For the second time in only a few weeks, Ruby found herself standing in Beacon's main hall for another impromptu assembly. She, like the rest of her friends, had no idea what it was about. The answer to that would come in due time. For now, all they could do was speculate amongst themselves as to just why they'd been called here once again.
"You don't think... that they're going to suspend Jaune, do you?" she asked her sister.
First there had been the unsanctioned match against Weiss. Professor Goodwitch had nearly lost her mind when she'd happened upon the fight in her classroom. Then there had been the incident in Forever Fall involving Jaune, Yang, and Karen. Though that had never been officially reported, at least not by her sister nor her friend, who knew what any of the faculty knew? Who knew how far their eyes and ears extended beyond the school grounds?
If they had found out that Jaune had been involved in another incident, that could spell the end for him at this school. Rare prodigy or not, there were rules which had to be abided by. Even being the only male in the school with Aura didn't put him above the rules.
"I don't think so," her sister replied softly. "I don't think they'd call all of us here again just to tell us that someone's leaving."
Ruby nodded in agreement, but her worries still didn't disappear entirely. Perhaps they wouldn't until she knew for certain that her new friend not only wasn't in trouble, but would be staying in school for the long haul with her.
After all... she still needed to get in on the action that all of her friends were already way ahead of her in. Now even Yang was ahead of her thanks to the surprise picnic that the two of them had shared in Forever Fall. That, along with Jaune defending her against the attack of an Ursa... it was like the stuff out of a fairy tale. The brave knight defending the maiden from a monster's attack. Not that Yang needed defending, but still. What Ruby wouldn't have given for Jaune to defend little old her from a big scary Grimm...
In an instant Ruby's frown turned upside down, and she closed her eyes imagining the scenario playing out in her mind. Far from helpless she may have been, but Ruby had grown up on a steady diet of fairy tales read to her by first her mother, and then Yang. Imagining Jaune as someone like the Rusted Knight shielding her from harm woke up feelings inside Ruby which she didn't even know she possessed.
"Aw, look at you. Did I cheer you up that much?"
Ruby snapped out of it to look back towards Yang, who smiled at her with all of the tender love and care which she'd always received from her older sister.
And yet, her sudden snap from sullenness actually had little to do with Yang. Still, she wasn't about to tell her sister what she had really been imagining, lest she fall victim to the blonde's familiar teasing. As loving a sibling as she was, not even Ruby was immune to the playful barbs meant to embarrass her and turn her face as red as her cloak.
"Y-yep," she confirmed with a nod, hoping to get her sister off of her back. "You sure did. This Ruby has entered a worried-free zone thanks to you."
Yang's teeth flashed in a bright, wide smile, and she hooked an arm around Ruby's shoulders to draw her in close. "Aw, thanks, sis. Glad I could help. This Yang always knows how to cheer up the people she cares about."
"This Yang is speaking in the third person again," Blake noted from the blonde's other side.
"This Yang is already well-prepared for motherhood," her sister continued, ignoring Blake's comment about her manner of speaking. "And she won't ever repeat the mistakes that her own mother made with her."
Silver eyes widened, even while her face was still buried in her sister's torso in the midst of her tight embrace. Motherhood? Was Yang actually thinking that far ahead already? After all, they were still only first year students at Beacon Academy. Yang was still a few weeks shy of turning eighteen, and she was already thinking about her future with children? Ruby herself was still only fifteen! It was way too early for her of all people to even begin to contemplate marriage and children!
It was enough to prompt Ruby to force herself away from Yang's tight, squeezing embrace so that she could peer up into those sparkling lilac eyes. "M-motherhood?" she echoed uncertainly.
Yang nodded, a happy, knowing smile on her lips. "Yup. And I already have an idea who the father's going to be."
Ruby's blood ran cold, but before she could even contemplate protesting, the murmurs around her began to die down as her classmates' attention began to focus on the stage in the assembly hall.
Headmistress Ozpina strode up to the microphone stand, but she wasn't alone. Jaune was with her.
Her blood froze once more. This... was this it? Was she about to announce Jaune's expulsion? His arrest? No! This couldn't be happening!
Placing a hand on the microphone, Ozpina leaned in, her face an expressionless mask. "Thank you all for gathering here today. I have an important announcement to make."
A glance at Jaune showed no emotion on his part. Perhaps he was steeling himself for the worst. Perhaps he'd already accepted his fate. If he was to go down, he would go down like a true knight. His honor would remain intact until the bitter end.
"Up until today, Jaune Arc had been the only student in this school who was a male. The only male with Aura."
Had been. Past tense. Ozpina was all but saying that this was no longer the case. That it was no longer true. Jaune was going to be expelled for his actions. For Weiss' actions. For Karen's actions.
It wasn't fair! It wasn't! Ruby was determined to stand up and fight this unjust decision. Even here and now if she had to.
"However, after today that will no longer be the case."
Ruby gathered her nerve and began to push forward in the crowd. Before she could, however, she felt a hand on her shoulder and stopped. Looking back, she saw that Yang's own smile had faded, and that her sister was staring down on her like a disapproving mother. The blonde's head shook softly, as if she knew what was going through her younger sibling's head.
Teeth grinding and fists squeezing, Ruby bit back her feelings of anger and held firm despite the emotions raging inside of her. If not now then when? Afterward? In the privacy of Ozpina's office?
"Today I would like to introduce you to another new member of Beacon Academy. In an unprecedented turn of events, we have discovered another male who is able to harness his Aura."
The words rang throughout the hall like a gunshot. So silent had the room gone that Ruby could have heard a pin drop to the floor. For long seconds it remained like that, until all at once, a cacophony of screams rang out.
High-pitched squeals from all directions assaulted her like a sonic attack, and Ruby winced at the sheer amount of joy and elation which filled the room, turning the mood from somber into pure and unmitigated celebration.
"Oh my gods, another boy!?" one of the girls cried.
"I can't believe this! This means that more than one girl stands a chance at getting a guy now?" Another gushed.
"That's nice and all, but I like girls!" a third chimed in.
For Ruby, however, none of this mattered. A wave of relief surged over her as she realized that Jaune wasn't in trouble. He wasn't going anywhere. In fact, he was going to be getting what she could only imagine would become a friend. A friend who would share in his plight. A friend who would share in his unfamiliarity. One who would be with Jaune side by side, day in and day out, to help navigate him through his journey in an unfamiliar place.
Perhaps even... a roommate. One who he would share his deepest and darkest secrets with. One who would confide in Jaune, and in turn, Jaune in him. One who would play video games with him all night when they were supposed to be asleep.
Ruby blinked. Jaune... was about to get a friend who would replace her.
As happy as Ruby had been an instant ago, she was instantly filled with all new worry and dread.
Ozpina held up a hand, and after a few seconds the excited squeals of the female student body died down. "Please give a warm welcome to our newest student, and the second male who will be attending this academy with you, Lie Ren."
A boy strode out from his hiding spot, and as Ruby's eyes fell upon him, she realized that he couldn't have been further in appearance from Jaune if he had tried.
Whereas Jaune was tall and muscular, Ren was shorter and slender. Where Jaune's hair was bright and blond, Ren's was black, save for the single lock of pink. Where Jaune stood proud and confident, Ren shrank under the attention, making him appear even smaller than he already was.
Still, this did nothing to deter the majority of her peers, and the raucous energy which had been quieted by Ozpina returned with a vengeance as the thirsty cries of euphoria rang out in the hall once more.
"He's such a little cutie!" one screamed.
"I just wanna snuggle up with him all night long!"
"Look at that pink hair! He just radiates bottom energy!"
Ruby had no idea what that last comment meant, but she was oddly relieved that some of the attention was being taken off of Jaune and put onto the new guy. She was no economist, but even Ruby knew that the less scarce something became, the lower its value would be.
Perhaps some of the girls would remove their focus from Jaune in favor of Ren. And if that happened, that meant that the competition had suddenly become a lot lighter.
"Oh no..." she heard Yang mutter.
Perhaps Yang didn't feel the same way.
Ruby turned to her sister, who was staring up at the stage intently. The grim expression she wore on her face showed a girl who was also concerned by this recent turn of events.
"Yang?" Ruby questioned.
"This is bad. Really bad."
While Ruby had mixed feelings on the topic, she wanted to know exactly why Yang shared in her sentiments that this new student could pose a problem for her own personal goals and desires.
"Why's that?"
"Haven't you heard the rumors? Jaune... his only experience so far has been with guys, and now he looks super excited to have another guy in the school with him. This could only mean one thing."
Sure enough, a glance back up at Jaune showed a huge smile on his face as he went over to shake Ren's hand. The smaller boy seemed to shrink under Jaune's imposing figure. Or maybe Ruby was just imagining things. In any case, it didn't seem like anything in particular was out of the ordinary here.
Ruby's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean? Isn't it normal for guys to be friends with other guys?"
"No, not like..." Yang shook her head. "Nevermind."
"And they're undoubtedly going to be sharing a room together," Blake added. "Can you even begin to imagine the... the... debauchery that's going to occur behind closed doors?"
"Uh, Blake? You're drooling."
Sure enough, Blake seemed to be rather excited at the prospect of Jaune having a male friend.
"Oh please, Blake," Weiss countered, offering her own thoughts on the matter. "It's not like they're going to start going at it just because they're sharing a room." The heiress looked on either side of herself to her teammates. "I mean, it's not like we do such things. Jaune is a decent and respectable young man, and I don't believe he would ever engage in such acts when someone like me is available."
"But that's the thing, Weiss," Blake argued, raising a finger. "He may be those things, but he's still a young man. Only what? Seventeen or eighteen years old? With hormones coursing through his veins. He and Ren are at the very height of puberty. Why would he want to venture across the hall to an uncertain future when all he wants and needs is right in the bed beside his own?" Blake's arms wrapped around her torso, and she began to gently sway back and forth with her eyes closed. "Mmm, just thinking about it makes me feel all tingly inside..."
A glance at Weiss showed her revulsion, while Yang appeared disturbed. Ruby still didn't understand what was being said. They were just going to be roommates, after all. Right?
"I think I liked it better when you were the quiet one," Yang told her partner.
"Agreed!" Weiss snapped. "We do not need this debased mental imagery."
Blake leaned in toward Weiss, forcing the heiress to retreat a step lest she come nose to nose with the suddenly lively Blake. "And why's that, Weiss? Are you jealous that you're not going to be the one who Jaune will devour like a ravenous wolf with a cute little white rabbit?"
A blush crossed Weiss' face, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water before she was able to sputter out a response. "T-that is simply untrue!" she protested.
"Sure it isn't," Blake smiled knowingly.
"Well it's not like it matters anyway," Yang interrupted. "Like I said, the rumor going around school is that Jaune's into guys anyway."
"Rumor from who?" Weiss demanded.
"Coco. Said she heard it from Jaune himself."
Weiss folded her arms indignantly. "Well Coco is a known gossip queen," she argued. "I wouldn't trust that girl if she told me the sky was blue."
"Well I'm with you on one thing," Yang added. "I'm not going to give up just because of a stupid rumor. Ren may be surprisingly effeminate, but I can guarantee he doesn't have a pair of weapons like these." Yang pressed her chest upward to emphasize her point.
"T-that's right," Weiss agreed. "My feminine charm will win the day in the end."
"Fools," Blake spat under her breath. "No taste. No taste whatsoever."
"What was that, Blake?" Yang growled.
While her three teammates descended into anarchy and infighting, Ruby's eyes were drawn back up to the stage. Jaune appeared to be genuinely happy to have another guy in the school to share his situation with. If Jaune was happy... then maybe Ruby should be happy for his sake too. Even if this did make her life more difficult in a sense, the fact that it made his life easier shouldn't have been seen as a bad thing. No. As his friend, Ruby should be entirely supportive of Jaune and his newfound friend.
With a small smile curling her lips upward, Ruby felt revitalized and happy. Yes, this new boy Ren may present an obstacle for her, but if she was truly Jaune's friend then she should be supportive of this. And, if she really was meant to be with Jaune, that meant that she would simply have to find more ways to get close to him. Video games were merely one thing they had in common. In time, she would get to know Jaune better. In order to do that she would need to spend more time with him. In spending more time with him their bonds would deepen. Considering the level of competition, this was the natural, and only course of action she could take.
Let Jaune have his male bestie. She was already his female one. Soon enough she would have her time in the sun. And when she did, this Rose would truly blossom.
This was unbelievable! Of all the strange coincidences, of all the unlikeliest events, what were the chances of there not only being another guy in the world who could use Aura, but that he would come to this very school!
To say that Jaune was happy was an understatement. Finally, after weeks of feeling like an outsider, like he was the only one of his kind, there was finally someone who would be able to share in his experiences. Sure, he had made plenty of friends since arriving. Great friends, in fact. He wouldn't have traded them, and the times he'd had with them, for anything. However, there was just something about another guy going through the same things that he was which helped him instantly form a bond with the newest boy in Beacon.
Standing about half a foot shorter than himself, Ren was actually a little bit under average for a boy. His hair was longer than Jaune's though, much of which extended down the middle of his back in a tightly-braided ponytail. The hint of pink hair on the left side of his face matched his eyes, and those soft eyes of his fit nicely with his equally soft and slender face.
Overall, he just seemed like a nice guy too! Soft-spoken, which was to be expected for the new guy in school, but nice all the same. Jaune had already gone through the rough parts of being the new guy here, and so he was determined to help guide Ren through his first experiences at Beacon Academy.
"I can't wait for you to meet them, Lie" Jaune said excitedly as the pair walked toward the cafeteria. "They're all such nice people. A few quirks here and there, but I think you're going to get along with them great."
Ruby was a sweet girl who Jaune liked to play video games with. Weiss, though a bit harsh and prickly on the outside, had turned out to be a kind-hearted and vulnerable girl with a rough upbringing. Blake was quiet too, and would probably get along great with Ren. Her secret of being a faunus, however, was not Jaune's to tell. And then there was Yang, the kick-ass Huntress-in-training who as it turned out could cook an awesome meal.
And of course there was his childhood best friend Pyrrha and her teammate Nora. Jaune wondered what the rest of her team was like.
"That sounds nice," Ren replied in that quiet, almost monotonous voice of his. He really came off as quite shy. Jaune hoped that being around the energetic and eccentric girls would help bring him out of his shell. "Though you can just call me Ren."
"Ren," Jaune repeated. "Sure thing, Ren. I hope you're hungry too, because today is hamburger day for lunch." Jaune heard his stomach rumble at just the thought of biting into those thick, greasy burgers.
"Is there a salad option?" Ren wondered.
Jaune pondered the question. "Probably. Beacon has the best food I've ever tasted, and for good reason. They have to keep the future defenders of humanity healthy and fit. Do you like salads?"
Ren nodded. "I've always preferred eating healthy when I can. Salads, smoothies, things of that nature."
"Oh, cool. I eat pretty much whatever I can get my hands on. As a growing boy I needed all the nutrients I could get."
If Ren on the other hand preferred lighter and more calorie-friendly meals, perhaps it was no wonder he was considerably shorter than himself.
Stepping into the cafeteria, all heads turned to look at the pair of new arrivals. Jaune was used to it. Even after a few weeks he couldn't blame the girls. After all, he was an anomaly. It would take more than the time he's spent here so far to change the perceptions of people who had all grown up believing a certain thing to be true.
Ren, on the other hand, was new to this. Casting a sideways glance at his new friend, Jaune gauged the new boy's reaction to the sudden avalanche of attention.
To his surprise, Ren appeared to be unfazed by the dozens of girls focusing on them. Keeping his gaze facing forward, Ren strode deeper into the cafeteria toward where the food was being served. Jaune followed suit, pleasantly surprised by the calm reaction from the boy.
As they passed, Jaune heard the hushed whispers of girls he passed. He was used to it by now. He usually didn't get what they meant when they were talking, but if they were having a good time he wasn't about to judge them.
"Oh yeah, Jaune's totally the top," one of them commented.
Jaune frowned. They probably wouldn't even have bunk beds, seeing how there were only two of them who would be sharing a dorm room. Only Team RWBY appeared to even have bunk beds, and that was of their own doing.
"Wow, Lie Ren's so pretty. I wish I had skin as smooth as his."
Ren did indeed have unusually pristine skin. Jaune would have to ask what he used to wash his face.
"Ugh, it's not fair! Even the way he walks! He's such a better girl than me!"
Did girls walk a certain way? Jaune couldn't say. Even growing up with seven sisters, they all had their own unique methods and habits. A glance down to Ren's waist showed his hips slightly swaying, and his ponytail swished back and forth as he strode through the cafeteria. All in all, there didn't seem to be anything unusual about Ren.
After getting their food, Jaune led Ren to a familiar table filled with familiar faces. Ruby and Yang scooted over to make room for the new arrivals, and Jaune plopped down next to his first friend at Beacon.
"Girls, let me introduce you to Ren," he said with a smile as he gestured at the boy to his left. "Ren," he continued as he began to point at the girls, starting with the one next to him. "I'd like you to meet Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Nora."
Most of them were polite, but not overbearing. Blake bit down on her lip, producing a notebook which she began to write in. Nora, on the other hand...
"So, Ren, huh?" the girl asked, leaning across the table to get a closer look at the boy. "It's really nice to meet you. I'm Nora. Nora Valkyrie. I can bench press five of me."
Ren blinked, and offered a small nod. "That's impressive."
"It is, it is," Nora agreed, coming back down to her seat. She flexed her right bicep, gazing lovingly at it before giving it a soft kiss. "I may be short, but I'm strong. If you ever need help lifting anything, just give me a call, okay?"
Ren nodded once more. "Sure."
"Or, you know, just help with anything. I'm free. Like, really free. No plans tonight. Not spending any time with anyone in particular."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Or if you just want to give me a call for any reason. Like if you're feeling lonely, or you wanna hang out, maybe work out together and get all nice and sweaty and then we can hit the showers and-"
"Nora," Pyrrha interrupted, cutting her teammate off in mid-sentence. "I believe Ren understands the point. We wouldn't want to overwhelm him his first time meeting us, now would we?"
Nora frowned, but ultimately calmed down. Jaune thought it was great that she was being so friendly to the new guy! Just like how all the girls were incredibly friendly toward him, it was nice to see Ren getting some friendly attention as well.
And of course, his oldest childhood friend Pyrrha was being as good of a friend as one could be. Even she was watching out for the new guy, making sure he wasn't getting smothered by all of the attention on his first day.
With that out of the way, Jaune picked up his hamburger and eyed it hungrily. "Now that that's out of the way, let's eat!"
Taking a huge bite out of his burger, Jaune felt the bliss wash over his taste buds. Beacon really did have the best food, and the best part was that he could have as much as he wanted!
As he swallowed he noticed the other girls staring at him as he ate. Did he get something on his cheek when he took a bite? He dabbed a napkin on his face just to be sure.
"So, Jaune," Yang said. "Is that mustard I see on your burger?"
Looking down at the food, Jaune did indeed see the yellow on top of the patty. He nodded in confirmation. "Yeah."
Yang grinned. "I have to say, mustard is the best thing to put on your burger. Something yellow is the perfect thing to go on top of your meat, wouldn't you agree?"
Jaune did indeed like mustard on his burgers. "Mustard is definitely a great choice," he agreed.
"Be that as it may," Weiss interjected. "I've found that mayonnaise also tastes delicious on a hamburger. You like something... white as well, Jaune. Don't you?"
Sure enough Jaune looked down at his food to see that there was mayonnaise on it too. These girls were really on point with their choice of condiments.
"For sure," he agreed once again. "Actually I've got mayo on here too. It goes great with mustard on the meat."
Yang cast her gaze across the table at Weiss, and grinned as she leaned over it. "Oh yeah? Hear that, Weiss? Jaune likes his yellow and white at the same time..."
Weiss' face turned red as she sputtered out a cough, grabbing her glass of water and drinking deeply from it. Poor girl. She must have eaten her burger too quickly and had it go down the wrong way.
"Purple onions are great on burgers too," Blake commented before shifting her focus to Jaune and Ren. "However, I think what I like more than onions on my burger, is just a plain double hamburger. Two pieces of meat pressed together. That's what you like too, isn't it, Jaune? As a man you just crave that meat. Don't you?"
Jaune couldn't argue with Blake there. Two pieces of meat were always better than one. "Yeah, I do love a lot of meat."
"Yeah I'll bet you do," Blake purred.
"Blake, what are you even talking about?" Yang protested. "I thought you... you had some onion on your burger already?"
"I had a little taste, but then we suddenly had the option for a double burger, so I prefer that for myself."
"Hey, are we forgetting about something?" Ruby said. "How could you have a burger without ketchup? Why is nobody mentioning ketchup? Ketchup is the best!"
When it came to all of that, mustard and mayo, onions and ketchup, Jaune loved it all. In fact, he'd put all of those things on his hamburger. He'd even put a nice thick piece of green lettuce on it as well. Jaune had all of the toppings for his meat. He wouldn't have it any other way.
"Ketchup is great too," Jaune confirmed. Lifting the top of his hamburger, Jaune revealed its contents for all of the girls to see. "And as you can see, I have it all on here. I can't be satisfied with just one. I gotta have them all."
Half a dozen pairs of eyes stared at his food, and then back up at him. Yang seemed shaken. Weiss was beet-red once more. Even Blake was taken aback. Ruby on the other hand seemed normal.
"A-at the same time, you mean?" Weiss asked softly. "Insatiable..." she whispered under her breath.
"Well, yeah," Jaune confirmed. "Of course. I'm a big guy, after all. I can handle all these things on my meat together."
"In... in one sitting?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah."
Weiss leaned back in her seat, steepling her fingers together in front of her face. "I see..."
"I'm down," Yang grinned.
"Yang, you shouldn't mix mustard and ketchup together!" Blake told her partner. Jaune for the life of him couldn't understand why. They went great together. Maybe it was some sort of cultural thing in Menagerie?
"The ketchup and mustard don't have to be next to each other," Yang argued. "They can be separated."
Ruby seemed confused. "Why not? Ketchup and mustard on a burger together is fine. They go good together on wieners too."
"She's right," Jaune agreed. "Ketchup and mustard would be great together on my wiener."
"But I'm not a huge fan of the really long and thick wieners," Ruby continued, tapping a finger against her chin in thought. "I'm kinda small, and there's only so much I can fit in my mouth. The bun too. Normal buns are too small to fit a really big wiener in."
Jaune couldn't believe how much Ruby got him at times. She really was a close and dear friend. "I know what you mean. I've struggled at times to fit big wieners in my buns too."
"Really?" Blake asked excitedly, her golden eyes suddenly lit up. "And here I thought that you would be the..."
"What, that I didn't eat wieners?"
Weiss slammed a hand onto the table. "Oh for the love of the gods, can we please just call them hot dogs? This is ridiculous!"
Blake shook her head, and she began to scribble into her notebook again. "Nevermind. It's just that I'll have to revise some of my notes."
Jaune didn't know what she was talking about, but Blake appeared to be quite the studious girl. Here she was taking notes in the middle of lunch, and she seemed excited about doing so as well. Maybe he would have to ask her for a private study session one of these days.
Glancing over to see how Ren was faring, Jaune noticed that in all of the chaos, that some stray salad dressing had smeared onto his cheek near his lip. It would have been pretty embarrassing for that to linger while they ate, so Jaune took action immediately to remove it.
"Hey, Ren," he said softly, and when Ren turned toward him, Jaune gently took his cheek with a thumb and forefinger. With his other hand he gently wiped away the white dressing from his face. "You just had some salad dressing on your face."
The table went utterly silent, except for the sound of Blake grabbing her napkin to press up against her nose which had suddenly started to bleed.
Aware of what he'd just done, Jaune smiled embarrassedly. "Sorry, I wasn't even thinking. My big brother instincts just kinda took hold there and I did what I would have done for one of my little sisters."
Weiss and Yang didn't seem too happy. Blake was furiously scribbling into her notebook. Pyrrha and Nora seemed concerned. Ruby was happy as always.
"And what are you writing now, Blake?" Yang asked.
"Ideas!"
"Yeah, I'll bet."
"Quick, what are some words you'd use to describe Ren?"
Jaune took a long look at the boy. He was nice, polite, quiet, calm...
"Petite," Weiss offered.
"Pretty..." Nora added.
Blake nodded fervently as she wrote. "Mhmm. Mhmm. Petite, pretty, docile, submissive..."
Jaune's brow furrowed. "Submissive?"
They barely even knew the boy. Was it just because he was a little bit on the small side? Certainly he did seem petite for a guy, and definitely prettier than Jaune himself. However, maybe submissive was a bit of a stretch.
"Oh I agree," Nora added. "He's definitely submissive. I'll prove it. We should wrestle. Come on, one-v-one me, bro."
Nora was offering to help train Ren, eh? That was awesome! Just like how the other girls were more than willing to give him a hand with his training, it was nice to see Nora take the lead with the new guy.
"Submissive and breedable..."
"Uh, Blake?" Yang asked. "You do know Ren's a guy, right?"
"Yang, let me introduce you to the world of mpreg."
"What in the world is mpreg?" Weiss wondered.
Jaune could only think it was a type of computer file. Maybe like a jpeg?
Yang lashed out with a finger toward the heiress. "Don't ask!" she ordered the girl, before bringing her focus onto Blake. "Don't tell!" Finally her finger was leveled at Ruby. "And you, cover your ears!"
"But if no one's asking or telling then what-"
"Because I'm your sister and I said so!"
Blake chuckled dementedly to herself as she continued to write to her heart's content.
Jaune, for his part, could only laugh. He had no idea what was going on, but this was exactly the kind of hijinks he'd come to expect from his new friends. They were all so wonderful and funny. Even though he didn't get their jokes half the time, like the stuff they'd said about Ren, he could still laugh at them.
Ren was fitting in great. The girls weren't guarded around him, and they certainly weren't hostile. No, they were all getting along together despite his gender. Even Weiss, who had a prejudice against men, didn't seem to mind him.
All in all, it was a great first day for Ren. Jaune had a feeling that things would only get better for him, for the both of them, moving forward.
They'd made it through classes, including Professor Goodwitch's combat course. Lunch. Dinner. The end of the day had finally arrived, and it was time to rest.
Coming back to his once permanently empty dorm room, Jaune was happy to know that from now on he would have a teammate. Though he may not have had a traditional four-person team like everyone else in Beacon Academy, he would also no longer be alone in his quest to become a Huntsman.
This also meant sharing a bathroom. Still, after having shared bathrooms with seven sisters, the idea of sharing one with a single guy was like paradise for Jaune. There would be no weird products to be left lying around. No one taking an hour in order to shower. No worrying about hot water. No fights to see who went first. A roommate he could get along with sounded nothing but awesome.
Sadly though, it didn't appear Ren was in at the moment. Jaune didn't know where he was. Maybe he was meeting with Headmistress Ozpina to sort out any final issues with his acceptance to the school. Maybe he was out getting an after dinner snack. Or maybe he was even out mingling with the other students. The last one seemed unlikely for a boy as shy as Ren, but anything was possible for a boy he barely knew.
Deciding to grab a quick shower, Jaune began to strip off his clothes so that he could grab his own before Ren's return. Seeing how he'd have some time to himself while in there, the only thing to determine now was if he could come up with a team name like everyone else had.
He hummed as he pondered the question. "Jaune Arc and Lie Ren. Let's see..." he trailed off as he considered the possibilities. "J L. A R. J R. A L. Or any of those backwards. Honestly, Team Junior doesn't sound too bad..."
It was the only half-sensible one he could come up with. None of the others made a color name, but he supposed that was just the limitations of having only two people on his team.
Shrugging at his victory, Jaune walked over to the bathroom door and opened it. To his surprise, the lights were on. To his shock, he was in fact not alone in his room, and Ren appeared to have already taken a shower.
Ren. Who stood stark naked in front of him.
Ren, who possessed a surprisingly slender yet curvy body.
Ren, whose long black hair cascaded down and clung to his wet back.
Ren... whose bare breasts glistened with the water from the shower, and who seemed to lack a... a...
Blue eyes widened as he realized just what... and who... he had walked in on.
The pink eyes of the... girl... widened in turn. Unlike Jaune, however, she let out a terrified yelp, and hurried to cover herself up with her arms.
In doing so her wet feet slipped on the wet floor, and Ren found herself flying forward with her nose on a direct collision course for the floor.
Jaune leapt into action, moving without thought, and hurled himself at the falling girl. He caught her in his arms, and their bodies met before momentum and sheer mass forced Ren backwards.
With the back of her head about to hit the floor, Jaune's arms wrapped around it, shielding her from the damage as the two collapsed to the ground in a crumbled, naked heap. Jaune lay atop her for long seconds before he finally removed his hands from her and propped himself up.
"Ren!" he cried out in worry. "Are you alright?"
"I... I'm fine," she groaned. Jaune noticed how her voice, while still monotone, suddenly sounded higher and lighter now. Like everything before had been a false voice she'd put on to sound more masculine. Knowing what he knew now, it made sense.
Staring down at her with concerned blue eyes, Jaune only now realized just what kind of position he was in. What position they were in. With neither wearing a shred of clothing, with him atop of her...
He quickly scrambled off of her and fell back, inching away before turning around to face away from her. "I'm so sorry!" he shouted.
"I- me too!" Ren screamed back, and the sound of her hands connecting with her face told Jaune that she had covered it. "I'm not looking! You can stand up and get out and we can both get dressed!"
Jaune nodded, seemingly unaware that Ren couldn't see the motion, and he hurriedly picked himself up off the floor and rushed out of the bathroom, where he closed the door behind him.
Gathering up the clothes he'd just shed a minute earlier, Jaune felt his heart racing and his face burning as he recalled what he'd just seen. Ren... Ren was no boy at all. She'd posed as one. For what reason Jaune couldn't say. What he knew, however, was that she was keeping this a secret for some reason. Living a lie. As the person entrusted with her as his roommate, he knew that he couldn't ever let this secret leave this room.
The question now was, what was Ren going to do about it?
One day. She couldn't even make it one day as a boy before she had been exposed.
Literally in this case.
Lira Ren finished both dressing and composing herself before she looked into the mirror. Truth be told, she wasn't angry. Growing up as an orphan, it wasn't as if she always had the privacy of her own personal bathroom. She didn't always have proper clothes to wear. Heck, this wasn't even the first time she'd seen a member of the opposite sex naked. Not that she'd ever done anything with anyone, but still, growing up on the street or living in an orphanage meant that you sometimes just saw stuff.
No, rage was an emotion which Ren had long since suppressed in part thanks to her Semblance. What she felt instead now was the crippling fear that this would all end before it even began. That her secret would be exposed, and that she would be forced back out onto the street before she had a chance to receive training to become a Huntress. To be a Huntress meant power. To have power meant the ability to clothe and feed herself. To have stability and security.
To finally get to live a life worth living.
Right now the only thing, the only person who potentially stood in the way of that was the boy outside that door.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Ren opened the door and stepped outside.
She wasn't met with accusations. There were no teachers. No other people present period. No, the only other person in this room was Jaune. Jaune, who sat on his bed with his hands folded between his legs. With his head tilted down so that he could stare at the floor.
Stepping deeper into the room, it was clear to Ren that she would need to be the one to speak first. If Jaune was the kind of boy that she thought he was, he must have felt just awful for a number of different reasons.
He just needed to hear it from her that he didn't need to.
"Jaune," she said quietly. Almost too quietly to be heard. However, the fact that Jaune lifted his head was proof enough that it was loud enough. "I'm not angry."
"I'm sorry," he offered up nonetheless.
She shook her head. "No. I should have locked the door."
He flashed her a small smile, but it faded as quickly as it had formed. "I should have knocked. I grew up with sisters."
Point, but still. "Does that mean you'll knock from now on?"
Jaune's head tilted in confusion. "Wait, from now on?"
Wrapping her arms around her torso, Ren hugged herself as she moved closer to Jaune. "I want to go to Beacon Academy." She took a seat next to him on the bed, staying a respectable couple of feet away from him. "That's why I lied. If you don't have a problem with this situation, then neither do I."
He nodded, though whether that was in understanding or agreement, she couldn't say.
"I... yeah, I mean, I don't have a problem. Are you sure you want to be roommates with a guy though?"
Ren stared down at her hands which rested atop her lap. Her small, feminine hands. Tiny and delicate compared to Jaune's which had protected her from her fall.
"What do you mean?" she wondered as she looked up and over to Jaune. "As the only other male in this school, it's only right that I share a room with you, Jaune."
She was making her position clear and known. The ball was in his court now. So how would he respond to such a declaration?
"Then I guess we're roommates," he said with a smile. A wave of relief washed over Ren. "Though if we're going to be roommates, I think I should know your name."
"It's Ren."
Jaune blinked. "Oh... really?"
Ren was confused by his confusion for a moment before it finally clicked. Nodding to herself, she looked away and back down at her lap before continuing.
"Right, this isn't Mistral. My family name is Ren, but that's what we say first. My given name is Lira."
"Lira Ren. So I guess Lie was a lie then, huh?"
The quip was almost enough to make her laugh. Almost. For the most part, even positive emotions were kept in check by Ren. Most of the time she wore an emotionless mask which few could see behind. It was a habit she'd formed long ago from her earliest days of trying to survive in the wilderness filled with Grimm. From days long since past where sometimes other humans were just as dangerous as the shadowy beasts themselves.
"It was," she agreed. "A necessary one." Breathing a heavy sigh, Ren decided here and now that she would probably have to explain why in order to earn Jaune's continued trust. She'd never told anyone else this story before. After all, there had never been anyone else close enough to her to tell. "I suppose you'd like to know why."
Jaune neither nodded nor shook his head, nor did he shrug in indifference. Instead he kept his eyes firmly locked on hers when he spoke his response. "Only if you feel comfortable telling me."
Those words alone drove away any doubts in her mind. There was no harm in telling him. After all, he already knew her secret. What was the worst he could do with this information? Tell somebody?
"Very well. I'm from a small village in Mistral. One you've probably never heard of."
"My family and I used to go camping in Mistral. Which village?"
Closing her eyes, Ren spoke a single word. "Kuroyuri."
Simply mentioning the name brought images back to the forefront of her mind. Fire. Screaming. Death. So much death. She had to suppress it. She had to suppress it all.
Her eyes flashed open before she even had the chance. A new feeling of warmth and comfort overcame her, but it wasn't her Semblance. Looking down, she saw that Jaune's impossibly large hands had come to take her own in them.
She looked up to see his concerned eyes staring into her own.
"You were shaking," he said softly. "If it's that bad you don't need to tell me. I don't need to know. Or if you do want to tell me, it can be another time. It doesn't have to be now."
It was incredibly kind and understanding of him to say so. As it turned out, Jaune was exactly the kind of boy she thought he was. One who would most definitely keep her secret. One with whom she could live without problems.
One she could trust with anything that was on her mind, or in her heart.
"My village was attacked by Grimm," she told him softly. All the while her hands remained in his, using them for comfort and strength. It was in a way better than relying on her Semblance to keep her emotions at bay. "And I was the only survivor."
"Ren..."
She shook her head, dismissing his interruption and concern in one fell swoop. "I've been alone ever since then. If not literally, then at least emotionally. After that I never had any family or friends I could rely on. I lived on the streets as an orphan. Sometimes I found my way into an orphanage, but I never stayed in any one place particularly long. I learned to fight along the way. Kids being kids, and all that. And without any weapons, I learned how to use my Aura itself as a weapon."
Ren considered herself to be a master of Aura manipulation. With a single strike of her palm she could obliterate almost any size Grimm. The only problem was she had to get incredibly close to do so.
"And so... I never had formal education. Or formal combat training. I could never get into a combat school on my own. But then I saw you. I saw the only boy in the world get a free ticket into Beacon Academy just because he was unique and special. I thought that maybe if I did the same..."
"That you could get everything that you never got to have growing up."
Ren nodded. "That, and a future free of worry and want. If I could become a Huntress, or I guess a Huntsman in this case, I could take on jobs and earn money. I could have a home. I would never have to worry about food or shelter ever again." She looked down at the hand which covered hers, and was grateful for the fact that they would be stilled as she said what she said next. "And that maybe, someday, I could go back to Mistral and hunt down the Grimm which destroyed my home all those years ago..."
She felt Jaune squeeze down on her hands. The pressure felt comforting. Like a warm embrace.
How she longed to feel that kind of full body hug from him for real.
"Then I'll help you achieve your dream," he told her with a sweet, innocent smile. "I'll never tell anyone who you are or where you're from. To me you're Lie Ren, the only other guy in the world who can use Aura. Someone special."
Ren's heart skipped a beat. Someone special...
She peered up into Jaune's warm blue eyes. Someone special...
Get it together, Lira, she told herself. She was just about the activate her Semblance in order to suppress her emotions, but stopped short. Maybe... maybe it wasn't wrong to feel these kinds of emotions. Maybe things like happiness should be free to run through her body unchecked.
Instead she returned the gentle squeeze she received to Jaune's own hands.
"I appreciate that," she offered with the slightest sliver of a smile. "In that case, may I make a request of you?"
"Anything," he agreed readily. There was zero hesitation to her request.
"May I... share your bed with you tonight?"
Jaune gave her a confused look. At least it wasn't outright rejection, nor repulsion. The rumors she'd heard at lunch made her think that Jaune wasn't very much into women. That at least in some part helped her make the decision she was in the middle of making.
"I'm not opposed to it. Sometimes when one of my little sisters had a nightmare they'd want to crawl into bed with me. Is it something like that?"
His explanation calmed her body and mind as well as her Semblance could have. He really was a kind and caring boy, wasn't he?
"Growing up as an orphan, I've often struggled with loneliness. It would be nice to... just feel someone next to me. To know that I'm not alone." That soft smile crept its way onto her lips again. "And it's as you said. If I have a nightmare, it will be nice to know that I'll have someone there to protect me from it."
One of Jaune's hands moved from her own to wrap around her shoulder, and he pulled her closer to him. Ren rested her head against his shoulder, and she could already feel the warmth radiating from his body against hers.
"Then that's fine. We can sleep together like this," he agreed.
Even such language as that offered no misunderstandings to Ren. She knew that he meant sleep in the literal sense of the word and nothing more.
As the two prepared for bed, Ren contemplated how she never thought this was how she would spend her first night alone with a boy. She was absolutely fine with the strange turn of events.
Lying down next to the boy, Ren flipped around to turn her back to him, but in doing so pressed herself closely against him. Without a word Jaune wrapped his arm around her torso, clutching her tightly against his chest. Like a warm and heavy blanket, Jaune covered Ren in a comforting embrace, and she could swear she felt the rhythmic beating of his heart against her back.
Already her eyelids began to feel heavy, and despite the fact that she wanted to stay awake in order to bask in this new and unfamiliar sensation of safety and affection, she found herself unable to fight the urge to close her eyes and submit to the call of sleep.
Docile and submissive...
Maybe so, but if such words meant feeling how she felt here in this moment, Ren would gladly play the part. For an orphan girl who spent many cold, lonely nights alone on the streets, the warm embrace of a friend who you could place your utmost trust in was like a fantasy come to life.
For the first time in a long time, sleep came readily and easily for the girl. Wrapped up in the arms of Jaune Arc, Lira Ren enjoyed a warm and dreamless night.
Author's Note: The trash returns! Eat your garbage, people! Day old McRib reheated in the microwave. That's what this shit is, because I wrote it all in a day.
Of course we gotta have the girl posing as a guy, the yaoi misunderstandings, Blake being exactly who we want her to be... and so forth. You think this is just Infinite Stratos? Prepare for a whole other kind of slop known as Mayo Chiki!
Hopefully you all enjoyed this stupidity. As always, thanks for reading.