Hello again!
It's really been awhile, but I am still slowly working on this. I would usually talk about how my life has been and give excuses for taking so long, but I don't believe that this is the time for this. And I'm going to keep this short.
I was floored when I learned of Monty's passing and I wish his family and the entirety of Rooster Teeth the best in these troubling times.
But this is not only a time for mourning his passing, but for celebrating his life. Monty has made such a difference in my life, despite never having met him, through RWBY and I can guarantee that no matter how RWBY is affected by this, I will remain in the fandom to celebrate Monty's dream and brain child that has made my life so much better.
With that, I will leave you to the story.
If you enjoyed and are not already following, be sure to!
Thanks for reading,
Court
Jaune blearily opened his eyes to the usual bustle of his teammates preparing for the day. Weiss was putting her hair in it's usual offset ponytail, Blake was fixing her bow in the mirror above Weiss while Yang was playing the console that she had hooked up to the large TV on their wall. He sat on the side of the bed and mumbled a slight greeting to the girls, sliding off and stumbling to the bathroom.
He hit his pinky toe on the doorframe, resulting in a yelp and a few amused chuckles from Yang. He flipped her off, only causing her to laugh harder and closed the door.
He jumped into the shower, letting the warm water wash over him as he lathered his hair with his shampoo. The door opened, revealing Weiss, who quickly apologized and went to brush her teeth. Jaune was glad that the shower glass was frosted, with the many times that he caught her eyes flicker towards him, occasionally catching his eyes with a stubborn glance. After what was probably much longer than it should've taken her to brush her teeth, someone tapped on the door and Blake's voice informed them that she and Yang would see them at breakfast. Both of them responded with an affirmative and Jaune shut off the shower and dried off with the strategically hung towel on the side of the shower. He stepped out of the shower hesitantly, not sure why his partner was still lingering in the bathroom.
"I'm going to get dressed." He warned her, jabbing his thumb towards the door.
She nodded, ghosting her eyes over his chest with a slight blush. He stepped out and slipped on his clothes as quickly as possible, knocking once on the door when he was done.
They'd done this before and that was the teamwide sign that said 'I'm not naked.' Yang didn't use it and Jaune had walked in on her several times since they did the do in the forest. He had not really known what to do apart from stutter and back out of the room which was usually met with friendly teasing about how they'd 'fucked each others' brains out' and that he couldn't look at her without blushing even when she was wearing her undershirt. He defended himself by saying that she rarely wore a bra with them. Weiss backed him up, having just gotten back from her semi-weekly study session with Annabeth, Reyna and Hazel with Blake.
The opening of the bathroom door shook him from his thoughts as Weiss walked over to him. He quickly stood up as she reached him. She grabbed his neck and kissed him soundly, resulting in a brief muffled shout of surprise from the knight before his hands found their natural resting place on her waist, squeezing hard enough to cause her to gasp and invade her mouth with his tongue. He enjoyed the control for about three seconds before his foot was roughly crushed by hers and in the pain, she invaded his.
Before they could get much farther, Weiss' phone went off, signaling twenty minutes from classes. They disentangled themselves reluctantly and walked down to the cafeteria.
They were greeted by a rather joyful group of teammates since they had returned from Forever Fall the day before and were given the day off to relax. They and RNPR had elected to head into Vale without the companionship of APPL or RFHJ since they were going to Forever Fall today. He sat down next to Pyrrha, the other team leader, and they started discussing the drawbacks that Professor Peach had written up after their brief encounter with an Ursa Major.
"So Peach mentioned that I tend to shoulder most of the burden when fighting, what would you say about that?" Jaune considered her question, wanting to confirm what Professor Peach said without being too blunt or rude about it. Pyrrha noticed his pause and rolled her eyes. "Just give it to me straight Jaune."
Unfortunately for them, Yang overheard that comment.
"Oh, trust me Golden Girl. He's very good at giving it to you straight. Trust me." Pyrrha's face went as red as her hair as Jaune rolled his eyes at his teammate.
"Y'know Ruby was right behind you, right?" Yang paled and turned around to see Ruby chatting with Nora about the various weapon stores that they were planning on going to while in Vale. Yang let out an audible sigh and focused a glare at her leader. He raised his eyebrow at her.
"Discretion." Yang flipped him off again and he chuckled while Pyrrha looked on in confusion.
"Why does it always smell like fish here?" Weiss wrinkled her nose.
"Because we are at the harbor?" Yang looked at her wryly. "Follow up question: Why are we at the harbor? Especially if it always smells like fish. Even Blake wouldn't like this that much. Good thing she and Jaune are at the bookstore."
"Since the participants from Vacuo are most likely going to be arriving by boat, I thought that we ought to welcome them and be welcoming hosts." Yang crossed her arms and leaned against the railing, while the heiress squirmed under her gaze.
"If it wasn't for the fact that you're just as head over heels for Jaune as I am, I'd accuse you of wanting to encounter, sorry 'welcome' the cute boys that were coming to the festival. Now I just think that you're weirdly obsessed with social protocols." Weiss huffed.
"Now that you brought it up, what are we going to do about this? All three of us are clearly interested in him..." Yang shrugged, not exactly seeing the problem.
"Well..." Yang was torn. She didn't really know when she figured it out, but sometime recently, she realized that she was bisexual and Jaune wasn't the only person on her team that got her hot and bothered. Yang was completely fine with the fact that she was bi, but the concerning thing for her was the fact that her entire team got her in the mood. She'd had many sleepless nights where she'd laid awake and had to fight an urge to climb into one of the other's bed and have her way with them.
"Yang? You okay? You're getting red." Yang jumped and started hyperventilating. Weiss was close, very close. Close enough that she could reach out and grab the smaller girl and kiss her.
And she really wanted to.
So naturally, she ran away.
Jaune and Blake were holed up in the back corner of the bookstore, a quaint joint that Blake often visited since she was good friends with the owner, Tukson. Blake had claimed the bean bag and had propped her feet on Jaune's lap, reading a novel that she was looking into as he was nestled in the oversized armchair across from the bean bag, tapping away on his phone. He ghosted his fingers along her bare foot on his lap, causing her to flinch slightly and suppress a giggle. Her amber eyes looked up and caught his.
"Hmm?"
"I've booked the Queen's suite at The Turbinsky for the next three weekends. Do you have a better idea as to when we will need it?" Blake gave a slight smile at her friend's thoughtfulness that quickly turned into a small frown.
"No, sadly. It is hard to predict my heat, but it will become very obvious when it shows up." Jaune chuckled at how he remembered the first time she went into heat. His room was the weirdest smell for the longest time. His sisters eventually asked him if he was keeping a dead raccoon in his room, before Blake and his oldest sister, who was also Faunus explained to him what was happening. He remembered how he had stood there comatose for about an hour and chuckled lightly. Blake kicked him, glaring at him for laughing at her discomfort.
"Hey! I was remembering when you and Violet explained to me was going on your first time. I'm laughing at myself." Blake smiled and rolled her eyes. She remembered.
She had just opened up her mouth to speak when Jaune's phone went off. He checked it quickly, his face morphing into a concerned mask as he read.
"Yang's at Junior's. She wants to talk to me about something."
"You should go. This sounds rather personal. I wish I could help, I've known her as long as you."
"Yeah, well you never want to anger the dragon. Could you pick this up for me?" He held out a book with enough lien to pay for it.
Sherlock Holmes.
Blake smiled, but it faltered.
"Jaune?" He paused as he was buttoning his jacket.
"Yeah?"
"Did you and Yang hook up?"
"I, uh, I mean-"
"So yes?" He nodded mutely.
"Are you jealous?"
It was Blake's turn to be flustered.
"I- I feel like it, but it's more than before? I don't know. Go talk to Yang, I'll see you at Beacon." She hugged him briefly, then waved him off.
She was confused.
When Jaune walked into the club, he felt the beat seeping into his bones.
Frankly, he was surprised. He assumed that Yang would try to break everything.
She had done it before.
Many times.
He wove his way through the dancing crowd, towards the bar where he saw the familiar mane of golden hair that was Yang's. He bumped into someone and apologized, patting the man on the back. When he finally struggled through the throng of people, Yang was slumping on the bar, sipping on a scotch while ignoring a few guys who were posted up on either side of her.
Jaune rolled his eyes.
"Yang!" She straightened up and turned to the sound. Her face relaxed considerably when she saw him.
"Jaune!" She walked up to him and hugged him fiercely. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the floor, asking a silent question. He obliged.
After a few songs, they returned to the bar. Jaune ordered a virgin cuba libre, while Yang picked up the scotch that she had left there. Jaune opened his mouth to intervene, but before he could speak, she downed it.
"Thanks for coming." Yang looked subdued, quite different than usual.
"Of course, what's up?"
"C-could we talk about it at Beacon? It's weird, I don't know." Jaune cocked an eyebrow in concern, but she shook her head and got up, and grabbed his hand, guiding him towards the exit. They walked out onto the street and made their way back to the airship depot. As they walked, Yang seemed to be becoming more and more sluggish and leaned more and more on him as they walked along.
By the time they arrived at the depot, Jaune was virtually carrying her.
"Jaune! Yang!"
"Are you guys okay?"
Earlier-
Weiss' scroll beeped and she read the message from Blake, Yang texted Jaune, she's meeting him at a bar that she once trashed and now has unlimited free drinks at, you still at the harbor?
Weiss replied, Yeah?
I'll meet you there.
K
Ten minutes later, Blake strolled up to the heiress.
"Hey."
"Hello, how are you?"
"Alright. Worried about Yang."
"Yeah it was weird, she was looking at me and getting red. I just mentioned that all three of us were interested in Jaune and that made things complicated." Blake didn't really know how to respond to that.
"Well, do you think that it's just Jaune for her? It's not for me."
"What do you mean?"
"I-I'm pansexual. I can be attracted to anybody, regardless of gender. Maybe, Yang's like that. Or bi."
"Oh." Weiss' brow furrowed with confusion. This wasn't covered in her tutoring."What is that?"
Blake was floored.
"It's hard to explain-"
"What's hard to explain?" The two girls were so deep in conversation, they didn't notice the cruiseship dock and crowd of people disembark, and a blonde monkey faunus and a suave looking blue-haired guy walk up.
They jumped and reacted like they were trained to.
Seconds later, both boys were flat on the ground, staring down the length of the weapons of the girls.
"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH. We come in peace. I'm Sun, that's Neptune." The monkey faunus yelled from the ground, jabbing his thumb at his friend who weakly wove back, his eyes fixed on the point of Weiss' rapier that was about half an inch from his nose. The girls exchanged looks and warily lowered their weapons, still eying the boys with mistrust.
"What a welcoming committee. Can we at least get the names of the two girls who almost killed us for the first time today?" Neptune stood up, brushing off the nonexistent dirt on his clothes. Weiss glared at him.
"I'm Blake, this is Weiss." Sun pulled out a banana out of nowhere and peeled it deftly. He spoke with a full mouth, causing Weiss to scrunch her nose in disgust.
"We're supposed to report to Beacon. Do guys happen to go there?" Blake just rolled her eyes at Sun's lack of manners.
"Sure. We were just heading back now, so you can tag along." They turned away and started walking in sync. Blake could hear the boys muttering behind them.
"Dude, what's going on?"
"I don't know, usually they're easier to flirt with. We should follow them, they are leading us to Beacon."
"Okay."
Blake heard the two jog to catch up and looked at Weiss. From her expression, she heard their discussion too. The boys appeared flanking them, Sun on Blake's side and Neptune on Weiss'. As Neptune tried to engage the frigid heiress in a conversation, Sun started talking with her.
"So, you never answered my question earlier."
"Hmm?"
"What's hard to explain."
"It's personal."
"You can tell me if you want."
"Well I don't want to. That's what my team is for."
"Who's in your team?"
"Weiss and myself, and my childhood friends, Yang and Jaune."
They had arrived at the airship depot, where Blake and Weiss sat down on a small, uncomfortable bench and Sun and Neptune hovered in front of them awkwardly. Weiss pulled her phone out to text Jaune that they were at the depot while Blake pulled up a game on hers. The two boys seemed to give up and go sit down on a similar bench as to the one that Blake and Weiss had claimed.
A few minutes later, an awkwardly walking pair staggered into their sight line.
"Is that...?" Weiss murmured at the approaching people.
"I think so." Blake jumped up and walked over to her leader who was awkwardly supporting her partner, Weiss following close at her heels.
"Jaune! Yang!"
"Are you guys okay?"
They jogged to get to the pair sooner and Blake took the Yang's other arm and draped it over her shoulder as Yang mumbled something about kittens. forthe first time, Jaune spoke.
"We should get her to the dorm. I think she got roofied."
"WHAT?"
"How?"
"We went off to dance and she left her scotch on the bar and a bunch of guys were hanging around her, so I think one of them slipped something into her drink. I tried to warn her but she shotgunned it really quick, before I could mention it."
"Were you drinking?"
"No, I had a Coke."
"Well that's good."
"We should get back. I don't think Ozpin would really appreciate the fact that she was drinking."
"Yeah. Let's go." Blake and Jaune helped Yang onto the airship that had just docked, while Weiss rummaged in her bag for something. She felt a tap on her arm and turned to Neptune who she had completely forgotten about.
"Two things. First, is this the ship to Beacon? Second, what's happening? It seems like this kind of stuff is common." Weiss considered this statement for a second, while her teammates sat down on either side of Yang to prevent her from falling over onto the seat.
"Well, when it comes to being on our team, then yes. It's very common. Well, not Yang getting roofied, but other weird things." She turned away from the boy who had been relentlessly flirting with her and went to sit next to her partner and opened his hand to put the air sickness medicine into it. He smiled at her and popped it into his mouth and swallowed the pills dry. He gave her a quick one armed hug and she leaned into it.
"Will she be okay?"
"Yeah, she just needs to rest. Blake said that she would take care of her, so we should go and do something, so we don't disturb them. Would you like to?" Weiss smiled at him.
"Yes. That would be delightful. What should we do?" Jaune winked at her.
"That's up to you."
Someone across the aisle cleared his throat, causing them to look up at the person that Weiss recognized as Neptune with Sun sitting next to him. Jaune smiled, causing the boy's disgruntled face to lighten significantly.
"Oh, hello. I haven't seen you around before, who are you?" Weiss spoke before either of them could.
"Jaune, this is Sun, the monkey faunus, and Neptune, the blue haired guy." Neptune spluttered.
"Blue haired guy?" Jaune ignored his outburst.
"Hello. Oh! Are you two visitors for the Festival?" Sun spoke up.
"Yep. We are supposed to meet with Ozpin, so before you too go off on your, whatever, could you show us to his office? We'd really appreciate it."
"Sure," He tapped Blake on the shoulder, "Hey, do you think you'd be okay to get Yang back yourself? We're going to show these guys to Ozpin's office." Blake nodded in confirmation.
"Sure. If I need help, I'll call Pyrrha or Ren. They could help if needed."
"Great. Thank you."
They dropped Sun and Neptune off at Ozpin's office, where Neptune gave a quick thank you and went in, while Sun lingered.
"Hey, I wanted to apologize for Neptune. He generally doesn't get rejected when he flirts but you shut him down. He's a good person and all that jazz, but he can get sour." He addressed Jaune, who rose his eyebrows.
"I'm not the one he got shot down by. That'd be my partner." He gestured at Weiss who had her arms crossed in indifference.
"I'm sure he is, but it still annoyed me, especially after I clearly indicated that I wasn't interested." Sun chuckled.
"Yeah, who would be? Especially if this guy was your partner. Anyways, I just didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. I look forward to working with you guys." With that, he bowed out and went followed his teammate.
"What did he mean by that? 'If this guy was your partner.' What?" Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner. He was somehow juggling romantic relationships with all of his teammates and all of them knew about the other relationships but he was still dumber than a bag of bricks at time.
"Come on, Lancelot. Let's get some hot cocoa."