A/NBy Tumblr request(s).
Request: Ruby Rose/Jaune Arc (Lancaster), at the fair/carnival, being romantic. (2 requests; 2 shots)
Hopeful Romantic
Summary: Jaune knows it's cliché, but Ruby loves it anyway.
Jaune sighed. Even with ten shots, he had only managed to hit two of the eight wooden Boarbatusks panning slowly across the far end of the shooting gallery.
"Jaunnnne," Ruby groaned good-naturedly. "I know you said you wanna win me a prize, but that was your fourth go! Let me shoot!"
"Where's the romance in that?" Jaune grumbled, grudgingly letting Ruby take the rifle from him. He had really hoped to put on a better show. The peck she placed on his cheek made him feel a little better, though.
Ruby spent a moment examining the rifle; testing the weight of the trigger and looking along the barrel. She flicked at the ironsight with one finger, and wrinkled her nose.
"Crescent Rose would shoot way straighter than this old thing," she complained.
"That's kinda the point, Ruby," Jaune shot back.
Ruby's extremely mature reply was to blow a raspberry at him before stepping up to the bench.
Credit to the guy running the shooting gallery, Juane thought; he didn't say anything condescending about Ruby's chances, just handed her the clip and accepted her lien. The look he gave Jaune was a mixture between amusement and pity, but was quickly replaced by a look of astonishment as the rifle cracked eight times in rapid succession, and all ten of the Boarbatusks fell down.
Recovering quickly, he accepted the gun back from Ruby and went to fetch a ladder to get her prize. Though, Jaune thought bitterly, with the amount of times he'd had to try again, he had pretty well just paid market price for the thing.
"So how the heck did you knock down all ten targets?" Jaune asked Ruby as they stepped back into the bright sunlight on the Vytal Festival's midway, his arms full of frankly the most ridiculously oversized stuffed Beowolf he had ever seen. "Some kinda…fancy ricochet trick?"
Ruby giggled; always one of Jaune's favorite sounds.
"Nahhh," she drew the sound out. "When I was taking out the second row I noticed the bar they were all attached to was wobbling, so I shot it and they all fell down."
Jaune snorted. "Only you, Ruby. I don't think anyone else would have even noticed."
The affection in his voice earned him another kiss, but the enormous plush Grimm in his hands made him overbalance, and they both fell in the dust, laughing uproariously. Jaune nuzzled Ruby for another moment, then pushed her off him with the prize, which she accepted so that he could get up.
Jaune got laboriously to his feet, dusting his pants in a theatrical manner. Then he shot Ruby a grin and started to walk away, hands in his pockets.
"Jaune!" Ruby yelped, following him unsteadily. "Hey! You're s'post'a carry this thing! I can't even see around it!" Chuckling, Jaune sped up. "Jaunnnne! You're the worst boyfriend ever!"
The following afternoon was the last of the Festival; the tournament having already concluded the day before meant that most people were taking it easy, gorging on Festival food for the last time in a while. Their teammates were scattered throughout the area. They were all going to meet up later for a final meal themselves, but they had until then all to themselves. Thus far, Jaune lamented, he had failed repeatedly—and in the case of that shooting gallery, spectacularly—in his plans to sweep Ruby off her feet and show her the most romantic time of her life, as he'd promised…but she didn't mind, really. They were spending time together. What more could she ask for?
The afternoon was winding down when Jaune nudged Ruby toward a ride. "Let's ride the big wheel," he suggested casually.
"Okie doke," Ruby agreed easily.
Jaune paid the operator for their fare as Ruby clambered into the gondola, which meant she didn't notice him slip the man some extra lien. She did notice the operator tip Jaune a huge wink as he followed Ruby in, but thought nothing in it.
As the wheel climbed up for the first time, Ruby was leaning forward a little.
"Look, there's Weiss and Yang!" she pointed. Jaune looked, and sure enough, the white and yellow were unmistakable, even though the latter was topped with a novelty cowboy hat. As they watched, Weiss whipped the hat off Yang's head and gestured animatedly, but Yang simply snatched the hat back and forced it onto Weiss' head. Ruby giggled.
"Ren and Nora are down there," Jaune said, jerking his head toward the animal pens. "It's 'not a date', though, if you were wondering. Not that any of us were."
He stuck out his tongue, and Ruby giggled again. The wheel made a revolution and started up again, and soon they were both chuckling at what they were pretty sure was Yatsuhashi 'protecting' Velvet from the more-aggressive vendors, hoping to wring out a final few games.
On the third revolution, the sun was starting to go down. Jaune stuck a hand out the side of the car for a moment, apparently at his ease. Ruby was peering around the festival, looking for more of their friends, when the wheel suddenly slowed.
"Huh? Why's it stopping?" Ruby wondered.
"Because I asked it to," Jaune said. Ruby looked around at him, mouth a little open in bewilderment.
"Uh…why?"
"So we could watch the sun set over the Bay," he said simply.
Ruby stared at him for another moment. "Is this your latest romantic scheme?" she accused him.
"Yep," he replied, unashamed. "Is it working?"
Ruby grinned, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder.
"So am I still the worst boyfriend ever?" Jaune teased her gently, pulling her close.
She nuzzled into his neck and murmured happily, "Nuh uh. You're the best."
A/N: I toyed for a while with explicitly calling the place Dis-Schneeland, but decided against it in the end. That sort of comedy doesn't quite match the tone of my usual stories. XD
So there you have it, a pair of cute, romantic, amusement-park oneshots for Lancaster! (Also some Freezerburn, Renora, and Cinnabun, I guess. If you squint.)