Chapter 4 – This Faunus Boy's Running From Himself

In which Jaune Arc uses a console and consoles his partner.

When it was Ozpin putting them all together on a team, Jaune was all for it. We'd welcomed Perry with open arms, eager to no longer be the only person without a partner. This spirit of tolerance was one with his body, and nothing could get in his way.

When it was just the four of them in the dorms, he realized that there was a reason there weren't that many nontraditional students.

It wasn't Perry's fault, not in the slightest. He seemed like a really great dude, very affable and accommodating, and he wasn't doing anything weird. Honestly, Nora was more of a bother than him with her zaniness and difficult-to-follow train of thought. The issue with Perry came from the fact that when they were dividing up the beds, Jaune realized that the situation would be a trio of seventeen-year-olds spending the next four years bunking with a thirty-five-year-old man. Again, not Perry's fault – he wasn't creeping them out or acting pervy. It was just…weird. It didn't bother Jaune, but it was constantly there at the back of his mind.

The logistics of it were another issue. In about thirty years, Jaune and the others would still be in their prime, but Perry would probably have to retire from hunting as a career simply due to his age. The generational gap between them was noticeable as well, as Perry said a bunch of stuff that Jaune simply didn't understand. For instance, he referred to their room as a crib without even a whiff of irony in his tone, and he joked about it being just like some sitcom before realizing that Jaune had no idea what that was. The show was probably before Jaune's time, and he hadn't even heard of it, let alone seen it.

Visions of future academy things like prom dates, social cliques, and teenager drama flashed through his mind, and Jaune wondered just how having a fully grown man as a partner would factor into those sorts of things for him. It would be twice as difficult for Perry, the man in question, though. Jaune could always do things alone and pretend his team was normal, but Perry would be the thirty-five-year-old man no matter where he went on campus.

No doubt about it, this was going to be an uphill battle, but definitely one worth fighting. The alternative was no partner, and Jaune would endure as much boomer humor as it took to avoid that. Actually, the alternative could easily be a jerkface partner, like that Sky guy who tried to fight Perry just because he was a Faunus. Perry was friendly, he was competent, and he got along well with the team – Jaune especially. If everyone else could make this work, so could Jaune.

When Jaune's things were unpacked (his clothes, his comic books, his video game cartridges, and his still damaged armor), he looked around at Team Juniper. Ren and Nora didn't seem to have much between the two of them besides their weapons and a few extra sets of clothes identical to what they wore now, but Perry clearly was going to be breaking down his boxes for a few more minutes. I guess he probably already has a bunch of stuff since he was just a dude living his life before coming to Beacon. Kids don't tend to own much in the way of material possessions, but Perry's an actual adult. He pays taxes, he probably knows how to cook – heck, he may even have a wife and kids that we don't know about.

There was only one way to fix that. The more Team Juniper interacted, the better they would understand one another, and the sooner his doubts would go away. Ren and Nora knew one another already, but they would still benefit from improving their relationships with Perry, as would Jaune.

It was tempting to try and talk about the old music Jaune sometimes listened to on cassette tapes or the VHS movies from Perry's generation, but he didn't want to tactlessly bring the age difference to the center of their conversation either. After all, he had no idea if Perry even liked those things. It's best if I just treat him like I would any other student. Don't ignore it and act like he's a teenager, but don't fixate on the fact that he isn't. Make no assumptions, because you know what they say about people who assume…

They really shouldn't assume so much.

The Faunus finished unloading his things, so Jaune cleared his throat. "Hey guys. So, I just want to say I may be the team leader, but I'm pretty new to the whole leading a team thing. Started today, in fact. If you guys feel like you need anything, go right ahead and say it. Don't act like you're putting me out or disrespecting my authority or anything – I'm here to help, and I look forward to leading each and every one of you. It'll be better if we can all do this together. On that note, I was thinking we could do a couple of quick introductions and icebreakers just to get to know one another. You guys all good with that?"

Ren nodded, and Nora made a squeaking sound that Jaune interpreted as a yes for lack of an alternative.

Perry leaned back on his bed and gave a thumbs up. "We're all yours, boss."

"Great. So, I can go first. Name's Jaune Arc. It's short, sweet, and rolls of the tongue. I'm originally from Ansel, but I've spent the last few months in Vale in advance of coming to Beacon. I always wanted to be a huntsman like the long line of Arc heroes I came from, and I studied at Daymark Primary Combat School."

"Your folks were huntsmen?" asked Perry.

"That's right. It's something of an ancestral family tradition, one I'm happy to carry on."

"What about your siblings? Are all your brothers huntsmen too?" asked Nora eagerly.

"No brothers, but I do have seven sisters."

Perry sat up in an instant. "Seven? Jeez, I've known rabbit Faunus that were less eager to have kids."

"Oooh oooh, what are all their names?" asked Nora, raising a hand like she was in a classroom being called upon by a teacher.

Jaune's smile faded. "Their names are Jane, June, Juno, Jaina, Juana, Joan, and Juanita. All phonetically pronounced Jaune."

Nora's lips began to waver, and tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. "E-E-Even Juanita?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed.

"Especially Juanita."

"Is that, like, another Arc family tradition?" inquired Perry.

"No," said Jaune succinctly. "My mom got hit on the head as a kid. Uh, Ren, why don't you go next?"

Ren and Nora stood simultaneously. "Hi, everyone. We're Ren and Nora. We're originally from Mistral, but the Grimm destroyed our village when we were little, and it's just been the two of us against the world since then. We got pretty good at fighting off the Grimm just to stay alive, so we decided that we might as well make a living while doing it. That's us."

"Uh…" Jaune wanted to ask the other to speak, but he wasn't entirely sure which of the two them had been the one to give that shared introduction. It was like both had spoken at the same time in perfect unison, or maybe only one was talking and the other was a ventriloquist's dummy. He glanced at Perry, who seemed equally unnerved by the display. "P-Perry, can you…"

"Y-Yeah. Uh…sure."

He kicked his legs off the bed and stood up. Jaune had known that the man was big, but standing this close to him, he realized just how much muscle mass he had to possess. No one in their right mind would call Jaune a shortie, but Perry had to be at least two inches taller. On the other hand, anyone in their right mind would call Jaune a beanpole, while Perry probably had a good fifty to sixty pounds on him.

"So, name's Perry. It's just Perry. I'm a Faunus, as you can all clearly tell. I don't want to make it sound like that's the only thing I got going in my life, but it kinda is. Least, it was the thing that defined how mosta my life went. In Vale, Faunus pretty much have to stick together to survive, so I worked for Faunus for mosta my time. I spent about ten years in a deli on the Faunus side o' town before Slink, the owner, died when gang violence spilled over into our neighborhood. Then I worked on a boat, loadin' and unloadin', but that didn't last long. Neither did the repo work. In the end, I…" He closed his eyes and inhaled. "I…"

Jaune began, "You don't need to–"

"Nah, I owe it to you kids to tell you what my dealio is. Truth is, I had to join a gang – not the people who killed my boss, nah, a different one. It was just for a few months, only to put food on the table. Never sold no drugs, never hit a woman, but I did have to rough up a few good Faunus when they were late on their 'under-the-table monthly bills.'"

He held up air quote for that one, and Jaune winced.

"Then, the Fang started making a bigger footprint, and I saw the writing on the wall when all the other boys got pulled in. Even my some of my best buds, all of them decent guys who condemned the Fang, joined because of the pressure. The influence was never overt, and they never openly insisted people join their numbers, but they were just growing and growing to the point where the threat of being left behind was enough for most. I decided that I didn't want that life, but like I said, Faunus ain't got many options. Still, I had aura – Perry Sr. unlocked when I was a tot so I could keep safe – and they all say Beacon's a bastion of equality, so I said to myself, 'Why not go back to school?' They do say it's never too late. Mr. Ozpin put me through when I passed a physical in place of goin' to a primary combat school. So, yeah. That's me."

"T-Thank you for sharing that…long tale," Jaune said, realizing too late that it could easily be misconstrued as condescension. Perry didn't seem ruffled by it, though, sitting down with pursed lips, so Jaune just kept going. "So, next on the agenda is training. I think it might be a good idea if we all practiced together so that we have a good idea of what we can do. If we're going to be a team, we'll need to fight like one."

"Sounds good to me, Jaune the eighth!"

"I concur."

"A-okay, chief."

"How does six o'clock tomorrow sound? I don't want to ask you all to get up too early, but class is at eight, and we also need to–"

"Six? Six AM, early?" Perry twirled a finger in one ear. "You call that early? Jaune, I used to get up at four just to get the shop ready."

"Nora and I slept in shifts so one of us could keep watch," offered Ren. "An early wakeup is no issue to us."

"Great. I'll set an alarm."

Perfect. Not even a full day into leading the team and I already out myself as having lived the cushiest life. I still need to get my aura unlocked, but I'm sure that I can last a work week without it. What's the worst that could – actually, no. Let's not do that again.

Jaune turned around, rummaged through the stuff he'd put on his desk, and pulled out a videogame cartridge "Now that the business is all settled, who's up for a little playtime?"

Ren and Nora had clearly never picked up a controller in their entire life. Their hunter-level hand eye coordination did not translate well to moving a character avatar onscreen in the videogame, and Jaune had to bump up the handicap setting twice for them just to prevent the duo from dying so frequently. Nora's face was beginning to turn comically red with anger, and Jaune swore he saw steam pouring out of her ears with his peripheral vision at one point, though it disappeared when he looked directly at her.

Alternatively, Ren maintained his guarded expression, but the whiteness of his fingers as he gripped down tightly on the controller told Jaune everything he needed to know. You could master disciple and control your emotions, but when you got quickscoped four times in a row, it was bound in inspire a little bit of frustrated determination to not raise that number to five.

Perry, on the other hand, was an animal.

B-But not in the Faunus way. In the great-at-videogames, slap-on-the-back, 'You're an animal, bro' way.

"I was raised on platformers, ladies and gents. I've been gaming before y'all were born! BOOM!"

Ren cursed and nearly threw his controller to the floor in rage as Perry no-scoped him.

"How'd you even play videogames?" asked Jaune as he took pity on Ren and offered some cover fire. "I thought you weren't…you know…well-funded."

"I never said I was good at managing my money. I made a lotta mistakes before I came to Beacon, Jaune. Not all my priorities were in the right place."

Darn. I was just trying to make conversation, not drag up the past or anything.

…but what was I expecting when I asked something like that? I need to do better.

He was about to apologize when Perry raised a hand in victory, having spawn killed both Ren and Nora and ending the match. A vein appeared on Ren's forehead and began to throb as he set down the controller and began to meditate (though, based on the look on his face, he was closer to inner war than inner peace). The interaction seemed so natural, so…casual, that Jaune felt like the best course of action was just to let it go and focus on moving forward.

"Such frivolities are beneath me," said Ren. "My time is better spent contemplating life's many mysteries in silence."

"Tell it to my K/D/A, buddy." Perry pumped an arm in victory. "I'm on fiyah, baby!"

A knock came from their door, and it creaked open a bit. Ruby's head popped through. "Are those the glorious sound effects of Call of Honor: Current Warfare 4 that I hear with my little ears?"

Jaune stared at her for a second. "N-No. We're playing Gloom Eternal. How could you mix those up, Ruby? They're, like, completely different games."

"Well, I–"

"One's set in the real world in the modern day, and the other's taking place somewhere between space and the afterlife."

"Look, can I play or not?"

"Knock yourself out, pipsqueak." Perry handed her Ren's controller. "Ol' Renny here ragequit, so you can take the fourth spot."

"Sweet. Uhhhh…you wouldn't happen to have a fifth and sixth spot, would you?"

Jaune opened up a drawer in his desk and checked his stash of gaming implements. "I have some more controllers, but there's only–"

Ruby cupped a hand to her lips. "YANG! BLAKE! DRAG YOUR SORRY BUTTS IN HERE!"

The rest of Ruby's team, save for Weiss, entered the room and sat down.

"Is there a problem with your room?" asked Nora. "Not that we aren't happy to have the company."

Ruby frowned. "Weiss is being a…hmmm, how to put it…"

Yang rolled her eyes. "A stone cold bi–"

"–big jerkface! You took the words right out of my mouth, sis." Ruby smiled at Jaune. "I was hoping that she might cool off if we give her some time alone, so I thought we'd hang out with you folks. If you want us, that is."

"The more the merrier," Jaune said, offering her teammates, Blake and Yang, their own controllers.

Yang swiped it right out of his hands and planted herself right next to Perry. "That's great, because I can't wait to…get my…uh, w-who're you?"

"Oh, that's right, you guys haven't met Perry," said Jaune. "He's the fourth member of Team Juniper."

"No, he's not," said Yang, furrowing her brow. "He's just some old dude. Hunters are supposed to be young, like us."

Jaune cringed. "No, that's not–"

Without a word, Perry gingerly set down the controller, rose to his feet, and calmly walked out of the room. Jaune watched him leave, frozen where he was and unable to bring himself to finish what he had been saying. When the Faunus was gone, he turned back to the dead silent room.

"Wow, Yang!" Jaune practically screamed. "How insanely astute of you to point that he's not in the typical age range of a Beacon student! I hadn't noticed that at all! Thank goodness you're here, or he might have snuck right past our noses without me or Ozpin or Ren or Nora or anyone else who's spent the past evening with him even noticing!"

"She's not wrong," said Blake, looking at Jaune like he'd just said Vacuo was cold. "The school has age restrictions. Well, I mean…I assume it does, or there would be tons of older students here."

"Oh, you assume?" said Jaune. "Do you, now? Well, I–"

"Jaune," said Nora, cracking her knuckles. "Go after Perry. I'll handle things here."

Darn it, I got so worked up that I completely forgot to follow him and see if he was alright. Some great leader I am – I get mad on my partner's behalf, but I can't be bothered to even have his back when he needs me.

Jaune nodded and stormed out the door just in time to hear Nora launch into a rather sternly worded tirade aimed at Yang and Blake about showing their fellow students the proper respect. He hadn't known the girl for that long, but he had a feeling Team RWBY was in for it now.

It wasn't hard to find Perry – the door leading out to the rooftops was ajar, and Jaune could practically hear the man grumbling from two stories below.

"…shouldn't have come here! What was I thinking – me, a huntsman? I cut up salami and put it on sandwiches, for Grimm's sake!" He turned and saw Jaune as the blond boy approached him, but his ranting didn't stop for a moment. "I shoulda known this was a stupid idea. What happens when it's the Tournament and the whole world sees a grown Faunus fighting a buncha human kids? They'll think I'm some…some…some…a-and classes! I'm older than some of the Professors. This was a mistake. I – I need to talk to Ozpin."

"Please don't," b̶e̶g̶g̶e̶d̶ said Jaune.

"Kid, I'm sorry, but this ain't gonna fly. You know it, I know it, the only question that remains is why the headmaster didn't."

"You can make a difference here."

"Maybe, but I'd have to overcome a million and six obstacles to do it. I'm not some genius that deserves the rules to be bent so I can come here, Jaune, like that little girl. I'm a decent fighter, and my mind's sharp, but I can't honestly say I'm that much better than any of the other students here. There's no reason the staff should invest extra effort in me when it could be spent on someone deserving instead. And believe me, I don't deserve it."

"Why? Because you made mistakes? Because life is tough for a Faunus? I don't believe it. If anyone deserves a second chance, it's the guy who's actively trying to turn his life around. They let jackweasels like Sky Lark and his team into Beacon, so I think that the teachers won't be wasting their efforts if they choose to teach you instead."

"It's not just the teachers. You heard blondie – no one wants me here."

"I think they'd rather have you here than with the White Fang. You made it sound like that was your only other option."

Perry shook his head. "I'd rather die than join that band of looneys."

"Then you should also rather stay. Please, Perry. I…I would rather you stay. Before you showed up, I was just some chump who didn't have a partner or a full team o-or a clue. If you go, then I'm back to square one."

"They'll find you another partner, Jaune."

Jaune slammed the door behind him. "I don't want another partner!"

"We barely know–"

"Yeah, but you know what I do know about you? You're a misfit, just like me or Ren or Nora. None of us are the cream of the crop. We need to stick together."

"Jaune, I read the news that girl wrote. You're no misfit. Shoot, you're the only one of us with any training."

No. No, he wasn't.

"Y-Yeah, I am, and where has that gotten me? You saw how great of a leader I am. A leaky water balloon on stilts would probably have handled the introductions with more grace than me. Perry, initiation was a fluke. I didn't really tame a Deathstalker or slay a Nevermore or any of that stuff. I don't even–"

He stopped himself. As much as Jaune wanted to open up to his partner and pour out his heart and soul, the truth about who he was and, more importantly, what he didn't have, could land him in a whole mess of trouble. Even if Perry kept quiet, they were in public, and someone could overhear their conversation. The risk was too great.

"I don't even think that I'm all that special. I bet I'm only the leader of Team Juniper because Ozpin lumped the four strangest, wackiest hunters on the same team and elevated the one who got lucky during initiation up to the spot of leader. If they send me some other partner who's actually competent and well-adjusted, he or she would probably run circles around me and fight my leadership and – and – and think he's the cat's meow! Please, man, I'm begging you. Don't go."

Jaune lowered his voice, and it cracked when next he spoke.

"P-Please. Don't go."

Yang immediately stood up as Jaune and Perry re-entered their dorm room and began an apology that she'd probably been working on since the two of them left. Jaune exchanged a nod to confirm to Nora and Ren that he had worked things out with Perry, and he saw both of them visibly relax. Both had probably been worried that Team Juniper was at risk of falling apart before it even came together.

As Yang's apology went on and on, Perry began to grin.

"…and I won't even bring it up again, because doing so was incredibly rude. If you feel the need to report me for bullying or even harassment, I won't fight it. Please accept my humblest apologies, and the apologies of Team RWBY as a whole for unfairly profiling you based on your age without taking the time to–"

"Jeez, kid, you got an end date for this apology? I'm already a geezer, and I might just die of old age if this goes on any longer."

Jaune snorted at the sarcastic way in which Perry diffused the tension. Yang nervously forced a chuckle, as did Blake, but Ruby broke out laughing.

"Got'em! High five, Mr. Perry! From one nontraditional student to another, that was an epic roast!"

Perry high fived her right back. "Just Perry, if you don't mind. It's what I go by."

"Perry, then. Now that all that's out of the way, do you guys feel like getting our gamer boners on? School starts tomorrow, and I want to celebrate my last day of vacation from responsibility with a bang!"

"Oh, you're on." Perry grinned, then reached into his pocket. When his hand returned, he was holding a lien chip. "You know what? How about y'all put your money where your mouths are, and we all put down some hard cash down as the prize? Team JNPR vs. Team RWBY, winner take all."

"There's four of you," pointed out Blake. "Without Weiss, we're outnumbered."

"Oh, that's fine. Ren is still rag– meditating, so it'll be three vs. three. Unless you kids are scared of getting your butts handed to you by an old fart like me?"

"Oh, you're on." Yang, eyes blazing red, pulled out a wallet. "Let's do this."

"HOW?" cried Yang.

"Zero kills?" said Ruby. "Zero assists?"

"M.L.G. for the win," declared Perry proudly, splitting up the winnings between Nora and Jaune. Jaune declined the victory money, electing instead to take only what he'd initially put into the pot. Perry had done so much of the work that Jaune probably could've set down his controller without changing the outcome. Besides, from the sound of things, his teammates needed the lien a bit more urgently than he did.

"You all suck," said Ruby. "I'm gonna go have fun with Weiss instead."

"Sounds like a skill issue."

Ruby and Yang grumbled their way out the door. Blake was about to follow when Perry placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold up for just a second, girl."

Her teammates looked back at her with concern, but she waved them on. "It's fine, you guys. Don't wait up."

They left, and Blake turned back to Team JNPR. "What gave me away?"

"Last name," Perry said as he coiled the cable around Jaune's controller. "Does the school know?"

Blake shrugged. "Do they need to?"

Jaune had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to be hearing whatever this was, but Perry hadn't asked him or the others to leave, and any secret messages were so buried in the subtext that one could probably find dinosaur bones next to them (if dinosaurs existed in Remnant; I'm not sure). Deciding that Perry would probably fill him in on what he needed to know afterwards, he held his tongue.

"If things get bad, I don't want it to get out that I knew and didn't say."

Blake glared at him but said nothing.

"What's your deal? Why even do this?"

"I wanted a fresh start. Surely you can understand that."

"Guess so." He waved her away. "Get outta here, girl. Go join your friends."

Blake did as Perry asked, leaving just the team in their dorm room.

"Um." Nora looked at Perry, then at Jaune as though he might have the answer. Jaune just shrugged, equally confused.

Perry said nothing.

"W-Well, it's getting late, and Jaune said we're going training tomorrow, so I'm going to turn in." Sprawling out in her bed, Nora wrapped herself up in a thick layer of blankets. Within seconds, she was snoring. The change from awake to asleep was so fast that Jaune wasn't entirely convinced that she wasn't faking it. Still, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened at Beacon.

"Myself as well." Ren went out the front door. "Jaune, I'll let you know when the men's washroom is available."

Jaune looked at Perry with naked curiously.

"You can ask, Jaune."

"I don't want to be pushy."

"I'm not made of glass. I won't flip my lid or–"

Jaune didn't say anything, but his expression must have contained doubt. Perry rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, look. How about we make a deal? I promise I won't run off on my own the next time a rude remark surfaces, and you promise not to treat me any different."

"I wasn't planning on–"

Perry shook his head. "I mean, don't take it easier on me for fear of making me change my mind about what we talked about on the rooftops and flake on ya. We got a deal?"

"Sure. So, what was all that with Blake, then?"

Perry opened the door to their dorm and looked across the hall at Team RWBY's identical housing. The door to their room was closed, but sounds of four girls moving about and readying for bed could be heard.

Jaune peered out from behind Perry. "Um, dude?"

"Let's just say that Ruby and I aren't the only nontraditional students in this place."

tl;dr Perry's gonna do what's called a pro-gamer move

Next Chapter: Come And Break Your Bones With Me

In which Jaune Arc dodges class and doesn't read from the textbook.

Author's Notes

Forgot to mention: if you enjoy what you're seeing so far, remember to check out my two other fanfics – K and The Empty Seat.

Perry was originally just a randomly chosen character (it was him or Deery) to fill the last spot, but I really decided to dive headfirst into the things that make him unique (both being Faunus and being older). It's gotten to the point where it would feel strange to be missing that aspect of his character.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!