"Another day, another opportunity."
It was moments like this where Jaune sat around in the dorm alone that phrases his dad often said would pop into his mind. Ren and Nora had disappeared on another of their famous, or possibly infamous, adventures to satiate the hammer-wielder's boredom.
Pyrrha on the other hand was meeting with some old rivals from Mistral that were in Vale for the Vytal Festival. A few girls had shown up at their dorm looking for her, and while the red-head seemed surprised by their visit, a rare confident smile graced her lips as she spoke to them. His partner told him that she'd likely be spending the day out, and wouldn't be back until late in the evening before disappearing with her former opponents.
Leaving the blonde alone with nothing but his thoughts and no need to make excuses. Getting up, the blonde reached under his bed and retrieved his go-bag from where it was stored, before throwing it over his shoulder and making his way out of the dorm.
Closing the door behind him, he made his way through the academy, briefly noticing his fellow second year Yang meeting up in the courtyard with the leader of team CFVY, Beacon's best third year team. The two girls caught sight of him and gave him a wave which he returned with a small smile before continuing on his path to the bullhead platforms.
Looking at when the next aircraft was scheduled to arrive, the knightly teen reached into his bag before pulling out a box of over-the-counter pills made to combat motion sickness. Popping one into his mouth, Jaune dry-swallowed it with a bit of a grimace before letting himself lean against a pillar with his eyes closed.
The wait wasn't long, but hopefully gave him enough time for the pills to do their job as he boarded the craft and made the twenty-two minute trip from Beacon to Vale's bullhead station, thankfully, with no issues or nausea.
Stepping out of the station and onto the sidewalk of Vale, the blonde checked the time on his scroll and was pleased to see he still had two hours until noon, and began to stroll down the sidewalk at a comfortable pace, knowing that he was only thirty minutes away from his destination.
His scroll began to vibrate in his pocket before he checked to see who was calling him before he answered.
"Hey Saph."
"Hey~ so how've you been little bro?"
"Things have been good. Straight B's in my classes, my friends helping me in the gym; what about you guys?"
"Well Terra is changing Adrian, but we're good. Tired from constantly being woken up by our little man, but we've never been happier. He's so wonderful."
"Make sure to send his favorite uncle pictures."
"You're his only Uncle, Jaune."
The deadpan his sister was wearing was met with a laugh that Jaune couldn't bring himself to contain.
"Well, anyways, did you take care of that favor I asked you for?"
"Of course! What kind of big sister would I be if I couldn't help my little brother out once in a while?"
"Do you know if Mom and Dad did too?"
"Luckily, you have such a thoughtful and caring big sister, that I thought to check for you, and yes, a few should already be there, and the ones that aren't should be on their way there in a month or so."
"Thanks Saph."
"No problem. I know you must've been going crazy not having them."
"You have no idea. Call you soon?"
"You better. Love you."
"Love you too."
With that, Jaune ended the call and kept making his way down the road knowing that he would soon be able to do what he's been missing. On the way there, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ren and Nora eating at Pancake Palace, but decided not to intrude on their outing, instead turning the corner and making the final stretch of his walk.
Finally he reached his destination and walked among the few metal shutters before finding the door that belonged to him. Raising his scroll up to the door, the blonde watched as the light turned green and the garage door opened. Entering quickly and pressing a button on his scroll, the door closed behind him and the lights to his personal car storage lit up.
On the walls were a seemingly endless amount of tools and other necessities that he'd had the foresight to stock beforehand, and in front of him were three covered vehicles. Making his way to the one furthest from him, he pulled the fabric away to reveal a beautiful matte black and shining silver Carley Ravenson custom he'd nicknamed "Tenebrau," and one of only two motorcycles that the teen owned.
Next, he turned around and took a few steps before removing the covering on the sunset orange Vacuan muscle car behind him. This was actually a gift from one of many drivers the blonde had gotten to know, and he couldn't help but to smile at the silver cross hanging from the rearview mirror, before reaching out and removing it from where it hung, opting to wear it. He still hadn't named this one or done any personal body work on her, it having been the most recent addition to his collection.
And turning his head to the side, he didn't even have to remove the covering to know which car it was. A tender hand gripped the fabric, and as Jaune pulled it away, he stood in silent happiness seeing his car.
It wasn't his first car, it wasn't his latest car, but it was quite literally his car. Jaune slaved over this machine from the ground up, building it entirely with his own hands, and doing every inch of art and work on her himself. No one knew this car better than he did, and no one ever would. Letting his hand brush against the car as he did a walk-around, only stopping once he did a full circle to admire his baby.
Pearly white body with matte champagne gold for the art, the continents of Remnant in map form were the decals decorating his car: Menagerie on his hood, Anima on his left door, Sanus on his right, Solitas on his roof, and the lost continent on his trunk.
He came up with the idea when he was struggling to think of what could work as his decal while trying to stick with white and gold. Eventually, after a day of sitting in front of a sketchbook with no ideas, he'd gone downstairs only to find the answer sitting on the wall above the fireplace.
After telling his dad what he'd wanted to do, one of his sisters helped him with designing the art to include important locations and geographical features, and then, he had everything he needed. Adding the smaller, detached islands that were also a part of the world had been one of his younger sister's ideas to make the art feel more connected across the car.
Walking to the back of the car, he looked down at the spoiler and read the name he'd given the machine years ago.
"Album Aurum."
White gold.
An excited breath escaped him, and without hesitation, he made his way over to the key case on the wall and withdrew the keys to his white and gold masterpiece. As he opened the door and settled into the seat, the blonde let his hands wrap around the steering wheel. Sliding the key into the ignition and turning it, he was greeted with the sound of his engine purring as it came to life. Leaning back into his seat, he simply sat there for a moment, relishing in the feeling of being behind the wheel again.
His gaze fell to the seat next to him, and he saw a folded piece of paper. Picking it up and reading the note that only said 'check the trunk,' the blonde cut the engine and made his way behind his car before opening the trunk and removing the suitcase from within.
A quick peek inside the suitcase showed him some new clothes that were similar to his wardrobe from back home, his old clothes no longer fitting him as he'd discovered when he returned home over the summer break. Deciding to change out of his usual outfit, the blonde donned a long-sleeve white Henley, a new pair of dark blue jeans, a black belt, and a pair of black boots.
Looking at himself in the mirror on the other wall, Jaune knew he was missing something for his outfit, and after shuffling around in his suitcase, pulled out a leather jacket, and put it on over his shirt. Another quick glance in the mirror, and the blonde still wasn't feeling it, until his gaze went to his hair, and he knew what to look for, remembering having seen one in the bag.
Retrieving a white headband bearing the Arc family crest Jaune slid in over the front of his hair and turned it so that the symbol was to the left of his head. Digging around to see if there was anything else he thought he could wear, the knightly teen felt something and pulled them out of the case, seeing a watch and a few bracelets he forgot to bring with him for him and his team to have.
Sliding on the watch and the bracelet that was for him, Jaune was finally satisfied with his reflection and debated on what to do for the day. Knowing that tomorrow was Monday and that he would have to attend class, he reluctantly decided against doing any maintenance on his vehicles and thought about where he could go.
Pulling out his scroll and surfing the web, he eventually landed on something that looked like it could be some fun. There was a fair at City Park that would end with a parade later in the day. Having decided on what to do for the day, the leader of team JNPR stretched before he smirked to himself as he mulled over what he wanted to drive for the day.
Early-year winter air and a perfect sun to cloud ratio; it was a really nice day to go for a cruise and it would be a shame to let the chance slip by. Making his decision, the blonde zipped up the suitcase and hefted it onto the counter before making his way back to the key case.
Swapping Album Aurum's keys for Tenebrau's, Jaune made his way over to where a sleek black motorcycle helmet was sitting on a bench, putting it on before walking over and mounting his motorbike. Making sure he was secure and that he had everything with him, the blonde put his jacket on as well before pressing a button on his scroll as he watched the garage doors open for him.
Tenebrau roared to life as he slowly exited his personal garage, and once he was outside, he waited for the door to close behind him before he took a calming breath and did a test ride around the complex before making his way to the exit gates.
It almost felt weird; driving again after so long. Slowing down as he approached an intersection, he looked up as he patiently waited for the light to turn green. As the light changed, the blonde ignored the signs that led to the fair and decided to keep straight. The fair wasn't going anywhere, and it wasn't like he was really in any rush to do anything today. All he wanted was to enjoy the feeling of freedom he'd been missing without his rides.
And for the better part of an hour, the blonde did exactly that. Taking his time and really committing the surrounding area to memory. But eventually, his stomach gave a grumble, and the knightly teen knew it was time to go find something to eat.
A short cruise later, and the blonde found himself parking his motorcycle at the nearby lot before taking off his helmet locking in to his bike. Letting out a happy sigh, the leader of team JNPR walked across the street until he was standing in City Park, surrounded by dozens of food stands, game stalls, and attractions.
He was interested in the attractions, especially the raffle, but the first order of business was to find the objectively best few stalls that sold cheap, small servings of food so that he could try as much food as possible. Spotting a stand supposedly selling north Vacuan cuisine, Jaune turned to make his way over before spotting something, or rather someone familiar.
Sitting alone on a bench away from the stalls was Nora clearly deep in thought, and judging by the dour air surrounding her, none too happy despite being at the fair. Quickly changing directions, the blonde made his way over to a cotton candy stand before paying for one and making his way over to his teammate.
"Hey. You wanna talk about what's bothering you?"
The girl looked up to see a stick of sugary pink clouds being held out to her, but as she looked to face holding the sweets, it took her a few moments before her eyes finally widened in realization.
"Jaune-Jaune?!"
The knightly teen let out a little laugh before sitting down next to her once she accepted the sweets from him, noticing how she seemed to scoot closer to him as she slowly nipped at her treat. The blonde's patience was rewarded as after a minute or two of silence, the girl next to him decided to open up.
"Hey Jaune?"
"Yeah?"
"Am I an airhead?"
The girl's teal orbs staring into him, Jaune made a look of thought before pulling a bundle of cotton candy from the berserker's treat, popping it into his mouth as he leaned back.
"Nope. That's not the word I would use to describe you. Not at all."
The girl made a face before she responded.
"Uh huh, and what word would you use then?"
The blonde stole another bundle of cotton candy from the girl, chuckling at her pout before he answered.
"Fun. You are without a doubt in my mind, the most fun to be around out of everyone I know."
"Really?"
"For sure: Pyrrha doesn't like leaving the school because of her fans, Ren likes to sleep when there isn't anything to do, Ruby can be fun but we don't really leave Beacon to go hang out, Blake is about as much fun as reading a book, Weiss is too uptight, and Yang is too much sometimes."
The girl swatted his hand away as he tried to sneak more candy away from her before questioning him.
"Really. I'm more fun than Yang Xiao Long."
The blonde nodded as he looked up at the sky.
"I'm being serious. You remember the time she made everyone go to Junior's, or that time she spiked the punch at the Halloween party, or…The Whip Cream Incident."
The both of them shivered at the mention of the last one. Never before, but certainly never, ever again.
"Well then, what's so fun about me?"
"Everything I guess. No matter what it is that we end up doing, you make the experience ten times more fun just by being there. Tabletop night at the hobby shop, going to the arcade, bowling at that one place that no one else knows about. I never know what to expect, except that I'm going to have a good time if I'm with you."
The girl looked at him with wide eyes before looking away and scarfing down her cotton candy. A minute or so later, Nora turned back to him with a beaming smile, all traces of her previous gloominess evaporated as she hopped to her feet and pulled the blonde along to go and enjoy the festival, wrapping herself around his arm once he caught up to her.
Whilst Jaune and Nora were beginning to enjoy their time together at the fair, Yang and Coco were not far. In fact, the heartbreaker duo were busy on the other side of the fair, finishing off their own meal while they talked.
"So, you don't have any idea of where to look?"
Coco tilted her glasses down before sipping at her sweet tea before responding to the younger girl's question.
"Nope. Actually, I've lived in Vale before I even came to Beacon and I've seen them around, but I have no idea where to find them when you're actually looking for them. And after all that craziness from last year, it'll probably be even harder. Can't you go ask that guy who runs the bar; what's-his-name?"
Yang groaned after sucking down the rest of her strawberry lemonade.
"Junior?"
Seeing the older girl nod, she shook her head before explaining.
"No. I got banned after my last visit there. And it's not like every single person with a ride that looks fast will actually know anything."
"True. Maybe you could try hitting up the auto shops around town with your bike. Flash your ride, sway your hips, flirt a bit and maybe one of them will know something."
"Maybe…Well, in any case Coco, let's go get some shopping done; thanks for inviting me out by the way."
"No prob, I just needed someone to help keep the boys away."
It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun. Jaune and Nora had been at the fair since around eleven a.m., and checking the time on his scroll, the blonde saw it was a quarter till five p.m. The parade was still in full swing, but having been a part of catching a large collection of the thrown beads, the two decided to go and find something to eat, but as they were walking, Nora noticed something out of the corner of her eye, before turning to Jaune.
"Hey Fearless Leader, do you wanna keep those?"
Looking at where her finger was pointing, the knightly teen looked down to the beads hanging from his neck before shaking his head. Seeing this, the girl smiled and held out her hand, waiting as the blonde lifted the tangled mess of plastic loops towards her before making her way over to a few children who looked like they were upset at not catching very many beads.
Watching with a smile as the ginger gave away the caught collection before she returned, the two fell into step with each other as they walked across City Park.
"That was nice of you."
The girl made a humming noise in agreement before her stomach interrupted whatever she wanted to say. Jaune chuckled at this, feeling rather hungry himself before he decided to continue talking.
"What're you in the mood for?"
"Pancakes! But I don't think they have any here…"
The blonde looked around, and while there was certainly a large variety here, he'd predicted what her answer would be before making a suggestion.
"Wanna hit Pancake Palace on the way back to the dorm?"
There.
It was so quick that he'd almost thought he imagined it, but the briefest of instances, Nora's smile faded before replacing itself as she shook her head.
"No, Ren and I went there for breakfast, so we can do something else."
The blonde filed that away to bring up later, but thinking about it, he did know a place where they could get some good pancakes, and seeing how his spunky teammate was trying to not let something bring her down, he decided she could use the pick-me-up. The only problem was that they were nowhere near where it was, the restaurant being around a thirty-minute drive. Looking over at her humming to herself, he sighed as he decided to drive them there.
"Hey, Nora?"
"Hmm?"
"If I show you something, can you keep a secret?"
The girl looked at him strangely before nodding her head. Jaune changed their direction, and started walking them to the lot.
"Jauney, where are we going?"
"There's this restaurant I like, I usually go there when I wanna get some space from everyone else."
"Oh. Well, is it nearby?"
"No, and it'll take too long to walk."
"So...?"
"We'll take my bike."
The girl made a face of understanding before continuing to follow him, but once they stopped in front of Tenebrau and Jaune took out his key, Nora's jaw dropped.
"Wait! Is this your bike?!"
"Yeah."
The girl ran around the bike excitedly before stopping next to her teammate.
"It's so cool! I thought you meant a bike-bike, not a motorcycle!"
Then once logic caught up with her, the girl looked confused before speaking again.
"Since when do you have a motorcycle?"
The blonde rubbed his neck as he responded.
"I've had him since before I came to Beacon."
"Him?"
"Yea, I named him once I got him a few years back: Tenebrau."
The girl gave a whistle of appreciation as she looked at the bike over. In the girl's head, the name seemed foreign or out of place, but testing it on her tongue while she marveled at the classic look it had, she decided she liked it.
"So, are you ready to go?"
The girl looked back to the blonde who was now wearing his helmet, and nodded.
"Yep!"
The girl waited for Jaune to mount the motorcycle before she hopped on behind him, putting her arms around his chest while he waited. Before he started moving, he looked back and spoke to Nora.
"Letting you know now, before we start heading to the restaurant, we're stopping at a shop nearby to get you a helmet."
The girl nodded to him before they started to ride out of the parking lot and onto the main road. The ride to the shop was a quick one, the girl picking out a white and pink open-face helmet. When asked by an employee if she would like to add a partial or full-face visor, she looked at the two before seeing some goggles near the counter that she liked, opting for those instead. Now, with the two of them having proper head protection, the blonde started taking them towards the restaurant.
The ride was relaxing for Jaune and exciting for Nora, the ginger relishing in the experience of riding with her teammate, watching as the buildings blurred as she took note of anything interesting. Finally, as the sky started to bleed from blue into the beautiful orange, the two arrived at their destination.
"Mia's?"
The blonde locked his and Nora's helmets to his bike before the two began to walk towards the entrance.
"Yea. Lady who runs it is good people; and so is her family. Plus, she makes the best pancakes I know of."
The berserker beside him let out a harrumph before she tilted her nose upwards, not unlike Weiss would when she was acting like a princess.
"I'll be the judge of that Jauney."
The two made their way inside and found seats at the bar of the empty restaurant. Seeing the menus resting on the counter, they each took one and began to look them over, Nora scanning down the list for her beloved food.
A few minutes later a woman came from the back, spotting the two waiting at the counter before her eyes widened seeing the familiar blonde and making her way over.
"Jaune!"
The two teens looked up to see the owner of the humble cantina leaning on the counter with a smile.
"Hey Mia. Been a long time."
The two shared a brief hug over the counter before Jaune remembered his manners.
"Oh yeah; Mia, this is my teammate, Nora Valkyrie. Nora, this is Mia Toretto, the owner of this place."
"Ahem."
The two looked at Mia who had a warning look on her face as Jaune coughed into his hand and kept speaking.
"She's also something like my big sister."
The ginger looked at the older woman in surprise before her expression morphed into a Cheshire grin.
"So~ you're Jauney's big sister hmmm? Would you happen to have any, I dunno, embarrassing stories to share?"
Seeing Mia matching his teammate's grin, the blonde hurriedly interjected.
"Hey-since you're here, why don't we go ahead and order? She'll have a lemonade and I'll take a cola."
The woman was still wearing a mischievous smile as she responded.
"And what to eat?"
"Pancakes for her and a tuna sandwich, no-crust for me."
The girl shook her head as she left.
"You and Brian, I swear."
With that, the woman disappeared to the other side of the counter to make their order, leaving Jaune and Nora alone.
"Brian?"
"Her husband. I met him when he came to my home town, and ended up meeting the rest of the family. I owe a lot to them."
The girl hummed to herself as she looked around the cantina, before spotting some pictures on the wall and making her way over to them. A lot of the pictures were Mia and various other people smiling for the camera. Some of the pictures go as far back as to when she was their age. The ginger couldn't help smiling seeing the picture of Mia holding two kids next to who she could only assume was Brian.
The hammer wielder was shaken from her thoughts when a glass of lemonade was being held towards her, before she accepted it with a thank you. As the girl sipped her drink Mia pointed to the last picture that Nora seemed to linger on for a moment.
"That's Me, Brian, and our kids: Jack and Olivia."
"You all look really happy here."
"We are. I have two wonderful kids, a loving husband, and I'm surrounded by great people I'm proud to call my family."
The woman reached out and plucked one of the pictures from the wall and handed it to Nora.
"This is one of my favorites."
"There's a lot of people in this one."
"Yep, but that's everyone. Our family just kept getting bigger over time. You see me, Brian, and our kids, next to us is Dom, Letty, and Little Brian; my oldest brother, his wife, and their son, then Jakob, my other older brother. Next over is Han and his wife Gisele, with their daughter Elle, and then Tej, Ramsay, and Roman. Next to them is Deckard and Hobbs."
The girl couldn't help but stare at the young blonde at the center of the picture wearing a smile so big it probably hurt.
"And of course, Jaune."
The woman gently removed the picture from Nora's hand and returned it to the wall before she spoke again.
"There are a few more of us, but they're harder to get out for little gatherings like this. One of them is missing out there somewhere, and then…"
Mia wore a solemn smile as looked towards the wall before pointing out two more pictures.
"Vince and Jesse. We lost Jesse before Jaune met us, and we lost Vince a little over a year after Jaune started to hang around us. Vince's wife Rosa and their son Nico live in Vacuo."
Hearing a timer go off in the background, Mia ushered Nora back towards the blonde who'd been silently watching the two look over the pictures, while she went back to plate their food.
Within a minute, both of them had their food sitting in front of them while Mia kept looking between the two, searching for something. Jaune waited to eat his food, waiting for Nora's reaction once she tried her pancakes.
The girl dramatically took her time cutting the first pancake and submerging it in syrup, before she slowly raised the fork to her mouth and took a bite. Not but a second later, the girl seemed to melt into the table with a sigh as she chewed, savoring the taste.
Jaune chuckled to himself before turning to his sandwich and taking a bite. Once he started to chew, a heavy hand hit his back causing him to almost cough out the bite he took. Struggling and succeeding to swallow his bite, he looked to see Nora pouting and glaring at him with a fork aimed at his nose.
"Treachery!"
"W-What!?"
The girl crossed her arms and looked away from him.
"I'm not talking to you anymore, Fearless Leader."
"What did I do?!"
The girl looked at him with a pout.
"How could you keep this angel in disguise hidden from me!? These pancakes are…"
The girl cut herself off as she shoveled another fork full of flapjack into her mouth, causing Mia to laugh at the absurdity of the two.
Mia gathered her composure before looking past to see a group of three guys walking towards the register.
"Sit tight you two, I'll be right back."
The two teens gave her a nod as they ate and bantered together. After a few minutes, Mia returned to the duo, and sent an apologetic look to Jaune.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry to ask you for a favor when you're on a date,"
Mia watched as the two blushed, in Jaune's case while he choked on his sandwich, but before they could make any attempt to correct her or deny her claim, the woman continued speaking.
"But if it's not too much trouble, could you watch the counter for a little bit, I need to go grab some stuff from the back to make their orders. I promise I won't be long."
The blonde managed to swallow the offending morsel before taking a swig of his cola and giving a thumbs up to Mia, despite the disgruntled look he wore from her 'date' claim. The woman smiled at him before tossing him an apron and moving to the back. Jaune gave a pat to Nora's shoulder before moving towards the trio.
"Hey guys, did Mia get you down for any drinks?"
The group turned to look at him before nodding their heads. Jaune gave a nod in response before accepting their receipt from them and moving to pour their drinks. After a moment, all three gave him a word of thanks before they turned to talk while they waited on their order. Jaune watched them as he tidied up Mia's workspace, slightly concerned as to what they were thinking while they kept leering towards Nora.
Sure enough, within another minute of waiting, the one who was the apparent ringleader of the three began to walk towards her, his two buddies in tow.
"Excuse me,"
Nora turned to see a stranger standing a few feet from her where she was, now paused from her indulgence of her fluffy treat.
"Hi!"
The man recoiled a tad, momentarily surprised at the energy the gingerette had.
"I'm Uno, these are my friends Deuce and Drei."
"I'm Nora! Nora Valkyrie."
"Pretty name~"
"Aww thanks, it's nothing special though."
"You're right, it's the lady who makes the name pretty."
Jaune let out an exasperated sigh. Having dealt with or seen guys like this in various scenarios with his sisters, he knew that the last thing on these guy's minds was making friends. Now, Jaune truly meant it when he told Nora that he didn't think she was an airhead.
Far from it in fact; Jaune knew that the girl was actually very perceptive to the things around her, and acted the way she did to ease tension. So, while he was certain she knew what they were up to and that she was perfectly capable of handling herself, there was an unshakable instinct that was urging him forth to go and assist her.
As Jaune moved over with a refill for her lemonade, he quickly intervened by swapping out her glass with a full one as he spoke to her.
"Hey Nora, so after we're done here, why don't we head back to our dorm room, unless there's something else you wanted to do."
The trio looked over to see him eyeing them with an unreadable expression. The ringleader quickly held his hands up with a placating expression.
"Whoops! My bad~ I didn't realize this lovely lady was spoken for."
Nora looked confused before Jaune responded.
"Me and Nora aren't dating."
Uno's eyes narrowed slightly before he addressed the blonde.
"So, if you two aren't dating…then there's no issue?"
The older male successfully went from cocky ringleader to arrogant punk in Jaune's book. The leader of team JNPR crossed his arms before he shot back.
"There is if you're making Nora uncomfortable."
"If there was a problem, I'm sure she'd say something~ maybe she just prefers our company over yours. So, unless I'm missing something and she's an airhead, why don't you go help your boss make our food. Or better yet, you could go give our cars a wash."
The trio began to laugh at Jaune who stood there handling it, rather well all things considered, but in truth he was more worried about Nora at the moment. He wasn't sure what happened but the girl wasn't eating her beloved pancakes with the same vigor she had been, and it was a bit concerning.
"Excuse me…"
The trio stopped laughing to see Nora fully turn towards them with a forced smile. This only made Jaune more concerned however, due to how out of character the girl was acting.
"You guys are actually making me really uncomfortable. So could you leave me and my leader alone, please?"
Deuce and Drei seemed surprised in contrast to Uno's now irritated visage. The punk ringleader scoffed in response before turning to leave as he answered.
"Deuce. Drei. We're leaving."
"Y-Yeah, alright Uno. But what about the food?"
The arrogant punk looked back to Deuce before he answered.
"We're eating somewhere else. This dumb bitch and her white knight ruined my appetite and my good mood."
With that, he spared one last glance back to Nora who refused to meet his eyes, instead choosing to look at the ground, and with a sneer, shot a wad of spit onto the gingerette's plate. That was the last straw for Jaune.
The blonde vaulted the counter before lunging at Uno with his teeth bared. His fist stopped just a few inches away from the punk's face before he realized he was being held back. Turning around, he saw Nora who was shakily holding his wrist with her hair hiding her eyes.
"Nora…"
"..."
The girl's hand still shaking as it held onto his wrist, the girl's electric blue eyes were full of tears as she tried her damndest to give Jaune a reassuring smile, but the faltering quivers of her lip and her inability to keep her voice steady to feel confident to say anything betrayed her, and as the tears that pooled in her eyes finally spilled over, Jaune's eyes turned to ice, and his anger along with it.
Turning to face the smug ringleader, the older male flinched under Jaune's gaze when the teen's eyes narrowed. As the group watched Jaune's hand lower from being near Uno's face to circling around Nora, pulling his teammate against him, Jaune spoke to them with an unsettling evenness that one wouldn't think to associate with him.
"Get out."
It wasn't a whisper, but he didn't raise his voice, nor was it hissed out or choked. Just…impossibly neutral. Uno stood there for a moment before turning to leave with his posse. Jaune watched for a moment before turning his entire attention towards the gingerette who was burying her face into his chest.
This was the scene Mia walked back into.
"What the hell happened?"
"Those three guys happened."
Mia gave Jaune an apologetic look that he waved off, instead choosing to pat Nora as he whispered into her ear.
"C'mon, let's go home."
The girl sniffled a bit, still refusing to meet her leader's eyes before allowing him to lead her to his motorcycle. Once there, he handed Nora her helmet, and upon looking over, saw the trio of punks loitering outside Mia's restaurant, before he noticed something infinitely more important than them; their cars. All three of them were driving tuner cars, all different model DMW's detailed with body kits and brand stickers.
Jaune lingered for a moment, before leaving Nora on the bike to walk over towards the three. As he got closer, he noticed the tire brand painted on their rubber, and smirked to himself sure his assumptions were correct, before schooling his expression as he whistled to gather the group's attention, not unlike how one would a dog.
The posse turned to see the blonde walking towards them, and Uno's smirk from earlier returned, but as he prepared a jeer to throw at the knightly teen, Jaune spoke.
"Nice car."
Uno seemed confused by the turn of events as he and his group silently watched as Jaune peered through the windshield to see Starco. brand seats in their cars, as well as a few brand stickers that the average racing stan wouldn't know to support. Jaune did a full circle around Uno's ride, and had to admit, it actually was a nice car.
"Is it just for show?"
This managed to rile up the trio, as they took more defensive stances after hearing that.
"What was that, you little shit?!"
Uno stomped forth before grabbing Jaune by the collar, something that finally got the attention of Nora, who prepared to get off her leader's motorcycle to go help him, before she halted herself when she saw him raise a hand silently.
"Uno, right?"
"What's it to you punk?"
Jaune smirked at the older male as he swatted the man's hands away from his collar before fixing it while responding.
"You've done nothing but talk since you got here, so why don't you put some money where that mouth is?"
The man's eyes widened at the challenge before he began to howl with laughter.
"Guys! Guys, did you hear that!? Blondie wants to race!"
The man managed to reign in his amusement before regarding Jaune with a wicked smile on his face.
"Do you honestly think you can beat my ride with a bike?"
Jaune gave an uncharacteristically confident grin.
The man, seeing that Jaune wasn't going to back down, adopted a semi-serious look.
"Listen punk, I don't race for free. You wanna fight me on the black-top; it's gonna cost you. Three grand."
The trio, expecting that to have scared Jaune off, were surprised when the blonde nodded his head as he spoke.
"If that's how much you wanna give me, sure. Pick a time and place."
The man's face twitched in irritation before he pulled up a map of Vale on his scroll, looking through and tapping points before taking a picture and showing it to Jaune. The blonde looked briefly before snapping a picture of the route.
"Be here in two hours, and you better have my lien for when you lose."
Uno didn't wait for Jaune to retort before motioning for his two goons that they were leaving. Jaune watched silently as the three left the restaurant parking and drove off around a corner. He looked up and let out a sigh followed by a smile as his hands started to shake from the excitement of what he'd just gotten himself into.
The knightly teen took a few deep breaths before walking back over to his motorcycle where Nora was waiting and putting on his helmet. The girl looked at him worriedly as they left the parking lot.
"Hey…Jaune?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? If anything, that should be my question."
"Jauney…be serious."
The teen stayed silent for a moment before he sighed.
"Yea Nora, I'm fine, I just couldn't let that guy get away with what he pulled back there."
"You didn't have to do that for me."
"Maybe, but I wanted to, and I would do it again."
The girl smiled softly as she held onto the blonde.
"Dummy."
"What about you? Are you alright?"
"I'm…fine. What they said really didn't bother me too much."
"Does…it have anything to do with the trip you and Ren went on today?"
The girl's arms tensed around him before they slacked a bit.
"..."
"I didn't mean to make you upset, if you don't wanna talk about it, I unders-"
"No, it might make me feel better if I get it off my chest."
Jaune kept his eyes on the road as he waited patiently for Nora to start telling him what happened.
"...When we got there today, we did what we normally did. I ordered a ton of pancakes while Ren got his omelet. We started talking about things while we were waiting, from this year's Vytal Festival, to all the craziness that happened last year, to…us."
Jaune winced as she brought up both their freshman year and their relationship. Last year had been extremely out of the ordinary, what from Roman Torchwick running around with the White Fang, the potentially disastrous breach that occurred only a few weeks from the Vytal Festival, to the near catastrophe they'd barely managed to prevent at Beacon.
The mastermind behind all of this, Cinder, who'd been posing as a student of Haven, was killed in the conflict by Ozpin, who'd nearly died fighting her. An investigation was launched after, and soon enough, Headmaster Lionheart of Haven Academy was arrested after it came to light that he assisted Cinder in masquerading as one of his students. All of that before they'd even made it through their first year.
So many life-threatening events had occurred back to back that the entirety of team JNPR had realized that every moment was precious, and that they would never be able to predict what else the world had in store for them.
A few days after the failed invasion, Jaune and Pyrrha officially became a couple, the red-head having finally confessed during one of their rooftop training sessions. Their relationship was stable, but ended amicably after six months.
The two still are one of, if not the, best partner pairs in their year, but romance just wasn't in the cards for them, though if at least one thing came of it, their friendship deepened do a point that likely wouldn't have been possible before.
As for Ren and Nora, their friends only found out that the two attempted to date each other months after the fact. When everyone went their separate ways for the summer, Ren and Nora dated for the majority of the break.
Unfortunately, not only did they find that they were just too different for it to have worked, there was a noticeable tension that wasn't there before. When their teammates and team RWBY found out, they'd been shocked to say the least, but the two attempted to play it off as though nothing had changed. Their performance as partners didn't suffer thankfully, but until a month or so ago, the two hadn't seemed as close as they'd been as first-years.
"And then?"
"I brought up some things that we agreed not to talk about again, and after I pressed him on a few things and when he started answering, I got his honest opinion."
"You didn't like what you heard."
The girl seemed depressed as she slump against him.
"Some of what he said hurt my feelings, but I'm glad he finally told me what he thought about me, about us, why he thought we didn't work out, and other stuff. Afterward, I asked him if we could go back to before we tried being a thing, back when we were just Nora, and Ren, not Nora-and-Ren."
"So it ended okay?"
"I think we both want to go back to when we were really close, like siblings almost. But it's probably gonna be super awkward for a while, so apologies in advance Fearless Leader. From both of us."
"You don't have to apologize for that Nora. Neither of you. So, how did you end up at the fair?"
The girl sighed before answering.
"Like I said, my feelings were hurt. So after we were done eating, instead of heading back to Beacon together, I decided to go for a walk. I kinda just…wandered around until I ended up there."
The blonde made a noise of thought as he came to a stop at a red light. He was about to say something when he heard another motorcycle pulling up next to him. Turning his head to the side, he froze upon seeing Yang and Coco seated on Bumblebee. He quickly turned his head back to stare straight ahead before taking a breath to calm himself down, remembering he was wearing a full face helmet with a blacked out visor.
Of course, he knew it wouldn't be long until something happened, and a quick glance from the blonde bombshell of team RWBY was all it took to start a conversation at the light.
"Nora?!"
"Hi Yang!"
Coco and Yang gave separate sounds of appreciation seeing the bike, before turning their attention onto the driver who was holding onto.
"Oh? Nora, Nora, I didn't know you were seeing someone~"
Coco's comment earned a casual laugh from Nora before the gingerette began to talk.
"Oh this guy? Naw, it's not like that. We just ran into each other earlier and decided to hang out."
Yang's lips shifted into her infamous mischievous grin before she spoke.
"Well, are you gonna introduce us to your friend? And tell us where you've been hiding him~"
Jaune began to panic a bit as he knew this was where he was supposed to speak, but before he could worry anymore, Nora answered the brawler.
"This is Gold. We only met today while I was walking around Vale. We ended up hanging out at the fair for most of the day."
"No kidding! We must've just missed each other since we were there before we went shopping."
'Why is this light taking so long!?'
Jaune's thoughts were interrupted as he looked over by chance to see Yang holding a hand out while Coco was waving.
"Did you hear us?"
Trying to refrain from talking, Jaune shook his head before reaching out to shake Yang's hand.
"Name's Yang Xiao Long. Nice to meet ya!"
"And I'm Coco, but you probably already knew that."
The three of them rolled their eyes and Coco's introduction, before he glanced ahead to see the traffic ahead beginning to slow.
"You're really quiet huh? What's wrong, Blake got your tongue?"
Inwardly, Jaune cringed at the bad pun his fellow blonde was already beginning to start on. Nora's groan got the group's attention as she gave a half hearted glare towards Yang.
"Your puns suck Yang! And he doesn't even know her!"
The blonde playfully stuck her tongue out at the girl before Coco decided to speak up.
"He hasn't said a word since we started talking. Is he a shy guy?"
"No, he's mute."
The two girl's eyes widened before they looked as if they were going to apologize, but a few hand motions Jaune made to let them know he wasn't offended earned two sighs of relief to match his own under his helmet.
"Hey, a bike that beautiful has to have a driver to match right? So, why not let us get a peek at that face of yours big boy~"
Jaune froze up at the flirt but was luckily saved as the traffic stopped and Nora responded.
"Maybe I'll invite you two out to come hang out with us sometime, but we've got a few more things to do before we head back to Beacon."
"Wait. He's a Beacon student?"
If Nora was bothered by her slip up, she didn't let it show, instead answering without missing a beat.
"No, he's from Shade. He's here for the Vytal Festival."
The light ahead turned green and Jaune patted Nora's arm to let her know they were about to move.
"Anyway! I'll see you back at home girls!"
"Bye Nora!"
"Be sure to bring your boy toy around sometime!"
The two bikes split up at the intersection, Yang and Coco laughing off towards Beacon with Jaune continuing a bit further forwards to take a parallel route away from the two beauties.
"That was way too close."
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad Jaune-Jaune. Besides, my story seemed to work perfectly!"
"Yeah…How did you come up with all that?"
The girl preened before she answered.
"I could tell you didn't want them to know it was you when you tensed up, So, I used the names of one of the shops around us. If they heard your voice, they would've known it was you. And Vacuo is the only academy you could've driven here from."
As they stopped at a sign to take a turn, Jaune looked back to Nora.
"Not even gonna lie; I'm impressed."
The girl cackled to herself before falling silent as she let Jaune take the turn. There was a pause as the girl debated over what to say next as she watched the city around her turn to a blur.
"So…How much longer till we get to the bullhead station?"
"We're not heading to the bullhead station."
The girl looked surprised before she responded to her leader.
"Then…where are we going?"
"We're going to my garage."
"You…have a garage?!"
"Yeah? Where else would I store my bike?"
"The garage for Beacon students near the bullhead station."
Jaune cringed at the thought of that before he shook his head.
"Yeah, no. We had a close enough call with Yang and Coco already, there's no way I could keep this a secret if I parked there."
The girl made a sound of thought before she asked a question as she leaned into Jaune.
"Hey Jaune. Why are you so set on keeping your bike a secret?"
The blonde thought about what to say before he sighed.
"It's…a really long story. I led a much different life than what anyone would expect from what they learned about me since I've been at Beacon. It's a part of my life that I was starting to miss, but I don't know if I really want anyone else to know about it. Well, besides you. I guess it's like a secret hobby."
The girl hummed as she thought about it before she responded.
"Did you plan to tell me?"
"No. I was planning on keeping it a secret from everyone. Not sure how long it would've lasted but, that was the original plan. But, when I saw you bummed out at the fair today, I decided I didn't mind if you knew, and that was that."
The girl smiled to herself at her leader's kindness.
She went to thank him, but noticed they'd slowed down and pulled into a lot full of storage garages. A minute of slow driving later, and they'd arrived in front of a metal door. Jaune retrieved his scroll before punching in a code and a few moments later, the door began to open. Slowly letting the bike roll them inside, the door closed behind him before the lights flashed on.
Nora was in the process of taking off her helmet when the lights came on, and when she managed to pull the headwear off to look around, she was shocked at the other two cars awaiting them in the space.
"Whoa…"
Jaune pulled his own helmet off before chuckling to himself as he moved to place Tenebrau's keys in the case. The blonde took off his leather jacket before tossing it towards the counter. After a quick stretch, he rolled up his sleeves before grabbing Album Aurum's keys and walking over to his masterpiece ride.
Nora turned from where she was practically drooling over the Vacuan muscle car before she saw Jaune pop the hood to his ride. Curious, she skipped over until she stood next to him watching him as he went through a series of checks.
"Whatcha doing?"
The blonde kept his hands busy as if he was running through a routine as he answered her.
"I'm running through a checklist to make sure I'm ready."
"For what?"
The blonde looked back to her with a confident smile.
"For the race I'm going to win."
The girl's eyes widened.
"You're actually going to race him?"
"Yeah."
"Won't we get in trouble?"
"I don't think so. The cops don't come around that part of town almost at all, so we probably don't have to worry about getting busted."
Nora seemed to shuffle in place as Jaune continued through his checks.
"Jaune…you really don't have to do this…"
The blonde seemed to slow for a moment before he finished his last check and dropped the hood back into place.
"Maybe not, Nora. But I want to. I want to put this guy in his place, and once I take that punk's money, we're gonna go and get you as many pancakes as you can eat!"
The girl looked like she was gonna tear up, but chose to laugh instead, watching as Jaune checked the tires. After a short while, Jaune stood and took a step back from the car, finished with his check-up. Looking at the time on his scroll, Jaune smiled to himself anxiously before he moved to the passenger's side of the car. Opening the door, he lifted up the seat to reveal a clear box housing several canisters. Checking the gauge, he nodded to himself before putting the seat back into place and moving out of the way for Nora.
"After you."
The gingerette snickered to herself before she slid into the shotgun seat. After closing the door behind her, Jaune settled into the driver's seat and turned the key into the ignition. Hearing Album Aurum roar to life, the blonde took a deep breath as he let his hands tighten around the steering wheel, all types of emotions running through him.
After soaking in the moment, the blonde put his scroll in the mount and pressed a few buttons. The ceiling lights to the garage flicked off as floor lights came on. A few seconds later, and the garage door raised up before he slowly let his ride roll out of the space. After waiting to watch the door close behind him, he slowly made his way out of the lot and began to head towards Mia's to meet with Uno.
As Jaune drove, Nora looked around the inside of the car, entranced by the almost sci-fi interior Jaune's car had. The doors, roof, center, and glovebox were really the only normal things about the vehicle. She was sitting in a racing seat, the space behind them was home to an amazing looking stereo setup, the radio controls looked like something she'd expect to see in a bullhead, and from what she could see of the dash, it looked like it was all probably custom done.
Jaune glanced over and their eyes met for a second as they stopped at a red light. Pressing a button, he waited as his scroll synced to his car before turning on his stereo and tapping on his playlist. The light turned green as the first bit of bass from the song hit, and Jaune pushed on the gas as they made their way down the empty evening roads of Vale.
Nora, recognizing the song, immediately began to sing while dancing in her seat, causing Jaune to smile as he drove down the road. The gingerette next to him turned to ask him a question, but as the neon signs illuminated him in the darkness of his car, Nora saw him in both a literal, and figurative, new light. The focus and confidence with which he steered his car, the gentle upturned corners of his lips, the way his sapphire blue eyes seemed to glow, and…
Nora's face turned a more brilliant shade of red than Crescent Rose. Realizing the thoughts that had been running through her head, her voice quieted as she kept her eyes glued to her lap.
"Why'd you stop?"
The girl looked over and saw Jaune somewhat confusedly glancing at her from the side of his eye.
"W-What?"
"Singing? Why'd you stop? I liked it."
The red on Nora's face was masked by the darkness, but she felt as if the heat in her face was practically melting as she smiled to herself. The berserker of team JNPR took a few deep breaths to calm herself before she leveled a question to her leader, hoping to ground herself in what she predicted would be his response.
"Oh really~ Well then, whose voice do you like more? Mine or Weissy's?"
"Yours."
No hesitation, no doubt, and she could tell from the lack of any of his nervous tics that he was telling the absolute truth. This was in fact, not what she predicted he would say, and now, the blush on her face at its strongest yet.
"Oh…Why."
Jaune leaned into his seat a bit more before he answered.
"Don't get me wrong, Weiss has an amazing voice. But, I've listened to a few of her songs, and she never sounds happy when she sings. You? When you sing, I feel like you're untouchable, like no one even comes close. I like listening to you, even when you're not singing. You have a really nice voice."
The girl felt faint as she tried not to overreact. Where!? Where had this Jaune been during all those awful attempts at flirting with Weiss?!
"You…really mean that? You don't mind hearing me ramble on and on like I always do?"
"I've always looked forward to hearing you tell your stories, or cheer, or even complain. No one does any of it like you do, Nora."
Fortunately, Jaune saw Mia's and turned into the parking lot before he could say anything more to further raise Nora's blood pressure or louden the heartbeat in her ears. Lo and behold, the same three cars from earlier were waiting for them. Jaune rolled Nora's window down the tiniest bit before removing his keys from the ignition and taking off his seatbelt. Looking over, he saw her about to do the same before he shook his head and exited the car, closing his door behind him before walking over to the punks.
"Figured you would've been too scared to show, kid."
"And pass up on a chance to make some easy money?"
Uno brushed off the retort, a feat compared to his temperament earlier today, before pulling up the route.
"You memorized the route?"
"Yup."
"And you got the money?"
"Eh, what's yours is mine."
The older man snorted before he turned his scroll to the blonde and pulled up the Speed Chasers app.
"Kay kid, you need this to-"
"Have it."
The men looked surprised as Jaune turned his own scroll towards them and pulled up the same app.
"How did you know about-"
The man stopped mid sentence and looked closely at Jaune's car. The amount of work he could see put into it from just the outside spoke volumes about what he couldn't see; so at the very least, the blonde had probably ran on the blacktop at least a few times, especially if he had that app.
"Alright, I'm gonna sync with your phone and load this up for the records."
"Say, before that, I've got an idea of my own. How about we raise the stakes?"
Uno looked a little surprised by the suggestion, before he raised an eyebrow.
"You wanna lose even more money?"
Jaune said nothing in response before clicking a few buttons on his scroll and sending the bet over to Uno. The man's eyes widened when he saw Jaune was suggesting racing for double what they had been.
"Listen, if we're gonna almost break curfew to knock you down a peg, it's gotta be worth our while."
The older man grit his teeth before he pressed a few buttons on his own scroll, matching Jaune's bet, mapping the route, and finalizing the race.
"Let's do it Blondie."
Jaune walked back to his car where he smiled over to Nora, whispering something through the window, which Uno noticed.
"Hey Rookie, why'd you bring the girl?"
"She's riding with me. It won't make a difference, I promise. Oh! Are you running bottles?"
"Yeah."
The blonde nodded before sliding over to the driver's side of the vehicle and ducking into his car with Nora looking at him with something to say.
"So…You're really about to do this."
"We."
"And you're sure WE won't get in trouble?"
Jaune chuckled before he started to explain.
"Nora, when I said cops don't really care about this part of town, I think it's more accurate to say they try to avoid it as much as possible."
"What? Why?"
"This is the 'bad part' of the city. There's gangs, drugs, and all other kinds of problems out here. It's even more dangerous for cops since people around here really, really don't like them. It's so bad that they avoid putting up traffic cameras or patrolling through this part of town."
"Why not just have huntsmen help?"
"Because if huntsmen do the police's job, then there wouldn't be a need for the police. But, like I said, I wouldn't worry about it."
As he finished speaking, Jaune and Uno drove over to the nearby intersection's red light, lining up next to each other. The blonde rolled down the car windows and turned up his music a bit as they waited.
"Hope you made your peace, punk!"
Nora waited for Jaune's reply before she looked over to him and saw him focused on the road ahead as the bridge between songs on his playlist was coming to an end. A ping from the scroll alerted Nora, and she saw a countdown starting. As the numbers ticked down, the lights on the intersecting road changed from yellow to red, and as the count hit zero, the lights turned green.
(A/N)
This is the first story idea that actually made me sit down and just drop everything else I was writing to work on. It was just such a neat idea, and my guilty pleasure as far as movies go are Fast & Furious movies.
If anyone wants this, its up for grabs, if not, I've still got something to work on.
Anyway, hope you enjoy, and tell me what you think!