The Vytal Festival Tournament was going to begin tomorrow and because of that fact, everyone was training harder than ever. I went to the gym to do my morning workout and saw an unusual amount of students there, from Beacon as well as other academies. Ren must've been right about the 'muscle fiber density' thing because I found myself getting stronger and being able to push myself further and further than ever before each day.

I was just about to finish a set on the bench press when Yang approached me wearing her gym clothes, which consisted of a bright yellow t–shirt that covered her chest more than her day-to-day attire did and a pair of matching shorts.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked the blonde brawler.

"You're going to do what I say or I'll show it to everyone in the school." She said non-chalantly as she stood beside me, her gaze facing directly forward and her arms crossed.

What the hell? "Yang," I started, extremely confused. "I think you may be confusing me with someone else." I stated.

She just shook her head. "Nope."

I decided to go along with her. "Okay, show what to everyone in the school?" I asked.

She reached into the right pocket of her shorts, grabbed her scroll and held it in front of me as a video clip of my first date with Velvet and our whole conversation at Sal's played on the small screen in front of me. "Now wouldn't it be just a little embarrassing if every student at Beacon heard how you two talk to each other when you think no one else is around?"

I felt my cheeks heat up and I facepalmed as she went on to show several screenshots of me with my arm around Velvet as we hugged in the restaurant and even when she kissed me on the cheek at the end of the date. While I was not at all ashamed of dating a faunus or being in a relationship with Velvet, but I'd still very much prefer it if the specific details of our first date weren't broadcast all across Remnant.

"How did you even get this?" I asked in disbelief.

"Do you remember anyone else in the restaurant that night?"

I gave her a puzzled look. "Yeah, there was a couple sitting in a booth and…and a person sitting on their own wearing a hood." I sighed as I realized that she must've followed Velvet and me ever since we left Beacon. "Okay, what do you want?"

She smirked as she turned to face me, leaning up against the mirror on the wall. "You, Joseph Taren, are going to play a game of truth or dare with both our teams as well as Velvet tonight in our dorm."

"And let me guess, you want me to get Velvet to play as well?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Exactly." She said as she jabbed a finger at me. "I already 'convinced.'" she made air quotes at the word. "Blake and Weiss into playing, as well as Jaune and Pyrrha."

I waited for a second, thinking she was going to continue. "What about Ruby, Ren and Nora?" I asked.

"Well, I only had to mention the game to Ruby and Nora and they both thought it would be fun…" She started.

"…And Nora doesn't do anything without Ren and vice versa." I finished for her, the logic now setting in. I sighed. "All right, I'll-I'll talk to Velvet and see what she says." I said dejectedly.

Yang smiled. "Good." She then took a step away from me and waved away the air in front of her nose. "You uh, might wanna shower first though." I looked at my clothes and noticed two dark spots under my arms on my light grey t-shirt. I nodded back and picked up my duffle bag that still served as my dresser for my clothes as I headed to the locker room.

After showering and changing into some clean clothes, my BO now gone, I headed for team CFVY's dorm without Castor and Pollux on my arms as there was only two situations in which I did not wear them: when I was at the gym or out with Velvet. I knocked on the door and my girlfriend opened it wearing a large brown hoodie, a light brown t-shirt and black sweatpants. I immediately rushed into the dorm and picked her up in a hug as I did so.

"Joe! Put me down!" She said in between giggles.

I smiled to myself. "As her majesty commands!" I said, my voice taking on a regal tone as I dropped her on her bed lying face up and she recovered from her laughing as I leaned over her, smiling widely.

We were like that for about ten seconds, just staring into each other's eyes. We'd only been dating for a week, but as Velvet said; there was definitely something between us that she just didn't feel for any of her previous 'boyfriends'.

"So I assume you didn't come here just to hug me?" She asked in a whisper with a smirk.

"What if I did?" I replied back, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear that had gotten in her eyes during her struggle.

She giggled again. "Well I guess I can't really complain then, can I?"

I smiled back. "Not really." She closed her eyes and I gently pressed my lips to hers, letting the worries of the day just pass us by as we kissed, not one of lust, just pure love for each other. My lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen and I reluctantly pulled away from the connection. I sat on her bed and she sat up next to me.

"Anyway, what's up?" She asked. I let out a slightly frustrated sigh that Yang was making me have this conversation with Velvet.

I shifted my gaze from my feet to Velvet's beautiful brown eyes. "I just want to preface this by saying that I am in no way ashamed to be seen with you, Velvet." Her face bore a slightly concerned expression and her rabbit ears drooped. "You're friendly, charismatic, you have a great sense of humor, the cutest laugh and a personality that's only rivaled by your beauty."

She looked away from my eyes and to the floor. "Joe… are you… are you…" It felt like my heart was almost literally going to snap in two when I heard her trying to choke out the words. I knew she was going to say: 'breaking up with me', but I was not going to let her say it.

"Velvet, please don't even finish that sentence." She looked back up at me and I put an arm around her waist. "I don't even know how I lived my life before you were in it." I said with heartfelt honesty. "Yang apparently got a hold of some photos and a video of us on our first date and she's using them as blackmail, threatening to post them all around the school if we don't play truth or dare with her and her team as well as mine tonight."

She put her head on my chest and let out a small sigh. "I think we should go along with it. I'm not ashamed to be seen with you either Joe, but I just don't want the whole school jeering at us."

"I'm glad we're on the same page then." I replied quietly.

I then heard the familiar voice of one Fox Alistair from the doorway. "So, you guys at fourth base yet?" He said with a wide smirk.

"Shut up Fox, eavesdrop on somebody else's conversation for a change." Velvet said to her teammate leaning against the open doorway with crossed arms.

He shook his head. "I wasn't eavesdropping."

"You lying to us or yourself, Fox?" I asked.

He entered the room and sat at his desk, pulling his Braille book out of one of the drawers. "Little column A, little column B." I heard him mumble.

Velvet let out a sigh and I stood up. "I'll text you once I know the details." I said as I gave her a quick kiss on the lips and left the room.

Later that day, at lunch, the nine of us were gathered around our regular seats and ate in relative silence with the only topic of conversation being how everyone was training for the tournament that would begin soon.

I finished my lunch and looked at Jaune. "So how'd Yang get you to go along with truth or dare?" I asked.

"She somehow got a hold of some real embarrassing pics of me as a kid. Yang said she got them from my oldest sister, but I don't even know how that's possible! Christine's been hard even for the rest of my family to track." He replied in disbelief.

I nodded. "Ah. And Pyrrha?"

"Diary." He said simply. I had learned during the week of dating Velvet that a diary was a girl's best friend. Their confidant, their listener, the one person who wouldn't judge them no matter what they said.

"How did Yang even get a hold of it? We keep our dorm locked just about every day." I asked.

Jaune sighed. "The only two explanations I can think of are that Yang has a second semblance that lets her teleport through walls, or she went in through the window."

"Gonna have to put a lock on that too." I mumbled.

Pyrrha turned away from the conversation she was listening to Yang and Ruby have, faced her partner and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Everything all right?" She asked in a comforting tone.

Jaune let out an exasperated sigh. "Joe and me were just discussing the truth or dare game tonight."

After she noticed the slightly disappointed expression on his face, the champion gave her partner an amorous hug. "Jaune, I think that we should at least try and get some fun out of it." She said.

"That's a little hard to do when you're being blackmailed." I interjected.

"Well, it actually would be a nice break from all the training for the tournament and everything else that's been going on." Jaune added.

I held my head in my hands. "Fine, I'll try to make the best of it."

"So, everyone excited for the sleepover?" I heard Yang say ecstatically.

Blake glared at her partner. "So long as I get my book back by the end of it."

"And you give me back my hairpins!" The heiress added.

Really? She's worried about a couple of stupid hairpins while the rest of us are being blackmailed? I thought as something else entered my mind. "Wait, when did this become a sleepover?" I asked the blonde brawler.

Yang shifted her gaze over to me from the other side of the table. "Ever since I decided that it should be, blay-boy."

"Blay-boy?" I asked, confused beyond all recognition.

"Yeah, 'cause you have blades for weapons and you're dating Velvet, who's a rabbit faunus and playboy's mascot is a bunny?" She said, waiting for me to connect the dots.

I shook my head. "That might be the worst nickname you could've thought up." I said with a light laugh.

"Okay then, what would you call yourself, genius?" She quipped back.

"Badass?" I offered with a smirk.

"Hah!" She laughed sarcastically. "Good one."

Yang then went on to explain when we'd meet in team RWBY's dorm, bring our own sleeping bags, play some games, snack and just try to relax, which I have to admit did sound like a good idea.

I texted Velvet the details and a few hours later, the ten of us were in our pajamas in RWBY's dorm, the six of us visitors with our sleeping bags, except for Velvet, who apparently forgot hers.

"It's all right, you can take mine." I offered.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay, I'm fine with the floor."

"Or you could just share!" Yang called as she sat in front of the TV in the room, playing a fighting game with her sister.

"Yeah, or there-there's that." I said nervously, scratching the back of my neck as Velvet blushed. While both recovered from Yang's suggestion, Jaune, Pyrrha and Weiss talked amongst each other while Nora devoured every piece of food in sight with Ren trying to restrain her while Blake sat on her bed, reading yet another book. Jaune had forgone his rabbit onesie in favor of a white t-shirt and blue sweatpants while Velvet wore a brown (of course) t-shirt and a pair of matching lounge pants, everyone else in their normal nightwear including me.

After about an hour or hour and a half of casual conversation and a few heated fighting games, Yang had an announcement.

"Alright everyone, time for the main attraction!" She said as she reached underneath Blake's bed and produced an empty beer bottle that I don't even want to know where she'd gotten from considering how alcohol was not permitted on Beacon grounds. Yang then walked over to her closet and after a few minutes of searching every pocket of her daily outfit, pulled out a white dust crystal.

"You're not planning on freezing anyone, are you?" I asked.

"Ice crystals are blue, blay-boy." She stated.

"Blay-boy?" Velvet whispered in my ear, just as confused as I had been.

I shook my head. "Just a stupid nickname. I'll tell you about it later." I whispered back.

Everyone sat and we made a circle in the middle of the room, Yang closest to the window facing the doorway with Blake to her right, then Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, myself, Velvet, Ruby, Ren and finally, Nora. Yang placed both the bottle and the crystal in the center of the circle. "This dust crystal is a lie detector. Apparently it can detect certain brain waves or whatever when you lie and it'll glow red. If you tell the truth, it'll stay the same color."

I picked up the crystal. "Mind if I try it?" Yang nodded. "My name is not Joseph Taren." Sure enough, it glowed bright red for a second before returning to its regular white. I set down the crystal and looked around the room. "Okay, who starts?"

"Actually, before we go any further, I suggest we set forth some ground rules." Weiss interjected.

"Aw come on, life's no fun with rules." The brawler said with a smirk.

Ruby raised her hand. "Actually Yang, I think she's right. The last time you and me played this with our friends, it almost ended in disaster." The little reaper said quietly.

Yang let out a sigh. "Fine, lay it on me."

"Nothing that would piss off Goodwitch or any of the other professors." I immediately set forth.

"Nothing of a sexual nature or that requires nudity." Weiss added.

"Nothing that requires us to leave this dorm and everyone gets one pass." Blake piled on.

"Okay, no repeating any questions or dares and you can't target someone who targeted you the previous round." Yang said, adding in her own rules. "Everybody happy?"

"No unfair questions." Pyrrha said quickly.

"How will we know if it's a fair question?" Jaune asked the red haired champion.

"We put it to a vote." She replied.

Yang let out another frustrated sigh. "All right, can we get on with the game already?" She pleaded.

"Yes." We all said in unison, eager to rid ourselves of the blackmail.

"Nice. Now since I came up with the game, I'll start." She spun the bottle and it landed on Nora. "All right, truth or dare, Nora?"

"Dare!" Our bubbly grenadier replied immediately.

Yang smirked evilly. "Kiss Ren." My eyebrows shot up as Nora's face turned the color of a tomato. "On the lips." I suppressed a laugh as our normally completely fearless, creep crushing, ursa-riding Nora became the epitome of nervousness as she pecked her partner on the lips. Ren apparently had all his emotions under control and I could swear I saw the ghost of a smile on his lips as his partner pulled away.

Yang nodded, satisfied. "All right, good start."

Nora wordlessly spun the bottle as her face slowly returned to its normal color. The bottle landed on me and I prepared for the worst.

"Truth or dare, Joe?" She asked.

Feeling like taking a risk, I chose dare.

"I dare you to…" She thought for a moment. "Wear Yang's gauntlets and let her wear yours."

Meh, could be worse. "Just give me a sec." I said as I got up from my sitting position, retrieved Castor and Pollux from my duffle bag in our dorm and handed them over to Yang as she gave me hers. I put on the unusual weapons while Yang slipped her hands into my black-painted gauntlets.

"How do you collapse these things?" Yang asked me as she turned her hands over, examining my signature weapons.

"You don't." I replied. " And by the way, you're wearing them on the wrong hands."

Yang stared back at me, confused. "How do you know?"

"Pollux is supposed to go on your left arm, not your right. The names are engraved on the underside." I said, returning my attention to Yang's gauntlets. "Hey, what's this button…" I accidentally pressed the button that apparently fired a shot from her gauntlets, making it hit me right in the face, my aura taking the damage, leaving me stunned. "Okay, so that fires it." I said, voicing my discovery.

"Hey, what's this do?" Yang asked as she pointed to the pressure switch that extended the blade.

"No don't!" I called out. But it was too late. She applied pressure with her fingers and the blade from Castor extended, ending just short of Jaune's throat. "Take your finger off the switch, Yang." I said calmly. She complied and the blade retracted, leaving Jaune terrified. "Can we switch back now, Nora?" I pleaded.

She nodded with a grin on her face. "Yup." I breathed a sigh of relief and slid out my hands from the weapons as Yang did the same.

After placing Castor and Pollux back in my duffle bag, I returned to my sitting position next to Velvet and spun the bottle, landing on Weiss.

"Truth or dare, ice queen?" I asked the heiress.

She let out a frustrated growl at the mention of the much-hated nickname. "Truth."

"If you had to choose three other people in this room to make up your own team, who would you choose?"

She mumbled something under her breath. "Sorry, what was that?" I asked. She mumbled again. "Still can't hear you." I stated.

"No one, all right! I like my current team and I wouldn't want to be on anyone else's!" She yelled. I smirked as Yang, Ruby and Blake all gawked at Weiss in sheer shock. She then spun the bottle and watched until it landed on Velvet.

"Truth or dare?" She asked, still recovering from her outburst.

"Truth." Velvet replied.

"What do you find so attractive about Joe?" Velvet bit her bottom lip and hung her head to hide the blush I could see forming.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I raised both my hands. "Wait, wait, wait! That technically qualifies as a revenge truth, doesn't it?" I asked, looking to my teammates for support. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha all just grinned and shook their heads while Ren merely shrugged.

"Sorry Blay-boy, looks like you're out of luck there." Yang said with a smirk.

I looked to Velvet and put an arm around her waist. "You can pass if you want to." I whispered to her.

She looked up from the floor and directly at Weiss. "He's protected me since the day I met him, before we even started dating. He's never made fun of me for any of my decisions in life, he's cute, he's my shoulder to cry on and he even told me how to get over a nightmare." As Velvet spoke, I watched the dust crystal as it continued to remain its normal white color. She then looked into my purple eyes and smiled. "That's why I love him."

My heart stopped while my mind raced. We've only been dating for a week. Aren't you supposed to wait a few months before dropping the 'L' bomb? I asked myself. I hid my anxiousness by smiling back and pulling her in for a kiss, which lasted a few seconds longer than it probably should've, given our present company.

"All right, break it up!" Yang said as we separated, my arm still around Velvet's waist. She leaned her head against my shoulder as the bottle spun for a while before landing on Ruby.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" The little reaper said excitedly.

"Eat an oatmeal raisin cookie."

My eyebrows shot up and my jaw dropped. She's much more devious than I thought. Ruby pouted at me and lost her joyful demeanor. "Joe, Velvet's too mean."

I smirked back. "Not my fault."

"Pass." Ruby replied quietly, spinning the bottle again, landing on me this time.

Feeling like taking another risk, I chose dare again. "Tell us a secret about you and Velvet that no one else knows."

Shit. She's trying to get at me through Velvet. "I don't suppose that counts as a revenge dare, does it?" I asked Yang.

The brawler shook her head. "Nope."

I sighed and looked to Velvet; trying to think of the least awkward thing I could say. I didn't want to use my pass either, knowing that someone was undoubtedly going to think of something much worse. "Well, for our first date, we…" that's as far as I got before my blackmailer interrupted me.

"Ah, I already know everything that happened on that date since the second it started, Blay-boy." She said, waving a finger at me disapprovingly.

"All right. We… we made a pact, more of an agreement actually, where if either one of us had a nightmare, they'd come to the other person's dorm and we'd spend the night together." I said as I pulled Velvet close. "Sorry." I whispered in her ear.

"Were you going to tell the rest of us this?" Jaune asked me.

"If it came up, yeah." I said, embarrassed. Okay, no more risks. I thought.

The game continued on for a few more hours, Jaune dropping because he used his pass on a truth from Ren and was forced to quit after a dare from Yang that ordered him to make out with Pyrrha in front of all of us. I had to drop out after I was dared to call Cardin and tell him I was sorry for putting the hole in his shoulder. A trivial task, I know, but I just couldn't think of apologizing to that shitbag. Velvet had involuntarily dropped out after she fell asleep with her head against my shoulder, who was now seated in my lap.

The game probably could've continued on for several more hours, but Weiss pointed out to everyone the fact that they needed their rest for the Vytal Festival Tournament. Blake then mentioned the blackmail and Yang handed a black book with the title 'Ninjas of Love' to the cat-faunus, gave Weiss back her hairpins, returned Pyrrha's diary back to her and deleted the pictures she had on me and Jaune.

"The video too." I said, making sure it was all gone. Our blackmailer was about to delete the last photo of Velvet and me when I stopped her. It was one of us in the restaurant, the both of us smiling and hugging in the booth. "Send that one to me, then delete it."

She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "A little lovesick, are we?" I merely let out a frustrated sigh as she chuckled, sent over the picture and deleted it from her own scroll and the second the picture was in my message box, I set it as my background image. I managed to wake Velvet and she crept into my sleeping bag, making room for me as she shuffled over. As much as I tried though, I couldn't fall asleep.

I looked over at the clock on Ruby and Weiss' shared nightstand, which read 12:15AM.

I breathed deeply and put my head on the cloth pillow of the sleeping bag.

"Joe?" I heard a quiet voice call. "Is everything all right?" I looked to my left to see Velvet's eyes shining brightly in the moonlight.

"Yeah, why?" I replied in a whisper.

"Well, it's just that ever since I said that first truth from Weiss, you've seemed a little distant."

I opened my mouth to tell her everything was fine, but I couldn't speak the words. If you lie in a relationship, you'll never trust each other. My dad's words echoed in my mind. I took a deep breath. "Okay, I…I just think that when you said that you loved me if that might have been moving a little too fast." Velvet avoided eye contact with me. "I'm not saying that I don't like you for saying it, I'm just wondering if we might be moving a little fast in our relationship."

"I-I understand." I heard Velvet whisper in a sad voice as she turned her back to me. Wait, since when does social protocol dictate what people feel for each other? I thought. I love Velvet and it should've made me the happiest guy in the world when she said she loved me, so why didn't it? The answer: BECAUSE YOU'RE LETTING OTHERS MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU, YOU IDIOT! I screamed inwardly at myself. I let out a sigh of embarrassment and put my arms around Velvet's waist, now spooning her.

"I love you too, Velvet. I'm letting others dictate how I feel about you and I shouldn't." I paused. "I'm so sorry." I said in the most apologetic tone I could manage. I was putting her through hell and she didn't deserve it.

Velvet turned over again, facing me and smiled. "It's okay." She leaned in for a kiss and I happily obliged, the two of us falling asleep in the small sleeping bag shortly after.