Just Act Casually

AN: This chapter ought to be fun. I've done stuff like this before but not to this extent. There's not much to say that hasn't been said before. But chapters like this, are why I love doing romance now.

Chapter 10: The Day After

Jaune's eyes drifted open. He couldn't feel his left arm. As he stirred, he remembered what had happened the night before. The naked woman he was spooning was a testament to that memory. She looked so peaceful. Her bare backside was flush against Jaune's equally naked front.

A light snore left her mouth as she continued to sleep. Jaune didn't want to disturb her. So, he adjusted his body. He slid his left arm as best he could to get out from underneath her. The compromised position only got worse as the sleeping Ruby rocked her body closer to his. Any other scenario, and this would have been amazing. But he really wanted his left arm to be free.

He successfully pulled his arm out and shook it. After a minute, feeling returned to the appendage. Now he could just watch his most recent date sleep in content. He slid a hand down her thigh and stomach, feeling her creamy smooth skin. She really was something wasn't the most conventionally attractive girl on the planet but there was something about her carefully maintained poise that made her so much more appealing than anyone else Jaune had been with. Either that or Jaune's judgement was clouded by the mind-numbing sex the two had last night.

"Hrng." Ruby ground her bottom into him. She turned around so that her head was now facing his chest. "Morning Jaune." She smiled.

"Morning sunshine." He kissed the top of her head. One of her legs slid between his and her other legs was thrown on top. She giggled as she traced his muscles with a single finger. They were both aroused again.

"Whatever jokes may come in the following hours, days, weeks and years, I want you to know you were really good."

"I'm pretty sure I'm just more practiced than you." He bragged.

"Yeah, but only with one person." Ruby stated.

"Three now, with you and Reese."

"Oh yeah, completely forgot about her. You took my advice and dropped that skank, right?"

"Well, I'd hate to talk about other girls while you're playing naked twister with me under the bedsheets, but I haven't seen her since I brought her over."

"That's good to know."

"It's also good to know you enjoyed yourself last night. I didn't even need confirmation from you today."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've never heard you, sequel with delight as much as you did when I did some of my moves."

"Well, sex will do that to me." Ruby said. "What about you? Mr. Shivers Me Tender."

"Huh?"

"That noise you make when you get pinched in the back of the neck. You totally go yar! And shiver like you got left in the cold."

"Hey, it's just me holding in the laughter." Jaune said. "You know I'm ticklish."

"Oh, do I ever." Her fingers started attacking him in every spot she knew to be sensitive. Jaune burst out laughing. She twisted her body to straddle his waist keeping him down to tickle him more. His face was going red with laughter. Then, he used his strength to toss her away. But she had locked her legs around his waist so they both tumbled to the floor. But Jaune managed to get on top. He grabbed her hands and stretched her arms out.

"We should probably start our errands for the day." Jaune said.

"Yeah, as much as I'd like to just sit and fuck all day…we basically wasted yesterday away so…we should probably do something productive." She kissed him on the lips as they both stood up.

"I'm going to get in the shower." Jaune said. Ruby smelled her armpits.

"I should probably take one too." She said. A devious smile crossed her face. "Thinking what I'm thinking?"

"It would be efficient." Jaune said.

"Wow, way to take something sexy and make it boring." Ruby shook her head.

"It's a gift." Jaune rolled with it.

After a nice long hot shower, they both got dressed. Jaune took his bedsheets and threw them in with the dirty laundry. Ruby grabbed a glass of milk and a bowl of cereal. Jaune got a bowl as well and sat down across from her.

"So, last night was fun." Ruby said.

"You already said that."

"Well was it good for you?"

"Of course, it was. The shower was fantastic too." Jaune said. Ruby laughed a little bit.

"I've never had shower sex before."

"Really?" Jaune had a hard time believing it.

"The closest I've had, were a few baths with Whitley."

"Oh yeah, forgot the Schnees would rather bathe than shower."

"Yeah, I get it, but I'd rather shower."

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Jaune asked.

"Well, we need to shop for some supplies." Ruby contemplated. "We should probably go ahead and take some small, one-day jobs to fund our lives for a while."

"You…taking small jobs?"

"I never said I'd like it." Ruby said. "But looking at those bills I had to pay, I don't think big jobs every once in a while, is enough."

"You really hadn't thought this whole, independent living thing, out have you?" Ruby got flustered at the remark.

"I thought it out enough to have a roommate." She defended.

"Yeah, I'll give you that." Jaune shrugged. Ruby smirked a bit.

"So, are we…a couple now?" Ruby seemed genuinely curious.

"What do you want us to be?"

"I'd like you as a boyfriend. Second best part would be the sex."

"Second? What's the first?"

"Knowing there aren't any dirty little secrets, no skeletons in your closet or crazy ex-girlfriends I need to worry about."

"Yeah I'm the one who's going to have to fight your seven evil exes."

"Only one of my exes counts as evil." Ruby said. "But by all means, beat his ass. Lord knows I won't stop you."

"I'm not about to beat the shit out of Weiss' little brother. But if he starts shit…"

"Oh God, what are we going to tell our friends?" Ruby said. "If we're a pair now, how do you think they'll react?"

"I think…they'll be glad for us." Jaune put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just worried that I may have pushed it too fast."

"That…may be. Only time will tell. I think things will work between us but jumping the gun, just a day after Oscar broke things off with you, might not have been for the best."

"I'd agree. It's just funny hearing this from you. After that one girl, you slept with just a week after dumping Pyrrha."

"One, I was the dumper. Two, and where is she now?"

"Point taken." Ruby turned around. "Back to business. After we go shopping and whore ourselves out to the highest bidder, what next?"

"Well I know this nice Mistrallian restaurant on the west end of town."

"I don't think we can afford to go out to eat at a place like that."

"Well then, I'll cook you something." Jaune said.

"Aww, you don't have to." Ruby blushed.

"It's no problem." Jaune stated. "I'm actually quite fond of cooking."

"I thought you just did it to feel useful around the house when you were with Pyrrha."

"That too. I didn't get much chance to cook when we were at Beacon because…well, Ren."

"Mmm." Ruby hummed. "Master chef Ren. Yeah, we definitely need to make a trip out to Mistral sometime."

"I know, ever since they got married they just kinda…pissed off."

"Awe, someone has abandonment issues."

"Oh yeah, what about your team. You are literally scattered around Remnant. And at least I've got all my family here in Vale."

"Ooh, low blow." Ruby said. "Speaking of which, when should I tell Yang."

"Your call." Jaune said. "I'd like to see her reaction though."

"True…when are we going to tell my dad?"

"Honestly I'm more worried about my dad." Jaune said. "My whole family loved Pyrrha. They'll probably be upset for me to jump into a relationship so soon. Especially if it's with you."

"Yeah, doesn't one of them like, think the two of you are getting back together?"

"It'll never happen. Anyone who says otherwise is just delusional." Jaune looked up to the ceiling.

"What're you looking at?"

"The fans." Jaune said. "They need to be dusted. Maybe we can do some spring cleaning."

"It's the middle of July."

"And it looks like you haven't done a good cleaning of this place in a long time."

"Hey, neither have you."

"Exactly. We can make the day out of it. Listen to music, sing, dance, that sort of thing." He grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"I'd like that." She ran a finger up his chest. "The dancing anyway."

"Ooh, next time we go to the club will be fun."

"It'll be nice to go home with someone who will still be there in the morning." She said with more seriousness than she probably intended.

"Yeah…that's true." Jaune nodded.

"How in the flying fuck haven't we well…fucked…before last night?"

"I'd like to think we just loved the pleasure of each other's company."

"Yeah, I guess if we would have done it like, I don't know, during that trip to Haven, things would not have turned out the way they did."

"It's like you told me, patience is key."

"But we didn't even know we were being patient."

"And that's the beauty of it." Jaune said. "Do you believe in destiny?"

"Well, I do…a lot actually." Ruby said with little hesitation.

"I never bought into predetermination or any of that but…I do see life like one of those video games that give you a lot of choices. Your choices dictate which of the divergent paths you go down. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the minute I got tired of being coddled by Pyrrha was the minute life put me on a path towards you."

"It is pretty convenient that you needed a place to live at the same time I needed someone to occupy that room." Ruby shrugged. "I guess I'm more wholeheartedly into destiny than you. But I guess when you're born a talented warrior who has the power to petrify Grimm…you sort of start believing."

"Oh…" Jaune snapped his fingers. "Speaking of convenience. We should decide who moves into whose room. Then we can maybe rent out that room. Make life a little easier on us."

"Or harder if we're not careful." Ruby said.

"True enough." Jaune said. "Alright, we have our to-do list. Let's go."

AN: Well, that's it for today. I'm going to watch Samurai Jack for the rest of the day. I'm trying to rewatch the whole series before watching the new stuff. So yeah, that jab at certain parts of the fandom though.