"I'm not your partner," Cardin growled.
"I'm gonna say it one more time," Jaune sighed. "Slow this time. We. Aren't. Partners." It'd been about an hour since he'd made the claim solely to save Cardin's life and it was starting to annoy the hell out of him that Cardin had seemingly turned into a broken record because of it.
"Good. I'm not working with a loser I could break like a twig." Cardin said in an intimidating manner, at least it would have been. Jaune wasn't exactly scared of a guy holding a pack of peas on his black eye. He thought it had been nice for the cops to let them take whatever from the lawyer's house. Most would have taken something expensive, but Jaune had settled for raiding the fridge. It wasn't like he'd had much to eat for a while. That was probably why he'd been so irritable as of late, he figured. Cardin had just gotten the frozen peas.
"I don't want you to think that I owe you either." Cardin continued.
"Trust me, Cardin, I don't think for a second that you're the kind of guy who cares about the people who help him." Jaune snarked. Thankfully, that comment seemed to shut him up as Cardin turned away, suddenly finding the squad cars that had arrived interesting. "Now if you're done trying to remind me how much you hate me, I've got a long walk back to my apartment." It seemed that his decision to take the last bus of the night hadn't exactly been the best idea.
Standing up Jaune prepared for the long trek across town, pushing aside the lack of sleep and continuous hunger he still felt. If he got too tired walking back to the club he could always just sleep wherever. It wasn't like he wasn't used to it.
"Hey." Cardin called.
"What?" He asked, his annoyance showing. If Cardin thought he was gonna stay all night and listen to his crap he was mistaken.
"I can give you a ride." Cardin replied without looking him in the eye.
For a moment Jaune considered a snarky comment about Cardin's promised lack of help, but fatigue and hunger killed that thought. Instead, he just said ok.
A short wordless walk down the block had both of them standing in front of a vehicle that was the farthest thing from what Jaune had imagined.
"So…"
"It was cheap." Cardin said a bit embarrassed.
Both found themselves in front of an old van, painted entirely to look like space. On the side, it had some kind of red spaceship with the words Swordfish II on it. Definitely, the type of ride Jauen would have figured a drug dealer or amateur tattooist would own instead of a bounty hunter. Not that the words cheap or free didn't rank as some of his new favorite words.
Without words the two got in, Jaune taking the passenger seat, and with a sound from the engine that could only be described as a death toll they drove off. Besides giving Cardin the name of the club the silence continued. Without much to occupy the tension Jaune focused on looking around. Between the military-style cot and cheap mini-fridge, it quickly become obvious to him that Cardin was living in here. It seemed he hadn't been the only one to have a hard time after Beacon.
As they sped through the city Jaune realized Cardin was in fact headed the right way and wasn't asking directions. Whether he knew the club well or the city, he didn't know, but if he remembered right Cardin was from Vale.
"I'm grabbing something to eat." Cardin finally said as he pulled into a dingy 24-hour dinner. A chain called Pancake Abode, if Jaune's memories, or his ability to read the sign, where accurate.
Parking and getting out Jaune eyeed a cook at the front door having a smoke. His want for the cancerous product peaked up in a concerning manner at the sight. To bad he'd already smoked his pack.
Reaching into his pocket he fingered the massive wad of cash Dan had given him as payment after Jaune had not-so-poliietly asked for a raise. "I'll give you 20 bucks for your pack." He asked assertively to the cook. Once an unthinkable act on his part, whether the smoking or the ask itself, Jaune's mouth fromed a small smile as the cook worlessly handed him the pack for the money he'd pulled out.
"Since when did you smoke?" Cadrin asked as he stood beside Jaune instead of going in.
"Since when did you care?" Jaune quipped. It'd been a long night and he wasn't in the mood for anything except sleep and food.
"Mind if I bum one?" Cardin asked.
"10 bucks." Jaune replied. A bit surprised, he watched Cardin give him the money. It looked like he wasn't the only one who'd gotten some bad habits after Beacon
"Light?" Cardin prompted ad Jaune lit up.
"10 bucks."
"Don't be an asshole." Cardin growled.
"Would that have worked when you were giving me swirlies and shoving me in lockers at Beacon?" Jaune shot back just as aggressively.
Cardin just glared and gave him the money.
For a bit, they just smoked in silence. "I hassled you cause you needed to be tough." Cardin finally remarked.
"How thoughtful of you." Jaune replied sarcastically. "I'm sure you just wanted to help me. Not so you could feel like a big man punching down on people weaker than you."
Cardin took a long drag. "What do you want Arc? You were a bitch. The second you got into some action you'd get yourself or somebody else killed. You didn't belong."
"Neither did you, apparently." Jaune was outwardly cooly smoking, but it was looking increasingly cathartic to give Cardin another black-eye.
Thankfully Cardin shut up and kept smoking. Jaune thought it'd feel good but instead it just gave him time to think on how right Cardin was. He had been a bitch who didn't belong. The only reason he was alive and free was because he was acting more like Cardin.
"You're not wong." he said aloud.
"What?" Cardin asked, surprised.
Jaune frustratedly threw his but on the ground. "I was too weak for Beacon." He turned to Cardin and got ready to throw down. "But you're still a two-bit bully, and if you think I'm gonna thank you or some crap I'm gonna deck you." Jaune knew well enough that when you threatened violence you better be able to back it up.
Prepared for a fight, Jaune was surprised when instead Cardin just chuckled and continued to finish his smoke. "If you were like this in Beacon we wouldn't have had issues."
The tension thinned as Jaune added his own chuckle "Yeah, should have just decked you the second you talked shit."
Both shared a short laugh at the idea. Finally, Cardin finished his cig before they headed in. "These taste like shit. What brand is it." Cardin asked as he opened the door.
Jaune eyed the pack. "Coffin Nails." He read aloud. "Definitely sticking to Huff and Puffs."
"Those are way grosser." Cardin commented as they took a seat in far corner
"Eh, they may be better than the food." Jaune said as he looked around the dinner. It was dingy and so greasy it permeated the air. Even with that and the late hour a few patrons where still inside. Noticeably a rough-looking couple where sitting near the door having a conversation and a white-haired woman in a suit typing on a computer. Judging by the multiple coffee cups she was working late into the night on some work or another.
"The chicken sandwich is actually pretty good." Cardin recommended.
The two looked over the menu to see if anything else looked good to them and got coffee when the waitress asked them. It arrived promptly and Jaune enjoyed the caffeine easing some of his fatigue.
"So," he spoke. "How'd you end up like this?" Jaune would be lying if he claimed he wasn't a bit curious.
Cardin eyed him a moment before he decided to answer. "Got expelled for covering your old partner in sap and she got attacked by wasps." Jaune opened his mouth but Cardin continued. "Spare me the lecture. I already got the business from Ozpin… and an ass-kicking from your team."
A grin formed on Jaune's face at the thought of his friends beating on Cardin. He attempted to hide it with another sip of coffee.
"Fuck you." Cardin mumbled. It appeared the mug had failed.
"So how'd you become a bounty hunter." Cardin asked. If he was interested, or just wanted to change the subject Jaune couldn't tell.
"Accidently took down a cop killer in front of the police when he tried to mug me." Wasn't much point in lying about his entrance to the job.
"You're kidding?" Cardin asked with surprise. "I got dragged in when some idiot tried to mug me."
"While you were in plate and armed?" Jaune questioned.
"Keyword was idiot." Cardin started to chuckle. "Attacked me with a pool cue of all things."
"Then office Joe saw it?" Jaune asked, remembering officers Dan's words.
"Yeah. Real idiot, I swear that guy just drinks at some bar with his dumb friends."
"The officers at the raid tonight were my first contact. They just assumed that I was you once I said I was from Beacon." He may have played into it a bit, but Cardin didn't need to know that.
"Yeah, I knew somebody was getting confused with me when I started getting credit for massacring some gangs in front of a club. Did you really kill two dozen guys?" Cardin asked suspiciously. He knew Jaune had grown some backbone in the last month, but that was leaps and bounds from a full-fledged massacre.
"I was pursuing another mark. The gangs showed up and ended up fighting amongst themselves." Jaune clarified. As much as leaning into false ideas was helping him, Cardin knew him too well to buy that. He may have figured out how to stand up for himself, but killing, or even fighting competently, was far beyond him.
"You are one lucky SOB Arc." Cardin concluded.
"Oh yeah, I'm really lucky." Jaune replied with dripping sarcasm. If he was so lucky he wouldn't be here in the first place.
"I'm just saying, if you go down to the track, tell me who you're betting on first."
"When I get enough free cash for that bad habit, I'll call." he joked sarcastically.
"You just made a chunk of change tonight. I assume you haven't spent everything else on smokes since you started working?" Cardin pressed.
He wasn't wrong. Jaune wasn't broke anymore in terms of pure cash, but that wasn't the whole picture. "I've been living on the streets since yesterday." He sighed. "I've got expenses to get back on my feet. Need a bed for the apartment and everything else to live, new clothes to not look homeless…" He hesitated for a moment. "And weapons." The idea of armaments was a subject he'd been dancing around. Some hope was being foolishly held that he'd get his old sword and armor back making the idea of getting replacements seem like the final nail in the coffin to that. On top of that, he didn't even want to stay in this business, but he had no leads on any alternative kind of work that would keep him off the streets.
"That's rough." Cardin offered with genuine sympathy. "I know how hard that can be. Saw a lot of crap on the streets growing up in this city. Just glad I got my stupid van."
"Gonna need one of those, too." Jaune commented. "At least if I don't want to walk around the city."
"At least you got an apartment, living in a van sucks." Cardin lamented.
For a moment the two looked at each other, their brain doing some simple math.
"No." Both said in unison.
"It'd never work." Cardin acknowledged.
"Of course." Jaune confirmed. "We…" he paused. "Hate each other?" He finished unsure if that was the right word.
"Yeah…" Cardin reassured unconvincingly.
"Besides, we got bills. If we split each mark, I don't think we could make ends meet. It's not like I've gotten more than a handful of marks in the last few days." Jaune pushed. Sure, he and Cardin had a twenty-minute streak of being on ok terms, but that was a far cry from a partnership.
"It's been slim picking for me on the street, too." Cardin confirmed a more confident look on his face with Jaune's reasoning. It appeared that Cardin was of the same mind on a partnership. "You should just have the police contacts, and I'll use my street connections to do my own things." he continued.
Jaune face-palmed. That argument was on par with keeping your peanut butter away from chocolate.
"Dammit." Cardin moaned as he realized his mistake.
"I don't even want to be a bounty hunter." Jaune blurted. They couldn't work together if one of them was trying to get out.
"Same, bad pay, dangerous as hell, hard to find marks." Cardin lamented, his hope to change the conversation and not think about how lanky Jaune Arc would make a great partner. "I'm thinking I'll be PI. The work is safer and I won't be spending all my time trolling the streets for a mark."
Glad to duck the partner talk, Jaune had to admit that was a pretty good idea. As a private investigator business would come to him and be less violent. "That's an idea."
"Yeah I got the van to be mobile and an understanding of the city. I can pick up bounties as they show. The kind of people that need investigating either have outstanding warrants or are at least adjacent to people who do." Cardin explained.
"So why not do it now?" Jaune asked. It sounded great, and as those things went it usually was. On the other hand, it definitely made a car more important to him.
"I need a permanent place to meet clients. Nobody is gonna hire a guy out of a van." Jaune's stomach dropped. "Also I'd need some kind of information broker. I'm not exactly the kind of guy who could do research on a mark outside of surveillance and look at it from the perspective of a local." And then this stomach started digging.
"I have ain with an information broker." Jaune said in defeat.
"Stop talking Jaune!" Cardin yelled.
"You keep talking!" Jaune shot back. This wasn't his damn fault.
"Enough! We may have the exact thing the other needs-" Cardin started.
"Shut up!" Jaune practically begged.
"That didn't come out right!" Cardin hollered in terror. "We can't work together!"
"Yes! That's final!"
"Ok."
"Good."
Finally quite, neither dared speak, lest more reasons for a partnership present itself. Both just awkwardly sat and ordered when the waitress arrived. The silence continued as both were served chicken sandwiches.
Jaune dug in, the sandwich better than he expected. He supposed Cardin had been right on the recommendation.
"Good?" Cardin asked, only confident with the one word. Anything more could be disastrous.
"Good," Jaune replied, relying on the same policy for safety.
The meal continued without words again. Sadly, the number of awkward silences had really started to pile up in the last hour. It was Jaune who broke first, it just wasn't in his nature to leave things alone.
"We've never fought together. We could never rely on each other when things get out of hand." It was a sensible argument in his mind.
The awkward tension left Cardin as a reasonable suggestion was finally presented "Agreed."
"Then that's it." Jaune replied. "Let's get the check and get out of each other's hair."
For one tantalizing moment the possibility of never seeing Cardin again was within reach. An escape to uncomfortably partnerships a check away. Alas, it was smoking that damned the two. Those moments that had started their dinner late sealed their fate.
"Everbody be cool!" The man sitting with the woman screamed. "This is a robbery!" He yelled in a controlled manner as he got on the table, brandishing a large revolver.
"Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you." His female partner screamed, in a decidedly less controlled manner, her own revolver wildly swung around.
Now, most people would be concerned for their lives. Thanks to aura that was not Cardin's and Jaune's primary concern. People with the training and aura like them would have been concerned about how they would take the two criminals in. Really, for any one of the two bounty hunter's caliber, the concern would be hiding shit-eating grins before they turned the two unlucky criminals inside-out. The matching dead-panned looks of the two definitely spoke to what the real concern was for them.
Currently, as the two assholes robbed the counter, the two bounty hunters were most concerned that their singular reason for not being partners seemed to be under threat. As in, tied up on its knees with cold steel on its temple, kind of under threat.
"This is bullshit." Cardin said without the barest hint of emotion.
"Complete bullshit." Jaune agreed, just as emotionless.
"We only get paid for people with warrants." Cardin explained. "No need to work for free."
"Yep."
"We are dangerous criminals on the lamb. So if you don't think we'll kill any heroes, you haven't seen the bounty on our heads." The woman screamed in an attempt to intimidate.
The looks on the two faces were of somebody who had just eaten the most disgusting thing in their life. "I think if I make any more money this week I'm in a new tax bracket." Jaune supplied without a hint of dishonesty.
"Death and taxes, am I right?"Cardin commented, fully ok with that answer. He wasn't one for numbers but he was now sure that was his situation, too
The man walked up and pointed his gun at the two. "In the bag." he commanded, brandishing a trash bag and the gun at Cardin.
Both boys slowly took out their valuables. Cardin his wallet, but more frustratingly for Jaune, he had to take out his raid money. Between that and his new scroll, he should have been mad as hell. Looking to Cardin, he figured some things were worth paying for. Thankfully the shakedown went smooth and the man carried on.
"Smooth and quick. We can be on our way in a minute." Cardin assured himself as much as Jaune. It appeared their reason to stay separate was safe.
"I'm not giving it to you."
Aaaaand now it wasn't.
"Say that again." The man threatened as he pointed his gun at the white-haired woman who'd been working on her laptop.
"A whole year of research is on this laptop." The woman replied in a manner that was too casual for somebody looking down the barrel of a gun. "You're not getting it." Not the kind of casual tone of somebody that could handle the situation, Jaune sadly realized. It was the tone of somebody used to getting their way.
Jaune turned to look at Cardin with sadness in his eyes. "Long." he uttered in defeat.
"Short." Cardin confirmed, just as sad.
"Bitch. I'll shoot you in the gut and bleed you like a pig as I execute everyone else." The crazed female robber promised. Not that she followed up on that as Jaune sent her into the land of unconsciousness with a blow.
"Wha-" the male robber managed to get out before Cardin less than gently sent him to the same land as his compatriot.
"Long." Jaune repeated under his breath. It was simple code taught to Beacon teams to ID targets they were targeting in combat. The woman had been the farthest so she was "long" and her partner the "short".
"Thank you, gentleman." The woman said, not terrified at her close call in the least. She stood up giving Jaune a good look at her, and boy was it a look. As a new crime fighter, his senses of perception had sharpened in regards to eyeing a person. However, a one-eyed concussed priest could have come to the same conclusion he was coming up with now.
She was hot. Like 10/10. Piercing golden eyes, sharp suit that form-fit a body that belonged on TV, and make-up that was still going strong at 2 A.M. after a robbery.
"I'm Lisa Lavender," She smiled at him like a Beawolf in an orphanage; her composer like steel, if rattled at all. "as you already know." She pulled out a notepad and pencil quicker than any weapon he'd ever seen drawn. "And judging by all that bounty hunter and PI talk you two were yelling about, I'd say you two are my next story."
"You're an idiot." He replied.
"What?" Lisa questioned in her first show of anything other than pure confidence.
"And deaf." Cardin added as he want about securing the robbers and calling the police.
Talking to hot women, was not one of Jaune's strong suits. Thankfully, the concept of so far out of your league it's not funny also meant too hot for it to matter. Also, this absolutely insufferable woman had probably doomed him to work with Cardin. "I don't care if there's a queen of grimm and you're her. You almost had express brain surgery over a stupid computer!" he yelled. "Are you insane?!"
"It's important." She defended, with confidence back in full force. "This is the biggest celebrity sex scandal Vale has ever seen." Lisa exclaimed proudly. "The ratings I'll get will be record-breaking."
Jaune looked at her in disbelief "Celebrity gossip?"
She shrugged. "You'll watch it."
Probably, Jaune was a sucker for that, but he'd be damned if he admitted that to her. "You're insane. Maybe if that was real news I could see it being worth something, but that's just trash." His anger grew glancing at the kitchen staff. "And you put everybody in the dinner in danger with your selfishness."
"You're absolutely right." Lisa agreed with that million-dollar smile.
"And another thing-" He took a second to process what he heard. "I am?"
"Of course, I definitely didn't notice the professional crime fighters in the dinner. Who am to wonder why they took so long to do their jobs?"
And there's the Beowolf again, Jaune thought with a tingle of embarrassment at her insinuation. He and Cardin hadn't exactly been subtle in being bounty hunters. It looked like Ms. Lavender hadn't faced a gun with blind confidence alone. He still disliked her greatly thought for putting everybody in danger on a hunch for celebrity trash of all things.
"So," She continued "this celebrity trash, as you call it, is gonna be old hat in a week." Jaune didn't like where this was going. "Two dashing bounty hunters saving the good citizens of Vale sounds like the new story after that."
Oh boy, fifteen minutes of fame?
Yeah, not exactly what Jaune wanted. He could see the headline now "Loser Beacon Dropout Now Shitty Bounty Hunter". Hard pass, doubly so with his illegal connection to the police. Not that he didn't enjoy being called dashing by a beautiful woman more than he cared to admit.
Zero chance Jaune. Remember, she's the worst.
"Pass." He said dismissively. If she thought everybody was just some attention hog that wanted to be on TV, like he suspected she was, then she was wrong. He wasn't going to budge no matter what she said.
"Ok." Lisa replied nonchalantly as she sat back down and ignored him.
"Uhhh…What?" He asked. For the entire conversation, she'd been angling for a story and a simple no was it? That wasn't exactly what he had expected from the rating crazed reporter.
"Sorry kid." She waved dismissively as she continued to type again. "I was doing you a favor for saving my life, but really nobody cares about bounty hunters. It's as you call it, trash, and not the good kind. Old news too. Hunters make way better stories. Besides," She looked at him with a critical eye of mild disgust. "you aren't exactly TV material."
He opened his mouth to object, but she continued as she got back to typing. "I mean you look homeless. Also, you speak like an idiot. One camera on your ugly face and you'd be stuttering the whole time. Your partner at least looks like a hunk I could put on TV, not too bright looking though." She mussed. "So thanks for saving my life, but I don't have time for you to mansplain how I'm so bad for caring about my work."
Jaune just looked at her stunned. Probably for too long, as she finally looked up from her laptop to look at him. "Bye." She said with an obviously fake smile.
"I-you-what?" He stuttered.
So that's why I didn't talk to pretty girls in highschool.
With self-estem brutally murdered Jaune chose to ignore the she-devil and instead face Cardin. "Police on their way?" He asked to hope to get away from what had just happened.
"Yeah," Cardin confirmed, "But I don't think they can do anything about that assault."
"Don't start." He growled.
"Guess it's best to pool resources." Cardin stated. Thankfully getting past what had happened in favor of discussing what they'd been trying to avoid.
"No reason to hobble our chances on the streets being at odds." Jaune added. As bad as Cardin had been it was time to drop the act. They really would get farther working together.
"Partners I guess," Cardin said with a laugh. "Who would have thought."
"Partners." Jaune uttered, testing out the word in his mouth. Strangely he didn't hate it.
"God damn it." Somebody growled. Turning the pair were faced with Officer Dan in the doorway.
Seriously, are there any other cops in this city, Jaune wondered? If they were so low on manpower it was a wonder they were relying on shady methods. "Evening officer." He said nonchalantly. From his angle, he could see Dan was in the dinner doorway in a manner that covered Lisa's form. It'd be best to act naturally until he knew Dan saw her.
"Don't BS me Jaune, it's been a long night thanks to you. What are you even doing bagging these idiots? If our mutual friend is to be believed you're the biggest mover and shaker on the streets. Go take over the city or something so I don't have to write a report on this crap." Dan complained. At least he was complaining before he stepped in to see Lisa Lavender. At that point, Dan shut up real quick.
Jaune ever so slowly swiveled his head to look at Lisa. Maybe she had been too busy typing to notice, he prayed.
Golden eyes locked onto his own with a look of hunger that he'd only seen in the eyes of grimm trying to eat him. Her hand scribbled on her notepad at a speed he could have mistaken for a semblance. If he thought she'd been smiling before, he was corrected as she turned on a charismatic look that made him start to debate the merits of not talking to her. It was absolutely terrifying.
Pretty safe bet she heard.
"Cardin?" He asked just to be sure anything existed outside the black hole of charisma that was Lisa Lavender.
"Yes?." Cardin responded.
"Run."
A bit of a late update this time, but I hope you enjoy it. Been wondering on if I should change the tags on the genre of this fic, or maybe change the intro. Also, the romantic pairings are up in the air, but definitely going to do something on that front. Thanks for all the support as usual guys, feel free to give any suggestions on what you may like to see or share your thoughts on the story so far. The feedback has definitely helped this story already.