Thankfully, Fox was right and the wound in my shoulder had mostly healed in two days, allowing for me to be discharged from the infirmary, but the doctors kept my arm in a sling to avoid putting much stress on the shoulder.

Dressed in my normal clothes with Castor on my right arm and Pollux in my right hand, I headed back to the dorm first thing that Sunday morning to let the team know I was okay.

I unlocked the door with my scroll and was greeted by the sight of Jaune sitting nervously on his and Pyrrha's combined beds nervously twiddling his thumbs while his partner hugged him from behind. Nora was mid-sentence, talking to Jaune when I opened the door and Ren was reading quietly at Nora's desk, and there was a fifth empty bed where Pyrrha's had been that I could only assume was mine.

All four of their heads snapped towards me as I walked in and placed my left gauntlet in my duffle bag. "So… did I miss anything?" I asked.

"Joe! You should've texted us that you were out of the infirmary!" Nora yelled as she jumped in front of me.

I cringed at the volume of her voice. "Sorry Nora, but I thought it'd be better if I saw you guys in person."

"Joe, you got hit pretty bad by a second-year student. You should've let us know when you were being discharged." Jaune said.

"Sorry Jaune, it's just that…I just had other things on my mind." I admitted.

"What could be more important than your teammates?" Pyrrha asked, her arms still wrapped around Jaune's waist and her head resting on his right shoulder.

"I-its…" I sighed. How was I supposed to tell them that Velvet meant more to me than they did?

"Joe, what is it?" Ren asked, putting down his book. "We're your teammates. You can tell us anything that's bothering you."

I took another deep breath and gave them the whole story about team CFVY's first year at Beacon and how the 'fight' was really an assessment to see if I was the right guy for Velvet.

"They're really protective of her, aren't they?" Jaune said.

I nodded back. "She's a little too trusting and her team just didn't want to see her get hurt again." Everyone exchanged concerned looks. "But think about it; if we were in their shoes, we would've done the same thing to protect a teammate, right?"

Jaune exhaled deeply and gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess we would've."

I smiled back at my team leader and gestured towards the fifth bed. "So, can I assume that's mine?"

"Yup!" Nora said happily. "I wanted to decorate it, but Ren wouldn't let me." She pouted.

"And by the way, when the doctors removed your mask from the fight, I put it in your bag." Ren said.

I turned around and gave him a nod. "But anyways, I should probably let Velvet know I'm out of the infirmary." I said to my team, heading out the door to team CFVY's dorm.

I just hope she's not mad at me for not texting or phoning her. I thought as I knocked on the second-year team's door.

It only took a single second for the door to open, Velvet to see me standing in the hallway with a smile on her face, dressed in her casual clothes of a light brown t-shirt and jeans with a hoodie and for her to embrace me.

Pain resonated from my shoulder as she tackle-hugged me, but I really couldn't care less. It was just nice to be close to Velvet again.

"Um, Velvet?" I heard Fox say from inside the dorm. "In case you haven't noticed, Joe's arm's in a sling." He pointed out to his teammate. I let out a slightly frustrated sigh as Velvet let go of me.

"How did you know, you can't even see!" I said to the blind man as Velvet let me in the dorm.

"I could hear your clothes ruffling as you moved and I noticed something that wasn't there before, and giving that you were in the infirmary for two days, it was kind of obvious."

"I'm so sorry Joe, I-I just didn't see it and…" Velvet would've kept apologizing but I gave her a one-armed hug and she quieted down.

"Velvet?"

"Yeah?" She asked from over my uninjured shoulder.

"It's alright." I said with a light laugh as I let her go.

She smiled at me as she took a step back. "So… do you feel up to going out tonight?" She said hopefully.

I grinned widely. "That a trick question? Of course I do." I said with nothing less than absolute happiness.

"Okay then, where are we going?" She said with an equally wide smile.

I gave a quick look at Fox, who nodded at me with a smirk, Velvet's back to him. "You'll find out when we get there. I'll pick you up at say, five, five-thirty?" I said.

She gave me a quick nod. "Five o' clock sounds good."

"I'll let Coco and Yatsu know where you've gone." Fox said, looking at Velvet. "They'll probably be either sparring or studying all day."

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you tonight, Joe." Velvet said.

"Yeah, see you then. Oh, and by the way, just dress casually. I like how you look in a hoodie and jeans." I said with a smile as I left the dorm.

Now I've just got to make sure I don't screw this up. I thought worriedly as I walked down the hall to the cafeteria, where I met my teammates as well as team RWBY having breakfast in their regular seats. I grabbed a tray of scrambled eggs and bacon and sat next to Jaune.

"Hi Joe. You doing okay?" Ruby asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My shoulder still hurts a little bit, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"Well I don't see why that second-year student cut you like that. He should've known when you were out of aura!" Weiss said in disbelief.

I sighed and looked at Jaune. "Can you explain it to her? I'm too tired to say it again."

He nodded back at me. "Sure."

"Explain what?" Blake asked.

"I'll tell you later." Jaune said.

After a momentary lull in conversation, Yang broke the silence. "Hey Joe, I heard that you and a certain rabbit faunus are going out tonight." She said with one of the widest smirks I've ever seen.

I nodded. "And Jaune told me that him and Pyrrha are going to be going out on their first date either tonight or tomorrow." I said with a smirk as my team leader stuttered like crazy while Pyrrha blushed.

"I-I never said that!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Actually, you did. You said that Pyrrha and yourself would be going out the weekend after our mission and considering how our mission was on Tuesday and this is the weekend…" I deliberately trailed off to let my logic sink in, realization dawning on him as he sighed.

"Okay, yeah, I guess I did say that. We actually don't know when though."

I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just take your time with it. It's been working with me and Velvet so far." I offered.

"Just watch out Joe, otherwise you might end up with more kids than you intended." Yang said, still smirking.

I sighed. "Straight for the rabbit jokes? Really Yang?" The blonde brawler merely shrugged.

"I've gotta tease someone besides Vomit-boy."

I shook my head and ate my breakfast, deciding to spend the next few hours trying to find a decent outfit besides my normal clothes, finding no solutions. I ended up turning to the only other guy who I knew had a good sense of men's fashion: Neptune. I walked down to where my cousin's team's dorm was and knocked on the door.

My fellow blue-haired friend opened the door and gestured for me to come in. "Hey Joe, how's the arm?" He asked as he sat in his desk chair.

"Well, it's not going to fall off if that's what you're worried about." I said with a smile and taking a seat on my cousin's bed. " Where's Sage and Scarlet?" I asked, looking around the otherwise empty dorm.

Neptune shrugged. "Meh, probably out sparring with each other."

"Okay then, I was actually wondering if you could help me with something." My tone turned nervous.

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm going out with this amazing girl tonight and I want to be dressed in something that looks better than this." I gestured to my normal day-to-day clothes with my good hand.

"Hmm." He tapped a finger against his chin in thought. "Formal or casual?"

"Casual." I replied quickly

"Where are you taking her?"

"A restaurant. Sounds like more of a diner, actually."

"I see." He kept scrutinizing me for a few moments before speaking again. "Well, I think that the black hoodie is good, but maybe swap out the white t-shirt for a dark blue one that matches your hair and I think a pair of either blue or black jeans would work fine and lose the gauntlets. They just don't look good on any outfit."

I looked down at my clothes and nodded at Neptune. Say what you want about the guy, but he sure as hell knows what to wear for every occasion. I thought. "Thanks. But what about the sling?" I gestured to my injured arm. "Do you think that it'll help or hinder me?"

He gave me a small smile. "Definitely help. Chicks dig scars."

I let out a small laugh, left the dorm and headed back to my own to see if I had anything what he'd suggested in my bag. It was a little past noon when I finally found Neptune's recommended clothes at the bottom of my bag. I tried them on and they all fit. The hoodie, dark blue t-shirt and black jeans looked pretty good when combined with each other.

I spent the remaining hours until my date training with Ren on the grass of the courtyard on how to call upon my semblance, making significant strides. Once I had full control, it felt like just flipping on a switch in my mind to make myself taller.

"And Joe, one last thing that I should tell you." The stoic said.

"It's not bad is it?" I asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "No, I was just curious that since your body has the potential to grow taller, you might also be able to add further density to your muscle fiber."

I just looked at him. The only word I got out of that was muscle. "Huh?"

He sighed. "You may also be able to make yourself stronger due to the fact that your semblance allows for further growth." Ren explained, dumbing it down for me.

"So, in order to get stronger, I have to do it myself?" I asked. "My semblance won't do it?"

He nodded back. "Exactly."

"Okay, well thanks a lot Ren. I owe you big time." I said as stood.

He bowed and I left to shower and change into the clothes that I lay out in the dorm. After I put on the t-shirt, hoodie and jeans, I combed my hair for what must've been the fiftieth time in the last three minutes.

"Joe, I'm no expert on dating, but I don't think you should be this worried for a first date." Pyrrha said with a light chuckle.

"Is it too much?" I asked, gesturing to the clothes, my left arm still in the sling.

She shook her head. "No, that's fine, it's just that you're obsessing over the littlest details. If you comb your hair any more, it'll start falling out. Don't go too heavy on the cologne or deodorant and above all, don't be so anxious." She said with almost sage-like advice.

I exhaled deeply. "Okay. Thanks Pyrrha." She smiled back and I looked at the time and my eyes widened. 4:55. "Gotta go!" I said to my teammate as I sprinted out of the dorm, down the halls and up the stairs to Velvet's dorm. Before I could knock on the door though, Fox's voice called for me to come in. Right, blind apparently equals superhuman hearing. I thought as I opened the door to see Fox lying on his bed with his hands behind his head dressed in his combat gear and Coco reading a copy of the 'Vale's latest trends' magazine at her desk wearing a pair of dark brown pants a matching long-sleeved shirt while Yatsu and Velvet were nowhere to be found.

"You know, I've never seen her this worked up over a guy." Coco said to Fox, ignoring my presence.

"Yeah, it's like she really likes him or something." Fox said sarcastically with a smirk.

"He's a really nice guy, Fox!" I heard Velvet's muffled voice shout from the dorm's closed bathroom door. "He told me not to blame you even though you were the one who cut his shoulder!"

I opened my mouth to alert the rabbit faunus to my presence but Coco clamped a hand over my mouth before I could say anything. "So if things were to get serious between you two, do you think you might get married someday?" The fashionista asked her teammate while my cheeks heated up significantly.

A moment's pause, then I heard her nervously say: "I-I don't know." Another pause. "I guess it all depends on whether or not he'd want to or not." At this statement, the other two second-year students shot me looks that could kill a king taijitu.

"You do anything to break her heart and I'll make you eat a bullet." Coco whispered in the most threatening tone I've ever heard.

I removed her hand from my mouth. "Trust me, if I ever do anything to hurt her, I'll eat one of my own grenades first." I whispered back. Coco then smirked and nodded at me approvingly. "Hey Velvet, it's Joseph. Are you ready to go?" I asked, my voice back to its normal volume. Immediately after the words left my mouth, Velvet opened the door to the bathroom, dressed in the same clothes I saw her in earlier today with her long brown hair as straight as ever and sporting an ever-beautiful smile.

"Yup." She said happily.

I gave her a quick nod and smiled back. "Alright then let's go."

We walked side by side down to the docks where we took an airship to Vale.

"I noticed that you change up your clothes a little bit." Velvet said, breaking the silence that had formed during the ride.

"Thanks. I actually got a friend's advice on what to wear." I replied.

"Oh." She replied, shifting her gaze to the floor of the airship, sending us back into an awkward silence.

I gently nudged her arm with my own. "Hey. Everything alright?"

She gave me a weak smile. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Great job Joe, you already fucked it up! I thought to myself. Shortly after, the airship docked, we disembarked and Velvet flipped up her hood so that it covered her head and rabbit ears, despite the fact that it wasn't very cold out. I pushed the thought out of my mind and moved on. "So, do you want to go to dinner or the movie first?" I asked.

"I think I can wait to eat." She replied, her earlier demeanor forgotten.

I nodded back and offered her my uninjured arm, which she took as I led her down the streets of downtown Vale to the movie theater. We decided on seeing the Terminator movie that had come out recently and after an hour and a half of robotic massacre, headed off to dinner.

"So do you have any preference on where to eat?" I asked Velvet as she walked beside me, her hood still covering her head.

She shook her head. "No, not really."

Perfect. I thought with a smile. "Well, I know this nice little place a few blocks away that makes some really good soups." I said.

Her face brightened up at the suggestion. "Sounds good." I nodded and led her to the restaurant that Fox told me about when I was in the infirmary. After a few minutes of walking in a comfortable silence, we arrived at our destination: a small restaurant by the name of 'Sal's Soups and Suppers'.

I saw Velvet's face light up at the sight of the place. A fairly small establishment with a white and blue tiled floor, standard ceiling lights, a couple of booths, tables with a white marble counter separating the customers from the employees, a cash register on the far left side. I opened the door for my date to enter and she silently flipped back her hood, exposing her head and rabbit ears to the open air as she entered. Only three other people were there as customers besides Velvet and myself. In the corner in a booth sat another couple talking over a cup of coffee in a booth while a lone figure wearing a green hoodie and black jeans sat at a table, their back to us. At the cash register was an old, fairly muscular wolf faunus of about fifty with short and straight jet-black hair, light green eyes and wolf ears rather than human ones. He was wearing an apron with a name tag that read 'Salvador' on the front along with a few cooks I could see working in the back.

"Hi Sal." Velvet said with a wide smile as she greeted the man at the register.

He grinned back and threw both his arms outwards. "Velvet! So good to see you again! And what's my favorite and best customer doing here on a night like this?"

"Wait, you've been here before?" I asked her, feigning my actual knowledge.

She nodded back at me. "I used to come here all the time as a kid and Sal would give me a free meal every once in a while."

"Her parents are doctors at the hospital and they helped my son after he got injured, so I figured that I owed them something." I saw Sal's grin fade slightly. He shook his head. "But anyway, what can I get you two?"

I turned to Velvet. "Any recommendations?"

She nodded back at me and looked at Sal. "I'll have the carrot soup and my…um…" I looked at her, puzzled. "Date." She said nervously. "Will have the chicken noodle."

Sal let out a hearty laugh. "Alright then, your regular seat's still open. He said, gesturing to an open booth in the back right corner of the room.

Velvet nodded to the man and we sat in the cushioned seat beside each other. "So how often did you used to come here?" I asked.

She sighed. "Quite a bit. I'd come here to get away from the bullies that would pick on me when I was training at Signal or whenever I felt sad."

Fox failed to mention that. I thought with a frown. "So is that why you kept up your hood all this time?" I asked, remembering that she'd kept it on since we landed, even in the theater.

She nodded back and looked up, her gaze never reaching my eyes. "I just don't want to be bullied anymore."

I put my good arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as I noticed tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Velvet." I started quietly. "You don't have to be afraid of who you are or about being picked on by anyone else. You've got your team, the professors at Beacon and me protecting you. I can promise you; that if anyone wants to get to you, they'll have to get through us first." She gave me a weak smile and a hug. "Not to mention Yatsu. And not even an alpha beowolf can get through him." I said with a smile, trying to inject some humor into the situation.

Apparently it worked because she let out a giggle and wiped away the tears. "Thanks Joe, that really means a lot." Velvet said as she released me from the embrace.

"Anytime." I replied as Sal brought over our soups, placing them on the table in front of us.

"Bon appetite." He said with a bow.

"Thanks, Sal." Velvet said, immediately digging into her meal.

"Yeah, thanks." I added, following slowly after Velvet. I wasn't a huge fan of soups. I always saw them as bowls of flavored water with other objects in the way. Until of course, I took that first spoonful.

I really couldn't say what made this soup so different than the others, but to say it was absolutely delicious would be a massive understatement.

"So, how did you find out about this place?" I heard my date ask from in between mouthfuls of soup.

I swallowed a spoonful of my own meal before responding. "Well, I was just…" I looked in her eyes as she looked into mine and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't lie to her. There was no physical force in this world that could make me lie to the amazing and beautiful person sitting beside me. I exhaled and took a moment to collect my thoughts. "Fox…Fox told me how you used to visit this place as a kid and he said it would be a good place to take you for our first date." I explained. "I was in the infirmary from the sparring match and I couldn't think of any really good place to bring you for our date, so he decided to help me out." She looked back down at the table in front of us. "If you're mad, I completely understand. I mean, how many guys do you know that are as unoriginal as me?" I said, completely ashamed.

She quickly looked up from the table and at me. "N-no! It's not that!" She said quickly, seeing the saddened expression on my face. "Joe, this is the best date I've ever been on." She said with a light laugh. "You got help from your friends in order to prepare properly for tonight whereas I've just treated this date like any other I've been on. I just feel like I haven't been treating tonight with the same amount of attention as you, and I feel bad for it." She said, her gaze returning to the table.

I breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. "So, back on the airship to Vale, when I told you how I got a friend to help with my clothes, you were just worried that you didn't put in the same amount of effort as I did?" I asked, to which she merely nodded and I chuckled again. "Velvet, that is the least of my worries. What I was worried about was the possibility that you wouldn't enjoy yourself tonight."

She looked back up at me, smiled and gave me another hug. "This has been the best night of my life." She said, making me grin wildly and blush.

"Th-thanks. It's actually the first date I've ever been on." I replied.

She released me from the hug and I explained how I've never had a girlfriend and never kissed another girl besides Velvet, which apparently was hard for her to believe. We finished our soups but still sat at the table, making small talk about what our childhoods were like and our time at Signal. I told her how I met Andrea and why I carried her sword with me whenever I fought grimm, even though I knew Velvet already knew the rest of the story about how she died.

"I'm-I'm sorry you lost her, Joe." She said in a gentle tone.

I nodded and kept my gaze to the table. "Yeah. So am I." After an awkward silence, I looked at the time on my scroll, which read 7:56. "Anyway, it's getting kind of late. You want to head back to Beacon?"

She gave me another adorable smile and nodded. She then shuffled out of the booth and I went to pay for the soups at the register, where Sal was waiting. The bill came to ten lien, I gave him a twenty-lien card and he gave me an odd look.

"Just give me a five. The other five is a tip." I explained.

He shook his head and smiled as he gave me five lien. "No, sorry it's just that you look like someone that I feel like I should recognize."

"Maybe he's someone your son or daughter introduced you to?" Velvet offered from behind me.

Sal's smile faded as he shook his head again. "No, we've definitely never met before. I never forget a face." He said, his tone bordering on depressed.

"Show him that photo. Maybe Joe met them and never realized it." Velvet said.

Sal nodded, opened his wallet and handed me a photograph the same size as my scroll.

The sight of the picture made my blood run cold. In the picture were the faces of Elias and Denara standing on either side of Sal, each with a hand on his shoulders and smiles on their faces as they stood in front of the restaurant. It looked to be taken about a year ago; Elias' hair slightly shorter than what I remember while Denera's was much longer, ending about halfway down her back. Elias wore a t-shirt the same shade of green as his hair with black jeans while his sister was wearing a dark red hoodie, black t-shirt and blue jeans. I felt my knees buckle and my found myself out of breath as I sat on the cold floor of the establishment, leaning up against the counter as I stared at their faces.

Velvet bent down next to me and shook my shoulder. "Joe! Joe, are you all right?" Her voice filled with concern.

I shook my head and slowly regained strength in my legs as I stood up and faced Sal, who had a worried expression on his face. I handed the picture back to him.

"Your son's name was Elias and your daughter's was Denara, right?"

He nodded, his expression turning to one of disbelief. "You knew them?" He asked.

"They were my friends. I'm just sorry that I couldn't protect them on initiation day." That was all I could think to say to the father of my deceased friends.

He shook his head. "Not your fault. They knew what they were getting into when they were selected for Beacon."

I nodded. "The world would still be a better place with them in it though." I said sadly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think the thing I miss most about them is whenever Elias would use a pick-up line on some girl and Denara would apologize to her for his actions." Sal said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

I laughed. "Yeah, the exact same thing happened when I first met them. Elias tried hitting on my old friend from Signal and Denara apologized."

We then settled into an awkward and saddened silence as we both recalled our fond memories of the wolf-twins.

"Well, thanks for the soup, Sal. Perfect as always." Velvet said from beside me.

"Yeah, come back anytime, Velvet." He said. The old wolf-faunus turned his gaze to me. "It was nice meeting you…" He waited for me to finish.

"Joseph." I said with my hand extended. "Just call me Joe."

He returned the handshake and smiled. "Joe. Hopefully I'll see you both here again sometime."

I nodded as he released my hand and Velvet and me headed out the door for the airship docks. We caught the last flight to Beacon by a matter of seconds with a couple other students, a couple of whom appeared to have gone drinking, as either a third or fourth-year guy wearing brown cargo pants and a black t-shirt with messy dark grey hair across from us was talking with his friends, slurring his words and laughing unnecessarily loud. The drunken guy looked around until his blue eyes settled on Velvet and he shot her a wink with a stupid grin on his face, but she simply turned her gaze to the front of the airship. A feeling immediately flared up in my chest. Whether it was anger or jealousy, I couldn't tell. The guy then stood up, stumbling slightly as he crossed the space between us and sat in the empty seat to Velvet's right with me on her left. "Well, hey there, hotness." He said. That feeling became more akin to anger now. "How's about you come back with me to my dorm and we make a few bunnies?" His eyebrows moved up and down lazily as he spoke.

"Uh, um… no thanks." She said to him politely. "I'm actually with someone else right now." She then pointed a thumb at me.

He leaned forward in his seat to look at me, nearly falling out of it as he did so. "Aw, he's a loser! But me, I'm a freakin' sex-machine!" He replied loudly with both his arms raised as if he was just crowned a champion.

"Hey!" I shouted at him. "She's with me and she asked her to leave, so I suggest you do so." I said threateningly.

His expression turned serious. "I don' take no for un answer, bud. She's coming with me." He then grabbed Velvet by the wrist and tried to pull her out of her seat as he stood, but I was on him in a second. I grabbed the hand that had a hold of Velvet and compressed his fingers together. He yelped in pain and immediately let go. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him up against the metal wall of the airship, his feet dangling half a meter off the floor.

"She asked nicely." I deadpanned at him. "I'm not gonna. Leave. Her. Alone. I may only have one good arm, but I can still snap your neck before you can blink." I let him drop to the floor and he grumbled something at me before sitting next to his friends, who had ignored the confrontation. I continued to glare at the guy as I took my seat next to Velvet and the ship docked at Beacon.

Upon landing, I offered her my arm and she held it, letting her guide me back to her room.

"Well, here it is." I said, gesturing to team CFVY's dorm.

"Yeah." She said quietly, her gaze to her feet as she let go of my hand. Yup, you done fucked up, Joe. Nice job. I chastised myself.

"Hey." I said. "What's up?"

"W-well, it's… it's just that…" She sighed and looked me in the eye. "Joe, while I very much appreciate that you're willing to protect me from anyone who wishes to harm me, I just want you to exercise some restraint."

I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess I do have a bad record for going overboard." I admitted, remembering what I did to Cardin. "Okay. I promise to ease up and I'll try to avoid anymore physical confrontations." I vowed.

Velvet looked up from the floor and gave me another beautiful smile, making me smile back. "That's all I wanted." She said as she hugged me, which I guess was now our version of a handshake, considering how often it happened.

"So, any chance that you'd be willing to go out with me again?" I asked, not really sure how to proceed.

She didn't say anything, merely pulled back from the hug, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and went into her dorm, leaving me stunned and grinning stupidly to myself in the hallway.

I guess that's a yes. I thought as I headed back to my own room.