Jaune has a problem. Blake is watching him. Again. Well, he thinks she does.
If he didn't know any better he would say she hates him, he can just feel it, this intense look on the back of his neck. But he does know better since she was actually the first person who stood up to Cardin and his team when they began bullying him for being faunus; not that this stopped them but it's the thought that counts, and he is dealing with it now. Really. He is.
It's just hard for someone like him. Never before in his life was he subjected to some backwards assholes trying to make his life worse because of some weird superiority complex or something. Where he comes from, the small town of Dormremy, he never even thought about himself as faunus when interacting with others. He just was Jaune.
But coming here to Vale and Beacon, interacting with douchebags like Cardin made him weirdly concious about the fact that he actually was different from everybody or at least he was seen as someone different from them. That is also the main reason why he did not want to involve his other friends from team RWBY and his own team. It just would lead them to treat him differently. Just like Blake was treating him differently or like he thinks she is doing.
She is watching him, he is almost one hundred percent certain. She is watching him when they are in class; when they are eating in the cafeteria; when they are in the library. She is watching him.
But everytime he tries to catch her eye she stops and pretends she never did. It is driving him insane. He is not just imagining things, right?
Maybe he should even be grateful that someone as dorky as him could catch the attention of someone as beautiful as Blake. Thats what he would think if being the center of attention of someone else wouldn't make him so damn nervous.
Even now in Ooblecks class, he swears he can feel her eyes on the back of his head while the professor is teaching. His long, golden tail would usually swing lazily from side to side but whenever he can feel her stare it would stand straight up making it clear to anyone who sees him that he is far from being relaxed.
"Is everything alright Jaune?" Pyrrha his wonderful partner leans closer to Jaune and whispers.
"Haha. What? Of course. Why are you asking?"
Pyrrha's eyes wander over his face for a moment and then over to his tail which is still at attention. Her eyebrows move up giving him a meaningful look.
"You seem — tense."
Great, now he made Pyrrha worry about him. But maybe she can help him. He begins to lean even closer to his partner trying to whisper directly into her ear not noticing her slowly reddening face.
"Well, could you do me favor?"
"Yes!" She almost shouts before calming down. "I mean, anything for you Jaune."
Pyrrha was really an angel, he is really glad that she has become his partner. "Thank you Pyrrha. So lets just go back to listening to the professor, BUT you have to check on Blake and see what she is doing. And try to be discreet."
Pyrrha is furrowing her brows in confusion but she nods, leans back and sits up straight in her chair.
So now he just has to wait and can actually listen to his professors lecture. Ugh. That might actually be worse than feeling someone stare at the back of his head. He has no idea how his teammates can endure this.
After fifty-eight minutes of exciting learning– it was boring– he made his way outside of the classroom with Pyrrha, signaling to Nora and Ren to go ahead without them and begin eating.
"So?"
"Um, she didn't look at you. Not even once. She actually seemed kind of bored" Pyrrha awkwardly explains.
"What? Are you sure? Did you really look?" He is almost manic. He wasn't imagining things. He was sure. Oh god. What if she really wasn't looking.
"Sorry. But maybe you should ask someone else, if they have seen anything," Pyrrha tries to be helpful with a forced smile on her face.
"Yeah. You're right. Thanks Pyrrha, you are the best." Finishing his sentence he made his way to the cafeteria leaving a bemused Pyrrha behind.
With no second thought he runs through the halls of Beacon without really watching his surroundings intent on asking Ren for his help, when he feels a sharp tug on his tail and a searing pain shoots up from the base of his tail into his spine making it shoot straight up.
"Where are you going so fast, runt?" Cardin Winchester, bane of his existence here at Beacon, asked with a stupid smug smile on his face having just pulled on his tail. His stupid team standing behind him all snickering as Cardin openes his mouth.
Heckles now raised. Jaune tries really hard not to scowl but Cardin and his team are making it really difficult for him.
"What's wrong boy?" Cardin continues. "Nothing to say? Come on. Speak!"
"Cardin you have to train a dog before he follows your commands, don't you know that?" Says the Mohawk guy still snickering behind Cardin making his whole team laugh even louder.
Other students are walking pass their group shooting sidelong glances atthe conversation but none are intervening.
Before Jaune has a chance to say anything in return, a cool voice chimes in.
"You are as clumsy with your insults as you are with your mace Cardin. Not that surprising but still." Blake Belladonna slowly makes her way to their group, looking at Cardin with a deadpan expression.
Ouch. Indirect hit. He knows she is here to support him but he is usually the one on the losing side of said clumsy mace.
Cardin just scowls in her direction. "Belladonna, here to help your pet again?"
Blake only rolls here eyes and begins to tug at Jaune's sleeve trying to lead him away from Cardin's team. "Let's leave Jaune."
He slowly turns away from Cardin, dropping his scowl, he looks at Blake who gives him her usual intense stare. But a tiny quirk of her lip, imperceptible to anyone standing farther away from her, reassures him and they begin to make their way to the cafeteria.
"Yeah Jaune, listen to your owner!" Cardin shouts after them but not making any other moves to stop them.
Not listening to Cardin, they both keep going forward with Blake still holding onto Jaune's sleeve. Gods, this is so humiliating not only did Blake have to help him again but now she is leading him like a child or a pet with quite literally his tail between his legs. He could already feel the heat creep up his face, it must be so red right now. But still, he should be thankful for Blake's intervention.
"Um, thanks Blake," he says in a small voice. "But you don't have to hold me."
"Ah, sorry," she quickly lets go of his sleeve and put her hand to her side, an embarassed flush on her face. "And don't worry about me helping you. You don't deserve to be treated that way."
For the rest of the way to the cafeteria there is an awkward silence between them but just before they enter, Blake again gently holds his arm back stopping Jaune. She turns to him and the intense look is back. She is a head shorter than him but he still feels small standing in front of her.
"Jaune, I have to tell you something. But not here. Let us meet in the library at eight this evening." With that she turns away from him and goes to the table where her team is still eating.
Uh-oh.
The rest of the day and for the first time in a week, he does not feel Blake's gaze on him even when team RWBY and JNPR are gathered which should be a good thing and make him feel relaxed but it does not.
All he could think about is what Blake would want with him. Maybe she would finally confront him about her staring or maybe she wants to talk about the bullying. Both topics are going to be uncomfortable for him, not because of Blake but just because that's how he is.
But maybe it is something entirely different. He thought about it once or twice: staring but never when he looks back, helping with Cardin and saying he deserves better and just today the touching. What if, and that is a big if, what if she wants to confess to him. Oh Gods. What is he going to say to that.
It's not like Blake is not beautiful but he barely talked to her and she knows that he still has his thing for Weiss, everyone knows– to his shame.
But there is no point thinking any further about this, he just has to wait.
Blake has a problem. And its name is Jaune Arc. Well, maybe calling him a problem is too much.
She has been watching him for a while now. But not like that, even if he is kinda cute in a sort of bumbling puppy kind of way.
No, she has been watching him because he is the only other faunus student in the year with her and since she is hiding her faunus trait in the moment, everyone one else would see him as the only faunus. This makes her feel kind of responsible for him as now all scrutiny about faunus, would be laid upon his feet and the least she could do is look out for him.
Prime example for this is Cardin bullying him and if she is being honest Professor Goodwitch is unusually stern with him too. Up until this point, she has voluntered him for every combat class they had. Jaune might not be a very good fighter, in fact he is the worst in class but he is not that much worse than Cardin. The Professor also overlooks most of the stuff Cardin says to Jaune which normally ranges from petty insults to something blatantly racist.
Of course, she has been extra careful when observing him, so he wouldn't get the wrong idea which probably wasn't even necessary since, well, it's Jaune. He does not really come off as someone who'd give his surroundings much attention. And it already paid off, she helped him more than once with Cardin and his team.
The worst of it probably when he shoved Jaune into a rocket locker and was about to launch him to who knows where, she was able to stop Cardin. At other times it was typical behavior one can expect from a bully: knocking books or scrolls down, pushing, namecalling and pulling Jaune's tail. She might not have been able to stop these things but she made it clear to both Jaune and team CRDL on whose side she is and that she is willing to intervene.
But therein lies the problem with Jaune, it's clear for anyone who bothers to take a closer look at him that he feels utterly overwhelmed and alone with this situation. His team and the other students don't understand how it is to feel like this. To be alone, surrounded by humans, being the only one who is different. She really wants to be the faunus who could offer support and tell him that he is not alone with this. This was a big part why she joined the Whitefang and left home to accompany Adam. All she ever wanted to do is to help her fellow faunus and if she can't even do that for Jaune what was it all for?
So today she decided to tell him that she was a faunus too and offer him any help he might need. As it was routine she sat behind Jaune in Professor Oobleck's class, just observing him, at this point it wasn't really necessary anymore but it's hard to stop a routine. Ah. His fluffy tail is high up in the air again. Even here in class he cannot relax. Poor Jaune.
The rest of the class nothing really interesting happens maybe with the exception of Pyrrha looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze. And after an actual interesting class about the history of vale and it's previous monarchy, Blake and her team find themselves in the cafeteria with Ren and Nora. Getting herself a tuna sandwich– and no that has nothing to do with being a cat faunus, she just likes tuna, thank you very much– she sits next to her partner Yang and begins eating while Nora tells them about one of her dreams being ignored by most of them with exceptions of Ruby who looks excited by Nora's storytelling and Ren interjecting every few sentences.
"Where are Vomit Boy and Pyrrha?" Yang asks with a mouth full of burger making Weiss scowl at her.
"That is disgusting. Do not talk with your mouth full!"
"Oh, sorry Weisscream" Yang grins, still not having swallowed.
Before Weiss can even open her mouth, probably to hurl some insults at Yang– as would be expected from a Schnee– Ren answers Yang's question first.
"I don't know. Probably on their way now. I think Jaune wanted to talk to Pyrrha."
Maybe now would be a good time to take Jaune to the side and tell him. So, finishing her sandwich she stands up and before anyone from her team can ask she says, "I will be right back." And makes her way out of the cafeteria in search for Jaune.
It's seven fifty-five now, she is already in the library waiting for Jaune to come. She didn't tell him yet, with Cardin being an asshole again it just didn't feel right in the moment. So here she is. No one is really around at this time of day which is why she usually is here to get away from her loud teammates and read her books. To be honest this is really nerve-wracking, she knows telling Jaune that she was a faunus would not only help him but it probably benefit herself too.
Still, that doesn't mean it's easy. Her hands feel really clammy, her ears are twitching and she can't even sit still and read her book to calm down having started the same sentence over eight times now.
The clearing of a throat startles her out of her reverie. "Uh, hey Blake. You wanted to talk, right?" Jaunes voice slightly cracks and his lowered tail wags stiffly from side to side.
Gods, how embarassing, she didn't even notice him entering the library. Being caught unaware doesn't really help with her anxiety right now. She can feel her face heating up already.
"Yeah, um but let's go where no one could interrupt us." She takes Jaunes arm and leads him to a corner. Just to make sure nobody can eavesdrop.
Positioning Jaune in front of her, Blake looks into his eyes and tries to gather her courage.
"Okay, I wanted to tell you something that is really important to me and I couldn't wait any longer. That's just not the person I want to be anymore." Blake rushes out before any more doubts might come back. "I have been watching you for the last week and seen you struggle with Cardin and our classes and even though it must have been hard for you, especially since your a faunus, you never seemed to give up and I really respect that. And–"
Okay, now for the hard part. She just needs come out and say it. Easy. Jaune looks at her with wide eyes and a healthy blush on his face. Okay. Okay. Don't look at his face. Just say it. Rubbing her clammy hands agains her pants she takes a deep breath and opens her mouth–
When Jaune's hands on her shoulders interrupt her. "It's okay Blake. I understand."
"You do?" A heavy weight lifts from her shoulder and a relieved smile finds itself on her face. It seems Jaune is more perceptive than she thought.
"Yeah. Though it's flattering that someone like you would ever think like that about me, I just can't say yes."
"Huh?"
"I mean you are really beautiful and it's not like I never thought of you in that way but I still have feelings for Weiss and it just wouldn't be fair for her or you if we just got together like that." He is looking at her with sad smile on his face now.
What the fuck is happening right now?
"And I know you probably think that I don't even stand a chance with Weiss and that she made her feelings clear but I guess it just wouldn't sit right with me to go out with someone without being one hundred percent certain. So, I am sorry but I just can't."
Jaune ends his small speech by bringing Blake, who is standing stock-still with an open mouth, into a hug burying her face in his chest and then kissing her softly on the top of her head. After which he releases her and takes a step back.
"I'm sorry Blake. I still hope we can become friends." With a last small smile at Blake he begins to leave. "Goodnight"
...
...
HUH!
What just happened?
Did she just get rejected? Without even wanting to confess?
And what's more important: Did she just get rejected because of a Schnee!?