In the darkest recesses of her dorm room, Ruby sat hunched over at her desk. She poured over the forbidden lore before her, books opened up to what she could only call appropriately inappropriate pages which contained the dark knowledge which she sought.
Perhaps she had been going about this the wrong way all along. Trying to compete with the likes of her teammates was a game she was playing at a severe disadvantage, and if there was one thing Ruby excelled at over all of her friends and family, it was playing games.
She didn't have the bountiful and womanly assets that her sister Yang did. She didn't have the classical beauty and grace which Weiss possessed. She didn't have a dark and alluring appeal like Blake. No, those girls were something else entirely. Two to three years older than her, they were well-equipped in their womanly ways. Ruby would catch up to them eventually, but for now she would need to fight with the weapons she had on hand right now. While not yet an arsenal of her liking, she still did have some to choose from. A weapons nut like her knew how to make best use of that particular ammunition more than anyone else.
"I see," she said softly to herself, stroking her chin thoughtfully with her fingers and thumb. "So the key is to be naive, but not stupid. Clumsy, but not useless. Innocent, but curious..."
Luckily Blake had an extensive library containing the kinds of information which she needed. Ninjas of Love was not the only filth to be used for Ruby's research purposes. Little did Blake realize, but her own knowledge would soon be used against her. Her degeneracy would be her own downfall. The smut which she kept hidden in plain sight would be her undoing.
Ruby giggled darkly to herself. Yes, this would do. This would do nicely. After all, knowing what she knew about Jaune, he wouldn't be able to resist this kind of attack. The other girls may have been beautiful and mature in their own ways, but none of them possessed what Ruby did. As a result, Jaune would never know what hit him.
Being a girl was already difficult enough. Being a girl pretending to be a guy in a school made entirely of other girls, bordered on impossible. Was it any wonder she'd been discovered so quickly?
Thankfully, it had been by the only other boy, and the only real boy in Beacon Academy.
Ren stood in the bathroom she and Jaune shared, carefully applying the necessary wrapping to her chest. While she did not possess the biggest of busts in the world, she wasn't exactly the smallest either. Therefore in order to properly convince the world that she was male, she had to conceal the parts of her that would otherwise have been apparent by just wearing a normal boy's school uniform.
Unfortunately that took time. Aside from the normal preparations she had to make every day such as braiding her hair and bathing, wrapping up her torso was annoyingly time-consuming. Not to mention that she no longer lived by herself. She could not hog a bathroom to herself every morning to do what needed to be done, but at the same time, she couldn't do this out in the open in front of prying, male eyes. Regardless of the fact that Jaune knew the truth about her, she couldn't just... expose herself to him on a whim! He may have been a friend who she trusted with her closest secret, but he was still a guy!
A knock on the door disturbed Ren from her thoughts.
"Ren, you almost ready? If we don't leave soon we're going to be late for our first class."
A glance down at her half-naked torso told the whole story. She was covered up, but she wasn't tightly-wrapped yet. It would still take her a little bit more time.
"I'm going to be a few more minutes," she replied.
Understatement of the century. A few minutes could mean three. It could also mean ten. Even after finishing she would still need to brush her teeth, apply deodorant, get dressed...
What a pain this was. She was going to have to start waking up even earlier than usual in order to be able to be presentable to the world which thought she was a boy.
"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," he offered.
Help? With this? Ren glanced down for a moment before responding. "Thanks, but this is something which... I don't think you're qualified to help with. You should just head to class without me. I wouldn't want you to be late because of my problem."
Silence settled over the dorm once more. For a moment Ren wondered if Jaune had walked away without saying anything. However, when he spoke up again, she was reminded exactly what kind of man he truly was.
"I can't do that, Ren," he told her. "Not only are we roommates, but we're friends too. A problem of yours is a problem of mine, and I would never leave you behind just to save my own skin. I insist you allow me to help you with whatever's going on."
Roommates. Friends. A feeling of warmth washed over Ren's currently cold body, due to her state of undress. A friend who wouldn't leave her behind. It would have been a kind sentiment even under the most mundane of circumstances, but their shared circumstances were anything but mundane. Not just because of Jaune's unique abilities as a male, but because of Ren's own dark and tumultuous past.
To have someone who said they'd be there for her... who would never leave her behind... it meant the world to the orphan girl.
"If you insist..." she began, moving to the door and opening it up a few inches. Just enough for her to stick just her head outside. Enough to see Jaune standing ready in his Beacon Academy uniform waiting on her. "I have to... um..."
Jaune's head tilted questioningly. "Yeah?"
"I have to wrap up my chest," she explained. Ren's face burned with embarrassment, and a brief activation of her Semblance allowed her to continue. "Because I'm a girl. If I showed up to class with a girl's chest, my cover would be instantly blown."
Jaune nodded in understanding. "I get it. What can I do to help?"
Pink eyes widened in shock. "Did you not just hear me? I said I have to wrap my chest."
"I understand. Trust me, I have seven sisters."
What did having seven sisters have to do with that? What, did he go around wrapping their chests for some reason too?
"But that means you'll have to, you know..."
Jaune smiled innocently, holding up his hands. "Come on. Haven't you ever heard the saying that two heads are better than one? Well in this case, it's four hands that are better than two." As if to emphasize the point, Jaune held up his rather large hands before her.
Ren swallowed. "Yes, but..."
"You should learn to take advantage of your roommate's kindness," Jaune told her, leveling a finger toward her. The kind smile which still graced his lips told her that he wasn't angry, nor was he trying to be forceful. Only helpful. "You can take advantage of me this time, and I'll take advantage of you next time."
"T-take advantage of me?" Ren whispered.
How... how might he call in this debt of hers? What would he do in order to take advantage of her in the future? Might he... make her wash his back in the bath on a later date? Having her press her nude, unwrapped chest against his back while she cleaned him?
Ren shook her head violently, activating her Semblance once more in order to repress the stimulating thoughts in her mind.
Relax. Of course he's not being sexual in nature. He was simply referring to the kindness of helping me with my binding, and in return, she would be available to help him with something in the future.
"Ren? Does that mean you don't want my help?"
Her eyes opened, aware that moments ago she'd been shaking her head 'no' to his proposition of helping her.
"Yes!" she insisted. "I mean no! I mean... what's the option that means I want your help?"
"That one'll do just fine," he smiled. "Now come on. Let me in there."
Taking a deep breath, Ren nodded. "Okay. I guess it's fine as long as it's you..."
She reluctantly opened the bathroom door all the way, presenting its interior, and all of herself for Jaune to see. A part of her instinctively wanted to cover herself up, but doing so wouldn't do any good when it came to binding her chest tightly. He would need to have access to her. All of her.
Her mind flashed to some of the girls she'd met the day before. Girls like Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha especially. Another glance down at her own chest made her feel self-conscious. Enough so to apologize to Jaune for what he saw.
"I'm sorry that they're not that... big..." she said softly. "But in this case it might actually help."
"What do you mean?" he asked. "I think they're plenty big."
Ren's heart soared inside the chest she was so unconfident about. "You do?"
"Yeah. The wrapping seems like just the right size. Not too big, not too small." He moved over to the bathroom vanity and picked up the roll before he began to unravel it. "Together we'll get this done in no time at all."
Feeling disappointed that Jaune had been referring to the wrapping, Ren nodded before moving to stand in front of him. Being this close to him she truly felt the difference in their heights.
Jaune was a towering figure, standing over six feet tall. Even in his school uniform she could see the broadness of his chest. The muscles in his arms. Arms which would soon be wrapped around her comparatively soft, dainty body. Arms she could feel safe in. Arms which had wrapped around her tightly the night before as they shared a bed together...
"Turn around," he ordered. At least it sounded like an order. In this position, all by themselves, Jaune in her mind appeared more like a hungry predator than a helpful friend.
Ren nodded meekly before doing as she was told, and turned to face the mirror.
Jaune stood behind her, and began to wrap the roll of binding tape around her chest. He was careful to avoid touching any part of her directly with his fingers, but still, the pressure he was putting on those sensitive parts of her was undeniable. It was like she was being hugged from behind. Safe and secure in the strong and loving arms of a man who was helping to care for her.
Hugs had been in short supply for most of Ren's lonely life.
The pale skin of her face began to redden, and her breathing began to hitch.
"That's it, Ren," he spoke softly above her. His breath tickled her ear as he leaned in closely to get a tighter wrap around her. "You're doing so good."
Her mind was becoming mush as she felt Jaune's own chest graze against her back. True to his word, Jaune was accomplishing this task surprisingly quickly. Too quickly, if Ren was being honest with herself.
"You're so good at this," she said, barely stifling a moan as the wrapping constricted her chest tighter and tighter. "Where did you learn to do this?"
"I've had some practice with my sisters," he explained. "Sometimes in order to fit into certain outfits they needed to get smaller."
She nodded absentmindedly. Ren's hands pressed down hard on the vanity, using it in order to keep herself upright. This kind of stimulation... it was too much. She felt as though she was about to pass out, and it wasn't due to the binding making it difficult to breathe.
"I'm getting close," he told her. "Almost there..."
Ren was forced to activate her Semblance yet again. If this was how things were going to be every morning, she wouldn't survive Beacon. Her Aura would be drained before the first class even began. She would die here, and it wouldn't even be from the Grimm.
How in the world was she going to survive four years of this?
"I've had some practice with my sisters..." the faint voice of Jaune Arc said through the closed door. The rest of the words were muffled, but the rest of those words didn't matter one bit.
Blake worked overtime to suppress a fangirl squee. Not only was yaoi on the table, but, as it turned out, incest was wincest too!
She couldn't believe her stroke of luck. Leaving the White Fang to attend Beacon was the best decision Blake had ever made.
It was nearly time for the first class of the day to begin, but Jaune and Ren hadn't even left their dorm room yet. Blake had hypothesized what was taking them so long, and why they hadn't come to the cafeteria for breakfast yet. High on hopium, she believed that they might have still been asleep, exhausted from a rousing night of extracurricular activity. However, this...
This worked too!
"I'm getting close," she heard Jaune say. "Almost there..."
How lucky was she? Getting to hear such beautiful music first thing in the morning. She knew that two boys living together wouldn't be able to resist their animalistic, carnal urges.
"Ah... it's like my insides are being rearranged," Ren strained.
Blake's bow twitched. And here she had thought that Jaune was a bottom due to what he'd said the day before.
Taking out her notebook, she began to cross out some words and scribble down others. Ideas would need to be tinkered with, but that was all just part of being a writer. Sometimes something you thought of before had to be adjusted on the fly.
"Wow, your hands are so big," Ren said.
Blake wrote furiously in her notebook. Yaoi hands were canon! The same hands which had so gently, yet firmly, stroked her own feline ears...
A pang of sorrow ate at Blake's heart, but she clenched her teeth and persevered. As much as she'd enjoyed those hands being used on herself, she knew she had to remain true to her nature. Boy's love took priority over her own love life.
She was so fortunate to have such wonderful inspiration for her work. Her characters would be based on the two boys she went to school with, their names and appearances being changed of course. However, one thing would remain constant. There would be a taller, more dominant boy, and there would be his submissive, docile friend...
Pressing her ear closely to the door, Blake hadn't noticed the approaching footsteps of another even with her enhanced faunus hearing. The sound of a familiar voice made her jump. Thankfully not into the door, lest she disturb the beautiful scene taking place on the other side.
"Blake?" Nora asked. "What are you doing here?"
Concealing her notebook behind her back, Blake glanced around for a moment before focusing back on her friend. "Nothing. What are you doing here?"
The redheaded girl smiled embarrassedly, bringing her hands behind her back before twisting one of her feet on the carpeted floor. "Well, I noticed that Ren hadn't made it to class yet, so I wanted to come check up on him. You know, to make sure he was okay. That he was adjusting to a new school and all..."
Under normal circumstances that would be cute. Blake didn't need to be a romance writer to tell that Nora was quite smitten by the newest boy in school. However, unfortunately for Nora...
Ren was already taken by his one true love.
"Ah! So tight!"
Even without her ear pressed to the door, Blake heard the voice of Ren loud and clear. And if she had, then Nora had as well.
A look back at the ginger girl showed her teal eyes wide, afraid of what she'd heard, and more afraid of what she suspected.
"W-what's going on?" she asked, a tiny, manic laugh accompanying her words. "What are they doing in there, Blake?"
Straightening her body and standing tall, Blake stepped forward to place herself between the door and Nora. "Something beautiful."
Nora's eyes glanced to the door and then back at Blake. "You don't mean..."
"Ren, can you bend forward so I can get a better angle?"
And with those words, like a declaration of war, it seemed that the time for talk had ended.
Nora moved forward, but Blake was nimble and quick. Dropping into a fighting stance, she drew Gambol Shroud, causing Nora to stop in her tracks immediately.
"Blake!" she shouted. "Let me through! I have to protect Ren's chastity!"
"You'll do no such thing," Blake hissed. "I have been entrusted in protecting true love, and you'll have to get through me in order to stop it."
"True love? That is what I'm trying to protect! Ren and I are made for each other!"
"You just met him yesterday."
Nora's hands balled up into fists. "Haven't you ever heard of love at first sight? And besides, Jaune just met him yesterday too! If you believe in their love, you have to believe in mine too!"
Her logic would have been impeccable. At least, it would have under normal circumstances. These, however, were anything but normal.
This was boy's love. If Ren's yaoi hole needed to be sacrificed, then so be it.
"I'm warning you, Blake..." Nora growled, her eyes narrowing on her classmate. From somewhere Nora drew Magnhild's compact form, and in seconds it had expanded to its full length. "Stand aside or I'll bash your skull in along with that door."
"If it comes to that," Blake replied stoically, readying herself and her weapon for war. "Then so be it."
This had become something far larger than just a fight between classmates. This was a battle of ideals. For the first time in a long time, Blake had found a cause worth fighting for. The White Fang had turned out to be needlessly cruel and violent. Its ideals had been corrupted by her one-time mentor. This cause, however, was one she could believe in with all of her heart.
Jaune x Ren was something good, and it was worth fighting for!
"Alright, emo girl. You asked for it!"
Just before a blow could be struck, the door beside the girls opened to reveal Jaune and Ren. To Blake's disappointment, both were fully clothed and didn't appear sweaty or filthy at all.
"Oh, Blake," Jaune said as he regarded her. "Nora. What's up?"
Both girls were quick to close down and conceal their weapons. In a flash the tension had vanished, and all that remained were excuses.
"We were..." Blake began, struggling to come up with a reasonable explanation. "Um..."
"Checking up on you!" Nora finished for her, rushing forward to grab hold of Ren's arm with hers. "You weren't at breakfast, and we were afraid you would be late. Are you okay?"
Blake saw how Ren looked up to Jaune for assurance before he smiled and nodded at him. Oh she would definitely have to write that down later. It was so darn cute how he looked up to his dominant partner for affirmation before speaking.
"I'm fine," he said in that soft, monotone voice of his.
"Are you sure?" Nora wondered, tightening her grip on his arm. "You're not hurt anywhere? Somewhere that I can't see? Somewhere that might be kinda personal but you could absolutely trust me with? Because I'd never tell anyone, and I would take care of you until you were all better, and then even more after that?"
Ren nodded, apparently not understanding at all what Nora was getting at. Good. The boy seemed oblivious to Nora's advances, and that was for good reason. He knew his place was at Jaune's side, and not the side of some busty shortstack like Nora.
"I'm fine, really," he echoed. "Jaune was just helping me with something this morning."
"Yeah, I'll bet..." Blake said under her breath.
Nora shot her a dirty look, but it didn't linger for long before she looked back at Ren. "Well that's fine and all, but now Nora's here to help you. So come on, let's go to class together before we're late!"
Practically dragging the boy behind her, Nora took the lead to march down the hallway with Ren in tow. The boy looked backwards, his eyes almost pleading with Jaune for assistance.
Jaune, however, made no move to rock the boat. It was an Alpha... no, a Sigma male move right there. Jaune knew Ren was his, and it didn't matter what anyone like Nora did with him during the middle of the day. Come tonight, and come every night, Ren belonged to him and him alone.
Filled to the brim with ideas and happiness which would last her an entire week, Blake smiled smugly as the other pair of students disappeared from sight.
"We should hurry too," Jaune insisted. "We don't wanna be late either."
He began to walk, but stopped after a few steps when he realized that Blake hadn't moved yet. Turning around, Jaune regarded her with concerned eyes before he spoke. "Blake? Is everything alright?"
Truth be told, Jaune was a wonderful and considerate guy. Had things been different, Blake would have been more than happy to not only throw her hat into the ring for his affections, but to win that competition as well.
It was, however, as the old saying went. "All the good ones are either taken or gay..." she said softly.
"Huh?" Jaune asked. "Did you say something?"
Smiling, Blake shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Okay, let's go."
Blake joined Jaune, walking side by side with him on their way to class. She may not have been able to be his lover, but she could be his partner. She would help make his dreams come true, and in turn, he would help make hers a reality.
Lunch was Jaune's favorite time of the day. It wasn't just that he got to step away from the grueling classes of Beacon Academy. It wasn't that he got the stuff his face with some of the finest food in Vale either. Lunch also meant getting to spend time with his friends, and with that came the lively conversations he'd come to love and cherish.
Just the other day there had been a fascinating discussion on hamburger condiments. Where else in his life would he have ever had such an interesting and unique conversation? He learned about how Weiss preferred mayonnaise, for example, and how Blake had an aversion to mixing ketchup and mustard together. Each girl had her own preferences, as unique as the person Jaune had come to learn them to be. He wondered what kinds of interesting topics might be broached today?
Surrounded by what had become a familiar group of friends, Jaune along with Team RWBY, Pyrrha, and Nora sat at their usual table, ready to dig into their meals and enjoy a nice relaxing break from their studies.
Seated to his left was Ren, who was still managing to keep her secret in part thanks to him. Their work in the morning had been a massive success, and no one was the wiser to the fact that the other 'boy' in school was in fact a girl.
To his right was Ruby, the first friend he'd made here at Beacon. A happy smile spread across her lips, and as she looked across the table to her left, she shifted her attention to Jaune before speaking.
"Hey, big brother, can you pass the ketchup?"
Silence fell over the table, and all eyes locked onto Ruby. Jaune, confused by who she was talking to, squinted in confusion as he regarded the girl next to him.
"Big brother?" Yang practically shrieked.
Ruby giggled softly, gently tapping the side of her head with her knuckles. "Sorry, it just kind of slipped out," she explained. "It's just that we're so close, we're almost like siblings. And since you're two years older than me, it's kind of like you're my big brother, isn't it?"
Jaune took a moment to ponder her explanation. It did make some sense, really. The two of them enjoyed spending some of their free time playing video games together. Just like what Jaune had done at home with some of his sisters, and just like what Ruby had done with her own older sister, the two enjoyed the friendly competition and banter which came with their shared love of gaming together.
On top of that, she was right about how close they were. After all, she had been the first girl he'd met upon coming to Beacon. He'd been the one to help her out after their collision in the courtyard. He'd seen her in her pajamas, just as he might any of his siblings. So was it really so weird that she might think of him as her big brother? It certainly wouldn't feel odd at all for him to consider her another of his younger sisters.
"Haha, you're right, Ruby," he agreed. "We are really close, after all. You do remind me a lot of some of my little sisters."
"Mmhmm!" she nodded. "You're like the big brother I never had. I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to go to school with a big sister and a big brother."
"Oh no..." he heard Blake gasp. "Jaune's into that..."
Jaune looked over to Blake, whose face had fallen with a mixture of shock and horror. He didn't know why she suddenly seemed so disturbed, but Yang spoke up before he could inquire further.
"What?" the blonde girl asked. "Even if that's true, how would you know that?"
"I... overheard it," Blake explained, but for the life of him, Jaune had no idea what she was even talking about.
"Into what?" Weiss asked.
"Ruby's playing the wincest card!"
Jaune cast a glance over at Ruby. They weren't playing the Remnant Card Game, and she didn't even have her deck on the table. Jaune had never heard of that card either. Maybe it was a brand new one? With the ever-changing meta of the collectable card game, it wouldn't have surprised him to have fallen out of the loop since coming to Beacon.
"I'm sorry, the what?" the heiress asked.
"Weiss, please stop enabling this," Yang told her.
Weiss threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "Enabling what? I have no idea what's going on! Will somebody please tell me what wincest is?"
"Ask your sister."
"What? Why in the world would Winter know?"
Yang grinned. "She wouldn't. I just think it would be hilarious."
Jaune didn't know what Yang and Weiss were talking about, but now he was thinking about his own deck back home. Maybe he would call his parents and ask them to mail his cards to him. After all, if Ruby had this new wincest card then he definitely wanted to try it out. He and Ruby could go at each other one-on-one just like he'd done with his sisters back in the day.
Speaking of Ruby, he felt the girl brush up against his right shoulder, where she deliberately leaned against him. Jaune turned to see how she smiled sweetly at him, batting her eyes which shone like polished silver.
"And you know what the best part is?" she asked him. "The best part about you being my big brother, and me being your little sister?"
"What's that?"
Ruby smiled a bright, toothy grin. "We're not blood-related!"
Blake howled as though she was in pain. She collapsed face-first onto the table, where she began to pound a fist angrily.
"Blake?" he asked, concerned for her well-being. "Is something wrong?"
"Why!" the normally soft spoken girl lamented. "Why am I given a choice of tuna and salmon and only able to pick one? What kind of cruel fate is this?"
Jaune looked at her plate. She didn't even have tuna or salmon for lunch. Was he missing something here?
"So I was thinking," Ruby continued. "This Saturday we should have a sleepover. We can get in our PJs and play games together all night. Does that sound fun, big brother?"
A night of gaming with Ruby? Sign him up! "That sounds great, Ruby," he agreed.
"And it can just be the two of us, since no one else here is into gaming besides the two of us."
"Now wait just a minute," Yang protested. "Who do you think taught you how to game, Ruby?"
"Um, Aunt Qrowe?"
"No, me!" Yang roared. "Your actual older sibling! If you two are going to be playing games together, it's only right that I'm there too."
Jaune smiled. The more the merrier, as far as he was concerned.
"I would like to participate as well," Weiss spoke up.
Yang snorted a laugh. "Oh yeah, because I'm sure you're so into video games, aren't you?"
Weiss glared across the table at Yang, but that visible anger soon shifted into a pout. Her liquid-blue eyes fell upon Jaune, and all of the sharpness which had been in them before faded when she spoke to him.
"Jaune, you would teach me how to play, wouldn't you?" she asked softly. "Surely you would tutor me so that I wouldn't be... left out, right?"
Knowing Weiss' past, the last thing he would ever want to do was make her feel left out and lonely. Growing up in the environment she had, it was likely that she'd never had the opportunity to play video games the way he and his sisters had.
The boy nodded. "Of course I would. You're more than welcome to join us. We'll make it a foursome."
Weiss' eyes widened. Yang's lips pursed in interest. Blake, meanwhile...
"I must be there as well," she stated, leaving no room for doubt or argument. "For research purposes."
Well, make it a fivesome then.
"Oh what a shame," Nora said. "I guess that means me and Renny here will have to go off and do our own thing. Well I guess it can't be helped, now can it? Haha, maybe we'll play truth or dare or something." The redhead shifted closer to Ren, who in turn inched closer to Jaune. "Or we could just play doctor. I've been called Nurse Nora a few times back in the day."
Ren was as close to Jaune's left as Ruby was on his right now. Maybe it was out of pure instinct, or maybe unthinking panic, but Ren reached out to latch an arm around Jaune's own, and pulled herself close to him.
"I... would like to play video games as well," she whispered.
Blake groaned again, though this time it sounded as if she'd just eaten something delicious. A look across the table at her showed an expression of pure bliss on her face as she stared where Jaune and Ren sat.
"How could I have ever been in doubt?" she asked no one in particular. "There's my OTP right there!"
Jaune was happy that the girl had found whatever she'd lost. Maybe that's why she'd seemed so upset a few minutes earlier.
"Well Ren's welcome too then!" Jaune exclaimed happily. "Oh man, we're gonna have such a fun time this Saturday!" He shifted his focus to the only girl who hadn't yet spoken, his close, personal, childhood best friend. "What about you, Pyrrha. Any plans for the weekend?"
"Um... well..."
Before she could respond, a pair of newcomers had arrived, standing over the collective group at the table.
Two girls, identical in appearance except for their hair, stood above them. With smooth black hair and emerald-green eyes, the one with longer hair glared at Jaune before she spoke.
"Maybe she'd rather spend time with her teammates instead of chasing after some boy," she snapped.
"That's so lame," the shorter-haired girl followed up.
"Oh, Melanie... Miltia..." Pyrrha greeted with a smile. "It occurs to me that you haven't met Jaune yet..."
"Yeah, but we've like, heard all about him," the girl, apparently Melanie, replied. "Gotta admit, totally not impressed by what I see."
"That's so lame," Miltia agreed.
Pyrrha, playing the role of intermediary, gestured to the girls who were apparently her teammates. "Jaune, I'd like you to meet Melanie and Miltia Malachite. They're Nora and mine's teammates. And together we make-"
"Team MNNM," Melanie finished for her. "You know, like M&Ms? The candy? They're like, colors I guess..."
"That's like, so lame..." Miltia said dejectedly.
Jaune stood up, eager to properly introduce himself to the new arrivals.
"And I'm Jaune Arc, Pyrrha's childhood friend," he greeted, extending a hand out to them. "It's nice to meet you."
Melanie glanced down at the offered hand before holding her head up high. "The pleasure's all yours. Come on, Mil. Let's leave before we catch this weird horny disease they've all been infected with..."
"Ew, that's so lame," Miltia agreed, marching off after her twin sister.
Well they had been less than friendly. Then again, so had Weiss at first. Jaune didn't take it personally. They barely knew him, after all. However, it was as his mother's saying went. Strangers were just friends you haven't met yet.
"I apologize for their behavior," Pyrrha said, breaking the silence. "Melanie and Miltia are, well, not the easiest to get along with."
Jaune nodded. "Is that why you never introduced them to me?"
"Yes. They say they were sent to Beacon by their mother, but I'm starting to believe that their reasons for attending this school aren't as altruistic as the rest of ours..."
He nodded again. No one had the same reasons for attending Beacon. Even Jaune's own weren't selfless. He'd never had some lofty dream of being a Huntsman and saving people from Grimm. How could he? Up until a few weeks ago he'd never even had Aura. He would have had absolutely no reason to believe he would ever be in the position he was in now.
Melanie and Miltia, whatever their reasons were, were still here at Beacon though. They were still learning to become Huntresses, and that meant something. Maybe once he got to know them better he could find out just what those reasons were. In doing so, maybe he could forge closer bonds to them and become their friends just like the rest of their team was.
That would have to wait, however. For now he still had to get through the rest of the week, and then enjoy his sleepover with the girls. He couldn't wait to stay up all night with them. This was going to be the best night ever!
The night of the sleepover had arrived, and it was... it was...
Crowded.
Being held in Team RWBY's dorm room, a space which already seemed cramped with four people now had double that. Along with members of her own team, Jaune, Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora were also here enjoying themselves in the limited space of the room. Sleeping arrangements would be a nightmare with at least half of them having to sleep on the floor.
Unless, of course, some people doubled up on beds. Which was exactly what certain people were trying to do right now...
"I'm merely saying," Weiss explained, confident with her head held high. "That since I'm the smallest physically here, it makes sense that my bed be shared with another of our guests. Seeing how Jaune is the largest physically, it's only right that we share a bed together since being with me would allow him the most amount of room to sleep."
This wasn't what Ruby had wanted. This wasn't what she'd wanted at all. However, she couldn't very well have prevented everyone else from tagging along. Not only did she have three teammates who had every right to be here as much as she did, but she would look like a truly awful person if she denied the other girls, and boy, from being here as well.
"It's true that you are the smallest," Pyrrha agreed. "However, as Jaune's childhood best friend, I believe it makes sense if we share a bed. After all, he's closer to me than anyone else here. He's comfortable around me."
Jaune was seated on Weiss' bed, flanked on either side by the heiress and the tournament champion. Ren sat above them, silently observing everything in that shy, introverted way of his. On the other side of the room, Yang and Nora battled each other in a rousing game of Primal Combat... exactly what Ruby had intended to do when she'd invited Jaune for a sleepover. Finally, Blake was perched atop Yang's bed, notebook in hand as she occasionally scribbled down words.
Ruby stood in the middle of it all. Dejected. Disappointed. Honestly, not at all wishing to be here among so much chaos and competition.
Turning, she reached for the door and pulled it open before stepping outside. Closing it behind her, she released a heavy sigh as she leaned up against the wall.
"This sucks," she muttered to herself. "So much for some alone time with Jaune."
With so much competition afoot, how would she ever be able to display what she had to offer? When he was quite literally surrounded by beauty and bountiful busts, how would she ever have a chance to get her plan off the ground so that Jaune would notice how cute and adorable she was?
She let out a sad moan as she began to trudge down the hallway. Maybe grabbing a snack would help her feel better. It was never good to eat emotionally, but right now all Ruby wanted to do was sit down with a tub of ice cream and eat her feelings away. Since she couldn't do that, some candy from the vending machine would have to suffice.
Ruby had barely made it a few feet down the hall before she heard a noise from behind her. The door opening and closing could have been anyone, but the voice could only belong to one person.
"Ruby?"
Turning around, Ruby was stunned to see Jaune standing there in his pajamas. His adorable Pumpkin Pete onesie pajamas. He had to be the biggest badass in the world to actually wear those in public, because there was no way anyone who wasn't supremely confident in their own abilities would ever be caught dead in those.
"J-Jaune?" she asked confusedly.
He smiled, taking a few steps until he stood next to her. While she may not have been as short as Weiss, Ruby was still one of the shortest girls in school, and it was made all the more apparent standing next to the powerhouse that was Jaune Arc.
"Are you okay?" he wondered. Blue eyes flashed with concern as they gazed down on her, and Ruby wanted to melt into a puddle of pink girly goo as she suddenly felt like one of the heroines from the fairy tales she read as a child. "You were pretty quiet back there, and then you left without saying a word."
What should she do? Fake it and say everything was fine? That she was just feeling hungry and was going to grab some food? Or should she be truthful? Spill her heart out and let him react to that?
She wasn't a good actress. Jaune would see right through her. Why not say what she actually felt and go from there?
Wrapping her arms around her torso, Ruby shrank under Jaune's physical presence and she seemed even smaller and meeker than usual. "It's just... this wasn't what I had in mind at all when I wanted to have a sleepover with you."
With quite literally four times the amount of people she'd planned, Ruby didn't have any room to get a word in with Jaune. Not when there were so many more outgoing and domineering personalities than her. Yang, Nora, and Weiss could absolutely control a room. Even with Blake lurking in the shadows and Pyrrha's more reserved personality, Ruby simply couldn't compete with the likes of her sister or her partner for Jaune's attention.
"Yeah, it's kinda crowded in here, isn't it?" he agreed. "Especially when it comes to sleeping arrangements. Still, it's really nice to see everyone being so generous with wanting to share their beds. I feel like I'm the one who should be sleeping on the floor since I'm so big."
Ah yes, sleeping with Jaune. It seemed like whoever won that debate would be akin to winning the lottery. Why not her? Why not Ruby? Why not pull him up to her top bunk and snuggle with him all night long?
"You could sleep with me..." she muttered under her breath.
"Huh?" he asked. "Did you say something?"
Realizing she'd just said those words aloud, Ruby's face burned with embarrassment before she violently shook her head. "N-no! Nothing!" she lied.
"Ah, okay," he said.
"It's just..." Ruby continued. "I was hoping to spend some time alone with you tonight without everyone else. You know, since we're best friends and all..."
Jaune smiled genuinely, reaching out and placing a hand atop Ruby's head. He ruffled her hair gently, and she closed her eyes with a squeak while he patted her head.
"You know, I was planning to do something by myself tomorrow," he said once he'd brought his hand away from her. "It's a bit personal, but if you want to I wouldn't mind it if you helped me take care of it."
Silver eyes blinked. Personal. Help him. Take care of it...
Was he asking her to help him... to do... with his...
Her cheeks burned even hotter than before. "You mean, you want me to..." she trailed off, not knowing how to deal with that kind of proposal.
"Yeah. I was gonna do my laundry tomorrow, but if you wanna tag along right now I wouldn't mind spending some time with you."
In an instant the flustered feelings fled from Ruby's body. Of course that's what he meant. It's not like he was proposing they do anything dirty. Other than dirty laundry, it seemed.
Not that she was opposed to the idea, but there was still a problem. "What about the others?" she asked. "Won't they notice you're gone?"
Jaune shrugged. "I dunno, they're getting pretty into those video games right now. And talking about the sleeping arrangements. I said I had to go get something from my room real quick, so it'll probably take a while before they notice I'm gone."
Ruby silently nodded. On one hand, this wasn't exactly the ideal situation she'd been planning. Doing laundry with Jaune? Not really the most romantic of situations to find themselves in. On the other, beggars couldn't exactly be choosers. If this meant getting to spend a couple of hours alone with Jaune, she'd be a fool not to jump at the chance. It would kind of almost be like a date...
"Yes!" she agreed a little too eagerly. Clearing her throat, Ruby instinctively began to rub her arm in embarrassment as she looked down at the floor. "I mean, yes. I have to do laundry too."
"Great!" Jaune beamed. "I'll go grab mine from my room, and you can go in and get yours. We'll meet back out here."
Ruby nodded, and the two separated briefly as she opened the door back up to her room. Sure enough, there was still arguing aplenty, while Nora and Yang still competed with each other in their two-girl video game tournament.
After gathering up her clothes, Ruby stepped back outside to find Jaune with a bag full of his own clothes. Operation Laundry Date was a go!
Strolling down the hallway on their way to Beacon's laundry room, Ruby felt obligated to make the most of this time she had with Jaune. Alone time was never a given, and she had no idea when she would next have the opportunity to speak privately and candidly with the boy.
"Heh, it's funny," she said softly, summoning the courage to get her original plan back on track. "We're gonna be doing laundry together like we're... like we're family or something."
Like a married couple, perhaps.
"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "Like me and my sisters."
Not quite what Ruby had in mind, but this was fine too. After all, this was the angle she'd come up with thanks to Blake's extensive selection of reading material. With her own natural gifts, Ruby would be able to play the role of the little sister to perfection. After all, she already was one, albeit with an older sister.
She just had to push the big brother button the right way.
"Who aren't blood-related," she emphasized.
"Haha, nope!" Jaune laughed. "It's like you're another little sister of mine who isn't an Arc."
The seeds of ideas were planted. Now all Ruby had to do was help cultivate them until they grew into beautiful flowers.
"And that means... we can do all sorts of things together, Jaune," she pressed, stealing a sideways glance at him. "Things that siblings couldn't normally do together."
Ruby's heart was racing inside her chest. Yes, she was pushing this, but at the same time she had a lot of ground to make up for. She had a lot of competition she needed to be able to match. In lieu of having Weiss' good looks or Yang's assets, she had to use her natural cute little sister energy to its maximum potential.
"Oh yeah. That's true."
Ruby swallowed hard. Was Jaune... waking up to the possibilities? Was she going to have to ask him what they were going to do on the bed?
"Like..." she barely managed to squeak out. "For example..."
"Like if we wanted to work together in the same place after graduating, there would be nothing to stop us from doing it."
She blinked. It was as if someone had just doused her with a bucket of cold water. "...what?"
"Yeah," Jaune continued. "Like normally if you apply for a job they ask if you have any relatives who also work for the company. And that might stop you from being able to work together with them. But not us, Ruby. Because while we might be as close as siblings, it's like you said. We're not blood-related."
Her lips pursed into a pout as they reached the laundry room. That was not at all the kinds of things she had in mind that non-blood-related siblings could do.
"Jaune, we're training to be a Huntress and Huntsman. We're not going to work for a corporation."
Jaune places his bag of clothes atop one of the washing machines. "I know, but they might not put us on the same assignment together if we were related. And since we're not, they could send us on a mission together. A mission where we might be alone with no one else around us for miles."
Ruby, who had done the same, froze. "Oh... oh yeah? Alone for miles?"
"Yep."
Starting to go through her own bag of laundry, Ruby couldn't help but be intrigued. "And what would we do together out there, Jaune?"
The boy hummed in thought as he continued to prepare his clothes. "Well it depends on where we went. If we went to Atlas for example and had to spend time out in the freezing tundra, we might have to share a tent."
Sharing a tent. With Jaune. Ruby's face began to heat up once again at the mere thought of being so close to Jaune out there alone in the wilderness. With nothing and no one but each other to survive. What a wonderful scenario it was indeed. One where in addition to the Grimm, the very environment itself would pose a risk to their survival.
Sidling closer to him, Ruby's voice purred with interest. "And in that tent... how would we keep warm?" she asked, practically salivating at the thought.
Jaune hummed again, tapping his chin with a finger. "Well I had a lot of experience camping when I was younger. Normally in situations like those, the best way to conserve body heat is to huddle together with other people. Since it would just be the two of us, we'd have to get pretty close. Probably even share a sleeping bag."
Ruby could practically hear her pulse thumping inside her skull. Yes... sharing a tent with Jaune. Sharing a sleeping bag with him. Her big brother wouldn't think twice at all about doing that sort of thing with his non-blood-related little sister. At least until he felt what it was like to hold her in his arms. Until he felt the weight of her head and chest atop him while she snuggled close to him. Until he smelled the strawberry-scented shampoo in her hair that rested so close to his nose.
So lost in her own fantasy she was that Ruby's fingers lose their grip on the clothing she'd been handling. It dropped to the floor, and before she even knew it she saw Jaune reach down and retrieve the fallen garment himself.
Holding it up, Ruby's heart skipped a beat when she realized what he'd just retrieved. Holding it up, he gazed at it in confusion.
"Huh, what's this?" he asked.
The small, white, cotton undergarment with a sewn image of a strawberry on their front may have been unfamiliar to Jaune, but they were intimately familiar to Ruby. As much as she was trying to get closer to the boy, she wasn't nearly ready for him to start handling her panties.
"Kyaaaaa!" she cried out, lunging and reaching at the same time for the underwear in Jaune's grasp.
As it turned out, lunging, reaching, and panicking were not a good combination, and in her haste Ruby lost her balance and stumbled forward. Her fall was only broken by the thankfully half-full washing machine containing Jaune's own clothes.
"Ow..." she moaned, face-first inside the washing machine.
"Ruby! Are you okay?" she heard Jaune call from behind her.
"I-I'm fine," she confirmed, before trying to push herself out. Unfortunately, the angle of which she'd gone into the machine, combined with her own short height and lack of upper body strength, presented a problem. "Uh oh."
Ruby began to flail about, struggling to try and push out of the washing machine, but like a Mistrali finger trap, it seemed that the more she struggled, the worse things got.
"Ah!" she cried out. "Big brother, help! I'm stuck!"
Falling deeper into the machine, Ruby cursed her small size and lack of strength. She continued to struggle until she felt a pair of large, powerful hands grab hold of her hips.
Ruby felt Jaune's presence behind her as he took hold of her body. His hips were mere inches away from her rear. Fantasies were one thing, but the real deal was something else entirely.
"W-wait! J-Jaune!" she said in a panic. "I-I don't know if I'm ready!"
"Don't worry," she heard his voice say from above her. In the machine it sounded like a far grittier growl than she was used to hearing from the boy. "I'll be gentle."
Ruby closed her eyes, prepared to accept what Jaune was about to do. His fingers tightened on her, and she felt the waistband of her pajama bottoms slip down as Jaune pulled.
True to his word, Jaune gently pulled Ruby out of the washing machine and back up onto her feet. Her racing heart was matched only by her hyperventilating lungs and absolutely crimson cheeks.
"Are you okay?" he asked, worry etched on his face.
Her brain was running a mile a minute, but she was able to nod.
Jaune smiled, and reached out again to pat her on the head. "Thank goodness," he said. "Wow, Ruby, you sure are clumsy. It's a good thing I was here to help you out, huh?"
Ruby was still processing how to deal with what had just happened, but something Jaune said had stood out to her. Clumsy.
Clumsy, but not useless. Judging by his smile and the head pat, it seemed that the idea of her being a bit of a klutz was endearing to Jaune.
One that his totally not-blood-related little sister would have to play up.
"Y-yep!" she grinned, gently tapping her knuckles against her skull again. "I sure am clumsy. Thankfully you were here to save me, big brother."
"Any time, Ruby," he said cheerfully. "As my first friend at Beacon, you can always count on me to help you out whenever you need it."
The words warmed Ruby's heart, but she knew that this wasn't enough. Determined to strike while the iron was hot and make the most of the moment, she pressed the issue further, building upon the rapport she and Jaune were beginning to build.
"Then..." she started out, bashfully biting her lower lip as she glanced away. "Could you maybe help me with the laundry? Yang says I always use too much detergent. Maybe you could help me pour it?"
Jaune smiled again, nodding in agreement. "Sure. Grab the bottle and unscrew the cap."
Ruby did as she was told, and Jaune soon stepped behind her. Wrapping his arms around her body, he took hold of her wrists and began to direct her actions with his own hands.
"So you only want to fill it up to this middle line," he said softly, tickling her ear with his breath. "Since it's not that big of a load, you definitely don't wanna cross the line."
Maybe not yet, but someday Ruby definitely wanted to cross the line with Jaune.
"O-okay, big brother," she replied meekly, playing up her newfound role.
What had started as a disappointing evening competing with the other girls turned into a stimulating night of doing laundry alone with Jaune. He'd grabbed hold of her, embraced her from behind, and he'd even seen her panties.
As far as Ruby was concerned, this was a great step forward in her progress. With their relationship established, she would need to plan out her next move in order to make the most of being Jaune's non-blood-related little sister.
Author's Note: It's still anyone's race, but much like in Infinite Stratos, how can you not like Charlotte-Ren? Then again in these kinds of trash harems, does anyone ever really win?
I hope you've enjoyed your latest helping of trash. Even more extra thick tropey garbage is on the way next chapter.
As always, thanks for reading.