Heart to Heart
Chapter 7: A night in
Nora had just finished showering and dressing in her usual clothing as she was looking in the mirror of the bathroom staring at herself. Her conversation with Yang replayed in her head and she was psyching herself up for a talk that she knew was a long time coming.
"Come on girl you can do this," She told herself. "It's Ren, you know he feels something right?"
The reflection didn't say anything back to her.
She scowled at it, "Some help you are."
With that she left the room and entered the sleeping room that she shared with Ren and Jaune. Although there were four beds like in Beacon she was hit with a sense of loss. She missed Pyrrha, she wished she was here now to talk to. Pyrrha always made things seem so simple and easy to understand that she wanted to tell her friend all the complicated feelings she felt.
Ren was her oldest friend and he had been there for her when no one else was and so she had been there for him just as much. At first, it was just being best friends that she had felt for him but over time, things had changed. As they grew up, she started to notice that her friend was actually pretty good looking. She didn't think much of it although living with him in the same room in Beacon hadn't helped.
She remembered that time Jaune had pulled Ren out of the shower to talk and he had been sitting on a bed listening to their leader in nothing but a towel. Now she had been there too listening to music and trying to study but she couldn't have helped stealing a look here and there. When Jaune had asked him how Ren and Nora were together she had to explain how it wasn't like that.
That was the day she knew that the seed had been planted in her mind.
After that, she couldn't help but notice how Ren was, how handsome he was, maybe even borderline pretty for a guy that is. She kept thinking to how he looked shirtless and although she pushed such thoughts down over time it became harder and harder for her to do. She didn't want to ruin their friendship just in case he only thought of her as like a sister. She was actually fine with that, as long as they were together in some way.
Then they had taken their journey to get here and something had changed.
She wasn't sure what had changed but there was something between them and it was gnawing at her. When Yang brought it up in the gym she knew that she had to get it out or else it might just explode. So taking a deep breath she faced the door and wished herself luck.
It didn't take long to time him, he was still training with the others outside. There seemed to be a few things going on. She noticed that Blake and Weiss were in a doubles match against Ilia and Sun.
'Huh, I thought Sun said she stabbed him that one time?' she thought but shrugged it off. If he trusted her to fight by his side even in training it was all good in her book.
She noticed Ren was instructing both Ruby and apparently a woken up Oscar in hand to hand fighting. She had to admit the two of them were getting better but both were still amateurs when it came to fistfights. Ruby was obviously ahead of poor Oscar but the boy never seemed to give. In fact after that fight against Cinder and the others she noticed that Oscar had gotten some confidence.
While not as experienced as Ruby he never seemed to give in and kept pushing back whatever the red caped reaper threw at him. She walked over to them as both young teens were going at it again.
"Oscar remember to keep your left up, and Ruby you're still dropping your shoulder when you want to throw a huge punch. He's using that as a tell," Ren instructed them.
"Got it," Both of them said as they both tried to adjust.
"How are things going on here?" Nora asked him.
He smiled and nodded, "Well, they're both improving."
There was a whack sound and a thud.
"Oscar are you okay?" A concerned Ruby asked.
The boy was on his back with a groan, "Yes…just let me, let me catch my breath…and stop the world from spinning a bit."
"But some work is still needed." Ren shrugged.
"Well you mind if you guys take a break?" She asked the three of them. "I kind of want to talk to Ren about something."
"Alright I think we can take a break," Ren nodded seeing Ruby looking over Oscar making sure he was okay. "What do you want to talk about?"
"It's kind of a private talk," she told him as she lead him around the corner of the building out of view of everyone. As soon as they were out of view she took a breath, she was so nervous at the moment. More nervous than their battle at the festival, more nervous than her first day of classes, she could feel her heart pounding away in her chest.
"Nora, are you okay?" Ren asked her, she seemed off. She rarely got like this and usually it was when something was bothering her. Normally she would be so energetic and talkative but she was the exact opposite now.
She looked up at him as she just would do what she normally did, start talking and see where it went. She wasn't one to really plan out in detail what she would say, she wasn't someone that spent time working out a conversation in advance. She just acted on her feelings and so she did just that.
"Ren you know we've been together a long time right?"
He nodded, "Of course."
"Well things between us have always been good right? I mean there are a few times maybe not so much but for most of it we've been good."
Again he nodded his head wondering where she was going with this.
"Well it's just that, you've always been there for me and I wanted you to know that no matter what I'll always be there for you."
"I feel the same Nora," He replied.
She smiled at that, "That's good to know. Since I wanted you to know something and I wanted you to know that no matter what you say I'll always be your friend."
"Nora what's going on?"
She took a breath as she looked down as her hands started to fidget with her skirt. This was the moment, she knew that once she started she could never take this back but she had to say something. It was now or maybe she might never get the nerve to try this again in the future.
"Ren for awhile now I…well I've felt things for you, like more than friendship things." She said awkwardly. "It started last year and well ever since then, especially on the trip here and everything I've been feeling it more and more. I…I like you Ren and I mean like-like and not just friends-like."
"I have for awhile now but I didn't want to wreck our friendship because it means so much to me that I never wanted to lose you. I've lost so much and the thought of losing you hurts so much that I feel like my heart would rip apart." She looked up into his eyes as her aqua colored eyes locked with his pale pink ones.
Ren could see that she was baring her heart out to him and he was totally at a loss.
"Nora I-" she silenced him with a gentle hand to his lips.
"I just wanted to tell you, I needed to tell you how I felt and I don't expect you to say anything back." She told him with slightly sad eyes.
Ren took her fingers in his hands as he looked into the eyes of his childhood friend. She was someone who had been there in his life for so long that he barely remembered his life before she came into it. They had suffered together, been through the worst moments in their lives together, had been through so many joys, sorrow, laughter, fun, pain. They had been through it all together.
He thought back to that fight with the Nuckelavee, when he had been pinned to that wall he had seen its hand coming for him ready to end his life. Then there had been this blur and Nora had taken the limb off course. For that brief moment had he feared the worst, that he had lost her.
The moment he had turned his head and had seen her alive and well, the relieve he had felt in that moment, he knew that something inside of him had awakened.
Looking at her now he didn't see his friend, he saw the one person that he knew he wanted in his life forever. The one person he wanted by his side no matter what might happen to them in the future. Gently taking her hand down and still locked into her eyes he knew in this moment that Nora was special to him in a way that no other person in the world was.
"Nora I feel the same." He gently told her.
"You mean you like me? As in like-like?" Nora asked hopefully.
He smirked at the silliness of her but that was one of the reasons he did care about her. "Yes Nora, I like-like you."
Her eyes widened as a huge smile grew on her face as she pressed her face into his chest and hugged him close. Ren smiled down as he wrapped his arms around her, this felt right. This felt as natural as breathing for him. He leaned his face down into her orange hair smelling the scent slightly as both of them just enjoyed the moment.
That is until a slightly high pitch self-contained squeal was heard making the two of them look at the corner to see that they weren't alone. There by the corner were Sun, Blake, Ilia, Weiss, Oscar and the one making the sound was Ruby with her fist balled up under her chin.
"How long were you guys there?" Nora demanded.
"Pretty much all of it," Sun admitted with a huge grin.
"You guys!" Ruby exploded onto the scene. "This is great! I always knew you two would make a cute couple!"
"Thanks," Nora grinned with a slight blush on her face.
After that, it quickly passed around to the few that weren't around what had happened. This of course led to everyone happy for their friends and anymore training that day was pushed aside to enjoy one of the few moments that they could get happy about. The afternoon was spent just enjoying themselves and resting up.
Currently Blake was curled up in the corner with a book she got from the local library and didn't look to be stopping anytime soon. There was a game going of Conquest of Remnant between Ruby, Oscar, Ilia and Sun. Weiss was watching and learning, she was determined that this time she would win her future games.
The rest were just about to put on a film as Yang set up her scroll to the TV in front of the couches.
"Oh this is a classic," the blonde grinned as she linked the two devices. "Dragon Fist."
"The original or the remake?" Jaune asked from his spot at the end of the couch.
"Original but I have both," she smiled at him.
"Yeah both are pretty good," Jaune nodded in agreement. "It's kind of tough to say which is better. The original is just a classic but there is that one fight scene in the new one that is just way too cool."
"Finally!" Yang threw her arms up. "I've said the same thing but my dad is all about the original and Ruby doesn't see the difference."
"They're the same movie but with different actors!" The little reaper yelled from across the room.
"No comments from the peanut gallery," Yang said back making her way to the couch. She could already see Ren at the opposite end of the couch from Jaune.
"Popcorn is done," Nora sang out as she placed it on the table in front of them in a large bowl. She eagerly sat down next to Ren.
Nora and Ren awkwardly sat next to each other, it was strange because they normally sat next to each other all the time. However, after this morning things were different between them. They were more than just friends and since neither of them had any experience with dating they had no idea of what to really do.
They were both orphans with no real parental figures in their lives that they could have gone for advice in this kind of situation growing up. The only thing Nora could think about were things she saw on TV shows or in movies but she wasn't sure how that actually works in real life. So in the end, Nora just decided to press up against Ren. There was a slight moment of awkwardness between them but soon they both seem to settle into it.
Yang gave a small smile at the scene as she sat down with a plop right next to Jaune, as it was the only empty place on the couch. Tapping her scroll the TV screen flickered to life as the film started to run.
"It's been awhile since we all just did something like this," Jaune sighed leaning back into the cushions.
Yang nodded her head. "Yeah things were so much simpler back at Beacon. Hell I think I actually miss homework, well maybe not by much but you get what I mean."
"Yeah the simpler days of just going to class, training, hanging out with everyone, all of it seems so long ago."
Yang knew it wasn't even a full year yet but it was getting there, if Beacon hadn't fallen they would be getting ready for the new semester. Looking forward to going back, seeing everyone and looking forward to what a new school year would bring. Instead, here they were halfway across the planet now in a life or death battle for the world.
Okay sure, this was the kind of thing she was training to do but she figured she still had a few more years of fun before she fully got into the life of an adult. Instead, it seemed that had been cut short, well whatever, she had no idea what the future held but now that they were all together, she was certain they would all face it together.
Back with the card game Oscar was concentrating on his next move. He was Vale and so far he had been building up a good defense against the others. Ilia was playing as Vacuo and while her territory wasn't as large she was making small probes to see who would be the first to be attacked. Sun was playing as Mistral and he seemed to be all over the place. Oscar wasn't sure if he was actually planning things out or just doing whatever random thing he thought of at the time.
The final was Ruby as Atlas with Weiss over her shoulder, Ruby would explain the different units and cards, the benefits and everything to the white haired girl.
"So if I move this here I'm now defended," Ruby explained to Weiss as she placed a Nevermore along her boarder.
"I think I see," Weiss narrowed her eyes as she looked on the playing board and then to Ruby's hand and pointed to a card. "So then would you play that card?"
"Yep, I play this and end my turn," Ruby placed a card face down.
Oscar went to thinking, he could attack Ruby's forces but did he want to do that or wait for someone else to try first, since Ilia was waiting for an opening and Sun was, well he wasn't sure what he might do.
His thoughts were broken as the front door opened up and the Belladonnas walked in.
"Mom, dad, how was today?" Blake asked looking up from her reading.
"Another long day," Kali sighed. "Some of the White Fang members are coming around and cooperating with the police but there are some that was just so stubborn. Even with family or friends trying to persuade them they aren't budging."
"Some people are just too hard headed," Ghira shook his head as he made his way to the kitchen area. He felt the need for some tea to help him relax after hours of trying to talk sense into those members.
"So what is everyone else doing?" Kali asked looking around.
"Game," Ruby called out as she played her turn.
"Movie," Yang said not taking her eyes off the screen.
"Reading," Blake commented looking back at the book.
Kali sighed as she looked at her daughter. "Honestly Blake you always have your nose in a book."
"So she was like this a lot?" Ruby perked up wondering how Blake was when she was younger.
"Oh yes she would always be in the library reading a book." Kali shook her head in amusement. "I had to force her outside sometimes but then I'd find her reading again. Usually under a tree reading instead of playing with other children."
"Mom," Blake moaned out in embarrassment.
"I can totally see that," Yang grinned looking back over her shoulder at them. "So it was either being in rallies, picket lines or reading for you growing up."
Blake tried to hide her face behind her book, her books would never judge her.
"She was like that in the Fang too," Ilia commented. "When she wasn't training she usually was alone with a book."
"Not you too Ilia," Blake groaned.
Kali walked over to her daughter and gently hand a loving hand through her daughter's hair. "I'm just happy that you have a lot of good friends now Blake. You were such a lonely child growing up that I felt that I might have failed as a parent. But seeing you here now with all of your friends makes me glade that you found a group all your own."
Blake blushed. "They are good friends."
Oscar looked at the scene and he was of two minds of it. It warmed his heart to see such things but a small part of him also felt a bit envious.
"Oscar you okay?" Ruby had noticed how his mind didn't seem to be on the game. He was just kind of lost in thought as they waited for his turn.
"Huh? Oh sorry," He quickly pulled a card and then put one from his hand down. "I kind of got started thinking of home."
"Oh yeah I never heard where you're from," Sun perked up. He really didn't know much personal information about Oscar.
Oscar shrugged. "I'm not that special really. I'm from Mistral but not from any of the larger city or settlements. I grew up on my aunt's farm in a safe zone just outside of the settlement of Seto."
"Oh what kind of farm?" Ruby asked as since she was from the small island of Patch there had been a few students at her school that had been from farming families. Since the small island had a few farms in case they ever were cut off from the main land. "Was it planting or animal? If it was animals please tell me you guys have some horses!"
Oscar chuckled. "It's a farm for food, mainly wheat but we do some vegetables and potatoes as well. And we do keep a few animals around including a pair of horses."
Ruby's eyes lit up she always wanted to ride a horse because it looked fun.
Weiss had noticed something that he had omitted and she was a bit hesitant to ask but she was a bit curious. "Oscar, you said your aunt's farm. What about the rest of your family?"
Oscar looked down a bit as he shuffled his cards. "It's just me and my aunt, we're the only family we have left."
There was a moment of silence before Ruby asked the question. "Grimm?"
He nodded his head. "I was pretty young and thankfully I don't remember much. I just remember my mom putting me into a root cellar and telling me to be quiet. There were a lot of noises then, bad noises."
All he could remember was being alone in the dark, with the sounds of fighting, the cries of Grimm and people. Other sounds he didn't want to think about. He had been stuck in the dark trying his best not to make a sound the entire night. It was just him alone in the dark and even when the silence finally came he didn't come out. He was waiting for his mother or father to come back for him to tell him everything was okay.
They never came.
"It wasn't until some huntsmen showed up to clean out the Grimm left that one of them found me." Oscar told them. "There were a few other survivors but…"
"So you ended up with your aunt." Weiss finished for him.
"Yeah it was rough at first but it wasn't so bad." Oscar smiled. "She's been great and I couldn't have ended up in a better place."
"I lost my mom when I was a kid too," Ruby said softly. "She was a huntress and one day she left for a mission and…just didn't come back. I was too young to really get it at the time but I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to become a huntress."
"I can't imagine what your aunt must have said when you left," Ilia finally spoke up trying to lighten the mood somewhat.
"Yeah…about that," Oscar scratched the back of his head.
"You did tell you were you leaving," Weiss narrowed her eyes.
"I left a note?" Oscar shrugged sheepishly.
Weiss rolled her eyes as Ruby huffed out trying to look all stern as a cute sixteen year old could muster, which wasn't much.
"Oscar you shouldn't have done that, she's most likely worried sick about you."
"Ruby, you did the exact same thing!" Yang shouted from the couch.
"Uhhh, well, that was, I mean," Ruby shifted uncomfortably being called out on that. Weiss just smacked her hand to her forehead, as she should have seen that coming from her partner.
"Well what about you Yang?" Ruby shot back.
"Dad knows I left looking for you, I was the responsible one." She fired back.
"Gods, if Yang of all people is the responsible one," Weiss sighed.
"Hey!" Said Yang.
"Well what about you?" Ruby asked Weiss. "Didn't you run away from home too?"
Weiss crossed her arms over her chest giving her a level look. "My own father made me a literal prisoner in our own home. I wasn't allowed to leave or any contact with the outside world. I didn't run away so much as escaped."
"Well then…" Ruby looked to Blake.
"I brought my parents with me remember?" she said without looking up from her book.
Ruby just groaned as she slunk down in her seat and pulled her hood over her head. Everyone was against her and it wasn't fair.
"Still you should tell you you're alright at least," Weiss looked to Oscar.
The boy sighed. "I know and I've wanted to but how do I even start explaining all of this?" He waived his hands around the room. "I know I can't tell her everything but what I can tell her is crazy enough as is."
"Yeah it is pretty wild," Sun nodded.
"I'll just think of something, eventually." Oscar shrugged.
Yang looked back to the film after this, she didn't miss much plus it wasn't like she hadn't nearly memorized this film anyway. She could practically recite some scenes in her sleep she bet.
Currently it was a small fight scene between the protagonist and another from a rival from another martial arts school. He was throwing his weight around trying to goad them into a challenge between the schools, the hero was having none of it and was making quick work of the rival.
"I always liked that move he just pulled," Jaune said with a grin as he tried to copy it. "I could never get it right though."
"I can teach you that one," Yang shrugged as she perfectly mimicked the move.
"Really?" Jaune looked at her excited.
"Eventually," Yang nodded. "First we get you set with the basics first and then we can move into the more advanced stuff."
Jaune looked a bit disappointed but it quickly faded, he knew that you had to learn the basics before trying something more advanced or fancy. "Then I'll be looking forward to it."
"Oh does this make Yang your sensei?" Nora grinned.
Yang rubbed her chin. "Huh, Yang-sensei does have a nice ring to it."
"It would be like one of these films with the young student learning from the old master." Nora said.
"Old? Whose old here?" Yang said defensively.
"You know what I mean," Nova waved it off. "You'd be the mentor character if this was a film."
"Don't the mentor characters usually end up dying in stories?" Jaune asked thinking about it. Usually the mentor was someone older and taught the young hero and eventually died to motivate the hero to defeat the person that did it, complete the quest or something else along that line.
"Oh hell no," Yang shook her head. "I'm not going out like that. If this was a martial arts movie I would be one of the fighters."
"What would the title be if it was?" Jaune asked watching the film.
Yang looked up thinking about it. "Maybe…Enter the Yang!"
"Boo," Nova flicked a piece of popcorn at the blonde girl.
"How about The Girl with the Iron Fist?" Jaune offered.
Yang looked at her hand and for a moment, Jaune was wondering if he might have gone a bit too far. He wasn't sure how sensitive she was about the arm, sure she never showed to be sensitive about it and she even joked about it. Still, he figured she couldn't just be fine with it all the time. Thankfully, she mentally sighed when she grinned and punched the air with her robotic arm.
"Yeah I think I can dig that," Yang laughed. "I can totally see it now, your beautiful protagonist gains a special iron arm to replace the one she lost in battle on an epic revenge quest against the man that did it."
Jaune was a little worried she was projecting some of her real life a bit too much into it but he didn't want to spoil the mood. They all sat in silence watching the film before he finally spoke up again.
"This is nice."
"It is," Ren agreed. "We rarely are given the chance to just relax since Beacon."
Yang's eyes lit up as an idea hit her as she turned in her chair to look at Sun. "Hey Monkey-Boy."
"Yo," Sun looked at her.
"You know any good dance clubs around here?"
"A few, yeah." He nodded.
"Any that we can go to that isn't age restricted?" Yang didn't really care that much but if she could drag Ruby along for once she wanted to make sure it was a place they didn't have to sneak into or start a brawl, at least for this time.
"Oh yeah there are a couple of really good places I know," Sun nodded eagerly now. "They don't serve alcohol and students get a discount."
"Sweet," Yang was liking this more and more. "Okay then, tomorrow I say we have a night out on the town."
"Do we have to?" Blake asked.
"Come on it will be good to get out of here and see the sights," Yang told them. "This is my first time even in Mistral so I think we should enjoy it while we're still here. Once we're back on the move who knows how long it will be before we're back here again or staying anywhere for any length of time."
"Well I'm sold," Nora suddenly gasped and looked at Ren. "Hey it could be like our first date."
Ren thought about it and nodded, he honestly had no idea what to do for a date with Nora but this might be a good chance.
"There you go, come on guys we train hard so we should party hard." Yang offered.
"Yeah you guys should totally do it, Mistral actually has some good places to hang out in and I can show you around the city a bit as well." Sun offered.
Ruby could see that Yang really wanted this and it would be nice for Nora and Ren, Sun was on board too. Although Ruby really wasn't the social butterfly her big sister was, she had never been to a club or anything like that. "I don't have to wear heels and a dress again do I?"
"Nope," Yang then looked to Jaune. "You might want a new shirt though."
"What, why?"
"Well first I don't think walking into a club in armor would be a good thing," she pointed to his breastplate that he was still wearing. "Also you already had a few reactions to your bunny hoodie."
"Pumpkin Pete." He interjected.
"Doesn't make it better Jaune, so you want a whole club having that reaction?"
Jaune thought about it and suddenly shrank into his seat. "No."
"Oh I think I know a good place," Sun offered. "Neptune does his shopping there so it should be easy to find him a decent shirt."
"Says the guy that only ever wears an open shirt all the time," Weiss sighed.
"Hey I said Neptune shops there, not me." Sun defended himself. "Plus I'm used to living in a dessert environment; it's hot all the time except at night."
"Well sounds like we got ourselves a plan," Yang smiled going back to her film it was going to be fun to let loose at a club. The last one she had been to was Junior's and that hadn't lasted long.
TBC…
OMAKE (NON-CANON)
Kali listened to the kids at the card table talking about their families. How Ruby and Oscar practically ran away to adventure, she was surprised by how Weiss had been held captive by her own father. She didn't have the best opinion of Jacques Schnee to begin with but after hearing that she felt that opinion was gone so much lower.
She turned to Sun, "What about you? What about your family?"
She didn't notice Blake stiffen at that, no one else in the room knew about Sun's past but her.
Sun just shrugged, "Don't got one."
"What?" Kali blinked as everyone else looked to Sun.
"Yep I'm an orphan." Sun said like it was nothing special and to him it wasn't, that's just how things were.
"Hey you're like Ren and me then," Nora grinned at him. "Welcome to the club."
"Thanks," Sun smiled at her.
"So you never had a family?" Kali asked him.
"Nope," Sun told her. "Hey it's nothing major. You can't miss what you never had right?"
There was a moment of silence before Sun suddenly found his head being hugged to Kali's chest as he dropped his cards and was trying very hard to both figure out what was going on or feel how nice this felt.
"You poor baby, I'll be your mother then," Kali hugged him.
"Mom!" Blake yelled embarrassed.
"I don't think that's how it works Mrs. B," Sun told her blushing at the moment.
"Oh I know, if you and Blake marry then I can become your mother-in-law," Kali said happily.
"Seriously mom!?" Blake's face grew red at the suggestion.
"Over that boy's dead body!" Her father was heard walking angrily over to the boy.
"Uh…I thought the saying was 'over my dead body'?"
He glared at the blonde monkey Faunus. "I'm not the one that's going to be dead in a minute."
(so that was just a little humor that I wanted to put in that didn't make it OOC for the main story. Thanks to everything that takes the time to leave a review, I like getting them and responding to them)