The next morning the majority of team SHDE awoke to a never before seen spectacle; Shayne was sleeping. The three students shared a look. Dundra went to do a sweep of the grounds while Eddi prowled the internet for any news reports of an unknown Grimm causing chaos in the town. Hanna made coffee. They had to check to be sure Shayne hadn't done anything.
Shayne woke to the smell of coffee; he sat up on the sofa and yawned. It suddenly dawned on him that he had been sleeping; he looked around in a panic. The other members of his team were unusually calm under the circumstances.
He put his head in his hands and wiped his eyes;
"Any news?" he said addressing all three of them
"No damage to the campus" Dundra said with his hands behind his back
"Nothing on the news or social media" Eddi added
"You're in the clear" Hanna finished with a smile handing him a coffee
Shayne sighed with relief and let his head rest on the back of the sofa. After a few moments he opened his eyes and got ready for the days classes.
The morning seemed to drag on and on, but eventually it was time for lunch, unfortunately Shayne had no classes with Lina, so he could only see her at lunch or after classes had finished. Though he had learned her team name; FLLN. Frank ate with CRDL which, after last night, didn't surprise him in the slightest. The remaining members of FLLN; Lina, Lance and Nelwyn ate with team SHDE along with JNPR and RWBY.
Nelwyn interested Shayne, mostly because she and Nora got on so well, but according to Lina she had a twin sister. She wore a combat skirt not dissimilar to that of Weiss or Ruby, but in a hot pink colour. She used a Glaive as her main form of combat, an elegant blade with a decorative back edge; her symbol was etched into the clean steel of the blade. The blade was fireable from the end, leaving a standard Bo staff as a weapon.
Lance was 6ft 1 and had the bulk similar to that of a young Ursa, despite his large frame, he was a gentle soul, only angering if his friends were in direct danger, but not afraid to act if they weren't. He had black plate mail made of the same materials as Hanna's gauntlet, a titanium-carbon blend; the fabric between the plates was a Kevlar and super nylon mixture stitched directly onto the metal, it was extremely durable.
He turned his attention to the conversation happening next to him, between Lina and Yang.
"So Lina, I hear you and Shayne have some history together" Yang said enthusiastically, Shayne looked to Dundra who pointed at Hanna, who proceeded to punch Dundra in the arm, Shayne merely rolled his eyes and returned to the conversation.
"Yes, we do as a matter of fact, we first met a few years ago, on Managerie, I had just moved to the town where Shayne lived…" she caught Shayne's eye at this point, "I'm sorry, would you like to tell it" she said like she was genuinely sorry not sarcastically, as he was used to.
"No, do carry on"
Shayne's attention was caught by Cardin and Frank harassing a group of Faunus in the corner, he nodded to Dundra, who got up at the same time as Shayne,
"I'll be right back, I just have to deal with something" he said kissing Lina before he went
Shayne and Dundra walked over nonchalantly to Frank and Cardin, while trying to keep quiet so as to sneak up behind them. As they approached the table, they could both make out the conversation;
"You girls are lucky were even talking to you, you're just animals, you don't deserve to be here, so were going to give you a choice…" Frank never finished that sentence as Shayne and Dundra clapped them on their shoulders simultaneously,
"Hey guys, just want to let you know these girls are way out of your league" Shayne said winking to the nearest one, she blushed and looked away
"What the hell do you want Shayne, we were just having a chat" Frank said through his teeth
"Oh, I heard your little chat" he answered he said wiggling his ears slightly, "I don't think these girls were enjoying it much, do you D?"
"No Shayne, I don't think they were" Dundra said folding his arms
"So what? What are you going to do about it?" Cardin said smiling, knowing that if Shayne had another fight with him, Shayne would be suspended.
"Me personally, not a lot, but my friend here would just love a chance to smack that smile from your face" Shayne said motioning to Dundra;
"Or if you prefer I can get Lance over there to come beat the snot out of you instead, your choice. You could always leave of course and avoid both public humiliation" Cardin visibly tensed up at this, "and a headache at the same time, I'll give you...oh I don't know, to the count of three to choose"
Cardin and Frank stood their ground as Shayne began to count;
"One"
"Two" Dundra said and the pair wandered back to their table, Shayne gave Dundra a pat on the back;
"Maybe next time"
Dundra went back to the table, Shayne stayed to talk to the Faunus girls;
"I'm going to leave my number on the table, if any of you ever want to talk about bullying or anything else, just give me a call" he tapped the girl he had winked to on the shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah" came a quiet voice
"Okay then" as he went to leave he felt their eyes on the back of his neck;
"I think I should make this clear however, if you would kindly bring your attention to the red-headed Fox over there" he said pointing to Lina, the Faunus girls all leaned as one to see her, "She is my girlfriend, I didn't want you girls to get wrong idea before I left" he saw sadness in their eyes
"Shayne, can I ask you something?" asked one of the girls
"Yes you may" he said with a smile
"I was wondering, could we hang out together later?" the other Faunus all nodded in agreement
Shayne inhaled through his teeth;
"I don't know, I'll take all of your numbers and I'll get back to you. I'll tell you a secret; me and my girlfriend hadn't seen each other for three years until yesterday" they all gasped
Shayne just chuckled;
"See you around, keep your hopes high and your heads down low" he winked and went back to his table.
As he walked back he noticed that Lina had a disapproving look on her face, his mood dropped and he sat down next to her, just waiting for it;
"So, what was that?" Lina asked
"What was what" he said trying his best to look innocent
"You know full well what"
He gave a small laugh and looked to Dundra,
"C'mon give me a hand here Dundra"
He sighed and said
"Cardin and Frank were harassing them, so Shayne and I went and dealt with them"
"I only stayed to be a friend, most Faunus don't have what we have" he said taking Lina's hand and kissing it
She gave him a sarcastic smile;
"Fine, but don't think I didn't see you taking their numbers"
"Aww C'mon, is there anything you didn't see, I told them we're dating"
She giggled into her drink; Yang and Hanna were in hysterics by this point,
"Shut up, it's not funny" he said as the entire table burst into laughter, he couldn't help himself from laughing along with them.
They went back to class and the day passed with Shayne in high spirits. Shayne was sat in Professor Oobleck's lecture on world history when he was handed a note by Pyrrha;
'Shayne your girlfriend is really nice, we made plans to go into Vale this weekend do you want to come' he scribbled his reply
'Sure but I'll have things to do myself, so I may dash off to do something while there'
She slid it back across the table to him;
'You're quickly becoming the one all the Faunus look up to, with all your standing up to bullies and the like'
Shayne just grinned and mouthed 'I know'
The lecture ended and Pyrrha and Shayne got up to leave, when Oobleck said,
"Mr Oceanstrider, could you wait a moment please"
"I'll wait outside Shayne"
"Ok, see you in a sec Pyrrha"
"Now, I notice that you haven't been paying much attention in class why is that?"
"Professor I sit high enough up that I can learn without watching, I learn by listening, I absorb information better that way"
"Hmmm, we'll see about that, I want an essay on my desk by Friday about today's topic"
He passed Shayne in a blur, 'why does he always need to rush around like that'
"What was that about?" Pyrrha asked as Shayne came out moments after the blur that was Professor Oobleck
"He thought I wasn't paying attention in class so he gave me an essay about today's topic"
"That's a bit mean isn't it?"
"No, not really"
"Why?"
"Because he and I have an understanding, I walked out in his first lecture due to my past and we made a deal, I would stay and he wouldn't pick on me during class, but would give me an essay to do each week"
"I wish it were that simple for the rest of us" Shayne laughed and pushed her lightly
"Hey Pyrrha, are you training with Jaune later?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Do you mind if I sit in and offer my advice"
"I will have to ask him about that, one sec" she took out her Scroll and called Jaune, "He said that was fine"
"Good, I think I have something that will help him" the two headed back to their dorms.
When Shayne arrived Lina was already there waiting for him, as he walked in she stood up, went over to him and kissed him;
"You saw each other at lunch, get over it" Hanna said barely looking up from her work
"What's with her?"
"Port gave her an essay on Grimm types and their weaknesses" Lina said
"That shouldn't be a problem for you Hanna"
"It's not, it's just that he has given me this before and he's still getting me to do it again. Plus he keeps flirting with Yang and I, it's creepy"
Just then there was a knock on the door, almost no-one knocked on their door. Shayne went and answered the door, it was Velvet, he invited her in, and she declined politely;
"Can we talk?"
"Sure" he said stepping into the hallway, "what's up?"
"It's Cardin and Frank; they have stolen my school work and won't give it back"
Shayne poked his head in and said;
"Lina, can you come out here a moment?"
"What now?" she said putting down her notebook
Once the door was shut again Shayne said;
"Frank and Cardin have stolen Velvets work and she needs it back, I was going to help anyway but it's more fun with other people"
"Sure, I can take a break" the trio set off down the hall to Cardin's dorm, where they would probably both be.
Lina knocked on the door with Velvet standing next to her; Shayne leant on the wall just out of sight. Cardin answered the door;
"What do you two want?"
"We want her work back" Lina said motioning towards Velvet
"No chance, I'm not giving it to you not even if you made me"
Lina jammed her foot in the door;
"I'm not going to ask nicely again" she said angrily, when Cardin moved to grab her by the throat Shayne stepped in the way, and Cardin withdrew his hand.
"She did ask nicely, now hand over the work Cardin"
"No"
"Well I tried babe" he said looking over his shoulder to Lina and Velvet, as he turned to leave he quickly whipped round and punched Cardin into the room, Shayne, Lina and Velvet stepped through the now open door.
While the two girls investigated Shayne kept an eye on the other members of CRDL and Frank, Cardin was out cold. When they found what they were looking for they left, Shayne waited a moment before moving towards the door, and he stopped before closing it,
"You boys have a nice night" he said with a nod and left. Velvet thanked them and returned to her friends.
Shayne left Lina to help Hanna with her essay, and went to the roof with Jaune and Pyrrha taking a package with him.
"What's in the box Shayne?" Jaune said as they climbed the stairs
"You'll see"
About an hour into training Shayne opened the box and produced what looked like a visor. It could be set to a specific team like a Scroll to show Aura levels and other information, it also had a microphone and speaker built in for communication. Shayne handed it to Jaune who looked at it puzzled.
"Put it on Jaune, I've already set it for your team" Jaune did so and he saw his team's portraits along the bottom, "The school gives these to graduates each year, I called in a favour and got Jaune a pair well early"
"Thanks Shayne, I don't know what to say"
"Then say nothing at all, just don't use it in public" Jaune continued training against Pyrrha until she was tired.
"Mind if I step in" he asked Jaune, who swallowed at the memory of the thrashing he took some weeks back
"No, not at all"
Jaune and Shayne circled each other Shayne more causally than Jaune, when Jaune attacked Shayne called each of his strikes perfectly, he parried each of them and disarmed Jaune;
"Jaune you need to vary your attack patterns more often to avoid this kind of thing" Jaune nodded
Lina came through the door that led inside;
"Shayne can you come back down, Hanna needs your help"
"I'll see you guys later, Jaune don't lose that thing and bear in mind what I said" he kept pace with Lina until she passed his dorm "Um, Lina, my dorms here?"
"I know, Hanna doesn't need your help, now are you coming or what?" he followed her curiously until they arrived at her dorm;
"What are we doing here?"
"My dorm is empty until 11, I thought we could come and have some fun" she said smiling as she stepped inside
Shayne smiled and stepped inside dropping his jacket over the chair inside the door. He picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and Shayne kicked the door closed.