Rude Ruby

Sure enough, the group seen in Ozpin's pictures showed up. The impersonator who used Adam's form had shown up, alongside a run-of-the-mill brown-haired man standing by the alley's entrance. It wasn't exactly wrong of anyone to wonder what someone impersonating a known criminal's appearance did with a large group of Faunus in some back alley.

Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as incriminating as the pictures made it out to be.

It turned out that they were just hosting some massive Dungeons and Dragons session in the storage room next to the comic store. And they had been at it for over a week because the dungeon master was "so good," the same group came back for more. The impersonator was just a fan of Adam's appearance since he saw it on TV in the news channel, but he didn't even know it was the appearance of a former terrorist.

Who was Adam, anyway?

"Bet they'll never hear 'so good' from a girl," Ruby growled.

Jaune winced at the venom in her voice. She'd clearly wanted an excuse to use Crescent Rose on every single Faunus in the room. He, on the other hand, was just relieved that nothing serious had been going on. For all he knew, if literally anything close to what Ruby predicted came true, he might have needed therapy…

Or maybe he already needed it, but he didn't know just yet.

Well, all that ends well ends well, he thought. At least it wasn't a robbery, some shady meeting, an… "orgy," or…

On a second thought, maybe he was insane for actually hearing what Ruby told him.

"…ey… Hey! HEY! FUCKWAD! Earth to Jaune Smallcock?"

"Hm-?! Oh, sorry, Ruby-"

"The fuck you staring off for?" Ruby glared at him as she stabbed his chest with an accusing finger. "What, did you get post-nut clarity while I wasn't looking?"

"How the heck am I supposed to do that in the public?"

The redhead sighed, shaking her head. "Whatever. Guess it's too big to do it secretly."

Jaune had absolutely no idea if that was a compliment or not, or if he actually understood what she meant.

As the two headed to the landing site for the Bullhead back to Beacon, Ruby grumbled. And grumbled. A creeping feeling told him that regardless of how the mission went, her current state would remain the same, but he still wondered just how to get along with her. The next three years would be miserable if he had no idea just how she worked, after all.

He did learn some things about her, but all of them involved her choosing violence. Funnily enough, that ended up being the reason for all the criminals she (unintentionally) threw behind bars.

"Sooo, how's Team RWBY going along?" Jaune asked, glancing to the side as he saw some businessmen entering a taxi.

Judging by the way she exhaled a larger amount of air than necessary, not to her liking, he supposed.

"Old Spweiss is being old as ever, Blake is still horny, and worst of all," Ruby added the last part in with exasperation, "Yang is happy. You wouldn't like her when she's happy."

I think you forgot to use "angry," Ruby…

She'd murder him on the spot if he said that, though. Instead, he nodded. "My team's been interested in coming up with some combat formations. And oddly enough, breakfast routines."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "The fuck kinda routine do you need for breakfast? Clip your toenails on Thursday and take a shit while eating cereal?"

"Well, it's more of like… 'exercises and some snacks'," Jaune shook his hands lightly with a slightly dramatic tone for added effect. "Stuff like that. Nora's been going on giving the person who exercises the most a buffet of pancakes."

"Ah, good to hear she lacks brain cells still," Ruby nodded. "We need more people like her. Or not."

"Ren thought about having us all try more meditation before we eat, and Pyrrha's been thinking about just making sure we stretch longer."

"Well, you can't meditate or stretch for long if you all explode like fuckin' balloons from the pancake bullshit."

For once, Jaune snorted, a laugh escaping him as he looked away from her. Her expression remained grumpy as ever, but she didn't retort him for it.

"Well, what about you?"

Jaune turned to her, blinking. "What about me?"

If there was a bird to shoot, she would've shot one down right there and then. The redhead rolled her eyes as she growled, "I'm asking what your idea was, Beethoven."

"Uh…" Jaune put up a thoughtful look before his eyes lit up. "Oh, I just said we didn't really need a routine, but we could just play games on Saturdays. It's been a while since I ever touched an arcade or console, really."

"And did they roll with that?"

Jaune smiled as he crossed his arms, his thoughts trailing to Nora and Ren chatting with him happily, with Pyrrha adding her own thoughts in. "Nope. But maybe I could force them into something like that. Call it a 'team hangout' of sorts."

Oddly enough, that made Ruby fall silent as they continued walking down Vale. When it wasn't busy, Vale truly felt like one of the safest places in Remnant. There wasn't a doubt regarding the dangers of living in a village outside of the city, but it truly felt real whenever Jaune heard about settlements rising and falling rapidly. It was almost a miracle if a small settlement lasted for long on its own, unless it employed services to protect itself- whether it be through legitimate means or not.

He heard from Yang about Patch, and how peaceful it had been. It honestly sounded a bit tempting to consider visiting it some time. Then again, the thought of how Ruby would act there somewhat terrified him-

"Hey."

"What's up?"

As he continued walking forward, he heard her footsteps halt. Blinking, he turned around. She didn't look particularly mad at him for anything, so a random lashing was out of the question. Her head had been lowered just enough for her hair to shield her eyes.

She spoke quietly- not softly, as she was the polar opposite of doing such, but in a volume only he could hear. It appeared to be a question she wanted to direct only to him.

Though most of their days had been uneventful outside of their missions, Jaune felt surprise overwhelm him when he heard the words that left her that night.

Ruby…

While a part of him felt slightly ashamed he felt surprise in the first place, an awkward, but genuine smile cracked open on his face.

It wasn't in him to leave a friend behind, and perhaps she knew that too.

"I don't see why not," he said with a smile.