December 31st, 1998, 10:23 PM...
The Schnee residence was quite busy on what any other evening would be a quiet night, the once Christmas party was simply bumped a week and called a New years party with little fanfare.
As Yang and Ruby set up the Nintendo 64 in the next room and Blake was being busy helping winter with making snacks. Weiss heard someone knocking on the door. As she rolled towards the door to let another guest in she shouted out in Mock outrage "Oh sure make the girl in the wheelchair get the door Winter!"
Weiss managed to get the door open with a little struggle and saw Jaune standing in the doorway holding what looked like a pair of twenty four packs of different types of soda under each arm. He gave Weiss a big grin as if to say hi, or apologize for being rude, she couldn't tell.
"Okay set those down over on that table, how are you doing? You didn't actually walk here like that did you?" Weiss barraged him with questions.
Jaune quickly wrote out an answer on his note pad after setting the soda's down. 'Been decent enough I guess. I'm sleeping a little better at night.'
Weiss nodded "No more scary thoughts?"
Jaune wrote out a quick but lengthy note 'It's only been about two weeks or so Weiss. I mean I'm not going to pretend I don't wake up feeling like I'm committing some weird sin by being with Ruby. But I guess it's the edge of it has been blunted by actually being open about it like you suggested I be.'
Weiss smiled "Well that's good, and for the second question, you didn't walk here from the store with all those soda's under your arms."
Jaune Silently chuckled and wrote out a 'God no. Alan and my mom are going out on a date. I don't think I'm going to see them tonight to be honest. But they dropped me off on the way.'
Weiss smiled at Jaune "Oh and how are the love birds doing?"
Jaune shook his head 'Lets just say i'm pretty sure I can guess the reason she's late from half her dates.'
Weiss started to crack up and said "Okay no! Bad Jaune no Ozpin related mental images please! Go pester Ruby now!" Weiss pointed at the direct of one of the spare rec rooms of the large house.
Jaune obligated and started walking towards the room giving Weiss a friendly pat on the shoulder. Once Jaune was out of the way she started to roll towards the Kitchen to help Blake... Oh and Winter too she supposed.
Jaune walked into the recreation room as he was directed, knocking on the door frame out of habit. Yang poked her head up at him and mostly glared at him for a moment.
"Good to see there's not love lost there." Jaune mused as he waved hi.
Ruby eventually noticed Yang stopped helping and looked at what she was looking at and gasped out happily before she got up and ran over to him crashing into him wrapping both arms around his neck with a big smile on her face. Jaune felt his own face warm up when a second later Ruby pulled him into a deep kiss.
"Jesus not in front of me!" Yang said making fake gagging noises but not doing much to hide a smile on her face.
While Jaune normally appreciated Ruby's enthusiasm, it was hard to talk when your girlfriend was doing her level best to strangle you from the inside with only her tongue. eventually he had to politely stop her and smiled at her. Signing with one had [Sorry we were grossing out your sister] while holding her hand with the other.
Ruby at least had the common courtesy to look embarrassed as she waved at Yang and signed out a [Uh sorry bout that]
Yang waved it off signing [Yeah, yeah, you know he's on my shit list till that's healed right?]
Jaune signed [Well get me a knife and i'll make one just like her's for my fucking self then.] Which caught him a punch in the arm by Ruby.
[You dipshit, your going in for surgery in 2 days, you don't need to get another scar over me.] Ruby said looking pissed off at Jaune.
Jaune looked embarrassed at the pair, not meeting either gaze and signed [Sorry that was not really okay for me to say I know...]
Yang spoke and signed at the same time, more out of sense of diplomacy than saying what she really was thinking "Sorry... I know your your still pretty raw about what happened and I shouldn't give you that much crap over it, you don't need to do anything drastic for my sake."
Jaune nodded and looked at Ruby for a second...
Only for a moment, it wasn't Ruby... It was Pyrrha. Jaune quickly shook his head and put a hand to his forehead which caught a concerned look from Ruby.
"Dude you okay?" Yang asked this time actually worried.
[Yeah I'm fine sorry. don't worry about me.] Jaune signed before looking at ruby again. [Love you?]
Ruby tried to look mad she had her arms folded and everything. But eventually that blush caught her to her and she gave up on it before just giving Jaune a hug and signed with a free hand [Alright fine, your still a jerk though]
Finally Winter came in holding some platters of snacks. Followed up by Weiss with Blake pushing her chair as they rolled into the room.
"Okay so the ones with a red bits on the crackers have garlic in them, so don't eat those if your planning on making out with your girlfriend at any point tonight." Winter said as she left.
Weiss was the only one who noticed Winter was looking directly at her when she said it...
"So not to generally insult your choice in games Ruby, but why the hell are we playing- What is this game called" Weiss asked.
Yang Translated for her sister and replied with "We are playing WCW/NWO Revenge." Yang looked at Ruby as she signed before speaking "Because it's awesome!"
Blake and Weiss shrugged and picked up controllers, Yang sat out the first match but noticed Jaune, who currently being used as a backrest for Ruby as she sat between his legs on the floor reach for a controller before signing [Dibs on Macho Man]
Ruby looked up at Jaune with a look of pure 'What?' on her face as she signed [Wait, you watch WCW?]
Jaune shrugged and signed [Ruby how the hell do you think I know even a third of what your talking about sometimes on Tuesday mornings?]
Ruby had to process a couple thoughts [So when did you start watching?]
Jaune signed back while thinking [Uh, when did hogan start with them again?]
[I guess in 1994?] Ruby signed back.
Jaune just smirked and pointed at her.
As the four players picked wrestlers. Blake Going with a Wrestler called "Raven" that looked like a early 90's punk rocker. Ruby went with "Kevin Nash" a royal brickshit house with long hair and goatee. Jaune made good on his threat and picked "Macho Man Randy Savage." Weiss just picked on at random and ended up with someone someone named "Sting" who looked a bit to much like the Main character from a movie she saw called "The Crow"
The four players started off casually enough, Ruby gave herself a severe handicap so it wasan't quite the one sided curbstomp match.
But then they actually started getting into it... Then They started playing Dirty.
"Boom Suck on that Arc!" Weiss said as "Sting" Clocked "Macho Man" in the back of the head with a baseball bat.
Ruby loudly giggled as "Nash" body slammed "Raven" outside of the run.
The actual match lasted about 10 minutes with a surprising amount of back and forth. Not to mention a surprisingly large amount of trash talk. Weiss was taken out first to the shock of no one. Jaune then got to watch "Macho man" tap out due to a submission move laid on him by Ruby's "Kevin Nash". Eventually in a surprisingly close match Ruby finally got pinned out leaving Blake the winner.
"Yeah Blake! One of us finally beat Ruby at something!" Weiss said as she hugged Blake. Blake's giggle and hug back was pretty heartwarming to see considering how repressed she was when they all first met.
Yang looked over at Ruby as she leaned back into Jaune and wrapped his arms around her. Yang did notice the slight look of discomfort on Jaune's face "Huh, she has been oddly aggressive with him since they got together now that I think about it."
Yang didn't realize that Jaune was thinking the same thing. Jaune thought as he lost the use of his hands "Jesus Ruby, I can't even talk like this, I get i'm your first boyfriend and all but your being a bit clingy!"
Winter shouted out into the room "Hey we got Pizza when you five are ready for a break!" causing three of the five teenagers in the group to stand up. Ruby for obvious reasons didn't hear winter shout out and was in her own world for a few moments before Jaune tickled her a bit to reality. She leaned forward and turned to face him looking annoyed and signing [Dude! what gives?]
[Winter said the pizza was here, thought you might want to get a bit to eat?] Jaune signed back [Also you were pinning my hands.]
Ruby blushed a bit out of embarrassment and signed a quick apology as the pair got up. Ruby didn't latch on to him this time but they did walk out towards the dining area to eat.
Yang watched as Ruby and Jaune pulled up to the dining table after being the last to leave the room "Great, probably sucked face for a second before coming out" Yang thought with some annoyance.
Yang was still feeling pretty raw at Jaune she knew that much. as they all grabbed pizza and all found seats Yang in a slight moment of malicious spite sat in the only open seat next to Ruby forcing Jaune to sit a few spots down from the pair next to Winter.
"Giving Ruby a break from Jaune?" Blake whispered into yang's ear.
"Yeah, I don't like how often he's hanging off of her, he went from trying to kill himself two weeks ago to practically joined at the waist with my sister? That's just not right." Yang said before taking a bit of her Pizza. She caught a glance at Ruby who was quietly signing with Weiss.
Or at least she was trying to. Blake noted this and whispered "Well I'm not surprised she and Jaune are together, they both struggle to talk to people outside of our circle at school right?"
Yang whispers to Blake "Yeah I don't care, he's not good for her."
Blake took a bite from her pizza and rubbed her forehead like she was trying to process what she said "He seemed good for Weiss and I. How many friends did she have before Jaune?"
"Well if you like him that damn much you date him..." Yang said as her posture signaled the end of the conversation. Blake took the hint and leaned back to finish her Pizza slice.
When Yang looked over at Jaune for a second, she noticed that he was quiet, Winter was talking to Weiss across the table. It wasn't a normal kind of quiet either, it was almost tranquil.
Yang wasn't too sure what to make of it, before she could honestly get a bead on it, Ruby was tugging on her sleeve. Yang looked over at her sister and signed [What's up Ruby?]
[Just wondering if we still plan on making this a sleepover or not?] Ruby asked with curious expression.
[Yeah my mom is working overnight at her other job. Your mom is still a bitch that is undeserving of love in any form. Weiss lives here and her sister is awesome. Blake's parents signed off on it with gusto and Jaune's mom is probably getting nailed by the principal right now.] Yang signed in a single unstopping series of statements.
Ruby thought about it for a second [So yes?]
Yang signed back with an annoyed expression [Yes, but I'm not allowing you and Jaune to stay in a room unchaperoned.]
Ruby chucked. [I didn't plan on going that far for a long time Yang.]
[Your also fifteen. We both are, we both have hormones] Yang signed. [Your mind ain't planing on anything, but your body will bounce at the opportunity.]
[Jesus Yang your making me sound like I'm a bit of a slut or something.] Ruby signed to her slightly older sister.
[Nope, not a slut, just fifteen] Yang signed back.
[Are you trying to speak from experience here? Do I have to start grilling Neptune?] Ruby asked with a smirk.
Yang shook her head with a giggle thinking of the last time she was out with Neptune. After she finally stopped giggling she glanced over to where Jaune was sitting, only to find his seat was empty...
Jaune needed a second to decompress. It's not that he wasn't happy. It's just all the changes in the last few weeks could be overwhelming at times. He was still getting used to the idea of being in a relationship again, let alone one that didn't involve a certain deceased glasses wearing beauty.
He quietly plugged in an old Nintendo Entertainment System he found in the rec room and popped in a dusty copy of Tetris. After some blowing on the cartridge to get the dust out of the of the old cart he slid it in and tried turning the system on. When it booted up after the second attempt he sat down on the floor in a comfy position and started playing. As he effortlessly plowed his way through the first eight levels of difficulty and was still nailing Tetris after Tetris on the higher difficulties he let his mind wander a bit.
"Ruby has been acting a lot different towards me, and i'm not sure I'm alright with it." Jaune thought as the kept knocking out 2 and 3 lines combos on level twelve "I mean I guess maybe it's something I have to get used to. She is a lot different that Pyrrha ever was, but... I may be overthinking things."
As Jaune knocked out another Tetris and started building his stack up for another Tetris, he chided himself "No... focusing on the symptom was how Pyrrha happened... I need to figure out what's really going on in her head. I can't fuck this up like I did with Pyrrha."
Jaune kept knocking out lines like it was going out of style, as his let his mind wander to various subjects. Just as he the game hit level fourteen his mind settled on one topic "I hope my mom is having a good time tonight, I put her through a hell of a scare last month and I think she deserves to have some more joy in life. How do I feel about Ozpin and my mom though?"
He didn't quite get a chance as he hear a faint murmur behind him, Not wanting to end a damn good run he opted to ignore his sudden and quiet audience. He managed to get it up to level Twenty before he topped off, not a personal best, but it was a good way to keep his hands busy while he had a good think.
Jaune turned in looked back as the game flashed a screen showing his high score to the sound of some 8-bit rendition of a Russian song to see the girls had migrated into the room and were staring slacked Jawed at him. Only Ruby, who had watched him before wasn't overwhelmingly impressed.
[Sorry, did you guys want the TV back?] Jaune signed?
With only a few minutes to go the Gang gathered around the TV as the local news station broadcast the countdown live from a fireworks show over the water on the other side of the mountains.
Ruby rested her head on Jaune's shoulder and Jaune leaned into her with a hand wrapped around their hip as the watched the countdown. Jaune heard the fireworks outside and when one would occasionally burst close enough to send a vibration through them Ruby would jump a bit.
Weiss had asked to be allowed to sit on the floor with the others, winter helped her out of her chair, but the self conscious girl still kept a blanket over her legs to prevent the others, Blake in particular from seeing the scars on her legs. Blake to her credit never seemed to comment as she let Weiss use her to help stay upright as the sat on the floor.
Ruby glanced over at Jaune who seemed to be smiling relaxed [Hey you okay? Your being quiet tonight.]
Jaune shook off his haze and signed back [Yeah I guess i'm feeling a bit homesick]
Ruby nestled her head against him and signed [Talk to me.]
[I just remember we use to go down to the waterfront to watch fireworks on the fourth, we actually had a pretty large port in my old hometown.] Jaune signed as he watched the Tv
The tv announced they have five minutes left till the new year.
Ruby smiled [Maybe you could show me sometime?]
[That place isn't home anymore] Jaune signed with a shrug [You know what they say right? Home is where the heart is?]
Ruby smiled and went back to watching the tv thinking "Yeah, more than you'd imagine."
As the countdown started from ten and the fireworks picked up there pace Jaune looked at Ruby, by the time Midnight hit they had started kissing and creating a few fireworks themselves...
By two in the morning everyone out cold in the Schnee house's recreation room on inflatable air mattresses. Except for Jaune who was having difficulty sleeping. He stood out on an attached balcony and watched the stars on the chilly January night.
With a sigh he finally looked at the figure standing off to the side looking mutely at him, glowing in a faint light only he could see.
He signed out to the figure [I thought I was supposed to stop seeing you?]
The apparition of Pyrrha only smiled.
And so we start to move the story into 1999. I don't have a whole lot to say this chapter except to say that this is setting up the next "Years" worth of conflicts and will help expand out the story's scope a bit more by adding viewpoint scenes for almost everyone.
In any Rate, thanks once again for reading, and I'll see you all next time.
