Jaune stared blankly ahead, having already zoned out of Professor Oobleck's lecture. It was hard not to with how fast he spoke. Seriously, how did he even think that quickly?

However he did it, it certainly wasn't helping his grades.

Hey, at least Oobleck didn't call him up to the front and make him fight Cardin every other week. Only Goodwitch reserved that right.

Unable to even try pretending like he was paying attention, Jaune leaned forward and put his head down on his desk, his eyelids growing heavier by the second. It was the last class of the day, it wasn't really that big a deal if he dozed off for a second, was it?

"Jaune? Perhaps you might be able to give us an answer?"

Jaune jolted up. Somehow, he had completely forgotten about his history teacher's tendency to put people on the spot.

"I-er, I uhh… well…" As if not having an answer wasn't embarrassing enough, now he was fumbling his words. "Could I have the question again?"

Oobleck paused for a few seconds, staring at him with disappointment, before sighing and repeating himself.

"I was just asking which major city trusted General Cadmore with its protection during the first half of the Great War. I don't suppose you have an answer?"

His mind drew a blank as he looked around and saw almost everyone else in the class staring at him. When had they ever learned about General Cadmore?

Well, probably at some point when he was half-asleep, but was that really relevant?

"It was Minstrel." A familiar-sounding voice came from behind him, just loud enough for him to hear.

He cleared his throat. "Minstrel. The answer is Minstrel."

"Very good. I'm glad to see you were paying attention after all," Oobleck said, before going right back to teaching at break-neck pace.

Jaune looked behind him to see his savior. Cinder Fall, the girl from the library, looked back at him. He flashed her an awkward smile that, against all odds, was reciprocated.

She seemed like a nice girl. She had stayed and talked to him up until Pyrrha pulled him aside, too, so he supposed she must've thought something similar of him. He sure hoped she did.

The rest of class went by largely ignored by Jaune. He only noticed class had even ended because of his partner grabbing his attention.

"Hey, Jaune, we can go now. Class is over." Pyrrha put her hand on his shoulder and motioned towards the door, where everyone else was already headed.

"Oh, yea. Sorry, I was lost in thought for a little while there."

"Are you alright, Jaune?" She looked at him with concern. "You know you can talk to me and the rest of the team if you need to."

What kind of a question was that? Of course he was! He was… fine. He'd just been having a rough go of things, that was all.

It wasn't like he hadn't been prepared for Beacon to be a challenge. It was just that, well… he hadn't really been prepared to feel so embarrassed about it all.

What had he told Pyrrha? That he was "tired of being the loveable idiot stuck in the tree" or something along those lines? He had since managed to swallow his pride and accept her help, but that still hadn't changed. He was still holding his team back. As their leader, the expectation was that he would help them to succeed, but he was just doing the opposite, and it was quite frankly humiliating.

Pyrrha didn't need to know that, though. She was already dealing with plenty of expectations herself, and the last thing she needed was for him to dump all of his emotions on her.

"I'm fine, Pyrrha," he said, managing a smile. "Just tired is all. Had trouble falling asleep last night and it's finally starting to catch up to me. Sleep deprivation hits in the afternoon, you know."

"If you say so," she said hesitantly. "Just know I'm here for you. We all are."

"Thanks, Pyrrha, I appreciate that. Let's head back to the dorm now that classes are over."

The two of them met up with Ren and Nora, who were waiting by the door, and started to head back to their dorm room. That wasn't really where he wanted to be, though. He needed to clear his head, and being cooped up in a room with three other people was not going to help him do that, no matter how close he was to those people.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna take a quick walk around campus, get my blood flowing. You guys head back to the dorm and I'll be there soon."

"Where are you going?" Nora gasped, getting what she surely thought was the best idea in human-faunus history. "We should go into Vale for the night!"

"Nora, it's a school night," Ren said, saving him from whatever antics Nora was hoping to get into. "Besides, I think Jaune wants to be alone."

Jaune nodded. "Yea, I'd rather just get out by myself. Get some me-time."

He turned around towards the nearest exit, but paused when he heard Pyrrha's voice.

"Just… be back soon, okay Jaune?"

He returned her smile with one of his own, a real one this time.

"Yea, I won't be too long."

As soon as he got outside, he took a deep breath, taking in his surroundings. The weather was nice and warm, and the leaves were beginning to turn from green to yellow and red. It was a part of the year he always looked enjoyed.

There were plenty of other students walking around campus, most having just been released from class and were walking back to the dorms, while others like him just needed to get outside after a long day. Everything seemed so lively, contrasting with the dull classrooms he was finally getting away from.

Jaune found a wooden bench to sit down on and leaned back, looking straight up towards the sky. Clouds were few and far between. The general peacefulness made all his worrying seem pretty silly.

How could I have possibly been so upset on a day like this?

He sat there for what must have been close to an hour, just watching people come and go and the clouds drift across the sky. He really didn't want to leave, but unfortunately he couldn't just stay there forever. Eventually, he prepared to get up off the bench and go back to his dorm, but, once again, a familiar voice came from behind him, making him jump.

"Once again, fate brings us together. Perhaps it's trying to tell us something?"

Cinder leaned against the back of the bench, grinning at him.

"Hey, Cinder. Thanks for bailing me out earlier. Oobleck likes to pick on people he catches dozing off. 'Classroom slumberers,' he calls them." Jaune chuckled. He would admit that it could be a little amusing when you weren't the one being called out.

"Oh, it was nothing," she said, walking around to the front of the bench and taking a seat right next to him. "Besides, it's a bit ridiculous for him to expect you to learn much of anything when he talks as fast as he does."

"Thank you! I can hardly keep up with anything he says! It's honestly amazing to me that anybody can get anything out of his classes." Jaune flushed in embarrassment, realizing that he was probably making himself look bad. "I mean, I learn enough to get okay marks, but not much more than that. And being put on the spot isn't as bad as detentions, so I suppose that makes him a little better than Ms. Goodwitch."

"I take it Goodwitch is the strict one around here. She's given you some trouble, I presume?"

"Well, she gives just about anyone trouble, I suppose, but I guess I get it worse because of my… performance. I'm… not exactly top of the class."

"That shouldn't matter. Remember what I told you yesterday?" Cinder looked him deep in the eyes. "As long as you're strong enough to help, it's nonsensical to compare yourself to your peers."

"Yea, you're right." Jaune broke eye contact and awkwardly looked around.

He had a feeling that she knew something was bothering him, afterall, he was pretty bad at hiding his emotions. Hopefully she wouldn't dig into it. He left so he didn't have to weigh his team down and didn't feel like putting that all on Cinder. Fortunately, there didn't really seem to be any reason for her to ask about it.

"You don't think you're good enough to help people?"

Jaune looked at her with surprise. He was taken off guard, not entirely because she was, in fact, digging into it, but because of how right she had gotten it. They'd only even talked once, but she had read him like a book.

"I-well, that's notexactly true…"

Cinder gave him a look of concern and disbelief, one he'd seen on Pyrrha's face more than he would've liked to. He never was a great liar.

"I mean, I guess you wouldn't be wrong there."

"Well, that's why you're here, is it not?" Cinder put her hand on his shoulder, making his blush even worse. "To improve? No first year at any academy is ready to be a huntsman, even if they are at the top of class. You have four years here for a reason."

"I guess that would make sense. Still though, I can't help but be a little bit frustrated." Jaune chuckled. "Y'know, I usually use my partner as my emotional outlet. I'm sure she'll be grateful that I've found someone else to bother."

"Ah, yes, your partner." She paused for a few seconds, leaning forward. "Do the two of you get along well?" she asked, turning back to him.

"Oh yea, we're great friends. She's helped me out a ton this year, I seriously owe a lot to her."

"Mmhmm… Just friends, though? No budding romance on Team JNPR?"

"W-what? No! No, she's way out of my league. People would probably make fun of her if she was dating someone as weak as me," he said, laughing.

As bad as he felt about himself, it did feel kind of good to talk about it. Maybe it was just because she had forced it out of him so he didn't have to feel guilty about telling her.

Cinder leaned back against the bench.

"I can help you with that, if you would like me to."

That… was not exactly how he was expecting her to respond.

"W-with getting a date with Pyrra?!"

"No!" For the second time in their short conversation, she nearly made him jump out of his seat. "No no no, I wasn't talking about that." Cinder seemed to relax, once again switching back to the soft tone she spoke with earlier. "I meant with combat. I could help with your training every so often. We'd both be getting some extra practice, and with the Vytal Festival coming up we all need as much as we can get."

The offer was too good to be true. If he was being honest, it was a little weird to him. He had just met this girl, and now she was volunteering to help train him. For the life of him, he couldn't see why. Pity, maybe? The thought made him frown.

"I would appreciate that, but I really can't ask you to do that. Besides, I already train Tuesdays through Saturdays with my partner, so it's not like I'm not already getting plenty of help."

"I don't think you understand." Cinder shifted just a little closer to him, tightening her grip on his shoulder. "I want to help you. I am asking you to accept my help."

"Seriously, I don't want to waste your time."

Cinder once again got even closer to him, pressing her body against his. "You wouldn't be wasting my time. I mean it."

Neither of them said anything for a few seconds, with Jaune trying to find a response and Cinder awaiting one.

"Well, I suppose if you'd like to…"

"I would." Cinder slid her hand down his arm, resting it on the outside of his thigh. He tried his best not to react to that. "Perhaps we could start tonight? If it works for you, we could meet back here in a little bit and find a good spot to train."

"Y-yea, that sounds like a good idea to me," he said, smiling but avoiding eye contact. "I've got some homework to do, but I can probably knock it out in a few hours if I work quickly. You don't mind if I come back later, do you?"

"Of course not. Just don't make me wait too long," she said playfully.

"I'll try not to. See you back here in a few hours?"

"I'll be here."

Jaune got off the bench and left to go get his combat suit, his face still tinted red.

/-/

Cinder took a sharp breath as she saw Jaune walk towards her, clad in white combat armor. It had been difficult enough to keep her composure when they were talking earlier, but now he was really testing her.

Her grip tightened around the bench's armrest, nearly crushing it. Her breathing got heavy. He was just so incredible, and he didn't even realize it.

Her heart broke as she thought back to the conversation they had a few hours prior.

Why couldn't he see how amazing he was? "Not good enough?" Bullshit! He was better than everyone else on Remnant!

It was yet another reason that he needed her. He needed someone to lean on, to take solace in, and his so-called "friends" clearly were not doing a very good job at that.

There was also an opportunity to be had there. All she had to do was give him the comfort he needed and, seeing how kind she was and how little help he'd gotten from everyone else, he would fall for her in no time. Then the only thing left to do would be to make sure he stays far apart from Nikos.

Speaking of Nikos, Cinder was not okay with how much time she was spending with him, not at all. Five days a week they trained together! Five!

She took a few deep breaths, trying to get her emotions under control. Now wasn't the time to be angry. Jaune was finally here.

The smile he gave her when she waved at him made her heart melt in her chest. It was such a simple thing, his smile. Yet it was something she would do anything to see, to wake up to every morning.

"Hello, Jaune. I'm glad to see you've accepted my offer."

"Hey, Cinder. Sorry if I've kept you waiting, I should've given you a more specific time," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who set this up, it was my responsibility to do so." Cinder smirked and looked him up and down, making a point to be as obvious as possible. "I must say, that outfit looks quite good on you. Is that what you usually wear, or are you just showing off for me?"

Jaune's face became a dark shade of red. "T-thanks. Anyway, do you have anywhere on campus you want to train? I know you haven't been here very long, so I can show you a few spots if you don't have anywhere in particular."

She was a little disappointed that he didn't respond to her flirting, but she supposed that made sense. He'd only known her for a few days, at least as far as he was concerned.

I suppose I'll just have to make myself a little more clear.

"Such a gentleman. I'm really not too familiar with the campus, why don't you show me where you usually go?"

Jaune smiled at her. "Follow me, then."

He didn't have to tell her twice.

/-/

Cinder held her blade up against Jaune's chest, careful not to actually touch him with it. The point wasn't to hurt him, gods no, just to let him know that he had been bested. It felt awful, but it was necessary. If she didn't actually do something to let him know that he'd made a mistake, then he wouldn't improve, and if he didn't see any progress then there would be no reason to keep training with her.

"You're leaving yourself too open when you attack. If you can go on the offensive without sacrificing your defense, you'll see a huge improvement." She smiled at him, letting him know that her words held no malice. "Let's keep practicing. I feel we're getting somewhere."

Jaune let out a deep breath as she took her sword away from his chest.

"Sounds good to me," he said, wiping off the sweat that was collecting on his brow. "I'm starting to get a little tired, but I think I can go for a bit longer."

"Great. Let's go again, then."

The two of them stood opposite of each other and once again prepared to fight.

It was Jaune who decided to attack first, having realized by now that she wasn't going to take the initiative. His swing was clumsy at best. She saw a thousand different ways to punish it, and would've done so to anyone else. There was a lot to work on.

So what if he wasn't a great fighter? It didn't make her love him any less, not at all. He was still her Jaune, and nothing could change that, especially not something so trivial as below-average sword handling. Besides, he had her there to protect him. He didn't have to worry about anything.

Cinder stepped back out of range of his sword and back towards him once he finished his swing. He tried to bring it back and hit her left side, but she blocked it with Midnight before he could do any damage to her and lifted the other blade above her head. She waited until he brought his shield up to protect himself before bringing it down with just enough force to make him stumble back.

Jaune fell down into a sitting position and, for the first time that evening, didn't immediately get up. The fatigue was clearly getting to him.

"Perhaps you should focus on a more defensive fighting style? You're clearly capable on that side of things, the problems arise when you take the role as the aggressor. If you want my advice, I would say your best bet is to block your opponent's attacks and wait for them to wear themselves down before attacking them."

Jaune looked off into the distance for a few seconds, contemplating her words. "Yea, I guess I should consider that. Honestly, I've been doing the same thing for so long now it's about time I try something else."

Her knees felt weak. He was complimenting her! Sure, he may have only said that he would consider her advice, but did that not mean that he thought it was good advice? And was that not a compliment towards her in and of itself?

It was indirect praise at best, but it still meant everything to her.

Cinder took a seat next to him, close enough so that her arm was brushing against his, and took a few moments to admire his features. The moonlight seemed to accentuate the color of his blonde hair, and the sad look that'd been so prevalent in his eyes was nowhere to be found now, replaced by determination.

It was just another thing to love about him. He was amazingly determined. Despite the fact that he felt as though he was outclassed by the entire rest of Beacon's first years, he kept fighting, kept working to improve. How many times had he fallen over fighting her, only to jump right back up?

The more she learned about him, the more she loved him. It had seemed impossible for her feelings to get any stronger before she'd arrived at Beacon, and yet they had, and they continued to do so. Even now, it took every bit of her self-control not to jump on him. He was clearly too tired to fight back, and even if he did have all his strength, he probably couldn't do much to stop her.

But no, she couldn't do that to him. Unfortunately, that would run a high risk of scaring him off. She would have to wait until he was ready before making their relationship more physical.

If all goes well, I won't have to wait long. I just need to play my cards right.

"If you want to, I can keep helping you every so often. It may be beneficial to put that into practice against a more aggressive style of fighting such as mine. Perhaps we could meet back here a few days a week?"

Cinder's stomach was in a knot as she awaited his response. If he were to accept this, she would have dedicated time to spend with him every couple of days, and once they grew close it wouldn't be hard to make that a more frequent occurrence.

If he said no, though…

"That sounds like a good idea to me," he said with a shrug. "Oum knows I could use as much practice as I can get."

Her smile was so big it was honestly amazing how he didn't see her feelings right then and there.

"Great! You already train Tuesdays through Saturdays, right? Perhaps we could meet on Sundays and Mondays, if that doesn't put too much strain on you?"

There was no real way it would. Seven days a week would be brutal for anyone without aura, but for a huntsman-in-training it was all but a necessity.

"Sure. It would have to be later though, since I usually do my homework right after classes on those days."

"Oh, that's fine. I don't mind waiting. Why don't I give you my number, and that way we can stay in touch?"

Jaune smiled and reached for his pocket. "Good idea. That way we won't have to guess on times and whatnot."

She had to grip the end of his dress to stop her hand from shaking. Blood rushed to her face as she watched him take his scroll out and open a list of his contacts.

"Here, just put your number in there," he said, handing her his scroll.

Cinder briefly looked through his contacts, seeing plenty of other women, the one at the top being his partner. She would have to deal with that at some point, but now wasn't the time.

Her heart soared as she added her number to the list. Not only did she have two days out of the week to spend time with him, but now they had a way to stay in touch! She could already imagine late nights calling him, falling asleep hearing his sweet, sweet voice through the scroll.

"There you are," she said, giving it back to him.

"Thanks." Jaune put his scroll back in his pocket and stood up with a grunt. "Anyway, it's getting late. I better head back to my dorm."

Cinder stood up with him. "I suppose I'll do the same, then."

She followed him to the door and down the hallway, where they soon arrived at Team JNPR's room.

Jaune paused at the door and turned to her. "Thanks for all the help. See you around?"

"Of course. I had a great time. Call me sometime," she said with a wink.

"Yea, I'll make sure to" he said, casually opening the door and walking into his dorm, closing it behind him.

Cinder let out a sigh. Seriously, was he just immune to flirting? Outside of the occasional blush, she hadn't managed to get a reaction out of him. It didn't seem like he was just outright ignoring her advances, at least, she certainly hoped he wasn't. No, it was more like he just genuinely didn't see them, or didn't think she was being serious about it.

Oh well. If he didn't catch on soon, she would just tell him. The only reason she hadn't done so already was because they weren't yet close enough to guarantee that he wouldn't turn her down.

No, that wasn't quite putting it correctly. They were close, very much so, at least the way she saw it. He just didn't realize it yet was all.

Other than Jaune's apparent inability to see her feelings, though, everything was going perfectly.

He said he'd call me! Oh Oum, I can't wait to hear his voice again.

Her breath was heavy and unsteady, and she had to lean against the wall to support herself. Sweat was flowing down her face, which had turned a bright shade of red. She stayed there for a few minutes, going over every part of their meeting, remembering every little thing he had said to her, every time he had graced her with that amazing smile of his.

Once her strength returned to her, she started walking down the hallway back to her own dorm, already anticipating his inevitable call.

/-/

Pyrrha looked up from her desk at the noise of the door opening, seeing Jaune entering the room, wearing his armor and drenched in sweat. He had been gone quite a while. According to him, one of the exchange students had invited him to train with them.

"Glad to see you finally decided to show up," Nora said sarcastically. She wasn't being mean spirited, of course, she just joked like that sometimes.

Jaune frowned. "Have I really been gone that long?"

"Not too long," Pyrrha said. Only about an hour and a half. So, who was it that you were training with?"

"Oh, her name's Cinder. She's the girl I was talking with in the library the other day before you pulled me aside. Anyways, I'm gonna get in the shower, wash the sweat off."

That… wasn't what she wanted to hear. Cinder, as she now knew her, was the same person who she'd seen following her the day before, and that certainly had some implications about why she was suddenly so interested in him. It was why she'd tried separating them when they were speaking with each other.

She couldn't really see a reason for her to offer to practice with him, unless the girl was using him to try and get close to Pyrrha or get information about her.

That put her in a tricky position. It wasn't like she could just let that happen, but she already felt bad about trying to stop her by pulling Jaune aside using the excuse of discussing their own training schedule, even if she was genuinely just trying to help him.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the shower turning on from the bathroom.

"So…" Nora turned to her, smiling. "When are you gonna tell him?"

Pyrrha blushed and cleared her throat. "I'm still figuring that out."

"Yea, sure you are," she responded, rolling her eyes. "Maybe you should hurry up, it seems like you might have some competition with that Cinder girl."

"Them training together doesn't necessarily mean she likes him-"

Nora gasped, interrupting her. "What if she actually does like him?!"

Pyrrha looked at her with confusion and embarrassment. "Is that not what you were just trying to say? And keep your voice down, he might hear you!"

"In the shower? Nah, I'd have to be a lot louder. And I was just trying to give you some motivation when I said that, but now that I think about it, I only know one other person who's offered to train him, and she's super into him."

"Seriously Nora, they've only even known each other for a day or two at most!"

"Right, and how long did it take you to start liking him?"

"That is besides the point!" she said, blushing. "Besides, I… honestly don't really think she's actually interested in being friends with him."

It was probably a weird thing to tell them, but there was no point in keeping them in the dark. It'd be better if they knew.

"The other day, right before we were about to start our training, I saw her staring at us from around the corner. I'm pretty sure-"

"Holy Brother Gods, she's stalking him!" Nora jumped off of her bed, dashed over to her, and put her hands on her shoulders, her eyes wide. "Don't you see? She doesn't just like him, she's in love with him!"

"Nora, please! I really doubt that-"

Once again, she was interrupted. "Pyrrha! You have to confess to Jaune as soon as possible before this crazy obsessive stalker of his gets to him!"

"Please keep your voice down!"

"I agree with Nora," Ren said from the other corner of the room, rather unexpectedly. Pyrrha looked at him in shock. "Not about the stalker part."

"See? Even Renny thinks you should say something!"

Pyrrha looked between the two. Nora was still staring at her, while Ren hadn't even looked up from whatever book he was reading.

"The worst he can say is no." Ren finally closed his book and turned to her. "And he probably won't anyway. You should tell him."

She knew that, and she also knew that she couldn't just keep her feelings bottled up and continue hoping that he'd eventually see them. But at the same time, the idea of actually saying it out loud terrified her. She'd tried to do it, multiple times in fact, but she just never could bring herself to put it in words.

Eventually, though, she'd have to get past her fear of rejection. It wasn't like he'd be single forever.

Pyrrha swallowed the lump in her throat. "I… I'll tell him. I'll try to, at least."

Nora beamed. She started ranting about a love letter or something like that, but Pyrrha stopped listening.