Blake sat alone on her bed in her dorm room, reading a novel in her hands without anyone stopping her or questioning her. The whole team were out doing who knows what and frankly, she couldn't care what they were doing. A slightly rude resentment for those who could read her mind, but everyone was so loud and intrusive that she cherishes the rare times where she can be by herself. To anyone not paying attention, it was any old book. To her, it was a guilty pleasure and something she couldn't share with anyone. Honestly, telling any friend, student or adult that one's reading Ninjas in Love will draw heads and raised eyebrows. The synopsis on the back alone would only emphasize its...naughty intentions.
Her fingers reached to turn the page, sensing one of the better written parts to come, but her faunus ears heard a noise outside her door and on reaction, snapped her book shut as if on auto-pilot.
'It was fun while it lasted.' Like she did many times, she placed her novel under the pillow she was resting on in a hurry. She then grasped her scroll next to her body to pretend she was doing something else as the door clicked open.
"Oh, you're here." Well, she wasn't expecting him. Jaune, leader of JNPR and nicknamed "vomit boy" from her teammates had opened the door, presumably looking for someone and she had a good idea to who that might be.
"Let me guess, Ruby?"
"Uh yeah." She sighed and shook her head no.
"I don't know where she is. She's likely with Yang I believe. I also don't know where Weiss is, so I can't help you there if you were interested." Jaune looked a bit taken back that she would assume he was searching for ice queen. No, he's over that phase of attracting her and was content with himself.
"I wasn't going to look for Weiss" he started, looking to the side as he remembered how desperate he might have been vying for her. "She'd likely avoid any talks with me anyways."
"Mhmm." She didn't have much in common with Jaune, or had any reason to chat if it didn't involve school work, so she wasn't pulling her weight to the conversation. He could sense this himself and didn't want to overstay her welcome.
"Alright then, let Ruby know I was looking for her, I'll be next door." She responded rather quickly, realizing she can get to the smut now without interruptions.
"Will do." The dark haired girl watched with focused eyes to see him leave, but she didn't notice the novel behind her on the bed was slipping. Before vomit boy could even turn around, the concealed book fell onto the floor. For Jaune, it was a small thud. For Blake, it was gunshots and her body froze. Her eyes looked down at the novels spread across and Ninjas in Love easily visible for anyone looking.
...
...
...
Both teens stared at the novel, one with the male surprised and the female pretending that it's not hers, but both knew of its content and both were unsure what to do next. He walked forward a bit to the center, but never near her or the book as he knows a thing or two about personal space.
"I think you dropped that" he said, his voice wavering a little.
"Y-yeah." She reached over with shame and her ears flat against her head at having someone know about her personal readings. She couldn't hold her embarrassment well but still had one request as she does not want this spreading. "Can you...not say a word about this, to anyone please?" She didn't look him in the eye, not wanting to see what he might think about the whole situation.
"Don't worry. I won't tell. It's just not everyday someone reads my sister's novel."
"What?!" The person she knew nothing about outside of his name was linked to one of her novels? Despite what she was feeling inside, she did managed to look at him, and he wasn't judging her like her mind had been imagining.
"Patty Berdioler is my sister's pen name. She doesn't want our family knowing what she writes or how she gets a solid income now that she's living on her own, so she's been writing Ninjas in Love and is working on another book to add to her income." Blake stares at her novel, and the pen name scribbled at the bottom. Jaune never noted he had siblings, or that they write. Then again, she never linked two and two together. That also means he should know what's to come down the road if she needs a fix.
"Do I, want to know how you know about this?" Surely, there has to be some backstory to this as Patty, or Jaune's sister wouldn't just show smut for no reason.
"Well..." He scratched the back of his head with a small red tinge on his face, She needed a proof-reader, and she decided to ask her good ol brother instead of her sisters because she felt they'd might judge her more. She was kind enough to censor the..." He took a small pause before continuing. "fun parts, but I got the memo pretty quickly of what was going toh appen." He then remembered how the novel came to be, and considering this strange, shared interest, he chimed in. "I don't know if it helps but, I can give you a couple books she used as inspiration for Ninjas in Love when you finished?"
"That...would be great actually, I'm almost finished reading it and would need something afterwards. Any books like this is welcomed." She actually took a moment to smile since she can finally have someone in this dorm who won't pass judgement, let alone be involved in their own unique way on this reading hobby.
"Does that include everything?" He didn't smirk, or tried to be some flirtatious know it all. An innocent question but she knew what he meant and she wasn't afraid to answer like before.
"Yes, that does include everything." She nodded at him, her lips curling upwards. "So..." She began, her interest piqued and her head leaned forward a bit while she clutches her book. "You say she's writing a new book?"
"Who's writing a new book?" A new voice entered the room, and both teens looked to see who it was. Leader of Team RWBY peeked into the room, smiling but now wondered what they were talking about, or the fact Blake and Jaune were having a conversation. Those two never seemed to have anything in common. Jaune didn't know what to say or respond right away, and Blake planked forward to hide the book from her leader's view. Jaune was the first to speak.
"Oh, um, this female author's making a new sequel to... X-ray and Vav! Yeah, the comic book I've been keeping an eye on and waiting for the longest. I was just letting Blake know about it in case she wanted to read it." Blake was listening to him, wondering if he was going to panic and let out the secret but he responded well.
"Yeah, I gave it a passing glance, but maybe I might actually read it so I can add it to my book collection." Blake filled in to show she's also interested in this comic book she never heard of. Both of them didn't think she'd believe such a half-baked lie created on the spot, but it was the best either could manage after getting interrupted. Luckily, it was Ruby who they were talking to and she was excited.
"Cool! I've been keeping up that series since I got it for Christmas! I didn't know the author was going to continue?! I think it's a he though, but I don't even remember the name, I'm just excited there's more on the way! Wait, what did I come here in the first place for?" She paused, a hand under her chin and her foot tapping until she remembered. "Oh yeah, I wanted to stop by to say Yang got us some take out from downtown and there's some food in the cafeteria. You can come too Jaune. I'm going to get some meat buns before my sister steals them all from me. I'll see you two there?" She flashed a smile before she exited herself and leaving the two alone. Blake's stomach growled at the thought of eating.
"I haven't eaten anything, so I'm going to take up Ruby's offer."
"I'm in the same boat, I'm starving and was going to head to the cafeteria earlier before...you know. Guess we'll go together?" Blake gave a nod as she rose up from her bed, already dressed for the part. "Just don't bring that along" he said, pointing right at the novel held by her arms.
"Oh god, of course not." She reached underneath her bed to grab a small case holding books that weren't on the shelf next to the bed. He saw a brief glimpse, but he counted four other books and the cover was rather, explicit in themes. He wasn't going to mention it or comment on it since it's not his business. Who knew he wouldn't be too far away from home. Blake had one thing to say to him before they left the room
"I do want to say thank you though."
"For what?"
"If Ruby had found out, I doubt she would keep it to herself. Or worse, Yang would wonder who gave her younger sister the book. Not that Ruby's innocent, but best to not give her any ammo. I'm not even going to speak about the other two as you can imagine how they would react." Jaune could only smile and nod.
"My lips are sealed, as long as you don't tell anyone that I technically read the same books too."
"Deal." The two smiled as they both shared a secret that the other promised not to tell and no one would think of anything as the two would walk to the cafeteria, talking about schoolwork, upcoming tests and suggestive jokes revolving around big katanas.