Chapter 15
City of Vale. Central park. Late evening.
"If not a huntsman, when what is it you wanted to be?" Penny asked with great curiosity as the two of them sat on a bench.
Jaune pursed his lips for a moment. "I…" He started, hesitated, but after sighing gently, managed to continue. "I wanted to become a boxer."
"A boxer? What's a boxer?"
"Someone who does boxing. It's a combat sport where you only strike with your fists. You've…you've never heard about boxing? Not even in combat school?" He asked, both surprised and somewhat confused.
She blinked, and then her eyes shot wide. "I-well-it's just-I guess I wasn't present when they talked about boxing!" She fumbled with her words, and her following grin was just all kinds of wrong.
"...Okay." He said slowly.
Her grin disappeared, and she then pointed her look down to her feet. "Sorry." She just didn't know what else to say.
"Hey, it's okay. You've just never heard about boxing. It's no big deal, seriously." Admittedly, it was odd, yes, but otherwise, he genuinely didn't think much of it.
She gazed back to his eyes, and the moment she did, she felt better. It'd be hard not to, given his gentle stare. "Could you tell me about it?"
"Of course!" He exclaimed with a great oomph, but a moment later he blushed, and then scratched the back of his neck. "I mean...sure." He said with a sheepish expression, and then he was quick to realize something. "Actually, I could just show you some clips."
"Okay." She replied simply, and he then searched a bit for some good videos to show her.
He was rather quick to find some, and they then scooped closer to each other, their shoulders almost touching, and he pressed the play button.
"Everybody stop talkin now, attention! I told you! All of my critics. I told you all that I was the greatest of all time when I beat Sonny Liston. I told you today, I'm still the greatest of all time…"
"Who is that man?" Penny asked without averting her eyes from the person speaking in the video.
Jaune couldn't help cracking a grin. "That's Muhammed Alee. One of the greatest boxers of all time."
"But he said that he was the greatest of all time. Wasn't he?"
"Many consider him the greatest, yea. But, and it's really just my own opinion, there's no such thing as 'the greatest of all time.' There's always going to be someone who's better than you. It's only a matter of when," He said, remembered something, but then quickly pushed that memory away.
"Hm." She gave it a thought. "I suppose that's right," She said, and a moment later, they continued to watch the video. After they finished it, she was quick to notice that Jaune's expression seemed to have changed. He seemed…excited? Or nervous?
"So, what'd you think?" He asked her with a bit of nervous anticipation to his voice.
She thought for a second. "It was admirable I'd say. These boxers showed great courage and grit as they fought. And their determination to win was inspiring to see. I'm impressed!"
He almost jumped as he exclaimed, "I know, right!? That's just one of the many things that I love about boxing! Even though boxers risk with their lives whenever they enter the ring, they still fight with everything they got. They are fearless, determined and willing to risk it all for a chance to fulfill their dreams," He said with vigor and a matching grin, and then pointed his look to the late evening sky. For a short moment, he merely observed it, before he sighed, and his expression seemed to have changed again. She couldn't tell what he felt.
"Wanna watch another video?"
"About boxing?"
"Yea. I mean, if you don't mind of course."
"I don't." She smiled to him, and they then proceeded to watch another video. And that one then became two, then three, and then…
…
"Crap! It's 3 in the morning!" He exclaimed after finally checking on time. "Sorry, I got carried away and the next thing I know, this happened." He apologized profusely.
She shook her head dismissively. "You don't have to apologize. I very much enjoyed watching boxing with you," She said with a smile, and he shyly smiled back.
"Really?"
"Yes." She reassured him, and he could tell that she was being sincere. He was relieved to know.
"Thanks, Penny. I, I enjoyed it too. It's really been a while since I watched boxing with anyone but myself."
Her smile came to be sweeter. "If you'd like, we could do this again sometime."
A tiny glimmer appeared in his eyes. "I'd like that."
"It's a promise then," She said, and there was a brief moment of silence between them. Before Jaune remembered again how late it was.
"Sure. But seriously, we better go back to our dorms now," He said, and then rose to his feet.
"Right." And soon after, they moved down the many streets of city of Vale.
…
They stood in front of her dorm room.
"I guess it has its perks living by yourself. You never have to worry about waking anyone up," He said shortly after learning the fact that Penny lived by herself.
She crossed her arms under her chest. "I suppose so. But it'd be nice to live with a friend, I think. It'd be a lot of fun, I'm sure," She said, and he could tell there was a sliver of sadness to her voice. Ever so faint, but just barely tangible.
He found his words quickly. "I wouldn't mind coming over, you know. And I'm sure that our friends would be down with it too, if that's okay with you."
That sliver of sadness disappeared, and was replaced with bubbling excitement. "Oh, that would be most wonderful! I'd love that!"
He couldn't help cracking a smile. She was just...precious, whenever she'd get so excited about simplest of things. "Awesome...and, I uh, thanks again, Penny. For, you know, not minding watching boxing with me."
"You're welcome, Jaune," She said, and for a moment or two, they voicelessly stared at each other. Before he decided to speak up so it wouldn't turn awkward for them.
"I uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yes."
"Good night, Penny."
"Good night, Jaune," She said, and he then turned around and walked to his own dorm room.
She entered hers.