BRFs

Chapter 5

While often one to sleep in on a weekend, Yang was up bright and early this Saturday morning. She wasn't up early for work though. No, today was a special day. But what was the occasion? She was going to be visiting Ruby up at Beacon. It had been a while since Yang had seen Ruby. With her being so busy at Beacon, their interactions were limited to phone and video calls, occasionally once a week, if even.

Looking into the mirror in her bedroom, her Achieve Men poster mounted right beside it, Yang gave herself a look over. She was wearing her huntress gear sans Ember Celica. Sadly, she couldn't bring those along to Beacon, but no matter. Today wasn't about fighting; it was about spending time with her little sister.

"Hyaah!" Stepping out of her room, Yang was met with Jaune's battle cry. She caught Jaune practicing his swings in the center of the living room. The coffee table had been moved to the side, and the couch was pushed back. Qrow had recorded him a set of swings to practice in between their lessons. Qrow would spar with Jaune on his days off from work so they could work around Qrow's chaotic schedule as a huntsman/teacher.

Jaune moves forward with his front foot, again slashing the air and releasing another cry. He followed up with a spin. There was a considerable amount of feeling and effort into it from his cry. Jaune was utterly unaware of Yang's presence as she trod closer to the living room.

"Morning Jaune." Yang greeted him with a small smile on her face.

Finally realizing Yang was there, Jaune dropped his sword hand and turned towards her. He looked over and smiled, "Morning, Yang. You're going to see Ruby today, right?" Jaune asked as he sheathed Crocea Mors and gently set it down against the wall. Yang had mentioned it the other night, and judging by her outfit, she wasn't going shopping.

"Yup!" she said with an audible pop. "I can't wait to give her a big ole hug and embarrass her in front of her team." Yang grinned as she declared her inevitable teasing.

Jaune chuckled. "As any older sibling should." With 6 younger sisters, that called for 6 times the teasing. Saphron was immune from it, as much as Jaune tried to get back at her. Jaune walked over to the coffee table and grabbed two magazines that sat on the top. "Here, I picked these up yesterday from work." He said as he held the magazines out to Yang.

Yang walked over, grabbed the magazines, and inspected them. They were weapon magazines, but not just any old weapon magazines. They were the latest issues of Ammo-Nut and High Caliber, Ruby's favorite. Ruby had lamented over a call one night that she hadn't been able to pick these up yet because of school. The weird thing was that Yang never told Jaune that.

"Don't tell me; she already has them, doesn't she?" Jaune assumed, not being able to get a read from Yang's face as she stared blankly at the magazines.

"Huh?" Yang recovered from her daze and looked at Jaune. "No, she never had a chance to pick these up yet. They're her favorite!" She gave a genuine smile. "You didn't have to do that, you know? How much were they, I'll pay you back."

"No way Yang. It's a gift! I just saw them and thought of what you said about Ruby being big into weapons. I figured it'd also help you score some big sister points; I know how important those are." Jaune winked at her before he pushed the coffee table back to its rightful spot.

Yang was speechless. It was a small gesture but thoughtful and kind. He got a gift for Ruby, although having not even met her before. She wanted to repay that kindness, but how?

A lightbulb went off in her head. As per usual Yang had a great idea.

"Hey, Jaune, wanna come with me to Beacon?"

…

Bumblebee's engine roared as Yang took a sharp turn down the off-ramp and into Vale's Bullhead Port. As she approached the curb, she eased off the gas and slid carefully next to the curb, parking her precious bike. Dropping the kickstand, the engine instantly powered down. Taking off her matching yellow helmet, Yang shook her hair slightly before gesturing with her thumb toward the port. "Come on, we're here," Yang said as she stood up. She took a few steps, and when she heard the lack of a response, she turned around and saw Jaune was still on the back of Bumblebee; his hair was somehow even more messy than it was normally, and he had a petrified expression of terror frozen on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Just my life flashing before my eyes." The response from Jaune was hollow as his breathing steadied.

"Pfffft. You're fine. That was me driving slow." If that was Yang driving slowly, Jaune didn't want to know what she was like in a hurry. Brushing his hands through his hair, it returned to its normal moppy-head state and Jaune stood up from the bike.

There were many bullheads parked as they passed through the port, but only a few were there to travel between Beacon. Those were marked with the emblem of the school.

"Are you sure Ruby doesn't mind using another guest pass? I don't want to impose," Jaune asked as they stood outside the ferry bullhead, waiting for the doors to open. It was a much smaller bullhead than the one used for initiation, often just to ferry students going to visit Vale and back during their free time.

"Its Fineeeee Jaune." She said to ease his worries. The bullhead doors slid open, allowing them to enter. "She said she was going to ask Weiss first if she would use hers; if not, she didn't mind using an extra," Yang added as she found a bench to sit on. Yang told Ruby about Jaune and how they were roommates and was helping him train to get into Beacon. She left out the part about fake transcripts to her little sister. It wasn't her place to be telling other people that. Ruby hadn't found their little arrangement weird at all. Ruby knew Yang, and how she could take care of herself.

"Do we still hate Weiss?" Jaune asked taking a seat next to her. The bullhead doors closed, the engines powered up, and the airship started gently lifting up into the air.

"Tch." Yang rolled her eyes. "Apparently, they made up and are like best friends now, as Ruby puts it. I still think she's a whiny brat, but I promised Ruby I'd be nice. So we are now mildly okay with her." Yang said as a bit of turbulence hit the bullhead.

"Noted," Jaune said before he felt a sudden twist in his stomach. What? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Panic and dread spread throughout Jaune. This wasn't supposed to be happening; he was supposed to be safe from this.

"You good there, Jaune?" He heard Yang ask. She must have noticed the strained look on his face. Jaune hunched over and gripped the seat's edge.

Jaune could feel his stomach twisting and turning. It was like a washing machine in there. "Uh oh," he muttered, his hands moving from the seat and placing them on his stomach, clutching it.

"Uh oh? Why, uh oh?" Yang asked, getting nervous.

"My mother used to get motion sickness." He then brought his hands to his mouth.

Realization finally dawned on Yang. "EW, EW, EW." Yang started leaning as far away from Jaune as she could. "You better hold it in."

"I don't know if I can!" The words came out strained. The contents of his stomach threatened to escape as the bullhead shook uncontrollably.

"Try flexing your Aura," Yang suggested in the panic.

Jaune focused as best as he could as the bullhead rocked. Channeling his Aura; he let it wash over him, keeping him steady. As the turbulence died down, so did the twisting feeling in his stomach. With the crisis averted, Jaune sighed in relief. "I think it's over."

"That's a relief." Yang faked wiping sweat off her forehead. "I swear if you had gotten vomit on my boots." She made sure Jaune noticed the dead serious look on her face. "I was ready to call you vomit boy till the day you die," Yang said, leaning back.

Jaune winced. That would have been a nightmare; he'll gladly take Noodle Boy or Vomit Boy any day. God he loved Aura. Jaune leaned back and looked out the nearby window. "Woah." Jaune let the words fall out of his mouth. His eyes widened; in the distance, he saw Beacon Academy.

Soon after, the bullhead began its descent until it finally landed. Planted firmly on the ground, they could hear the engines slowly powering down. With the bullhead doors sliding open, Jaune and Yang stepped out. Taking a step onto the stone path, Jaune looked in awe at the huge academy before him. This was where his dream of becoming a huntsman would come true. He needed to get into initiation; he couldn't miss the chance to come here.

Yang, beside him, was scanning the area around. "Now, where is-"

"Yaaaaaang!" Yang was cut off by the ear-piercing shout. Jaune watched as a shooting torpedo of roses collided instantly with Yang. As the roses disappeared, Jaune could see Yang spinning in a hug with what must have been her sister.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed as she squeezed tight, pulling Ruby's head close to her chest.

Ruby let out a strained "HNNNNG." to Yang's death grip of a hug. "Too tight!" Yang relented slightly, still holding her sister but letting Ruby breathe. Ruby gasped for air. She practically had stars in her eyes as she looked up at her sister. "Did you miss me?" She asked.

"Nope!" Yang lied, dropping Ruby. "Rubes, this is my roommate, Jaune Arc; Jaune, this is my sister, Ruby Rose." Yang introduced the two to each other.

Ruby stood up, dusted herself off quickly, and waved. "Hi, there." Ruby gave a short and pleasant wave.

"Nice to meet you, Ruby." Jaune greeted, giving an equally short and pleasant wave back. Not really much of an introduction, but they were both a bit socially awkward, not sharing in Yang's ability to instantly make friends and chat with people like nothing.

"Yang! I forgot to tell you! You would not believe what I saw the other day in combat class. This one guy had a flaming sword that could transform into a flamethrower!" Jaune watched as Ruby excitedly gushed. Yang was right; Ruby really was into weapons. Maybe that'd be a good icebreaker.

"What kind of weapon do you have Ruby?" The question got an excited response from Ruby as she reached behind her back. "I got this thing!" she pulls out Crescent Rose and stabs it into the ground.

"Woah, is that a Scythe?" That was not what Jaune expected for the short girl. The weapon was huge and seemed very intricate from its design.

"Custom made it myself. It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"You made that?" Jaune was amazed.

"Yup!" I was best in my weapon smithing class at Signal two years in a row. What kind of weapon do you have, Jaune?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"I just have a regular sword and shield... But! The shield can retract and get smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..." He tried to make his family heirloom seem more enticing.

"But... wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby asked, pointing out the minor flaw.

Dejectedly, Jaune looked down and said, "Yea, it does."

Ruby giggled and said, "Nothing wrong with the classics! I'm a bit of a weapon nut, so I went a little overboard when designing it."

"Since we're on the topic of weapons." Yang butted in getting in between. "These are for you, Rubes," Yang said, taking out the weapon magazines.

Ruby's eyes widened, and she instantly recognized the magazines. She swiped them from Yang's grasp and held them out while she admired them, exclaiming, "Oh my God, Yes! I've been needing these. I've had no time to go and pick these up! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Thank Jaune over here; he got them for you from his job," Yang said, pointing over to the blonde boy. Jaune had shot Yang a look; she was supposed to be taking the credit for the magazines, not him.

"Really!" Ruby turned to Jaune, "Thank you, Jaune."

"Don't mention it," Jaune said, scratching the back of his head. "Thanks for using one of your guest passes for me. Yang sure talks about you a lot; she says you're the bee's knees around here." As Jaune mentioned that, Ruby's smiling face shifted to panic as her mouth went agape.

"Gah! Yang, I told you not to say that! I'm not special, just a normal girl with normal knees!"

Yang snickered as Ruby whined and stomped her feet. "Well, why doesn't Miss Normal Knees show us around Beacon."

Ruby stopped her little display of detest and shot up. "Sure! Let's get you two signed in and I'll show you all the awesome places." She started walking off. "Follow me!"

...

Beacon was sure impressive, Jaune couldn't help but think as Ruby gave him and Yang a tour. They had been walking, maybe an hour or two now and it didn't even feel like they were close to being done. He had seen pictures, but they had yet to do the academy justice compared to seeing it up close and in person. They weren't allowed access to the combat hall or classrooms, but Ruby was still able to show them most of the other facilities. And what a wide variety there were. There was a weapons workshop, various training facilities, an enormous library, a fully staffed medical center, and even a garage. Yang was happy about the last one.

"And this is the cafeteria," Ruby said, standing next to a set of double doors. "My team's already inside. I can't wait for you to meet team Rainbow."

"Team Rainbow?" Yang was giggling.

"Sure is a colorful name," Jaune said jokingly.

"Nice." Yang put up her hand for a fist bump which Jaune reciprocated.

"The team names were given based on our initials; we didn't have a choice." Ruby shrugged as she opened the double door. The cafeteria was lined with tables, fully packed with students eating and conversing with one another. "There they are!" Ruby pointed to the far end, her partner's white ponytail sticking out among the ocean of students. "Let's get some food, then I'll introduce you to them," Ruby suggested.

Beacon had a wide spread of food; Jaune was pleasantly surprised as the trio passed by tray after tray, putting food on their plates along the way. This was definitely better than any school lunch he had ever seen or heard of. As they followed Ruby to her team's table, they must have seen Ruby approaching as the red-headed one smiled and waved at the young team leader.

"Hey Everyone!" Ruby exclaimed. "This is my sister Yang and her roommate Jaune." She introduced them to her team before turning towards them.

"This is my partner and bestie, Weiss Schnee," Ruby said, grabbing Weiss' shoulder.

"Off, dolt!" Weiss shook herself free from Ruby's grasp before composing herself. "Greetings." She said curtly. That last name seemed familiar to Jaune. That's right! there were a lot of products of the Schnee Dust Company in Vale, but there were practically none in Ansel. The only dust they used was local or smaller name brands due to their cheaper prices.

This is Blake," Ruby said as she swooped behind her other teammate.

Blake, with one hand on a book and the other on a fork, seemingly multitasking, looked up and nodded, opting for a silent greeting.

"Annnnd this is Pyrrha Nikos!" Ruby exclaimed.

Pyrrha smiled politely and waved her hand, saying, "Hello!"

Jaune looked around and saw all the students sitting nearby oohing and awing. "Wow, you're really popular!" Pyrrha kept her smile up, but it strained slightly. She was used to this, the instant recognition, the praise, the gawking. It seemed now it would be no different. "I guess people are really impressed you skipped two years, Ruby," Jaune said. Pyrrha's mouth opened; she must have heard wrong. It wasn't possible, right? Ruby went as red as her cape and waved her hands wildly in panicked embarrassment, muttering about normal knees. Yang basked in joyful delight at the sight of Ruby. Blake was unamused as she continued reading her book. Weiss, on the other hand, looked offended.

"Not her, you dunce! Pyrrha!" Weiss gestured at Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha? Oh, are you famous?" The question received confusing looks from the whole table sans black until something clicked in Yang's head. Her mouth took an O shape as she remembered Jaune's hometown situation. He probably didn't hear much about news in Mistral and it wasn't like Pyrrha was school textbook material. Maybe in the future if she kept up her championship reign.

Weiss scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me. She's Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Am I supposed to know who she is?" Jaune's question made Pyrrha smile.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it."

Weiss scoffed again. "She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! She set a new record!"

"The what?" Every time Jaune spoke, Pyrrha's smile got wider and wider.

Weiss started waving her arms rapidly in anger. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

Jaune audibly gasped. "That's you?!" Jaune asked in glee. "But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!" Yang rolled her eyes. Jaune and his Pumpkin Pete's.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you," Pyrrha said to Jaune's sudden disappointment. He started grumbling under his breath. It just wasn't fair. What did the world have against him and his love for the sweet marshmallowy cereal?

"There there, Noodle Boy" Yang said, patting Jaune on the back.

"You're a dunce, and to think Ruby wanted me to waste my guest pass." Weiss's head was in her hands. Ruby winced as she caught Yang's immediate frown. She had told Yang Weiss was being nicer, but so far, she was doing a bad job of showing it.

"Weiss..." Ruby said and the two started having their own little discussion.

Yang promised she'd be nice, but her patience was running thin right now. Fucking Ice Queen over here. Yang could only imagine if she had been put on a team with her. She definitely would have exploded on the Heiress by now. She didn't even know Jaune, he was great! So Jaune didn't know who Pyrrha was. It wasn't that big of a deal. Yang only knew of Pyrrha cause she had participated in some local Vale tournaments when she was younger and Pyrrha's name came up, how she was the rising star in mistral. Pyrrha clearly didn't mind; in fact, she looked like she was in heaven.

Yang leaned over to him and whispered, "Still think she's pretty?"

"Okay, okay. You were right... ice-cold." Of course, she was right! Jaune didn't even need to finish the sentence, and Yang snickered and nodded in agreement. Weiss must have heard the snickering as she looked towards them, eyes narrowed like daggers, ready to strike back at them.

"Yang, Jaune. Why don't you tell us what you two do?" Pyrrha asked, cutting off Weiss from speaking and saving the two blondes.

Yang answered first, flexing her arms a little. "I fix bikes at an auto shop on the south side of Vale," She said.

"I just work at a small bookstore downtown," Jaune said nonchalantly after Yang finished, not noticing Yang sneakily swiping some chicken off his plate. "The plan is to join Beacon next year, though," He added before looking down at his food and looked at it quizzically. Noticing the missing chicken, his head swiveled slowly, and his eyes narrowed at Yang.

"What!?" Yang asked, trying to act innocent.

"Stealing my food here now too?" Jaune spat the accusation at Yang.

"It was a few frys Jaune."

"You could have at least offered me an onion ring." Jaune shot back.

"That was me taking a trainer's tax, which is exactly what I'm doing now. I didn't get to pick that chicken up. It looks good," Yang said as she took a bite. Mmm... and I was right! It is good!" Yang savored the food as she chewed with her mouth closed.

"She steals my food, too!?" Ruby slammed down on the table as she leaned over. Jaune nodded his head in furious agreement.

"That's the big sister tax," Yang said as she scarfed down some chicken and pointed the fork at Ruby. Both Jaune and Ruby groaned; all the while, Yang smirked smugly.

"OW!" Stop it!" A cry had interrupted their playful banter. Jaune and the others turned their attention towards the cry. Close by, he saw a rabbit, Faunus; her ears were being grabbed and tugged by a ginger-haired student clad in armor, who was surrounded by three others laughing together at the poor girl.

"Who's that jerk?" Yang asked, a frown on her face as she watched.

"That's Cardin and his team," Ruby answered, her frown matching that of her sisters.

"Ow! That hurts! Please, stop..." The rabbit Faunus pleaded.

Still laughing, the ginger-haired student, Cardin, turned to his team and said, "I told you it was real!"

One of his teammates, with a mohawk, joined in, tugging on the girl's ears, and said, "What a freak!"

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him," Pyrrha said, disgusted by Cardin and his team's behavior.

All the while they were talking, Jaune stared furiously as the ginger-haired leader, the words of his boss, Tukson, came to mind. 'People just don't care anymore. Most Faunus in the city will just take the abuse rather than fight back because no one will stand with them.' Tukson was right; this girl stood there getting bullied, and no one was helping her. This was supposed to be a huntsman in training? Picking on a fellow student cause they were different. How was someone like this even accepted? Jaune couldn't stand it. He clenched his fist. He wanted no, he needed to do something. The others were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice Jaune stand up.

A million questions rang through his head as he walked towards the ginger-haired leader. How was he going to stop this? What should he say? What if they didn't stop? What if they retaliated? They were all questions he did not have answers to or care for. He couldn't stop now, every fiber in his being told him to stop this, somehow. His thoughts traveled to what Yang would do. He stood a mere couple of feet away from them, it was time to say something.

"She asked you to stop!" Jaune shouted loud enough that everyone in the vicinity could hear. Cardin, Cardin's team, the surrounding tables, Yang, and even Ruby, and her team all turned to look. This slowly caused a chain reaction, and almost the whole cafeteria went silent and stared at Jaune as he confronted the bully. The ginger-haired brute let go of the girl's ears, his teammates still surrounding her, and walked up to Jaune, getting all up in his face.

Cardin inspected the little runt before him, sizing him up, when he spotted the little tag above his chest plate that said, visitor. "Aww, look, we got a pipsqueak that thinks he's a tough guy just because he's visiting a huntsman academy. Do you know who I am?" Cardin poked Jaune in the chest. "I'm Cardin Winchester. My family fought the animals in the Great War. I'm just doing what they would have done."

Jaune stood his ground and stared Cardin straight in the face. "All I see is a bully who needs to make others feel small so he can feel big," Jaune spat back at Cardin.

There was a low rung ooh throughout the nearby tables at the diss. Cardin was irritated by the unexpected comeback, but he didn't bother using words; this time, he was going to let his fist do the talking. The punch came, but Jaune wasn't afraid. If anything, he felt... disappointed. He was punching so slowly. Yang's fist would have connected with him by now. It was an easy dodge for Jaune as he juked his head to the right.

The watching students again oohed at the successful dodge. This only seemed to anger Cardin more, who threw another punch at the blonde. Instead of dodging, Jaune raised his palm and caught Cardin's fist, channeling his aura to take the hit and keep Cardin's fist locked in his grip. Yang had taught him this very early on in their lessons. Jaune grinned as Cardin struggled to wiggle his hand free. He felt proud of himself; caught up in the moment, he didn't notice the second fist by one of Cardin's team members. The second fist collided with Jaune's face, knocking him to the ground.

Now free, Cardin stood over Jaune, ready to strike again, when suddenly the room temperature increased. "Hey!" Cardin turned towards the shout.

Yang, eyes red, her hair on fire, approached Cardin. "Why don't we even things up?" She cracked her knuckles. Even without her gauntlets, those fists of hers were deadly weapons.

"You want some too, Bimbo?" Cardin threatened.

"Don't call her that!" Jaune shouted. Furious, he decided to take a page out of Qrow's playbook. While the dusty huntsman was teaching Jaune about proper swordplay, he was also imparting onto Jaune some of the many life lessons he had learned. Jaune propped himself up slightly by his elbows and, with his foot, kicked Cardin right in the family jewels.

Cardin instantly hunched over, clutching his privates in pain. "You little shit!" Cardin squeaked out in pain. He would have fallen over if not for his team grabbing him and propping him back up. As they did that, Yang helped Jaune get back up to his feet.

"You're gonna pay for that you little shit." Cardin openly threatened the blonde boy.

"Hey!" Ruby's voice came through as she stood beside her sister and Jaune. Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha followed shortly. It wasn't just Yang and Jaune that Cardin and his team stood against now.

"Do you really want to go through with this Winchester?" Weiss asked.

Cardin scanned the cafeteria; everyone had their eyes on them. If this went on any longer, a professor would surely come. The last thing he needed was for Goodwitch to get involved. He gave a low growl and said, "You got lucky, punk." Cardin spat, then turned around. "Come on guys." He and his team started walking away.

The Faunus girl slowly approached Jaune and said, "Th... Thank you," before she scurried off to a table.

"You okay, Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Yea, I'm all good. Didn't even hurt." Jaune flashed a genuine smile to reassure them.

"What were you thinking? Cardin's twice your size." Weiss chastised him for being so reckless. Ruby and Pyrrha looked at him with worry, making sure he was okay. Blake looked at Jaune with respect, standing up for Velvet like that. Yang, on the other hand, looked at Jaune with nothing but pure pride.

...

A few more hours had passed, and it was time for Yang and Jaune to return to Vale. They stood by Beacon's bullhead port and were saying their goodbyes.

"It was so good to see you, Yang! You have to come back again before the year is over." Ruby gave her sister another tight hug before she turned to Jaune next. "It was nice meeting you, Jaune. I hope you get into Beacon next year!"

"It was nice meeting you too, Ruby; thanks for letting me tag along. You're more than welcome to come visit the apartment in Vale whenever you want." Jaune kindly offered.

"Really!?"

"If you finish your homework." Yang teased in a motherly tone.

"Pfft, I always do," Ruby said, waving it off. Yang knew better than anyone that while that may be true, she never always got it done on time.

She gave a short snort laughing and said, "See ya Rubes!" She and Jaune then boarded the bullhead together.

...

"I'm back!" Ruby exclaimed, Returning to her dorm room.

While most rooms had two beds on each side of the room. Team RNBW had decided that makeshift bunk beds were more optimal. On the left, Weiss's bed sat under Ruby's, which was held together by rope. On the right, Pyrrha's bed stood over Blake's, supported by a couple of books. It was a miracle no one had died so far. Weiss was studying at her desk, Blake was sitting on her bed reading the same novel from lunch, and Pyrrha was brushing her hair, preparing herself for bed.

"Hello again." Pyrrha waved. "You have a lovely sister Ruby." She added.

Ruby walked over to her bed and hopped up, taking a seat and leaving her legs dangling off the side. "Yea, she's the best!"

"Her boyfriend, Jaune, seems nice too," Blake said, not taking her eyes off her book.

"They're... dating?" Pyrrha asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"What? No! They're just roommates." Ruby responded.

"Could have fooled me how close they seemed. I mean who brings their roommate to see their little sister," Blake pointed out

"If they are dating, I don't get what your sister sees in him." Weiss joined the conversation, twisting behind in her chair to look at the others.

"Yang would have told me if she had a boyfriend." Right? Yang told her everything. Well, almost everything. "And besides, Yang brought him because he wanted to see Beacon; he's going to be trying out for next year," Ruby added.

"Beacon gives tours throughout the whole year. He could have gone on any one of them. Maybe she wanted to introduce you two first, get you to know and like him before she revealed it to you." Blake suggested.

"That just sounds like the plot of a cheesy romance novel." Blake glared at Pyrrha as she turned the page of one of her many, many romance novels. It totally wasn't what she was thinking of the whole time as she suggested it. "I'm sure they're just really good friends," Pyrrha added though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than the others.

Though the conversation had changed after Pyrrha's remark, Ruby, on the other hand, was thinking to herself. While Yang had said she and Jaune were just roommates, she now started to wonder if what Blake said was true.

...

So far, the return trip to Vale had been smooth with no turbulence. Not wanting to take any chances, Jaune channeled his Aura as soon as the bullhead took off, just to ensure there were no accidents on the way home.

"Ruby's pretty cool. I can tell she looks up to you a lot." While showing them around Beacon, Ruby never stopped asking what Yang thought or filling her in on all the details of her time in and out of classes. It was clear the little red reaper dearly missed her sister.

"Well, when you have a sister as awesome as me, it's pretty hard not to. Though, things were hard after-" Yang stopped herself, realizing what she was about to say. She was surprised by how casually she was going to share about Summer's passing like that. She didn't talk about these things so openly with others.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Jaune said, catching her hesitation and slight uneasiness.

Yang looked up at him, the warm, dopey, sympathetic smile on his face. She could trust him.

"No, it's okay... I want to. You see, we lost our mother at a young age." Jaune looked sorry for her at the reveal. "Ruby was sad but too young, to fully understand it at the time. Our dad was there but was just shut down for a while. It was on me to look after Ruby. I did my best to prepare her. I tried to break her out of it, but Ruby was always shy while growing up. I was so relieved at first that we were going to Beacon at the same time. I could keep a close eye on her even if we weren't on the same team. Then I got my spot rejected and suddenly Ruby was thrown into a huntsman academy two years ahead and by herself. I know I said I wasn't that worried, but in truth, I was terrified."

"That makes sense, you practically raised her. You should be proud." Those weren't the words Yang was expecting. "I mean, look at Ruby, leader of her own kickass huntress team and it seems like she's made a bunch of really good friends. I'd say you more than succeeded not only as a big sister but as a mother, too!" Damn, Yang felt like she could tear up any moment. It was nice feeling validated.

She wiped her eye before a tear could form and gave Jaune a wry look. "Don't forget yourself, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor, standing up for that Faunus girl back there," Yang said dramatically, nudging him a bit.

"It's just... no one was doing anything. I couldn't just sit there." Jaune looked to the side. "Then when he called you that." Yang saw his fist clench. Yang hadn't personally cared about the name-call. It wasn't the first time she'd been called a bimbo and it definitely wouldn't be the last. It was endearing to see Jaune so defensive about it though. Jaune was very respectful; he didn't openly ogle her, nor did he actively try to sneak a peek when they worked out together or when she was in the shower. It was a nice change from the guys at Signal.

"Eh, I'm not too hurt. Some people just look at me and think, oh, she's just a pretty face." Yang shrugged; she was a busty blonde. Yang knew the stereotypes.

"Anyone who thinks you're just a pretty face is an idiot. You're so much more: You're beautiful, smart, funny, caring, and you practically brighten up the room when you walk in it." Yang was taken aback. She could feel her face getting warmer. Thankfully, Jaune was too focused on talking to notice the prominent blush on her face. Mr. Smooth over here hadn't stammered or blushed once as he complimented her. He didn't even sound like he was intentionally flirting, just speaking his mind. Where had this Jaune been all this time?

It was weird being the one who was speechless and blushing; Yang couldn't have it.

"So you think I'm beautiful?" She asked in a teasing tone fluttering her eyes.

Jaune seemed to return to Remnant at the question, realizing the stuff he said, and Yang saw the noodle-like guy she had grown accustomed to return. He stammered a bit, looking away before he said shyly, "Yea." Because he was looking away, he didn't see Yang lean over. He simply felt a warm pair of lips brush against his face as Yang gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thanks." The teasing tone was gone, replaced with a genuine soft voice. She leaned back into her seat and added, "You should keep up that confidence, it's a good look on you."

Author's Notes: I wanted to say thank you for the follows, the favs, and the comments/reviews, which I've enjoyed reading through them all. I'm excited to keep this story going and thought of even more Dragonslayer stories to tell after. There's still more of this story I plan to tell, and I actually have the next two chapters almost done, but I will be sticking to my weekly Monday release to fine-tune the chapters and edit where needed. I'm sure it was noticed there was a surprising lack of Ren and Nora in this Beacon chapter, and I just want to say there is a reason for that, and that will both appear in due time. As always, hope you enjoy!