Chapter 11

Well I got this one a bit faster than the last couple (Thank winter break for that) and I really enjoyed this one might be my personal favorite chapter to write so far.

I came into work today a little later than usual, I'm almost always here before anyone else but, today I came in after the lights were turned on. I'm not really worried about Goodwitch scolding me for coming in late because, in all honesty she wouldn't even notice if I didn't come in for at least 4 hours.

When I stepped inside I was expecting a lot of yelling, Weiss and Blake are usually at each other's throats from the moment they step in here, but I was pleasantly surprised to only hear the sounds of the door creaking as it closed.

Is anyone else here?

I know for a fact that on Thursdays no one has the day off so they should be here. Maybe Weiss and Blake worked things out… hopefully.

I walked into the kitchen to see Black putting some muffins in the oven and Weiss… wasn't here, I guess she's in the bathroom, or maybe talking to Ms. Goodwitch.

"Hey Blake" I said just to be polite because I don't think I'll get an answer. She always one to keep to herself and never bother anyone, Unless Weiss starts yelling at her then all hell breaks loose.

To my surprise Blake looked at me with a smile, not a big one, just a slight curve of her lips, but it was nice having her acknowledge me.

Quickly getting to work, I put on my apron and hair net (That I really hate) and got strait to work.

After I placed a batch of cookies into a oven I noticed that Weiss still wasn't here, which as nice as the silence was, with her not being here it had me a bit worried.

Weiss isn't one to take a day off she even said to me once "I'll take a day off when I'm dead" which I know she was just exaggerating, it still made me think. I mean she could be badly hurt, or worse… she's dead!

Alright I got to stop jumping to conclusions, she's fine… totally fine… ok I'll ask Blake.

"Blake… do you know where Weiss is?" I asked nervously because Blake kinda intimated me, I mean anyone who can yell as loud and long as Weiss is scary!

Blake didn't even turn to face me as she simply responded with "Don't know". I think that all I'll get out of Blake for the rest of the day; honestly I didn't expect that much.

"Sure is nice without her though" for a second I thought that I said that because… I couldn't believe it was Blake. I mean I do agree with her on that statement, but that doesn't mean that I don't like Weiss or anything, I just… okay maybe I don't like her.

"Yeah this is the first time I've ever heard you not yelling" That is not an exaggeration she never speaks unless Weiss bitches at her. I heard Blake let out a soft chuckle like she was trying to hide it.

"Sorry about that" Blake said finally turning to face me and to my surprise she was smiling… I never thought I'd see the day.

"Oh there's no need to apologize, Weiss can be very…" I struggled to find the correct word to say. I mean I didn't want sound too mean but…

"Bitchy" Blake finished for me making us both giggle. You know this is the first time me and Blake have ever spoken directly to each other

"I Uhhhh… just realized something" I said fidgeting.

"What's that?" Blake asked confused.

"We've never been properly introduced to each other!" I said putting my hand out in front of me trying my best to look confident (Yang always told me I had to act more confident around people), I probably looked like a total dork but I don't care!

Blake simply looked me like I had two heads and… I don't blame her. "You can't be serious?"

I simply gave her a serious nod as my response. Blake let out a sigh before taking my hand shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Ruby Rose" I exclaimed a slight bit louder than I should of.

"The Pleasure is all mine Ms. Rose" OH MY GOD… she actually went along with it, this is amazing!

"Don't be so modest Ms…"

"Wukong" huh sounds like a Faunus name, not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just very surprising cause I haven't seen any extra ears, tails, or anything a Faunus would have as an extra part of their anatomy. I guess maybe her father was a Faunus and she just turned out human.

You know speaking of Faunus how cool would it be to have a tail, or claws, or extra ears. I've always want to have bunny ears I mean sure, they'd get cold when winter hits, and it would make hard to wear hats but, I think bunny ears are just so adorable.

Ok forget about the bunny ears cause there's no time for that.

"Please Ms. Wukong the true pleasure is mine" What am I even saying!?

Blake let out a soft chuckle letting go of my hand. "I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like you Ruby" I'll take that as a compliment!

"Well my dad always said that it's better to be unique than be a member of the crowd" I said regretting instantly bringing up my dad I must look like a complete idiot, well more than I already do.

"Yeah I remember my parents telling me the same sort of thing and, I guess it's true, people should live and act the way they want and not be a mindless drone" Huh she doesn't seem too wierded out by me… that's odd. "Unfortunately most people don't think that way, and just adopt a hive mentality" She said sounding very bitter.

"True, but I know one thing's for sure" I said trying to change the subject.

"What's that?"

"Things are defiantly nice without Weiss around" I said laughing with Blake joining with me, maybe things at work can get better.

xXx

Work has been quiet today and for my job that's always a good thing. If none of my co-workers talk to me, and if Cinder never calls be into her office alone it's a good day at work.

The only thing I had to worry about was finding a sweater for Ruby like a promised and thankfully, I found a nice red winter jacket that's just her size. Which was actually very hard to find, I kept finding ones not in her size and the few that are, were in colours that just wouldn't work with Ruby's style. Not to mention I had to find one without a hood because she has her cloak that has already had a hood.

I was folding some cloths that some customers had just thrown back where they found them (really hate it when they do that) when I heard someone walk up behind me. I turned around with a forced smile that I immediately dropped when I saw who it was.

"Hello Jaune" Emerald said with amusement. I let out a mental sigh, why can't I just one day without having to talk to any them?

"Hey" I said trying to sound disinterested a possible.

"Cinder wants to talk to you" Emerald said

"About what?" I asked and just like always she gave me a shrug, yeah like they'd tell me. Even if they knew they wouldn't tell me, cause I'd never agree to it then.

As always the walk to Cinder's office is one that fills my body with a sense of impending doom. I know that once I walk through that door, I'm going have to do something that I don't want to do, or is WAY out my job description.

As I reached for the door knob to her office I stopped for a moment taking a few deep breaths to calm my nerves a bit.

Soon after I took the plunge into her office, and to my surprise she looked bored. Which can mean two things, she either has something for me to do that she knows that I'll do without any convincing or, she's just bored right now and want use her power over me to amuse herself. I'm really hoping it's the former.

"So what do you need?" I asked as I closed the door

"Nothing too hard, you just have to pick up an associate of mine at the airport" She said not even looking at me.

"That's all?" I asked relieved. Cinder simply shook her head with a slight smile, which I'd normally be terrified of, but right now I found it comforting.

"He'll be arriving in about 30 minutes at landing pad 4" Cinder said explained checking her watch.

"Ok sounds simple enough" I said delighted at the simplicity of this job.

"Just hold up a sign that says 'Roman' and you'll find him" Cinder said sounding disinterested.

"How will I know if it's the right 'Roman' if I don't have his last name?" I asked only because I don't want any chance of me screwing this up... and being punished.

"Trust me he'll be hard to miss, he wears a bowler hat and has a cane" Cinder said letting out a chuckle. Ok that would be hard to miss I mean who the hell even has a cane in this day and age? Cinder tossed me a key that I almost didn't catch. "Just take my car and get back a soon as you can" She said turning away from me.

Alright for once when I walked out of Cinder's office I had a smile on my face and I mean a real smile… feels weird.

xXx

Only took me about 20 minutes to get the airport traffic was surprisingly almost non-existent making in a pleasurable drive. Well anything to get away from any of those people is pleasurable, and for once it's something not shady and probably illegal… wait a second, this is shady and probably illegal… well at least it's easy.

As I sat a waited by the landing pad, I began to regret not bringing anything. I could never afford a scroll, and I didn't bring a book or even comic book, sure I could buy a magazine but those are so over priced!

Thankfully I didn't have to wait very long as I saw the Bullhead landing. I got up and held up my 'Roman' sigh waiting for the man to walk up to me. The crowd was quite large so I couldn't see anyone with a cane; I just hope he sees me first. Finally a man I saw a man in the crowd stop and push through towards me. When he got through the crowd I can definitely agree with Cinder when she said he'd be impossible to miss.

The man who at this point I just assumed was Roman; he wore a bowler hat with a feather tucked into the red band on his hat. His suit was white with his sleeves tucked in and inside being a dark red; he had a gray scarf around his neck. His pants were a simple black as were his shoes. Black gloves griped a cane that he really he didn't needed.

If all that wasn't attention seeking enough, he had long bright orange hair that covered his right eye, while his left eye had, eyeliner making it almost impossible to notice his green eye.

His whole outfit screamed "Look at me!" and normally I hate that but he, somehow pulled it all off, even the orange hair (didn't think it was possible) looked amazing.

"So you're Roman?" I asked just to make sure. He shot me a smile and took my hand and began to shake it.

"And you must be Jaune, Cinder spoke of you, told me to look for a scraggly, tall blonde man" Roman spoke with a certain level of smugness that matched his entire look, if he met me 3-5 years ago I'd probably kick his ass, but now I'm used to that level of smug in people so I can tolerate it.

"You ready to go?" Dumb I question I know but I just asked it to be polite.

Roman reached into his pocket pulling out nothing "Not quite, I seemed to have lost something" Roman said with a tired sigh.

"Need some help finding it?" Again I'm just being polite but also I don't want to keep Cinder waiting too long.

Roman let out a short chuckle before a smile appeared on his face, okay something seems very off about this guy. I began to walk forward but was stopped when Roman put his cane in front of me.

"Just… wait a second, I'm sure it'll find us before we find it" Alright there is no doubt in my mind anymore he's crazy.

I didn't quite know what to do but, I'd rather not piss this guy off so I did what he said and waited.

As we waited I felt the urge to ask him a few questions, maybe I could get something out of him. "So why are you here?"

"Well… if you must know I'm here to expand your business" Roman proclaimed.

Expand the business, in what way? Does he mean the clothing store or whatever Cinder's illegal side business is? Well with the he dress's I'm going with the former.

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"I plan to open a new store and expand beyond simply women's clothing" Roman spoke in such a theatrical manner it's kinda annoying, but he's clearly a crazy fashion designer.

"That'd be nice, I'd finally get to use my discount" I said

Roman gave me a questioning look "Y-you don't already?" Okay what the hell is that supposed to mean?

"N-no, I've never needed to buy anything their" I said very uncomfortable.

"Then why would a man work their?" Is he seriously asking that question, I think he is? Alright I want this conversation to be over right now!

"Maybe it's because I had seven sisters and they always took me shopping with them to find what looks good on them" I said hoping he'd drop it.

"Oh really?" Roman gave a smug smirk.

"Yes that's the reason" I said wanting to smack him and myself. You know I thought this was going to be easy, I was dead wrong.

"I guess you're not ready to come out yet" He said with a shrug, what does he mean by coming out, does he mean… OH FOR GODS SAKES NOT AGAIN!

Furious I turned to face him and saw a little girl who looked about 15-16 behind Roman which was the only reason I didn't punch him in the face. Roman took notice of me staring behind him and seemed very happy to the girl "Ah, you finally found me, only took a few minutes" Roman said oozing with smugness (I really can't stress enough how smug this guy is).

The girl pouted and took a bite from the bowl of ice cream I just noticed she had. Now that I have a good look at her she is very short like, shorter than Ruby. Her eyes were green while her hair was long with one side being pink and the other brown even had a strand of white on the pink side. She wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and white high heeled boots.

Going to take a wild guess and say this is his daughter, not only is she as flamboyantly dresses as Roman but she looks like she could easily looks young enough to be his daughter then again people don't always look their age, I mean Ruby looks like she's in high school but she's only two years younger than me.

"Did you find them Neo?" That's kinda an odd name for a girl; then again from this guy I expected an odd name for his kid.

Neo rolled her eyes reaching into her pocket pulling out a cigar and a lighter giving them both to Roman. He immediately ignited the lighter and, took in a puff of his cigar "Alright let's go" He said blowing the smoke right into my face, I saw Neo give me a sympathetic smile that I was quick to return.

"Yeah we better get going Cinder would hate for us to be late" I said coughing.

xXx

Not much was said on the way back. Neo ate her ice cream, Roman smoked and, I drove making sure to leave the windows open, because I really don't want to smell of smoke in Cinder's car, she might kill me for it.

Arriving at the store I parked the car out back and opened the back door for Neo and Roman. I led them both to her office, I think Cinder wanted to say something to me but, I didn't care enough to stick around for any longer than I had to so I put her keys on her desk, and walked out before she had a chance to say a word.

I entered behind the cash register seeing Mercury checking a girl out (Why am I even surprised) and that girl was Ruby. Oh god dammit Mercury, just lay off already.

"Oh hey Jaune" Mercury said as I tried to walk by him unnoticed.

"Hey" I'm really not in the mood to hear his perversion.

"So, I was wondering" Oh god that's never a good thing to hear from him. "Are you and the short red head together?" Didn't he ask this before?

"N-no were not, what that idea?" Really I want to know, did he forget that I told him that were just neighbors.

"No reason it's… just that she asked for you when she came in" Mercury said with a stupid grin on his face.

I let out a sigh "I promised to find her a jacket because she doesn't have one" I explained.

"Ohhhhhhhh" What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Not wanting to waste any more time with him, I walked towards Ruby with the Jacket I found for her. Ruby looked to be browsing at some jeans when I walked over, just seeing her put me a better mood, I mean why wouldn't it she's the only person around that I want to talk to.

"So I heard you were looking for me" I said while Ruby's back was turned.

"Oh hey Jaune" Ruby chirped out in surprise, the moment she looked at me she gave me her trademark smile that I really like seeing.

"So what do you need?" I asked feigning ignorance. Ruby let out a sigh but I could tell she wasn't annoyed.

"Well if you must know, I'm looking for something that will protect me from the cold" Ruby explained.

"Huh… I just happen to be holding a jacket that looks to be your size" I said presenting the jacket to her.

"Wow, that is one massive coinkydink" She said making us both laugh, and I mean really laugh, like I don't why we laughed so hard. After our long laugh she took the jacket and quickly put it on, inspecting herself in a mirror. "Well what do you know it fits perfectly" Ruby said adjusting the sleeves.

"Wow… that's a massive coinkydink" I mumbled out but Ruby still heard me as she turned to me with a half smile.

"We better stop before we lose the power to" She said clearly amused.

"Yeah good idea" I said scratching the back of my head.

"So in all seriousness thanks a lot Jaune" Ruby said with a tinge of red on her cheeks.

"Oh it was my pleasure" Those lit up a bit more "I just hope I didn't make you wait too long" I really do mean, I don't want to make her late for work.

"It was only like 5 minutes and, I hope finding this jacket wasn't too much of a hassle for you" Ruby said and unlike everyone else I know, I believed every word.

"Well it was bit harder than you think" I answered truthfully.

"Really!?" Ruby seemed to be taken back by my statement "I didn't expect an extra small red jacket to be hard to find, I'm sorry Jaune" Why is she apologizing? That just the kind of person I've come to realize Ruby is… she's extremely nice, maybe a bit too nice.

"No need to apologize, it was just hard to find one that didn't have a hood" I explained.

Ruby gave me a questioning look "Why would a hood matter?" did she really just ask that?

"I didn't you'd enjoy having two hoods" I said gesturing to her cloak. Ruby looked back and seemed to notice the obvious and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Oh right… thanks for considering that" Ruby said with her cheeks a red as her namesake.

"No problem" I said trying not to laugh at how embarrassed Ruby looked, I was just barely able to hold it in.

There was a short silence as Ruby seemed to take the time to regain her composure I was going to ask just going to ask her if she liked the jacket I picked out for but I guess Ruby had different plans. "Soooooooo I was wondering…" Ruby started looking around nervously.

"Wondering What?" I asked coxing her to finish.

"Why do you work here?" She asked, while I knew what she meant by the question I was still a little annoyed at when Roman asked the same thing.

"For money?" I answered trying sound unsure of myself.

"That's not what I meant!" I don't Ruby meant to be that loud because her cheeks lit up and, she covered her mouth right after she yelled that out.

I let out a single laugh before putting my hand on her shoulder "I know what you meant" I said giving her a comforting smile, damn my big brother instincts are kicking in "and to answer your question remember how I told you I had seven sisters" Ruby simply nodded "Think about that for a moment" Ruby did in fact have think for a moment before her eyes shot wide open.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that" Ruby said sympathetically.

"Hey it wasn't too bad, got me here" I'm still debating if that's a good or bad thing. Ruby giggled and I took my hand off her shoulder.

"See you around Jaune" Ruby said walking away giving me a small wave.

"You too Ruby" I said returning the wave.

I watched her walk to Mercury he again tried and failed to flirt with her as she looked like she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, hell she nearly ran out of the store, and I don't blame her. I'd hate to be a victim of Mercury's 'flirting' I'm really happy I'm a guy.

"So that's your girlfriend" a female voice spoke behind me "You two make a cute couple"

"W-what g-girlfriend no she's just my… n-neighbor" Why did I turn into a stuttering idiot? This just great Emerald now thinks Ruby's my girlfriend too.

"Really? You two seem like a bit more than just neighbors" Emerald said knowingly.

"Yes were just neighbors, she needed a coat that's all" I came very close to calling Ruby my friend but I don't need Emerald knowing that. Not that it matters after that stuttering I did.

"Really, because when she came in she wouldn't except help from me at all, and said she'd wait for you to come back" Emerald explained, and while Mercury told me that already I didn't believe him so I was kinda surprised to hear that.

"Guess she just knew who to trust" I said spitefully.

Emerald knew what I meant by that but didn't act on it simply saying "I guess so" before walking away thank god that over with hopefully the rest of the day will be easier.

xXx

This whole day has been amazing! Weiss wasn't at work, Blake as been super nice, and Jaune found me a nice jacket, other that cashier at his store this day has been perfect! Which is why I was so surprised that me and Blake had to stay little longer today to speak to Ms. Goodwitch.

"I was very happy with you girls today" She stated.

"Thank you" Both Blake and I responded.

"No fights, no messes, and everything was cooked perfectly" Goodwitch explained. Well this is just making my day even better my boss is praising me for my work! "However" Oh no that can't be good "There was one thing you both did I was very unhappy about" Ms. Goodwitch said with fury.

"What was that?" Blake asked because I was too afraid to ask myself.

"You both were horrible at running the cash register" As soon as she said those words I thought about them and didn't understand them. We both made sure they payed the correct price, made proper change and… that's really all that's hard about running the register.

"What do you mean ma'am?" Blake asked again for me.

"Blake, you acted as if you would rather be in anywhere else in world" She explained leaving us both confused. "If you act that way the customer will think you don't think they matter, and it'll make them less likely to buy more of our products" Okay she sounds pretty angry.

"I'm sorry Ms. Goodwitch" Blake said with her head down in shame.

"And Ruby" OH NO NOT ME TOO! "While you did serve people with a smile you made people incredibly unconformable" What!? How do I make people uncomfortable? "I mean I saw you try to shake someone's hand and give another person a high five for goodness sakes" I looked towards the ground feeling shameful understanding fully what she means by that.

"Listen, I love having you two work here, and I really wish it was just you two, and if either of you were as good as Weiss is at up selling people they would just be you two" So that's why she keeps Weiss around. "And I'd love to do it myself but as you know I have four other locations and right now I' trying to find out who I need to get rid of" She explained

That statement made both me and Blake take a step back nervously. "Neither of you two should worry, along with Weiss you're the best I got" that made me let out a sigh of relief, always good to know I'm doing a good job.

"Alright, now that that's cleared up you can go, sorry for keeping you both" she said waving us away.

Me and Blake walked out of the store in an awkward silence, one that I wasn't sure if I was going to break. "Well at least we know we're keeping our jobs" Blake said making me let out an uncomfortable laugh.

"Yeah that's true" I said.

"Well… see yah tomorrow Ruby" Blake said giving me a wave before walking away.

"You too!" I yelled a little loud as I walked to my apartment.

As I walked I thought about something that I'm not quite proud of. If me or Blake get better at swindling people (And I think it would have to be Blake because I don't think I'd ever feel right doing that) maybe Goodwitch might send Weiss to work at the store where she fired whoever she ends up firing. Then things at work would be perfect… then again we could all just get along… yeah, maybe when pigs fly.

So the only reason I made that last little part was just so nobody asks 'why isn't Weiss fired?' and I hope it was a good enough reason. Anyway as always thanks you for reading, hope you've enjoyed, review if you can, and have a great day.