Jaune knew he was a bit of a push over.
It wasn't that he couldn't be assertive, it was just that a lot of the time, he felt like ignoring something or going with the flow was the way to go. Most of the time, it worked out. He didn't mind letting those around him dictate the pace, nor did he ever let the small things bother him. However, there were times when his passive attitude did more harm than good. The situation with Cardin was one such example. An extreme one for sure, but an example of what could happen if you didn't stick up for yourself. Truly, in the end, he hadn't stuck up for himself even then – it hadn't been until Cardin crossed the line and tried to drag his partner into the mess that he finally grew a spine and put a stop to it. He did it more for Pyrrha than himself. Another example was whenever his sisters ran roughhouse all over him. Not as serious as the stuff with Cardin, but it was just as traumatic in its own way.
He really was much more comfortable in a dress than he should have been.
With his sisters, he always had trouble telling them no. They were his sisters, after all. He loved them with every fibre if his being. But even if they hadn't been his sisters, he always had trouble with girls. He had gotten into more than one or two humiliating situations in high school because of it. Too trusting, too much of a dork to realise what was actually going on until it was too late.
He just found it hard saying no to a pretty face.
So really, he should have expected something like this was bound to happen at Beacon eventually. His friend group was packed to the brim with gorgeous women. It was only a matter of time before one of them pressed him into something he wasn't terribly sure about and honestly, it had taken much longer than he thought. In the end, it wasn't Ruby's cute smile that doomed him, nor was it Weiss' beautiful, cold eyes. It wasn't even Yang's chest, waving tantalisingly close yet oh so far, nor was it an impassioned plea from his partner, Pyrrha. Hell, it hadn't even been Nora tricking him into some scheme.
No. It came from a source he least expected.
"Where did you even get all these clothes?" he asked awkwardly.
Blake Belladonna smiled at him. Just that was terrifying enough in itself. Blake wasn't exactly a gloomy girl, but she could be very reserved with her feelings. Jaune felt that the only people she really opened up around were her team, though it wasn't like he felt dismissed by her. She was a good friend, just in a different way than Ruby or Yang. Not hostile like Weiss had been, before things had become good between them, but standoffish, perhaps. Standoffish but genuine. If she didn't like him, she wouldn't ever spend time with him. Her presence was assurance.
But it wasn't just her smile. No, that was only the first of many things that was causing him anxiety.
"I've been collecting them," she answered with a little pep in her step, moving around the room with a certain type of energy he had never seen from her before. She was positively giddy. "You'd be surprised at the sort of quality you can pick up at second hand stores. Real clothes work best, after all. They look more authentic, not just like a costume. All you have to do is make some alterations."
"Right," Jaune muttered, not really getting it. He peered out the window and at the traffic passing by from the second floor. "Do you rent this place?"
Blake nodded while sorting through an assortment of jackets. She was searching for something in particular, though Jaune didn't have a clue what that was. "I used this place to hide out after – well, after I left the White Fang," her voice had become a little cold for a moment, but then quickly picked up warmth when she said, "Now I store all my extra things here. I can't take all this to Beacon. We barely have enough space in our room as it is."
That made sense, though it also didn't. It didn't explain why she had enough clothes to start her own store. Also, he was pretty sure that a lot of these were for men. They were made much too large for her slender build. Did she collect clothes like other people collected stamps or sports cards? That sounded pretty weird but his friends weren't exactly the most normal bunch of people. Ruby was an absolute lunatic when it came to anything weapons related; she could talk for hours about scopes, about types of ammunition or the different blade-types the various kingdoms tended to favour, not the usual hobby of a sixteen year old girl. He could definitely see her collecting bullet casings or something equally as weird. Weiss was odd in a different way, a much more sad origin than Ruby's quirkiness; in a word, she was sheltered – in another, she was oppressed. The gaps in her knowledge about everyday teenage stuff was very telling and often made her unintentionally stand out, sometimes humorously, sometimes not so much. Yang was the most normal of their team; she just had an annoying obsession with dad jokes, was occasionally overbearing in her mothering of her sister and if anyone damaged her hair at all, she would literally take their head off.
"And you want me to, what? Model for you?"
Blake grinned. Grinned. His instincts were telling him, nay, ordering him to retreat. If there ever was a moment, it was now. So of course he just stood there, feet rooted to the floorboards.
"Cosplay," she corrected. "You said you liked it!"
He had – but not that he did it himself! This whole mess started when he had gone down to Vale to buy some comics. Ruby usually went with him on such trips but she was behind on her history homework, so Weiss was acting Drill Sergeant and had the younger girl confined to their dorm until she finished it. He could still hear her wails as Weiss cracked the proverbial whip. Instead, Blake had joined him – a first! – as she was also wanting to buy some books for her collection.
Things had been going well, too! It wasn't very often that they hung out together, one on one. It had been a great opportunity to get to know one another a little better and yeah, Jaune was socially inept and Blake really reserved, but their small talk had gone off without a hitch! He hadn't even bumbled his way through trying to find topics and she had been more than receptive to whatever he wanted to talk about. And she had been totally understanding about his motion sickness problems.
Jaune really loved friendship!
But then they hadn't even made it to the store.
They'd been passing through a park when a group of people had caught their eye. Colourfully dressed people. That alone wasn't so unusual. Remnant fashion trends especially amongst huntsmen and huntresses were quite flashy. Team RWBY was practically colour coded, something Jaune always thought was pretty damn cool. What were the odds of that happening? But then he noticed the small crowd taking photos as they posed for shots.
Models, perhaps? Or some type of advertisement campaign?
Then he recognised one of them. Not the person, but who they were meant to look like. He would recognise that multicoloured dress and bright pink rollerblades anywhere. He had seen that character printed on the cover of Ruby's comics more than a few times as she waved them in his face.
"Wait, is that Rainbow Jump Girl?"
Silence greeted him and when he turned, Blake was no longer by his side. Quickly looking around, he spotted her advancing on the group, scroll already out and ready to snap pictures.
"Blake?"
It was then that he saw a side of the usually quiet girl that he never would have suspected.
"Oh my god, you look so good! May I? May I?" she practically gushed at one of them. It was a younger girl dressed in what looked like some type of military uniform, standing straight backed and at attention. Black pants neatly pressed, the medals adorning her jacket were polished to a fine shine, as were her shoes. Red trim across the shoulders and neck line drew the eyes, as did the finely embroidered gold eagle upon her hat that she carried beneath her arm. If not for her size and age, or the massive flush across her cheeks as Blake leaned in for a closer look, she would have totally looked like she belonged to the military.
That was the beginning of the next thirty minutes of absurdity, as Blake moved from person to person, snapping as many shots as she could. Jaune followed along without a word, swept up in her enthusiasm. He wasn't sure what was going on but he soon found himself admiring some of the costumes, for surely that was what they were? And really, seeing such open joy on Blake's face made him feel happy.
Some were better than others but all of them showed a clear passion and effort. But it wasn't until a few more arrived that Jaune sealed his fate, when he said, "Woah, is that Bunker Buster from volume 49 of X-Ray and Vav!?"
He wouldn't mistake that hydraulic arm for anything else! Even if it was made out of spare parts and cardboard, and not the dust infused steel from the comic.
"Aren't these people great?" Blake appeared in front of him without warning, scaring the daylights out of him. "You get it, right? Right?"
Jaune backed away as she advanced into his personal space, her face much too close. Close enough that he could smell her, and she smelt good. Really good. "R-Right. I mean, yeah. They are pretty cool."
"So you like it?"
"Yeah, I like it."
It hadn't been a lie. But he really should have taken note of the crazy look in her eyes as she beamed at him. After that, she had dragged him across the city, book store forgotten.
And now here they were.
"So you want me to – ah, cosplay a character for you?"
Blake nodded while digging through another stack of clothes. "You will, won't you? We're alike, right? You should have told me earlier, I've been looking for someone to cosplay with ever since first semester."
He really should correct that misunderstanding. His only experience with cosplay was seeing some pictures online. Being forced into a dress didn't count, nor did that time at the school dance. Instead, he asked, "So you do that as well?"
Blake paused in her search, suddenly looking nervous for the first time. Jaune could see the debate raging in her mind but she soon came to a decision, pulling out her scroll. Striding up to him, she meekly offered the device. Thrown off by her rapid attitude change, he had a look.
Blake had taken a selfie, an angled downward shot that captured her face and most of her body. That in itself wasn't so strange. This was the standard selfie angle. But what she was wearing was. Jaune felt his face heat up. It was a mix between a maid outfit and a swimsuit, the bikini top showing off a generous amount of cleavage. It was black with white frills, matching perfectly with the skirt and stockings of that of a maid. The juxtaposition was striking, two pieces of clothing that shouldn't have worked together somehow coexisting. She also had a little headband with white frills, making her black cat ears look even more striking. Jaune's eyes traced the toned lines of her abdomen before quickly meeting Blake's stare, hoping she hadn't caught him checking her out.
Wait a minute, was that a mole? Jaune's eyes darted back to the screen involuntarily. Buried in her cleavage, sitting proudly upon the inner curve of her left breast was a tiny dark mark.
"Uh," Jaune said intelligently.
"H-How does it look?" she asked shyly, a sharp contrast to her earlier self.
"You look amazing," he said honestly, instantly feeling embarrassed for being so candid with his thoughts. "What character is this?"
She moved over to a nearby closet and pulled it open, revealing shelves filled with books. She wasn't only storing clothes here. Pulling one down, she handed it over. The girl on the cover was wearing a familiar outfit, the title reading, "Maid Strike Force."
It was one of those books. The ones from Mistral.
The girl looked a lot like Blake, right down to her kitty ears. She had long black hair, amber eyes and was slender, yet busty. The only real difference was that she also sported a black cat's tail – and her face was much more rounded, softer than Blake's more mature, angular beauty. It was a popular style, aiming for that cute aesthetic over something a little more realistic or sharp.
"So what do you think?"
That was easy. Comparing the cover with Blake's photo, they looked so much alike that it was uncanny. "You nailed it."
Blake's smile was her biggest one yet.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah – any fan would mistake you for the real thing."
A pretty blush spread across her cheeks. "Thank you."
Clearing his throat, he looked away. "S-So, what character did you want me to cosplay?"
"So you'll do it?"
Yeah, he really couldn't say no to a pretty girl. He needed to learn how, but today wasn't that day. As long as she didn't want to put him in a dress or something worse, a skirt, then it sounded pretty harmless. Maybe a little embarrassing, he'd never dressed up as a character before. It couldn't be any worse than what his sisters used to do to him.
He nodded. "Sure. As long as it isn't – um, you know, r-revealing? Or something weird. I've never done anything like this before and I'm not exactly, you know, confident with stuff like this."
"Really? You seemed very sure of yourself at the dance."
Jaune shrugged. "I mean, I gave my word, right? And while I might be used to wearing a dress, that doesn't mean I particularly enjoy it."
"Oh?"
Jaune rolled his eyes. "My sisters liked to use me as a doll."
Blake laughed.
"Don't worry, it won't be anything like that," she assured him. "Although, you were certainly dashing. Yang was really jealous, you know. She thought your dress was fabulous." Moving back over to the closet, she pulled out something else. This one was much thinner, not a novel but a comic book.
"I thought this would suit you," she said while handing it over.
Jaune blinked. "Wait, you read Captain Atlas?"
Blake looked extraordinarily pleased. "So you know him?"
"Know him? Of course, I know him!"
What young boy into comic books didn't know Captain Atlas? Stories of his grandfather fighting in the war had inspired his dream of becoming a huntsman more than anything, but Captain Atlas was a huge influence on the sort of huntsman he wanted to be. Even though the man himself wasn't a huntsman, nor did he have aura, he fought against the forces of Grimm and criminal alike. A genetically enhanced super soldier created by the Atleasian government that fought for the people, even in opposition of his superiors if he had to. He was a beacon of morality in a sometimes corrupt, dark world.
He also looked super cool and badass with his white tactical outfit and shield. He reminded Jaune a little of Winter Schnee and her awesome specialist uniform he had witnessed during her brief visit during the Vytal Festival. Even in real life, Captain Atlas would be totally cool. Just like Weiss' sister.
The only problem was...
"D-Do you really think I can do this?"
Blake looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean he is, you know... really handsome and stuff," Jaune rubbed his neck. "And he is totally jacked. Even if I had the outfit, would I really look like him?"
Blake looked him up and down, causing him to fidget. "I think it'll work."
"Really?"
"You might have to get a hair cut," she amended, studying his hair. It was a little long, not to mention messy. Captain Atlas had his hair cut short around the sides, parted and combed over neatly in a very old fashioned but fetching style. "We could use a wig, if you aren't comfortable with that. It'll be a little more difficult to nail the style down but-"
"No, getting a hair cut is fine. I've actually been meaning to get one."
"Great!" she clapped, looking excited. She looked ready to vibrate straight out of her shoes. "You've got a similar build, so all we have to worry about is the costume."
"Wait, I do?" Jaune looked down at himself. While he was no longer the noodle that had first joined Beacon Academy, there was no way he looked like that, right? He was proud of the improvements he had seen, not just in his combat prowess but also in his physique, but Captain Atlas was often described as being the peak of human strength and endurance, something that was conveyed not just in his actions but how he looked.
She ignored him and started rummaging through the piles of clothes once again. Only this time, she found what she was looking for. "Aha!" she held it up with a flourish for his inspection.
Jaune opened his mouth and then closed it again, speechless. In her hands was a white jacket with a high collar, adorned with several dark clasps meant for tightening while the right shoulder was reinforced with some type of metal armour, almost like a modern day pauldron. The outer trim was a dark grey, bordering on black, the chest area containing several pouches for storage. It looked like something a huntsman would wear – that, or someone involved with the Atlas military, or the White Fang.
"Where did you get that?" Jaune finally said.
Blake couldn't meet his eyes all of a sudden. "I may have borrowed it."
He wanted to ask where she borrowed it from but that seemed like a really bad idea. Peering a little closer at the jacket, he understood why she had picked it out. It was a dead ringer for the jacket Captain Atlas wore in the three year anniversary edition. Some of the colour was off and they'd have to remove the red wolf emblem on the back – that explained where it came from, now he couldn't forget it – but the shoulder armour was almost spot on, requiring only minimal adjustment.
He must have said some of it out loud because Blake was nodding along. "You really do get it, don't you?"
"I-I guess?"
What else could he say?
"There is an event coming up in a month," she revealed. "A comic convention. I was hoping that maybe you could debut there, if everything goes well."
He knew the convention she was talking about. He was going to be attending with Ruby, a two day event across the first weekend of the following month. It was the biggest event of its kind in the world, something Jaune had wanted to visit since he was a little kid. Ruby had been beside herself ever since he had shown her the tickets.
"Wait, what do you mean debut?"
"They have a cosplay competition," she said simply. "I want you to participate."
He felt his anxiety spike.
"Wait, wait, hold on!" he raised a hand. "You mean in front of other people? I-I thought it was just for, you know, us?" She wanted him to go up on stage or something? The thought made him feel sick.
"You won't do it?"
Blake had been around Ruby too long, Jaune knew that face! Those big round eyes and pouty lip! Somehow, it was even more devastating coming from Blake. Perhaps because it was just so unexpected, so in contrast to her usual cool beauty that Jaune felt like he was under attack from an unbeatable foe.
"W-What about you?" he tried to rally. "If I'm going to be doing this, does that mean you are as well?"
Blake looked taken aback.
Silence filled the space between them as they stared at one another. It was the longest they had ever maintained eye contact. Blake was the first to look away.
"I've never – I mean," she struggled for words. "I suppose, I could. But I've never shown anyone my cosplays before..." she mumbled before trailing off. "I only ever did them for myself. You're actually the first person I've shown a picture to."
He would have been flattered by such a thing if she wasn't trying to make him dress up in front of hundreds of strangers! And if it was anything like that small gathering at the park, they would all have cameras. His face would be all over the internet where his family could see it. Saphron would never let him hear the end of it if she found out he was dressing up as a comic book character. He could already hear her smug voice already, needling him about how much of a nerd he was. Never mind the fact that she was the one that got him into comics in the first place! Being a hypocrite never stopped Saphron Arc from ribbing her baby brother, after all.
"But if you agree, then I will as well," she continued, looking at him with determination. "If I can't even do this much, then how can I expect to save the White Fang someday?"
That wasn't what he wanted her to say! Not at all! Why did she pick this moment to act all cool and harden her resolve? Why couldn't she cut her losses and retreat, run away and forget about it? Maybe it was unkind to think but Blake had shown willingness in the past to run from her problems. Why was she facing this head on now? Did she really want to see him dressed as Captain Atlas so badly?
"So are we agreed?" she asked, holding out a hand. Jaune looked at it for a moment before slumping in defeat. Reaching out, he grasped her hand. She reeled him in so they were almost nose to nose, beaming. "We are going to have so much fun! Just you wait."
AN: Another silly idea, this time starring Blake! I guess I did post something else before the year was out, huh? Not sure how often this one will be updated but I have already started on chapter 2. I can't see the story being very long but hopefully it'll give out a few laughs.
