*Author's Note*

Yes, I am finally updating this. Please don't kill me for waiting so long, circumstance and my own failing imagination have made it a difficult thing for me. But, I don't believe in giving this story up, and likely never will if I can help it.

So, after my last chapter, I decided to make Jaune less of a rapist, and more of a hormonally driven teenage male. So, Ruby and Jaune are about to have a much crazier romance now. Anyhow, enjoy.

"Ruby!"

Hmm? Turning back, Ruby saw her teammates all struggling along. Well, it was no wonder. Once she was let loose in a smith's shop, Ruby was like lightning. Confused? Well, let's back up about an hour or so.

Team RAYR was in their dorm as usual, nothing special going on. The weekend had been taking its toll on the hunters, as there had been no special events or otherwise going on around the school, or in Vale. With a lack of stuff to do, the teens had taken to lounging around the room, much to the annoyance of their hyperactive leader.

"Argh, this is unacceptable! Team RAYR, assemble!"

At their tiny leader's sudden outburst, Yang, Jaune, and Rena suddenly turned to see Ruby standing in the middle of the room, hand raised in some kind of sentai hero's pose. With all eyes on her, Rub continued.

"We cannot just sit around here all day doing nothing! This is not what we do. We should go out and train, or go shopping or something."

"Rubes, why can't you just let us be lazy?"

"Yang, if you get any more relaxed, your DNA will become unwound."

"S-shut up Ren!"

"So, Ruby," started Jaune. "What do you propose we do?"

"Well, they just opened up that big Hunter's Mall in the next town over. It's an hour by airship, and it had everything we could hope for. Tool shops, a weapon shop, a smithery, a waterpark, an armory, a food court the size of a small market, a theater, and parts shops."

"Oh, I see. You just want some new materials and tools, huh Ruby?"

"No!" Yang just stared at her. "Well, maybe a little?" Still staring. "Okay, maybe a lot? Whatever, like it matters. We're going, so pack your stuff, get dressed, and be ready to go in fifteen minutes."

Which led them to the current situation. The first store they just happened to see on their way into the mall was, much to the annoyance of Yang who knew this would happen, was a weapon's parts shop. Before anyone could gather their wits, Ruby had already dashed off, her semblance allowing her to move through the store at speeds even a Faunus and their excellent senses couldn't keep up with. By the time her teammates had managed to reach the mechanical parts section, Ruby had already acquired various tools and materials from half of the store, and was still zooming around.

Huffing from a slight loss of breath, Yang began to grunt, before just giving up. "Let's just go wait at the food court. Ruby will be all over this place for a while. Might as well grab a bite and wait for her to come back to us."

Agreeing with Yang, the trio set off to the food court, picking a McDoland's burger joint. The place was rather popular, despite its crudely drawn duck mascot. I mean, the place was cheap, good food, and of course it had free Wi-Fi. So, the three ordered themselves some double Whoopers, milkshakes, and finally settled down. About ten minutes later, Jaune got up and ordered a strawberry milkshake. Oddly enough, she didn't even touch it.

"Jaune, why the extra milkshake?"

"Ren, just wait for it."

Yang simply smirked, knowing Jaune's intentions. Less than a minute later, Ruby came to their table, arms loaded with bags upon bags. Setting them down, she took a seat, just as Jaune passed her the milkshake.

"Oh."

Jaune knew Ruby rather well. Not as well as say Yang, but still well enough to make a rather accurate guess as to when she'd finish up in a weapon's shop. Looking over to her, Jaune saw Ruby slurping down her milkshake at a speed that matched her semblance. But wait, milkshakes are cold... Uh oh... A few seconds later, almost as if on cue...

"Ahh! Brainfreeze!"

"Geez Rubes, this is why you drink cold things slower." Said by the one person who can destroy gallons of ice cream without even a brain chill.

Looking at Ruby rubbing her head furiously, Jaune could not help but smile at how cute the sight was. After Ruby had apparently recovered from her brain freeze, she resumed drinking her milkshake, albeit at a much slower and more controlled pace than before. As the friends finished their food, they began to plan the rest of the day. Ren wanted to step by the 'Red, Wrath, and Beyond' to pick up some new incenses. Jaune wanted to head to 'Stacy's' and pick up some new socks. Ruby and Yang wanted to go to 'Kindles' to pick some books up. Well, Yang wanted to pick up some magazines, and Ruby wanted to get a new book by her favorite author, Dravyn LeCrux. After planning a few more shops, the group went on their little excursion.

Going through a range of shops seemed to be in their favor. At the 'Red, Wrath, and Beyond', Ruby found some nice new soaps and perfumes, from the new Red Like Roses collection. At 'Stacy's', Yang picked up a few new pairs of shorts, claiming her old ones were getting rather frayed and torn. And at 'Kindles', Ren found himself a new novel to read, entitled "The Grimm's Rose". All in all, everyone left finding something they wanted.

After their main trip was out of the way, the team still had some time to do some shopping. Ruby wanted to check out her favorite clothing shop, 'Hot Goth', while Yang wanted to head to 'Levi's' to pick up some more pun-Tee's (much against the suggestions/begging of her teammates and sister to not acquire more). With neither willing to back down, a compromise was made. Jaune will go with Ruby, and Ren would go with Yang. After that was settled, the two groups went their own ways.

At 'Hot Goth', Ruby immediately dove into the section with her favorite combat skirts. The black one piece with a red corset was their more popular item, although Ruby had strangely never seen anyone else wearing it. Regardless, Ruby still loved it and always had a few at home. As her old ones began to get a little tighter around the chest, Ruby had decided it was the perfect time to replace a few and buy a new stock. And while she was at it, buy a few extra Tee's.

Checking through, Ruby found a few Tee's featuring Beowolves, Roses, and Achieve Men. Aside from those, she grabbed a few of the combat skirts in different sizes from the racks. Heading over to the try on rooms, she called back to Jaune.

"No peeking."

"Hey, I am not-"

But Ruby was already in. Closing the door behind her, Ruby began to go through the process of trying on her new haul. Meanwhile, Jaune was left bored and quite alone in the middle of a shop filled with girl's clothes. Oh no. As the second passed, Jaune began to feel more and more awkward, wishing Ruby were back. Of maybe that he was with her...

As Jaune began to let his mind drift to what might be going on behind those doors, he didn't notice a certain blonde girl coming up until it was too late.

"Hey Jauney boy, guess who!"

Snapped out of his reverie, Jaune noticed that Rena and Yang were back for some odd reason. When questioned, Yang told Jaune that apparently, the store hadn't opened that day due to the employees not coming in or some crap. So when they found out they couldn't do any shopping, Yang had decided to literally drag Ren and go back to meet up with Ruby.

"So, where's Ruby?"

"Oh, she's uh, trying on some new clothes in the changing rooms."

While Ruby still changed, Jaune started to chat with Yang and Ren. Though he wasn't a big fan of the atmosphere of the place, Jaune found himself more comfortable thanks to having Ren and Yang around to talk to. As they spoke, Jaune noticed a little roach out of the corner of his eye. As he began to trace it with his eyes, Yang looked over too...

And freaked the hell out.

"EEEEEEKKK! Ew ew ew ew ea! Gross gross gross!"

Without even thinking about it, Yang brought Ember Celica to life, and began to fire at the bug, who just happened to wander in front of Jaune.

"Oh no, oh no, oh n-!"

Jaune's cries were cut short as a blast had sent him flying, straight back in the changing room Ruby was currently using. Feeling a bit dizzy, Jaune tried to stand up, only to put his hand on something soft. Wait, what? Looking at what his hand was on, Jaune noticed his hand was currently resting on the bare naval of his girlfriend, who was half undressed right below him. Jaune took a moment to admire the view of Ruby for a second, before realizing just how screwed he was. Because hanging right next to Jaune's head was Crescent Rose. Fu-

"What just happened? Jaune...?" As Ruby's eyes adjusted, they began to stop being so unfocused, and turned into a glare. Jaune, his fight or flight mechanism honed from years of cowardice, sensed that he would die should he stay there any longer. Without thinking, he planted a quick kiss on Ruby's lips, which seemed to have stunned her long enough for him to get well out of the store. While Ruby sat up, shocked at what had just happened, her anger almost all but forgotten, Yang came in, covered her little sister up, and helped her move to a different, less destroyed changing room.

Back at the food court, Jaune was currently praying to any and every deity he knew of from history, literature, and theology class. He had just witnessed a lovely sight, well for him at least. But he knew that now, he'd likely have both Yang and Ruby try to kill him. Survive Yang? Maybe, with the luck of the Grimm. Survive Ruby? He was nowhere near fast enough. Survive both? It'd just be easier to feed himself to a Beowulf.

A few minutes later, Jaune heard a slight mechanical whirring beginning behind him. Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I don't wanna die! Jaune began to panic. He knew those sounds; his girlfriend's favorite weapon was no stranger to him. Not only had he seen her while she was partially undressed and only in her underwear, but he'd also randomly kissed her. He was dead. He was deader than dead. He was Mystic-Eyes-of-Death-Perception dead. As he considered his options, a blade came around the front, coming extremely close to his neck.

"Anything you would like to say, Jaune?"

Shit.

"Uhm, well... I'msorrypleasedon'tkillmeRubyI'mtooyoungtodieI'msosorry!"

Rushing his words out faster than a sugar hyped Nora, Jaune began to cry what sounded like an apology. Meanwhile, the scythe around his neck was lowered.

"I know what happened Jaune. Yang explained it all to me." Silently thanking the gods and such he had prayed to before, Jaune let out a sigh of relief, but Ruby continued. "What I want to know is, uhm... Well..." Jaune could barely hear Ruby, as her voice had started getting a little softer. "...how was it?" Jaune could not, for the life of him, hear what Ruby, had just said. When he asked her to repeat, Ruby just got all Red in the face. "Forget it!"

Left there, sitting around and stunned at what had just gone on, Jaune just let his mind wander until the rest had decided they wanted to head home. For Jaune, the airship ride home was not so bad this time, as he let his mind wander back to the beautiful sight of Ruby, and the feeling that remained in his hand.

*Afterword*

Yes, I know. I'm taking this in a slightly different direction. I'm adding some RomCom to the mix. Hell, if you guys want me to, I can tone it down, take it out, whatever. I'm just trying to mix some things up, especially as anime has been poisoning my brain lately, in a good way, and leaving me with some interesting ideas for my stories.

Also, I know that I was referencing way too much in this chapter. I know it was slightly narcissistic of myself to add not only my own name as an author for a book that Ruby likes, but also make Ren buy a book that just happened to have the same title as one of my other stories. I submit to you that this isn't me being a narcissist, it's simply me being well... well... S-shut up!

Anyhow, on the subject of my other stories, I'm gonna see what I can do about those soon. TGR has been updated plenty lately, s I'm gonna see what I can do regarding Down the Rabbit Hole soon, if possible. But with my schedule, it may take a day or twelve, so meh. But I promise I'll try. Otherwise, good night, and ciao.