Jaune awoke in his bed a few hours later, his eyes feeling heavy and his head fuzzy. He blinks his heavy eyelids open, rolling over onto his side and checking his scroll. It's five minutes till four, and he places his scroll back onto the bed, just right of his pillow. He sits up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and doing a quick stretch before throwing his legs over the bed and standing. Ruby'd told him they'd be going to the academy to speak with Headmaster Theodore a little while after sunset, so there was no need to worry about that just yet.

Strolling into the bathroom clumsily, his mind still a bit foggy from his nap, he squints at himself in the mirror. His face has a few sleep wrinkles and his hair is a bit of an obscure mess. He smooths his hair back into place by running his hands through it a few times before he brushes his teeth. Groaning a little in grogginess, he washes his face and walks back into his room to begin getting dressed, throwing on his old Pumpkin Pete hoodie and a pair of dark-blue jeans. He'd decided to stay in his socks since it wasn't time to leave for a few more hours, and made his way back into the living room.

Only Neptune and Yang were around, seemingly, and he takes his place on the couch next to Neptune. It was kept a bit cold in Neptune's house since they were right smack in the middle of Vacuo's desert. Yang was on the other side of the couch, laid out under a blanket on the ottoman with her head resting on her prosthetic hand as she held herself up on her elbow.

"Hey," Neptune said as he joined them on the couch. "How was your nap?"

"Great, I feel refreshed. Where is everyone?" Jaune asked.

"Ruby and Weiss went to the market a few minutes ago and everyone else decided to head to the movies," Yang said, reaching for the remote and flipping through the channels on the television.

"Oh? Why didn't you guys go?"

Yang stood up and began tying her long blonde hair into a ponytail. "Actually, I'm about to do just that. If I leave now, I can still catch up to them before they get there, no point in flipping channels and killing myself with boredom."

"Ouch," Neptune placed a hand over his heart.

"You know that's not what I meant," Yang smiles, rolling her eyes at him. "Anyway, you two coming? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I'm okay, thanks," Jaune said.

"Yeah, that's okay. I'm not really in a movie theater sort of mood right now," Neptune explained.

Yang smirked at them, much to their confusion. "Interesting. Well, catch you guys on the flip side."

"What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Jaune said, his eyebrow still raised.

"So, anything you wanna watch in particular?" Neptune asks, reaching for the remote and flipping through a few channels.

"I'm up for whatever."

"Ever seen the movie about the psycho killer who murdered his family with a hammer and pretended to be someone else?"

Jaune looked at Neptune in shock before chuckling. "I can't say that I have."

Neptune smirked. "Well, you're in for a wild ride," he said, pulling up the search bar and looking through the horror category before landing on a movie titled Murder House. He selected the movie, setting the remote down on the small round table in front of them. "This movie is about to completely rock your world."

"You say that with such certainty," Jaune smirked at him. "What if I think it's lame?"

"Then I'll cry," Neptune said, pouting playfully and flashing Jaune some puppy dog eyes.

Jaune would never forget the look that Neptune had just given him. A look that sent a flutter throughout not only his heart, but his entire body as well. Neptune was sitting rather close to Jaune, he realized. There was a whole couch worth of space, and yet Neptune had chosen to stay seated exactly where he was, the right side of his body pressed slightly up against Jaune. Jaune played off his building arousal by rolling his eyes playfully at Neptune and turning his attention back to the movie. Gods, was he horny.

He'd spent years in The Ever After going untouched, unsatisfied. He'd remembered the times when he would lay awake at night in his cot, realizing that sometimes it was only Neptune's face that his mind would drift back to. His Paper Pleaser was always one of Jaune's favorites to be around, always so goofy, clumsy, and charismatic. Just like the Neptune he'd remembered from Beacon. After sleeping on it, he'd come to the conclusion that he'd always been somewhat enamored by his blue-haired friend before Beacon fell, he just didn't know it at the time. He was so focused on his little boyhood crush on Weiss, he couldn't notice anything, he couldn't even notice Pyrrha. He grimaced at that thought.

"Jaune?" Neptune whispered his name as if they were watching the movie in a theater and didn't want to disturb the other guest.

"Uh, yeah?" Jaune responded somewhat nervously.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit tense, and your face is all red," Neptune lifted his hand, placing the back of it gently against Jaune's forehead. "You don't seem feverish."

Jaune fought the urge to let out a small gasp that was building in his throat. "It's nothing!" He said a little too loudly. "It's just… hot in here, is all."

Neptune drew his eyebrows together in a questioning face. "Hot? I've got the AC on full blast. Maybe you should take off your hoodie?" He lightly tugged at the string of Jaune's hood.

His face began to heat up at the thought of Neptune helping him undress, and he squirmed a little in his spot, hoping Neptune wouldn't notice. "No, no! That's okay, I just need some water or something."

"You want some of mine?" Neptune asks, picking up his water bottle off of the small round table and holding it toward Jaune. "I only drank a little, I don't backwash or anything."

Jaune gulped. Sharing a drink with Neptune? How could he say no? He reached for the bottle, grabbing it from Neptune and unscrewing the cap to take a sip. His lips were touching the same place that Neptune's had. He was internally giggling, twirling his hair, and kicking his feet like a teenage girl meeting her high school crush. He finished drinking and placed the bottle back on the table after screwing the cap back on.

"Feel better?" Neptune asked.

"Much better, thanks" Jaune smiled at him shyly.

"Good."

They sat in silence for a while, exchanging comments about the movie every so often. The main character had run into the killer, her own father, about four times now, each time narrowly escaping with her life intact. Neptune kept making Jaune laugh with his stupid side comments. From "how does she not know it's her dad?" To "is this bitch dumb?" All the while, Jaune was cracking up. An hour passed, and now and then he would find himself wiping away a happy tear from laughter. He was so glad to be back home.

"Hey, Jaune," Neptune said, leaning in, studying him somewhat closely.

Jaune could feel himself beginning to blush for what felt like the hundredth time, and spoke up. "Y-yes?"

"Have you always had those white streaks in your hair?"

"What? Oh," Jaune ran his fingers through his short blonde hair. "No, I guess I didn't really notice them. I guess that's a side effect of being magically deaged."

"You were that old, huh?"

Jaune rolled his eyes at him. "Try under immense stress."

"Fair. I like it, though, they look cute on you."

Hold the fucking phone. Did Neptune just call him cute? No, he called his hair cute. Not the same thing. Right? He had to remain calm, or he was going to end up embarrassing himself. "Oh," he says, blinking at Neptune. "Thank you."

Neptune leaned against the couch, his arm resting on the backrest of the couch as he turned to his right and faced Jaune, looking into his eyes and bringing his legs up to rest on the couch as he spoke. "You're welcome," he says, and Jaune gets a good look at him. He was wearing a dark blue fitted tank top that hugged his body tightly, his tan, muscular arms flexing ever so slightly every time he moved. His toned legs were showing from the bottom of his thighs down in his silk red shorts. He can't help but look up and stare back into Neptune's eyes, their faces no more than a few inches away from one another. Nervously, he glances down at Neptune's lips, then back up to his eyes again, and clears his throat.

Jaune begins reaching for the remote, hoping to find a way to push past the awkward tension that was suddenly building between him and Neptune. His hand reaches the table when Neptune reaches out and gently grabs his wrist, slowly maneuvering his hand down it to fit Jaune's own. Neptune's hands are bigger than Jaune's, much warmer too. He brings both of their hands up to the space between them, settling his fingers in the spaces between Jaune's own. Their eyes locked again, and Jaune felt like he'd been swept under a wave of ocean water.

"Is this okay?" Neptune asks, not taking his eyes away from Jaune's for a second.

Jaune gulped, nodding his head a little too frantically. "Y-yes," he responded in a whisper.

It was as if everyone and everything around them ceased existing all at once. Like there was no one in the world but them. The space between them was beginning to close as they both leaned into each other nervously, looking between each other's lips and eyes. Just then, the front door all but burst open and in walked Weiss, Ruby bouncing happily in behind her. Neptune pulled away from Jaune, pulling a pillow over his lap and turning his attention back to the end credits of the movie.

"I can't believe they had exactly what I was looking for!" Ruby said cheerfully, kicking the door closed behind her as she walked in, carrying a large brown bag. Jaune crossed his legs and sat upright in his seat as Weiss rounded the couch, leaning over him.

"Are we interrupting something?" She asks, an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

"What? No, just finishing up a movie," Jaune lied under her questioning eye.

She smiled, letting out a small hmph and flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Come on, Ruby. Let's go hang out in my room, and you can figure out how your new gadget works."

Ruby didn't question her, just threw out a small wave to Jaune and Neptune as they exited the room, disappearing into the guest room. Jaune let out a sigh, looking at Neptune, who was smiling at his scroll. Jaune wanted to go back to how they were, he wanted to reverse time to a few moments prior just to act a few seconds quicker and close the gap between the two. Best to move on, he thought. Neptune looked up at him and smiled. "So? Did you enjoy the movie?" He asked.

Jaune deflated a little but answered him anyway. "Yeah, yeah, I did. It was kinda creepy, but it was good, thanks for showing it to me."

"Yay!" Neptune cheered. "I'm glad to hear you say that, it's always been one of my favorites."

"Yeah, I especially liked the part where the main character's dad threw their oldest son over the balcony. Mhm, that part was very interesting and educational," Jaune said a bit teasingly.

"Oh, okay, I see. Now you're making fun of me," Neptune glared at him playfully.

"I'm not making fun of you! Just the questionable writing decisions of having the killer be the dad, not only that, but it took them till halfway through the movie to find out."

"Well, duh. You can't just reveal who the killer is without a misdirected chase and clever plot twist. C'mon, Jaune, I thought you were better than this."

Jaune rolled his eyes at him and cracked a smile. "You're so silly."

"Who me? Psshh," he swatted his hand through the air in a dismissive motion. "I'm like, the most serious guy you know."

"Well, you haven't met Ruby's uncle."

"You mean the one who wore a skirt and destroyed our schoolyard during that one fight with Weiss' sister?"

"Okay, good point," Jaune conceded, letting out a small laugh. "It's so good to be home, I just hope that things can stay like this for a while. It's nice to just be able to relax somewhat."

Though, he knew they wouldn't. Salem was still out there, plotting, placing pieces on a board like a clever game of chess. They know Tyrian and Mercury were here, but where? Where in the hell could they be, and how could they be going by unnoticed? Was Cinder here too? Jaune was nervous. He was sick of watching his friends die, he was tired. This time, if anything were to happen, he was certain of one thing; that he would never be too late to save someone again.

"Me too," Neptune agreed with a hopeful tone.

Neptune's scroll rang, and he reached into his short pocket and picked it up. "Hello?" He placed a hand over the microphone and turned to Jaune. "It's Sun."

Sun Wukong, Neptune's team leader, had basically been MIA since Jaune and team RWBY's return. He'd said he was looking into some things regarding Tyrian and Mercury, but no one had heard from him since the day they returned to Vacuo. Neptune was listening to the scroll closely, seemingly not missing a word that was spoken to him from the other end of the call.

"Okay," He says, nodding his head. "Okay, gotcha." He hung up.

"Everything alright?" Jaune questions, raising an eyebrow at Neptune.

"Yeah, I think. Sun just told me he needs to see me tonight, said he might have a lead on the whole Mercury and Tyrian situation, sounded real important."

Jaune sat up straight, turning toward him fully so that they were both directly facing each other. "Do you need me to come with you?"

Neptune looked at him and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be fine," he said. "Plus, you have to go with Ruby to meet with the headmaster, remember?"

Shit. Jaune had completely forgotten all about that already. He chewed the inside of his cheek nervously. Why was he so anxious all of a sudden? Sitting up a little further, he let out a breath and leaned a little deeper into Neptune's touch.

"Don't worry, Sun will be with me, I'm sure it's nothing crazy."

Jaune hoped so, he all of a sudden couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to Neptune. He looked him in the eyes again. "Okay," he conceded. "Just… be careful, okay?"

"I will," he glanced at his scroll again. "Well, we still have a few hours before we both have places to be. Do you wanna go with me to the cliff?"

"The cliff?" Jaune questioned.

"It's this place that Sun and I used to go, when we first got to Vacuo. It's just a place I like to go to clear my head, it has a really gorgeous view."

So do I, Jaune thought and pursed his lips. "I'd love to go with you."

Neptune beamed at him, spinning up off of the couch. "Alright, give me a few minutes to get changed. You might want to put on a different top, wouldn't want you drenched in sweat," he said and paused. "Well, maybe I would, but not like this."

Before Jaune could process what he said, he was gone, down the hall and disappearing into his room. He sighed and put his head in his hands. He was down tremendously for Neptune. And he was sure that Neptune knew it too, he was sure that Neptune knew and loved torturing him. But why? Confusion surged throughout Jaune's brain as he rubbed his hands down his face. Maybe he was just getting strung along.

No, Neptune wouldn't do that, would he? Not possible, he was far too kind. Jaune felt ashamed to even think he'd do something so twisted. Did that mean Neptune was interested in him too? Not wanting to get too ahead of himself, Jaune shoved those thoughts away. He would go with Neptune, and he would hang out with him, he would play things by the book. He would let things unfold as they may.

Neptune exited his room a few seconds later, and Jaune reached around the side of the couch to grab his boots, pulling them on and looking up at Neptune. "Are you about ready to go? I have something I want to show you," Neptune said with a cheerful look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm ready. What is it?"

Neptune smiled and swiveled around the couch toward the front door. "You'll see when we get there," he said, pulling it open and gesturing for Jaune to follow. And so he followed, and they were on their way.

Neptune leads Jaune down a deserted pathway just a few blocks east of his house, where there are a few small cacti protruding out in a narrow path that leads to a small opening. Jaune shoves past the dried plants and branches of dead trees, following closely behind Neptune as they reached the open area. There's a cliff that looks over a large part of the Vacuo desert, where the sun is beginning to set, and the moon is beginning to rise. To Jaune's right sits a large, dried tree stump and inside the middle a wide dark red and yellow umbrella sticks out.

He watches Neptune take a seat on the stump under the umbrella, gesturing for Jaune to join him. Hesitating at first, Jaune takes a cautious seat on the stump next to Neptune and listens intently to his voice when he speaks.

"This is The Desert's Overlook. I love this place," he says, looking out over the cliff and into the desert. "Warm, calming, and most of all, dry."

That's right. Jaune had remembered that Neptune was afraid of water. It makes sense why he'd love being in Vacuo so much, it's not something he'd really have to worry about.

"Can I ask you something?" Jaune asked.

"You just did." Neptune smiled, tilting his head.

Jaune rolls his eyes, which is something he's quickly learning he'll have to do a lot around Neptune. "Brothers, you're really a troll, you know that?"

Neptune smiled wider and shook his head, chuckling. "Ask away."

"Sorry if it's too personal, and you don't have to answer if it is, but…" Jaune paused for a moment, unsure if he really wanted to continue his question. "Why are you so afraid of water?"

Neptune tensed, and his face dropped into a frown, sending a surge of instant regret through Jaune. He looked down at the stump where they were sitting with a stale expression plastered across his face.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked, just forget it, okay? Forget I even brought it up," Jaune said, raising his hands in a calming gesture.

Neptune glanced at him and sighed. "No, it's… it's okay. I just wasn't expecting that to be your question."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I had no business asking something like that."

"It's okay, Jaune. Really, it's okay," he says, letting out a breath before looking back up at Jaune. "When I was younger, I had a sort of… accident with my semblance."

"Oh?" Jaune sat straight, his attention fully on Neptune.

"I was being stupid and clumsy." He scowled again, picking at a place where splinters of wood were sticking out of the stump. "I was such an idiot."

Jaune wanted to reach out and place his hand on Neptune's; he wanted more than anything to touch him and comfort him, as he would so often do for Jaune. He wanted to, but he didn't; he was unsure of how to do the things that Neptune did for him without making the situation awkward. How could he know if Neptune wanted his comfort in a moment like this? Was it worth risking a negative reaction to find out?

Jaune bit his lip slightly before deciding to reach out a hand, placing it onto Neptune's own, which was still picking at the splinters of the stump. Neptune stopped picking and looked up at Jaune. He began to relax a bit as he gazed back into Jaune's deep blue eyes and sighed once more.

"I almost killed him," he said. "My brother. I almost drowned him with my semblance. He could have died that day."

He stood up abruptly, turning to face the edge of the cliff. Jaune thought he'd noticed what seemed like a drop of liquid fall onto a single spot on the sump. Before he could think, Jaune was standing closely behind Neptune, his arms wrapped tightly around his waist. Neptune was crying now, and Jaune couldn't help but almost cry too. It made him remember a time when he blamed himself for something he couldn't control.

"Shhh, it's okay, Neptune," he cooed, his forehead placed in the middle space of Neptune's upper back. "I understand."

Neptune turned to look at Jaune, his eyes red and his face wet with tears. "I'm sorry," he said, letting out a breathy laugh. "I brought you here to have fun, not to sulk and cry like some sort of man child."

"You're not a man child for letting out your emotions, Neptune. You're only human, you shouldn't put that much pressure on yourself to push away your feelings if something is bothering you," Jaune assured, wiping his thumbs gently under Neptune's red, puffy eyes. That earned him a shy smile from Neptune.

"Where have you been all my life, Jaune Arc?"

Jaune laughed. "Well, for starters, trapped in an alternate world beyond Remnant."

They both began laughing. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, and they were almost out of breath. Neptune grabbed Jaune by his hand, leading him back over to the stump and sitting him down beside him.

"You know," Jaune said cautiously. "If you ever want help trying to get your semblance under control, I might be able to help you."

Neptune raises an eyebrow at him in confusion. "And how exactly would you plan on doing that?" He asks with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"My semblance," Jaune said, lifting his hand to show the bright glow of his golden-yellow aura encompassing his hand. "I can boost the auras of others, making them easier to control. I could help you; our semblances are a part of who we are, not something we should be afraid of."

Neptune studied the glow of Jaune's hand before reaching out to touch it; he felt a surge of power flow throughout his body as he and Jaune made contact. It was as if his aura had been suddenly multiplied by a hundred—no, a thousand percent. He let out a small gasp before drawing his hand back to his chest with a wide-eyed look.

"Wow," he said with awe, a look of marvel on his face. "That felt amazing. That's your semblance?"

Jaune nods his head with a proud smile. "Yup! It took forever and a life-or-death situation involving Weiss to figure it out, but here we are."

"Dude, that's insane," he says, laughing. "I'll think about it. What you said about helping me. I'm just… I'm not ready yet."

"You take as much time as you need," Jaune says, reaching out to place a firm hand on Neptune's shoulder, causing his mouth to quirk into a shy smile. His eyes locked with Neptune's, and again he felt entrapped under his seemingly all knowing eye. He knew Neptune was intelligent and wise beyond his years, though he didn't like to show it.

Jaune had figured out relatively quickly that the two acts of love that appealed to him the most were physical touch and, of course, quality time. If there was one thing that Jaune had become certain of in all his years, it was that there was one thing that you could never have enough of: time. He didn't have enough time at Beacon with his friends, he didn't have enough time to notice what was right in front of him with Pyrrha, he didn't have enough time to save Penny. He didn't have the luxury of the thing known as time.

Time is said to heal all wounds, and yet for Jaune, it felt as though time had only ever been the cause of all his wounds. He got the feeling that Neptune somehow understood this, that he was wise to the fact that Jaune was fearful of losing out on time. They sat there on the stump, a comfortable silence settling over them as they peered out into the desert, watching the sunset.

"This view really is beautiful, isn't it?" Neptune asked softly, his eyes not leaving the setting sun.

Jaune's eyes, however, were firmly set on Neptune's face. "Yeah," he whispered. "It is."

Neptune looked toward Jaune and noticed him staring, flashing him a wide-eyed look before turning away again. Jaune wanted to reach out and cup Neptune's face in the palm of his hand; he wanted nothing more at that moment than to brush his fingers over the dried tears that had left their mark on his somewhat still-red cheeks. He wanted to, but he didn't. He was afraid. How could he possibly have something with Neptune? After all these years, why now was he having all of these sudden thoughts and feelings?

Letting out a small sigh, quiet enough that Neptune wouldn't hear, he leaned back on the stump, holding himself up with his elbows. He couldn't do this. He couldn't have something with Neptune, no matter how prominent the feelings were. His mind drifted to Pyrrha again. What would you think of me, Pyrrha? He asked himself. He knew it was a stupid question, that she would of course want him to be happy.

"I'll always be here for you, Jaune." She had said to him.

It was just that even with that knowledge, he wasn't sure if he could really handle all that weight. All his life, he'd felt the burden of not being enough, not enough to live up to his family's legacy, not enough to be a leader. What if he wasn't enough for Neptune? What if, by a stroke of his bad luck, something were to happen to Neptune, and he wasn't there to protect him? No, he thought. Neptune doesn't need my protection, he's strong. And while that may have been true, it wouldn't ever stop him from worrying even still.

A buzzing came from Jaune's pocket, shaking him from his thoughts. Ruby was texting him now, letting him know it was almost time to convene with the headmaster. He turned to Neptune, who had turned to him at the sound of his scroll going off.

"I've got to go with Ruby soon." He said sadly.

"I know," Neptune replies, a small smile on his face. "It's okay, we'll have plenty of time to hang out here. Just you and me."

Jaune loved that, he loved the thought of making his trips to the overlook with Neptune a routine thing. It gave them something special that Jaune felt like was their own. He stood up, reaching out a hand to help Neptune up with him, which he took. They turned back towards the narrow path and began walking back towards Neptune's place, exchanging laughs and smiles the whole way there. They were never more than a few inches apart, and to Jaune, that was always a comfortable distance.

Ruby was waiting just outside of Neptune's front door in her sleeveless getup, tapping her steel-toe boots into a place in the sand. She looked up at Jaune and Neptune as they approached her and smiled. "Ready?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jaune answered, turning toward Neptune. "I'll see you later?"

"Of course, I should be back from meeting with Sun before you guys are back from the academy." He confirmed.

"Okay, c'mon Ruby," Jaune gestured and Neptune opened the front door, stepping inside.

Ruby giggled as she and Jaune started toward the academy, and Jaune raised an eyebrow at her. "What? What's so funny?"

"You," she snickered. "'I'll see you later?'"

"What!? It's a valid question!" He shrieked, causing Ruby to laugh even harder.

"Jaune, we live together."

He stopped in his tracks, facepalming as he caught on to what she said. Ruby was laughing hysterically now, her arms covering her stomach as she leaned over in a howl.

"Hey! Stop it, this isn't funny," he cried.

Ruby stood up straight, wiping a tear from her eye. "You're right, you're right, it's not funny," she conceded. "But it's kinda funny."

"Ugh, shut up." Jaune groaned, causing Ruby to burst out laughing again as they continued toward the academy. Something was telling him this was going to be a long night.