"Watch where you're going Arc!" the bull faunus taunted. His jet hair was in a fauxhawk, and he was wearing his typical clothes. Black T-shirt with red skull and white dagger in its mouth, grey sweatshirt from cooling material so he wouldn't overheat, black cargo pants and sneakers, the same old get up.

The two of them stood up and as Malcolm continued to dust himself off Jaune flipped him the bird.

"Why don't you watch where you're going," Jaune started. "You ran into me." The bull faunus finished dusting himself off, then crossed his arms and glared at the blonde.

"That a fact?"

"It is." The two of them stared at each other, a heated battle brewing between them. They both stood there, unblinking, unwavering, and neither of them willing to back down. Jaune could feel his eyes beginning to sting, but he would not blink, he would not twitch. The battle is won as Malcolm just scoffed and looked away. Jaune blinked rapidly, but made sure it was not enough to make a tear drip down his cheek.

"Whatever. Let's not forget I sent you to Leonardo's office." The bull Faunus had a cocky grin on his face as he recalled their first bout.

"Last I checked, you were there too, and in worse shape than me." The bull tended to forget that little detail. Malcolm stared down the blonde, but then his eyes traveled upward toward one of Jaune's main features, and began chuckling.

"Well, at least I don't uh… 'experiment' with my hair the way you do," The faunus said trying his hardest not to break down in laughter. Jaune tilted his head in confusion for a second before it clicked. Heat rushed to his cheeks as he expertly removed the clips from his hair and the pigtails turned back to a mop.

Meanwhile, Malcolm finally broke down laughing as Jaune tossed the clips to the ground. The blonde just glared at the bigger student as he wrapped his arms around his body laughing. Eventually, Malcolm stopped laughing and Jaune just had a bored expression on his face.

"Are you done?" The golden haired boy asked. Malcolm held out a finger as he continued to snicker before finally taking a breath and exhaling.

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Good."

Jaune then kicked the faunus in the shin which caused him to clutch his leg. A smirk grew on his face as he saw the large student hop in place with a groan. Malcolm scowled at Jaune while the skinnier student had a smirk.

"Kicking? Really?" Jaune just shrugged nonchalantly. The bull faunus pointed his finger at him. "That's it, you and me, combat class. You're dead Arc." Jaune pretended to recall something and cringed.

"Ooh, wait, I can't make it to class today because of the operator class. Speaking of, I'm almost late." He chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry." With that, he walked past Malcolm without looking back.

"Oh don't think you can escape Arc. Tomorrow, we're fighting, one way or the other!" Jaune felt a laugh escape from his belly. He was looking forward to it. So far the fights against Malcolm were at two to one, with him leading. He was going to make sure he kept his win with him.

He still remembers the day the two went from hating each other guts to… well, not entirely friends, but they weren't antagonizing each other anymore. At least, not out of spite. It was when they both were sent to Leo's room.

Two weeks ago:

Leonardo stared at his two patients with a glare. Combat injuries weren't rare, but this was a little much, even by his standards. Jaune Arc was hooked up to an IV and a heartrate monitor, with the steady beep of it continued rhythmically while his torso was swathed in bandages. The blonde boy caressed his ribs and groaned to signal that he was still alive. In constant pain, but alive. Maybe on the brink of consciousness as well.

Next to him as the guy who put him in the position. Malcolm Taurus. On the plus side, the giant faunus was also in a hospital bed. He had a bag of ice on his swollen right eye, some stiches for his cut chin and lip, and had his left leg in a bandage, with a tourniquet used to stop the blood flow. The faunus said nothing except an occasional grunt and groan when he moved into an uncomfortable spot.

Leonardo just shook his head with a sigh. The Arc boy seemed to have love this place seeing as how he always ended up here, whether it was for his therapy session, or to lick his wounds. This didn't surprise the old doctor, but that didn't mean he liked it.

However, the fact that Taurus was here was a surprise. The faunus was usually the one who would send people to the office. Granted he did do that with Arc, but very rarely did he come here himself. Leo would be lying if he said he wasn't a little impressed.

Still, this was just a huge headache. Both of them depleted their auras, and due to the injuries its going to take a whole day for it to come back, since it'll focus on healing rather than protecting. Still, at least it wasn't the worst injuries. One of his worse cases was one where the aura hadn't returned in a week. The patient was healed and ready to go out, but it had taken such a toll on them recovery wise, their aura was drained so much it was like the soul itself needed recovery.

Once the spider faunus was sure that the two of them were in full recovery, he went outside of the room to come face to face with Clayton and Octavia.

"How are they?" Clayton asked in his normal cowpoke drawl.

"Give it to us straight doc," Ocatvia whimpered. An exaggerated look of sadness was glued to the red-head's face. "Did you need to amputate them at all?" Octavia dropped the act and gave a chuckle as Clayton elbowed her.

"They'll be fine," Leo said. "They're gonna need to stay here for the rest of the day, but they'll be out tonight. You mind telling me what happened? I gotta make sure I get the paperwork right."

"Shit, Malcolm's been wanting to give Jaune a licking for so long, it was almost impossible to get them to stop." Leo just sighed. That sounded like most of Malcolm's targets.

"Yeah, well apparently all those comments got to Jaune, cause even when Jett called the match off, neither of them wanted to quit." Clayton turned to Octavia with a suspicious look in his eyes.

"The hell does that mean?" He accused.

"Well maybe if Malcolm wasn't such a Jag-off maybe he wouldn't have ended up in the infirmary."

"Now hang on. Malcolm can get a little… heated, but he had a reason to hate the boy. I mean, he was a fake." Octavia rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Yeah, was. I'm pretty sure the fact that he nearly died to help us escape Junkrat should've been enough for him to prove he wasn't a fraud. Apparently, that wasn't good enough for the bastard."

"Watch your tone Ember! That's my leader you're insulting." Clayton threatened whilst jabbing his finger into her. Octavia growled and gripped her hand on her dagger. Thankfully Leo wasn't having any nonsense and grabbed them both by the shoulder and shoved them away from each other.

"Both of you buzz off back to Jett, and don't kill each other on the way there, or you ain't getting any help from us, and I'll make sure he puts the two of you in detention for a month. Got it?" The two students glared at each other, and then nodded their heads. Octavia walked away without saying another word but Clayton turned back to the doctor.

"Thanks for watching over them Doc," He thanked. With a tip of his hat he then followed behind Octavia. Leo could still sense the scowl on clayton's face but said nothing about it. It wasn't his place, nor did he really care.

The spider Faunus went back into the infirmary and into his office to type up the report of what happened. As he did he glanced at the two students who weren't saying anything to each other. He probably should've put them on opposite ends of the room but since they were unconscious when they got here, he had to make sure they would be okay first and foremost. He'll move them once he was done typing up his report. With that, he walked to his office, locked the door, and got to work.

A few minutes pass of awkward silence between the two students Jaune's vision was slow recovering, switching less from darkness to annoying bright lights. He would cast a look to the giant faunus a couple of times but saw that he was still ignoring him. The blonde just couldn't understand it.

Every comment about Jaune being a failure or not belonging here should have been snuffed out from their fight. Sure he lost the initial round, but he kept fighting until he knew that Malcolm wasn't in fighting condition either. So why still give him the cold shoulder? He proved himself!

"What's your problem with me?" Jaune coughed out with a weak voice. Malcolm continued to act as if he heard nothing. "Malcolm, what do you have against me?" This time, jaune's voice was a little more forceful.

"Stop talking," The faunus responded.

"Like it or not, we're stuck here. At the very least you could tell me why you hate me so much!" Malcolm growled and turned to face him. He removed the ice pack from his eye to reveal a shiner about the size of golf ball and the shade of an assassin's cloak.

"Because you shouldn't be here at all!" Jaune just rolled his eyes. It was the same thing he always heard, and he was getting sick of it! He didn't belong at Beacon, he didn't belong at home, and now he doesn't belong here! Every time he tries to do something right, it's like the universe is telling him no!

"Why?" Jaune mumbled. It was more to himself than to his injury partner, but it got a response from them, nonetheless.

"Gee, I wonder why I would choose someone who got in with actual work versus someone who only faked their way in." He started. "I wonder why I would trust a soldier over someone who's never held a gun in their life to protect me. I wonder why I would trust a huntsman over a villager to tell me how to fight grimm. I wonder why I would like someone who would actually try instead of just being lucky or lying!" He was going to continue but Jaune spoke up.

"So what? You think I'm not trying? That just because I got in, that I wasn't actually going to put it any work?!" Jaune's voice had risen so much, that he had ignored the pain he had in his ribs. "I know I didn't deserve to go to Beacon, and I know that I probably shouldn't have had a second chance to come here. Just because I got lucky doesn't mean I'm not trying! The fact that I put you there in that bed should be proof of that!"

Malcolm's eyes turned into dinnerplates when Jaune blurted that out. A heated red burned the faunus's face but before he could retort, Jaune began coughing, and turned back into his bed. A nurse rushed over to check up on him but the blonde boy waved her off. She closed the curtain to separate the two as she heard them arguing.

The red on Malcolm's face never left despite the conversation ending. He put the ice bag on his eye and sighed, letting the bag cover his entire face. The red on his face could be mistaken for anger, but it was actually embarrassment. The reason? He knew Jaune was right, and he was paying for it.

He had been telling the school that Jaune didn't belong her for weeks now. While some agreed with him completely, others were wavering, and some just didn't believe him. However, after people catch wind of this, not only will this convince people that he was wrong, but it also proves Jaune's point.

He was trying. He kept fighting when he could've easily stopped and gave up. His fight with the axe-crazy Maria two weeks ago also proved that. His pride got the best of him. He couldn't admit that the Fraud of Beacon was actually worthy of being a Huntsman. Look where that lead him!

Soon after, the two of them were separated so no more incidents would happen. However, the gnawing inside Malcolm's stomach persisted. He knew what he had to do. It would suck, and he wouldn't be able to wash away the shame, but he knew he had to persevere.

That night, when they were both released back to their dorms, he grabbed the blonde student's attention.

"What?" Jaune huffed. Malcolm took a gulp, a deep breath, shuffled nervously, did anything in his power to stop the conversation from happening. Eventually Jaune just got fed up and began to walk away without another word.

"Wait!" Malcolm called. Jaune stopped but didn't turn. "Look, I know… I've said and done some things, but you were right." Jaune turned his head but his body remain still. "You're… you are…" Everything in Malcolm's body was telling him to yell at the blonde. That this incident changed nothing. However, the bull knew that wasn't fair. Besides, his emotions didn't control him. "I'll stop. I'll stop with everything." Was all he managed to get out.

Jaune finally turned and faced Malcolm. A ferocious heated stare down had begun, but it wasn't one filled with irritation. Both of the students stood there unwavering. Finally, Jaune grew a tiny smirk, so tiny it was the size of an ant. In fact, Malcolm didn't even catch it before it went back to his stoic expression. He gave the bull faunus a nod.

Malcolm felt relieved. Yet there was something still eating him. So much so that he couldn't stop it from escaping his mouth.

"But don't think this means you're better than me!" Jaune stopped walking and Malcolm froze. Everything he just did, everything he accomplished, wiped out because of his ego. Despite that, when Jaune turned to face him he just continued to challenge the boy with a stare. Inside his head, he was yelling at himself.

However, to his surprise he just heard a chuckle erupt from Jaune's throat.

"You're right," the blonde agreed. "When our next fight doesn't end in a draw and I win, then that'll prove it." Malcolm was shocked. He had no idea what to think of Arc. Despite everything he's done, the blonde was smiling at Malcolm. It was a smile filled with challenge, but it was still a smile. Malcolm felt his lips grow into a smirk and chortled.

"Our next fight you won't be able to move blondy."

"Yeah, we'll see won't we?"

With a nod from both parties, they split and went their separate ways.

Every since then, the two have been on… less hostile terms. Of course, because he went against Mr. Jett's wishes of not doing anything stupid in training, he got detention for three days. Normally that wouldn't seem like much, but "detention" was helping Mr. Jett clean all of his weapons the first day, sharpening and loading them the second day, and doing a final check up on them the final day.

Jaune thought the weapons in his office was all of them. He was wrong, oh so very wrong. It was like he had five of every weapon in existence! He had knives, swords, axes, halberds, spears, maces, pistols, assault rifles, SMGs, revolvers, shotguns, and so so so much more. He even had a rocket launcher! What kind of huntsman needs a rocket launcher?!

The man made the punishment loud and clear.

Jaune shook his head. He had to get to class. He didn't want his first class as an operator to be a horrible one. With a newfound vigor, he rushed to the training area where they were meeting.

When Jaune finally reached the door, he hesitated a bit before opening the door. He was just getting used to being huntsman, to be on operator as well would be a little… difficult alongside with it. Still, he was ready. He had to be. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

As he walked into the room a couple of heads turned towards him. There were a few nods to his directions, a couple of eyerolls and scoffs, but nothing he wasn't expecting. He saw students that seemed to be sparring without their weapons, while some were working on their homework on the side. One of the students sparring threw his partner into the wall causing a loud thud to echo in the room.

"All right that's it!" the partner yelled. He then charged his partner causing them to go on the defensive. While they fought, others were just chatting or on their scrolls waiting for Headmistress Nyx to arrive. He recognized a few faces just from seeing them around Shade, but no one he actually knew or talked to.

He decided to just hang out to the side so as to not distract or pull attention to himself. Since he had nothing better to do, he took out his journal and log some pages in, possibly even reread some of his logs. His shrink did say that self-reflecting is important.

Once he found a comfy spot of the wall, he slid down it and dug his Journal out of his backpack. He grabbed a pencil and began logging his events for the day. Helping his sisters move, breakfast, and running into Malcolm all made their way onto the pages. When he was satisfied with his entry, he flipped back a couple of pages and found a couple of notes from his training session last night with Nebula.

It was just the reps they did along with the advice she had given for the day. The one he underlined was the aura surge he learned about. He should probably Practice that when he gets some free time. Since he has no other classes today aside form this one, maybe today would be a good start? Then again, he also promised to spend time with his sisters. Although, they could always hang out tomorrow.

The boy shook his head and continued to read his entry. He even wrote down that moment when they were holding hands, which caused embarrassment to rear its ugly head. Although he had to admit, he didn't really hate it, and her hands were soft.

Just before his thoughts could wander more, the door opened again gathering the attention of everyone in the room. Miss Nyx walked in with her dark ponytail swishing behind her, with the lightly blue dyed tip snapping every so often. She was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and dark blue vest combo with grey slacks and black dress heels.

In her hands were a bunch of folders stacked neatly on top of each other. She set them down on a table nearby, and dusted her shirt off. She then put her fingers in her mouth. A loud sharp whistle was heard gathering the attention of everybody in the room.

"Hello everyone, let's get started, shall we?"

To be continued.

Beta reader: TheShadowOfZama