Hello! Not much to say here, I did however forget to mention an important detail. CRITICISM. I need it if I hope to improve, so please, tell me what you like, and what you think needs to be fixed! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)
Jaune watched as his frosty breath dissipated into the air as fast as it escaped his lips. He sped up his pace to a brisk walk, trying to cover ground as quick as possible without running. He readjusted his bag and hitched it back into position over his shoulders, his fingers shivering in the cold. He couldn't help a faint smile creep onto his features as the main building came into sight, from there, the trip to the library would be all indoors, the wonderfully heated indoors. Or so he thought. That expectation was quickly crushed as a cold chill ran through his body upon entry of the doors. He shivered, mumbling a curse under his breath as he continued to the library. He was happy he packed a blanket now, for it may not have been so warm after all. Once again he was wrong as his new expectation was turned on it's head. When Jaune entered the library, he nearly squealed in delight as a warm gust of air lifted both his temperature and his spirits. Gone was the nagging worry of getting frostbite, but something was still off.
"Hm?" Jaune looked around, spotting more than a few people in the building, some sleeping, others chatting.
This was definitely wrong, a lot more people were in the library than usual... Hell, the place looked like some sort of refuge camp, as everywhere he looked there were more people. Still, the place seemed to remain relatively quiet, only light chatter taking place among certain individuals. Jaune raised an eyebrow in confusion, surely there was someone he would recognize that he could ask about this whole situation.
"Aha!" His eyes locked onto Coco Adele, who was sat against the far wall, chatting with Velvet, the rabbit faunus.
"Excuse me." He bumped in, receiving an impatient look from Coco. "What's going on, why are so many people here?"
Her face of impatience quickly changed to one of question.
"Have you not heard?" Her eyes shrunk behind tinted sunglasses. Jaune, still clueless of the situation, just shrugged. "The heaters in a good amount of the student dorms are breaking, and with it being so cold, the library seems to be the only place to escape a frostbitten death."
"I see..." He scratched his chin for a moment.
"Is your heater not broken?"
"Nope." He shrugged once more.
"Then why are you here?" She asked as if she was interrogating him.
"Honestly I just needed some time away from my team." He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Don't get me wrong, they're great people but... The cold has been doing a number on all of us, and it's diminished their energy so they kinda just push everything on me."
Coco shook her head with a sigh, pulling her hands from her pockets. Velvet perked an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak.
"That's not right." She stated her mind, leaning back in her chair. "A team is a team, it's up to everyone to do their share, even in times like these."
"It's alright." He defended, shaking his hands in dismissal of the topic. "I'll let you two get back to your conversation now, thank you and sorry for interrupting."
"You're fine." Coco gave him a thumbs up and waved him off.
Jaune waved and walked away from them, rolling his shoulders back with a sigh. He thumbed through his hair and leaned up against a wall in the outskirts of the library, away from the dull commotion of the students piled closer to the center. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting his mind unwind.
The brief span of his thought time was interrupted as something hit his head. His eyes opened and he raised an eyebrow.
"S-sorry." A hesitant sounding voice apologized.
Jaune looked to his side and picked up the book titled 'Ninjas of Love' that had just fallen on him. He heard a nervous mumble from the person who had just dropped it
"Did you drop this?" He looked up to face her, his eyes widened slightly in surprise as he saw just who it was. "Blake?"
"Hey..." She grabbed the book hesitantly. "Thanks for my book back, and sorry for hitting you with it. It slipped out of my hands."
"Don't worry about it." Jaune smiled. "What's it about?"
Blake gripped the book tighter as he asked.
"Hm?" She hummed nervously, as if she didn't heard him, even though she knew full well what he'd just said.
"Your book." He repeated. "What's it about?"
"It's... Well..." She averted her gaze, trying to find some route of escape.
"Woah, no way!" Jaune gasped, nearly shouting. Blake's eyes darted back to him as he eyed a book that laid in her other hand. "Is that Apotheosis!? Man, I love that book!"
"Huh?" She looked down at it, thankful that the subject had been changed. "You've read it?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "A few times actually, it's one of my favorite books. Have you finished it?"
"This isn't my first time reading it." Blake nodded. Her gaze suddenly narrowed on him. "I didn't take you as one to read a whole lot of books."
"Oh I used to love reading." He chuckled nervously. "I still do, but being here at Beacon has cut my free time in half twice. I do still try to read if I can though, I actually own a copy of Apotheosis too, it's in my bag back at my dorm."
"That's... Awesome actually." Suddenly she looked perplexed. "Why do you like the book so much? It's kind of... dark."
"I'm not sure." He shrugged. "I think it's quite realistic, not every story has a happy ending. Rory had powers unlike most anyone else and he still wanted more, he wanted to be a God, it only makes sense that in such a journey he'd lose himself. I guess I like the book so much cause I get experience the viewpoint of a protagonist who isn't the good guy, but doesn't believe what he's doing is wrong."
"Wow." Blake was surprised at his knowledge. She relaxed her posture and sat down next to him. "I'm surprised you're so well knowledged."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Jaune chuckled. Blake rolled her eyes and he leaned back against the wall.
Silence continued from then on, Blake opened up Apotheosis and began to read silently from the beginning. This grabbed Jaune's attention and he leaned forward to read along with her. When she finished a page, she'd put her finger on the corner and wait for Jaune's nod of approval to turn it. Though she usually didn't have to wait long, as he seemed to finish up a page at the same time she did.
Hours passed and they found themselves in a much more comfortable position. Sometime between then and now, Jaune found himself leaned up comfortably against the wall with Blake resting comfortably on his chest. However, they were so caught up in reading that it didn't seem to bother either of them. Sooner now rather than later, night fell and they both began to grow tired. Jaune noticed the book getting looser in her hands and he tapped her shoulder to get her attention. She jumped slightly, looking back to face him with heavy eyes.
"We should head back to our dorms." He repositioned himself slightly, making to stand. "It's getting late and I can see you're struggling."
"Y-yeah." She spoke softly, slowly shifting off of him.
They both stood, Blake slid a bookmark into their page before closing it. Jaune followed her out of the library, shivering as the cold once again filled his system.
"Damn." He grumbled. "I almost forgot."
Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll, reading the temperature on the screen that read negative thirty-two. It was much colder now that night fell upon them. He looked over to Blake and saw her trembling. With a frown, he reached into his bag and pulled out the blanket he'd packed earlier.
"I knew it would be a good idea to bring this." He smiled, wrapping it around Blake.
She looked down at the blanket then over at Jaune.
"What about you?" She asked.
"What about me?" He lifted an eyebrow, batting away the question.
Blake shook her head, outstretching an arm around him and wrapping him in the blanket.
"The last thing I need is for you to have to get your toes cut off due to hypothermia." She chastised him.
"T-thank you." He stammered, averting his gaze from her for a brief moment.
From there on, they remained mostly silent, but shared some passing thoughts that came by. It remained like that until they reached the dorms. They entered the building and headed up the stairs, stopping in front of their doors. Jaune stole the blanket back and faced her with a smile.
"Thank you for tonight." She smiled.
She smiled. Blake Belladonna just smiled, and it was beautiful. Jaune wasn't sure the last time he saw her smile, in fact, he wasn't quite sure if he'd ever seen her smile. He had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat to be able to speak once more.
Be confident. He composed himself, looking her in the eyes.
"Of course." He smiled. "I enjoyed your company."
"Me too, it was nice to unwind today, and a pleasant surprise to find out you enjoyed reading as much as I do." She nudged his shoulder. "Night, Jaune. See you in class tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you." He nodded and they headed into their respective rooms.
"Where have you been!?" Weiss stood up from her table and shouted as Blake closed the door behind her.
"I told Yang I was headed to the library..." Blake lifted an eyebrow, wondering why the girl was so upset.
"You had us worried sick!"
"Weiss, calm down." Yang spoke up, coming around the corner. "Blake, it's good to see you're okay."
The blonde walked up and hugged her. Blake froze, but returned the embrace nonetheless.
"I told you I was headed to the library." She whispered.
"I know, I know, I just worry sometimes." She admitted. "Why were you gone so long?"
"O-oh, uh..." She stammered, a slight pink rising to her cheeks. "I got distracted."
"Were you reading your ninja erotica?" Yang asked with a smirk, crossing her arms expectantly.
"No Yang." Blake dismissed the topic. "I was not reading my 'ninja erotica' thank you very much."
"Hmph, fine." She pouted. "Come on, let's get some sleep."
"Wait a second." Blake paused. "Why is it warm in here? The heater's broken."
"Oh, right. Weiss has got fire dust warming up the room right now." She nodded.
"Smart." Blake agreed, crawling into bed. "Thanks, Weiss."
The white haired girl nodded before turning back to her work.
"You should head to bed soon too, be like Ruby." Yang pointed to the passed out girl on the unstable bunk.
"I appreciate that, but I'm busy." Weiss nodded.
"Suit yourself." Blake got comfortable and shut her eyes. "Night Yang."
"Night Blake." She spoke quietly.
Thanks so much for reading this far! I'd like to know if any of this felt out of character at all and if so why. I hope you enjoyed and that you will enjoy what's to come. Toodles :)