A/N: Created 31 March 2015. It's RWBY Relationship Week on Tumblr; the challenge is to take two randomly-selected characters and explore their relationship, whether that be romantic, platonic, parental, mentor-apprentice, sibling, antagonistic, or what-have-you.

Tuesday's Randomly-Generated Names: Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc

Defrosting

Summary: Weiss overhears what was meant to be a private conversation, and starts to look at one Jaune Arc a little differently.

Note: In the spirit of a ship week, this story actually is shippy; my comment this time is that I'm not sure why the preferred name for this ship is Weissgold, instead of continuing the War of the Roses metaphor from the Jaune/Ruby ship? Why not York, or something implying it? (Then the OT3 could be War of the Roses!) Ah well, that's just a quibble.

The strumming of a well-tuned guitar offset the somewhat off-key singing voice. That was about the only compliment that could be paid in this situation, thought an exasperated Weiss.

"Weiss Schnee…will you accompany me…to the dance onnnn… Sunday?" A final strum, and the guitar fell silent.

"Are you done?" Weiss asked, arching an eyebrow.

Jaune, standing in the hallway with the guitar he had just used to…serenade her…looked back at Weiss. He shrugged apprehensively. "Yes?"

"No," she delivered her response, then promptly shut the door.

Turning around, Weiss found both Ruby and Yang staring at her. "What?"

"That is why they call you the Ice Queen," Yang told her reprovingly.

"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name!" Weiss spat. Chilly reputation or not, Weiss Schnee was nobody's fool. If it wasn't a boy looking for a…she believed the vulgar (in every sense) term was 'sugar momma'…it was undoubtedly some wannabe Neuhaus-type looking for a big-name conquest. "Besides, I already have a date in mind."

She had worked herself up to it that night and the whole of the following day, and had sped off to ask him right after class—and so what if it was a little unorthodox for the girl to invite the boy to the dance?—but Neptune had turned her down. That was…highly unexpected. His assurances that he would still see her there were little comfort as Weiss felt her smiling mask settle firmly into place. She barely heard her own empty replies before she made her way back toward her dorm.

She walked at a perfectly natural pace, regardless of how much she wanted to run the whole way at Ruby-speed and bury herself under her blankets. Her dignity would permit nothing less, and for once she thanked her father's lessons in etiquette. Harsh, cold, and impersonal as the so-called 'high life' could be, Weiss never regretted the training that allowed her to rein in her emotions and continue to act rationally.

It made sense, therefore, that she was immediately able to rationalize that she had far too much to focus on to be worrying about boys. Weiss was self-aware enough to recognize the excuse for the dissembling that it was, but also knew that she could latch onto it and not be questioned. Reaching her dorm building, Weiss mounted the stairs, glad now that she had waited until after last period to ask, so she wouldn't have to try to pay attention in class like this. She could do so, no doubt, but repressing to that degree was rarely a good idea. Reaching the correct hallway, she paused at seeing Ruby with an ear pressed against Team JNPR's door across the hall from their own.

"Ruby, what are you-"

"Shhhhh!" Ruby hushed her frantically, waving for her to come closer and listen. Weiss sighed, knowing her team leader wouldn't let this go or let her rest until she got her way, Weiss decided not to fight it this time. She simply didn't have the energy.

She approached and leaned in to listen as well, hearing Jaune talking to…Ren, she thought? The conversation was one-sided, but Pyrrha would be answering politely and Nora would be talking over him, so Ren was the most likely choice.

"I just…don't know…how to…girls. Um." The blond boy's stammering and obvious awkwardness made her actually sympathise. It was actually rather cute. "I—I guess what I'm asking is… Well, how did you and Nora…y'know…?"

Ren, evidently shocked, was actually audible in his own stammering. Nora, apparently in the room, explained awkwardly that she and Ren were not a couple.

"Huh," Weiss said quietly to Ruby, under cover of Jaune shouting anxiously at Nora. "Funny, I really thought they were actually together."

"Shhhhh!" Ruby covered Weiss' mouth herself. Weiss flinched back—a lifetime of distance and sensitivity to touch flaring up as it so often did around her hyperactive partner—and slapped Ruby's hand down harshly, but fell silent as Ren's voice drifted through the door again.

"Jaune, what is this all about?" That might be the most she has heard Ren say at once, outside of class.

Someone within, presumably Jaune, heaved a sigh. "It's…Weiss."

Weiss froze.

"I'm completely head-over-heels for her," Jaune continued, "And she won't even give me a chance. She's cold…but she's also incredible."

Weiss saw Ruby looking up at her, but was too busy staring at nothing to pay her leader any attention.

Jaune was still going: "She's smart, and graceful, and talented…I mean, have you heard her sing?"

Weiss was inwardly reeling. Not a word about her looks, money, or family name? Yet she could not very well be offended—his candid description of her was…glowing. The compliments he had paid to her grace and intelligence meant a lot more than her physical appearance, no matter how much work she put into the latter. And…Jaune had heard her sing? When? How? It wasn't something she did in public, and certainly not here at Beacon, no matter how often Ruby tried to drag her to karaoke, and her father had never allowed recordings of her performances. That meant that Jaune had seen her live.

Ingrained reflexive self-reflection once again brought several salient details to Weiss' attention. Yes, her performances were generally to a relatively-full crowd, but that crowed generally comprised a far older demographic. Weiss was classically-trained, and while she knew she was talented enough to have earned her Kammersängerin accolade, she also knew that the style she favored was mostly appreciated by an audience not only at least three times Jaune's age, but generally far more sophisticated than he appeared to be. That implied there might be some hidden depths to the leader of Team JNPR, or perhaps that he simply took his sophisticated good taste so much for granted that he didn't wear it like a mask, as Weiss herself so often did. It was probably also worth noting that the vast majority of her performances had been in Atlas…and though she was not completely sure, she was at least fairly certain that Jaune's family was from Vale. That implied an air-trip to Atlas to see the performance in question, when Jaune was infamous amongst the first-year students for having a weak stomach in the air.

Dimly, she realized Jaune was still explaining himself to his roommates. Had it really only been a few seconds? "-just wish she'd take me seriously, y'know?"

This, Weiss was forced to admit, was the honest truth—she really didn't take Jaune Arc seriously and never had since his absurd attempts at flirtation in the locker room on Initiation Day. Though he had, thankfully, toned down the 'Snow Angel'-type comments by a huge margin, he still asked her for dates with alarming regularity given her invariable response. Honestly, wasn't one 'No' enough?

Even so…she could admit to herself, at least, that she had been lumping Jaune with virtually every other boy to have shown even a modicum of interest in her.

"I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up," Jaune finally finished, ending on another sigh.

You just did, Weiss thought. But now I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do about it. She blinked, coming out of her reverie as both Ren and Nora haltingly tried to advise him to simply be himself, and be honest. Ruby was still staring up at her, eyes wide, but the smile playing around the younger girl's lips was decidedly mischievous.

"Ruby, no!" Weiss tried to hiss, as her team leader's hand closed on the handle of the door they were both leaning against.

"Team leader's prerogative," Ruby whispered back smugly. She turned the handle, gave the door a gentle push, and then dashed away using her Semblance. Weiss, fortunately graceful enough not to have her weight leaning on the door, did not stumble or fall in, as she supposed Ruby had hoped for, but she also had no time to get out of sight the way her speedy partner had.

Nora's expression was one of shock, and even Ren looked momentarily dumbstruck. Jaune, though, looked mortified. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Weiss, for her part, was nearly as appalled at being revealed eavesdropping as he appeared to be at being overheard, but she hid it all behind her usual blank expression, glad for the second time today of her unshakable reserve.

"May I speak with you, privately?" she asked Jaune, her tone soft but plainly brooking no argument. He simply hung his head, making no effort to move despite how clear it was that he would rather jump out the window.

Weiss met Nora's eyes, and the orange-haired girls' widened perceptibly. "Of course," she said, still a little unsteadily. Ren barely had time to grab his clothes—Weiss vaguely registered he was only wearing a towel; apparently Jaune had demanded his advice immediately as he was leaving the shower—before Nora pushed him ahead of her out the door. Weiss had taken a step inside to let them pass, and now shut the door behind them, leaning against it.

Jaune refused to raise his eyes from the floor.

"Did you mean all that?" Weiss asked quietly. "This is what was behind the asinine 'cool-guy' façade?"

"…Yes," Jaune whispered, voice breaking.

"This is why you wouldn't take 'No' for an answer?" she pressed, voice hardening slightly.

Finally, an expression other than humiliation crossed Jaune's face. It looked like self-disgust. "Yes," he repeated, still no louder. "I…after today I was ready to give up. That stunt with the guitar was as much of the 'real me' as I was going to be able to show; instead of trying to be suave, it let me be silly, which is something I actually am. I thought it might get your tiny smile, if nothing else." His eyes still downcast, Jaune failed to see the smile he had hoped for flickering across Weiss' lips. "When that failed, I realized I was going to have to get over it, because you had told me 'no' more times than you should ever have had to." He forced a mirthless laugh. "My sisters would beat me if they knew how many 'no's I've ignored. I'd deserve it."

There was no implied martyrdom in his voice; no hint that having attention drawn to his error and being called was the real problem for him—he was genuinely upset with himself for being overly persistent and pushing too hard.

"So you were going to finally take a hint, you obstinate dolt?" Weiss asked him, letting her usual frostiness seep through.

Jaune's voice got, if anything, even quieter. "Yes. I'd rather have a crush from a distance and see you happy than ever be a reason for that happiness to go away."

"Well then," Weiss drew herself up and crossed the room, stopping in front of Jaune. "If you really have learned your lesson and think you can manage to continue being honest with yourself instead of trying to project some absurd machismo…" Jaune's eyes rose, apparently in spite of himself, until he was looking her in the face. His expression of misery faded slightly as he saw that she didn't look angry, or even blank. Instead, she was wearing a small, honest smile. "Perhaps I may consider allowing you to accompany me to the dance."

Jaune blinked, then again, then yet again. One might have expected a smile of accomplishment to bloom on his face, but the seconds lengthened and he just continued to look stunned and uncomprehending.

"Even…even after everything?" he asked, sounding frankly bewildered.

Weiss smirked playfully, something she rarely did even with her teammates, much less in the presence of Jaune 'Obnoxious' Arc. "Most boys would not be questioning me at this point."

He stammered a little, but Weiss talked over him. "I don't say things unless I mean them. I've seen the real you from time to time; when we're on a mission together and the pressure's on, when you stop worrying about your reputation and begin acting like an honest leader. That is the Jaune Arc whom I might allow to escort me."

Jaune just continued to stare.

"You didn't know who I was on Initiation Day, did you?" she asked shrewdly, changing the subject to drive her point home.

"…No," he confessed. "Just like I didn't recognize Pyrrha." He shrugged helplessly. "I guess I really am pretty sheltered. I only remembered you from a concert I saw a couple years ago. I thought you were amazing." He glanced to the side, blushing a little. "And beautiful."

Weiss reached out and brushed her fingers against his cheek, ignoring the tremor that shook her own spine at the light contact as she turned Jaune's head back to face her. "That's the good sort of honesty that I was talking about, Jaune."

He reached up, very slowly, and laid his fingers over hers, still resting against the side of his face. He looked incredulous, unable to believe that she was touching him. Weiss, who had been doing everything in her power not to jerk her hand away as if scalded, abruptly realized that the warmth coming from Jaune's fingers was actually…rather pleasant, now that she allowed herself to feel it. Perhaps she could really consider offering him a dance.

Weiss continued, "In the interest of that same honesty, I'm going to admit to you now that there are things about me that you do not know and will have to accept. Do that with fairness and integrity, and I think I would be quite pleased to have you at my side on Sunday."

She straightened up and picked a rose petal off the shoulder of her bolero. "If you're not too busy right now," she added. "I believe I have some payback to plan against a certain devious team leader, who is probably all too pleased with herself right about now. Care to join me?"

At long last, Jaune smiled.

A/N: This pairing seems almost nonexistent. Is Arkos that much of an OTP for everyone? (Or maybe it's that this gets in the way of White Rose? Or both?) Whatever, I gave it a shot, because I honestly like Jaune. He's a lot of things: lazy, goofy, oblivious, a bit slow… but he's not a liar. Weiss complains in Extracurricular that guys hitting on her are always (essentially) golddiggers, but we see in Burning the Candle that her potential inheritance doesn't even occur to him. Jaune Arc is the sort of actual nice guy that fedora-topped neckbeards the world over think they are.

One or two for-want-of-a-nail tweaks here and there, and I could honestly see this arc (no pun intended) having been canon. Arkos is a bit too entrenched in canon to switch now, but I don't think this is an unreasonable AU. My headcanon of Touch Defensive!Weiss shines through. This actually ran a LOT longer than I was expecting, but I also really enjoyed it. Weiss is one of my favorite characters, and Jaune is too much of an everydude to not be relatable. In the end, the fact that it ran so long for a one-shot tells me that this pairing is growing on me. I haven't really seen any shipping wars in the FNDM but if there is…hey, come at me, bro. If not, maybe I've helped even just a couple people see this my way?