Chapter 4: The Nordic Connection
For you all the enjoy... a new chapter.
Jaune was alone for the rest of the day. Marble was out for work, his sister Constance was trying her best to find some more things for the pantry and his father had called earlier in the day, to ask whether he'd like to be invited over to mom and dad's home later, after things had cooled down a little.
Marble had said that it was never going to happen. Jaune worried a little about his mother though. It might be more emotion than an autistic person could muster for such a thing, as he worried a bit about his mom being worried about them. Paradoxical, it was sure.
A ringing of the doorbell made him look up from the extra homework that he was completing. He was trying to make sure that Yang had the best chances when she returned to school, because she was his girlfriend.
He pulled his shirt on, having pulled it off to make sure that he was not too hot, because the weather was still warm outside, another 'really hot' day forecast. He checked himself in the mirror, hearing another buzzing of the doorbell, Jaune opening the door to find himself looking at someone unexpected.
"Jauney!"
Nora was as excitable as she always was, but he could make sense of her as she hugged him, feeling her hug him.
"I heard, oh god, my Jauney, innocent!"
The excited tone that she took was making him feel a little bit better, feeling her hug him, as he searched for Ren. Ren and Nora were always together, they were in a relationship and they were in love. Nora had said that she would be getting to see Ren propose, or something like that. They had been a little colder to him after the presentation but Nora was hard to deny.
"Hello Nora."
She bounced a little, as he tried to find Ren. Ren was never really far away from Nora, even though they didn't really think too much about how they did things together. Jaune knew that Nora liked to hug people and that Ren was always the one that she kept on looking at with a weird look.
"Jauney! I heard from your sister that you'd moved here, that you- ah, can I come in? I brought some stuff! Ooh, souvenirs! Would you believe that they had glaciers in Norway? I never thought I'd be going down an actual glacier, but I did it anyways and then there was this runestone and I-"
He tried to tune her out, knowing that she got very active. Hyperactivity was confusing, but he knew that she meant well. She had never really been rude to him. A little distant, yes, but she was his friend. He was not giving up on his friends.
"Sooooo... How have you been doing? I heard about Fall from your mom. That evil bit- ah, she was a very bad bad person. I don't blame you- I mean, I never did, and neither did Pyrrha. She- we kept in touch, while she was out for training-"
He was sure that Pyrrha would be back eventually, before school. It was clearly going to be a return to school and finding the others back where they were, a bit older but willing to be his friends again. This time, Yang would be his girlfriend and people might still look at him weirdly, but Nora was someone that was weird too.
The chocolate-croissant incident had been enough to prove that. Nora sat down next to him as he led her to the living room couch, smiling, taking the time to put her feet up, the shopping bag that she had stuff in set next to her.
"A drink? Jauney, you shouldn't have! Ooh, ooh, tell me that they did something about Fall, like she's going to jail. I mean, I'm Norwegian, I'm all about the whole 'Nordic pride' and stuff- ah, did you know that there's a registry on Iceland where people need to check whether they're like- ehhh, cousins? Silly, but hey, I checked anyways. No Valkyries, nope."
Nora could talk a lot about all sorts of stuff, but it was all factual, he knew. He had done the research himself and she had not told a single lie, even if people doubted that she was going to be really all that serious about it.
"There is water and there is juice."
Nora smirked at him.
"Oh, you're all about the juice, right? All about that final solution, and then poof- ah, I'll take the juice, Jaune."
He wasn't all about the juice. He actually liked soda a bit more when it was early in the day.
"A big glass for a- a short girl?"
Nora nodded enthusiastically, her expression bright and sunny, clearly showing that she was trying her best to not be too worried. Ren might be sick. He hoped everything was okay.
"Ooh, ooh, you remembered! Short stacks big glass!"
He poured her a nice big glass, as Nora made herself comfortable on the couch, Jaune noticing that she wore a hot pink shirt that showed some cleavage, a turquoise bra strap visible, the skirt and spandex shorts below visible, as she never really liked to wear something that would be covering her.
She was high-energy.
"I am happy you are back."
He should say that. It was polite to say that to your friends. He considered Nora a friend.
"Awww, I'm happy to see you too! I was just talking with..."
She went silent, Jaune not sure whether she intended to do that, but he got himself a glass of water. He didn't think very hard about it, as Nora grabbed her glass and then drank from it slowly, the dark look she had on her face not the happy and smiling one.
"You were talking with someone?"
Nora twitched, shifting a little.
"It's not important. I'm... I got you a nice Viking ah- here, lemme-"
She rummaged into the bag and pulled out a wrapped gift, Jaune looking at it and then checking it, shaking it lightly. Nora leaned back, a bright smile on her face, as she waited for him to open it up. The package looked like it was not that heavy, but he looked at it and then unwrapped it. The tape that kept the wrapping in place was pulled off gently, so he didn't scuff the packaging.
'Oh, it's a helmet.'
A big Viking helmet, with two horns and the metalwork that the helmet was made of looked pretty neat. It looked pricy. He held it up, as Nora smiled.
"It looks nice. This is for me, right?"
Nora nodded, smiling brightly.
"Put it on! Show me that Nordic power!"
He put the helmet on and then glanced at the reflective surface. He didn't really know whether it looked good, but Nora seemed to smile brightly.
"Ooh, ooh! You're looking fabulous, Jauney! Ooh, I- ah- let me take a picture. Pyrrha might like to see you looking like this."
Pyrrha was a good friend. She was someone that had been a little awkward, until Nora had talked with her.
"Do I look nice?"
He wondered whether he had the right look for it. He was trying to look good for Yang, who would be coming around tomorrow. School was starting soon again, and he needed to find something to do, but Nora was here so he was not bored.
"Ssssexy! Yesss! Give me that big look of ooh, I'm so cool!"
Nora was trying her best to take a few good pictures, he could tell, her phone snapping a few pictures with every little excited squeal.
"Can you send me some of the pictures? I would like to have them."
He knew that Yang would not want to miss out on this. You kept good contact with your girlfriend by showing that they were the most important thing in the world.
"Suuuuure! Ooh, I'm... I bet Pyrrha's going to be amazed at how you look."
He hoped that Pyrrha would talk with him again. She was gone for an athletics camp, he thought. She'd always been very athletic, and Yang was athletic as well. Blake might also be back, which was not something he really liked to think about.
"Jaune? Frowny faces not allowed! Smile for the camera!"
He smiled involuntarily, for his friend. Nora snapped a few more pictures and he could hear his phone beep a little at the pictures.
"How is Ren?"
He wondered how Ren was doing. He hoped that he did not have a stomachache like he'd had before when Nora had cooked for him. Jaune remembered having a bit of stomach pain, but Pyrrha had been in bed for nearly a week after she'd eaten Nora's cooking.
He must have said something wrong. Nora's eyes went really big and her lip trembled, like she did when she saw something sad, as she made a face.
"He's fine, Jaune."
She sounded like she wasn't very happy, as she looked around.
"S-soo, bathroom? Where's the bathroom, Jaune? I need a moment? I'm- ah, I need a bit, big Viking man! Girl time! Yaaay!"
The tears were coming, dripping down her cheeks, as he supposed that he should tell her where the bathroom was.
"The toilet's down the hall, Nora. I'm not allowed to leave the seat up."
Nora nodded, making a strange sound in her throat and moving to the bathroom. He didn't really guess why she was so upset, but he figured it might have something to do with what he'd said or whether he had messed up.
He could hear her cry in the bathroom, guessing that it must have been something about him not quite being normal in his manners around her. She was someone who was remarkably observant at times too, able to come to conclusions that were accurate but not really well-founded in logical deduction.
'I probably said something wrong.'
He might have been too frowny as she'd said. Ren was fine, which is good, Jaune supposed, as he could hear her give small sobs, the tap running, as she made deep breaths and tried to calm down. He decided to get something out of the cupboard for them to have with their juice. You offered friends food and cookies if they came around to visit and Marble had said that there were cookies in the cookie jar.
'Cookies make a lot of things better.'
He put the cookie next to her glass of juice and cleaned the space around it, where she'd spilled a few droplets, putting the coaster perfectly in alignment, so that the cookie would be properly put at the distance that it would not get a splash of juice on it, before arranging the cookie on his own side as well, because it was neat and orderly.
Jaune waited a little for Nora to come back. She definitely was upset with him, because she had gone to the bathroom, and he knew that girls sometimes had those moments where they needed to cry. His sisters were emotional at movies too, even with him watching them sometimes with them when they said that they needed support or something.
They cried a lot and made a big mess, and they ate a lot of ice-cream. They didn't like it when he said that they might get fat, but they accepted him as their brother.
"Hey Jauney. Sorry, I really had to go. Big drinker, that's me."
Nora's voice was broken, shattered, demure and weaker than the excited exuberance that it had been before, Jaune's eyes closing for a brief moment to calculate how long it would take for a moon-based rocket to reach earth when factoring in the sunwards-facing side of the earth being on the opposite side.
It was a nice thought exercise because it varied a lot.
"Are you upset with me? Did I do something wrong?"
Asking whether he had done something wrong was always a good option because he knew that girls were emotional and sometimes could get really upset, but Yang had a lot of patience with him.
Nora looked at him, shaking her head.
"Sorry, sometimes I forget you're- you're different. You're my friend, r-right?"
Jaune nodded. He was her friend, just as he was Ruby's friend. She was someone who was a lot more social than he was, even if she talked really fast at times.
"Yes. You didn't call me names."
He tried his best to block out the negative thoughts, remembering what it had been like. He remembered that they'd said a lot of bad things about him and keeping his hands off girls, not that they'd have ever given him much attention.
"No, I didn't. You... It was not your fault, Jaune. I... Sorry. I'm sorry."
He didn't know what she meant with that. He should ask but she looked a little sad again.
"Don't be sorry. I can't help it. I'm kind of dumb."
He was socially a little dumb, Yang had said that a few times, but he was intelligent in other ways. He was pretty conscious of people giving him weird looks but he tried not to think too much about that because he knew that he might not be good socially but he was better with numbers and calculations and other such things.
Ruby was still smarter than him and better than him. Ruby never had a problem with angry people but he had.
"No, you're not! You- you're not dumb, Jaune! I talk too much, I always get lectures by Goodwitch that I'm not putting in the effort, and I really am trying, but numbers and I don't agree with each other! Who cares whether someone needs to have some old guy named Pythacory or whatever-"
He corrected her.
"Pythagoras. He was a greek mathematician, eh..."
He wondered whether he was a philosopher as well, before he came to the conclusion that it would be likely that the man was a philosopher as well. Math needed a lot of thought, or so it was apparently said.
"A philosopher, too."
Nora looked at him, her smile a little weak.
"Yeah, that's our brainy leader, alright. You helped Pyrrha with some of her homework last year, the girl's helpless with the big numbers."
It hadn't been that hard. Pyrrha had been giggly a little while, but she had been willing to learn. It had been before the presentation. Before Cinder.
"She wasn't that bad. I just helped a little. That's what friends do."
Weiss had become a friend as well. He should tell Nora about that.
"I made friends with Weiss."
He saw Nora perk up, her frowny dark look turning into interest.
"Ooh! Did you charm your way into frosty ice-queen's heart? Oh, eh, she's still together with Ruby, right? Is she? Did she break up?"
He was pretty sure that they were still together.
"They are still together, I think. She was kind of upset with me for a while. She did not trust me very much."
It was understandable, given the lack of faith that people had in him. It hadn't been his fault but he had tried to do the best job he could. They just did not listen but that was fine. He had a girlfriend, Yang. The sex was good even if she did not get an orgasm.
He should try to make her get an orgasm. She just went very loud when she tried to show that she had an orgasm, but it was not like in the erotic movies. He would make her orgasm, because she deserved to feel good too.
"Gee, ya think? Man, if that icy girl was still giving you mean looks, I'd be showing her a bit of one-two-three in the ring!"
Yang was good at that.
"Yang is pretty good at boxing too."
He didn't know how she fought, but he'd seen her practice. She was nice when she was happy and content, because she just shone like a bright little sunbeam falling in through the canopy in the forest. He definitely was sure that Yang was going to stay with him if he did his best.
"Yeah, she is. She's got a nice stack up top too, don't you know? But our Pyrrha's got some nice frontal bumpers too, just like me!"
Nora bounced a little. He noticed that her bra kept most of the bouncing reasonably contained, but she was excitable, as he adjusted the helm a little.
"You are not fat."
Nora blinked and then smiled broadly at him.
"Aww, you charmer! Ooh, ooh, is Yang still dating her kitty girl?"
Jaune shook his head. Yang was no longer dating Blake and she was trying to date him, even with his issues.
"She is no longer dating Blake."
He wasn't sure whether he should tell Nora about Yang being his girlfriend or not. Nora wasn't talking very much about Ren, but he was fine, like she'd said. Did it really matter if she knew?
"Ah, good. They had a- you know eh- No offense, but in the locker room, it was always 'ooh, kitty, come here' and Blake would be like 'don't touch me' but then she'd be like 'touch me' a little later when Yang was already out of that mood. They've got to be the- eh- sorry. I'm rambling again, silly Nora, always talking so much, never serious! Who'd want to be with a chatterbox like me, huh?"
Nora's voice turned a little shrill at the end of her sentence, Jaune feeling a little awkward for now as Nora's eyes turned a little wet.
"I don't mind you talking a lot, Nora. You are my friend."
She was his friend. She was okay with him being weird and autistic.
"Of course I am! Don't you think otherwise, buster! I'm- Ah... okay, okay, Nora Valkyrie, eh- at your eh- Viking? Yeah, Viking Jaune, here to plunder with Norse Nora!"
She put one foot on the couch and raised her fist in a gesture that looked a little aggressive, Jaune feeling a bit out of his depth, but he was the weird one here. He should ask how Ren was, aside from fine. It was a normal conversation topic to ask about one's holiday, he knew from Miss Salem's lessons on proper behaviour.
"Did you and Ren have fun in Norway?"
Nora flinched and Jaune knew that he had done something wrong by asking that. Nora trembled a little, as she took a deep breath and looked really sad for some reason.
"It was fun, Jaune. We... we had fun. We went to a glacier and we- we took a few pictures. Ren has the camera, he's-"
Jaune could see the tears come from her eyes, as she took a deep breath and seemed to tremble. He got up and went for a tissue, handing her a tissue, as she dabbed it at her eye.
"Aww, I'm getting the wank tissues... Ooh, thank you. I'm- ah..."
Jaune was pretty sure that he didn't really do very much to put her at ease, but she was not someone that cried easily. He had rarely seen her cry.
"You can cry. I'm not very good at crying. Or empathizing, I'm-"
Nora grabbed him in a hug and started to bawl, Jaune freezing up, unsure about what to do about the crying friend that was hugging him, the loud 'waaahhhh!' from her hurting his ears, but knowing that girls got emotional about things like that, just patting her back with little pats, trying to do what he did with Yang.
'She's my friend and she needs support.'
He didn't really matter all that much. Nora was important, as she held him, just crying her eyes out, clearly not feeling like she was very super in her mind, her tears soaking into his shirt, her arms holding him tightly.
"Do you feel better, Nora?"
She had gone quiet for nearly five minutes, just holding on to him. He had counted nearly thirty-one minutes and fifteen seconds since the start of the hug. He felt a little uneasy and he needed to go to the bathroom.
"Y-yes. I'm- ah, sorry."
He could understand.
"I need to go to the bathroom to pee."
Nora snorted, taking the helm from him, looking at him.
"Go do that, Jauney. I'm- Do that, okay?"
He went to the bathroom, seeing several of the cotton pads being messily chucked into the bin, Nora having cleaned herself up a little when she'd gone to the bathroom, obviously. He cleaned it up a little, liking the neatness that he caused as he cleaned it up before he went to the toilet and did his business. He made sure to clean it up too, putting the seat down. Marble had politely reminded him that the toilet seat should be down.
'I should be nice to my sisters too.'
He returned to find Nora sitting on the couch, looking up from her phone.
"Is everything okay with Ren?"
Nora nodded.
"So, I emmm... you know? We went on a trip to Norway, had a bit of fun, came back. Don't worry about it, we had fun."
She was not telling him the truth, he could tell that. She always looked away when she wanted to lie, it was one of the tells that Jaune had noticed about her which he'd asked Ren about.
"You were crying."
Nora nodded. Jaune handed her a new tissue and disposed of the old one in the bin, getting back to her and finding that she had taken another, blowing her nose.
"We broke up. I'm... Jauney? Am I really that annoying?"
He did not think so. She was a bit hyperactive but that was nice sometimes when someone needed to talk. She was observant when things were going on. He wondered if she had ADHD, but that had never come up as a question.
"No? You are a bit hyperactive, like Pyrrha says sometimes, but I do not think you are annoying."
She was at least normal in her head. Not like him. Cinder had told him about that, and-
Nora grabbed his cheeks and held his head.
"Are you okay? Jaune? I don't like that look on your face."
He was okay, he should be okay. He remembered how she burned. How she had been given the punishment that she should get as an impure person.
"I am okay. I was just thinking about something bad."
Nora looked worried, her arms pulling him in, as he was put face-first into her chest. She had a habit of doing that when she was worried, or so Pyrrha had attested when Nora had nearly suffocated her.
"Aww, my Jauney boy isn't feeling good! Come on, tell Nora what is wrong, okay?"
Ren and Nora had broken up. He hoped that things would be okay with Nora. He was let go of Nora's cleavage to speak, knowing that Nora was ticklish if someone spoke while between her breasts. Pyrrha had tried to get out and she'd had Nora giggling for nearly five minutes while she held on.
"Oh. I was thinking about Cinder."
Nora's expression turned a lot darker than it had been before, her eyes going to his face, serious and fierce.
"She's the one that set you up, Jaune. When- You're my friend, and Rennie's friend too. Remember? We support you too, Jaune. Even if you're not-"
'Even if you're not like us.'
He could understand that like of thinking. It was very normal.
"She died."
Frank Castle had killed her with some assistance from him, Nora's expression darkening.
"I'm glad that she didn't do worse to you, from what I heard, she was a real mean piece of wo- ah, she was a bitch. She killed a Muslim girl, or so the news went. You should be glad that it was just a false accusation and a presentation that was- okay, I've got to admit that you mangled the German, I mean, you're as American as Wonderbread."
He didn't think that he liked being a nazi like Cinder had been. Yang had to reassure him a few times after Cinder's death that he was not born evil or retarded, and it was tough to understand at times.
"I'm sorry. I may not have been a good friend to you."
They had reacted awkwardly and he had not really understood it. Nora looked like she could understand a little.
"Jaune, I know we didn't have much time to talk. It was- it wasn't that easy to- to buck the trend. I mean, Rennie and I were getting more serious, and- and we were planning the trip. Pyrrha had to go do that for the ehh... prep at the West- western academy doohickey? I mean, she got scouted for a training camp over the summer."
'Oh yes. Westchester.'
Pyrrha had mentioned it as a thing that involved her scholarship money or something, with a grant from some guy that'd been on television, for 'athletic excellence'. Pyrrha was very competitive when she was in a good mood.
"It's okay. The scars don't hurt that much. Doctor Watts says that I will only have some minor irritation on occasion and that the skin luckily should not scar too much."
That was nice. The aching was a little bit too much sometimes. Nora looked at him, and he wondered when she'd gotten into his lap, unsure whether this was okay.
"Scars? Jaune... Jaune Arc, Jaune?! Scars?"
He didn't really think it very important.
"Oh. Yes. They don't hurt too much anymore."
He trusted Nora. She was a little hyperactive, but she did not make him feel bad.
"That- that bitch scarred you?!"
He looked at the box of tissues, seeing Nora's eyes grow teary again, as well as angry. She was wiggling around a little, as she seemed to grow more angry by the minute.
"Yes. I got cream for it. It makes the skin be moisturized and heal a little faster. It gets irritated quickly due to being in my groin."
Nora's expression blanched for a moment, before she bit her lower lip and looked him in the eyes in a moment of seriousness.
"Jaune Arc, did- did she- did you- what did she do?"
He told her what Cinder had done. He trusted her. She was a friend and you trusted your friends, so he told her about the corrective taps and what he had done. Nora understood him and did not judge him, like Yang did, which made him feel warm on the inside.
It might be a feeling of friendship, he didn't know.
Nora's face turned red, and a 'That dirty Anne Frank lookalike did that to y- oh- No, no, continue, I am not angry at you' came out, before he continued to talk. The blood drained from her face when he started to detail the punishments that she had given him, looking a little green in the face when he detailed the kicking and the blood.
"I need the bathroom? J-just a minute?"
She nearly knocked over the small table with the vase on it that Connie had bought to 'flower up this little girl power nest', the sound of someone being a little sick coming from the bathroom. Jaune took a small bite from his cookie and washed it down with Juice, Nora in the bathroom giving a quiet 'faen, hva gjorde den tispa med gutten min?!' as she seemed to not really be able to keep her food inside. It was a shame to know that the juice wasn't alright, but he was a boy, he could take the punishment for being a boy.
Nora came back, her hand grabbing the juice and then downing it in one go, looking like she'd rather have heard something else, the heat in the room making her skin look a little shinier than most times, as she sat down next to him, grabbing his hand.
"Jaune? Jaune, you're not a retard. You're not. You're one of the smartest friends I- no, we have. Who was it that came up with the solution to the advanced calculus test?"
It had been six minutes of trying to figure it out and then putting things into a logical framework and then writing it out. They could have done so within the same time span.
"It wasn't that hard. You could have done that too. Ruby did it too, but she was distracted by Weiss."
It must be that she was just a bit distracted, after all, Ruby was smarter than he was. Nora looked at him, frowning and grabbing his shirt.
"You're not like her, Jaune! You're- Show me those scars! That bitch hurt my friend!"
He supposed that he should show her then. He trusted her, but he had second thoughts. They were in a spot that was not really supposed to be seen by people that weren't your girlfriend or your doctor.
"They are on my testicles. Are you sure you want to see them?"
Nora blanched, wincing a little, closing her eyes and then taking a deep breath.
"Okay, okay. Don't show me then. I'm- That bitch hurt my friend. She hurt my Jauney!"
It felt kind of nice to have Nora talk in such a way about him, as if she was really his friend. He would show her if she wanted, because she was someone that seemed to care for him.
"I can show you if you want."
Nora's cheeks suddenly turned red.
"Ah- bedroom? I'm- eh- this is- living room? Bedroom is- ah-"
Nora turned redder, not quite sure how to respond to that, but he got up and walked to the bedroom. She was someone that he trusted so it was fine.
"That looks... painful."
Nora was looking at them. He did not get an erection, because this was not Yang or someone else that was sexy.
"I'm sorry. She said that it was to mark me as something not good."
Nora's face turned serious, straightening herself out to her 'not-so-impressive-shortstack-viking-height', poking his chest.
"Pull your pants up, Jaune! I'm not your girlfriend! I'm sure that-"
The thought of Yang made him get an erection, Nora's voice trailing off mid-sentence, as he got his pants back up, tucking himself back in. He trusted Nora. She was someone that was his friend. Ruby was his friend too, but he didn't know how to feel about her.
"So... eh... Is that a picture of you and Yang?!"
Nora noticed the picture that they'd taken and gotten printed, as he pulled his pants back up.
"Yes. We are dating."
Nora turned her head, her mouth opening wide and an 'eeeehhhhh?!' coming from her face.
"Pyrrha's going to be real mad, I'm- Ah, Jaune? You're okay with her, right?"
Jaune nodded.
"She went on a date with me, and we talked. She was with me and made me feel better. She and Blake broke up."
That made perfect sense to him as he looked at Nora, whose mouth was still opened at a slight angle, her expression showing her surprise, as she took a deep breath, before she decided that she would do something else. It showed on her face, as she tapped his chest again.
"You'd better treat her well, Jaune Arc! Otherwise- no, no, that's wrong, no, I should be saying that to her. Yang Xiao Long, you half-Asian blonde! You're taking our superman away! I will take my vengeance!"
Nora pounded her fist against her chest, as she paused and turned to him, looking a bit surprised at her words.
"Ah- I'm not going to- eh, hurt her. Just- just a bit of a righteous vengeance. You look- I mean, I didn't mind looking, and- eh, you're ah- I'm not- I've seen them before, and- I'm not- I mean, Rennie is Asian too, but I'm not- You're my- ahh, Nora smash?"
He smiled at her, aware that she was probably trying to dial back her violent impulses, as Ren had once called it. It was not good to know that Ren and Nora had broken up but it was nice to know that she'd try to fight Yang if things really got bad between the two of them.
"She's coming tomorrow, before we return to school. Is Ren still living alone?"
Nora nodded. Nora's mother had an apartment in the same area as where he and his sisters lived but he had not known that she'd gotten his address from mom or dad. She knew where he lived though, they'd done a group project at his house a few times. Nora was pretty invasive if she wanted to.
"It... Would you hate me if I wasn't...?"
He didn't know what Nora was getting at, but figured that it must mean that she was not planning on moving in with Ren, like she'd boldly stated.
"Why would I? I trust you. You are the same as you have always been."
He didn't care whether she wanted to live with Ren or not, he cared that she was his friend. Nora was someone that could bring a smile to your face with some action that was well-meaning but impulsive.
"Even if I'm not... Ren said..."
He shook his head.
"You are my friend. I trust you. You are Nora Valkyrie. You are my friend."
That was a thing he knew for sure, as she seemed to have no problem with that, taking a deep breath and then letting it go slowly, her expression lightening a little, before she smiled at him with that light and pleasant smile.
"I guess I am. Autistic people aren't- No, no, I didn't mean anything with that, Jaune, don't be upset and-"
He hugged her, letting her feel him hold her, like Yang felt him hold her when she was emotional. Hugs made a lot of things feel better than they had before, of course, and he was not going to worry too much about what other people thought of things.
"You are my friend. Even if I am autistic. I don't give up on my friends. Cinder said she was a friend but she was not and she hurt me. Ruby is a friend, even if she wants to do weird stuff that Weiss doesn't agree with."
Yang had said that Ruby would be back at school again and he hoped that Ruby would be happy to see him again.
"You silly little- Heh, you're never going to change, are you? Damn... Pyrrha's got one heck of an uphill battle to go for..."
Jaune supposed that it would be time for that if Pyrrha was to go for the nationals, which should be this year or something. He wondered whether she was going to be a little warmer than she had been before, but dismissed the thought immediately.
Nora was Nora and Ren was Ren.
"Sooo... Did ya do it with Yang? Come on, spill the details!"
Nora was asking a question he was not sure whether he should answer, but he merely gave an affirmative.
"Yes."
Nora's eyes went wide as she giggled.
"Ooh! The blonde duo! Ooh, it's a shame, it's a shame... No Viking Nora!"
Jaune was pretty sure that Ren would be taking Nora back, Ren was the type of person that really liked Nora. Ren had asked him whether he was interested in Nora as a girlfriend and he had said no to that.
Not that Nora was not beautiful. She certainly was, objectively. Yang was a little taller and a bit more muscular in her upper body, but Nora was good-looking in a cute way.
"Jaaaune?! Help me get the bags in! I bought a lot of stuff for the apartment!"
Marble called out and Jaune looked at Nora, who looked at the door, her face turning a little strange.
"Ah- hm. I think we should help?"
He nodded.
They should help.
"Oh, it's the short ginger! Hey, how are you doing? How was your trip to eh... wherever you went?"
Marble tried, and Jaune helpfully tried to keep it short.
"She brought me a souvenir. Oh, and she broke up with Ren."
Nora winced and stopped.
"How many bags are there?"
He asked, while Marble sighed and Nora went to the bathroom, Jaune not quite getting the reason for that, but he supposed that he should help his sister. His sister facepalmed, groaning softly.
"How about you go and carry the bags in and start unloading them, while I catch up with her, alright?"
Nora was crying in the bathroom again, for some reason. He didn't really understand why, but he hoped that she would come out, since there were quite a few bags.
'Oh, I think she bought more juice.'
He'd pour Nora a glass of juice.
That might help.
"Thanks so much for that, Marble! I'm- ah, here, my number. Jaune has it too, but I wasn't- oh, you should call sometimes if you need a hand. I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm-"
Nora was out the door at half past eight, having had a long talk with Marble about 'girl stuff' that he had not been allowed to listen to, but he supposed it would be fine. Marble was a little annoyed with him, he could tell that, but Nora had brightened up.
"You treat her gently, okay? She's not really over the boy yet. Jaune? Can you do that?"
He would do that.
"I'll apologize to her too. Do you think that would be okay?"
Marble sighed.
"You can't just- but yes, I think apologizing to her is a good thing. Send her a message in an hour or something, okay?"
He sent that message an hour later, and received a smiley face from Nora, with a Viking Emoji next to it.
He supposed it was okay now.
Having a shit year, really started with death, medical misfortune and a lot of issues.
Inheritance family feuds, chronic pain and issues with my liver have made me visit the hospital a lot more.
Until next time!