09/13/1999….

Ruby sat at the kitchen table of the Branwen's residence watching as Yang walked over with 3 mugs of coffee. She had switched off her Hearing aids, partially to conserve the battery, and partially because the sounds of Yang's uncle snoring in the next room was getting to be a bit much for her.

Ruby was, to not put too fine a point on it, a complete and total wreck emotionally, she had once again let Cardin chat her up before class, and she had to admit she was struggling with her attraction to him. At the same time, she was terrified that Jaune might have already suspected something.

"How did I let this happen?" Ruby thought to herself. "Jaune is the last person to deserve an unfaithful girlfriend…"

Yang put one mug in front of her and a second one in front of Neptune who was sitting at the table before she signed out [Ruby my uncle stopped snoring you can turn your ears back on.]

Ruby reached back and stuck the transmitters back to the sides of her head, in an instant she was back in the world of the hearing, one that was thankfully not including the sounds of an industrial concrete saw in the next room.

Or that's how Yang described Qrow's snoring. Yang looked at Ruby and asked "So what's up? It's kinda rare that you would come all the way out here."

Ruby signed out with Yang translating for Nep, [It's… I…] Ruby shook her head [Cardin... Well... He's been talking to me for the last week.]

"I don't follow, so he's been talking to you?" Neptune asked, "Why is that weird?"

"Ruby used to have a crush on Cardin for a couple of years before she met Jaune," Yang explained.

[Yeah... I guess it turned out I still do.] Ruby signed before reaching back and nervously tried to brush away hair that wasn't there.

"Oh…" Yang said with a look of surprise. "I take it that's the problem then?" Yang said leaning forward on the table.

"I mean you and Jaune, that would have to end if you wanted to try your luck with Winchester right?" Neptune said pointing out the obvious.

[No one is breaking up with anyone!] Ruby signed out of reflex. [Cardin has been pretty flirty with me... And I kinda liked it…]

"And your worried this makes you unfaithful to Jaune?" Yang asked before she took a sip of her coffee.

[Well that's why I wanted you and Neptune's thoughts on it. By not stopping this, am I cheating on Jaune?] Ruby signed out.

Yang said "No" while Neptune said, "Absolutely yes".

"Wait, what?" Yang asked Neptune

"Are you serious? We had better hope Jaune didn't see Cardin chatting up Ruby at any point. I know if I saw you letting someone guy chat you up I'd be fucking pissed to say the very least."

"Well, yeah I get that you would be pissed but if someone chatted me up I don't think that's cheating, it's not like I'd let it go farther than that" Yang chuckled off.

"Yeah, but Ruby said she liked it, Yang, that's the key difference, If I saw Cardin chat you up, and you were all smiles and giggles? I don't know how I'd react." Neptune said with confidence.

Ruby rubbed her hands as she felt her guilt only rise in her. [What should I be doing then? Confess to Jaune what's going on?]

Neptune chimed in "Well, you need to ask yourself, do you want to be with Jaune, or try your luck with Cardin?"

Yang sighed out and said, "I mean I know I don't often see eye to eye with your boyfriend, and I honestly think you can do better than him, you need to decide for yourself if you want to stay with him or break up and find someone new." Yang shakes his head "I know you think you need to be there for Jaune. But you need to decide now, if your dating Jaune to make him happy, or because he makes you happy."

Neptune nodded along with Yang's words "I agree, you wouldn't be getting like this over Cardin Winchester of all people unless there was something Jaune was not doing for you. You have a need that's not being fulfilled." Neptune's words hung in the air for several seconds. "But for God's sakes don't let this become the kind of thing that could hurt Jaune. He does not deserve that."

[Alright… it sounds like I have a decision to make…] Ruby signed out as she finally turned her attention to her now cold coffee.


09/14/1999…

Ruby was still conflicted the following day. She had spent the entire night focused on the problem she was having, not able to think about how she wanted to handle it, she decided to look at Jaune, look right in his eyes and she would hopefully decide what she wanted to once she saw him.

Unfortunately, Jaune ran late, she only saw him for a couple of moments that morning and he barely had time to say hi before he had to get to class.

Ruby was able to look at him, his hair was a slightly messy and looked like he needed a haircut, and she really didn't like the scruffy mess of facial hair that was on his face, She'd have to ask him to shave it off later.

Ruby caught his eyes as he looked over at him. Ruby couldn't place it but he was looking at her in ways she couldn't quite peg out.

But now as the day, as well as her math class was starting to drag on, she decided she knew what that look was "He knows… He has to know." Ruby thought as her stomach as she dwelled on Neptune's words from the night before.

"Yeah, but Ruby said she liked it, Yang, that's the key difference, If I saw Cardin chat you up, and you were all smiles and giggles? I don't know how I'd react." Ruby heard the words in her head like he was in the room with him. She glanced over at Weiss briefly, but when the pair locked eyes Weiss quickly glanced away from Ruby.

"That makes sense… The kinda live together right now after her mother tossed her out…" Ruby thought "If he saw what had happened, knew that I lied to him about it, then she knew as well…"

Ruby decided she would have to talk to her before she sought out Jaune after school. She needed to know exactly what she was going to be walking into with her boyfriend.

Ruby practically counted the minutes down till the bell and called out to Weiss for a second. Weiss paused and turned to Ruby asking "Hey Ruby what's up?"

Ruby thought she wanted to ask before she signed out [I haven't seen much of Jaune today, and I was just wondering how he was doing?]

Ruby watched Weiss's body tense up and state in reply, "It's not really my place to discuss it, your going to have to ask him."

Ruby's fears were not exactly alleviated as she looked at Weiss to ask [What do you mean it's not your place, is there something wrong with him?]

"Well, he's Jaune. I don't know if If there's ever in all the time we've known him been a time that there hasn't been something wrong with him. It just so happens we're normally part of the solution to it, and not part of the damn problem." Weiss said holding back a great deal of anger.

Ruby's heart sank, clearly, they talked about it last night. She signed out [I think I know what this is about.]

"Yeah I think you do, and for the love of all that is good and holy, I want to know why you're doing this!" Weiss said nearly shouting at Ruby.

Ruby couldn't think of an answer to Weiss's questions, at least no one she didn't want to give to Jaune directly. So with this mindset, she signed out [I think this is something I need to address with Jaune directly if it's all the same.] Ruby paused and balled her hands into fists in an effort to get her emotions in check. [I know I owe everyone an apology for being so god damn stupid, but I'll handle this myself.]

"You better, because right now, I'm not seeing a way you can fix this," Weiss said as she leaned on her walker and started to leave. "I'm sure I'll hear about it from Jaune tonight."

With that Ruby quickly started to make her way to her locker in the hopes of catching Jaune on the way there, she didn't actually need anything from her locker, but she needed to try and make things right with Jaune before it was too late to do so.

Still Ruby was still struggling with her feelings. Her conversations with Cardin in the last week had been so, for lack of a better word on her part "Natural". She could just talk to him, practice her speaking on him without fearing being judged for sounding weird like others have. She couldn't even feel comfortable speaking out loud to Jaune because she kept thinking in the back of her that he would never be able to do the same thing. She also never felt like she was walking around on eggshells around Cardin as she did with Jaune.

As she made it to her locker she noticed that no one else was around, most people were in a rush to go home for the day, and she knew Jaune had an appointment with Ms. Fall today. She decided to wait knowing that Jaune would need to swing by his locker for things before his walk home.

That was another thing, as far as she could tell Cardin didn't have any real baggage, a real plus in most people's eyes. "But I normally just need to look at Jaune and remember why we're together." Ruby thought before an uncomfortable thought entered her head "Yeah but, if we need to look at him to remember, doesn't that mean something is wrong?"

Ruby tilted her head up and looked at the ceiling when she heard a voice call her name, she looked at the source of the voice to see Cardin walking towards her. Ruby forced herself to stop acting like a lovestruck little girl for a second and to just talk to Cardin. As Cardin walked up to her he asked her "Hey your here late today, what's going on?"

"Ahm Waiting on Jaune, he's with Ms fawl right naw" Ruby said with a smile.

Cardin popped open is locker "How is Jaune you haven't really talked much about him at all."

"He's just Jaune, nathing's really changed on his end," Ruby said struggling with the words.

"That's fair enough I suppose." Cardin smiled a charming smile at Ruby that made her heart flutter slightly despite her best efforts. "You know that guy is lucky to have you."

Ruby laughed despite herself as she said: "What

do you mean?"

Cardin just shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well I mean the guy is lucky to for a girl like you to even give him the time of day right?"

Ruby shook her head "Jaune… Well, I don't know how to pot this." Ruby said needing a second to think out her next works."The truth is, I guess I'm the one who felt lucky. I was the one who put the moves on him. I'm the one who fell in love with him first when he didn't even want to fall in love at all." Ruby scrunched her face up "That's right, I've always been the one to push him. I've always controlled the pace of our relationship. I'm the one that always wanted to take the next step."

Ruby thought back to the words Jaune said to her when they first got together. [I would probably be the worst boyfriend on earth right now you know that right? I know I would be distant at times, I'd hurt, I'd be confused about my feelings, and I would probably make you cry more than once.]

Ruby realized what he meant all those months ago, she always thought he meant that as him apologizing in advance for any missteps in the relationship. "He was saying that back then he wasn't ready for a relationship, I've been controlling the pace of our relationship without ever asking what he wanted…"

At Valentine's day, she remembered he looked uncomfortable withdrawing her almost nude, he had never seen Pyrrha in that state of undress. "He wasn't ready to take our relationship that far. I pushed him into something he wasn't ready for, and he did it without a complaint."

There it was, the reason she loved Jaune, as stupid and as selfish as it was, she loved him because he was forcing himself to grow for her. She was about to say that to Cardin before she felt lips on hers. For a second she didn't realize what was happening, only that it felt nice, but once she did realize that Cardin had kissed her she was quick to push him back.

Cardin stumbled back realizing his mistake instantly. "Ah, shit sorry that was out of line I know…" Cardin looked embarrassed at his blunder and was saying "I'm sorry, I misunder-" before he cut himself off looking off down the hall with a look of shock.

Ruby's hand was against her forehead as she was about to chew him out for it. She stopped when she looked at Cardin looking down the hall mouthing "Oh no…"

As she looked down the hall her heart dropped out of her chest and through the floor. Jaune was standing there. He had just seen the whole thing unfold. Jaune wore a look on his face of utter shock at what he saw, his girlfriend kissing another guy. His shock turned to rage, a look she had never seen on his face before. A total hatred of Cardin at that moment that threatened to explode as he clenched his fists and looked like he was going to charge in. Only for that rage to peter out into a look of despair as he silently, and without so much as a word turned around, and walked away.

Ruby disregarded Cardin entirely as she gave chase, when she finally caught up to him she shouted his name to get him to stop.

Jaune stopped and clenched his fists in anger and turned towards ruby. He furiously signed out [What could you possibly want at this point? To tell me that what I just saw wasn't what it looked like?]

Ruby was taken aback for a moment before she signed [I'm sorry, I didn't want him to kiss me like that.]

[And the fact I saw you flirting with him the first day back at school was what? Not something you wanted either? How about the part where you lied to me about it?] Jaune signed out in anger [How in the hell am I supposed to trust anything you say to me right now?]

Ruby was openly crying at this point, she could see the extent she hurt someone she loved, she realized just how fatally flawed her judgments were in the last few days. Ruby shouted out not even able to rationally sign anymore. "Am Sorry!" before she covered her eyes to ashamed to even look at him. "Ah Made a terrible mistake, I know that!"

Jaune clenched his fists and looked at her. When she looked up at him he signed out [Why? Why did you decide to start letting Winchester sweet talk you like this.] Jaune gritted his teeth as the tears started falling from his face [What in the fuck did I do wrong!]

[You didn't do anything wrong Jaune!] She signed back [I'm the one to blame here.]

[Really? Was it because I was moving to slow, was it because I need medication to get through my day? Is it because I don't get along with your sister that well?] Jaune shook as he typed [I did everything in my power to make you happy.]

He paused [I even put my own misgivings aside when you wanted us to move our relationship somewhere I wasn't ready to be yet.] Jaune's rage boiled back up and he punched the nearby locker sending a loud metallic clang through the hall and split his knuckles open [Why wasn't it enough for you, what the hell did he have that I didn't?] He then demanded.

Ruby was at a loss when it came down to it, part of made her receptive to Cardin's flirtations was how normal he is compared to Jaune. She had no intention to say that though and couldn't find the words to explain it…

[Well I guess this is it then, After everything we went through you chose the fucking brain dead jock you fantasied over in middle school over me.] Jaune signed out as his anger gave out and was replaced with melancholy.

"No, don't do this please…" Ruby begged out audibly "I'll make it right somehow, I'll do what it takes to earn your trust back…"

Jaune shook his head as his entire body shook in pain as he signed out [I'm sorry Ruby… It's over… I'm breaking up with you…] he then turned and walked away from Ruby as she slumped to the floor in tears.


Not every problem has a solution...

So emotionally cheating on someone is a thing that can happen. and Ruby was certainly guilt of it in this case. I didn't want this to be a situation where any single person comes out as a villain. Ruby's guilt and lying was a large factor, Cardin's flirting, and Jaune's trust issues all had a factor in this chapter.

It all came together to form a perfect storm that led to this. Even certain under the table underlying issues that were always there but were never explored, such as Ruby being overly clingy and constantly craving. Hell Ruby has been depicted as being downright addicted to the affection Jaune offered but she never got enough of at home. As well as the fact that Jaune was only barely over Pyrrha's death by this point.

All of it came together to torpedo their relationship, do they have hope of getting back together? Maybe but it would take both of them to want to commit to it, and no on is going to be able to at this point. Ruby has already seen the fatal flaw in their relationship, just to late to stop it.