When they entered the bar, Jaune took a look at the clientele. There were a few who seemed shady but there were also a few who seemed like they were in a somewhat respectable position. Jaune even saw people who looked like they went to Shade there! From leather jackets and tank tops to white button ups and Jaune even saw a guy with a suit drinking with someone. All in all, the bar was lively.
Team BRNZ walked into the store and walked to the where the bar was. They sat down at the stools at the bar and Jaune followed suit. One of the bartenders, a cute tanned skin, short brown haired Faunus girl with a monkey tail wrapped around her waist, saw them. She flashed them a smile to signal that she noticed them and would help them when she was done with her current customer.
As they waited, Jaune decided to ask something. "So I'm assuming you all have been here before?" Team BRNZ all gave various forms of yes. "How long have you guys been going here?"
"We came here after the second week of school of our first year," Brawnz said. "One of our upperclassmen recommended this place to us when we were looking for some place to hang out."
"That girl was a genius to recommend this place!" Roy said. "It's nice, the servers are friendly, and the owner is pretty chill with us drinking here."
"Yeah as long we don't get as drunk as we did the first night we came in here," May added. The team laughed at the memory.
"So what happened?" Jaune asked curiously.
"Well I got into a fight," Nolan said. He points his thumb at Brawnz. "He passed out in the toilet." He points at Roy. "He started singing random songs that popped in his head." He then points at May. "And she dressed up as a belly dancer." May let out a blush and covered her face with her arms.
"I'm just glad no one took pictures," She mumbled.
"I did!" Roy said as he waved his scroll, a smug smile on his face. May jumps up and looks at Roy. "Jaune you want to see?"
"Don't you dare!" Brawnz held May back by putting her in a full nelson.
"Show him show him!" Brawnz edged on. As Roy began flipping through his pictures, Jaune put up his hands.
"N-no that's fine I don't need to see it," he said nervously.
"Too late," Roy said. He turned his scroll round to show Jaune the picture. May was wearing a blue belly dancer's uniform they somehow found. She was wearing a blue top, causing her midriff to show, and part of the lower dress was slit to reveal her leg. Jaune saw the look on May's face and saw that it was slightly flushed, either from embarrassment or from being drunk, he couldn't tell.
He looked over at May who had eyes that dared him to say something stupid. Jaune panicked and said the first thing that came to his head. "Y-you look cute!"
There is a silence. Everyone looked at May who had an unreadable look on her face. "Crap! Why did I say that!? Oh man she's going to beat the crap out of me!" Jaune thought in his head. He closed his eyes in anticipation of the beating he was about to receive. May got out of Brawnz hold and turned back to the bar.
"Whatever…" She mumbled. Jaune opened his eyes slowly when he heard her say that and wasn't in any pain. He looked at May who was avoiding eye contact with him for the time being, a small blush on her face. This cause the males of BRNZ to let out a small chuckle at the fact that Jaune made May blush. Something like that doesn't happen often. They would've teased her more about it, but they knew that was basically poking an ursa.
The bartender walked up to them and handed all of them menus. "How are all of you doing?" She asked. They responded by saying they were all good. "So do you all know what you'll be having?"
"Actually, I'm new here," Jaune said. "Anything you can recommend?"
"Well our spiced rum and coke is pretty good for newcomers. Will you have that?" Jaune looked at his friends and they all gave supportive nods. Jaune nodded his head and she wrote it down on her bad. As she went around she got everyone's order. Brawnz and May got some kind of beer, Roy got a mixed drink, and Nolan asked for pure whiskey. Jaune didn't think he could handle the kick of Nolan's drink since he tried some from going out with Yang once. Jaune practically spat the drink out.
"Hey, you guys hungry?" Brawnz asked his team. Again, everyone gave various forms of yes. "We'll also take a large thing of nachos." With everything written down, the bartender walked away to get their drinks. In the meantime, Jaune and team BRNZ continued to talk about whatever came to their minds.
"You excited to be back in a huntsman academy Jaune?" Brawnz asked. Jaune let out a nervous chuckle.
"I am," he said. "I'm just not looking forward to the homework again."
"Meh the homework's not that hard," Roy stated.
"Says the guy who aces every test," Nolan joked.
"Maybe if you study instead of playing games with May, you two would actually be good at your tests." That comment got a couple of oo's from Jaune and Brawnz. May shrugged.
"I ain't going to deny that," She said. "Beside I have better things to do than waste time with homework."
"Thank you!" Nolan exclaimed. "She gets it. Why can't the rest of you?"
"Probably because she actually pays attention in class," Brawnz said. "Unlike you, who sleep through almost all of them."
"Screw you guys!" Nolan turned to Jaune. "Jaune you can agree with me right? Do I really need to do homework?"
"Depends," Jaune said. "Are you still getting A's and B's?"
"Uhh… yes?" Jaune gave Nolan a dead stare. "No…" Nolan hung his head in shame.
"Then yes you do. You see my parents made it so as long as you're getting A's and B's, homework was optional. If you get below that they aren't optional."
"Well just because you said it doesn't mean I'm going to do it." Nolan crossed his arms and flashed Jaune a smug smile. Jaune gave a small smile back and pinched his earlobe. Nolan's eyes shrunk in fear, knowing exactly what that meant. He covers his ears and shivers slightly. "Please no." Team BRNZ and Jaune let out a laugh. The laugh was loud enough to get a few of the other patrons to cast a glance at them, but not loud enough for people to complain.
The bartender waitress came back and gave everyone their drinks. She flashed everyone a smile. "Your food will be out in a bit," She said. The poarty thanked her and Brawnz raised his mug up to which everyone did the same with their glass and/or mug.
"To Jaune passing initiation!" Brawnz cheered. Everyone clunked their glass together and took a swig from their drink. Jaune could taste the sweetness and fizziness of the coke mix with the fruity yet somewhat tingly sensation of the rum in his throat. He puts the drink down and he had to admit, it wasn't bad.
"So what do you think?" Roy asked as he took a sip. Jaune gave a smile.
"It's not that bad actually," He said. "I wouldn't mind coming back here."
"We could always use another drinking buddy!" Brawnz exclaimed. "Anytime you want to hang out just let us know man."
"I will."
A few more minutes of talking and having fun with BRNZ passed and they finally got their food. As they dug in and ate their food, Jaune also had to admit that it was pretty good food. Time flew by and Jaune was having a lot of fun. He was smiling almost every second, and he was laughing and joking with the other team. Just like brothers and sisters in arms. Unfortunately, someone was about to cause a commotion.
Jaune noticed that a man with ripped jeans and a stained white t-shirt began yelling at one of the bartenders. It wasn't the one that served them, this one had long bunny ears. They reminded Jaune of Velvet's ears only these ones were snow white. The stains on the man's t-shirt were obviously from all of the beer he was drinking and adding on the fact that he is slurring his words, it is obviously that this guy is drunk.
"You listen to me you faunus bitch!" he yelled. Apparently he was a mean drunk. "When I ask for another drink you give me one!"
The waitress forces the guy to lose his grip by hitting his wrists. He lets out a groan and the waitress points at him. "You're drunk," she stated. "So like it or not you're getting cut off, end of story!" She was about to walk away but the drunk had other plans. He reached up and grabbed one of her ears and pulled down on them hard.
"You don't get to walk away from me you animal!"
Jaune's instincts kicked in and he got up from his seat and ran toward the man. He didn't realize he was doing it until he reached the man and grabbed the wrist of the hand that was grabbing the girl's ears. He brought up his elbow and smashed on the man's forearm, causing him to yell in pain and let of the faunus's ear. Jaune, then grabbed the man's arm, twisted it around to his back and then slammed his head down onto the counter with his own forearm.
Jaune added pressure on the guy's head causing him to groan in pain. Jaune knew that this wasn't going to end well. That came to full force when the drunk broke free from Jaune's grip and headbutted Jaune by yanking his head back against Jaune's face.
Jaune grabs his nose and backs away from the drunk. He gets up and faces the blonde and Jaune looked at his brown eyes. They were full of pure rage. "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, Boyo!" The drunk threatened as he pointed at Jaune. "I'll show you what happens when you do."
Jaune looked over to BRNZ for support but they didn't get up from their seats to help him. May had a cocked eyebrow that basically said "What do you want me to do?" Nolan looked on with an amused look as he took a sip from his drink. Roy had a quizzical look on him. Brawnz had his hand cupped around his mouth and yelled at Jaune.
"KICK HIS ASS JAUNE!" he yelled.
"Not helping Brawnz!" Jaune thought. He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt a shoe connect to his face causing him to stumble back. The crowd that started to form caught Jaune and pushed him back into the makeshift ring of people.
"Keep your eyes on the fight Boyo," the drunk taunted with a toothy grin. "I don't want this to be too easy." Jaune growled and raised his fists. He knew there was no point in trying to talk him out of the fight. He learned that the hard way back at Hei's bar.
The drunk charged at Jaune. Despite the speed and aggressiveness Jaune could tell he was still stumbling a bit. Jaune sidestepped out of the way and hooked his left foot around the drunk's left leg and sweeped it upward. The drunk tried to regain his balance by placing his hands on the ground, but the minute he did Jaune turned and punched him in the cheek, causing the drunk to fall down.
The drunk got up and looked at the nearest table that had a bottle. He grabbed it and chucked at Jaune. Jaune flinched the bottle collided with him on his body. While it did sting, thankfully it didn't break and cause shards to cut into his skin.
Jaune recovered from the flinch but that time was all the drunk need. He wrapped his arms around Jaune and began drive him into the wall. Jaune tried to elbow down on the man's back but no avail. Jaune let out a loud pained grunt as he felt his back hit the wall of the bar. While his aura did often help null the pain, that didn't mean it wasn't noticeable.
The drunk backed up and then grabbed Jaune's head. He brought Jaune's head down onto his knee, causing a large pain in Jaune's face. Jaune heard slight ringing but he could hear the cheer of the crowd. The drunk backed up again and Jaune recovered faster this time. He saw the man grabbed a stool and swung it over head to try and hit Jaune. Jaune ducked in time for the stool to hit the wall instead. He slipped away from the wall and went behind the drunk.
He kicked the man into the wall causing him to also hit the stool as he was still holding it. The man drops the stool and grabs his face. As he did Jaune kicked him in the back again, causing the drunk to run into the wall.
With the tables turned, Jaune grabbed the man by his shirt. He punched him two times with his right fist, and then grabbed the man's face and slammed it into the wall for the third time. The drunk let out a roar and kneed Jaune in the side. As Jaune clutched his side, the man followed up with a kick to the face, causing Jaune to stumble back.
With neither of them backed into the wall the fight was on even grounds again. What Jaune gathered from the fight so far, the drunk liked to use kicks while fighting, but didn't limit himself to them. Still, he tries to remember any tips he picked up from sparring with one of the twins, who excelled in kicks. Since the drunk fought like her, he tried to recall any counter techniques she taught Jaune.
The drunk tried to sweep Jaune but Jaune jumped just in time to dodge the attack. Training with Melanie helped Jaune able to counter some of these moves. Jaune landed and punched the drunk in the face. He then grabbed his arm and clotheslined him. The drunk stumbles up and kicks Jaune in the ribs. Jaune took the hit but grabbed his leg to stop it from happening again. The drunk then lifted his other leg to kick Jaune in the face.
This move succeeded and Jaune stumbled backward, letting go of the leg in the process. The drunk gets up and tries to tackle Jaune onto the ground. He fails as Jaune sprawled and pushed him away causing him to go flying into a stool. The crowd helped him back up and he growled at Jaune.
He does a high front kick which hits Jaune in the jaw causing the blonde to groan. Jaune tried to punch the drunk but he blocked Jaune's attack and elbowed him in the stomach. He was quick to combo it with a strong kick to Jaune's legs, causing him to fall face first into the ground. Jaune's vision blurred as he rolled over. He saw what looked to be a leg coming over his face causing Jaune to panic and roll over to avoid getting axe kicked.
The drunk's heel smashes into the floor. As he struggles to get it out Jaune was able to get up. He charged at the drunk and tackled him into the ground. He quickly gets up and then smashes down on his head with a heavy hammerfist.
The drunk recovers and gets up. He punches Jaune in the stomach and then elbows him in the face. Jaune stumbles back but stays standing. The drunk tries to hit Jaune in the torso with a front kick. However Jaune caught it and then smashes down on the knee. Not hard enough to break it, but enough to make it hurt. the drunk gripped his leg and let out a low growl.
The drunk tried to kick Jaune in the face with a turning kick this time. A simple move that Jaune knew he could counter. Jaune blocked and then grabbed the drunk's leg, he then snaked his own leg through and sweeped the drunk's other leg, causing him to fall to his back. When the drunk hit the ground with a thud, and then Jaune let go of the leg and pulled back his right arm and punched down on the drunk.
The crowd let out loud oo's as Jaune got back up. The drunk groaned and grab his face as Jaune backed up. When the drunk stayed on the ground Jaune let out a loud sigh. The crowd looked on to see if the man was down for good. He gets up but needs help from a table. Jaune lets out an exhausted groan. Both of them are tired and weak. Jaune couldn't take much more of this.
The drunk let a low grown and dug into his pant pocket to bring out a switchblade. The crowd that was edging them on suddenly grew quiet. Jaune looked around to see that the patrons weren't filled with the joy of seeing a fight but instead filled with… anger? Everyone was looking at the drunk with angry looks for some reason instead of fear.
"Let's see you dodge this!" the drunk slurred. The man charged at Jaune but Jaune was prepared. He took a stance but stayed light on his toes to make sure he could dodge the blade. He wouldn't need to however.
A man from the crowd stepped into the make shift arena and grabbed the man's wrist and applied pressure to it causing the drunk let out a pained yelp. "Now now," a voice that sounded like it had some age in it said. It also had a slight eastern Valian accent to it. (A/N British accent) "I enjoy a good brawl in my bar every now and then, but to pull a knife in the middle of one?" the man who stepped in put pressure on the drunk's shoulder and hand, causing him to drop the knife. "For shame my friend." The man pins the drunk's arm behind his back and pushes him away. Jaune and the drunk, as well as everyone else at the bar looked at the man now.
He was an aged man with pale skin, short slightly grayed disheveled hair, and a full grey beard around his face. Despite his age, the man seemed to be in good shape as he still had some muscle on him. He had a bit of a beer belly but all in all looked pretty good.
He was wearing a tan buttoned up shirt with a pocket on the right side of his chest. on his arms were various tattoos that looked to almost be tribal. He was wearing black jeans with a brown belt looped around them. He wore brown steel toed boots as well. Hanging around his waist was two holsters on both side, both of which were carrying revolvers.
The drunk smiled confidently. "Mason," the drunk said. "I just want to make it clear that I did not start the fight." The aged man named Mason looked on with piqued curiosity. "That boy over there slammed my head into your wonderful bar for no reason. Perhaps too dumb to realize effects of alcohol." The drunk slurred those last words which made Mason smile.
"Is that so?" Mason looked and strolled over to Jaune. Jaune tensed up as the man came closer to him. It didn't help the fact that they were practically the same height. "What's your name?"
"Jaune," The blonde said. Mason was silent for a second expecting Jaune to continue. When he didn't, Mason growled.
"Full name son."
Jaune gulped. "J-Jaune Arc…" a few whispers were heard around the bar.
"The fraud?!" the drunk yelled. He pointed at Jaune. "That just proves how this is his fault!"
"Really?" Mason said as he took a step to the drunk. His tone was filled with one that didn't want to deal with any lies. "Just because he was the fraud of Beacon, makes this his fault how?"
The drunk opened his mouth but he closed it when he couldn't think of a response. "Okay even so, it's still his fault for starting it!"
"It's his fault for stopping you from hurting one of my employees?" The drunk's eyes shrunk in fear when he heard those words. "I may have not seen it myself as I was in my office, but I trust what my own workers say," he pointed his thumb to the bartenders. "More than I trust what you say." Mason goes over to the drunk and places both of his hands on the drunk's shoulders. "I'll deal with Jaune later, right now I'm going to deal with you."
"W-what are you going to do to me?" Mason let out a low vicious chuckle.
"Why I'm just going to politely, and calmly, ask you to-"
The sound of a door being slammed open can be heard from the street as Mason tossed the drunk into the street. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY BAR!" the drunk groaned as he looked back up.
"You can't kick me out!" the drunk yelled. "I've given you great business!"
Mason leaned on the doorway and lets out an annoyed groan and said "Just because you've been drinking here until you pass out every night for a week doesn't mean you've been given me 'great business.' I can always find some drunk who'll gladly throw his money at my bar. Maybe this time he won't be a pissant like you."
With that Mason slams the door shut and turns back into his bar. He sees everyone was staring at him, so he clears his throat. "Well then after that… incident I think everyone could use a free drink huh?" a couple of people cheered in agreement. "All right, next round's for free ya mooches!" He had a joking tone as he said that causing some of the patrons to laugh. As everything slowly gets back to normal, Jaune walks to team BRNZ.
"Can you go anywhere without getting in a fight?" Brawnz asked jokingly. He handed Jaune his drink and Jaune took a sip of it.
"It's one of my super powers," Jaune joked. "Alongside it is incredible awkwardness and always being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Team BRNZ laughs alongside Jaune. "Seriously though, why didn't you guys help me?"
"You got yourself into that mess," Nolan said as he took a sip from his whisky. "You threw yourself in the hole, you gotta climb out of it on your own."
"The boy's right Jaune," the voice of Mason said. Everyone turns to see him walking over to them. The elder sits down next to them and puts a hand on Jaune's shoulder. His grip was still strong despite his age. "In Vacuo we don't help the stupid. And you my friend are probably the pinnacle of stupid with everything's that happened to you." Jaune grumbled as he emptied his drink down his throat. Mason sees this but lets out a chuckle. "You may be stupid but you have a good heart. Not that many people around Vacuo like that. Most are just stupid. Trust me kid, Vacuo could use more good hearted people like you and the team here." Jaune smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks uh… Mason was it?" Jaune asked. He nodded.
"Yep. Mason Ruo, at your service." He stuck out his hand and Jaune shakes it. Team BRNZ decided to let them converse alone and went around the bar talking to other patrons or just hanging around. "So tell me, why'd you go and fight the guy?" Jaune looked into his now empty glass.
"It was instinct. One minute I was seeing him pull your waitress's ear, the next minute I'm pinning him against the bar." Mason let's out a low hum as he looked at Jaune. The staring made Jaune a little nervous. Then Mason pointed at Jaune.
"You used to work at a bar didn't you?" Jaune nodded his head. Mason lets out a chuckle. "That explains it. Most people who worked at bars tend to be protective of anyone working at one. Still though, I don't think my worker appreciated you helping her that much."
"Why didn't she?" Jaune asked. Mason scratched his beard.
"She's a new recruit. She wants to prove to us that she can handle being spat on, cursed out, you know the usual shite." Jaune nodded in understanding, knowing how many arrogant customers would argue with him or other workers. "In a way she kind of reminds me of you. Wanting to impress the people around her so she can feel accepted." Jaune let out a little laugh.
"Yeah sounds like me."
"Ain't nothing wrong with that," Mason reassured Jaune. "After all there is an unspoken rule about Vacuo. If you can survive here…"
"Then you're welcomed here." Mason smiled at Jaune.
"Good lad. Well I won't take up anymore of your time." Mason gets up and stretches. He looked like he was about to walk away but remembered something. "Oh yeah one more thing: I'd just get soda from now on." Jaune tensed up, wondering if he'd been caught. Mason notices this and puts his hands up. "Easy kid, I don't care if you're underage. I'm only saying this for your friends' benefit." Mason pointed his thumb to one of the members of team BRNZ. Nolan was apparently trying to flirt with a young woman. The slap to the face he got was a sign that he failed, miserably. "They often try to keep one of them sober but they all eventually end up drunk. You seem far more responsible than them so all I'm asking is that you stay sober enough to try and get them back to Shade safe." Mason then shrugs. "Or you can get smashed. Up to you." With that Mason leaves Jaune alone.
Jaune looked into his empty glass that still had some ice left. He looks around the bar to see the various members of BRNZ all doing something to keep them occupied. Jaune felt a smile creep up on his lips. They made this a pretty fun night out he wasn't going to lie. Still though, the main reason they took Jaune out was for him to have a drink with them. While he did do that, it still would feel bad if he didn't have another drink. At the same time, he felt that Mason was right since he figured the team to take partying a little too hard.
Another bartender came up to him and put her hand on his glass. "Can I get you refill?" Jaune took another moment to think. As he did he went through every pro and con in his head about both answers. Finally he looked up at the bartender and answered.
To be continued.
Beta Reader: TheShadowofZama