Oscar's life sucked.

"Come on, man, do it!" One of his buddies said, pushing him forward.

One minute he was living a simple life in the outer colony of Kore, looking forward to a humble life as a farmer. The next, he was headed all the way across the ocean to Vale on some special scholarship from a mysterious benefactor. All his old friends had been extremely jealous: he was headed to Beacon, famous for its babes and bright futures, he must be destined for great things.

Like getting shoved into lockers and pressured into humiliating stunts. He looked at his new 'friends' irritably. He got on better with them than most - few people wanted to pal around with the short, scrawny country bumpkin who dressed funny and talked funny. If Beacon had a hierarchy, Oscar was at the bottom, and he didn't see that changing any time soon.

"Come on, Runt." Simon said, jostling his shoulder. "You drew the short straw."

'You can say that again.'

Truth be told, Oscar wasn't that short for his age, but at 13 going on 14 most of his peers towered over him. His inevitable growth spurt was cold comfort now. Not many of his peers were sympathetic to the plight of the youngest, smallest and weakest boy in his class.

One was, though.

Oscar looked nervously at the girl his 'friends' were pushing him towards, one Ruby Rose. She hadn't noticed them yet- 'thank the gods' - and was humming 'This Will Be The Day' as she swapped out some books in her locker. She wore a baggy red hoodie and black jeans which covered up most of the fucking phenomenal figure underneath, one he was painfully familiar with from track practice.

Back in her day, Ruby had been the runt of her class, and after growing up beautifully she was still nice to the newest member of the team. Oscar had joined out of necessity- it was either that or the perils of the locker room during gym. She was a little shy around strangers, but it didn't take her long to show her true colors as a kind, cute, quirky girl, who loved strawberries, alternative rock and action/horror flicks. She was smart, friendly, helpful, and in Oscar's humble opinion the prettiest girl at Beacon.

An opinion his friends knew. Which is why they insisted on torturing him.

"Come on, chickenshit." Gryphon said. "Simon's dare was to drink his own piss, and he didn't bitch out."

Simon scowled at the memory and socked him in the shoulder. "Yeah, Ozzie. Wanna swap? I'd take scoring with a dime any day of the fucking week. What's the worst that could happen?"

Oscar sighed. "Jaune Arc could crush me like a bug, that's what could happen."

Gryphon Winchester rolled his eyes. "Vomit Boy isn't gonna do anything. My big bro says he's always been a massive pussy and he always will be."

Gryphon shared his brother's burnt orange hair and cocky attitude, but not his physique. His ego had outpaced his growth spurt, and while one day he may follow in his brother's footsteps in the meantime he had a nasty habit of punching above his weight. And getting the group into a world of shit.

"He can't be that tough." Simon supplied. "He isn't on any of the teams and he doesn't even take gym."

"This is Beacon." Oscar said testily. The school which in a given year held multiple national championship titles, gave mandatory physical fitness tests every semester and pushed athletics as rigorously as they did academics "Do you have any idea how fit you have to be to test out of gym?!"

The students at Beacon were of three minds when it came to Jaune Arc. There were the people who had known him since grade school and insisted he was a harmless goofball: Vomit Boy. (Oscar still hadn't gotten the full story on that nickname; as best as he could tell it had something to do with warm milk, gummy worms and an eventful bus ride to summer camp.)

There were those who were content to take the first group's word for it, or ignore the Arc, either because he kept to a small circle of friends and they didn't know his history or because his famous 'expulsion' was old news years ago and nothing he'd done since was worth talking about.

Then there were the people with fucking eyes.

"He's a nobody." Gryphon insisted.

"He's 6'5," Oscar countered, "and his dad shatters people's spines on TV for a living."

"Mason Arc is an overrated pretty boy." Simon said, ever the contrarian. "I don't know why people insist he's the GOAT when he never fought a real contender. What kind of pansy 'champion' retires without a fight?" Someone who spent 12 years without any proper competition because he so obviously outclassed everyone. The man who's retirement meant the lineal champion in every Kingdom would have an asterisk by his title for all time."Now Max Payne, that's a real fighter. He can take a pummeling."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize an Arc is only the second worst person you could try and steal a girl from." Oscar said testily.

"He ain't here. She is." Gryphon said, before shoving Oscar forward, hard, sending the smaller boy crashing into the object of his affections.

Ruby let out a cry of pain as the boy slammed her into her own locker.

'I'm dead. I'm so dead. I am very, very dead.'

Oscar felt something soft against his chest and found himself looking directly into Ruby's face, mere inches from his own.

'Not a bad view if you've gotta die.'

Then he pulled back, flushing, as he realized the soft mounds he had been pressed against were Ruby's breasts.

"I-I'm so sorry." He choked out. "I tripped."

He glared at Gryphon out of the corner of his eye. The taller boy was cupping the air with his hands with a lewd expression on his face. On one hand, Oscar wanted to murder him. On the other, Oscar wanted to get on his knees and worship him for putting the divine softness of Ruby's magnificent mammaries into his spank bank forever. He settled on ignoring the prick, for now.

"No worries." Ruby said, brushing herself off. "Accidents happen."

"Y-yeah." He said, catching his friends' gestures as Ruby began walking away. "A-actually." He forced out. " I wanted to a-a-ask you something."

Ruby cocked her head curiously. "What's up?"

He heard his friends snickering and hoped she didn't.

"DoYouLikeBruceWillisFlicks?!" He choked out.

Then he flushed deeper as he caught his own mistake.

Ruby somehow understood him perfectly. "You mean Spruce Willis flicks?" She asked. " I love 'em! Jaune and I just saw 'Die Harder 4' last Friday, and-"

Oscar's heart sank as the girl spoke with a growing smile.

"- and my favorite part was when he took an empty machine gun and said 'guess it's back to basics' before swinging it like a billy club and knocking the guy down, it was-"

"Don't spoil it, Rubes." A powerful voice called. "You don't know if he's seen the movie."

Jaune Arc was not at the top of Oscar's shitlist by any means; that list was long and as far as Oscar could tell he was a pretty decent guy. But seeing the way Ruby looked at him, Oscar was sorely tempted to move the young man up to at least the top ten.

"R-right." Ruby said, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry, Oscar."

Oscar winced.

'Stupid blond bastard, with his stupid older, taller, stronger body and his stupid handsome face and his stupid ability to make Ruby smile just by being nearby and his stupid-'

"'Live Harder' is going to be pretty hard to top though." Jaune admitted. "I have no idea where they're going to take the 5th."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Oh come on." She shot back. "It's obvious that the side character with the eyepatch is going to be the big bad."

Jaune arched an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"

Ruby smirked. "They already released the cast list for the next movie: his actor's in it."

Jaune pouted. "You looked at the cast list? That's not obvious , that's cheating ."

Ruby giggled. "Anyway." she said. "4 was good, but there's no way they'll ever top 2."

"'Die Harder 2: Die Even Harder'?" Jaune asked skeptically. "That has to be the cheesiest title for the cheesiest movie in an incredibly cheesy franchise."

"That's what makes it awesome ." Ruby insisted.

The two carried on, unaware that Oscar Pine even existed.

He sighed, took the lack of a beat down as a win, and began walking away.

A strong hand enveloped his shoulder.

He turned around, eyes wide with fear, to see Jaune Arc smiling brightly.

"Be a little more careful next time, yeah?" He said, with no obvious malice in his voice. "You could really hurt someone if you keep tripping like that."

Oscar's heart hammered as he looked into the older boy's eyes. It was a perfectly friendly gesture, he wasn't hurting him, he wasn't using his fingers to crush Oscar's collarbone, so what if the older boy had a solid foot on him, there was no reason for he should be this terrified-

Jaune released him and Oscar scurried away as slowly as his dignity would allow. "Absolutely, man, you can count on me, thanks for the tip, bye!" He rushed out, before disappearing behind the corner.

Ruby blinked.

"What was that about?" She asked.

Nora approached, fighting back giggles. "Oh, Jaune was just doing the whole 'possessive boyfriend' routine."

Ruby's cheeks turned pink.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Was not."

Nora stuck her tongue out. "Was too." She deepened her voice to a low, gravelly tone. "'Watch your step, you might really hurt someone.'" She laughed. "You laid it on so damn thick."

"Hey." Jaune countered. "Tripping is a serious hazard. He could have really hurt Ruby."

Nora smirked. "Maybe they should clean the floors more, then."

"Maybe they should." Ren said, looking down at the sanitary condition of the tile in mild disapproval. "Although in this case, I think stricter discipline would be the superior remedy."

Ruby huffed. "Am I the only one out of the loop right now?"

Nora looked at Jaune pointedly. " I don't know. Is she?"

The blond shrugged innocently.

"We saw the whole thing, Jaune." Ren said matter of factly. "We know you did too."

Ruby looked at them, putting her hands on her hips, and in her most authoritative tone, asked. "What happened?"

"A group of boys pushed Oscar into you." Ren said. "Likely as part of a dare."

Ruby blinked. "Why would they do that?"

Nora let out an exaggerated sigh as the quartet began walking to 6th period. "Ruby, we've been over this!" She said meaningfully.

Ruby flushed. "Well, I don't see how pushing him is supposed to help."

"They're boys ." Nora said. "They aren't known for subtlety at romance and the line between friend and bully is...blurry. Literally pushing their friend into a cute girl is the best wingman move they're capable of.

Ruby flushed deeper. "Jaune and Ren aren't like that." She said.

Ren sighed. "The gender ratio of our friend group makes that dynamic substantially less probable."

Jaune gave Ren a bump on the shoulder. "Look, man, if it bothers you I can shove you into some quality cleavage sometime."

"Please. Do." Nora said in a stage whisper. "Anyway," she continued, satisfied at the slight flush on her best friend's face. "It's not like it doesn't work out every once in a while. Oscar probably would have asked Ruby out if Jaune hadn't cock blocked him."

Jaune put his hands up defensively. "Hey, all I did was come over to check on my best friend. If Oscar's uncomfortable with that then he isn't a good fit for her."

'Sorry, kid.' he thought. 'Maybe in another universe.'

Ruby looked down at her feet. "I don't know why this is happening now ." She said. "No one ever used to notice me. It doesn't make any sense."

"Haven't you ever read 'The Ugly Duckling'?" Jaune asked.

Apparently this was not the right thing to say.

Ruby's eyes darted to the floor, further covered by the crimson shields of her bangs. Ren looked at Jaune askance.

" Ouch ." Nora supplied.

"We should hurry up, guys." Ruby said in a clipped tone, before moving to rush away.

Jaune caught the speedster mid stride, grabbing her by the wrist.

"Ruby-" he said heavily.

"Let go, Jaune." She said, struggling futilely to break free. "We're gonna be late for Bio-"

"You've always been really cute!"

She stopped struggling. Ruby looked into his gaze, eyes wide. Then her eyes narrowed.

"That's not what you said 10 seconds ago." She huffed, wriggling her hand free.

Jaune let her go. "I was trying to call you a swan! The most beautiful bird in the- gah!" He put his face in his hands. 'How do I say this without screwing up everything?'

Even free from his grip, Ruby stayed rooted to the spot, intently focused on the boy before her, all thoughts of the bell forgotten. About 15 feet away, Ren and Nora stood right by the door to class, close enough to hear everything yet far enough not to intrude.

"Got any popcorn?" Nora asked idly.

To her surprise, Ren pulled out a baggie left over from lunch and tossed it into her hands.

"Sweet!" She said, shoveling a handful into her mouth.

She nearly spit it out.

"Renny." She said slowly. "What's wrong with this?"

"It's healthy and homemade." He said evenly.

"Popcorn's not supposed to be healthy." Nora said tensely.

"Nora, think of your figure." Ren said, with a ghost of a smirk.

Nora flushed, before accepting the rest of the bag happily.

"Rubes," Jaune said slowly. "You're… you're younger than the rest of us."

Ruby looked distinctly unimpressed. "I'm aware." She said coolly.

Jaune looked back, exasperated. "That means…" he hesitated. "you… developed… after all the other girls in the class."

Ruby blushed awkwardly. "Well, yeah, I know that, but-"

"That doesn't mean you weren't a really cute 12," he said, "but nobody really noticed when you were next to a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds. Remember when Yang's boobs started coming in? How crazy some of the guys went?"

Ruby nodded.

"Well, by the time you were ready for a training bra, she and the others had a two year lead on you, so people didn't really talk about it. It doesn't mean you were bad , you were just behind ." It didn't help that Ruby was always a little less showy with her body than most of her peers. "Think of puberty like a race; it doesn't make you a bad runner if you're losing to people who started two laps ahead. Look at the freshmen- if you'd stayed in your year you'd be in the lead by a mile."

Ruby bit her lip. "Oh, uhm… thanks." She squeaked. "But, I don't see what's changed-"

"What's changed is now the race is over." He looked her body over involuntarily, sending a shiver up her spine. "Puberty is a race to adulthood, and physically, you're over the finish line." He stopped, choosing his words very carefully.

"Wait, but if the race is already over, does it make sense to say we're still competing-"

"-Listen to me!" Jaune shouted. 'This is hard enough as it is.' "A few months ago you finished growing… and no amount of milk is going to change that."

The petite rose pouted, poking the much taller blond in the chest.

"You take that back."

Jaune gently grabbed her hand. "But they're finished too. For the first time in your life, you're competing against the women around you without a handicap… and you're running circles around them."

Ruby looked at him incredulously.

"Ruby, trust me." He said, reading the look on her face. "You're beautiful . You can stand side by side with any girl in the school without feeling the slightest shame." He sighed deeply. "Of course people are going to notice."

Ruby's eyes were as wide as saucers, and she couldn't take them off him. Her cheeks were pink and her mouth was opened in a soft 'oh' shape. She looked so gods damn cute.

Nora ran out of popcorn.

"You...really mean that." Ruby breathed. It wasn't a question.

Jaune nodded, ruffling her hair. "Of course I do." He teased. "When have I ever lied to you?" The 30-second warning bell sounded. Jaune pulled her gently to the door. "Come on, we really might be late."

"...okay." Ruby whispered, following limply with a dumbstruck expression on her face and the beginnings of a smile.

Their friends watched as the pair walked through the door. Nora shook her head and leaned conspiratorially over to Ren, positioning herself in a way that advertised her own considerable assets.

"When are those two going to wise up and just kiss already?" She moaned, inches from his face.

Ren shrugged. "Some people are extraordinarily oblivious." He said, before walking into class.

Nora stood motionless outside the door for several seconds, until the bell shook her out of her stupor.

" Yeah ." She said tightly, storming after him and gripping the straps of her backpack so hard that they started to tear. " They. Really. Are. "

Thumbelina Peach was the senior authority on Biology and Chemistry at Beacon and an attractive young woman in her late twenties. In a world without Glynda she would have been the hottest teacher at Beacon; as it was she still managed to be notably pretty in a school jam packed with cute girls. She and Glynda had other things in common: both were academically brilliant and had graduated early from prestigious universities, before settling in at Beacon for a few years as a stepping stone in their careers, both specialized in the hard sciences, both were lusted after by most of their male students. But there was one key difference.

Miss Peach was a total pushover.

She had some merits as a teacher- her handouts, presentations and notes were always incredibly thorough, and she was knowledgeable and passionate about her subject matter. As a researcher she was unrivaled- several of her papers had been published before she'd even graduated. But she was a middling lecturer- either she focused on her audience and became a soft spoken, stuttering mess, or got lost in the material and began reciting facts and figures rapidfire in a manic frenzy. And as a disciplinarian… forget it.

A full minute had passed since the starting bell had rung and the class was a raucous mess, voices raised and paper projectiles being launched across the room, all while the teacher awkwardly cleared her throat at the front.

"This is just sad." Nora said.

Ruby was shaken mostly back to normal by the noise and looked sympathetically up front. "We should do something."

Ren whistled for the nearby seats to be quiet, but was flicked off and promptly ignored.

Jaune pulled out an empty paper lunch bag. He turned around and offered it to Nora.

"Would you like to do the honors?"

Nora saluted with a wicked grin, blew the bag up with all her might, sealed it shut and then-

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

The entire classroom winced at the sound, save for Ren, Jaune and Ruby, who had the good sense to cover their ears.

Every pair of eyes in the room locked on the grinning ginger, who shamelessly gestured to the front.

"All you, teach."

"T-thank you, Miss Valkyrie." She said, clutching a stack of papers. "I'd like to return your t-tests from last week. Then we're going to start a n-new unit on r-reproductive ecology. P-please take on your phones and log into the s-school survey system for a-"

No one needed further instruction. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Octavia Ember playing 'Confection Castle' and Russel Thrush… looking at amateur porn. 'Stay classy, Russ.'

As Miss Peach walked through the rows, either unable or unwilling to notice the flagrant disobedience of her orders, Jaune let his mind drift into it's natural resting state and started eyeing the attractive female up.

Miss Peach had a slender body, with light brown skin and muted orange hair, which brought a similar orange tint out of her brown eyes. She was somewhat taller than average- about 5'6, though like Glynda she donned high heels at school to appear taller. With heels she stood at 5'10, but while Glynda's heels enhanced her imperious beauty Thumbelina's merely exaggerated her frailty- she was obviously uncomfortable in them and walked slowly, unsurely. Glynda towered over all but the largest of her students… Miss Peach looked like a stiff breeze would bring her down.

She wasn't as voluptuous as the blonde either, with only a modest bust, though, fittingly for a woman named Peach, her ass was excellent, and on full display with the heels and the black sleeveless dress she wore. Whenever she had the opportunity she donned a white lab coat and long black gloves, with eye protection and her hair pulled up in a bun, perfectly safe for in class labs, but when a class was lecture only she let her hair fall down to her shoulders and stripped down to her minimalist casual wear.

She wasn't one of his favorites but Jaune would still fuck the shit out of her.

"M-mister Arc." She said, handing him back his test.

Jaune nodded and looked over the score at the top. 95.

"Somebody's really been hitting the books, eh?"

Jaune started and shoved his papers into his bag before Nora could swipe it out of his hand. Not that that stopped her, she just shoved her hand right in and pulled it out. Jaune retaliated.

"...81." He said.

Nora shrugged. "Well, since you've turned into a straight A student I guess I'm the dumb one now. So much for the whole 'dumb blond' schtick."

"Nora, you're not dumb." Ren said sternly.

She smiled. " I get by okay." Nora, as far as Jaune was aware, didn't have a superhuman sex drive distracting her all hours of the day, but sitting still in class just didn't agree with her. She was a manic ball of energy- if a lecture was too dull she would start fidgeting uncontrollably and by the day's end she was practically bursting at the seams. Teachers either loved her enthusiasm when she was on task or hated her for causing distractions- rarely was there middle ground. Academically she was middle of the pack, not in any danger of losing her spot, and she seemed content with that. "Let me guess, perfect score again?"

Ren sighed. "...99."

Nora grinned. "Weiss is gonna catch you if you keep slipping like that." She snatched up his paper and scanned it with astonishing thoroughness, humming thoughtfully. "She took points off for that?!" She yelled.

A single point had been taken off a free response question Jaune had gotten full marks on, but what he had taken 3 sentences to say Ren had conveyed in 1. Scribbled in red on the side was 'too short.'

"That'sbullshit!" Nora shouted, drawing several eyes to the group, including the wavering Miss Peach.

"Nora, please." Ren said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're making a scene."

"But you got the answer right!" She said, lowering her tone to a harsh whisper.

"It's not a big deal." Ren said.

"But you earned-"

"-Nora." He said gently. "It's okay."

The ginger flushed pink as she realized how close her friend had gotten to her face, and how many eyes were watching the pair curiously.

Miss Peach cleared her throat again. "W-well." She mumbled. "If there are no more objections…"

"I'll bring it up after class." Ren whispered. "Let it go."

Nora nodded.

Ren sighed. "If you cared half as much about your grades as mine, who knows what you could accomplish?"

Nora chuckled nervously. "It's not my thing." She said. "...But I know it's important to you…"

"Why don't you two start studying together?" Ruby chirped.

Nora looked at her friend, brows furrowed. The younger girl had a perfectly innocent smile on her face.

"Helping someone else learn is a great way to review, and it could be a great way for you to spend more time together. "

Nora and Ren both looked anywhere but at each other as they considered the idea.

Ruby took the opportunity to shoot Jaune a slightly smug grin, which was adorable and arrogant at the same time.

As soon as they had sat down at the same lunch table all the way back in Freshman year, Ruby and Jaune had realized Ren and Nora were perfect for each other, and even someone as romance averse as Ruby wasn't above giving the pair a little nudge once in a while.

Right now Ruby and Jaune were caught up in their own silent conversation.

Ruby looked at him with an arched eyebrow and a cheeky smirk. 'This is it. Any day now.'

Jaune rolled his eyes, smirking right back. 'That's what you said last time.'

Ruby colored slightly before pouting. 'Yeah, well… that was last time!'

Jaune chuckled lowly. 'You said that last time too.'

Ruby's pout grew until she was scowling comically. 'Oh yeah, well…. take this.' She stuck her tongue out at him. ' Nyah!'

Jaune bit back laughter, chest rumbling as he let out a few uncontrollable snorts. Ruby glared at him for a few seconds before she lost control and her hands flew to her mouth to hide her growing smile and a fit of giggles.

It was a never ending source of amusement. How could two people possibly be so dense?!

Ren was the first to break the silence. "It's a ...sound idea." He said. "Do Thursdays work for you?"

"After practice, yeah." Nora said. Her eyes darted anxiously over to Jaune and Ruby. She would kill for the chance for alone time with Ren, but when the chance came she inevitably panicked. "You guys wanna come? Aunt May's making cookies."

Jaune saw Ruby's resolve weaken. He surreptitiously slipped his hand under her desk and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Sorry, I'm working."

Ruby steeled herself, squeezing his hand back. "I have… stuff…" She said weakly.

Nora looked at her skeptically.

Ruby broke her gaze and caught Jaune's.

'You. Owe. Me. Bigtime.'

Jaune nodded almost imperceptibly, then let go of her hand before the temptation to let his own wander became too difficult to resist. He had missed the casual intimacy of their earlier friendship, but as natural as it felt to be able to touch Ruby again it reminded him of all the new ways their bodies could interact, ways that would jeopardize everything.

He distracted himself by listening to Nora and Ren hesitantly hashing out details. This would be good for the two of them. Studying was something they had to do anyway, and when it was somewhere private and comfortable, just the two of them huddled over some papers and with nothing but their work and each other to pay attention to-

"Hullo." A soft voice called out as Jaune looked up from his homework. "Jaune… right?"

He nodded, eyeing her up instantly. She had a slender figure, with long legs and pert breasts, a tight waist, creamy smooth skin and sleek brown hair that went down her back and framed a gentle, pretty face, with captivatingly warm, dark brown eyes and a cute little mouth that looked so kissable in this light-

He blinked, trying to break the familiar trance his hormones put him under around women of this caliber. It was hard; this new girl was even more distracting than all but a handful of his classmates. His forced himself to look up and caught sight of the long brown ears rabbit ears, the same shade as her hair, that jutted out of her head as a Faunus trait.

Jaune had seen girls in bunny costumes before, but he had always found the idea ridiculous. He loved the skimpy outfits, but the tacked on fuzzy headbands and obviously fake ears were a pointless distraction.

But hers weren't fake. He could see the subtle way they moved, responding to the drop of a pencil or the opening of a door, the seamless way they sprung from her head and blended in with her hair. Taking her figure in from top to bottom, it became impossible to envision her without them. They were part of her… and she was gorgeous.

Her ears drooped suddenly. As stealthy as his gaze was, the Faunus was no stranger to eyes lingering there. "I-I'm Velvet Scarlatina." She whispered, cradling her textbook in front of her chest protectively. Her entire posture had changed- she had been skittish, but open and friendly. Now her eyes were firmly on the floor and she looked ready to flee at the first sign of danger. "I'm your assigned t-tutor for the day. B-but, if you w-want s-someone else, I- I can-"

It would have been the smart thing to do- he could see an awkward looking boy in thick framed glasses with a very bored jock out of the corner of his eye, and that substitute wouldn't be nearly as dangerous.

But Jaune couldn't do the smart thing right now.

He grabbed her hand, ignoring his desire to do more, and shook his head, looking her in the eyes with a friendly smile. "No, we're good. " He said, sitting back down and patting the seat next to him. "If you feel like putting up with me for the next hour."

The girl- Velvet, that was her name- looked him over hesitantly, but when she saw the warmth in his smile was genuine, she returned it with a small smile of her own. "No promises." She said, settling in beside him.

Any hope of her being a humorless bore whose personality didn't match her looks evaporated quickly- seeing that she was still uncomfortable Jaune went out of his way to make her laugh. It was a beautiful sound, one he managed to wrench from her lips 8 times that afternoon, and every time she chided him back on task there was a badly repressed grin on her face. He hadn't made much progress on his Econ homework; the opportunity cost of passing up an hour with such a lovely creature was too great, but when the session was over Velvet had given him her number and offered an open line for help whenever he needed it.

Velvet's name was right above Yang's in his contacts, and as he watched her go Jaune realized that she would be another torturous temptation he would have to resist at all costs.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Jaune let out a wistful sigh as his eyes darted over to Yang. She was in the other corner of the room, looking over Blake's shoulder and teasing her about her choice in literature while Weiss tut-tutted at her behavior. Velvet was even further away- maybe out of his life for good. With the way his grades were going he didn't need a tutor anymore. He could find another excuse to spend time with her… but he wouldn't.

He looked at Ruby, the last, best thing he hadn't ruined for himself, and forced a smile.

"Just thinking about stuff." He said.

Ruby reached over and grabbed his hand. "You can talk to me about stuff, you know."

"How many cookies do I owe you again?"

It was an obvious attempt to distract her, and Ruby knew it. She didn't press the issue though. "A baker's dozen, at least." She said. "And it had better be the good stuff: homemade chocolate chip, fresh out of the oven, with a cold glass of milk."

Jaune flicked her in the stomach. "You are a slave driver ." he teased.

"M-M-Mister W-winchester." Miss Peach squeaked out.

The boy looked at her lazily. "What?"

"I-I wanted to tell you that your g-g-grade is right on the border, right now." She said. "You-you did great on the free response, but with the m-m-multiple c-choice section you b-barely scored a… a C."

A more likely story was that Miss Peach had massaged his written score as much as she could, but had no room to maneuver with a scantron. Students had to maintain at least a C average to stay on any team.

"I know how i-i-important this season is to you." She said meekly. "And how important you are to the t-t-t-team. I would hate to be the reason you c-c-couldn't play."

Cardin barely spared her a glance. "Then don't be."

Miss Peach gulped.

Nora shook her head. "It's ridiculous how terrified of him she is."

Jaune was inclined to agree… if he didn't know better. Miss Peach was a slight woman, and Cardin was a robust young man with a hair-trigger temper. He could crush her like a bug… but then again, so could Jaune. And he had induced the same reaction in enough women to realize that wasn't always a bad thing.

Watching her closely, and knowing the signs, it was hard to miss the subtle way she bit her lip, flicked a bit of hair out of her eyes, the way those eyes never left Cardin even as she moved away, with the irrepressible hint of a sway in her step.

'Oh, you've gotta be kidding me.'

Miss Peach wanted Cardin's dick. And, if he had to guess based on the other boy's posture and smirk, he knew that too.

Jaune wondered idly if Cardin had tapped that yet, or if he was content to yank her chain in public.

'What did you expect?' His shadow asked bitterly. 'Just because you're leaving quality ass on the table doesn't mean someone else isn't gonna snap it up.'

Jaune internally rolled his eyes. 'It's not like I can fuck every woman in the world.'

'Not with that attitude.' Shadow groused. 'So, are you gonna snatch her out from under him, or do you wanna play with your own pet teacher first.'

Images of Glynda bent over in sweatpants flashed through his mind. He fought them back. 'We're not bothering her.'

'...You suck.'