Young Jared was seen watching television and not letting it rot his brain in the slightest.
It also wouldn't lead to any potentially traumatizing event for the young two and a half year old.
"And remember kids! If you don't give a present to your pops on father's day—YOU'RE A BAD APPLE." The poor CGI yellow dinosaur pointed from the television.
Jared stared ponderously at his lord and third parent, the T.V. Box. "I must get dad a good present! … But how?!" He dramatically pointed his head to empty air, expecting some unknown force to be watching him and giving him an answer.
"I know! I'll ask—" The young boy thought about asking the love of his father's life, and the woman who brought him into this world, but for some reason, "No! I'll ask Xia!"
Grabbing a dinner seat, so he could use it to climb up and use the home scroll, Jared dialed the number to Uncle Ren's home.
"Hello?" The voice over the call answered.
"Sensei Ren! I need the sagely knowledge from your daughter and my best friend! Hand the mystical device of the home scroll, so I may sedate my unending thirst for knowledge!"
Jared blinked and stared into the phone.
"… Jared, how exactly do you parents raise you?"
"With lots of love and lack of attention at what I absorb without them looking."
The young boy did not notice the really, really silent sigh from the other side of the long distance communication device.
"Instead of talking to my daughter," The young boy wondered why there were sounds of muffled, maniacal, female laughter in the background. "Why don't you talk to me why you're making this call?"
"I need a father's day present lest I be shunned by society!" The young boy waved his free arm in the air frantically. "Billy the totally not sensual Dinosaur has declared that!"
There was a pause at the other end. Several voice seemed to be coming over and asking something about who was on the phone. "Please tell me you don't know what 'sensual' means." Uncle Ren's voice asked.
"No, I don't, but it's fun to say." Jared smiled.
Jared imagined his Uncle Ren to be nodding.
"Let's go back on topic. I think it's nice for you to want to give something to your dad for father's day. You should ask your {Mom, Mommy, Mother, Ma, Mama} for ideas on what to give him."
Jared nodded his head vigorously. "Yes! You are right Uncle Ren!"
"Is that Jay? High Jay!" He heard a girl's voice from beyond the phone.
"And tell your really pretty daughter hi for me!" Jared innocently told him before hanging up.
Now he just had to go and call his {Ma Yang, Mama Blake, Mommy Ruby, Mom Pyrrha, Mother Weiss}.
…
What was the(ir) Scroll number again?
Somehow, some way, despite remembering his Uncle's home scroll, Jared did not remember what the mobile of either of his parents were.
Had he remembered either of those numbers, he would have been considered normal. But this was the son of two of the best hunters of their generation, so he was guaranteed to have strange quirks since the strong are always half crazy.
It shouldn't be too hard, it was just ten numbers.
A gruff and tough voice answered. "I knew you'd call back. Alright, here's the deal: you can either give us the hundred billion Lien diamond, or we kill your friends. And if you do want your friends back, meet us alone with the goods here in Port Kellog's abandoned restaurant in Dock 47 Street. …What's it going to be?"
"Can I keep the Diamond? It sounds shiny!" Jared answered.
"Wait! Whose—" Jared decided that wasn't the person he was trying to call and hung up.
He tried another random ten numbers.
"Uhh hello?"
Jared gasped, he recognized that voice! "Uncle Sun!"
"Jared? How did you get my cell number?" Jared heard another familiar voice mumbling in the back ground. It was his Uncle Neptune and he sounded sad.
"Sorry, kiddo, can't talk right now! Your super cool detective Uncles are in the middle of a case."
Jared Blinked, "Does it have anything to do with a one hundred billion Lien Diamond?"
"Yes! WAIT! How did you know that!?"
"Sun, the road!" He heard his Uncle Neptune and a loud tire screeching noise.
Some seconds passed while Jared blinked several times with a smile still on his face.
"Whoo… OK, Jared… how did you know about the stolen, Sheena Diamond, the most priceless and absolutely beautiful crystal that legend says that Monty himself used to propose to his wife and named after her?"
"A funny man told me about it while I was trying to find {Mom, Mommy, Ma, Mother, Mama}. He said he lived in 'Port Kellog's abandoned restaurant in Dock 47 Street'. I can give you his phone number if you want." Yes, Jared remembered the phone number he just randomly dialed.
"Dock 47 street!? That's just around this corner!" Jared heard his Uncle Neptune scream after Uncle Sun said that. He then heard rubber being burnt in the background.
"Sun there! Those must be the Hunter-in-training students that got in way over their heads, and have been taken hostage to force another one of their friends on the run with the diamond! And there's the Lionel Gang!"
"Gotta go Kid! You're uncles are going to kick as—butt and take names! We'll tell you all about it later!" The call ended around the time he heard a machine gun.
Jared waved goodbye to the empty air in front of him as if his Uncles were right there.
"… Oh wait, I still need a present for dad." Jared spoke to the dead line.
Before he could press another random set of numbers, Jared tilted his head and saw a crudely drawn post it note.
Sweetie, if you ever need your father or I, call these numbers.
"Ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh." Jared remembered that his parent did remind him that and put down their numbers.
It was a day off in Beacon, Jaune Arc was groaning and laid himself down on a bench.
While Resh Kolc, AKA Jared Arc, was laying on another nearby bench sighing.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"What are we doing?" Jaune asked as he noticed a cloud that looked like a bunny.
"Sulking." Jared spoke out without moving his head.
"Why again?"
"Because Father's Day sucks." Jared cried out and placed the back of his hand over his eyes.
"Oh right," Jaune agreed.
Then something clicked on the blonde boy's mind. "Wait, why do you hate Father's Day?"
Jared did a very heavy sigh. "I… don't want to talk about it. But basically, it makes me feel homesick."
"Yeah… I miss home too." Jaune decided to respect Jared's privacy.
A few silent seconds passed by them.
"So—"
"Sir if you start talking about the weather again, I will make sure you wake up with a stiff uniform that will force you to waddle around campus, and make your body sore for the next seventeen hours, forty three minutes, and eighteen point thirty four seconds."
Juane bit his lip and wondered why that was so specific. "But we can't just stay here and sulk all day while the rest of our team is spending time with their family…"
"I couldn't agree more."
Jaune and Jared looked over and both quickly stumbled to sit up straight in an instant. The one who had just said that was Ozpin.
"To be honest, the once lively school now feels like a ghost town, due to the fact that a surprising amount of our student body has decided to spend their weekend off with their loved ones. However, this leaves the ones who have family issues, alone here with no one but their friends. And isolation is a major common factor among the criminally insane." He mused.
Jared lazily pointed to Jaune with a deadpan look on his face. "Maybe sir, but I think between him and isolation, I'm more likely to go crazy faster with Sir than I would alone."
"Hey!" Jaune whined.
"Boredom is one of man's greatest enemies besides the Grimm," Ozpin chuckled before taking a sip of coffee in the middle of the day. "I trust besides doing your usual duties as students, you also take these times to enjoy the simple things in life. Good day to you gentlemen. Oh, and no loitering."
The two boys groaned after their headmaster left.
"And now we can't even sulk and brood. Count your days, Society, for this moment marks the beginning of your end." Jared deadpanned as he shook his fist apathetically to the sky.
"Well so much for that," Jaune sat up. "Wanna just go grab a snack or something?"
"Sure, I don't feel like training anyway." Jared answered as the two made their way to the cafeteria.
"So what exactly do we do today?" Jaune asked again after finishing their snacks.
"I really don't know. What time is it?"
"Nine… A.M." Jaune said as he looked at his scroll.
"… That's eight, fifty seven Jaune. Not even Nine until the next three to two minutes." Jared sighed and put away his scroll.
"Maybe we could watch some movies?"
"The Library is closed today though." Jared pointed out, slowly losing energy.
But then the wanderer in question had his eyes snap open. "But I think we could borrow some of Blake's Books."
Jaune leered at Jared's smug smile on his face. "I know what you're thinking, you jerk."
"What?!" Jared fake gasped. "I have no idea what you're talking about, super cool and awesome Team Leader Jaune Arc! I was just talking about borrowing our beautiful ally's books? What's sooooo wrong with that?" He faked acting innocent.
"You know exactly what you're implying you sarcastic punk. You're not going to make me say it."
"Say what, supreme and amazing leader?" You could probably taste the sarcastic and condescending tone in the air.
Jaune knew he had to hold strong. "You're not going to make me call Blake's books smut!"
"OK!" Jared smiled with the biggest egotistic grin he could muster.
Meanwhile, in Jared's head as he watched the fast changing look on his father's face: 'Time! And you're answer is..?!'
"CURSE YOU!" Jaune cried out before tackling the boy.
"I cannot believe that only took an hour. Why did we have such an easy time cleaning the Cafeteria?" Jared whined as both he and Jaune were on their way back to their dorm.
What the two were talking about was the previous fight, or Jared toying with Jaune for five minutes before pinning him down. They were asked by the staff to fix up the area after their little dance routine messed up some of the tables and other miscellaneous items.
However, the two's little scrap didn't destroy as much things their entire team's usual devastation would cause, making the two have a light punishment.
"You did that on purpose didn't you?" Jaune questioned.
"Just anything to kill time faster today," Jared commented as they reached their dorms. Jaune went ahead and turned left.
Jared turned right.
Jaune paused as his hand was about to reach their team door knob.
"… Resh?" Jaune hesitantly asked.
"Yep?" Resh popped the 'p' sound.
The leader turned around to see his best friend kneeling in front of the Team RWBY room. "What are you doing?"
"Breaking into Team RWBY's dorm while their out," Resh answered nonchalantly he said as he tried to pick a lock. "For a high funded school, all the dorm doors are pretty lax in lock security."
As Jared continued to pick the lock, he thought he heard a sound stirring behind the door.
"Stop that!" Jaune screamed as he pulled Jared out of the way.
Jared's eyes widened as he stared at the door while his father pulled him away. "Wait, Sir—"
The door slammed opened.
"HA!"
"GAH!"
…
"J-Jaune!?" The girl in white gasped in shock before looking to Jared on the floor. "Resh?!"
"Weiss?" Jared asked with surprise in his voice. He stood back up. "I thought you left for the weekend."
The prim heiress put down Myrtenaster, and de powered the ice dust chamber. "I-I did! I just came back early! As you know, my family is quite busy," She said before pointing the rapier at him. "What are you doing!?"
"Breaking into your dorm to read Blake's books. I was bored." Jared calmly answered even with the sharp point of her blade near his neck.
"Do you have any sense of decency?!" Weiss scolded. "You do not just break into another team's dorm due to your inability to keep yourself busy! How careless can you be?"
Jared motioned his thumb beside him. "This coming from the girl that just carelessly froze my team leader in solid ice?"
Ahh right, Weiss thought there were thieves behind the door and attempted to subdue the villainous curs.
Instead, there was a frozen Jaune Popsicle standing in the middle of their slightly frozen over hallway.
"…"
"… So, want me to keep this blunder a secret in exchange that you let the lock picking slide? I'll also never attempt to pick your team lock again."
"Deal."
Jaune shivered under a blanket as Jared came in with a pan of hot water to place his feet in.
"That is some fine dust, Weiss. I expected Sir's aura to mitigate the low temperatures by now." Jared explained before leaving Jaune sitting on Blake's bed and taking a random chair to sit on with his front body facing the back rest and having his arms rest on top of it.
"Of course it is! It is 'Thundra's Law'! An ice based dust capable of reach temperatures close to sub zero!" Weiss scoffed in pride.
"N-Nice t-to know." Jaune shivered.
Weiss flushed. "T-that was all your fault for allowing your teammate into breaking and entering!"
Jared pointed his finger up. "Actually, he stopped me and pulled me away. Apparently, just out of range of your ice attack."
"T-then this is your fault!" Weiss accused quickly.
Jared raised both his palms out. "Sure fine. Anyway, we're still in RWBY's dorm overall. So? Mission Accomplished."
"I-I got Frozen, you jerk!" Jaune managed to mutter.
"Let it go. Besides, the cold never bothered me anyway," Waaaiittt a sec. "So back on topic: I'm here to borrow some of Blake's books since the library is closed and we can't borrow movies and such."
"I suppose, that sounds fair," Weiss mulled it over. "Just so as long as you return it and take responsibility in case you damage it."
Jared raised his brow. "Huh. OK."
"Resh," Jaune leered at his friend. "I know what you're thinking."
"What?" Jared asked in a confused manner. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"No," Jared shook his head. "I don't?" He asked unsurely.
"Jaune, what are you going about?" Weiss asked.
Jaune pointed accusingly. "He's doing that thing he did again!"
"What thing?" Jaune glared at Jared, who the raven haired boy seemed actually… honest.
Deceptively honest!
OK, bad example, conflicting terms, but! Basically he knew Jared was acting, acting really, really good!
"Oh no, I'm not falling for that again!" Jaune yelled.
"Excuse me? Are you suffering from a brain freeze?" Weiss questioned while folding her arms.
"Resh is doing that thing where he tries to make me admit I read smut!"
… .
The silence that followed after was both deafening and awkward.
'Father, you make it too easy.' Jared turned his head away to grin as widely as he could.
Finally the words clicked in the mental workings of the almost princess.
"Wait, no! It's not what it–" Jaune tried to explain.
"Excuse me!?" Weiss asked in flushed shock and disgust. "You PERVERT!"
She grabbed Myrtenaster again.
Jared took the thermometer. "Wow! Great news sir: I think your aura is now building up a better body resistance to Ice based dust! This will surely make you more likely to be picked for Arctic environment expositions!" Then he sighed and looked at the clock. "But the really sad part is that it's still not even eleven o clock yet."
"I LOATHE YOU." Jaune, with even more blankets on him and looking like his skin was a little blue from the second time being frozen, emphasized those words as loud as he could while glaring at his teammate.
"And I love your loathing," Jared smiled as he placed fuzzy pink ear mufflers Nora left behind on Jaune's head to keep his head warm, and roughed up his hair.
"How do you even get yourself into these situations!?" Weiss shrieked before calming herself down and coughing. "I mean…" She sighed. "I apologize for…"
"Jumping the dust sword?" Jared offered, putting a twist into the phrase 'jumping the gun'.
"I was simply going to say the misunderstanding, but you should have probably done more to stop me from freezing your leader a third time." Weiss looked to Jared.
Jared smiled. "Like you said, it's not my fault… wait. What do you mean third time?" He realized the wording. "When was the first?"
Amazingly, both of them blushed hard, which really helped Jaune warm up.
"Nothing!" Both of them cried.
Jaune pointed again at his son accusingly. "What about you huh?! Why do you keep doing this to me? Do you have some kind of vendetta against me!?"
The red eyed boy blinked. "I don't have a ven…detta…"
Jared trialed off, recalling a past event in the future.
She told him sweetly that it was cute of him to care. And that he didn't need anything for their son to give to their father and her husband.
But she couldn't argue against his compelling defense of a gown man in costume in the television telling him it was a good idea.
While Jared was a little eccentric, she had to admit that she could see bit of his father's stubborn attitude and determination.
She sweetly said goodbye to her son and asked him to be kind to his babysitter, who they had to convince the boy over and over and over that his auntie will not sit on him. She would come home early to help him out with his gift.
Jared whooped before hanging up preemptively.
Meanwhile, Juliet Arc, the youngest of the arc siblings, and an up and coming Fashion Designer/Model was working on her latest wardrobe for summer in an up and coming fashion show in Vale.
Instead of staying in a hotel or workplace, her older brother, Jaune, invited her to stay in his house with his family.
She still didn't know how her ditz of an older brother snuck into one of the most prestigious schools in Remnant, became one of the world's best hunters, got hitched with an absolutely amazing girl, and now started a wonderful family with her most eccentric and adorable nephew.
Yet here she was working in one of his guest rooms in exchange for watching her sweet little nephew while both of his parents were off saving the world.
As she finished drawing the finer details of a straw sun hat, she put her pencil down and tried to reach for the cloth.
But a small hand trying to cutely reach for something just out of his reach distracted her, and she followed the hand to see her nephew tiptoeing , with his tongue sticking out, and trying to reach for the scissors.
"Jared? What are you doing?"
"Wishing I was taller." The boy looked at his auntie.
She giggled at his simplicity. "Umm, no. The other thing."
"I need the metal thing that has two holes and cuts paper."
"It's called scissors, Jared. Say it, scissors."
The boy bounced. "Scizor, Scizor!"
Meh, close enough. "Ok then, why do you need this?" She grabbed it and held it in the air.
"To make the best father's day present in the world! MWAHAHAHA—hey, where's the lightning and thunder in the background?" The distracted child asked as he searched behind him.
"Sorry, Jared, I'm not letting you. You're too young to handle scissors, but!" She said, putting a finger in front of him to concentrate his big red eyes on. "I can help you with whatever you want. So? What kind of present do you want for big bro?"
"I want one of those books that jump out at you!" Jared made unnecessary hand motions as he said that.
"A pop-up? Huh. Alright kiddo, Auntie's going to teach you how to make 3-D Father's day cards."
The little boy cheered, much to the delight of his Auntie. While she did have work, a card wouldn't take too long.
"Resh? … Resh?"
"Huh?" The black haired boy shook his head and looked up to Weiss and Jaune starting almost worryingly at him.
"You spaced out. Like, really hard." Jaune mentioned.
"Sorry, a bad…" He quickly shook his head once. "Bitter memory resurfaced."
"You sure you're alright?" Jaune worryingly asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine if I rest a bit. But I still want to borrow one of those books." It was then Jared thought he heard something behind him.
"W-Why would you want to read such distasteful, perverted garbage!" Weiss exclaimed.
"It is not garbage!"
Jaune, Jared, and Weiss turned their heads towards the new but familiar voice out the door and saw Blake pointing passionately at Weiss beneath the doorway.
"Blake?" The blue eyed boy under several blankets called out to the girl.
It was then Blake blinked, realized that she had just revealed herself to her friends, and calmed down to try and re compose herself.
"What are you doing here?" Jared added in.
"I live here." Blake retorted.
"No I mean, I thought you were visiting your parents as well since you disappeared before anyone else early morning." He clarified.
Blake sighed, Jared noticed her bow dropping slightly. He recognized that when his Mama was sad. … What exactly happened to his Granparents to Mama? She never told him. … Oops. And he really didn't think hard about it until now.
"I just wanted to go to the city, take a walk," She folded her arms before glaring at Jared. "Then I find out you're trying to take my books."
Jared subconsciously fixed his collar and broke eye contact. "Take is such a strong word. I prefer the just reading them and putting them back when I'm done." He forgot how scary his mama's glares were.
"And my books are not smut! They just cover more mature themes!"
"Yeah!" Jaune echoed but quickly huddled deeper into his blankets when he saw Weiss turn questioningly at him.
'Me thinks the good lady doth protests too much…'
"So can I borrow the books or not?" Jared asked.
"No!" Blake cried out.
"The heck?! If it has adult themes in it, then you won't mind me reading it!"
"I'm not letting you read it!" Blake yelled rather adamantly and hurriedly. Jared swore he could see the faintest of red on her cheeks.
Jared rolled his eyes and sighed as he looked at his scroll. "It's still not even noon. Welp, anyway what do you guys wanna do?"
The room was met with silence.
"Go out to Vale?" Jaune offered.
They all looked to Blake, since she already left this morning.
"The last flight to Vale ended. They closed down early for today."
Jaune and Jared groaned.
Jared stood up, defiance in his eyes and passion in his clenched fist. "No! I refuse to let the day defeat us!"
"Don't drag us into your madness!" Weiss reprimanded but the child of the future went on.
Preaching to the sky, as if pretending this was an epic speech, Jared stepped on the chair with one leg, "I am going to change how this day will pan out! No more will I just sulk and wish the day would end! This day, we make it the most memorable day ever!"
"How?" Jaune asked.
"I don't know!" Jared sat back down.
Then he stood right back up and snapped his fingers at Jaune. "That's it!" he exclaimed with a glint of crazy in his red eyes.
"I… don't like where this is going." Jaune commented while the two girls silently agreed.
Jared deflated and calmed down. "Really? I was just going to suggest we bake some cookies."
"Oh, if that's the case, good idea," Jaune brightened up. "What made you say that?"
Jared pointed over to Ruby's bed. "When I stood up, I saw cookie crumbs on her pillow."
"I told her to clean up after herself!" Weiss screamed.
Elsewhere, Ruby sensed a disturbance in the force; like a whiny, Ice Princess was waiting to reprimand her.
"Come on guys," Jared motioned to them to follow. "If it's anything like my Mommy's recipe, it'll explode with flavor in you mouth!"
Later that day, one of the kitchens exploded.
Ozpin stared hard at the four ash covered students inside the black charred and soggy kitchen area.
"Now… please repeat that Mr. Kolc?" The man was about to drink until something from the sink coughed up and landed into his coffee. Something with hair.
"Headmaster, all I can say is that I am sorry for overestimating by friends' ability to follow simple baking directions." Jared declared.
"Whoa hey!" Jaune called out. "Weiss was the one who thought of using ice dust instead of ice cubes!"
"What!?" Weiss shrieked.
Ozpin raised his brow and poured the coffee down a nearby drain. "I thought you were making cookies. Where does ice fit in?"
"That. Is. What. I. Said." Jared emphasized. He thought his dad was kidding when he told him that his Mother didn't know how to cook till she was forty!
Weiss pointed to her black themed team mate. "If anything, it was Blake's fault for not paying attention to the timer because she was staring at the aquarium!"
The ninja flushed. "I-It's not my fault I didn't have breakfast yet! The fish looked good and you know I like Seafood! And Jaune was the one who set the temperature to max!"
"But I thought Resh meant Celsius!"
"I use Fahrenheit!" The raven haired boy countered.
"You didn't say that!" Jaune cried out.
"Enough." Ozpin said, silencing the four of them. "Thankfully, the damage is not too bad, and you are all safe. Next time, do communicate better with each other. Even if you are not in the same team. You are dismissed."
As he left, Jared swore he saw Ozpin release a smirk...
Later, after everyone had a shower and met up in team JNPR's dorm again…
Jared sighed on his bed as he looked at the time again. "It's only 1:30?"
Jaune handed Blake a spare tuna sandwich in their mini fridge before looking to the tired male. "Why do you want this day to end so badly? Ever since this morning, you've been… drained. Actually, almost desperate to distract yourself…" Jaune noted.
"What makes you say that?" Jared asked slowly.
"Well, you're usually way more laid back and kind of an egotistic jerk. But ever since I've seen you this morning, you've been… well almost stressed. You've been trying to get me and you to do something for the entire morning that wasn't training or anything school related, and you've been very stubborn about that."
Jared realized he was like that this morning. Ever since Ozpin first found the two this morning, Jared was already sulking bad. He didn't know Jaune of all people read him so easily… right? Or did he forget that despite the times, Jaune was still his father.
The wanderer stayed silent, debating whether to tell him the reason why he loathed this day of all days.
The future patriarch saw his son's eyes point down to the ground. He sighed. "Well, the reason why I don't like Father's Day, or today at least…" The three of them all turned to the blonde boy. "Is because the last time I saw my dad, he and I didn't get off on good terms. Today is just reminding me of this argument we had before I left for Beacon."
"Was… was that why you were also feeling down?" Jared asked softly.
"Yeah, so I also have some dad issues." Jaune lightly chuckled.
Weiss scoffed. "You call that issues? I didn't even get to see my father today."
They all turned back to the Heiress in shock. Jaune seemed baffled. "W-What? But you said you—"
"I lied about that," Weiss sighed. "I was planning to go home for the weekend, packing up my things and everything when a message comes saying that my father is caught up in something and decides to cancel. Ha! Like I'm an appointment to him!" She laughed, but they all saw the sorrow in her.
"He sounds like a jerk." Jaune bluntly stated.
Weiss nodded. "Yes. But the sad part? He wasn't always. Before My mother… he was kind and doting… I miss that father most of all."
"At least you have a chance to see him again," It looked to be Blake's turn to say something. "My father's dead..."
"Oh, I am so sorry Blake." Jaune started.
She shrugged. "No really, it's fine. He died when I was young, so I got over it better."
"Well," They all turned to Jared starting. "In that case…"
"Yay!~ We did it!" Three year old Jared happily said as he finished his Father's Day card, for his favorite 2nd best hero. His wife always got number one and he was fine with that, even if it hurt his pride a little.
The Auntie however, still struggled to get the glue gun off of Jared's shirt. Every time she pulled, her little nephew would yelp 'ow'. She thought about getting the shirt off, but apparently she thought against that as she found out more random paper arts and crafts objects became somehow magnetized to the young boy's torso like random bits of paper, pieces of crayons, ink marks, and etc.
Somehow a glue stick was hanging off his arm. A cheap glue stick of all things!
But after being done, Juliet received a call.
"Hello? Oh Earnie? Yes, I'm still home right now. … Open the news?"
She silently looked at the remote and the child innocently trying to pull the gun off his shirt and yelping small owws each time he did.
"Jared, go up to your room and change, leave your shirt here alright?"
The auntie hesitantly put on the TV as the boy left.
"… Large swarm of Grimm have been spotted, nearing Mistrial Territory, the highest in record 20 years. All Hunters have been called via emergency…"
She lowered the volume and used her scroll again.
"Pick up you idiot… .Yes! Jaune! Are you alright? … Oh wait, do you know what today is? … Oh Monty, you forgot didn't you? Well no it's not your anniversary-which I hope you're planning now to make up for the last one. But no, it's Father's Day. … Bro… do you even know… just… just be safe, OK? Go with your wife and save lives. I'll stay here and look after Jared for you. … I will tell him that." She closed the scroll.
She sighed at how she was going to tell him, but then she looked over to those big and suddenly unblinking red eyes staring at her blue orbs without his bright smile.
"I… I don't hate my dad and personally we have a great relationship, nor did I leave him in any bad terms."
"Wow, what a jerk," Jaune commented first sarcastically, but saw the frown on his face and immediately apologized.
"It's just… he's a hero. A great, and amazing Hunter…" Jared sighed heavily. "That has no time for his family."
They all listened to Jared closely.
"When I was three, I worked with my auntie for making a card for my dad. Only, something bad was happening at the time, so he and my mom were called away. It was a pretty high mission, I don't really remember, but they didn't come back until two weeks later. But I do remember silently eating at dinner that night with just my aunt…"
Jared sighed again. "It wasn't just that day, amazingly or by some curse, my parents were always called away on missions by emergency, campaigns, important bodyguard duty, and so on and so forth since people needed hunters to protect them from the Grimm and other things. Incredibly, I've never celebrated a proper Father's Day while I've only done a few Mother's Day."
"But," Blake started. "You said your father was there on your Birthdays."
"He was, not all of them, but he was. But Father's Day all those years ago made me realize something," Jared breathed in deeply.
"Before he was my dad, he was a hunter first."
Jared smiled weakly. "He swore some oath to protect and serve the innocent, and I idolize him for looking cool while doing it, but I never realized that My Dad, The Hero, would take so much time from My Dad, just dad. After my ninth Missed Father's Day, I stopped trying to celebrate it. I'd just give him a call or a text and that would be it. He would promise me that he would be there this time, but I didn't want him to be there, not when he had people to protect."
Jaune listened to Jared closely. He let Jared's words sink in: a great man but a struggling father. Would that be why Jared acts like an attention hog sometimes with his need for dramatics? Because he was actually lonely?
Jared went on. "What I'm really trying to say is: I don't hate Father's Day because of my dad. I hate it because… I hate myself for wanting to celebrate it with my dad, even though I know if I wish for something selfish like that, others will suffer for it because they need my dad more than I do."
The black haired boy just shrugged and laughed emptily. "Pretty lame and petty reason huh?"
"Now that is completely and stupidly not true!" Jaune declared. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be with your dad. And you should know that you don't need a stupid date written on a bunch of calendars to tell you when you should appreciate your dad! You still have him, and heck, you both are on good terms with each other! You should call him right now and have a nice long talk!"
Jared blinked. "Actually… he's on a campaign right now. I had heads up a month before I came to Beacon. He's in the arctic regions, and calls aren't really good there unless their military grade."
That was actually half true. In the future, Jared was alone in his house as his parents went on a long campaign that just so happened to miss Father's Day for the fourteenth time.
"Well as soon as he's back, be sure to give him a present anyway! I'll say it again: you don't need dates to appreciate your dad or family."
"What about you? Or them?" Jared alluded to Blake and Weiss.
Jaune swallowed and rubbed the back of his head. "… Well, OK fine, I'll handle my dad. Just not now. As for Blake and Weiss," He turned apologetically to them. "Sorry for saying stuff like that. But if you guys, all have problems like this, I promise to lend an ear and be there for you guys during these times."
'You already broke that promise, Dad. But this time, I think you should be just a little less naïve.'
"Sorry Sir, mind if you don't make that promise with me?" Jared spoke out.
Jaune shook his head,"Oh no, you're the reason I'm making this promise!"
"No, sir…" Jared just shook his head with a smile. "You're a lot like my dad Sir, he also made a promise to be there when I needed it. Which is why I'm asking you not to."
"What?" Jaune looked confused.
He inhaled. "Jaune, I believe your word in that you will at least try to keep your promise, but why you should know is that not all promises are the same thing. My dad made two promises in particular: Being a dad, and saving others. You'd think these two a different, when in reality they're not. They conflicted more times than he thought possible, and in the end he had to choose which promises to keep."
Jared waited for Jaune to seemingly absorb the information. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to make too many promises that you end up being pulled by all sides. So just make one promise to me, Jaune. Don't make too many promises. You already are doing a lot by just being there even when I don't need you. So for me, just be my friend, no promises unless it's absolutely necessary, OK?"
"I… I guess." Jaune sadly admitted.
"But I should say that has made me feel a lot better!" Jared smiled honestly. "Now I've got a new idea! What do you guys think? Who wants to release all our parent traumatic stress on a bunch of Grimm? I've just got back in the mood to hit something hard!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm game. Stabbing Grimm is starting to sound therapeutic."
"I'll come along too," Blake reasoned. "While staying inside to read books is tempting, hanging out with you guys is starting to sound fun."
"Count me in, some one's gotta watch your back!" Jaune chuckled.
Jared smiled. "I'd feel safer with my back exposed to a King Taiju."
"Hey!"
Jared laughed at his dad. In the end the four actually spent the rest of the noon killing a surprising amount of Beowolves. They seemed lucky that nothing too big like a Nevermore or Death Stalker came after them, but then again they promised to stay close to the edge and never ventured further.
The four seemingly enjoyed their little excursion together, and lost track of time as the sun went down.
They were all a little tired and slightly battered, but over all since they didn't over exert themselves, they were fine.
Jared himself was feeling much better today as he headed back to Beacon, even making fun of Jaune for letting his guard down several times over.
After all this was the best Father's Day Jared ever had because he finally spent it with his dad.
Time travel was quite a strange thing, wasn't it?
{Author Notes/Review Response}
Wow this special took some time to write…
I hope you enjoyed it. And happy Fathers Day to all those great dads out there! I know I wouldn't be there if it wasn't for my dad!
I'm gonna keep this review a little shorter than usual since I'm pressed for time. I'll try to respond to more later!
THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight (Ch12): OK, OK I get your point. And I do take your reviews seriously, but my problem is that I timed… something… weirdly. Ugh. So many things to write…
readerdreamer5625 (Ch1, 12): Dawww! How cute! You think I have a heart and normal emotions! In reality, before I even posted the Avatar story, I already had finished previous chapter but I decided not to post it due to the fact I had finals coming up. You know real life? As for everything else you mentioned everything has been planned save for Jaune's semblance. I'm having a little trouble working out the kinks in how I want it to work without crossing that line where it gives a stupidly overpowered boost.
But by all means, continue thinking you have a say in this story, it only makes me smile as you stare longingly at the screen. MWAHAHAAHHAHAHA!
dark habit (Ch12): The strangest things is that some people actually want me to pair them. 0_0
Cerberus13 (Ch 12): Actually it's fun for me. The protagonists? Not so much.
dracohalo117 (Ch 12): Hmmm, interesting…