This is it. It's do or die time. Time to put all of those years of training into practice. What training? We haven't had any training! This is our first time doing something like this! *SMACK* I don't want any more of your lip, one more word out of you and I'll dock your pay. But I don't get paid for this. We don't even exist. We're just clever visual metaphor that the writer came up with in order to convey the thoughts going on inside Jaune. One more crack like that and you're outta here! No please! I have a wife and three kids!
"JAUNE!" Jaune was brought out of his, unusually vivid day dream by Ren. Jaune blinked and stared at his ninja friend, who was currently wearing a suit laced with light pink. "Jaune, you've been staring at the suit for five minutes, are you going to put it on or not?"
Jaune looked down, and saw the suit Coco had picked out for him. It was a charcoal black, with light brown linings. His tie was a bright pink. He couldn't help but muse at the colours that Coco picked out, and how they seemed to hold a common theme. With his white shirt, brown accented suit jacket and pink tie, he felt as though it was a fair homage to his and his girlfriend's favourite ice cream.
"Yeah Ren, sorry. Just been thinking about tonight." Jaune told him as he began to put on the suit. Ren sighed. He had been hearing Jaune going on about how nervous he was about it ever since he got back from his trip with Coco.
"Jaune, even if it doesn't go well, you're still going to be spending the night with Neo. I don't think you'll be thinking of ways it can go wrong." Ren placed a hand on his friends shoulder, reassuring him. Jaune let out a sigh.
"Thanks Ren, I appreciate it. I, I just want her to have the best time she can you know. I don't want to mess it up for her." Jaune tied his pink tie, and placed the tail of it under his waist coat. He looked at himself in the mirror. Ren stood next to him, taking in their appearances.
"I'm surprised you didn't go with a bow tie." Ren mused. The majority of students within Beacon that were attending the dance tonight had decided on the classic bow tie.
Jaune just chuckled. "Hey, blame Coco." The two shared a small laugh, before taking a final breath. Jaune grabbed a small bottle that was lying on his nightstand and squirted it on his neck. Ren took a sniff.
"Is that, chocolate scented cologne?" Jaune blushed and refused to look Ren in the eye. However, Jaune noticed a vial on Ren's nightstand that made him raise an eyebrow.
"Says the one with eau de pancake." Jaune said, gesturing to Ren's choice of cologne. Ren got an uncharacteristic blush on his face as he made eye contact with Jaune.
"We say nothing." Ren told him. Jaune nodded in agreement.
The two exited the room, and found Yang, Weiss and Nora waiting for them there. "Looking good Vomit Boy." Yang mused, placing a hand to her chin. Weiss also nodded in approval. Nora was too busy drooling at Ren to notice Jaune.
Jaune noticed the absence of a very significant person, and his glancing around caught the attention of Weiss.
"Neo is still getting ready with Ruby and Blake." She informed him, causing Jaune to relax. "She wanted you to head to the dance before her. She said make sure to save her a glass of punch." Jaune couldn't help but get a small smile on his face.
"I'll make sure to save her a dance too." With that, the group of five made their way towards the dance hall, Nora clinging to Ren and inhaling his scent through her nose. The trio that didn't work on the dance were impressed at the effort that was put into the room. There were a few students that were already there, but Jaune didn't recognise any of them.
"Well, I'll see you guys later." Yang said, taking her place in front of a podium before the entrance. Weiss bid the others farewell and went around the tables, making sure that everything was in its proper place.
Nora, Ren and Jaune took a place by one of the tables, standing around chatting. After several other students had made their way in, a pair of DJ's came out from behind the curtains, both wearing robotic helmets. Apparently Weiss had booked a popular pair of music artists called 'Dust Punk'. Jaune was sipping from his drink, making small talk with anyone who came to talk to him.
To his surprise, a lot of people actually wanted to talk to him. Many of them recognised him from the newspaper, and told him that they were impressed with his actions. He waved off any praise, saying that apprehending bad guys is what every huntsman does. Soon after, while he was talking to Nora and Ren, he noticed that the two of them became very focused on something behind him.
Jaune turned to see what they were looking at, and only four words came to mind. "Nora, Ren. Catch me." Jaune fell backwards slightly, but was prevented from hitting the ground thanks to the couple. Once he was righted again, his eyes fell on the reason for his fainting.
Neo. She was wearing a light pink dress that came down to beneath her knees. Around her waist was a chocolate coloured sash that fell down alongside her thighs. The neck of her dress had small white curls that completed her theme. Her hair fell down in a single side ponytail that rested on the front of her shoulder.
Jaune was as speechless as Neo in that moment. When Neo stood in front of him, he noticed she was a small bit taller than usual. 'Probably because of heels.' Jaune thought. He noticed Neo looking up at him expectantly. Jaune had only one thing to say.
He took her hands in his and stared into her eyes. "You look beautiful." Three words. Three words that meant the world to Neo. Knowing that Jaune found her beautiful, meant so much to Neo. Even though she knew that it was wrong to care so much about an opinion, it was still important to her.
"Y-You look h-handsome." Neo's voice found a way to convey her own feelings about Jaune. Jaune frowned a small bit at her words, but still managed to hold a smile.
"Neo, you know I don't like you using your voice if it hurts." Jaune told her, wrapping his arms around her. Neo nodded, knowing that Jaune was right. But this was important to her, so she felt the need to speak. They shared a brief kiss to show how happy they were to be with one another.
Jaune then got a rather stupid smile on his face. "By the way, I saved you a drink." He reached to the nearest table and grabbed a cup that held some fruit punch in it. Neo smiled up at him, and took the drink, taking a sip. It was strawberry flavour.
A few moments after, Ruby came wobbling up to them, clutching onto someone in a suit for support. Jaune had to blink a few times. "Coco?" He asked, somewhat surprised to see the leader of CFVY helping Ruby.
"Oh hey Blondie." Coco smiled, looking at Jaune. She had ditched the beret but still wore her glasses. Her suit's accents were a deep brown colour, and she wasn't wearing a tie. "Told you you'd look good." She gave Jaune a thumbs up. "And speaking of looking good…" Coco trailed off, giving Neo a once over.
"You're looking great Neo." She smiled brightly. Neo got a light blush on her face, but nodded in thanks. She then gestured between Coco and Ruby, an inquisitive look on her features. Coco looked at Ruby and shook her head. "Nah, she just needed some help getting over here. Although, maybe I should take her up on that idea."
Ruby began blushing immensely and spouting things like: "I-It's not like that!" and "I just couldn't walk properly in these lady stilts." The rest of the group shared a good chuckle at red headed reapers misfortune, before calming down and apologising to her.
"Wait, Coco, do you not have a date?" Nora asked, confused to her singleness. Everyone else suddenly shared Nora's confusion, realising that she was right. Coco just gave a little laugh and explained.
"Well, I was thinking of going with someone, but they were planning on asking someone else. So, I may have helped them out with that." Coco got a rather evil looking grin on her face, prompting everyone to take a step back.
"Who was it?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. Coco was about to reply, but apparently something, or someone caught her attention. She smiled and pointed at who she saw, causing the others to follow her finger.
What they saw surprised each of them. They saw Coco's teammate, Fox, looking in a direction and talking. It was who he was with that caught them off guard. "Pyrrha?" Ruby asked aloud. It was true. Standing in front of Fox, a hand covering her mouth to prevent her from laughing too hard, was a smiling Pyrrha Nikos, clad in a sparkling red dress that ran down to her ankles.
"Yup." Coco said triumphantly. "I walked in on him practicing against a wall, soooo, I walked back out and grabbed Pyrrha, and showed her him practicing. You should have seen Fox's face once he realised that she was there. Oh, and that was because after he was finished practicing, Pyrrha said she'd love to go."
The group couldn't help but share a small smile, seeing the Spartan having a good time at the dance. She'd been in a bit of a slump lately, the reasons were unknown to Jaune and Neo, but they were all happy that she was smiling. "So I think that the 'Spartan Fox' has sailed." Coco said, a smug smile on her face.
"That's terrible." Nora said, getting surprised looks from everyone.
"What do you mean?" Coco asked, somewhat taken aback at the girl's words upon seeing her friend having such a good time.
"It's a terrible name." She said, explaining her words. That made more sense, everyone thought. "I think that 'Spartan Fox' is a dumb name. A better one would be 'Blind Attraction'." She said, crossing her arms and smiling.
Coco raised a finger to argue, but lowered it. "That, is actually better. Damn." Nora got a cocky smirk. She was the one true pairing master. Only seconded to Ozpin. Once Coco had spread the word about the teachers gambling game, and made sure that none of the teachers knew, people soon began changing the acronym of OTP from 'One-True-Pairing' to 'Ozpin's-True-Pairing'.
It was some guy called Karlos that started it, but no one had actually heard of him before then. Point being, everyone began pairing people together in their heads, and some even started their own betting pool. Jaune had no interest in it, well, he may or may not have bet a lot of lien on Nora and Ren getting together, but that was just so he'd have money to go on more dates with Neo.
The group were having a great time, and an even better time once Sun and Blake, Pyrrha and Fox, and Velvet and Yatsuhashi joined in. Each of them danced with each other, taking turns in swapping partners. The majority of the group fell over in a fit of giggles when Yatsuhashi and Neo danced together.
Soon afterward, Jaune realised something. Fox was an incredibly good dancer. This was proved when he pulled off a feat that Jaune had only seen done in a few Vacuoan-Romance movies that revolved around dancing. He had picked up Coco and swung her around his waist, finishing the move with him holding her hand as he spun her away from him.
After seeing this move, something deep in Jaune stirred. He had finally found a worthy adversary to fight on the dance floor. And by Oum were they gonna fight. "Fox!" He called, prompting the blind battler to look at him, as well as several people close to him. "Dance off bro! Me and you!" Jaune had an animalistic grin on his features, one that a wolf might show if he found something particularly good to hunt.
Fox turned to Jaune and held a similar grin. "Oh, are you sure you want to be humiliated that badly?" An 'ooooooh' went through the crowd. Jaune couldn't help but smile.
"I'd ask you the same question, but honestly I feel bad beating a blind guy." Somewhere in the crowd, someone shouted 'Awwww snap!'. "Let's make this two on two, just to be fair." Jaune requested.
Fox seemed to have expected this. "No problem. Yo Yatsu! Get your giant ass over here, time to teach this first year a lesson!" The monolith form that was Yatsuhashi made his way through the crowd, standing next to Fox.
Jaune just held a cocky smirk. "Ren! Let's show them what JNPR can do!" The ninja moved silently through the crowd, appearing at Jaune's side in a flash. The two of them low fived, whereas Fox and Yatsuhashi shared a fist bump.
Unknown to either of the first years, Fox activated his semblance. In that moment, he could see Yatsuhashi's form due to the manifestation of his aura. He could also see Ren and Jaune's, but that's not what he was focusing on.
"So, who goes first?" Fox asked. Jaune just smiled, deciding to take one of his teammates preferred ways of choosing something significant. He took a coin from his pocket.
"I was planning on letting the chips fall as they may. Heads we go first, tails you do." Fox nodded, and Jaune flipped the coin. For a moment, there was silence on the dance floor, as the coin spun in the air. When it fell, Jaune caught it and slapped it against his other hand. He took off his hand and looked at the coin.
He smirked when he saw it landed as heads. "Well, looks like we're first. I'd show you, but, you know." Jaune put the coin back in his pocket, and motioned for the DJ to play a song. The song that came on was one that brought a grin to both Jaune and Ren's faces.
Baby! It's time to make up your mind.
Jaune and Ren put a hand to their hearts, and then to their heads.
I think tonight is when our stars align.
They threw their hands skyward, before clutching them and bringing them back down.
Honey! It's time to leave the doubt behind.
The brushed off their shoulders, getting rid of the 'doubt'.
Take my hand cause you and I are gonna shine!
They held out their hands, and then brought them inward, a smile coming across both of their features.
The song picked up, this was obviously one of the remixes. But the duo had a plan for that too. Once the rest of the lyrics started coming in, Jaune and Ren both did their dances in sync. They threw their hands out, then brought them back intertwined and waving them up and down.
They then both leaned back, as if dodging fire from their opponents, and brought their backs around in a stylish manner. After preforming the dodging move, they stood straight and jumped side to side, brushing their hands off each of their shoulders, showing that they didn't land a single hit.
Call them old fashioned, but the next move they did was the classic 'robot'. They brought their hands up in the air at straight angles, then leaned down and flipped the other way. The two bent down and put their fists together, throwing out their rears to the crowd.
They then did a rather interesting move where both of their arms seemed to turn to liquid as they brought up and down wavily. After that move, they brought both their hands up and made a pushing motion with their hands. Soon came a move they both simply dubbed: 'The Ozpin'. They acted as though they had a cane, and were pushing it and pulling it out of the ground.
Before they could complete another dance move however, the song was cut off by a guitar riff and something that sounded like a wolf's howl.
The sound made Yatsuhashi and Fox smile, as they shared a glance, which surprised everyone that the blind boy managed to meet his taller partners gaze.
Listen up strap in notify your next of kin
Fox and Yatsuhashi brought their hands to their ears and then brought them across their chest.
You're about to take a ride a little on the blazing side
They both made brought their arms forward and made it look as though they were driving a car, which they then proceeded to crash.
Guzzle down the red bull you're gonna need a bucket full
They brought their hands above their mouths and made it look as though they had just downed a can of something.
You're watching me accelerate and tear apart the interstate
At these words, Fox and Yatsuhashi broke from their synchronised motions, and Fox began running circles around his bigger companion, before finally stopping with an audible screech.
A certified monster I'm an absolute trip like Otis Redding hard to handle so you better get a grip
Yatsuhashi flexed his muscles within his shirt, and Jaune was quite sure he saw a pair of bunny ears faint beneath the throng of students that had given them a circular berth.
A super-fast superfly bonafide wise guy
At these words, the duo broke apart, running to either side of the circle.
Call the morgue and say goodbye write your will it's time to die!
The two began running at each other, and Fox jumped up a small bit, when Yatsuhashi put his knee forward, his hands cupped together on the knee. Fox landed on his hands, and was thrown skywards. He proceeded to do a backflip while in the air and landed with absolute grace.
The crowd erupted into applause, but the dance didn't stop there. Once the chorus kicked in, that's when they decided to take it up a notch.
They put to hands in front of themselves and crouched down, leaning from side to side, giving the illusion that they were on a motorbike. They brought their arms around in circles, their heads tilting wherever the arms ended up last. Their arms then stood diagonally, bringing one of them down, acting as though they were flying.
They placed a single hand above their eyes, and scouted out the area for signs of decent competition. They then put both hands into the air and turned them into fists, and began pumping them along with the music.
After that, they made a lassoing motion with their arms, and aimed them at Jaune and Ren. Once they had 'entangled' the two, they dropped their 'lassoes' and marched to the side, before clapping their hands high.
Once that action was finished, they held both arms above their head and had them circle each other, all the while stomping their feet. To add insult to injury, they performed the 'not a scratch' move that their opponents had earlier.
Apparently, this didn't go over well, as the song changed back to Jaune and Ren's. The two stared at each other, and nodded. Time to end this, with style. They both strutted forward, throwing out an arm and a leg at the end of their strut.
They punched a hand down, and then brought up back up and had it move in a circular pattern above their chest. They placed a hand against their hips and threw the other one in their opponent's direction. They brought both of their hands upwards and made a 'don't care' expression.
They each brought a hand skyward, and had the other one sent downward, almost as if it was pushing something down. The hand that was lower was brought back up and used to make a fist pumping motion.
Both hands were then placed in front of their eyes, only to be broken apart a moment later. One of the palms was left open, whereas the other was down by their waist, moving in a back and forward pattern.
The two then jumped to the side, and did some fancy work with their feet, before throwing both arms skyward and spinning. The came out of the spin and threw both arms out. They performed another back and forth motion with their hands, before bringing one of them up to their foreheads in a mock salute, and then spinning in the opposite direction they had before.
Coming out of this one, they turned their backs on the members of team CVFY, and threw their arms wide. The crowd roared at this, and even Fox and Yatsuhashi had to admit, they danced well, but this wasn't over yet.
The second year students took a stance, and stamped one foot down, pumping the opposite hand in the air as they pivoted their foot. They then kicked out their foot, and brought it back, crossing it over with the other. They made a shooting motion at Jaune and Ren and cocked the hammer on the imaginary gun.
The brought their fists together and moved their elbows up and down in unison. They then threw both arms diagonally upward, and brought them back down as if they were trying to prevent being crushed, and then spun them around and repeated the motion in the opposite direction.
The older two then stood straight and pushed one of their arms in opposite directions, moving their feet at the same time so they moved in the direction opposite the extending arm. They then began rotating their arms, and kicking their feet out in time with the music.
They reached both of their hands behind their head and brought them back over clasping together. They swung with their arms, imitating how one would swing a two handed sword. As the song reached its climax, they brought their hands out and around their head, ending the song with both of their fists touching their partners.
The crowd erupted into applause, but soon died down when a voice came on over the speakers. "Now that, was a good show. Let's give both teams a round of applause." The sound was deafening, and each fighter took a small bow.
"Alright, alright calm down calm down." One of the masked DJ's waved at the crowd. "Now, we have to pick a winner. And we'll do that, by measure of applause." The DJ with the silver helmet stepped forward and held both of his hands out flat by his waist.
"Let's hear it for Fox and Yatsuhashi!" The sound of clapping and wolf whistles filled the room, and the DJ raised his hand until it died down. "Not bad not bad." The golden one mused. "And now, for Jaune and Ren!" He called out.
There was an equal loudness, and Jaune was 80% sure he heard Yang call out 'That's our Vomit Boy!'. The hands that the DJ held were now level with each other. "Well would you look at that. Do we have a tie on our hands? Or will someone else choose to applause for our dancing deviants.
There was silence in the crowd, but it was soon interrupted by a very faint, but still noticeable 'Woo hoo!' The silver DJ raised Jaune and Ren's hand ever so slightly. "And we have a winner! Jaune and Ren from JNPR!" The golden musician announced into the mic.
There was instant applause, and Jaune and Ren turned and smiled at each other. They bumped chests and did double high fives. Before either could congratulate the other verbally, they were suddenly assaulted by two small women.
Neo and Nora jumped at their respective boyfriends, wrapping their arms around them. Jaune looked down at Neo, who held a bright smile on her features. "That last 'woo hoo' wasn't you was it?" He couldn't help but smirk. Neo just smiled wider, and reached up to put a finger on Jaune's nose.
'Boop' she mouthed. Jaune reached down and placed a kiss on her lips. "Boop indeed." After that, Fox and Yatsuhashi made their way over to the victors, both of them wearing smiles. Jaune and Ren noticed this, and turned to them.
"You fought well."Yatsuhashi said, bowing to Jaune and Ren. Velvet was clinging to one of his arms, wearing a light brown dress that ran down to her ankles, showing off her legs.
"Yeah, I guess we can't underestimate you guys in the future huh." Fox said, aiming a light-hearted punch at Jaune, but missing completely. Pyrrha, who was at his side, giggled at his actions.
"Guess so." Jaune said, smirking. "I'm just surprised you guys could dance so well, especially you Yatsu, you don't really seem like the dancing type." Jaune raised an eyebrow to the larger man, who replied with a smile.
"Before I came to Beacon, I was first place in any and all dancing tournaments that were held. In times such as this, one must find a way to relax, and I do that, by dancing." The giant explained. Everyone there nodded in understand. Each person had their own ways of coping with the stress of the world, some people just expressed it differently.
The buzz that was due to the dance off had died down, and now people were just dancing slowly with one another. Jaune wanted to have a slow dance with Neo, but he was extremely tired after the dance off, so he just settled for sitting down on one of the chairs, with Neo on his lap. "We'll have a dance of our own soon, promise." Jaune held up a pinky to Neo, who wrapped her own around it, and shook.
While they were sitting contently, they noticed Yang and Coco approach them. "Hey, have either of you seen Ruby? We can't find her anywhere." Yang asked, concerned for her sisters safety. Jaune tried to remember where he had seen her last.
"Last I saw she was dancing with you." He replied, nodding towards Coco. Coco sighed and nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, we were, and then she said something about getting some air, but we can't find her anywhere." Coco looked worried.
"Have you tried calling her?" Jaune questioned, thinking about what he would do in this situation.
Yang frowned at him. "Does it look like I can hold a scroll with this?" She gestured to her dress, which was a pale cream colour, and obviously had no pockets. Jaune turned his eyebrows to Coco, who shook her head sadly.
"Alright well give me a minute." He reached into his pocket and grabbed his scroll. He dialled Ruby's number and waited. And waited. And waited. "She's not picking up." Jaune frowned. Ruby would almost always pick up after the second ring.
Yang's eyes widened. "You don't think anything bad's happened do you?" She was reassured when Coco placed her hand on Yang's shoulder.
"Don't worry Yang, its Ruby. She'd call if she was in trouble, or she'd just, use her semblance to get out of there." Jaune told the other blonde, comforting her. Yang sighed and nodded, realising that Jaune was right.
"Thanks Jaune. I'm just worried ya know." Yang crossed her arms, annoyed at herself. Jaune did know. He felt the same whenever his sisters would go out at night. He knew they could take care of themselves, but he still worried.
"Well let's go help you find her." Jaune said, smiling. Yang looked up at Jaune, and couldn't help but feel grateful for the boy. Yang nodded, and the group of four made their way to the doors leading into the dance hall, only to be stopped by…
"RUBY!" Yang exclaimed, rushing up to her sister and grabbing her in a hug that many would rename as a 'death grip'. Ruby cried out in pain from the 'sisterly love' she was receiving. "Where were you? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Coco let out a small cough. "We've been looking!"
"Uhh, sorry Yang, I just, went out to get some air and I," Ruby was cut off by a white gloved hand being placed on her shoulder. The others followed the hand to see that it belonged to James Ironwood.
"She ran into me, and started asking me questions about the Paladin that you defeated." Ironwood smiled, making eye contact with Jaune. Jaune may be stupid, but he knew something was up. He glanced at Ruby, whose eyes mirrored his own. She shook her head an inch, and Jaune knew that Ironwood was lying. "She asked me if there were any weaknesses that would be exploitable. Fortunately, there are none. Well, as long as they are in our care it is fortunate."
"Thanks Mr. Ironwood." Ruby said, turning to face him. "I'll be sure to, uh, meet you again sometime soon so I can ask more about the robots and stuff." Ruby smiled brightly, and Ironwood nodded, turning away with his guards in tow. The moment he was gone Ruby spun around to face them all.
"I'll tell you all later." She said seriously, still wary that someone might be watching her. The others nodded. "Oh, by the way who won?" Ruby asked, back to her child like demeanour in a snap. Jaune couldn't help but smile.
"Do you even need to ask?" Jaune said, holding his head high. His head was brought back down with a light punch to the gut. He looked down to see Neo smiling at him viciously. "Alright, deserved that I guess." He said, rubbing the back of his head. Behind him, he heard the music change to a slower song.
His eyes met Neo's, and he got a gentle smile. "I promised you a dance didn't I?" He asked rhetorically, holding out a hand. Neo smiled back at him, taking his hand, her eyes telling him how happy she was that they were going to get a dance. Her eyes soon held a single tear, and she looked down embarrassed. "Hey," Jaune told her, bringing his hand to her cheek, prompting her to gaze up at him. "An Arc never goes back on his word."
With those words, they said goodbye to the others, and took their place in the middle of the dancefloor. Jaune put his hands on Neo's hips. Neo reached up with her hands, both of them resting on Jaune's back. They looked at each other, and smiled. Neither of them needed to say a word in this moment. They were just content to be with one another.
Neo was happy. That was all that mattered to Jaune. Her smile was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. As the song came to a close, there was only one thing he could say.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Dance scenes are hard :/
Also, two shout outs. One, to Karlos1234ify for the term: 'Ozpins True Pairing'. And to SHSL Student for 'Blind Attraction'.
This is the longest chapter I think I've written for this fic, and by Oum was it worth it.
- Friday
Also: I have a job interview today, wish me luck :)
Until next time.
-Friday