Ruby Rose would never admit it to anyone, but seeing Jaune in his hoodie in that Mistralian blacksmith had possessed her with a certain feeling. The way he admitted to his rather childish ambition and yet honorable commitment to the task he put his mind to. There was something enviable about that, and she was absolutely green with it.

After the first round of nightmares for the two, her arms were wide open and a shoulder to cry on was offered. But he'd never take it, infuriatingly opting to just wallow in his sadness. Things only seemed to get worse when Qrow joined the group, as he was a constant reminder of how Team STRQ was oh-so-special and never once had anything go wrong. Everyone just got each other, and not just in partner connections. Ruby was tired, and the green haze just grew. Upon reaching Mistral City, things began to slow down as another school year approached, but studies were the last thing on her mind. Ren and Nora were practically attached at the hip, and it just taunted her even more because Jaune was still too dense to notice how bad she had it for him.

It all came to a head when Qrow left the house to go searching for other Huntsmen and Huntresses after the group met with Headmaster Lionheart. Ren and Nora were sparring in the basement, while the knight and the rose sat in the common room.

"Jaune?" She began, almost hesitantly. "How do you feel about Nora and Ren?"

"Huh?" he replied, somewhat bewildered. "Wh- What do you mean?"

"Well," she continued, "how do you feel about them being… Together?"

His hand gradually came up to the back of his neck. "I mean, more power to them, it's nice."

"Uh-huh…" Ruby's eyes narrowed slightly. "What would you say about joining in, as it were?"

Jaune's eyebrow raised. "Ruby, are you asking if we could partner up?"

By the shattered moon, he's not an oblivious idiot after all! She thought, before hastily responding. "Yeah, you could say something like that."

"In that case Ruby," he replied, "We should definitely work on team attacks! It's honestly kind of surprising that through these last few months on the road we haven't figured one out. I've been thinking we could call it 'Red Knight', and I could launch you vertically on my shield…"

The look of excitement faded from Ruby's eyes and was quickly replaced with a hand as the density of her dork showed once again