"Neptune, you can't just say that!" Sun rushed forward to the front of Neptune's locker while waving his arms desperately but it was already too late.

The damage was already done.

"What do you mean Jauney-boy's dating both Blake and Pyrrha?!" Cardin roared with wide eyes as he looked back and forth between Jaune and Neptune.

Great, one of the worst people to possibly know about their secret just learned about it.

It was still a bit jarring to find out in the few moments they hung out that Cardin wasn't just a bully but he was also probably Beacon's most prolific gossip.

But considering the guy used to blackmail him and spread the misunderstanding of Jaune sleeping with Velvet, perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised that Cardin loved to gather secrets and talk about them.

"What? That Jaune is dating both-"

"Neptune, please shut up." Jaune sighed loudly, tiredly dragging his hand down his face as Cardin turned towards him.

"Jauney-boy. Are you two-timing your girl?"

"I mean….which one is his girl in the first place?" Russel asked behind Cardin, getting Dove to shrug beside him.

"Probably Belladonna. They were holding hands last night."

"Yeah, but he did dance with Nikos first." Sky pointed out and Jaune could only groan out loud as their whole team turned towards him.

"No need to hurt our heads, boys. We have someone who can answer our questions over here." Cardin nodded at him and Jaune could only groan at that.

"I'm not two-timing them, Cardin."

He cringed internally. While it was true that he wasn't two-timing them, he was now three-timing them. It was with their permission, which is still crazy to think about, but still. It's not like he would willingly say that to Cardin during this stage of their relationship.

"What the hell is he talking about then?" Cardin asked, crossing his arms as he nodded in Neptune's direction.

Jaune sighed loudly at that and resolved himself to do what needs to be done.

"I'm dating them both with their permission." He admits and the locker room falls silent as Team CRDL gawks at him.

There was nothing else to it. It was better to set the record straight than let Cardin's imagination run wild. Who knows what kind of rumor would spread if he left them be with Neptune's words as their only source of information?

"Both?! At the same time?! Bullshit!" Cardin shouted with wide eyes as the rest of his team shook their heads in disbelief.

"No one is man enough to take on two of the hottest Huntresses in our year." Russel pointed out shakily as Dove frowned thoughtfully beside him.

"It would explain some things though."

"Yeah, like how neither of them were angry at him last night." Sky agreed and everyone just looked at him skeptically to Jaune's exasperation.

"Do you see why I wanted to be cool like him?!" Neptune called out from inside the locker even as Cardin shook his head vehemently.

"I still don't believe it!"

Jaune opted to ignore that with a shake of his before scowling at Neptune because of his words.

Trying to be cool like him led to him breaking Weiss' heart?!

"Yeah, but you picked the wrong way of doing that, Neptune. What even made you do it?"

"I thought…I thought Sun would think I was cool too." Neptune squirmed uncomfortably from inside the locker as Jaune's brain grinded to a halt.

What….the fuck?!

"Hold up! You did all that uncool stuff because of me?!" Sun yelled out loudly, pointing a finger towards himself as they all heard Neptune sigh loudly inside the locker.

"Yeah. Ever since Jaune helped you get a threesome you-"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Cardin roared, raising a hand as he looked incredulously at Neptune's direction and then back to Jaune. "You what?!"

Fuck. Jaune groaned loudly at that before grinding his teeth. He glares at Neptune first because of that before staring flatly at Sun who only winces apologetically at his gaze.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Well…." Sun chuckles embarrassedly before looking away from him as Team CRDL looked at him intensely.

"Jauney-boy. What the fuck? You gave him your own girlfriends-" Cardin said incredulously and before he knew it, Jaune was already moving as the words settled in his brain.

"NO!" He roared in righteous fury as blood pumped rapidly through his veins. "What the fuck, Cardin?! Why the hell would you think that?!"

His own girlfriends…to Sun?!

He couldn't help but glare at Sun at that even as the other blonde rapidly backed away from him.

"I-It wasn't them! It was twins! He pimped me out to twins!" Sun clarified desperately and once again, silence rules the locker room as Team CRDL's jaws drop in shock.

Again, Jaune sighed loudly at that as his hand found its way to his face. Was no secret safe from Cardin anymore? First, his transcripts, then his relationship with Blake and Pyrrha, and now, while not as important, he also knew what he did for Sun?

He glared at Sun and Neptune at that even as Team CRDL sent him mixed looks.

"T-Twins?" Cardin asked shakily.

"Holy shit." Russel muttered with wide eyes.

"I think I understand Neptune now." Dove nodded in awe.

"Jaune Arc….you are a god." Sky finished reverently.

"See! That's what I'm talking about!" Neptune added as Jaune just shook his head while covering his face. "Ever since that, Sun has only been talking about Jaune this, Jaune that! I thought if I was at least as cool as him, my bro would come back to me!"

This….This was just getting ridiculous.

"Y-You mean you did all of that because…you missed me?" Sun asked with wide eyes as they all saw Neptune nod rapidly inside the locker.

Jaune didn't even have the energy to be mad anymore as he watched their interaction.

"Yeah, after you met Jaune it has always been Jaune this and Jaune that with you! I missed my best friend! I missed my bro!" Neptune called out wetly and Jaune saw Sun rush to his partner's locker and lean over its metal slits.

"Bro! You didn't need to do that! You will always be my bro!" Sun cried out loudly.

"And you will always be mine!" Neptune repeated.

""Bro! BRO! BROOOO!"" Both Sun and Neptune shouted to Jaune's growing exasperation.

"I-It's true then?" Cardin called and as Jaune looked tiredly at his direction, he continued shakily. "You and Pyrrha and Blake?"

He looked balefully at them and part of Jaune wanted to correct them and add Weiss to the list but he only nodded tiredly.

Team CRDL looked at each other before saying one word at the same time while giving him a thumbs up.

""""Nice.""""

Jaune rolled his eyes at that before waving at Neptune and Sun's direction. "Just send him to Vale."

And send him to Vale they did.

Ruby pouted as she saw her partner react flusteredly to Pyrrha waggling her eyebrows straight at her.

Sure, she didn't get the nuances of what they were saying but it didn't take a genius to know it was something of an inside joke. And with Pyrrha smirking knowingly at Weiss' sausage? Even Ruby had an idea of what they were conveying each other.

Ruby wanted to gag but with Yang laughing loudly beside her while talking to Nora and Blake nudging Weiss playfully, Ruby couldn't help but pout as she felt her team slip away from her.

All because of one man. All because of-

"Hey, guys!"

Yup, there he was. Jaune Arc smiled at them as he started to walk back at their table.

"Jaune!" Blake shouted and stood up happily to greet him with a beaming smile on her face.

Out of everyone there, Blake was perhaps the most appropriate one to do something like that considering everyone thinks they are dating. Yet despite that, Ruby could see Pyrrha struggling to contain herself as she turned around on her seat to smile brightly at Jaune's direction.

Ruby pouted once again as she saw everyone turn towards his direction. Don't get her wrong. Ruby didn't hate Jaune. In fact, she liked him. Ruby blushed as memories from last night came to her mind. Before all the weirdness and other unholy things happened in their room, Ruby remembers sharing a dance with Jaune.

She never expected to enjoy such an event in such a way but she did. Laughter and smiles flew between them and Ruby even nearly forgot the heavy conversation she had with Pyrrha. So yeah, Ruby didn't hate Jaune. He was her best friend.

But best friend or not, Ruby couldn't help but blame him as she once again sees the rest of her team hanging onto his presence so intensely.

Even Yang opted to stare at him in interest and drop her own conversation with Nora. To Ruby, it was slowly feeling like she was losing her team. Sometimes, it felt like she was the only sane one in their team and not obsessed with Jaune.

"Where's Neptune?" Weiss asked as she scanned the people behind him, only seeing a lethargic Sun with a stiff Team CRDL behind him.

"Oh, him? He's taking a walk. A long walk." Jaune answered cheekily, nodding at Sun who sniffled back to his own team's table.

Ruby frowned however when she saw Team CRDL stay and look at Jaune with wide eyes. She saw Jaune cringe when he looked over his shoulder before leaning over their table and whispering worriedly. "They found out about me and Blake and Pyrrha. Neptune told them."

Small gasps rang out from across their table as everyone turned towards Team CRDL who were still looking at Jaune with wide eyes and jaws dropped.

"Do we need to break their legs, fearless leader?" Nora asked menacingly and it said something about Team CRDL's reputation that no one in their table raised any concerns for their safety.

None except Jaune of course.

"Nah, it's all good. I told them Pyrrha would destroy them again if they spread any rumors." He winked and Ruby watched as Pyrrha blushed at Jaune's attention while the rest of them stood down.

"They don't know about me, do they?" Weiss asked worriedly with a light blush and that question….well, that question got Nora and Ren snapping towards her even as Team CRDL walked far enough away not to hear the question.

Nora moved to squeal but in an impressive show of agility as well as experience in handling Nora, Ren was already there to feed a pancake straight into her mouth.

"Congratulations." Ren greeted before smiling tiredly at both Jaune and Weiss. "It seems you've had an eventful night."

"T-Thanks." Jaune answered bashfully even as Weiss squeaked down embarrassedly into her seat. "And to answer your question, Weiss. No, no one knows about you." He says softly, sitting down next to a smiling Pyrrha.

Ruby pouted as she saw her partner nod shyly while playing with her food.

"T-That's good. Thank you, Jaune." Weiss replied with a blush on her face but before anyone else could reply, Nora swallowed her pancake and squealed softly.

"Oh my gosh! Weissy! You to-mmph!" She gets silenced again as Ren pushes another pancake into Nora's mouth.

"Nora, not so loud. Not here in public." Ren mutters as he nods at an embarrassed Weiss and Ruby's confusion on the matter is completely forgotten as everyone looks intensely at her partner.

"W-Well…it's still a developing matter." Weiss answered before looking away and eating her breakfast just to avoid answering any more of Nora's questions.

Ruby rolled her eyes at her partner's reply.

Developing matter her butt. There was nothing else to develop with what they just did last night and by the way Weiss was demurely nibbling her breakfast, Ruby now had a good idea of what glurk-glurk meant. It was so easy to imagine how someone could choke on that thing and Ruby had to look away as Weiss absently licked the tip of the sausage with half-lidded eyes.

Heat rushed to her cheeks at her partner acting so lewdly but in the back of Ruby's mind however were Pyrrha's words from what seems like a long time ago.

Neo pleasured Jaune with her mouth while using Ruby's face.

Damn. It's a good thing almost everyone there was looking at Jaune otherwise they would have seen the blush glowing through her face.

She had to busy herself by eating to distract herself from that thought and it took her a considerable amount of effort to be able to look at him again after that wild thought ran through her mind.

She almost chokes on her own breakfast however when Jaune suddenly exclaims embarrassedly as he looks at Weiss' direction. "Okay! What's for breakfast?! Anyone know where the jam is?!"

Ruby heard Blake laugh loudly before smiling softly at Jaune. "I don't know, Jaune, maybe you should try looking near the pineapple juice?"

Weiss choked on her food at that and Ruby had to pat her back worriedly as she coughed the food out of her mouth.

"S-Sorry, got surprised for a minute there." Weiss apologized even as Jaune nodded embarrassedly before standing up.

"R-Right. I think I'll just get my own breakfast then."

And just like that, Jaune flees as Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

"What's up with him? Didn't you get him some breakfast, Pyrrha?"

"Don't mind him, Ruby." Pyrrha shook her head before looking back at Weiss with a teasing smile on her face. "Still enjoying your sausage, Weiss?"

"S-Shut up." Weiss answered but Blake only laughed loudly beside her before nodding at Jaune's direction.

"I think you got him hot and bothered, Weiss."

Ruby froze at the blatant innuendo before sighing to herself and resigning herself to what was obviously going to become the new normal for her team. Blatant teasing and innuendos. Even Yang whistled in delight as she smiled at the rest of their team.

"Damn, ladies. You aren't even really hiding it anymore."

"Everyone's either too busy eating or too hungover to listen. Actually, I'm surprised you're back on your feet so quickly after getting drunk last night." Blake smiled before peering at Yang's direction who only shrugs casually.

"Meh, call it genetics. Ruby and I have seen Uncle Qrow pick himself up a day after a night of getting plastered. I wouldn't be surprised if my bio-mom gave me genes like that."

It was true, many were the times when Uncle Qrow would sleep on their couch dead drunk before picking himself up the day after.

And so Ruby nodded in agreement before freezing because it is at that moment however when Nora finally manages to gulp down her pancake and speak words that sends Ruby's brain into overdrive.

"Finally! It's all coming together!" Nora giggled knowingly as she looked at Ruby's teammates.

"What?" Ruby muttered dumbly as she put her spoon down.

"Everything is going according to plan!" Nora squealed and even Ren had to look at her in confusion.

"What plan?" Ren asked and Ruby heard Yang gasp sharply beside her and the sound of a palm hitting her face.

"Oh geez."

"You know something about this?" Ruby turned to her sister who only groaned into her hand even as Nora laughed loudly.

"Know it?! She's going to be part of it and so are you, Ruby! Sooner or later, Ren and I will have our room all to ourselves!" Nora cackled menacingly, basking in her own mad genius as lightning figuratively flashed behind her and that was all that was needed for everyone to realize what she meant.

A room all to themselves. The only way they would have that would be if Jaune and Pyrrha were not staying in the same room. And judging by her earlier words towards her team, Nora just had the plan to push Jaune and Pyrrha out.

By foisting their two friends to Ruby's team.

And that would only happen if…..if they were all together.

"It was you? You planned this?" Ruby asked in horror.

"Just so you could get your room to yourself? Smart." Blake added from the side with a smile on her face. "It would definitely make things easier."

Now that snaps Ruby out of her mind because she instantly straightens up and points a finger at Blake.

"No! No, no, no! We are not making anything easier! I thought this kind of thing was Pyrrha's, not yours!"

"This is the first time I'm hearing of it actually. It seems we were on the same wavelength." Pyrrha only shrugs at that however, turning back to Nora whose cackles die down to a mad giggle.

"I didn't actually plan for it. I only talked to Yang and pushed her in that direction and hoped for the best. I had no idea Weissy was going to jump right into it. That was all her." Nora finishes and points towards Weiss who only squeaks away from her with a blush on her face.

Ruby looked on in shock towards her sister at that.

Yang was….Yang was in on it?

"Yang…is there something you want to say to me?" She asks to which Yang only coughed awkwardly and turned away from her accusing gaze with a blush on her face.

"No comment." Yang answers as Ruby only shakes her head in denial.

She could not believe what she was seeing! Her outgoing and confident sister! Reduced to a blushing maiden!

Nora squealed and Pyrrha laughed as they all saw Yang blush and Ruby had a sinking feeling of what was going to happen next. The fact that Yang did not openly deny it meant she was at least considering things and that meant one thing. Sooner or later, there was a high chance Yang was going to join Jaune's harem.

"Yes! Another step closer to having the room to ourselves!" Nora pumped her fist even as Ren shook his head beside her.

"Nora, you can't just push Jaune and Pyrrha out of our room."

"Think about it, Renny! We can have the room all to ourselves with no one to bother us. I'm sure you could imagine the kind of things we could do by then." Nora exclaimed before softening her voice to look at Ren with half-lidded eyes.

Ruby watched in mortification as Ren's gaze turned glassy before a light blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Ren!" She screeches desperately, aware that out of everyone currently here on their table, Ren was the closest ally she could get in stopping this travesty from happening.

Gods, she sounded like Weiss back then and any other time she would have winced at feeling herself be so stuffy but these were desperate times.

Luckily, Ren gets a handle on himself and clears his throat embarrassedly.

"Ahem, forgive me. Nora, you still can't just push people onto Jaune. You don't even know if they would like each other."

"Oh come on, Renny! Jaune-Jaune pulled them!" Nora rolled her eyes before waving a hand towards Pyrrha, Blake, and Weiss who all nod shyly at that getting pointed out where so many people could see. "Fearless leader has some game!"

Ren patted her hand down to everyone's relief as he smiled at his girlfriend.

"Be that as it may, what about Jaune? We don't even know what he wants."

"Come on, Renny! It's Yang and Ruby! How could he not want them?!" Nora refuted, waving her hand at them and causing Ruby to choke on air at that.

H-Her and Yang with Jaune?! It was enough for someone like her to lose her mind with.

Doubly so, when Jaune suddenly calls out near them.

"Not want what? What are we talking about?" He tilted his head as he sat beside Pyrrha and Ruby had to look away from him as she coughed harder.

Her silver eyes meet Nora's turquoise ones and a shiver shoots up her spine as she sees the orangette grin.

"We were talking about how you would want-"

Oh, hell no!

"Pancakes!" Ruby suddenly shouts, taking the best revenge she could on Nora.

Eating her pancakes.

"We were talking about eating Nora's pancakes!" She shouts even as she suddenly pulls Nora's plates towards her.

Nora unsurprisingly shrieks at her action and just like that, the previous topic lies forgotten as they fight for Nora's breakfast while the rest laugh at them.

—-

Ozpin laughed lightly as Ironwood inwardly seethed at Winter's report.

"Are you sure Arc did nothing, Winter? Are you absolutely sure that he is innocent?"

"Yes, General. While I do not presume to know everything about his innocence, nothing in his actions last night paints him as a criminal." Winter answered firmly with a straight back and hands behind her back.

"I see. That will be all for now, Specialist Schnee." Ironwood stated flatly, dismissing Winter who saluted stiffly before walking towards the elevator and out of Ozpin's office.

Ozpin couldn't help but chuckle once Winter left before taking a sip of his coffee.

"With that out of the way, I hope we can finally put our suspicions about Mr. Arc to rest, James."

James looked at him coolly for a moment before sighing in resignation, disappointment obvious in his tone but Ozpin smiles as he sees the tension lift from James' shoulders.

"Fine, even I know to push forward with my suspicion now would just be stubbornness. It seems despite the circumstantial evidence against him, Jaune Arc truly is innocent of conspiring with our enemies."

"Splendid!" Ozpin couldn't help but exclaim brightly at that even as James fondly rolled his eyes at him.

"I still believe we should wait for Qrow to return and report his findings before bringing Jaune Arc into the fold."

"Of course, old friend, though I suppose this means you can now spare the forces to contact Qrow instead of keeping them in Vale in fear of a trap devised by Mr. Arc." Ozpin chuckles though his mirth dies down as James shakes his head slowly.

"I'm afraid I cannot, old friend, but it is not because of any lingering suspicion I have against Jaune Arc."

"Then what is it?" Ozpin frowns but James only chuckles at him.

"It seems Penny has managed to gather wonderful data about herself and send it to her father. Apparently, her Aura is developing in interesting ways due to the friendships she has made and that helped Dr. Polendina in his research on the Aura Machine. According to him, the machine would be ready for transportation within the week. I hope you understand that I have to commit my forces to securing its transport to Vale instead of sending my people out to look for Qrow."

"Understood, that certainly is a reasonable course of action."

Ozpin's eyes brightened a bit at that. Framed that way, then it certainly was reasonable for James to commit his forces in securing the Aura Machine. Nobody wants it to be stolen like the Paladin Prototype that rampaged in Vale.

Still, that leaves them one problem.

Who would go look for Qrow?

It seems James was thinking the same thing because he frowned at Ozpin's direction.

"Still, that leaves us with no one looking for-"

Ding!

"Ozpin! Why aren't you answering your Scroll?! It's time to brief the students on missions!" Glynda roared as she rushed out of the elevator and entered his office.

Ozpin and James looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. He smiled even as James rolled his eyes exasperatedly at him.

"You can't be serious." James states but Ozpin only smiles.

Still, as he picks up his Scroll just as Glynda arrives beside his table, he sees the missed calls and the reminder of today's event of briefing the students. He purses his lips however before turning his head towards Glynda.

"Are we really sending the students out on missions today? They only had the Beacon Dance last night after all." He asks because he clearly remembers setting the date for missions a day later.

Glynda however only fusses at him as she raises her glasses.

"I took the liberty of changing the date to today but do not worry, we will only have the briefing today. Call it a punishment for the mess they made last night. Plus, this way they can pick the mission and use the day to prepare their equipment before we send them out tomorrow."

Ozpin hums thoughtfully even as James nods supportively on his own seat.

"It's like killing two Nevermores with one stone. Smart." James smiles, getting Glynda to nod gratefully at him.

"Quite so, James. Now come on, Ozpin. You need to make a speech for the students."

Ozpin shrugs casually at that. As far as changes to his schedule go, this was very very minor and downright negligible. Better yet, it was beneficial. In addition to Glynda's sound reasons, she was also providing him with a solution to their problem.

It looks like it is time to send some students to Mountain Glenn.

A bit of downtime after the Dance's events but next arc is Vale and Mt. Glenn!

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