Heart to Heart

Chapter 14: What to Do

The first thing that Jaune heard was the shower when he woke up, he blinked away the sleep from his eyes as he looked around to see an empty bed. He figured that Yang was in the shower as he got up and stretched out. He sat on the bed deep in thought last night hadn't been what he expected to happen. He had never seen Yang so hurt and vulnerable like that, he always saw her as a panicle of confidence and strength.

Seeing her like that made him realize that everyone, even those he felt were stronger than him, could have moments like that. Personally, he didn't like seeing Yang in that state, or anyone really. But to him Yang should always be the one that was that spark of energy, the one with the lame jokes, the one that put so much passion into everything she did.

He heard a knocking at the door as Jaune put on the robe. He had no idea how early it was but a quick look told him they had slept in more than usual. He figured after last night they both needed some extra time to rest. He opened the door to find that the laundry service was dropping off clothing at the moment.

Jaune thanked them as he got two white bags, taking a quick look he saw that it was in fact their clothing just to make sure. The water in the shower turned off as he went to knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"Hey they just dropped off our clothes."

"Oh perfect!" Yang was so happy to hear that she didn't want to spend more time in just her underwear with a robe on. "Can you leave it by the door?"

"Sure thing." He did so and went to the bed. He wasn't sure what else to do so he turned on the TV and flipped the channels around. He was never much a fan of early morning programs, nothing every really seemed good to him. Jaune heard the door open and then close as he figured Yang had gotten her clothing.

He just placed it on the local news not really caring about what was on when Yang's voice called out to him.

"Hey Jaune, is my bra still out there?"

Jaune froze as he remembered that she had taken it off during the night. Slowly he looked over the side of the bed she had been on and there on the ground was an orange bra just sitting there.

"Uh…yeah."

There was a pause as Yang considered what to do as she suddenly had a very wicked idea. "Can you hand it to me?"

"W-what!?"

"Oh come on Jaune you're telling me that with all those sisters you never saw a bra before?" Yang told him through the door. "Oh and grab my arm will you?"

While that was true, those were his sisters. He took a sigh as he reached down and picked it up, although he tried not to look too closely he couldn't help but notice that it was larger than any of his sisters. He focused on getting her robotic arm as he quickly went to the bathroom door. With a blushing face he knocked on the door which only got worse when she opened it.

"Oh thanks for giving a girl a hand." She grinned at him.

"Uh…yeah sure." He quickly looked away as she reached to grab the items, mainly because the shirt she had been wearing was resting on her slightly wet skin and it was clinging to her body. He could especially see the two nubs of her nipples poking out and he suddenly felt very warm at the moment.

Yang looked down. "Oh sorry about the shirt, I'll dry it for you when we get back."

"I-it's alright," he told her. "Just glad you got some use out of it."

"Thanks Jaune." She closed the door as he went to the bed and groaned.

"I swear she's going to kill me," He groaned trying to stop picturing her in what was basically a wet shirt.

Yang knew it was a bit of a dirty move but she figured the best way to get his attention was to at least start by gaining it the best way she knew how. She had forgotten her arm and bra so when she got her clothing and realized the missing items she had a small plan on having Jaune get them for her. From the looks on his face, he was trying very hard to respect her, which she did like about him, but she was wondering if it was only respect or if he actually did find her attractive.

Sure, he once said she was beautiful but you can say that about something and not be attracted to it. She needed a little more information and as she dressed, another idea came to mind.

Eventually Yang and Jaune came out into the sunlight of the early morning looking around. They had turned in their key, showered, dressed and picked up their bags as they were now on their way back to the house. They found that the streets were still wet from all the rain last night and the air was filled with the after scent of rainwater.

"Hey you want to get breakfast at someplace?" Yang suddenly asked him. "I figure everyone might have already eaten so we might as well eat on the way there."

He thought about it but his stomach told him that it was a good idea.

Yang laughed at it but stopped when her own stomach rumbled.

"Yep I think that's a good idea," He smirked at her as she shot him a look.

They walked the streets making their way back to the house looking for some place decent. They found a restaurant that served breakfast and decided this was the place. It was a bit of an old school design, it felt like the place had been in business for quite some time. Which most likely meant good food if they stayed in business this long. The place only had a few customers as it was still a bit early for the morning rush and they were easily shown to a booth.

Yang sat across from him as they put their bags under the wooden table. They looked through the menu and ordered.

As they waited for their order, Yang was looking off to the side with a finger tracing lines across the surface of the table. There was a lot on her mind after all as she cast a look to Jaune, he had no idea what was going through her mind because if he did he was sure to be all nervous and flustered. She grinned at the thought, he did look cute when he was like that though. Like when he had given her the bra and had seen a peek with that slightly wet shirt.

That was one of the reasons she was giving him a shot, his eyes never lingered. It was a bit of a test she had, she would sometimes bend down or stretch back and pretend she was looking a different direction to see how long the guy would stare are her tits. If he went beyond a quick glance then that was it for them, she had figured out early on to tell those that just wanted her for her body early on in life. Or at least those that couldn't hide that fact from her, those types were a bit harder to root out.

So far, Jaune was passing those tests with flying colors. Even when they had been alone in a bed together in nothing but their underwear, he never once tried anything. She couldn't think of any of the guys she had been out with before Beacon that would have that kind of self-restraint.

He noticed her looking at him. "What?"

"Kind of an out of the blue question for you but I'm curious about something," She said turning her attention to him. "What kind of girls are you into?"

"W-what?" Jaune snapped back a little. "Why, uh, why do you want to know?"

She shrugged, "Just curious. I mean you went right after Weiss first time you met so I was thinking you were into slender girls but I also remember you hitting on Pyrrha as well that time."

Jaune groaned as he face palmed. "Thank you for reminding me of that."

Yang gave a small laugh, "You kind of had it coming when she speared you into the locker like that."

"Yeah I know," He sighed, he had since learned that what he had done wasn't actually 'confidence' but came off as more a creep. That was just one in the many things he wished he could take back or have a do over in his life.

"So?" Yang asked him again. "What are you interested in?"

Yang hoped she might get some insight into the kind of girl he liked, if he thought of her as a friend it would be easy to get some info out of him. After all, if he liked girls like with Weiss' figure she knew that she was a bit out of luck from the start but maybe it wasn't body type for him.

Jaune felt a bit embarrassed talking about it but she did seem interested and after last night, he felt a bit closer to her now. He took a breath thinking back on his old feelings for Weiss.

"I'm not sure about my type, I mean Weiss and Pyrrha both were pretty in their own ways. Weiss's pale skin, snow white hair was what caught my attention but it was more than that. She was so confident and sure of herself that day. She was showing everything I kind of wanted to have more of. I just looked at her and went 'wow that girl knows what she wants' and it kind of got me interested."

"So then what about Pyrrha?"

He got a bit quiet before talking. "Well the truth is I did find her physically attractive too. It was just that I was trying to be 'confident' that day. After that failure, I stopped and when she and I become partners I figured that was enough, you know? I never thought she had feelings for me, at least not until it was too late."

Yang was starting to regret bringing this up and decided to try and change the subject. "Okay I'm surprised you didn't try to go after someone else than Weiss though, she kept rejecting you after all."

Jaune scratched the back of his head, "Yeah well, I didn't have many options plus having one girl reject you is easier to take than multiple ones and I figured maybe I would find that one thing that would work. Looking back, I should have stopped as it was getting a bit much at times. I really should apologize for that time. I'm pretty sure I annoyed her to no end and might have come across as a little creepy at times."

"I'm pretty sure she's already over that," She said while internally frowning, there it was again. His lack of confidence, she was really starting to get worried about this side of him. "What do you mean not many options?"

"Well it's not easy for me to meet girls," He shrugged. "Never had a girlfriend sadly and I thought that since I was in Beacon maybe I can find one on top of being a student. I was never the popular kid if you know what I mean. The only other girls I knew were Nora, which was just a no. I think of her as more like a sister if you know what I mean."

Yang nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"Well Blake was…she's kind of hard to get a handle on. We didn't talk much back in school so I wasn't sure how to approach her."

Yang could relate, Blake was her partner and at times Yang had found it hard to get past Blake's emotional walls she had put up during that first semester. Things got better of course but man it was like pulling teeth sometimes during the early days of their team.

"Ruby was a flat no."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

Jaune saw this and started to panic. "I mean she was my first friend and I didn't want to try anything to ruin it. Plus she's more like a little sister to me and dating her would be…weird."

Yang nodded her head thankful for the explanation. "So why not me?"

"Oh uh…well…do you want the truth?"

"Of course."

"You were kind of…intimidating." Jaune admitted.

Yang blinked, "What?"

"I mean not physically, well okay sure physically, let's be honest even with all the training we're doing you'd still mop the floor with me most times." He admitted. "It's just that, well, you're…"

"Spit it out Jaune."

"You're really beautiful and all the flirting kept making me flustered. I didn't know how to handle a girl like you. You're also Ruby's big sister I didn't want anyone to think that I was using her to get closer to you. I've had guys try that with me with to get closer to some of my older sisters and I know it's not fun. Plus I didn't want Ruby to think that either as she looked to really needed a friend on that first day, not some guy hitting on her big sister."

"Oh." Yang sat back to think on that. She appreciated that he thought of her sister's feelings, that already put one more check in the box for him in her opinion. It also was nice to know that he found her physically attractive. Sure, she had a feeling he did she had seen plenty of guys checking her out in her life time to know she was hot. It was just nice to confirm that at least physically she was appealing to him, now she just need to work on the emotionally appealing part.

They spent the time there just talking, sometimes it was just nothing or they would talk about some of the things they had gotten up to at Beacon. During the meal, she asked what it was like growing up with such a large family and she in turn told him stories about Patch and what life was like for her and Ruby there.

They kept the more happier moments as each started to learn a bit more about the other, plus talking about good times brought back fond memories something they both felt like they needed at the moment. By the end of it both of them were in higher spirits as they finally got back to the house.

As they got to the front door, she stopped them from going inside. "So just to get our story straight. Separate beds, no nightmares and we didn't see each other in our underwear."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah I really don't want your uncle after me for that last one."

"Oh he wouldn't do anything." At least she hoped. "Say Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"About last night, with the nightmare and all that, thank you." She said softly.

"It's okay we're both dealing with a lot of issues at the moment." He replied gently to her.

She nodded her head and looked up at him. "You're a good man Jaune."

Yang reached up with her flesh and blood hand to caress the side of his face as she got on her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek. The boy blushed at the contact as he looked down and found her lilac eyes looking into him. They looked warm and inviting to Jaune who couldn't help but have his mind go a bit blank.

"Don't ever think or let anyone else tell you otherwise." Yang simply said before opening the door and jarring his mind into gear again.

"Hey guys we're back," Yang called out.

"YANG!" A high pitched voice called out as Ruby rushed in a flurry of rose peddles into her big sister making Yang grunt from the impact.

"Hey we told you guys we weren't going to make it back with the storm." Yang chuckled.

"I know but I can't help but worry." Ruby flushed in embarrassment it was the longest they had been apart since they got back together and a little part of her couldn't help but worry.

"Well don't be, we got a bit wet but everything worked out," Yang stretched out seeing everyone else coming into the main room.

"We're just glad you both are fine," Blake said next. "We thought you would have been here earlier."

"We stopped at a place for breakfast," Jaune explained to them.

"See." Weiss said looking at Ruby, when she saw the looks Yang and Jaune were giving her she explained. "Ruby was starting to worry an hour ago, I told her that you two either slept in or were enjoying a meal."

"Well now that's out of the way I really need to brush my hair," Yang told them heading to the stairs. Her hair was still a bit of a mess from not getting brushed after the shower and she was very particular about it. She could just feel how 'wrong' it felt on her head.

"It has looked better," Weiss commented seeing it.

"Thanks," Yang said in a flat tone. She knew Weiss didn't mean anything by it, she was just the only one that would tell her how it was without worrying. Yang climbed the stairs as she got into their room and pulled off her jacket and flung it aside. Now that she was alone she could think, well think and brush.

Getting her hairbrush out she sat on her bed starting to get her hair nice and free of tangles. She wasn't sure where to go with Jaune, oh sure she knew what she wanted to do but how was the best way to get there. She was sure that Jaune at least found her attractive but she wanted him to like her for more than her looks.

Pausing she felt that this was a good a time as any to pull out her scroll for some help. She saw that the power on it was low and quickly typed in a simple message before sending it to four people and putting it on the charger next to the bed.

Yang continued to keep brushing before the door opened and a confused Ruby and Weiss entered.

"Yang we got your message," Ruby said looking at her scroll. "But I don't get it."

"Yeah what does 'emergency girl talk needed, come to the room' mean?" Weiss asked.

"Let's wait for the others to show up first." Yang continued to brush before Nora came in looking excited and finally Blake the last to arrive not long after.

"Okay we're all here," Weiss commented on her bed. "What's going on?"

Yang sighed as she put down the brush. "I need some advice."

There was a pause as the girls could see how serious she looked. Blake sat down across from her partner as Ruby took the place next to her sister and Nora and Weiss moved closer.

Yang looked at them. "Well see, the thing is, I might have recently…started to have feelings for a certain someone."

"Feelings?" Ruby questioned.

Nora gasped as she pointed at Yang. "Yang, do you mean to tell us that you have a crush on someone?"

That got everyone's attention to the blonde as she nodded her head. This was a bit unexpected from everyone but Ruby was the first to gush out and hug her big sister.

"That's so cool!" She squealed. "Who is it? Is it someone we know?"

"Oh yeah we know him," Yang rolled her eyes.

The girls started to do a mental checklist of all the boys they knew that were around.

"It's not someone from team SSSN is it?" Blake hesitantly asked as she found that she really hoped it wasn't Sun. She was trying to figure out her own feelings for the boy. They were close that much was obvious to her. After everything they had been through lately, it was unavoidable to get close during all that and she knew that he did have feelings for her. Her mother's words of either letting him know that his feels for her were returned or not had been echoing in her mind lately.

Thinking that Yang might like Sun suddenly mad her heart feel like someone had gripped it slightly.

"Nope your boy toy is safe from me Blake," Yang teased.

Blake blushed at the nickname. "He's not my boy t-it's not like that."

"That also leaves Neptune out Weiss." Yang grinned but then paused seeing the slightly dark look on the girl's face as Blake made 'no' gestures and shaking her head outside of said girl's view.

'Wow what happened there? Damn it I need to get out of his minefield I just stepped into,' Yang quickly thought.

"Well it's not Ren," Nora laughed. "I mean that would be unfortunately for you…very unfortunate."

The normally bright and bubbly girl suddenly had this dark aura around her that made the other girls shift slightly away from her. They knew that Nora was crazy strong given she swung around a war hammer as a weapon like it was a paperweight.

"It's not Ren," Yang assured her as the girl suddenly went back to a cheery attitude.

"Well the only one left is…Oscar?" Ruby asked looking at her sister with a confused look.

"Ew gross!" Yang pushed her little sister a bit. "He's like over four years younger than me and is fourteen!"

"No wait he's not the only one!" Nora shouted as her eyes lit up. "There's Jaune!"

Suddenly everyone slowly looked at the blonde and there were surprised to see the small smile on her face and her face take on a soft composure.

"Oh my god," Weiss breathed out. "It's really Jaune."

"What!?" Ruby jumped onto the bed with her knees on the cushions facing her sister. "When did this happen!?"

Ruby was actually kind of all for it, Jaune was her best (male) friend after all and the thought of him and her big sister together was kind of nice. She had seen the kinds of guys that Yang tried dating over the years at Signal and she hadn't been impressed by them. Neither were dad, uncle Qrow and eventually Yang herself. Now that she thought about it, Yang had never really had a boy around her for more than a week.

Usually she would find something about the guy that she couldn't stand. She could remember times her sister coming home angry shouting about how stupid boys were or cursing someone's name. Ruby also remembered how some of those guys would try and be 'nice' to her in order to get closer to Yang. Her sister never fell for such a thing and when Yang noticed it, that was when she kicked the guy to the curb.

A few times literally, if they didn't take the hint.

"I don't know," Yang sighed as she fell onto her back staring up at the ceiling. "If you were to tell me a year ago that the boy that threw up on my shoes on that first day I would get feelings for I'd have laughed at your face."

"Well he has improved since we first met him," Weiss admitted as everyone looked at her. "What? He has, the training that I and Blake have been doing with his swordsmanship is a clear indication."

"He is doing much better," Blake commented.

"It's not just him getting stronger," Yang told them getting up. "He pushes himself harder than anyone I've known. When he gets serious about his training, he will push himself into the ground if you didn't stop him. He's also one of the kindness people I know, he's honest to a fault really, he's a bit of a dork but so our dad."

Ruby smiled at that one as she could agree one of the reasons she liked Jaune as a close friend was because of the warmth he had as a person that reminded her of how her dad was at times.

"He'd also give his life for anyone," Yang continued. "He wouldn't be afraid to help out a friend and never goes back on his word."

She let out a breath. "He's like the ultimate 'good guy' you know the kind of guy you bring home to meet the family kind of guy."

"And you like or don't like that type?" Blake was trying to gauge her partner's emotions at this moment since Yang's taste in boys from what she knew was generally on looks.

"Back then I was more into the whole 'bad boy' thing," Yang sighed thinking about how she had been before she lost her arm. "I thought that a good looking boy who wasn't afraid to break the rules would be fun to hang out with. I tried dating guys like that but they all ended up being jerks in some way."

"And now?" Weiss asked.

"Now, I don't know, I feel like everything I went through kind of opened my eyes." Yang knew she was different now. She had been change by her injury and recovery. She wasn't a new person but she wasn't as rash as she had been before for instance. "Now I guess I want a real guy, someone who will be there for me. Someone that would stand beside me that I can count on, someone I can still have a good time with and who will pull me back if I get too impulsive or down."

Ruby smiled softly. "That sounds like Jaune alright."

"I think he might be good for me," Yang said softly remembering last night of him holding her. Not saying anything, just being there for her when she needed someone.

"I think you might be good for him too." Nora said somberly as everyone looked surprised at the girl as she looked at everyone. "Me and Ren noticed it and we've been talking about it but Jaune hasn't been the same since, well since then."

"He's got so much pain and anger inside of him that it's kind of scary." Nora shifted thinking about it. "Both Ren and I are so worried about him, he keeps it all bottled up and he's tearing himself apart because of it but we don't know what to do."

Ruby looked down remembering seeing Jaune in the woods with his scroll training with the video of Pyrrha, so how he acting in that fight when he saw Cinder and lost it, how he charged ahead not carrying if he lived or died. She was scared too but she also didn't have any idea of what to do about it. Make a plan to take on the bad guys or inspire people she could do but how to heal someone's heart was beyond her.

Weiss and Blake shared looks, Blake had only heard about it after the fact what went down in the battle and Weiss nodded to her telling the Faunus that she too had seen this in that battle.

Yang was silent then, she too knew the kind of pain and how deeply it was hurting Jaune. Maybe it was the big sister part of her that just wanted to hold him and comfort him for a change as Jaune was the kind of person that carried the weight of the world on his shoulders like it was only his burden. He didn't like to bring his problems to others but he was willing to take on the problems of others as well as his own.

"So why are you talking to us about it?" Weiss asked trying to get the topic off such a somber mood. "Wouldn't you usually just go right up to a boy and flirt or whatever?"

"Normally yeah," Yang nodded. "But I've never had feelings for a friend before and I don't want to ruin it plus…plus I don't know if he's over Pyrrha. I don't want to seem like I'm replacing her to him or if he's even ready to move on."

And that was it, the major question for Yang. How do you compete with a memory? How do you get over the ghost of a love that was denied before it really began? Pyrrha was her friend too and in a way she wished she knew what the red head would think of all this. Would she consent to it? Would she have hated Yang going for Jaune? Truth was she hadn't the time to really get close enough to the girl to know that much beyond she liked Pyrrha as a friend.

Maybe it was because she had thought they would have all the time in the world to get to know one another, they were supposed to have four years together , all of them, to learn about each other but they hadn't even had a full year.

"I think I can safely say that she would want Jaune to be happy no matter what," Nora said with sad eyes. "Jaune was always first in her heart and I know she would hate seeing him like this. She would want him to move on and find someone again and not spend the rest of his life in mourning, lost in all that pain he keeps inside."

Yang smiled sadly" Yeah, she was that kind of person wasn't she?"

Maybe she did know the girl well enough to believe that much. She just hoped that wherever Pyrrha was now Yang had the girl's blessing to try.

"I think I got what I needed." Yang said a bit more upbeat.

"So what are you going to do?" Ruby asked eager for the answer.

Yang smirked, "I think I'm going to see if I can get myself my own little knight in shining armor."

"Well you got our support!" Ruby jumped up and hugged her sister.

"This is so coo." Nora smiled brightly. "Oh this means you can go on double dates with me and Ren."

Yang smiled at that, "Maybe later first I got to tell him how I feel and see from there."

As the girls wished her luck they all left to go about their day, all but Blake as she stood there looking conflicted about something. Yang noticed this as she was wondering what was going through the dark haired girl's mind. Things between them weren't fully patched up, sure a lot of work had been put into it but there was still the phantom pain of her leaving like she had.

"So what's up?" Yang asked.

"Can I ask for your advice on something?" Blake hesitantly asked.

"Sure thing."

"How do you know if telling someone how you feel is the right choice?" She asked. "How do you know that this is the right move to make?"

"I don't."

"But what if things don't go well?" Blake asked getting a bit more emotional now. "What if it ends up being a mistake or what if something really bad happens?"

"Then it happens." Yang shrugged and looked at her partner. "Blake it's all about risk, Jaune might not return my feelings and yeah it will suck but I'll get over it. Maybe he'll respond and we end up dating, no one knows how things will turn out. We could end up finding out we were better off as friends down the line or well, we could end up together."

She felt her cheeks heat up a little at that thought but quickly pushed it aside, it was way too early to even think of stuff like that. Yang got up and placed her hands on Blake's shoulders.

"If you want to know why I'm doing this it's because I think it's worth it," Yang simply told her looking into her yellow eyes. "I'm not going to run away from my problems, I'm not going to hide away from the world."

She silently added 'not again' in her mind.

Blake's ears dropped as she thought about it, really thought about how she felt about Sun. When she thought about him she felt this lightness inside and when she thought of her life without him, she felt a weight on her. He had been with her in her worst moments and he always tried to bring a ray of sunlight into her light.

"So what are you going to do about it girl?" Yang challenged her with the same words she had said to herself earlier that morning.

Blake looked up into a set of strong lilac colored eyes and felt a bit of that strength into her.

"I think I know now." Blake stated with a determined look.

Yang grinned. "Good girl."

TBC…