Happy advanced Valentines Day you beautiful little muggles! Wanted to beat the Valentines rush. Enjoy the chapter!
The Date
Utterly besides herself with unrest, Yang hardly slept a wink last night. Ruby had already assured her that it was nothing; she just wanted to try on some new clothes. No biggie. But Yang knew. Yang always knew…
The Yang KNOWS ALL!
The baking, the pants, Ruby's bioluminescent face, Jaune's cryptic mentions of a date; Yang knew how to connect the dots. Oho, how Yang knew! She was not "The Bestest Sister in the Whole Wide World" for nothing! With her gorgeous blood, sweat, and tears, and years, and years of taking care of Ruby, she earned that title, gods damn it!
Ruby. Oh, Ruby! Her precious, innocent, darling baby of a sister; lying about her jeans; going behind her back all for a date?! 'Just when did you grow up, little sis, and how could I have missed it?' If this kept going, the next thing Yang knew she'd be hearing church bells, her sister wearing white, walking down the aisle and out of her life forever! "Ruby… Ruuuby," she moaned into her breakfast as she forlornly hung her head over it.
Her own tray of cafeteria food in hand, "Yang, is there something the matter?" Weiss asked her seated teammate with the intention of eating breakfast with her.
The distraught young woman hiccuped before raising her head to look pathetically at the heiress. "MY BABY'S LEEEAVING!"
Weiss did an immediate about-face and quickly began walking the other way, "You know what? I can see that you're busy, so I'm just going to-"
"And where do you think you're going?!" Yang grabbed the edge of Weiss's dress before she could escape.
"Unhand me! Unhand me, I say! Help! Help! I'm being held against my will by a madwoman with a sister complex!"
"Weiss, will you shut up and listen? I'm cashing in on the solid you owe me."
"Solid? What are you talking about solid? I owe you know no such thing! Not after you abandoned me last night, you chiseler!"
"Nope, you told me to accompany you, and I did. You said nothing about staying."
"That's-"
"—Plus, it's not like you needed me there anyway. In fact, you should be thanking me for giving you two some alone time! Go on. Tell me I'm wrong; tell me you didn't enjoy yourself last night," the blonde dared while crossing her arms.
Weiss said nothing and could only blush at the memory of the evening prior; of conversation softly-spoken, shared smiles, and much baking of cookies. Jaune even tried apologizing to her for the inconvenience even though helping him was her idea and was anything but inconvenient. He may have been a military man, but that did not subtract any from his manners that bordered on knightly. It added to it.
Weiss was impressed. It was no secret to the young Schnee Jaune's deep infatuation with her, but despite it, not even once did he try flirting! Jaune did not sully the night with needless coquetting. Nothing but the perfect gentleman was he.
Where had this man been this whole time, Weiss wondered. Had Jaune approached her with such chivalry the multitudinous times he'd asked her out, then the heiress would have at least considered! Well, no matter. Things were different now.
With a growl, she conceded that Yang was right. However loathed she may have been to say it, Weiss was mature enough to admit to the surprising truth that she did, in fact, enjoy herself last night.
Immensely.
She caved, "Fine. What would you have me do?"
~ • ~
Queazy didn't even begin to describe the ball of nerves that was Ruby Rose.
She literally felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her skull the way she was breathing so fast! She needed her paper bag. No, wait. If she started hyperventilating into her paper bag then her sister would most definitely know that something was up, and Yang absolutely did not need to know that something was up!
No, no. No reason to panic. Ruby just had to stay cool, be chill, not hate and just refrigerate.
'EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY!'
Wow, she was so nervous that even the cheer that had only been in her head sounded loud and unconvincing.
No! Positives. Her sister knew nothing. 'Yang doesn't know,' she told herself again and again until the caped huntress believed it.
'Come on, Ruby, pull yourself together!' She shouldn't even be thinking about her sister right now. If she had to worry about something then what she should really be worrying about is when Jaune would be picking her up—a very important detail that should have been hammered out earlier on, now that Ruby thought about it.
'I should ask him,' Ruby decided and was just about to take her scroll out from under her pillow when the door burst open with a startling "vwoom"—usually a quiet noise, but with Ruby's paranoia dialled up to eleven, was quite loud. The reaper scrambled to hide her scroll right back.
"G'mornin' teeeam RWBY!"
"Yang? Weiss?" Blake rose up on her elbows and blinked blearily at her partner who had so rudely woken her up. "You two are up already? But you usually sleep in on the weekends."
"Not today, baby! Today, we're taking life by the horns! Hoo yeah!"
"We are?"
She should not have asked. She should not have opened her big fat mouth. She should have just hidden under her blanket and pretended to sleep (not that it'd stop Yang, but still). It was too late now, however; her deranged sister, who had woken up early for some odd reason, honed in on her, and Ruby shivered at the near-feral smirk that split her face in two.
"Ruby! Just the gal I wanted to see."
"But you see me every day."
"That I do. That I do." Yang nodded her head. "And how is my most precious baby sister in the whole wide world?"
"I'm your only sister," Ruby mumbled under her breath while Yang made herself comfortable by propping her head up on the side of her sister's bed, smiling sweetly.
Too sweetly.
"Not growing up too fast I hope!"
Scooting away from the edge where Yang was being weird, "Yang, you're scaring me…" Ruby whimpered.
"What? Pffft! Nooooo," her hands gestured as if pushing the silly thought away, "now why would you be scared?" when suddenly, her voice took on a scratchy, eerie lilt to it. Yang asked again, "Why would you be scared, Ruby?"
Ruby's sweat beaded on her brow. "I-I don't know…"
"You're not hiding anything from me are you, sister?" The blonde kept poking, all the while, smiling that smile that did well to unnerve the younger of the siblings.
"N-No."
"You suuuuure?"
Nevermind. Ruby took it back. Yang knew! Yang always knew! Just like the time she accidentally broke one of Yang's shades and buried the evidence in their yard, Yang knew then just as she knew now. 'That's it. Abort mission!' Better that she came clean and lessen her sentence than to-
"—Yang…" Blake let out a low growl, "This better be important if you thought that waking me up was a good idea."
"You bet it is." Yang backed off.
Woah, saved by the Blake again?! Ruby owed her how many favours now? A lot, that's how many.
Blake sighed, "What are you scheming?"
"No scheme," Yang promised, "it's just, it's Saturday and you two are cooped up in here when you could be out there enjoying the day!"
"I was enjoying the day just fine before you barged in here."
"Oh, don't be a such a sour puss." Yang slapped Blake's foot that poked over the edge of her bed. The abused appendage immediately retreated within the warm confines of her blanket and the girl who owned it glared at the blonde. "Anyway, I was thinking we should totally hang out; make a day out of it! Come on, girls, whaddya say?"
"I think that's a great idea," Weiss agreed albeit lifelessly.
"Right?!"
Warning bells began ringing in Ruby's head. Without knowing when Jaune would be taking her out on their date, she had no idea if she would be able to accommodate her sister's spontaneous self or not. She couldn't very well tell Yang that, however. She could always just say no, but that'd raise questions.
It was no use. The only way out of this was to bluff her butt off. That's okay; Ruby was a great bluffer! She'd pulled one over Yang yesterday, and she'll do it again.
Ruby began with a tiny cough, [COUGH! COUGH!] That was tiny, yes. "Oh, no! I think I'm coming down with something, Yang. I should probably just stay here and, uh, rest. Yeah, rest!"
Nailed it.
Yang placed her hands on her cheeks in utter dismay. "Oh my golly gee willikers, Ruby, you're sick? That's terrible!"
She was falling for it? She was! She totally was! 'Man, I'm sooooo good!' Ruby cheered inside her head.
"Sorry, ladies; change of plans. No hanging out today because I have to take care of my little sister as a big sister should!"
…What?
"I think that's a great idea," Weiss agreed again just as lifelessly.
'Whaaaaat?!'
That shouldn't have happened! Don't get her wrong, it wasn't that Yang didn't care. In fact, Ruby would be the first one to admit that Yang was a very loving sister. But never—and she meant never—did Yang stick around when she got sick. When the ick struck, it was every girl for herself—so ordained the creed of sisterhood. That was why Ruby was so surprised at the current turn of events.
"You can't!"
Yang rose a brow at her outburst.
"I-I mean, no, Yang," she began more calmly (or as calmly as a girl who had a secret date to keep could), "y-you don't have to do that."
"Nonsense! What kind of sister would I be if I let you go through this alone?"
'Uh, the usual one(?),' Ruby didn't say. "Yang, I'm telling you: I can take care of myself."
"And I'm telling you: not a chance. You just let ole mama Yang handle it," Yang said, crossing her arms over Ruby's bunkbed while she stood on Weiss's. The heiress was not too pleased about that. Yang didn't even notice.
'Dang it!' Ruby cursed. She had miscalculated; her bluff worked too well! She didn't mean to worry her sister to the point of wanting to take care of her! Where the heck did this doting Yang come from anyway? She sure as heck wasn't there when she had the mumps, that's for sure!
Desperate times called for desperate measures, Ruby decided. She didn't want to do this, but Yang left her no choice.
Ruby had to use… that.
Engaging secret weapon. "Yaaang~"
"Yeah, sis?"
The moment Yang made the fatal mistake of looking her straight in the face, 'FULL POWER!' Ruby unleashed her secret weapon, the silver puppy-dog eyes!
"Ak!" Yang clutched at her heart as if it were breaking. 'No, the cuteness, it's too much! Argh!'
"I'd weally feew bad if yew had to stay in wiv me!" Ruby held her sister's hand and rubbed soothing circles over her knuckles. "I pwomise I'll be good so go and have some fun, mo'kaaay?"
"Erk…"
She was breaking; Ruby could see it in her face! Now, for the finishing blow! "Pwease, Yaaanggie?" Boom. Mic drop.
"W-Well… if you're sure."
Yes! Safe! She was in the clear! Now all she had to do was make sure that Yang was out before-
[Knock. Knock. Knock.]
Oh… no.
~ • ~
Jaune had slept in the teacher's lounge… again. Oh, how he missed his own bed.
How he missed his team even more.
Maybe Glynda was right. No, scratch that; Jaune knew Glynda was right even before they had their little talk back at the Emerald Forest. He was being a coward. And it wasn't just Jaune, it was Wolves' Bane as well; both of him scared that he'd messed up so badly that they'd all but reject him. Even though Wolves' Bane knew that that couldn't be farther away from the truth, Jaune, in his defence, hadn't known his team as long and wasn't as sure if they'd ever forgive him.
Wolf shook his head. 'More excuses, Jaune?' he asked himself.
No. No more. He was going to fix this, and just like any combat scenario, he'll do it tactically. That was why he went for Ruby first. Besides being the easiest one to approach, there was nobody on Remnant he knew better than her. After all, she used to be his…
Anyway.
What's important is that knowing was already winning half the war, and if there's one thing Wolf was good at, it was war. He'll prove to Ruby that he was still her friend. Today will be perfect; he'll make sure of it! And once he'd won her back, the rest would follow much easier. That was the effect the reaper had on the others, and Jaune would use that to his full advantage.
First things first, however. He'd need a change of clothes before he could be off to the forge to reserve a workbench, and for that, he had to sneak into his dorm. A simple if not spineless affair, Jaune knew. He'd been doing it for the past few days. It helped that his team liked to sleep in and didn't wake up until hitting snooze a couple of times.
Reaching JNPR's door it was only a matter of swiping his scroll on the pad and- "Nora!" Jaune startled seeing the redhead standing right there but still managed to keep his voice just below a whisper. She wore jogging pants and a grey plain-t; out for a morning run, most like.
Nora's face showed surprise for but a fraction of a second before remembering to put on the emotionless mask she favoured the few times they'd crossed paths.
Jaune would be lying if he said that it didn't sting. She may be mad at him right now, but this was still his life long friend and teammate. Jaune owed her his life just as she owed him hers. To see her look at him the way she did made his heart ache.
"Professor." She moved to walk past him and Jaune let her without so much as a word. In that moment, guilt gnawed at the base of his neck. Would he really just let her go like that? Was he that scared of messing up worse and losing her all over again that he would let this chance of setting things right pass him by?
"Nora."
"Yeah?" She turned her head to look over her shoulder.
"I-"
Ren, you get Ruby and our fearless leader out while me and Weiss keep Cinder busy. Go! Go! Just GO!
Jaune wobbled and just barely caught himself on the door jamb. One hand clutched at his head as he willed the visions to pass.
"Jaune?" he heard Nora say, worry making its way into her voice.
When he was finally able to look up, Jaune saw Nora with her foot forward, ready to catch him if he fell. Vertigo did not take away from the comfort the gesture brought him. "I-I'm fine," he reassured her.
"You sure?"
It was obvious that she was trying very hard not to sound too worried, but Jaune knew that his friend was not built to carry grudges and didn't quite manage it. Though she was going for nonchalant, what she ended up with was a face that looked constipated. Jaune wanted to laugh but held it in.
"Yeah. It's nothing."
"Okay then." With a simple shrug, Nora went on her way, and Jaune watched her go. In his mind, the answer to his previous question was clear.
Yes. He was that scared. He was scared of losing her just as he was scared of losing any of them.
Jaune grit his teeth as he was starting to tire of his indecision. How could he be so sure of someone, but at the same time, so filled with doubt?
Argh. Gods, his head hurt again.
'Just do what you came here for, Jaune,' he told himself. Stepping into their dimly lit room, he saw the sleeping forms of Ren and Pyrrha. Blake's training kicked in and he didn't even make a sound as his booted feet padded across the floor to his closet. But just as he was about to pass the foot of his partner's bed, he stopped.
Maybe it was the brief look into his past, maybe it was the ache he felt in his chest when Nora left; whatever it was, it made him look at her, Pyrrha Nikos, the first person he had ever lost, the friend he never got to know.
Sometimes he still couldn't believe that she was alive.
By some mysterious force, his feet were compelled to bring him to her bedside only to kneel. As he stared at her sleeping face, Jaune made a conscious effort of ignoring the fact that he was being hella creepy.
How could the sound of her soft breathing give him so much peace of mind?
Looking at her, Jaune was reminded of just how much things could change for the better if he did everything right, but not if he didn't get his team back together. More than ever, Jaune was determined that his time with Ruby today would be a success. It had to be.
"…Jaune," Pyrrha mewled in her sleep, and the aforementioned boy couldn't help but smile.
Without even noticing, his hand rose to tuck her bangs behind her ear, accidentally brushing his knuckles over her warm cheek. "I'll fix this," he whispered with determination, "I promise. Don't count me out just yet, Champ." Then he stood, went to his closet, and changed into his civvies. With one last look at his two teammates, Jaune left.
He did not see Pyrrha slowly open her eyes and sit up, her fingers gingerly tracing over the lingering feeling on her cheek. "I hope you do, Jaune," she said quietly, "I hope you do."
~ • ~
Weiss opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see who it was on the other side. "Mr Wolf?"
"G'mornin, Weiss! And again, Jaune. Remember?"
"S-Sorry," she shyly rubbed her arm, "I'm just not used to addressing a professor so casually."
"I was your friend before I was you professor, Weiss. It's okay if you talk to me like one, y'know?"
"R-Really?"
Jaune laughed at the disbelief that seemed ever-present in her tone, "Yes! Yes, please, Weiss, really."
"Alright then." Her smile became more pleasant before she remembered to ask, "So what brings you here this early in the day, Jaune?" The emphasis was appreciated and Weiss was rewarded with yet another upturning of his lips. 'Did he always have those dimples?' Weiss offhandedly pondered.
"Oh, right. Is Ruby awake yet? I know she likes to sleep in during the weekends."
Weiss's mood didn't sour per se, just ripened a bit when she heard that it was Ruby specifically he was looking for. "Yes, she's awake. Why? Is she in trouble?" the heiress asked not at all hopeful.
"What? No."
'Rats.'
"Can I come in?"
"Hm? Oh, yes! Yes, of course. Please." Weiss gestured inside.
"Hey, gang!" Jaune greeted as he entered. "Yang. Blake. Good morning, Ruby. You ready for our date?"
Those five little words might as well have been a spell because it was like a time distortion glyph was cast under the whole room the way everything just… stopped—even the air conditioning.
The sound of glass shattering echoed in Weiss's head. 'D-Date?'
"Jaaaune!" Ruby whined.
"Mmm, the plot thickens," Weiss didn't hear Blake whisper as she hid her smile underneath her blanket.
'Date?!'
"What? Don't tell me you forgot," Jaune asked with an easygoing smirk on his face.
Ruby on the other hand was at a loss. "Well, I-I-I-I-I-"
"I think what my sister is trying to say is that: sorry, Casanova, no date today; she's sick so you could just march on back to your barracks or whatever. Hop to it, Soldier Boy."
"Ruby, you didn't tell me you were sick," Jaune eyebrows curled with worry.
"Weeeeell…"
"Date?" Weiss was finally able to get out.
"Hm? Yeah. This was the date I was talking about yesterday. I didn't tell you that?"
No. No, he did not. He mentioned the date but not who with. At how Yang was taking this whole thing, it would seem that she knew as well and just decided not to tell her for some unnamed reason. 'So this is the solid she was talking about this morning!'
"Yo, capitan, what part of 'she is sick' do you not understand? Now git! Away with ye!"
"Yang, you are being very rude," Blake reprimanded from her spot on the bottom bunk.
"What? Me?! No, I'm not! I'm just looking out for Ruby, who is very, very sick. See? Look. You tell'em, Ruby. Do that cough thing again." Yang crossed her arms confidently.
"I'llbereadyinaminute!"
Yang's arms fell just as fast. "You'll be what now?"
Before she could be questioned further, Ruby zipped towards her closet using her semblance with an urgency. She ripped the clothes she'd already prepared off their hangers and then disappeared into their bathroom. The room was left silent in the wake of the door slamming shut.
"Sooo…" Jaune said slowly, "that was a thing."
Suddenly, as if Jaune speaking unpaused the literal pause on the conversation, Yang whirled on Jaune, "Just what the hell sort of game do you think you're playing huh, Arc?" she accused him.
Jaune stepped back from his fellow blonde when she poked him in the chest, "I-I don't know what you're talking about. What game?" he asked nervously.
"Oh, don't give me that! You've never shown any interest in my sister before, and now you want to date her?! You don't think I'll find that a wee bit suspicious?"
"Yang, it's just a date."
Weiss realised that that had been the wrong thing to say the moment Yang's eyes turned from a gentle lilac to furious crimson. "Just a date?!" she all but screeched, "You freakin' snogged my sister last week! If you think I'd be dumb enough to buy that 'just a date' crap you're trying to pull, you are dead wrong!"
"W-What? Snogged? You mean… I…"
"Kissed! Smooched! Locked lips! Sucked face! Swapped spit! Need I go on, or maybe you want me to spell it out for you too?!"
Despite the truth of Yang's words, Weiss saw genuine bewilderment in his eyes. Jaune really didn't know what Yang was talking about. But how? Everybody saw it; surely he remembered that night.
"I-"
"—Look here, buster, I don't even care about your excuses; what I care about is my little sister. So I'm warning you: if you hurt Ruby…" she let the words hang, alluding to a great many painful consequences that made his already fair skin even fairer. The taller of the two blondes gulped.
"DONE!" Ruby burst from the bathroom in a shower of petals and made a beeline for Jaune. Grabbing his arm, she dragged him out towards their escape.
"Ruby, wait! I thought you said you were sick!"
"Ifeelallbetternow!Thanks,Yang!Bye,Yang!"
The door to their room opened then casually slid shut, leaving all three occupants in stunned silence yet again. Just as the spell was wearing off and they were able to move, however, the door opened a second time. Ruby, with her head down, embarrassedly walked in.
"Forgot Crescent Rooooose~. Just lemme, uh hehe, get him real quick."
Mouth agape, Yang pointed a finger at her sister as if she were someone she recognized on the street but was having a hard time recalling their name.
"There you are you naughty scythe! Come on, we're going out today." Ruby went to leave again before thinking twice. Doubling back for her sister, (Yang still having a finger pointed at her) Ruby gave her a quick peck on the cheek then bid her another fond farewell, "See ya later, Yang. Love you!"
The door slid shut one last time, and the finger Yang had raised fell back to her side. "What the heck just happened," she asked no one in particular.
"Your sister happened," Blake smirked before going back to sleep.
~ • ~
After retrieving the love of her life, Ruby returned to Jaune and preceded to drag him as far away from her team as possible. Only when they were clear of the students' dorms did she finally deem it safe enough to let go of his arm and walk at a pace that didn't require sweat.
The awkward silence grew between them as they walked down the hall with no particular destination in mind. Ruby tried to ignore it as best as she could, but she never was good at keeping a straight face no matter how smooth she believed she was. It came as to no surprise for anyone not named Ruby that Jaune noticed her acting out of sorts.
"Hey, you okay?" Jaune prodded carefully.
"Huh?" was Ruby's distracted reply. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, I'm- I'm good. Why? Don't you think I look good?" she asked the poorly named question.
Jaune grinned, "Well, if by 'look good' you mean how you look right now then I'd say: nice pants."
That got Ruby ducking her head to try and hide her blush.
"But if you're talking about the way you've been acting then I'd say: very different."
Now she was ducking her head for an entirely different reason.
"Ruby."
"Y-Yeah?"
"That back there, that was weird right?"
"I don't think it was weird," Ruby denied.
"Ruby, you dragged me halfway across the campus," Jaune let hang as if giving Ruby time to catch up to what he was saying.
"Oh, what, that? That was nothing," the tone she used tried to convince him that he was being ridiculous. "I was just really excited about, you know, our… our date."
Jaune rose a brow at her and deadpanned, "You don't look excited."
"I'm nervous, okay?! Get off my case, Jaune!" Her eyes immediately widened when she saw the look of surprise on his face at her outburst. "I'm sorry I-"
"—No, no. Don't apologise; I shouldn't have expected you to tell me. I mean, why would you when you don't trust me, right?"
"That's not-"
"—But then that's the whole point of this: to prove to you that I'm still Jaune Arc. Still your best friend, right? You think I'm up for it, shortstack?"
The way his smile widened at the challenge eased her worries of upsetting her fr- companion. It's true that she was uncomfortable being around someone who was essentially a stranger, but she still couldn't help but fall back on all the time she and Jaune had spent together. That same feeling of familiarity embraced the petite huntress. Made her let down her guard.
She had to watch out for that.
"I don't know. Are you?" She challeneged right back when she narrowed her eyes at him. Ruby did not forget that this boy had hurt her. If Jaune thought that winning her back was going to be easy then he had another thing coming!
Ruby didn't know what the look was called, but Jaune gave her a smile that was a mix between content, mournful, and contemplative before finally settling on mischievous. "How about we find out?" he proposed, "but not while you're all wound up like this. Let's take it easy for now and maybe go somewhere more… relaxing?"
'Relaxing?' she wondered before her eyes blew wide open, '…Uh oh.'
Ruby may not have been experienced with this sort of thing, but she's watched enough romcoms back in her day that she'd know what 'relaxing' was code for. It was code for DEFCON 1! All troops to battle stations! Defend the sanctity of the motherland! Anti-creep shields to full!
"Ruby, seriously, are you okay? You've been staring at nothing for like a minute now. It's really weirding me out."
His voice brought Ruby out of her hyperactive trance with a jolt, the scare making her arms flap before assuming a generic kung fu stance to protect her innocent and ravageable self. "I'm fine as long as you keep your hands to yourself, buster! Wah-ta!"
Jaune blinked a couple of times in bewilderment, "Oookay(?). Let me just get Crocea and we'll go."
That got Ruby to let out a, "Wuh? Why would you need your weapon to 'relax'?" She then gasped, "Is this one of those kink things I've heard Yang talk about?! Well, I'm not for that, ya perv! Wah-ta, again!"
"Ki- What?! Ruby, I'm just getting my sword so that we could head for the forge! Stop being weird! Gods, the heck has your sister been teaching you?" he whispered the question to himself.
"F-Forge?"
"YES!"
Cautiously, Ruby let her arms drop. "Sooo we're not going to the movies or... anything?" she asked with no small hint of suspicion.
"Do you want to go to the movies?" he shot back.
Not to be a wimp, but... "No, not really," Ruby admitted.
"Well then, there you go." He made a move to get going. "My locker's not too far from here. Wanna come with, or do you want to meet me there?"
"I'll, uh- I'll meet you at the forge."
With a shrug, Jaune turned and went on his way. Ruby, meanwhile, just stood there not entirely sure on what to do or what to feel. She was an absolute wreck before when she was trying to one-up her sister. Managing that, she was then a nervous wreck about being on a date with Jaune. Now, however, with him going to get his sword so that he could take her to the forge of all places, Ruby now had the time to catch up with herself. 'Get it together, Ruby. It's just a date, a friend date. More specifically, a trying-to-find-out-if-Jaune-is-still-your-friend date. You know what? Now that I think about, it's not even a date at all! It's an interrogation. Hey you, am I your friend or your job?! See? Easy. There are absolutely zero reasons to be nervous.'
"Ruby?"
Okay, maybe one reason.
"Eek! Pyrrha! Pyrrha, hi! H-hi... Pyrrha."
The thrice aforementioned champion giggled into her fist, "Hello again."
'Oh... Come... ON! Give me a big fat break!' Pyrrha Nikos, the one girl whose crush was more obvious than Nora's war hammer was there. Why? Because, of course, she was! Right when Ruby was on her not-date with... with Jaune.
Ruby gulped, but the knot in her throat did not go down easy.
Did the universe hate her or something? This wouldn't be happening if it didn't! If you listened carefully, you could hear Ruby grinding her teeth together as she smiled a very uncomfortable smile. Ruby, however, remembered: chill. "Heeeeey... girl. Fancy meeting you here in the, um..."
"The hall?" Pyrrha provided.
"Yeeeeeah, the haaaaall. Wassuuuuup?"
"Why are you talking like that?"
"No reeeasooo- ahem! I mean, no reason. So whatcha up to?"
"Oh, nothing much; just had some late breakfast."
Ruby nodded, not really paying attention to what Pyrrha was saying with how nervous she was… again. "Hm, yeah. Same. Same."
"Really? That's odd; I must have missed you in the mess hall earlier."
"Uh, yeah! Well, you know me, I'm… pretty tiny." She hid her hands under her armpits to hide how they began to shake.
"And weren't you just coming from the other direction just now?"
"I jogged around!" Ruby was quick to supply, "Gotta burn those calories, know what I mean?"
"Quite. Diligence is always an admirable feather on anyone's cap, especially a leader's." She smiled encouragingly at the younger girl, but then frowned when it looked like she remembered something, or should she say: someone? "Speaking of… you didn't happen to come across my partner, did you?"
Ruby perked up. "You're looking for Jaune? Why? You two going to make up?" she asked excitedly.
'Well, dust if Ruby isn't blunt,' Pyrrha thought as she fidgetted under the expectant gaze of her fellow redhead. "I… I was just wondering where he was. I'm not really sure if I'm ready to face him just yet."
"Oh, come on! Why nooooot?"
Why indeed? Pyrrha was reminded again that it was one thing to say that secrets were okay, and it was another thing to accept those same secrets. Integrity counted for little when you knew that the secrets being kept involved yourself. A despicable truth but a truth nonetheless.
"At least talk to him. He's your partner, Pyrrha."
A large part of her knew that Ruby was right, and an even larger part wanted nothing more than to run to Jaune and tell him that everything was going to be okay. Another part, however, the wounded, spiteful, and ugly part of her wanted to argue, "If you feel so strongly about it, then why don't you do something?"
"I am! I mean, do you think I dressed up like this for fun?!" Pyrrha's eyes widened and so did Ruby's when she realized what she just said. 'Please, don't ask. Please, don't ask! Please, don't-'
"Why are you dressed up like that, Ruby?
She asked.
"B-B-Because pants… are comfy(?)," Ruby proposed more than actually state. Pyrrha was just about to comment, but Ruby didn't let her have the chance, "Gosh,wouldyoulookatthetime!Itwasnicetalkingtoyou, Pyrrha. Bye!"
Her semblance sure was handy when making her escapes.
Pyrrha rose a brow at the reaper's retreating form. "Hm."
~ • ~
As soon as he opened his locker, ["So how did it gooooo?"]
'Still hasn't started yet, WNTR. Just getting my sword.'
["Your sword?" A little too early for that, isn't it Jaune?] the construct teased.
"Behave."
She let out a simulated titter before joking, ["Are you certain you can handle this on your own? I understand that you haven't done this in a while; perhaps you need, as you kids say it, a 'wingman'?"]
"First off: you're not a man. Second: you're not even human. And Third: it's not like that, WNTR. We're just two friends out looking to spend some time together."
["Also colloquially known as a date, I believe."]
"A friend date," he insisted, ardent in his wavering conviction.
["Oh, you and I both know very well that that isn't a thing, especially, not between you and Ms Rose of all people. You can't honestly believe-…"] WNTR's unconvinced and all-knowing drone began to fade as Jaune listened inattentively to what he already knew, all with a solemn and thoughtful look on his face. His hand rose to caress Crescent Rose while his mind began to wander to thoughts of the crimson weapon's previous owner.
"It's just a date," he whispered, reminding himself of what is, "and Ruby is just a friend," not of what was.
Fingers traced over an empty magazine—well… empty of bullets that is—and thumbed the release. The hollow cylinder slid free without much trouble and something fell out as soon as it cleared the chamber. What sounded like a coin as it spun on its axis grated against the metal walls of his locker and Jaune was mesmerized by the object that danced at his feet. When it stopped spinning, Jaune stooped to pick it up then stood up again.
["Jaune?"]
The concern in her voice took him out of the trance he didn't even know he was in and tore his gaze away from the silver band resting in his palm. 'Yes?' he asked distractedly.
["Are you alright?"]
"Yeah," his eyes returned to the trinket, "I-… I can still do this."
["You being functional is not the same as you being mentally and emotionally sound, Jaune. Now tell me what's wrong."]
That's what he got for trying to lie to someone who was literally inside his head. "This date's just got me thinking, I guess."
["And judging by the way you've been staring at your wedding ring…"] WNTR trailed off, not even having to guess what Jaune meant by his words.
"…Yeah."
With everything that's been going on inside his head and out of it, Jaune only ever had the time to think about what was needed and not what he wanted from all this. More specifically in this instance, what exactly did he want from Ruby?
He wanted her companionship, of that there was no doubt, but did he dare want more than that? Would he take a page from his predecessor and fall for her; make her his? Jaune shook his head. He never entertained these thoughts because he knew the prerequisite to such required the success of his mission first. The question of 'what if', however, lingered still in the back of his mind.
["You are unsure if you should pursue Ms Rose romantically or not. Is it because you think she will not reciprocate your feelings?"]
His feelings? How could he worry about Ruby reciprocating his feelings when he wasn't even sure of what his feelings were in the first place? Did he love her? Half of him said that he did. The other half looks at Ruby and sees a friend that he was only just getting to know. How could he love a stranger?
Hell, right now, Jaune knew less about Ruby Rose than he did Pyrrha Ni-...
The General's eyes widened as the mind of a young man fell into discord.
'Pyrrha.' Fingers clenched at the name and he could feel metal biting into his grip. He had almost forgotten about that. About her. About how she had felt. His lips tingled with the ghostly sensation called remembrance, the recollection and the sudden realisation almost dragging him to the floor had it not been for Wolf who was strangely unaffected by all this.
Jaune, however, was not as poised. If he had been confused before on what to feel, he was definitely conflicted now.
So many questions echoed within the confines of his skull, questions like "What did it mean for him now that a future with Pyrrha was possible?" Did he want to find out? Did Wolf? If he did, then what about Ruby? Did he only want to be with her because of the phantom of Wolf's wife that still lingered? Who was to say that Jaune didn't want to be with Pyrrha? Who was to say he didn't want to be with any other girl?
Jaune knew that the divide between him and Wolves' Bane was vast, but never would he have guessed that it'd be vast in this regard as well. Where did Wolf end and Jaune begin, he wondered? Who even was Jaune anymore? The Jaune that could have been if he had never met Mr Wolf was slowly disappearing and he had no idea how to feel about it.
Only the pain was clear.
["This is what I meant by 'coalesce', Jaune! Synapses in your cerebral cortex are making neural pathways to large quantities of new information in your hippocampus at an accelerated rate-"]
'—In English, if you would be so kind, WNTR.'
["Oh, right. Hm. It's like unzipping a large compressed folder, and your mind is trying to make caches of memory for better processing."]
'Meaning?'
["I could not have possibly dumbed that down any more than I just did, Jaune,"] exasperatedly, the construct growled. ["Ugh. It means your brain is trying to figure out which memories are copies and if it should merge them or delete them. Please tell me you understood that at least."]
Not really. He was too busy riding out his headache to really listen. Leaning his temple against the side of his locker, he hoped the coolness of the metal would alleviate some of the heat that burned behind his eyeballs.
It did not.
"How do I make it stop?" the pain made him ask the question out loud.
["You want to stop remembering?"] she asked with the incredulous raising of a nonexistent brow.
'How do I make the pain stop, WNTR?!' he clarified.
["I don't think you can, sir."]
He groaned.
["Shhh shhh… Jaune, hey, forget what I said. Just focus on my voice. Focus on right here, right now,"] WNTR tried to soothe as she actually was starting to get worried. ["So you don't know what to feel; what does it matter? Ruby is still your date, and she's still going to be blown away with whatever fool plan you have in store for her. What else is there to think about, right? So don't think for once and just do."]
Her poor attempt at making him feel better actually made him laugh. Laughter, oddly enough, made the pain subside. "Blow her mind? Never took you for an optimist," he said sarcastically, only just able to gather his bearings.
["Well, one of us has to be. This relationship of ours won't work if we're both doing the cynical realist shtick, my dear General."]
He grunted.
Worry for her user returning to her tone, ["Are you quite certain you'll be alright?"] she asked.
'I will be... I have to be.'
["Jaune..."]
He didn't let her say it. 'What about you; you're okay being in a locker for a few hours?'
An AI as powerful as she, WNTR knew a dismissal when she heard one. ["I can manage. Perhaps I'll chat with Crescent Rose for a bit. He makes for better conversation anyway,"] she hrmphed.
"Great. Don't wait up for me, honey. I'll be home late." With that, Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors and unceremoniously closed his locker.
He didn't even realize him slipping his ring on. He'd worry about that and other such matters once he had the time. Right now, he had a date to get to.
~ • ~
The forge was a large circular, indoor space with high ceilings so that hot air would rise instead of stay near the ground. Sunlight filtered in from tall chapel-like windows while hearths and their chimneys lined the walls in spaced intervals. In the middle sat a large circular workbench perfect for weapon maintenance which Ruby assumed was what they would be doing. 'Unless Jaune wants to build a new weapon. Oh! Maybe something for long-range this time since he doesn't have a gun? That'd be sooooo cool! Maybe I should-'
"—You been waiting long?"
"Jaune!" She jumped from her stool near the workbench. "Stop sneaking up on me; you're gonna give me a heart attack!"
"But I didn't. I seriously just walked through the one door."
"Yeah, well, would it kill you to do it a little louder?"
"Okay, okay. Next time, I'll knock over a table or something. Sheesh!" He laughed.
Laughed!
How dare he? Heart failure was no laughing matter! Ruby made sure to let this be known with a very intimidating scowl. That'll show him!
"Awww, she pouts!"
Erk! "It's not a pout! It's a scowl!"
"Oh no, a scowl?! That's even worse! Or, from where I'm standing, even cuter!"
Double ERK! "It is not!" Ruby exclaimed as her face turned to the colour of her namesake.
"Hey, don't feel bad. Some people just have that adorable angry face; it's nothing to be ashamed of." A high pitched, irritated sort of noise that had Faunus near the forge covering their ears began to emanate from the neon red Ruby Rose. Jaune, the jerk that he was, could only laugh louder. "Relax, Ruby! I'm just messing with you. You've been jumpy all morning; I just thought to lighten the mood a bit."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, but the silent dog whistle thing she'd been doing did lower a few octaves.
"The way your nose scrunches up when your angry is pretty precious though. Kinda like Chihuahua when she's hangry."
Ruby Rose rose in pitch all over again.
"Sound like one too."
"Jaune!"
"I'm kidding! No more! No more. I promise."
Curse him and that smile of his. Without meaning to, a smile of her own began to chip away at her frown. Soon enough, Ruby herself began to laugh with him. "Cut it out ya goofball! Why'd you take me here in the first place?"
Was that okay, or was she making this too easy for him? Ruby had to remind herself not to be so easily swayed.
Taking control of his mirth, he replied, "Like I said, you're too wound up, and if there's one sure-fire way that I know of that never fails to de-stress you, Ms Rose," he grinned while holding up a rag and a bottle of cleaning oil he got from the bench, "it's weapon maintenance."
Just hearing him say it already made her feel better about this whole thing. Trying not to look too excited, Ruby whipped out Crescent Rose and unfolded him in all his pointy glory. "What are we waiting for then?"
"Not here." Jaune shook his head.
Ruby tilted hers. "Huh?"
"Apparently there are perks to being a professor. Follow me."
They went to one of the doors that were in between two hearths, and Jaune taking out a keycard from his back pocket, held it against the scanner next to the knob. With a beep, the door unlocked, and when he opened it, Ruby gasped because apparently she had just died and gone to weapon-lover heaven.
"Welcome, Ruby," he walked into the room with his arms spread in presentation then spun around to face her, "to the Teacher's Forge."
Ruby gasped, "No way." And gasped again, "Nooooo waaaaay!"
Weapons of every shape and build hung upon racks that adorned the walls of the medium-sized room. From war axes to daggers, sniper rifles to pistols, the private forge had it all, not to mention the premium tools to make such masterpieces.
To say Ruby had been pleasantly surprised was an understatement akin to saying Crescent Rose was a garden tool that so happened to go 'pew-pew' from time to time. No, Ruby wasn't just surprised, she was downright catatonic. It was only Jaune's voice breaking the silence that took her out of her weapon-induced stupor.
"Now the good lady Goodwitch told me that we could only look but not touch."
Ruby's face comically fell.
"But," Jaune whispered conspiratorially as he reached behind the stunned redhead and trapping her between him and the door, "I don't think I see Glynda here anywhere... do you?"
Looking fearfully into his eyes, Ruby silently shook her head no, momentarily rendered speechless by how close Jaune suddenly was. Then he shut the door behind her, and just the small click it made was enough to make her jump and suck in a breath.
"What say we check some of these babies out?" he winked.
All at once, the nervousness she'd felt earlier immediately evaporated and was replaced with a perpetually maniacal grin. The excited girl zipped towards the first weapon she could get her grubby little paws on.
~ • ~
Gods, that smile. He knew he'd missed it but only seeing it again reminded him just how much. It was almost nostalgic how she gushed over every weapon she saw. It brought back so many memories that Jaune ran the risk of yet another headache, but even that did not stop the warmth that spread in his chest or the endearing smile that he let tug at the corners of his lips.
It didn't take a lot for him to admit that he had missed her. This was the first time in a long while they'd spend a moment together. Jaune was happy; that couldn't have been more expected.
"Figures you'd go for that one first."
"SO COOL!" she jazz-hands-ed at the thing she had discovered.
"To be fair, though, I bet you think all scythes are cool."
"Well, duh. I mean do you even see how menacing this adorable little baby is? Of course, scythes are cool! Oh yes, you are!" she cooed in baby-speak.
The 'baby' being referred to was a tall, dark, and deadly number equal parts scythe, grappling hook, and rocket launcher. Jaune knew of only one person in all of Remnant who would look at that combination and think: aw cute; she stood five feet and four inches tall and took to hoods like she was the Grimm Reaper herself.
He smirked, "Yeah, nevermind the fact that they're meant for cutting grass, right?"
"Pffft, another naysayer. I see being dumb and blonde aren't the only things you have in common with my sister," she scoffed as she affectionately ran her fingers over the handle.
"Hey now, I never said that they weren't! I'm with you here. I think scythes are cool too."
Ruby observed him with squinted eyes, searching for the barest hints of insincerity. Satisfied when there was none to be found, she crossed her arms and nodded in approval. "Then there's hope for you yet my young padawan."
"Pffft, padawan?" it was Jaune's turn to scoff. He preceded to pick up the scythe and then, using it like a shepherd's crook, looped the head around Ruby's waist. "If anything," a swift tug and small 'meep' from Ruby later, the reaper had been pulled in close enough that they were practically chest to chest. Jaune's hot breath feathered over a reddening ear when, "you're my padawan," he finished in a whisper.
He felt her breathing come out ragged, and the way he could still make her blush made his insides tingle with a dangerous sort of excitement. It was always so intoxicating, the power he held over her. There was a part of his brain, however, a part where sense still bore sway over his baser instincts; it raised some very valid questions:
Was he crazy?! What the hell was he doing?!
He stepped away from Ruby as if she were hot. Hot as in: on fire! Not- Not… that!
"Cuz' like, I'm the teacher, a-and your- Anyway, what does this button do?!" Nerves made his index finger impulsively pull the trigger on the scythe's handle, and its head went flying when the rocket booster next to the blade fired up.
"Jaune?!" Ruby exclaimed in alarm, her previous embarrassment forgotten.
"Sorry! Here, let me just- uh oh," he pulled on the trigger again which made the cable that attached to the scythe blade retract back into the handle, its trajectory:
Right where Ruby was.
"Ruby, watch out!" He threw the polearm somewhere to his back as he flung himself at Ruby. They hit the ground hard with the scythe spinning wildly over their heads before clattering somewhere in the forge. "Are you okay?!" worriedly he asked while cupping her face in both his palms. Little did he realize the rather risqué pose they had come to accommodate, how his body now rested in between [ahem] Ruby's parted thighs.
Who was Jaune Arc but an oblivious young knight?
The reaper, on the other hand, was not so oblivious.
~ • ~
Ruby felt… hot, and she was pretty sure she knew why.
'Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh! Is this really happening? It's really happening, isn't it?! Does this mean I have to marry Jaune like it says in my comics? B-B-But I'm not ready! I don't want to settle down yet! Not yet! I-I still have places to go; sights I wanna see; things I haven't eve-'
"—Ooo…" she squeaked.
Their eyes widened almost at the same time they had felt it, the… friction, and all they could do was stare at each other for a good long while, unsure of what to make of it.
Breaths mingling, pupils dilating, hormones raging; it probably shouldn't have taken him longer than it did, standing up, but hey, that's what happens when you're… distracted. But Jaune managed eventually, to Ruby's infinite relief. She really didn't know how that whole fiasco would've gone down if he hadn't.
Part of her wanted to find ou- 'NO! BAD BRAIN! VERY BAD BRAIN! Back to the abyss with you!'
"Oh, gods! I am so sorry, Ruby! I didn't mean to! It was just- th-the scythe, the rocket a-and the thing i-it just… Ugh, this is a disaster…" he groaned before offering her a hand up but thought twice about the sweat. After whipping his palms over his pants, he tried again. "Worst date ever, huh?"
It was. It really was. But as she sat up, hesitating to take his hand, she noticed something in his stuttering and jittering that she hadn't before.
He was nervous. Very, very nervous. Probably more nervous than she was.
It was then with a gasp that Ruby figured it out. All the flirting, the touching, him acting all suave and cool, it was just him trying to hide how nervous he was! He was trying to be chill just like her! Somehow, the knowledge that Jaune was trying so hard not to mess up made her feel better about herself. It was nice to know that she hadn't been the only train-wreck on this date of theirs.
So 'worst'? Nah, it wasn't that bad.
"It's fine. Really. I-It was just an accident… right?" she asked as she took his hand.
"Right! Totally! Totally an accident. So I-I'm just gonna go over there and, ay uh… pick that up," he pointed a thumb over his back before slumping off, all the while, muttering to himself about being an idiot.
Ruby giggled into her fist at the dorky display, and she wondered how she could have ever been nervous about the goof. "And maybe next time, read the manual first before pressing any buttons, eh Jaune?" she teased.
"Hardy har har. Sure, laugh it up, pipsqueak. Let's see if I save you the next time a flying scythe comes swinging your way," Jaune rolled his eyes.
"Well, I wouldn't have needed saving if someone hadn't forgotten to read the instructions in the first place," she reiterated.
"Oh yeah? Well…" He struggled for a clever comeback, "Well, scythes are dumb anyway," and clever, it was not.
"You literally just said that they were cool like a minute ago, Jaune."
"And I'm taking it back because of your dumb smug face."
"You can't do that; that's not how it works."
"Says who?"
"Says me!"
They glared at each other, looking well and truly upset; the one sign that said that they weren't, actually, being the slight twitching of their lips.
One of them couldn't take it any more. They didn't know who it was, but they didn't care. When they burst out laughing the other followed suit quick enough, and quite honestly, it felt good. Really good. Like being in a sauna too long before finally being let out. Whether it be the action or just the sound of it, laughing made the tension they had felt since that morning finally leave their bodies, and only the feeling of cool familiarity remained.
"You're such a goofball."
"Well met, pot," he picked up the black scythe and presented it to her as if making a toast, "name's kettle."
And Crescent Rose met that toast with a hearty 'clang'. "I seriously hope you didn't just break that poor thing."
"If I did, then it doesn't deserve to be here."
"And where is 'here' anyway; what is all this?" she spun around, gesturing to all the weapons in the room.
"Fourth years made them for their smithing classes, kinda like a capstone project before graduation. And the Teacher's Forge is where the best ones in the batch go if I'm not mistaken."
Leaning Crescent Rose against the adjacent wall, Ruby then took the blackened scythe out of Jaune's hands. "So this is the best scythe in all of Beacon?" She looked upon the deadly device with greater admiration.
"This year, but yeah."
"What's its name?"
He shrugged. "We could find out."
Both approached the metal dais that sat in the middle of the forge, and when the scythe reached a certain proximity to it, the console on top came to life. Holographic panels floated in the air with information written in plain text.
"Ooooo!" Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Le Foncé Pirouette," they read at the same time, Ruby's pronouncing it just a little bit differently than Jaune.
"The literal meaning of that is 'The Dark Spin' in Gaullian. Although, 'Pirouette' could also be loosely translated as 'dance' or 'circle'. So The Shadow Dance, maybe?"
"The Shadow Dancer! It's totally Shadow Dancer. Oh, and by the way, what's the Gaullian word for know-it-all?" Ruby smirked at him.
Jaune did not hesitate, "Tout savoir. Also, you're mean."
"Krk krk, nerd."
"Geek."
Ruby tried in vain to cover her head when Jaune resorted to underhanded tactics, namely: ruffling her hair.
They tussled for a bit until Jaune has had his fun. Ruby, meanwhile, huffed trying to get her hair back under some semblance of order. He continued to read, "It says here that you could control the trajectory of the rockets by twisting the handle of the scythe at certain angles. Well, that's pretty nifty, but how does that work in a fight?"
"There's a video!" Ruby exclaimed and didn't even wait before clicking on 'play'.
The holo-screens showed a woman in a purple combat suite holding the very same scythe in Ruby's hands. Her opponents: three Ursi.
Final marks: Testing Shadow Dancer. Full range combat.
"Called it! I so totally called it."
"Shhh! I'm trying to watch."
"You shhh!" Yet another friendly tussle resulted from that, drawing out a couple of more giggles from the affable duo. However, the sound of an Ursa roaring broke them up.
Ruby had never seen anyone move so gracefully. For the first time, she watched another scythe user that wasn't a guy or her uncle, and her moves made Ruby's look like the amateur hour (which, in hindsight, she technically was, but still). "So that's what a real huntress looks like," Ruby whispered to herself and didn't actually expect anyone to say anything about it.
But say something, Jaune did. "Meh, I've seen better."
She hadn't meant for him to hear, but his statement still caught her in the curious. Who could have been better at the scythe than the woman who didn't even take twenty seconds to down three Ursi? "Really? You've seen better?" she asked skeptically.
"Yup. Waaay better."
"And who might that be?"
Everything about him seemed to stall before he replied and only with a smile, a sad and lonely smile. Longing even.
What was that? The look he gave her was so very unlike her friend, so out of place, that she was just about to ask if he was okay, but Jaune dismissed her even before she had the chance to, "Let's see what other stuff they got in here!" He moved around her to get to another rack.
Another secret then. Ruby frowned but didn't press. The only secret she wanted to know about anyway was the one that was tearing his team apart, and even finding that out was up in the air. 'No, all I'm here for is to figure out if he's still my Jaune. Still my best friend.' And for the most part, he was.
'Maybe-… Maybe he's telling the truth? So what if we were part of his mission or whatever; that doesn't mean our friendship had to be fake, right?'
From the way he looked at her, to the way that they spoke, it just felt so genuine. It can't all be pretend…
Could it?
Doubt was an ugly thing. It rotted and festered until all that was left of common sense was suspicion. Ruby wanted to believe Jaune; she really did with all her heart. But. She also didn't want to get hurt. Friends meant a lot to Ruby; one could see that plainly by just her interactions with Weiss. If Jaune was just using her or pretending to care all for the sake of some secret mission, there were no ifs or buts about it...
Ruby would cry. She really would...
Maybe this was what Nora was feeling as well?
"Woah get a load of this! The Bloodiest Mary. Well, I think we both know who would want these bad boys."
"Are those knuckles?"
"Gravity dust reinforced, high-density incendiary knuckles," Jaune emphasized.
"Weiss. Weiss definitely would love those."
They both laughed at the dumb joke, and it just confused Ruby even more. 'It can't. It just can't be pretend. He's too- too...' With a shake of her head, she let the thought drop for now; instead, they went about picking up weapons and made a game out of who among their friends wouldn't mind the upgrade.
It was nice as far as dates went—which wasn't saying much since this was the first one she had gone on… ever. It wasn't like in the movies where the guy would take the girl out to dinner and, well, a movie, but if Ruby was being honest with herself, this was way better. She'd pick weapons over dinner and combat vids over chick-flicks any day! Wow, Jaune knew her pretty well, didn't he?
'Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hmmm.'
There were only so many weapons, however, and naturally, they had run out of things to mess with. So what they ended up doing was the one thing they meant to do in the forge in the first place.
Ruby took Crescent Rose from where she placed him on the wall and laid him down on the workbench next to the dais. "Bath time!"
"Anyone ever tell you how weird that sounds, calling maintenance 'bath time'? I bet Crescent Rose feels very uncomfortable."
"Can you shut up and just let me have my own thing?"
"Weirdo."
"Dummy!"
"Besides," Jaune grinned, "I don't think your 'baby' is very happy with you right now."
"W-What? Of course, he's happy! Why wouldn't he be?"
Jaune made an unconvinced noise and sing-songed, "I~ don't~ knooow~ I mean, if I were your weapon, I'd be pretty jealous seeing your hands all over another scythe."
Said hands flew to her mouth when she gasped in mortification! "No!" Panicked, Ruby picked up Crescent Rose, "Baby, it wasn't like that! He was just a scythe I met at work. You're the only one for me; you know that!"
"Ah, see? He's upset now. You know what, why don't I handle his maintenance for today; give you two a chance to cool off?" he said as his hands slowly and carefully relieved Ruby of her beloved scythe, all the while, an amused smile plastered on his face.
Fingers poised as if reaching out to a drowning lover, Ruby cried, "B-B-But, baby, I'm sorry! I-I don't know what came over me. It was a moment of weakness! I won't do it again, I swear!"
"There there," Jaune patted her arm, "I'm sure Crescent Rose will forgive you, Ruby. Just give him some space, okay?"
She sniffled, "M'okay [sniffle sniffle]."
"Here, we'll trade. I take care of Crescent Rose, and you take care of Crocea for me. She's pretty dependable so feel free to talk stuff out with her; have some one-on-one girl bonding time."
"A-Are you sure you know how? Crescent Rose is very particular; you have to be delica-"
"Ruby," he fixed her with a comforting smile, "I got this."
Ruby wasn't so sure and couldn't help but watch Jaune like a hawk as he began to…
…expertly disassemble her scythe.
What?
Ruby stared as Jaune's hands went to work reducing her weapon into its lesser components. It mesmerized her. There was just something about the way his fingers moved as they fluidly took Crescent Rose apart that enthralled her. The fact that it was her weapon he was handling made it even more… enticing to watch.
Then the glint of something shiny bouncing off from somewhere to Jaune's left caught her eye. What was that? Ruby set Crocea Mors down, and then, reaching across the tabletop to where Jaune was, picked it up.
It was a ring, a silver ring with thorns engraved all around it. And in the middle of this ring…
Was the sigil of a rose with a single red ruby at its centre.
I really, really, reeeeeally didn't want to cut this off here, but I had to. The damn thing would have been too long otherwise.
I really liked writing the date scene though. I mean, it's been done to death, and I struggled like hell to find a fresh and organic way for Jaune and Ruby to spend some alone time together, but overall, yeah, I had lots of fun which is what matters most I think. I keep reminding myself that I'm writing this story for me as much as I'm writing it for you guys.
Also, 500 follows and 300 faves?! Wowzers...
Well, I hope you guys liked it! Till next time, TTFN!