A/N: Hello, to you, my friends, and welcome to another chapter of Love's First Rose. A HolyBun's chapter to be exact. Hey, ProjectWinchester! This one's for you!

RWBY was created by the late Monty Oum and is owned by Viz Media


Love's First Rose

Chapter 2

A year or so before Clout,

Roughly two to week weeks before the Beacon Dance,

Cardin was losing his mind. It was as simple as that,

He stood before the mirror in Team CRDL's room, sweating bullets, as he tried in vain to calm his breathing. After months of working up to it, he had finally asked Velvet out. And, she had said yes!

IT had taken a lot of work on his part for her to believe that his change was real, that he wasn't the same racist thug who had bullied so many others, and pulled on her ears. The memory of that sickened him, as did the rest of his behavior back then.

If it wasn't for Jaune...

He sighed heavily as he closed his eyes before opening them back up after a moment of composing himself. He could do this. He didn't need Jaune's help. He didn't!

He... He was still freaking out. Shit! Could he actually do this?

He didn't know.

"Cardin, Relax, buddy," he friend and partner said from where he was lounging on the beds behind him. He turned to look at Russell as he laid there looking up from a video playing on his Scroll and twerked an unamused eyebrow at his lackadaisical tone as he said, "You already got the bitch on lock, man. What's to worry about?"

"Yeah, man!" Sky Lark chimed in from where he was reading a Playgirls' magazine. Flipping a page he continued with, "Just buy the animal some pretty baubles, and she'll be all over you. Ain't nothin' to worry about, man. We're telling you."

Cardin sighed before turning back to the mirror and nervously adjusted the collar of his black and red dress shirt. It was the same one he usually wore under his armor. After a moment, he answered gruffly, "First, because it's not like it's set in stone or anything just yet. Nor, will it ever be. I still have to actually win her over, or this will all be for nothing. She's got to believe that I can really, actually change, that it's not just a gimmick to get into her pants, like what Coco and probably just about everyone else thinks it is.

"And, second, " He turned back to growled at his teammates. "She's not a bitch. She's not an animal. She's not anything, but Velvet. Got it?"

Russel raised his hands in a placating manner, his skin paling as he heard a little of the Old Cardin come out in that command. Sky did the same while Dove merely shook his head at the pair of idiots antics before going back to cleaning Hallshott.

Before any of them could give any more... dubious advice, the door to their room opened after a couple of quick knocks to show one Jaune Arc coming in, a classic goofy grin on his face. He looked around briefly before spying Cardin at the mirror and raised a hand in greeting as he said, "Dude, Cardin! What's taking you so long, man? We've got, like, half an hour to make it over to the Senior Dorms."

He walked up to the slightly bigger man and said, "You don't want to be late for you big date with Velve."

Cardin immediately crumbled as he turned and whispered-hissed, "I can't do this, dude! I think this was a mistake. Maybe, maybe we-we can reschedule it? Yeah! Hey, let-let's do-do that, huh? Wha-what do you say?"

Jaune frowned at that before taking a quick survey of Winchester's team to find them all nodding along dutifully with their boss. Then he sighed before shaking his head and stepped forwards to place a comforting hand on Cardin's shoulder, "Hey, man. Breathe. Just breathe. You got this." He said the last while giving an encouraging squeeze to Cardin's shoulder. "Just breathe, man."

"But, maybe we can-" Cardin started, still panicking.

"Dude," Jaune interrupted with a knowing, if firm smile. "We can't delay this any longer. Velvet only has this one weekend free before they go off on their final mission of the year. If you want any chance of succeeding with her, you got to go for it now. Understood?"

Cardin swallow and nodded silently

Jaune grinned at him in sympathy as he gripped his shoulder once more and gave it a slight shake for emphasis, as if to say, "Hey, you got this!" Then he said, "You know, Velve, Car. You know her. She just a sweet girl, who's looking for someone who'll treat her right. Not as a flower, or as a booty call" - At that he glared at Sky and Russell for emphasis. The two were suitably cowed by that, looking away in shame. - "Just a guy who'll treat her right. Who knows the real her and accepts that."

His grin turned positively glowing as he said, "And, I know that guy is you, Car. Seriously, you got this. Just breathe, man." As he said the last, he tucked in Cardin's collar while straightening up the rest of his clothes, looking for all the world like a proud papa.

Then he stepped backwards as he asked, "Are you ready?'

Cardin took a deep breathe in, then another, before he sighed and nodded, saying, "Yeah."

"Alright then, man. Let's do it." The blond-haired leader of Team JNPR responded and turned to lead the big man out. Cardin took one last look at himself in the mirror, checking his hair then followed after his friend as Dove gave him a thumbs-up from behind.

/ /

Cardin swallowed loudly as Jaune knocked on CFVY's door for him and tried to calm his breathing. The door immediately opened to reveal the tall and ever fashionably dressed Coco Adel standing there before them, glowering at him behind her shades. She crossed her arms and leaned back as she groused, "Cardin. Here to pick up my little Bun-bun?"

Jaune crossed his arms as well as he came to stand in front of him and said in a polite tone that brooked no nonsense from the older girl, "He is."

She snorted at that while muttering, "Actually showed up on time, who'd a' figured.", before stating loudly, "Hurt her and I will end you. Got it?"

Cardin opened his mouth to respond to that, feeling a bit of irritation at that threat, even as he was also a bit leery of the promise it held, only for Jaune to once again reply first with, "If he does anything to break Velvet's heart, you'll have to get in line, Adel. Cause, I'd be there first."

He then shrugged and clarified, "After all, I vouched for him. Velvet's a friend."

Coco finally gave a small smile at that as she loosened up an said, "Yeah, you are. ...That's the only reason why we're agreeing to this." Then she glared at Cardin again as she snipped, "The threat stand, Winchester. Break my girl's heart, and it'll be a closed casket funeral." She stalked up to him and prodded him firmly in the chest as she demanded, "Got it?"

He stiffened at the painful jab but otherwise did nothing. He didn't glance at Jaune for help, either. They had done enough to get him this far. All he said was, "Crystal, Ma'am."

Coco nodded at that and opened her mouth to say something else, after a quick glance at Jaune, who was standing stoically at his side, only for a cheerful, if exasperated voice called from the room, "Oh, enough of the Third Degree already, Coco! Cardin's fine! We're going to be fine!"

The leader of Team CFVY turned towards the room and started to respond with, "But, Bunbun!" Only for a gorgeously dressed Bunny girl Faunus to bound out of the room with her partner the towering, if gentle giant of Yatsuhashi Daichi right behind her as he attempted to bind up her long, straight hair in some kind of elegant bun, and shush her before turning to him and said, with a nervous cough, "Hi! *Ahem* Cardin! You're a bit early."

She then nervously brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she asked, "So, how do I look?"

Cardin froze as he took her in, sucking in his breath as he did so. She was wearing a simple, strapless, pale pink dress with darker pink ribbons along the skirt. There were more ribbons in her hair and a subtle application of makeup had been applied to her eyelashes and lips, causing her pale skin to almost pop with how it glowed.

Cardin, be damned his racist ancestors and family members, especially his father, thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

At a not so subtle jab to the side from Jaune's elbow, he coughed, and spouted, "You're beautiful!" Then he coughed into his fist while Velvet flush delicately at the praise before saying clearly, "We, uh, thought that we should arrive early, to get you, just in case the ride down to Vale was, uh, overly long."

"Oh," Velvet returned a finger to her chin in thought before she smirked, a devilish gleam in her eye, as she asked sassily, "Are you sure about the time? You did book the right reservation, right, Cardin?'

He swallowed before chuckling nervous as he said, "Of course. A reservation for two at 6 at the Maison Du Vin Du Soir." He barely stumbled over the twisting tongue of Old Valean. He knew he had gotten it right, too at Coco's look of appreciation.

"Oh, okay then," the rabbit Faunus returned before turning to her teammates and said, "Okay then, we'll be going now. We should be back at around 10. Don't wait up now."

"Are you sure, Velve?" Coco asked hesitantly as she took the other girl's hands in her own before, with a glance at Cardin, asked quietly, "Do you want us to tail you?"

Velvet merely smiled and took the small purse that Fox handed her, it was the same color as her dress, and answered with a quick shake of her head, "Nope. We'll be fine. Besides," She looked over at Cardin, a deep glow of affection in her eyes, as she said, "Cardin will keep me safe."

He didn't trust himself to say anything while she looked at him like that so all he did was swallow again and nod an agreement to her statement as he tried to ignore all the butterflies in his stomach.

Velvet simply smiled at him before she looped an arm through his and led him away with only a wave of goodbye to her fiends and teammates.

/ /

Jaune and Coco stood there watching as the pair disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall before they finally relaxed and fist-bumped each other as they grinned in relief and affectionate humor. It had taken way too long for them to finally get the two to agree to go out with each other, even though it was pretty clear to all that they had a thing for each other.

Jaune had even had to wrangle in support from the likes of Team RWBY and SSSN for it to all come together.

"Ten to one that they won't be back by ten," Coco spoke as soon as they were sure that they were far enough away that Velvet couldn't hear.

"You kidding?" Jaune returned with a smirk. "Knowing Cardin, he'll do whatever Velve says if it makes her happy."

"Ha! Fair enough," The grey-eyed, beret-wearing girl returned with a shrug and a smirk of her own. "Knowing my Bunbun, we'll be having a bunch of kits soon."

"That's racist!" Jaune snorted and said, but didn't argue against it. Instead, he said, as he looked at his Scroll, "I already got a greenlight from Blake and Sun. They'll keep us updated on the date alongside Yang and Sage, while making certain no fool from the Red Fang or the SBB try anything tonight. Same for me and the rest of JNPR. Don't worry, Coco, your girl's in good hands."

She smiled softly at that before saying, "Got it. Thanks, Jaune." Then she ruined the moment by smirking as she said, "You know, if you weren't dating that Nikos girl, I'm sure Velvet would've taken you up on a date before now."

Jaune's smile turned wooden at the mention of his girlfriend before he shrugged and said, "Well, I wouldn't have accepted it from her. Bro Code's pretty clear on stealing another guy's girl, you know?"

Coco merely smiled at that. Then she patted him on the shoulder before she turned to walk back into her room with the other members of CFVY as she said, "Yeah. You're a good man, Jaune Arc. I'm glad my girl's got you, and that Rose girl, as a friend. Just keep me up to date on the date, eh?" Then she turned and lowered her glasses to wink at him as she said, "And, hey, if you and that girlfriend of yours are ever in the mood for a Ménage à trois, you can ask me any time?"

Jaune blushed as that, for the first time that day, his composure was broken. "Bu, wha?" He managed to get out before the girl closed the door behind her. He then heard the sounds of cackling laughter and sighed to himself before walking away with a grin and a shake of his head.

"Always got to have the last laugh, that one," He muttered to himself good-naturedly.


A/N: A bit short, I know, but that's cause it's a two-parter. How will it end? Will there be a lemon? Who knows! Not even me, I just write what the muses tell me.

Take care! Essiter out!

P.S. Don't tell anyone, but I wrote this while at work...