?"

His voice broke up again. "Ye…Yeah. Our date." He looked straight into Cinder's eyes which she met with a longing gaze. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked with more than a bit of concern.

"Yes, of course." She replied with another roll of the words. "Let's just focus on you… and me." His face flustered again as we went to speak. No words came from him before a waiter moved to the side of the table and interrupted the conversation.

"Thank you both for coming in this evening." The tall, lanky man spoke with dread in his voice. The line had clearly been spoken more than he had planned for his lifetime. "I have brought you both a soup to get started." He nodded over to Jaune while facing Cinder. "Casanova over here already ordered for you both beforehand."

Cinder was dumbstruck. Had Jaune attempted a 'power move' on her? As two soups fell to the wooden table in front of them, she could only stare into Jaune's nervous face. Yes, he had planned everything. Did he think that he was in control of this date? Did he really think that she wouldn't notice his attempts to take command for her?

She picked up a spoon and forced a sly smile onto her face. No. She would not let him best her. The metal spoon dipped into the soups broth. Her eyes locked with Jaune's as she slid the spoon up to her mouth. She deliberately took her time sipping on the contents, and gave the boy a wink as it slid into her mouth.

Jaune was practically putty as he watched the spectacle. His eyes went wide as the spoon slid slowly past her lips and moved towards her tongue. She went to stop it there. The boy had seen enough. However, she found that the metal didn't stop moving as she intended. The spoon continued to slide deeper towards her throat. Cinder let out a small gag and attempted to pull on the utensil with all of her might, only for it to force itself forward a bit more.

Jaune's face switched from attracted to horrified in seconds. "Cinder? Are you okay? Did you not like the soup?" He was met with another gagging noise from his date. "Oh. Oh no. Are you choking? Do you need help?!" The girl struggled to hold up a hand. That was more of a sign than he would ever need. Jaune jumped from his seat and across the table. His arms wrapped around her stomach and gave it a pull.

Cinder knew he was trying to help, but the lurching forward from his sharp pull hurt more than choking on the spoon. Her torso bent at her stomach a second time as the boy yelled out "Breathe!" She let out another gag, only to feel the spoon start to slide back towards her lips. She had done it, she had freed herself from the intruding metal. She tried to gasp for air, only for another pull to come from the boy behind her.

The unexpected third tug was stronger than the last. It sent her chest forward towards the table. The spoon fell from her mouth, but her head met something else. Scalding hot soup covered her face. The broth splashed from the bowl and Cinder let out a scream.

She felt the arms around her stomach release immediately, and heard whimpers from behind her. "Cin…Cinder? Are… Are you okay? I…I…I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to…"

Her face dragged itself out of the bowl. Her makeup ran down from her face and onto her red dress. Her eyes lit up in a fire of rage. He knew about her. He had to know. He was playing dumb to be rid of her. Fire started to form from her hands, only for her to control the urge to burn the building to the ground.

No. She had to maintain herself. The boy couldn't know about her. It wouldn't make any sense for him to know anything about her past. Still, she wouldn't be able to go on like this. Today, she would have to admit defeat. Defeat was better than whatever hell this boy would continue to put her through.

Jaune could only watch as Cinder stood from her seat. Soup and a few noodles fell from her hair as she did. A dark wet stain ran across the top of her beautiful red dress as her hands tried to wipe off the rest of the mess. He gulped as she glared at him with murderous intent. Only for her to turn towards the exit, and stride off towards it.

Jaune watched as his date left him to dry. Everything had gone wrong. How had he managed to mess everything up so badly? How could all of those bad things happen so quickly? He brought a hand to his forehead to massage the sour feelings away. He stopped himself there. His eyes had met with a little girl at the table across from his. The girl's smile struck him back into reality. He was still in the middle of a restaurant. Everyone was still staring at him.

He fell down into his seat in defeat. He had already paid for the meal too. The pit in his stomach told him that he wouldn't be able to eat, but it would be a waste just to leave it all. He picked up his untouched spoon and slowly stirred the soup while staring into the bowl. The sound of metal scraping against the tile pierced through his ears as a figure appeared in the reflection of the broth. His eyes looked up and met green.

Pyrrha stared back at him from the other side of the table. The makeup she wore perfectly accented her beautiful green eyes. Her whole body radiated from the red dress that clung perfectly to her body. "Do you mind if I join you?" She asked in a shy, nervous voice. Jaune looked at her in awe and smiled. After everything that had happened, he wouldn't be eating alone.

Author's Notes

Not quite the date you were expecting? Or, maybe it was? I've seen a decent amount of stories revolving around Jaune and Cinder getting together. I wanted to make sure that this wouldn't be just another one of those!

That being said, this was a fun one to write! I ended up writing the whole thing and editing it in just under an hour and a half. Because I'm normally a pretty slow writer, I'd say that points to just how much I enjoyed it!

Some fun facts about this story...

1. I had originally thought to have Cinder stick around for a main course, only to have her fork and knife turn against her. Having Pyrrha go to that length after having Cinder choke on her spoon seemed like too much though.

2. After receiving this prompt, I wrote the whole thing while trying to make a joke about Pyrrha wanting her noodle, and eating some too.

3. Cinder falling into piping hot soup was a good way to ruin the date, but I wanted it to happen for another reason. This way, Pyrrha and Jaune got to burn Cinder for once!

I should note that this story also turned my attention to the fact that I've been writing a lot of things with Jaune in it. I might have to change that up for a bit of variety during the next few weeks!

Thank you for reading!

~Sh1f7er