Yesterday, the day of Weiss' impending massage, her scroll beeped while she was going over Ruby's essay.
Yang Xiao Long has added Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee to the group chat!
Weiss Schnee: What is this.
Yang Xiao Long has changed their name to: dont ask me xiao long
Blake Belladonna: Yang.
dont ask me xiao long has changed Blake Belladonna's name to: check meowt
check meowt: Why.
dont ask me xiao long has changed Weiss Schnee's name to: snow thanks
snow thanks: I hate you.
dont ask me xiao long has locked check meowt's name!
dont ask me xiao long has locked snow thanks' name!
snow thanks: I despise you.
don't ask me xiao long: lmao
check meowt: Why didn't you add Ruby, Yang?
dont ask me xiao long: take a wild guess girly
snow thanks: How do I leave.
dont ask me xiao long: you cant youre trapped here forever
snow thanks: I am trying to work, Yang.
dont ask me xiao long: so whos up after weiss btw
Weiss scowled, shoving her scroll on to her bed and returning to her work.
The next day, while Ruby was doing her corrections and, unbeknownst to them, Pyrrha was being massaged, Weiss got a notification from the same group chat.
dont ask me xiao long: ok no but srsly whos getting those hands all over their bodys next since clearly none of us said anything about it today
check meowt: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
dont ask me xiao long: how the heck did u type that so fast
check meowt: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
dont ask me xiao long: blake pls
Ruby, eventually, did take notice of the back and forth messaging. Weiss would type something on her scroll and a few moments later Yang and Blake would check theirs and do the same. Then Blake would type, and it would be Weiss and Yang.
It took her a bit to notice the pattern, but it soon became apparent once she had that a conversation was going on without her.
She didn't get to sleep very easily that night.
Jaune, conversely, woke up quite well rested. That was half the problem. Without the lovely, terrible grogginess of a sudden wake his mind was clear and unfogged. He remembered.
By the color of Pyrrha's face, so did she.
Even though specific thoughts weren't necessarily passing through Jaune's head, he still felt the familiar, distracting sense of almost-disbelief. He'd already been surprised that yesterday had happened when it happened, yesterday, but as he slid into his pants and buttoned his shirt up, wincing at the now familiar ache in his hands, he still felt as though he ought to be…
He didn't know. Not quite distracted, but in the same zone? Something felt like it ought to be off, but he couldn't decide if anything actually felt that way.
Neither of them spoke as they left well in advance of Jaune's patented Emergency Five-Minute Alarm.
Neither of them knew if, when Ren and Nora returned tomorrow, the tension would be gone or even worse.
The probable causes for both options frightened them equally. Either they didn't address it, and allowed it to get worse, or they did and…
Jaune gulped, holding the door for his stiffly-moving partner, before following her into Port's familiar classroom.
Both terrifying options.
dont ask me xiao long: wait did he even massage anyone yesterday
check meowt: Yang.
snow thanks: We are in class, Xiao-Long.
dont ask me xiao long: oooh breaking out the last names schnee?
check meowt: Yang I will take your scroll.
check meowt: Don't think I won't.
Neither Jaune or Pyrrha picked up on the ongoing byplay across the room.
Yang, Blake and Weiss, however, were thoroughly invested.
As Port launched into his story of the day, which Weiss had (disbelievingly) noted he actually blocked time for in his schedule, Yang leaned over to her partners.
"Blondie and Pyrrha look real uncomfortable," she whispered, to which Weiss sighed and Blake rolled her eyes, but both looked nonetheless.
Weiss blinked. Blake cocked an eyebrow.
"Who would have seen that coming?" Yang muttered, before waving Ruby off as she perked up.
"Well," Blake began, just as quietly, and Yang snickered as Weiss also rolled her eyes at the continuation of the discussion, "That tension had to hit critical mass sometime, right?"
"Why are we discussing this?" Weiss whispered bluntly, and Yang laughed as she shrugged and turned back to her paper, reaching over and adding a mustache to a circle Ruby had drawn around an important term.
"Probably is good to figure out if we need to add a fourth person to our rotation." Yang whispered back, and Weiss scowled and abruptly turned back to her own paper in response.
Yang grinned.
The day was moving torturously slow for Jaune, and that was helped in no part by how hypersensitive he'd become to his partner's presence. Every accidental brush of the elbow, every time he'd see a flash of scarlet in his eye, every time she'd adjust her hair or jacket, the movement was magnetic to his gaze and it was a constant battle to focus back on Port.
He'd already lost most of those battles, naturally. It certainly didn't help that, amongst other things, when he'd glance at her as she adjusted her jacket or shirt, he'd remember those words.
'Yang and I-'
He somehow didn't flush, but still wanted to let out a tiny scream. Now that she'd said it he couldn't stop thinking about it. He'd seen Blake's...yeah, but the presence of the thoughts meant that every time he remembered them, he'd have to resist the urge to not only glance at his partner, but also across the room at Yang.
It didn't help that he was spending more than a little time trying to parse how he felt about Pyrrha's reassurances and Weiss' almost-reassurance, when it came to his gaze. It was obviously wrong to look, and he knew they'd agree with the sentiment, but…
Was it okay for him to think about looking? As far as he was concerned, no, it wasn't. He'd been raised with seven sisters, most of them older, and even from a young age while playing he remembered conversations about the importance of respecting boundaries.
Of course, sometimes those conversations were angry rants about specific, disrespectful people, but he gathered the point all the same. His mother implored him to be confident, to hold his head high, and to earn the respect he desired. How could he do so if he even entertained gross thoughts like that?
...That was what he thought, had thought for so long - reinforced by his mother's words. He had to earn respect, and he had to be confident. He couldn't do that if he was anything like the men he heard his sisters talk about with disdain.
Pyrrha said the thoughts were understandable, not that they were okay. But she had not reprimanded him, or even looked perturbed - she had smiled as she spoke. Weiss had begun to imply things he imagined followed the same trend, but-
"Jaune! What type of Grimm is this, my boy?"
Jaune started, his head snapping up to look at the screen. A strange amalgamation of limbs and bone was displayed, and he fumbled for his notes for a moment before squinting, certain he'd have remembered something like that in the reading, and tentatively began to speak. "I, uh, I don't-"
"Quite right!" Port cried out, before Jaune could get another word out. "This is one of many attempts by artists, with or without malicious intent, to imagine new and unusual species of Grimm!"
Jaune blinked, trying to remember where his thoughts had been, as Port launched into the second half of his storytelling block for the class.
Absentmindedly, Jaune rubbed his aching hands and winced.
"Hey, Jaune!"
Blake watched her partner address the blond, setting her tray down. Ruby had run off to get dessert with Weiss' stern warning to not return with anymore than one portion still carrying in the air before her leader was gone in a flurry of petals.
Blake knew exactly what question was going to come, and smothered a snort of amusement as Weiss tried and failed to look as though she was ignoring it all.
"U-uh, y-yes, Yang?" the boy responded, voice trembling as Pyrrha looked upwards at Yang with noticeably stiff posture.
"You massage Pyrrha last night?"
Blake barely managed to suppress a snicker as both of them flushed as red as Pyrrha's hair, instantly. The tension in their room last night must have been intense. Still, Blake wouldn't turn down another massage from Jaune given how relaxing the last one had been, so where this conversation and it's subsequent ones went was pretty important.
Well, for one value of important, maybe.
Weiss resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why Yang felt the need to push this so hard was beyond her, especially in a public forum. She glanced up from her scroll, watching Pyrrha and Jaune utterly fail at keeping level heads and expressions. Jaune stammered something indistinct to Yang, who was making no attempt to hide her grin.
She scoffed, turning back to her scroll. If she or anyone wanted another massage, they all could contact Jaune via his scroll. It was pointless to make a scene like this, especially at a meal.
"U-Uh, y-yeah, I d-did…" Jaune finally managed to stammer out as Weiss scrolled through her newsfeed, scoffing at the deluge of tabloids that had cropped up recently.
'Predictions and early betting pools for the upcoming Vytal Festival tournament opening now!'
'Top five celeb gossip stories of the week!'
'Tired of a small chest? Get your man - or woman - to give 'em a rub-'
Weiss rolled her eyes, blocking all of their posts from getting on to her feed. She allowed a select few tabloids, either ones with humorous headlines or ones that actually could prove damaging to reputations. Small ones like these trashy gossip fountains were wastes of space, as far as she was concerned.
"I'd ask how it went, but I'm not a sadist" Yang said, her grin fixed in place, Jaune and Pyrrha going even redder.
Weiss sighed, continuing to scroll through her feed. She continued to listen to the conversation, but only so she could reign in her idiot teammate, if need be.
Yang almost, almost felt bad, watching Jaune and Pyrrha flounder. That being said, she was very intentional about making sure they had picked a spot distant of others. Like she had just told them, she wasn't a sadist. But broaching the topic here, in public, meant it was impossible for anyone at the group to try and get out of the conversation.
If, and she used the term carefully, if Jaune-Massages became an actual thing, everyone who would potentially be involved needed to discuss it. Probably not now, but eventually - and wasn't that a weird thought? That they'd happen at all, consistently. It wasn't as if the Massage was life changing, or rocked her world, but it was a basically free source of what seemed to be guaranteed relaxation, especially if repeat performances resulted in the same freedom from back pains. She'd sat through a Peach class with no problems the day after, and that alone had made her consider dropping a few hints about another one.
Still, something had obviously happened between him and Pyrrha. That would be obvious to- well, probably not obvious to Ruby, but anyone else with half a brain cell that could process signs of romantic tension could see that either the tension had grown, or it had been brought out into the open. Pyrrha wouldn't be left out of any kind of future massages, but if that tension grew-
"Why, ah, why do you ask, Yang?" Pyrrha said, her voice lacking in any kind of stutter but her cheeks quite pink.
"Well," Yang began with no hesitation, shelving her thoughts for later, "by my count Jaune has given massages to all us four now, so I think-"
"Massages? Like back rubs? Is that you guys were talking about without me?" Came Ruby's distinctly, mildly passive-aggressive voice.
Yang froze. Blake blinked. Weiss' hand met her forehead.
Shit.
Jaune had thought this day couldn't get any more awkward.
Then Ruby spoke, and he was proven completely wrong.
As if being unable to even whisper a joke to Pyrrha was bad enough. As if being unable to even look in the direction of Yang, Blake and Weiss was bad enough. As if the unceasing pain in his hands was bad enough - now Ruby had spoken and the inevitable prospect of what that might mean made him want to curl up in a ball and die.
Well. Maybe not die. But just curl up and ignore everything for a long time.
This entire situation had already spiralled out of control in a direction that was as ludicrous as it was, at times…
Well. He could admit in the privacy and comfort of his own mind, that he enjoyed massaging them. It felt good to help people, and it felt good to…
He turned away from that thought, knowing it was a cop-out and that he was running from the problem. He still...he wasn't ready to think about that. Not yet.
Still, this situation was going somewhere, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to face that direction. At the same time, he had no good reason to stop it either. He was helping, on one level or another. So long as he could, so long as his skills could bring them relaxation and comfort…
He couldn't stop. He couldn't. It just...didn't work. Not like that.
The silence had become awkward enough when Ruby had spoken. Now, the turmoil in his head was much worse.
Pyrrha watched, thanking and cursing Ruby's appearance. It gave her time to try and calm her breathing, time to still her racing heart, but it also assured that this mess would get more and more complicated now.
"I, ah...yeah, lil' sis. Blondie gave a bunch of us backrubs recently." Yang conceded, almost sounding guilty. That didn't make the most sense to Pyrrha, but she didn't exactly have any siblings so it was hard to relate to the evident dynamic between the two.
"Just backrubs? Jeez, Yang, I was worried you were hiding something big from me!" Ruby pouted, leaning to wave at Jaune, who managed to reciprocate the gesture.
Yang sobered slightly, looking at Ruby somewhat apologetically. "Sorry, sis, I- we didn't mean to worry you."
Silence reigned for a few moments, rapidly thickening into an awkward, tense, nonverbal standoff as everyone waiting for someone else to say. Finally, Ruby spoke again.
"How, ah, how are they? The backrubs."
Pyrrha winced, having expected that. Yang floundered for a moment, before Weiss sighed aggressively and set her scroll down.
"Jaune's massages are fine." She said tersely, much to the surprise of basically everyone.
"I- wh- Weiss-" Jaune stammered weakly, eyes wide and fixed on the heiress as she rolled her eyes again. Some little corner of Pyrrha's mind hysterically wondered how they hadn't rolled right out of her skull yet.
"Honestly. You all are taking this way too seriously." She said with a distinctive sniff, picking her scroll back up.
Silence reigned again for a moment, before Yang let out a laugh and rubbed the back of her head, shaking off her disbelief.
"Man, who'd've thought Weiss would cut the tension like that?" She wondered allowed, causing a few giggles as Weiss glared but made no comment.
"Weeeell," Ruby began, glancing back at Jaune, "Can I have one, Jaune?"
Jaune froze like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes immediately flicking not to Pyrrha, which...made her feel something, but instead to Yang. Yang was already looking at him, seeming to have expected the slightly-panicked gaze, before giving a tiny nod.
His shoulders sagged, and Pyrrha didn't know what to think of that either as he managed to say, "Uh, y-yeah, that should be fine, Ruby. T-tonight?"
Ruby nodded happily, either oblivious or uncaring of the tension in the room, setting her plate of only two cookies (much to Weiss' minute approval) down.
Weiss impassively flicked through apps, Blake methodically cut up her grilled fish, Yang ate about as casually as ever, and Pyrrha pondered it all as she finished her lunch.
Jaune, of course, fumbled with every bite, eyes occasionally flicking to a completely oblivious Ruby, lost in cookie-land.
In class, a blond leaned over to his redheaded partner. The action was stunted, he seemed to hesitate more than once, but finally he reached out and sketched something on her paper.
Her head turned, watching his pencil move, and before he was even done her shoulders were shaking with mirth.
It wasn't much, but it was a start.
The little Glynda, courtesy of Jaune's pleasantly adorable art skills, glared up at Pyrrha as she dutifully copied notes down.
It was a start. A small one, yes, but a start nonetheless, and that was good enough. As she leaned over to sketch her own, the communication block from naught five minutes ago seemed a little less oppressive in her mind. Not silly - no, never silly. It made complete sense, and it still made sense, but now it was smaller, a little more fragile. Unable to convince her quite as thoroughly that something would go terribly wrong if she tried to broach the topic of anything with her partner.
She watched him stifle giggles and her heart soared. She knew they'd have to address the topic - something was going to happen, whether they wanted it to or not. It would be best if they wanted it, she knew, and much as she wasn't one to put off a hard conversation or encounter, this one…
It didn't feel right, anymore. Jaune's first friend at Beacon, before Pyrrha, had asked for a massage. To fill this day with discussions of romance, connections, and what might become of the bond between them just felt wrong, now.
Sure, that irked her some. But not much. She'd get over it, and they'd talk, and then they'd actually-
She shivered, shaking her head slightly as Jaune finished a final doodle on her own paper, a little Oobleck spilling coffee on Port. She giggled again, gently ribbing him with her elbow and gesturing to the now speaking Glynda, and life continued as it should.
Jaune finished his final drawing, knowing Ms. Goodwitch was about to begin speaking, and returned to his own page of notes with a flourish. A little Ozpin watched over him, giving a vague but encouraging smile, and Jaune tried to use that encouragement to hide the tremor in his hands. At some point it had become a thing not to mention, probably once he had massaged Pyrrha. It just...didn't feel right to bring it up, anymore. He didn't want to worry her, not when he was helping.
Still, it wasn't the only thing on his mind.
The drawing seemed to finally cut through some of the tension, but he didn't expect it to open conversation as fully as it probably should be. The prospect of what had almost happened was incredible, but…
It frightened him, and he couldn't question that. Surely as the moon was fragmented, he knew his own fear. What it would mean, to continue where'd they'd broken off yesterday. What would happen next, and what that would mean. It was stupid to imagine that his current massaging situation would spiral out of control into some nebulous more, but the thought would not flee his mind, and what it would mean-
He sighed, knowing he was thinking in circles at this point. What was most important right now was today, and where today would go. Massaging Ruby…
Didn't scare him, not really. Not like all of the others had.
Well. Not as much, at least.
Ruby was...different. Part of that was her age, part of that was her status as a leader. A much larger part of that was that Ruby had been the first person he'd ever met at Beacon, his first friend. He liked Weiss and, as he discovered rather abruptly, he liked Pyrrha a lot. Ruby, however, didn't leave him as shivery and scarlet-faced as the others did.
...Then again, though, he'd thought Pyrrha's massage would be fine until he'd actually pressed his hands against her toned, smooth-
Pyrrha, with excellent timing, gently poked his ribs with her elbow, and he turned just in time to see Ms. Goodwitch's eyes pass over him.
Her classes were always interesting, if a little strict, so he found it hard to focus on anything except his fingers for the next hour. He tried to remember to make a reminder on his scroll to head to Beacon Medical, but as with every time he tried to remember that, he forgot.
Yang was just packing her things when Jaune, in the corner of her eye, visibly perked up and started heading her way. She was a little surprised that he was coming over, though it was easy to guess the general gist of the impending conversation. She didn't know, however, if the fact that he was approaching at all or approaching so soon was what surprised her. Both of them said different things about him, but mostly positive.
Something in her shifted, neither relief nor the expectation of anger. Something adjacent to the two.
When he spoke, she realized what it was.
"Y-Yang, about tonight-" He started, the rest of his sentence falling into place. She could practically hear him stammer out the reassurance, undercut with a mild fear.
It would be lying to say that saddened her, since it was totally understandable that he'd want to clarify to an older sister that he wouldn't try anything with the younger, but at the same time it implied something in a very different direction. Something about the way he viewed himself, which she..hadn't quite gathered already, but moreso got an impression from what she'd seen that, if you squinted and tilted your head, could mean something.
"Jaune." She cut in without preamble, seeing his breath catch and his gaze focus on her properly. His eyes held a lot of scattered emotions, despite being the same blue as ever.
She smiled, kindly and unteasingly.
"I'm not worried. I trust you."
His composure, for a single moment, fractured. His eyes widened and his jaw slackened, staring dumbly at her as her words rang in his mind properly.
She continued to speak, lifting her arm to gently pat his shoulder. "You aren't that kind of person. I appreciate that you wanted to make sure to let me know, but I didn't really need it."
He floundered for a moment, and her smile finally turned into a proper grin.
"If you were that kind of person, I think Blake woulda noticed, huh?" She sang out, giggling as his face instantly turned red. She let go of his shoulder, gently bumping it with her own as she walked past. "Seriously, though, it's alright. Don't worry."
She was about to continue walking to their group training hour, but something caught her eye. Jaune's eyes looked...wet?
That threw her for a loop. Was what she said really that impactful? It was just honesty, as far as she was concerned.
She continued walking, her pace slowed a bit now. It begged another question about how Jaune viewed himself - or didn't.
Did he get much positive reinforcement? She knew Pyrrha spent a great deal of time lifting up - that much was obvious from their interactions, but they'd barely known each other compared to the rest of Jaune's life. What kind of life might he have had, to bring tears to his eyes just because someone said they trusted him to do the right thing?
She pursed her lips, but continued walking. A conversation for later, perhaps.
Jaune processed the conversation as best he could while preparing for group training. RWBY and JNPR always reserved the same room so they could practice together. He knew that Pyrrha had at the very least made RWBY aware that he was playing catchup (not that it wasn't obvious) as he didn't receive much criticism at all to start with, though it would be well deserved. Weiss had occasionally made a snide comment, but otherwise no one seemed to pay too much attention to him.
That seemed to have changed recently, though, as comments that were constructively critical of his performances had started cropping up lately. He appreciated that, once he internalized the mild sting that was to be expected of commentary concerning his fighting style or, rather, lack thereof.
Still, it had never ceased being nerve-wracking to be practicing and sparring in front of RWBY. Today would arguably be worse, though, given the tension between Pyrrha and himself, and the pain in his hands. He rubbed them again, swearing lightly under his breath for forgetting to go to the nurse. That'd bite him one way or another. He knew at this point that constantly using his aura to mitigate the pain didn't seem to be solving the issue, but he had absolutely no desire to cause a delay in their training schedule, so with a shiver he allowed the familiar warmth to wash through the digits and wipe the pain away.
The difference was heavenly, and that concerned Jaune rather a lot as he realized just how much pain his hands had been in.
He wasn't up first, which gave him some extra time to think about what Yang said. Ruby and Weiss were squaring off, which was always a fun match to watch, but it usually followed a familiar pattern. He still was a little scared to point that out.
The things Yang had said...He was a little embarrassed about how he'd reacted, and he hoped quite desperately that she hadn't seen his expression or how choked up he'd become. Granted, it made him very happy that she had those opinions of him - he did make consistent efforts to not infringe upon the privacy of his friends in any way. But the fact that she, Yang, said it so openly, honestly, and kindly to him…
Scythe met rapier as Ruby went on the offensive, only to tumble forward as Weiss completed her feint.
Jaune had never seen overtly, exclusively negative qualities in Yang. He'd never looked, but they'd never presented themselves either. Yet, for her to so blatantly reassure him that she knew - not that she thought, she knew he was a good person who wouldn't try anything…
It felt like a satisfactory, emotional conclusion to a lot of efforts he'd consistently been working towards. That's how he wanted to be seen. He wanted respect, yes, but for someone to lay out in exact terms precisely the image of the man he tried to be in every moment…
It made him a little emotional. She saw.
Another crash of metal as Ruby attempted her own feint. It wasn't successful, but it clearly surprised Weiss enough to give Ruby a chance.
He swallowed again, stretching out his stiff fingers. The action would have him gritting his teeth normally, trying to suppress winces. He really needed to get his hands checked on, but he'd left his scroll in his bag, which was in his locker, so he couldn't set a reminder.
Besides, Weiss had Ruby at swordpoint. It was his turn.
He inhaled, holding the air in his lungs for as long as he dared, finally letting the breath go and shaking some fear out of his muscles. Time to go.
Weiss didn't try and hide her exhaustion. That habit had been crushed by necessity months ago. It was hard for Ruby to see massive improvement without her instructor on-site to provide Scythe-specific training, but she was showing growth against other combat styles. That being said: Weiss, while not a pushover by any means, knew she had a lot of growing left to do as well. Professors Port and Oobleck had once given a demonstration of a licensed, experienced Hunter's duel, and she'd stopped doubting their capabilities the first time their weapons had collided. She knew the height of the ceiling above her, and that only pushed her faster to fly higher.
Jaune's sword collided with Miló, signaling the start of the match. She turned her eye to it, watching the two combatants struggle for a moment before disengaging.
Jaune had improved. She'd acknowledged it before and she acknowledged it here - it'd be lying to pretend otherwise. When they'd started these joint training sessions he'd been laughable, but Pyrrha had explained in private that he had been woefully underprepared, having received minimal familial training before coming to Beacon. Weiss wasn't inclined to try and unpack that, but since then his growth rate had been quick. Then again, he was also training with one of the most experienced fighters in their year on a daily basis. He'd be depressingly incompetent if that couldn't cause leaps of improvement in him.
Jaune rolled back, his shield snapping open edge-forward to parry Miló. That had been a new trick to see last time, and he'd gotten a decent hit in against Pyrrha because of her surprise - she'd still pinned him to the ground with a hand to his back, of course. This time, she anticipated it, and he got a chest of Akoúo̱ as punishment for the same trick-
Weiss blinked as Jaune caught Akoúo̱ with a glowing white hand, having already folded his shield again, wrenching her towards him as his sword came up to her unprotected left. In a display of dexterity that left Weiss impressed, but wincing, Pyrrha bent backwards at a painfully sharp angle, using Jaune's grip on her shield to hold her steady, before slamming her right leg against his unprotected ribs. Jaune took the blow, leaping away after instead of with, and Weiss made a mental note to comment on that.
Leagues better than his start indeed, and a high ceiling above.
She snorted, struck by a sudden sense of looking down on the situation from above and realizing how cliche some of it seemed. The inept beginner training with the master and being judged by the skilled peers, except the beginner also liked one of the peers and, evidently…
Weiss shifted her weight, thinking back to their lunch and class before it. It was painfully obvious that something had happened, though she knew not what. If it meant he stopped those stupid jokes then she didn't really care.
...But damn it all, she was still light on her feet, and if there were some romantic tensions that might make it much harder to get a massage again.
She scowled, turning back to the fight, opting to shelve that thought for a later time. Much later, preferably.
Jaune's feet skidded against the floor as his sword swept up again, grinding against Miló while Pyrrha pressed relentlessly, giving him neither time nor chance to regain his breath.
Blake approved of that. She had decent confidence that she was one of the few people in the room save for Pyrrha and maybe Yang who had experienced a more genuine degree of combat against live, unpredictable opponents. Combat against people that wasn't training. She'd been kept from the worst of it, usually, but no one gave you time to breathe unless they were a monologuing idiot like Roman. You either kept up with the rush or were swept under and defeated. That was a good habit to instill early, and in some ways Jaune benefited from his lack of training earlier in life by getting some of the best training possible at the place where incorporating and internalizing that training meant everything, not just parental disappointment.
His shield fake-out earlier had been good enough, but Pyrrha was too experienced to be caught unawares by that - using the exact same maneuver as last time had probably just queued her into the fact that something different was coming; Jaune was inexperienced, but hardly an idiot. A lack of education was not indicative of a lack of sense, common or otherwise. It just made it more likely - in this scenario what he lacked was experience, and it showed.
Pyrrha disengaged, flipping Miló into it's rifle form. For training they loaded special cartridges that artificially lowered the scroll's aura reading depending on location and impact, as live shots were too dangerous even with aura protection. Another amenity she very much appreciated and wished she'd had during her own 'training'-
Blake shook her head, steering her mind back to the present. Jaune's aura flicked again as he brought his shield up, but still moved, making his feet harder to hit. Blake had to wonder how quickly Pyrrha had forced that habit into his mind.
As far as she aware, they trained every night that neither was occupied. Lately they hadn't had the chance to, given the massages, and Blake found herself curious what the future might look like. Jaune had a valuable skill that could benefit them all, but would he be willing to give up the amount of time necessary to keep things fair?
...The answer seemed a bit self evident, given some of his personality traits.
She watched him trigger the trap, Pyrrha lunging forward with speed that had nothing to do with pulling on her own armor, hurling Akoúo̱ and preparing to throw Miló and end the match-
Jaune, to Blake's surprise, executed a shockingly similar (albeit flawed) maneuver to the one Pyrrha had pulled off just earlier, half-bending-half-falling backwards and letting Akoúo̱ fly over him. He caught himself on a blazing hand and abruptly pushed to the right, coming up on a knee and bringing his shield up just in time to catch Miló on it and not his chest.
Blake could tell that Pyrrha had given him that, in two seperate ways. They'd agreed that Pyrrha could far too rapidly end fights if she used her semblance as efficiently as possible, so unless requested she abstained, but even still she had refrained from capitalizing on his open guard while he was maneuvering back to his knee. Blake frowned, knowing she'd have taken that shot in an instant had she been facing him. He could nurse his bruised feelings by doing better, next time.
They both disengaged, breathing for a moment before leaping back into the fray.
She could see how tired Jaune was getting, though to his credit Pyrrha was a little winded as well. His movements, while not as sloppy as they had been in the past, were definitely starting to drag and Pyrrha was punishing him for that. It didn't help that she'd recovered Akoúo̱ by this point, cutting off his attacks before he could even try and turn the tide.
Yang crossed her arms, leaning her weight on to one leg as she watched Pyrrha put him on the defensive again. Miló moved even faster than before, whipping against sword and shield and limb when Jaune was too slow to catch it. The match would surely draw to a close soon.
Yang, not really being a note-taker, had a few general comments she could make. But, given the track record of the last few sessions, Blake and Weiss would probably have meticulous essays of things to say that usually axed whatever she had to pieces anyways, so she leaned back and decided to just enjoy the show.
Jaune's aura hadn't broken, not yet, but it was dwindling quick. Pyrrha's assault was not letting up, and he was scrambling back faster and faster to no avail. Yang couldn't tell if Pyrrha was pushing him harder than normal or if the both of them were just so off-balance that they were slipping in opposite directions.
...Hmm. That might be a fun angle to tease him on. Or her - Yang was an all-opportunity teaser, and as lunch had shown Pyrrha could, indeed, get red. It might be fun to give her a jab and a poke, here or there, and see how deep that shade could get, or if Pyrrha would return fire.
Of course, Yang in no way wanted to genuinely upset her friends, so if Pyrrha shut down or actually began to anger than she'd stop immediately. Or turn her sights on Jaune - his stammering became quite hilarious when you knew how best to prompt it. She considered another joke like the one she'd made after class, referencing past massages, but she also didn't know if that would in turn cause an adverse reaction in him, especially considering the tension concerning his partner.
That tension, in turn, she decided not to tease him about for a bit. Like she'd said at lunch, she really wasn't a sadist, she just liked seeing the emotional ranges of her friends.
...Still, she wasn't too sure she'd be up to make another ass joke. At least, not until the next time he gave her a back massage. That had been impulsive and far more suggestive than she normally was in any average conversation, teasing or not. He'd had a humorous reaction, but she still wasn't sure exactly what her reaction had been. His massage had felt astounding, and she had, in truth, found it somewhat pleasurable in the relief it brought. But such a joke as that painted a dangerous image about her, and much as she trusted Jaune not to assume things or say things about her behind her back, she didn't quite know how he would interpret it. Or how he had.
...But how the hell do you broach a topic like that? 'Hey, what did you think of the time I made a joke implying I'd let you touch my butt because I liked the backrub you gave me?'
As if.
Jaune finally tumbled backwards, landing roughly on one knee again as Pyrrha prepared a final, match ending lunge.
Ruby wasn't sure what exactly sparked the impulse, only that it was sparked. She knew, on some level, that she had less experience than her team. She didn't often and overtly acknowledge it, but she knew it to be true. She knew she couldn't critique a fight like Weiss or Blake, or give a general but uplifting pep-talk like Yang. It bothered her a bit, but in times like this she didn't focus on what she couldn't do. With veins full of rose petals and the hyperactivity that accompanied her semblance, Ruby rarely thought in times of stress, excitement, or concern. She acted, and hoped her instincts led her in the right direction.
She'd seen his efforts. Perhaps she didn't see the growth she'd heard mentioned, but she saw that he didn't give up, didn't throw his sword aside in anger and quit. A few times, when they'd just started, he'd been so determined to keep going and learning that Pyrrha had to coax him to relax and let his body rest. Ruby saw that, and even if she didn't understand everything that was going on, she didn't need to know background to see the truth.
Still, she wasn't expecting to cry out "C'mon Jaune! You can do it!"
The rest of her team glanced over in surprise. She was always somewhat vocal, but she didn't often outright cheer for people, not after it had annoyed Weiss.
Pyrrha didn't slow down, or stop her lunge, but Jaune did speed up. His aura flared brightly for a moment, and between a heartbeat and the next he dropped his sword, angled his hand, and allowed Miló to scrape across his palm, away from his body. His aura meter dropped like a rock, but in that same instant Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock and he used that chance to snatch her wrist. Akoúo̱ flashed forward, but his left arm was quicker than hers by virtue of not being shocked by witnessing a self-sacrificial move. His shield expanded in an exact mimicry of his earlier move, but this time he yanked on her sword arm and snapped his shield open straight into her face. She flinched back, her aura flaring for a moment and dropping a decent amount, before she leaned in to offset his balance, leaping around him and twisting his arm behind his back. But, to the further surprise of the room, he moved with her, and Ruby remembered that Pyrrha had used the exact same move last time. He ducked, twisting in her grasp, snagging his sword off the ground and whirling it against Miló with a clash of metal. Jaune struggled valiantly for a moment, but whatever second wind he'd got was already fading and Pyrrha capitalized on that to twist her sword and, in a delicate motion that Ruby didn't actually see, neatly disarmed him.
His sword slid across the ground for a moment and Miló's point came up to his neck. Both of them were panting, but Jaune looked as if he were about to collapse and pass out, whereas Pyrrha was merely exhausted. The stood for a moment, before mutually albeit silently dropping their weapons, sinking to the ground and trying to catch their breath as Yang tossed them a few water bottles.
Jaune drained his bottle in about half a second, gasping as he laid back and finally allowed his body to relax.
Even though he hadn't won, Ruby still cheered.
Every muscle burned, as they always did when he finished a spar with Pyrrha. He lay motionless, groaning theatrically when someone nudged him with a foot but still rolling over and staggering to his feet. Pyrrha leant him a hand, which he took judicious, shameless advantage of, before she nudged him in the ribs with an even look. It took him a moment to realize that his hands were still glowing. He blanched, but had no desire to explain why he hadn't dropped the aura enhancement already, and so did he finally allow the heat in his palms to drain away.
If no one noticed his jaw lock up, he was fine with that. The gentle, warm pressure of his aura was replaced with fire, as if someone had pressed a clothing iron to his palms, and he was immensely grateful that focus shifted off of him and on to the next sparring pair. It gave him the chance to slip into the men's changing room and dunk his hands under a freezing shower.
This was getting out of hand (hah). He needed to get this checked out, as soon as possible.
...But could he walk out of massaging Ruby? He'd said he would do it, hadn't he?
Jaune frowned, the water soothing but not healing. Using his aura was clearly worsening it, or at least tricking him into ignoring how bad it was getting during activities. He wanted to call it quits and reschedule, but how would they see that? Would Ruby be disappointed? Would they think he was the kind of guy to go back on his word?
It wasn't like he'd promised to...but Ruby was his friend. His first friend at Beacon. Surely he could afford one more massage, right? He'd pulled muscles and sprained things before and this wasn't that bad.
He set his shoulders, drying his hands. Yeah, the pain wasn't that bad. He could manage it, at least for today - there was no one else to massage, anyways. Jaune figured it was a safe bet that Nora wouldn't want one, or at least not from him.
His decision made, Jaune once more squared his shoulders and prepared to return and watch the next round of sparring, before pausing and grabbing an ice-pack out of cold storage. He didn't actually know if cold would help, but it certainly felt good, and that would give him some more fuel to keep going.
Cold plastic in hand and sweat freshly toweled off, Jaune returned to the main room to the sound of shotgun blasts and the flickering of Blake's semblance. As always, their match enraptured him, and he set his notepad down after a few moments to just watch the pair spar. aggressive brawling Yang vs quick, evasive Blake - it seemed pretty 50/50 as to who'd win. Usually it came down to one of them slipping up and the other capitalizing on that opening, as opposed to sheer skill differences.
Pyrrha bumped her shoulder against his, having returned from the women's locker room. He smiled, gratefully accepting another water bottle from her. After a moment, he picked his notebook back up. He had to take at least a few notes, even if Weiss would cover them and more when the session ended.
Pyrrha was conflicted, even if she didn't show it. Jaune had performed excellently today - easily one of his best spars, but some horrid little part of her pondered if some of that was attributed to Ruby's cheering. He'd obviously received a second wind from it, or at least enough encouragement to keep fighting.
Then again, hadn't he always been incredibly stubborn when it came to training? It was almost self-destructive how hard he pushed himself - and on that note, she didn't even want to think about his stunt with his hand earlier. Not when she couldn't shout at him.
She couldn't decide if it was his personality, Ruby's encouragement, or if she was being entirely stupid for even considering the two as alternatives. He'd pulled off an extremely dangerous, yet admittedly effective stunt and nailed her with a solid hit as a result - that was worth celebrating, right?
She sighed, knowing that whatever notes she'd have for Yang and Blake would be the same as last times. She couldn't give in depth critique without personal sparring - she'd fought her friends in training matches before, but her focus was on Jaune's growth right now.
With a bang, one of Yang's blasts clipped Blake's side as she yanked the ribbon of Gambol Shroud back, the recoil-propelled kusarigama hitting Yang. Yang's semblance complicated training, so like Pyrrha she used it on request. As it was, both strikes brought their aura's down past the redline (although Blake was still lower), signalling the end of the match. It had been quick, even not counting the time spent in the locker room.
Ruby clapped, Pyrrha following suit with a smile as Jaune seemed to consider it, before leaning down to frantically write something in his notebook. His handwriting seemed a little sloppy, but given the ice he had been holding to his hands she figured he'd strained them a bit too much, today.
"Excellent match as always, you two!" Pyrrha called out, beaming at Yang's tired grin and Blake's contented nod. The two took their ten minutes to cool off, vanishing into the locker room to towel, change, and grab some extra water. In that time, Jaune scribbled a few more notes on the pages he'd marked for himself, before turning and grabbing a different notebook. Opening a fresh page, he took in a deep breath and prepared himself for the impending critique of his match.
Pyrrha's smile turned from bright to gentle, watching his insistent, unending desire to learn. She could always count on that.
Critique flew by, as always. Jaune's pen never left his paper, nodding and occasionally commenting when Weiss or Blake pointed out a mistake that he made, wincing at some of the ones he hadn't already noted in his self evaluation.
"Pyrrha gave you that block, when you fell backwards and rolled to your knee - and by the way, it may have worked here, but trying things requiring that much dexterity without practice in a match is a really bad idea, even if you partner will let you keep going." Blake said flatly, an impassive look to both of them. Pyrrha didn't comment or allow her lips to thin, nodding once in agreement. Jaune had known that on some level, but he was still grateful she'd done it.
"Had the match ended there, he wouldn't have had the chance he did to push himself. It wasn't realistic, but it was beneficial." Pyrrha said calmly, finishing his thought for him. He nodded, glancing up as Blake digested that before nodding and turning back to Weiss.
"You need to work on moving with impacts, Jaune, if you can't turn a block into a riposte. You let her kick hit you completely before you moved away from it." Weiss said, glancing up from her list. Jaune blinked, before nodding and scribbling that down as well. He would work out a way to focus on that in his next training session with Pyrrha, whenever that was.
"Thank you" He called distractedly, circling a few points and making a note to work on them before others.
"I'll let Pyrrha talk about that little stunt you pulled at the end." Blake said dryly, and Jaune shivered as Pyrrha's smile suddenly seemed way more foreboding than usual.
Weiss nodded, her expression neutral before sitting down next to Ruby, ready for her own round of critique.
Jaune gave what points he had, but Blake covered the majority of them with Yang and Pyrrha occasionally weighing in. Yang had pointers for Ruby, whereas Pyrrha, normal smile back, gently informed her of some openings she needed to be mindful of. While the training was always nerve wracking, being surrounded by the sheer amount of advice in the room never failed to remind him how lucky he was.
Blake and Yang's went even quicker, as Weiss had only a few comments that got everything off his list before he could speak. After that, they agreed on the next session date and started to pack up equipment. Jaune had barely shut his locker when Ruby, quick as always to get ready to leave, called from the door a "See you later, Jaune!"
The door was shut before he could call an affirmative of his own back, and he gave a bemused smile as Pyrrha and Yang laughed.
Later, as it happened, was in reality quite soon.
There was little else to do that day except eat dinner and go over a quiz issued by Professor Peach, so in no time at all Jaune once more found himself standing at the door to RWBY's room. He raised a hand, wincing once, before squaring his shoulders and knocking. The action, while painful, didn't make him wince, so he took that as a good sign while he waited. A few moments later, the door cracked open as a silver eye peeked through the resulting crack. Seeing it was him, Ruby threw the door open and…
Stood there.
All at once, Jaune was struck by a sudden realization that this massage might be awkward for a very different reason.
"Uh, hi Ruby." Jaune offered.
Ruby seemed to shake herself out of a stupor at this, fiddling awkwardly with her fingers as she giggled out a "Hi Jaune! Um…"
They stood there for another moment, the silence dragging until painfully awkward, before Jaune finally said "Can, ah, can I come in?"
"Right!" Ruby yelped, moving out of the way to let him in.
Jaune's gut was churning, though he wasn't entirely sure why - the prospect of this massage still felt different than the previous, which he was more inclined to chalk up to the age difference than he had been earlier, especially considering this first interaction. Ruby wasn't doing this because she was in pain, or because she wanted to contextualize a reaction she had observed. She was just curious, and had heard that other people had received one.
He stepped in to the familiar room, realizing that he'd spent more time in here than in his own room lately, minus time spent sleeping of course. He didn't really know what to think about that, or if he should even think anything about.
"So, um, how does this work?" Ruby tentatively asked. Jaune glanced over, absentmindedly rubbing his wrists to encourage blood flow.
"Well, uh, do you just want a backrub? Or…?" Jaune trailed off, seeing in Ruby's expression that she had absolutely no idea. "Lets, ah," he continued, "just go with that, shall we?"
Ruby nodded, relieved that she hadn't needed to make a decision for something she knew nothing about.
"So, uh, you could sit backwards in a chair, or on the floor, or, uhh" He trailed off again, hoping that this decision would be easier for her. His prayers were rewarded as she immediately chose to pull some of Weiss' fancy chairs out of the closet, setting them up in the center of the room. She sat down, back to him, and he blanched as he realized what needed to happen next. This would be...very awkward.
"Uh, R-ruby?" He stammered out, coughing pointlessly into his hand as she turned, fixing him with a questioning look.
"Yeah?"
"I, um. It's, it's a super minor thing but, um...n-nevermind, actually."
"Uh, o-okay?" Ruby said, obviously confused.
At that moment, as the words had been ready in his throat, Jaune had swallowed them with a sudden thought. Was asking, or even insinuating that Ruby should take her shirt off at all the right thing to do?
He set his expression, forgoing the usual attempts and flooding his hands with aura from the start. Was it a bad decision? Probably. But he'd need all the dexterity and strength he could get.
dont ask me xiao long: ok no but srsly who's going tomorrow
snow thanks: Who says anything is going to happen tomorrow?
dont ask me xiao long: aiight if you arent gonna take advantage of this opportunity then i will
dont ask me xiao long: wait hold on
check meowt: Oh no.
dont ask me xiao long has added Pyrrha Nikos!
Pyrrha Nikos: Oh my.
snow thanks: leave while you can.
dont ask me xiao long has changed Pyrrha Nikos' name to: polarity dancer
polarity dancer: Ah.
dont ask me xiao long has locked polarity dancer's name!
dont ask me xiao long: lmao hi pyrrha
dont ask me xiao long: ok so what were we talking about
polarity dancer: ...Ah.
check meowt: I'm so sorry.
Ruby wasn't entirely sure how to feel about this whole situation. On one hand, Jaune was a really good friend! On the other hand, she was feeling a little bit nervous and wasn't entirely sure why. She'd trained with Jaune and studied in the library with him before. Heck, he'd listened eagerly as she talked about Crescent Rose!
She didn't know what he was going to ask her, and that also kinda unnerved her. This entire situation felt...weird. Not bad, but different. Different things were (supposedly) good, according to Yang, but Ruby had always preferred things she was accustomed to. Still, it annoyed her that her team had been doing something without her knowing. Sure, they didn't have to tell her everything, but it'd be nice to be told some things. Besides, Yang knew she liked backrubs! Yang had given her backrubs all the time when they were younger!
Jaune's hands found her shoulders and she shivered. His hands were really warm, and she could hear his steady breathing behind her as his hands fluttered across her back for a moment. He hesitated, before finally positioning his hands at her shoulders again and starting to dig his thumbs in.
She gasped, pain lancing through her shoulders as he dug in. He stopped instantly as she leaned away from his hands, leaning forward and stammering out a worried "R-ruby? Is that alright?"
"It- It hurts…" she mumbled, slowly becoming more and more confused as to why her team had seemed to enjoy this.
Jaune bit his lip in the corner of her eye, his hands once more gentle at her shoulders, before he gently said "M-Massages usually hurt...it's because I'm, ah, working tension out...Oh! Imagine it like this, Ruby!" He exclaimed, floundering for a moment before pulling his hands off her back.
"Imagine you were Crescent Rose, right? And you needed some maintenance, some cleaning. You had some gunk jamming mechanisms, right? Well, being pulled apart probably wouldn't feel too good, but it lets someone get to the bad stuff and make it go away, right?"
Ruby blinked, nodding along.
"Thats- I mean, I'm not taking you apart, of course, but it's the same idea - it hurts, but once that pain goes away it feels better because your muscles are relaxed."
"I, I think I understand," she mumbled, leaning back towards him tentatively. "Will, um, will it hurt the whole time?"
Jaune's expression softened, and something in her gut fluttered at his gentle face. "No, and I'll be gentle-" he froze, to her confusion, suddenly turning bright red and coughing hard into his elbow. She guessed he must have choked on something, as he quickly rose from the crook of his arm, spluttering before composing his still pink face.
"I'll, um, I'll be careful." He rasped, and she nodded and turned back around.
"I trust you, Jaune." She said, simply, unable to see him close his eyes and savor the words for a moment.
His hands returned to her shoulders, pressing in with far more care. It still hurt, but she shivered and endured.
Indeed, it wasn't long before what he described came to pass, and she began to enjoy it just as thoroughly as her teammates had before her.
For the first time since this entire debacle had began, Jaune found a massage to be a calming, almost zen-like experience. Ruby was groaning, but it was...different. It wasn't sexual, it wasn't teasing, it wasn't entirely pleasured - she still winced in pain and leaned away from his hands now and then. He avoided the places on her back where she'd done that. Even her shirt wasn't proving too irksome an obstacle, it just presented a new challenge for him. Something he'd discovered when reflecting on Weiss' massage was that, while it did feel a little humiliating at first, he'd actually quite enjoyed the chance to refresh his rusted skills in that department. If he could get proficient at massaging people with shirts on he could eliminate a significant amount of the awkwardness, and help shut the best annoying corners of his mind up.
He staunchly ignored the parts of his mind whispering about escapism and how he should stop running from self-reflective questions. He had a friend to massage.
...And that really was the crux of it, wasn't it? Ruby was his friend. It was difficult to think about in most circumstances but here, right now, he could contemplate it without running. Ruby was his friend, not his crush.
Could there be something romantic between them? Probably, but right now? He didn't think he saw her that way.
...Granted, he hadn't realized he'd had a crush on Pyrrha until she confessed to him, but surely that was because he'd simply never thought of her in that context. He was thinking about Ruby in that context, right now.
The thoughts didn't settle his mind, but he was starting to figure that nothing ever would.
His hand slipped down, thumb passing over a very familiar strap that would have had him flushing scarlet and steaming out the ears if it had happened with Yang or Pyrrha or Blake or-
Well, anyone but Ruby.
His gut settled, slightly. He didn't react when she groaned particularly happily or leaned into his touch. His mind didn't linger on the warmth of her skin or the color of her hair or the shape of her torso. He just...massaged her.
His mind wasn't settled, and he still pondered the possibility that something would change. He didn't know if that change, in any direction, would be good or bad and honestly he didn't want to think like that right now. Four massages in a row had consisted of his mind racing at a thousand miles an hour about his friends - he'd savor this moment of calm waters as long as he could call it his.
In time, he ran out of knots to seek in her back. His motions slowed, tapering off as Ruby sleepily turned, her eyes fluttering as she mumbled out something vaguely question-y sounding. He laughed gently, helping her up and sitting her on Weiss' bed. Her hands clung to his arm for a moment, and he gently poked her forehead to wake her back up.
"Wha…?" She mumbled, rubbing a hand against her eye.
"I gotta go, Ruby." He whispered. He was strangely content, despite the uneasiness still within his mind. This was nice, much the same kind of nice he'd felt when Blake and Weiss had thanked him. She looked so relaxed, so sleepy, and it seemed likely that he'd helped with that.
Ruby blearily nodded, absentmindedly tugging at her shirt. Jaune took that as his cue to leave, standing up and turning to the door, grabbing his tie before pausing as he heard her shift behind him.
"Thankss, Jaune…" She mumbled, the words cutting off with a yawn as Jaune grinned back at her.
"No problem, Ruby. Happy to help."
She nodded, and he turned away from the sound of rustling cloth, slipping quietly out through the door.
Jaune walked into the cafeteria, seeking out the vending machine that had Pyrrha's favorite snacks. Three pairs of eyes turned from their conversation, tracking his walk as he ordered, and only as he bent down to retrieve the chips and dried fruit did he realize his hands were still glowing.
He'd chalk it up to general nice feelings from the Massage's aftermath, later, but without thinking he let aura flow out of his hands. A bag of dried apple slices and salsa flavored chips slipped from his grasp as his shoulders froze, his jaw clenching hard enough to make him worry he'd break something in his skull. He didn't know if that'd be preferable to making noises, but it was too late now to doubt his choice.
One pair of eyes narrowed, catching the minute movements from a good angle. He didn't see this, turning and finally realizing he was being watched. He fixed a stiff grin on his face, waving shakily at his friends as his hands didn't stop trembling, no matter how hard he tried to keep them steady.
This was bad. He didn't regret massaging Ruby, only that he hadn't gone to the nurse first.
Yang waved back, Weiss cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, before she returned to her drink with a lift of her fingers. Blake stared evenly at him, turning back to her cereal after a moment, and for some reason that filled him with foreboding.
Still, Pyrrha was waiting for them to go over notes, so he hurried back. He'd check with the nurse tomorrow.
As he left, Blake pulled out her scroll and started typing.
check meowt: I think something's wrong with Jaune.
dont ask me xiao long: ?
snow thanks: How do you mean.
polarity dancer: What is it?
check meowt: I don't know. He was pretty far away, but he didn't look good.
dont ask me xiao long: didnt he just drop his snacks?
check meowt: As far as I'm concerned he looked like he was being electrocuted.
snow thanks: How do you...nevermind. Pyrrha, ask him when he gets back.
polarity dancer: I...don't think that's a good idea. When he's had long, tiring days, he sometimes clams up instead of talking about things. I'll wait until tomorrow, I think.
check meowt: Okay.
dont ask me xiao long: hope nothings wrong
snow thanks: Something apparently is. Keep us updated.
polarity dancer: Will do.
Jaune returned to a quiet room. Evidently, in his absence, Ren and Nora had arrived, albeit jet-lagged enough to immediately go to bed. As hyperactive as Nora could be at all hours, this surprised him. He waved tiredly at Pyrrha, his hand trembling still but under better control, and got into bed before she could ask him anything.
Sleep came quickly, but there was little comfort to be found in his dreams. Even in sleep, his hands burned like fire was his blood.
Not quite as on schedule as the last one was, but we're gettin' there boys.
This chapter is a weird one, because when I first conceptualized this story I was very young and Ruby romance felt totally normal. Having grown older, the age gap feels slightly weirder as a result, but both of them are still teens and i'll keep that in mind while still trying to make sure that it doesn't get to uncomfy levels of writing. Over the course of this slow-burn sexuality will become a prevelent element, and that's what I meant by weirdness, since Ruby is 15 at this time. Two years isn't a huge age Gap, but since legal ages have never been stated by characters I'm rolling with 18, so that's part of Jaune's discomfort.
As always, thanks to my surrogate big sister Akardos, otherwise known as Siderial, for beta'ing this chapter even though it's making her gay ass read jaune garbo lmao. Love ya honey 3
A huge thank you to Spooky_Noodle for meticulously going over this chapter and helping me find typo's and general weirdness - he cleaned a lot of this stuff up. Another thank you to Mike the Remnant Paladin for his proofreading as well.
I'm trying to stick to my minimum of 500 words a day but three intensive, project orientated Graphic Design classes plus impending theatre work plus a new personal project involving learning both Maya, Unity and C# means I need to practice better time management. I barely have time for games ;-;
In an ideal world I'd have several chapters written in advance to create a buffer but lmao nah, i'm flyin' by the seat of my pants and y'all are in for the ride, Ye Dragons (how's that for a nice, gender neutral term?).
Thanks for reading, leave a review and bls send me an ask on tumbumblr at "Stromael-Writes" im lonely and sad.
Cheers!
Stromael