Hello everyone, and happy holidays! This is just an idea that popped into my head on the spur of the moment as I was left at home with nothing but a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen, so I decided to do a fluffy one-shot to pass the time. I don't plan on this being anything serious, but if you guys would like another chapter or another girl, please leave a review.
With that, cheers everyone!
Searoar.
"Tis the season to be jolly!~" Sang the mall speakers as Jaune perused the many shelves of sweets and Christmas decor.
He'd stopped by Vale's market district to purchase some trinkets for the small Christmas tree Nora and Pyrrha had decided to buy, and Ren would have joined him, but the quiet boy had been dragged away by Ruby for Oum knows what.
"Alright, got the lights, so all I need now is a star..." Jaune cupped his chin as his other hand supported the plastic bag of decorations.
He was a practiced veteran when it came to the chilly season, as having seven sisters had trained his mind to adhere to almost every decorative taste on the spectrum. However, given that Jaune wasn't willing to spend over fifty lien on a fancy star, he made the obvious choice and selected a nice simple five-pointed piece of plastic that was spray-painted gold.
His bags stuffed and lien expended, Jaune turned on his heels and strutted out of the store with thanks from the cashier and entered the bustling streets of Vale.
A fresh sheet of snow and ice paved the road as the snowplows and salt trucks made their rounds. The sidewalks were clean, but Jaune knew better than to stride nonchalantly over the frosted ground. He felt a grumble in his stomach and winced as the demand for nutrition grew too great to ignore.
There were still a few hours before his teammates returned to the dorm, as Pyrrha was off shooting a Christmas special with her contractors, and Nora and Ren were off with team RWBY to gather other supplies for the movie night their two teams had planned.
Jaune sighed and took a right down the street. He needed something warm, so a coffee shop seemed like the perfect stop. Perhaps he'd get a bagel and some hot chocolate, as the lad was not a big fan of coffee.
"Ah, that hit the spot for sure." Jaune hummed as the scent of chocolate filled his nose. The café he'd entered wasn't particularly busy, in fact, Jaune must've entered the store during its off hours as there was not another customer in sight.
At least the store was empty until a familiar face stumbled into the room with a look of sheer panic plastered on her fair face.
Jaune blinked and glanced up from his hot chocolate and buttered bagel. There she was, Blake Belladonna, dressed in her huntress attire with a sleek winter coat over it, while scanning the area as if she were in the middle of a war zone. Jaune didn't know why, but the moment Blake's amber eyes locked with his cerulean, he felt the urgency to remain where he sat instead of running away.
"Um... hi Blake," Jaune said awkwardly. "Is there something I can help you with?"
Blake said nothing and scurried beneath Jaune's table and proceeded to stack his bags and cardboard boxes in front of her. This perplexed the boy to no end, as he was huddled in a corner of the café so he was in a booth instead of a simple table. This proved invaluable to Blake, as she was now completely out of sight with her back to the wall.
"Er..."
"Just ignore that I'm here!" Blake hissed like a cat and kicked Jaune's shin. "If you tell either of them that I'm here, I'm going to make sure you limp back to your dorm."
"Blake," Jaune winced as his leg was pinched, "what are you talking about? The café is empty except for its employees and us two."
Again, that fact would be denied as two more youngsters entered the store. Sun Wukon and Neptune Vasalias, each adorned in their hunter uniforms as well, but with some winter adjustments to fight off the cold.
"Are you sure she went this way, Neptune?" Sun shivered beneath his white, winter coat.
"I'm telling you man, she definitely came down this street." Neptune huffed and rubbed his hands together for warmth.
"Why don't we check-" Sun stopped mid-sentence when he spotted Jaune who offered a polite wave to his friends.
"Hey, Jaune!" Sun beamed and strutted his way over to his fellow blonde's table. "Did you happen to see Blake pass through here or spot her outside the window?"
Jaune felt a pinch on his leg again and he tilted his head just enough so that he could witness Blake's begging expression.
"Yeah I did," Jaune fought off the pain of Blake's nail nipping at him, "but she left the café as soon as she came inside. About half an hour ago now that I think about it."
"Dang," Sun shook his head as Neptune patted his friend on the back. "Well, if you do see her, please give me a text or a call. I'd really appreciate it."
"Sure thing." Jaune nodded and tried to not show any sense of worry. When Sun and Neptune left, a deep sigh was uttered from beneath the table and Jaune's patience had finally run dry. He asked for Blake to sit across from him and deliver some much-needed answers since he'd saved her hide.
"Do you want a coffee or anything?" Jaune said and took a bite out of his now cold bagel.
"I'm alright," Blake pouted then crossed her arms and gently put her head on the table. Her black bow twitched, and if Jaune weren't completely focused on her, he would have missed it.
"So...?" Jaune wasn't ready to give up quite yet. Half out of genuine curiosity, and the other out of a need to kill some hours.
"Yang set up a bet with Sun and Neptune without me knowing..." Blake growled and when she lifted her head she really did look like a cat with how her eyes gleamed with annoyance... and maybe even some malice.
"That's not really nice..." Jaune scratched his cheek. He didn't interact with the blonde brawler of team RWBY often, though he did hear a few stories about her from Ruby.
"No, it's not," Blake said in a dull tone and returned her forehead to the table. "Apparently, my stupid teammate thought it'd be a great idea to let Sun take me out on a date if she couldn't beat him in a bobsled race. To cut a long story short, she lost spectacularly and now Sun's trying to catch me so he can bring me to see a movie..."
"Oh..." Jaune pursed his lips. A movie didn't sound too serious, and maybe Blake was overthinking things, but maybe the genre of the movie wasn't to her taste.
"What movie did Sun ask that you wanted to see?"
"Huh?" Blake tilted her head from the table once more. "Ask me? Sun didn't bother as Yang said he already bought the tickets. It's for that new crazy action movie, but that's not really my thing."
"Hmm..." Jaune went into a mode of self-contemplation, and his acquaintance curled a brow at how pensive he looked. It was as if it pained Jaune to think, but Blake wasn't rude to call him out on such a petty observation.
"Yeah, I can see why that'd be a bad move." Jaune nodded as if he'd unlocked a difficult puzzle.
"It's always important to have a good grasp on a potential partner's tastes, as the chances of you striking out are very likely if they don't match with yours. Usually, couples find out how to adjust their different preferences so there's room for some middle ground. Maybe if Sun went down the approach of a poem? My grandpa told me that the magic of words was a great step forward toward any friendship."
Blake couldn't help but feel stunned at the blonde's revelation. He was talking as if he had the experience when it came to dating, though his history with Weiss was in the absolute negatives. The bottom of the barrel was one way to describe the relationship between them. Though maybe this was the reason Jaune had such a different outlook on his approach to romance now. Through trial and error, he'd learned that forcing something too hard tended to collapse any hope of being likable.
"Maybe if Sun tried a poem like this?" Jaune stared Blake straight in the eye, and the Faunus couldn't help but feel encaptured by how serious his face was.
"Well, if it helps, I think I'm on your side for this one." Jaune nodded after reciting his poem, then a beep from his scroll brought him out of his musings. The time was now 12:30. Had he really spent that much time in a café?
Jaune reached for his bagel, but the plate was empty as was his coffee. How long did he ramble for? He looked embarrassed as he returned his attention to Blake. He felt bad for ignoring her, and it didn't suit him that he'd given her such a boring impression.
"Er... Blake?" Jaune asked as he realized the girl was also in a state of pondering.
"It's... nothing," Blake said with a muddled expression and excused herself from the table.
Jaune raised a hand in worry, perhaps his ramblings had rendered his cohort perplexed as his mindless voyage of conversation tended to do that to a lot of girls. At least that's what Saphron told him which was backed by many of his beloved siblings. Thus, Jaune aimed to remedy his innocent wrong and gathered his bags and boxes in pursuit of his black-haired cohort. With the cold air brushing through his thick blonde locks, Jaune peered down the street to find Blake leaning against a lampost with a shaky arm and buckling knees.
Little did the male Arc know, that his recent words had penetrated a surface much more potent than flesh or bone, which was the soul itself. As Blake leaned against the chilled lampost that frosted her body, her heart remained hot as did her flushed cheeks as she recounted the words that Jaune had uttered during the consumption of a medium coffee and buttered bagel.
A friend's hidden beauty, a blessing that few would know.
My eyes do not deceive, yet they follow where Blake goes.
I wish not to impede, but my curiosity for elegance knows no bounds.
Though she lays beneath my table, her golden eyes I cannot fathom.
I wish to cherish the soft, pale skin of this grace, but boundaries prevent me.
This beauty that is Belladonna, may my kinship with her never end.
Yet, perhaps there is room for our romance to grow?
"W-Why..." Blake scrunched her nose at how helpless she felt. Jaune was just sputtering words! He didn't really mean them, after all, he was using his poem as an example of what Sun would say to get her interested in a relationship. Not like she wanted a relationship with Jaune, as the two of them barely conversed when they were in class or when their teams decided to mingle. Then again, she didn't think that anyone among their groups were aware of how a deep thinker Jaune was, as the boy never really had the chance to ramble and often kept to talking with Ruby or his own teammates, but even then their conversations were seldom and far in between with how Nora and Pyrrha tended to unknowingly steal the show.
Yet, the idea that Jaune was so... focused on her when reciting his literary masterpiece, it was enthralling, to say the least, and did very strange things to Blake's chest as she considered the sincerity behind his poem. Would... Jaune be willing to write down what he said? Just for analysis reasons of course! There was no ulterior motive for such silliness...
"Blake?" Jaune's voice startled the girl so badly that she scampered up the lamppost in the likeness of a cat and perched herself above the top curve with the tips of her boots pointed to the ground and her arms clasped around the pole.
"A-Are you sure you don't need to talk? Maybe vent some pent-up frustrations?" Jaune couldn't help but show a small smile at the scene and observed Blake as she carefully made her way down.
"J-Just keep quiet." Blake's voice trembled but had a hint of harshness to it. She watched as Jaune appeared to take the comment the wrong way, and he stepped back to give her some space.
"I-I didn't mean that as a bad thing!" Blake puffed her cheeks at how flustered she felt. "Just... head back to the bullheads with me in silence? I'd really appreciate your company..."
Jaune beamed a toothy smile that tugged at the corners of Blake's lips and forced them to reveal a humble, yet cute grin of her own. As the two strolled side by side, the nipping winter air didn't seem to bother them at all. That is until the ride on the bullhead took longer than usual due to the poor weather, and Jaune decided to ramble to himself while Blake perked a hidden ear at his hushed musings...