SLAM!
"WAKEY WAKEY EVERYONE IT'S TIME FOR BOOT CAMP AGAIN!"
Jaune awakes with a start, nearly banging his head on the underside of Yang's bed as he hears her voice echo around him, all ability to sleep gone from his body as sheer terror at his teammate's cruelty washed over him.
He saw her standing in the doorway in her workout clothes again and felt his body tense as he prepared to make a break for it. Maybe he could sacrifice Blake and make his escape…
"No! No more Boot Camp, you damnable barbarian!"
Jaune blinked as a voice cried out from the bathroom and the door thudded open to reveal Weiss. With a fierce look on her face and the particularly archaic language she was using, she looked the picture of a haughty princess from a TV show.
Yang looked thrown off by the sudden interruption as well, allowing Weiss the chance to press her advantage and stomp forward, stabbing a finger in Yang's sternum, a smug look on her face. "I have taken the liberty of signing myself and my partner up for the 'Beacon Dance Organisation Team,' so you will no longer have the time for any more of your psychopathic 'boot camps'."
A shocked gasp escaped Ruby and he heard her mumble the words 'Nice Weiss!' under her breath. It was clear that Weiss heard it well by the way her shoulders stiffened, but she didn't outwardly react more than that, keeping her air of superiority around her.
"But… But-!"
Weiss clicked her tongue at Yang's nascent complaining, cutting it off before she could get much out. "Now, go get changed, we have to meet Professor Mulberry in the dance hall in 40 minutes. Unless you wish to explain to Professor Goodwitch why you flaked on such an important commitment?"
There was silence for a moment as the whole of Fireteam Jasper watched the majesty of a well-laid trap coming to fruition before Blake started clapping, fake tears escaping her at the thought of not having to undergo another Xiao-Long Bootcamp.
At least he thought that they were fake tears.
"Uuuuuuuuugh, fiiiiiiiiiine. But I'll get you to do another one day."
Yang made a show of being upset about getting so masterfully outplayed… But Jaune spotted the small smirk that adorned her face as she pointed at Ren and him and demanded they cover their heads -more importantly their eyes- with their bedsheets as she changed.
Jaune did so and knew that Ren was as well when he heard rustling from above him as Yang got changed atop her bed. A few moments later there was a thud next to his bed as she dropped back down to the ground, snapping her fingers.
"The boys now arise from their tombs, as the glorious sight of the Golden Moons has been sealed…"
Jaune chuckled at Blake's comment, spoken with a voice that sounded like it would be encouraging him to 'find out next week on Drake Orb X!' He heard the snort of laughter it got out of Yang, too.
"Oh? Glorious, are they? I'd have to agree there, but is there something you wanna say, Kitty Cat?"
A hiss with no real heat behind it sounded from Blake's bed. "Don't call me Kitty Cat."
Yang just stuck her tongue out in her direction but stopped as Weiss coughed into her hand while standing at the door. "Ahem, let us be off now, Yang. Oh, and Arc. You are not fully signed up but I would appreciate your help. Can I count on it?"
Jaune just nodded, smiling at her as he rubbed some of the last of the sleep out of his eyes. "Yeah, of course, Weiss. Just tell me what you need and I'll try to help."
Jaune was very glad for all the strength training he had been doing, recently.
It was already paying dividends not only in his combat training, but in how he could fight for longer, hit harder, and generally take hits. But this… This might be the most important use of his strength yet.
Something he had a little bit of experience with already, but never to the level he was performing right now. His arms burnt, his legs ached, and it felt like he was carrying an extra 100 kilos of weight with him…
Which might be a small exaggeration, but only a small one.
His arms were adorned with a myriad of bags from stores around Vale, his hands and forearms so laden down with the things that Weiss and Yang had sent him to buy for them that he was only just able to hold his Scroll in between two of his fingers as he read the rest of the list, having crossed off almost everything.
"Are you sure you don't want any help carrying that stuff?"
His arduous task was made all the harder by the temptation of sharing his divine burden with another, someone who wouldn't accept that sharing any bags with her would be accepting defeat, and also wouldn't stop giggling at him!
"Yes, Blake, I am sure. This is a matter of pride. If I can't take it all in one trip, by myself, then what's the point?"
Blake giggled at him again and he narrowed his eyes in her direction… But he reckoned he looked silly enough with all the stuff hanging off of him that any effect his glare might have had would probably have been negated.
"I mean, getting it back to Weiss and Yang without dropping anything sounds like a good idea."
Jaune just scoffed, shaking his head at the suggestion that he give up. Blake just didn't understand the severity of his task. To hold all of the bags on a shopping trip in one go, without assistance… It was a sacred duty, one he would uphold until the end of his day-.
'-Shit, CRAMP!'
"Agh!"
Blake seemed to have been expecting his limbs to fail him for a while now because before he even truly registered that his arms were giving out on him, she was there to catch half of them, deftly slipping them off of his arms and holding them herself.
Her eyebrows raised slightly as she lifted her arms up and down slightly to test their weight but she didn't comment on it. "I told you so."
Jaune just rolled his eyes, hefting the rest of the bags back up into a comfortable position… Or as comfortable a position as he could with how heavy even half of them were to his now-exhausted arms.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
He looked down at his arms even as he smiled, humming. Trying to ever so slightly release the hold he had on his Aura and allow a tiny bit to trickle in, he stopped increasing it as soon as a light golden-white sheen coated his arms and he found that the weight significantly dropped.
They walk in silence for a short while after that. It's comfortable, and he enjoys the time spent with her, but… There is something he just has to ask. He waited until they were crossing through one of Vale's parks before he stopped Blake, motioning to the top of her head.
"Are you… Are you really alright being out here like that after everything you told us?"
Blake's eyes widened slightly at his question, but instead of being upset at it like he was worried she would be, Blake just smiled at him. And as if in response to his question, he saw her cat ears flap up and down a few times.
"I… I thought about it a lot since your 'intervention.' And, well, yeah, I think I'm alright with it. I trust the others and you and I feel like as long as I can count on their support… Adam seems much less scary, even with his agents being in Vale."
She closes her eyes as she smiles at him after that, and for a single moment, Jaune feels an odd feeling in his chest that he chalks up to pride at having helped Blake so much. A soft smile forms on his face as he leans in and gently bumps his shoulder into hers.
"I guess we'll just have to stick around forever, then, huh?"
Blake was silent for a moment, and if he didn't know any better he could have sworn he saw a faint blush on her cheeks.
He only had a moment to wonder if that sounded as cringy as his inner voice was telling him it sounded when the bags he was holding followed through with his sudden movement and smacked into her legs. The sudden impact broke her focus and caused her to yelp in surprise, jumping a full meter into the air. The action felt so reminiscent of an actual cat that he briefly wondered if he had a cucumber in the bag he was holding somewhere.
He doesn't know if it is Blake or himself who starts laughing first but eventually, they are laughing like a duo of loonies. As she calms down after a moment, Blake shakes her head, rolling her eyes at him, a smirk on her face.
"You're a doofus."
He just smirked right back.
"And you yelp like a cat."
He laughed again as a light slap hit his already-up Aura, darting away from Blake. She chased him out of the park but as they reached closer to the roads of Vale he magnanimously allowed her to catch up to him -ignoring the part where he almost ran into ongoing traffic like an idiot and got saved by her- and pulled out his Scroll.
They had gotten basically everything that Weiss and Yang had sent them out for, and the only stuff they hadn't been able to get was the stuff that was just legitimately out of stock. He marked off everything they had in a list and Scrollmailed it to Weiss, getting a message back only 30 seconds later about where to take it so that it could be brought to Beacon.
Before he could put his Scroll away, however, he felt his stomach gurgle for a bit and realised that he hadn't eaten today. And with the time being… Around 3 pm, he would have to wait until at least 7 pm for Beacon's cafeteria to be open for dinner.
Tapping out another small message, he sent it to Weiss, who was the one who had technically been entrusted with the Funds the Dance Organisation Team had been allocated. He was sure that it was fine that he was essentially subletting Beacon's trust in Weiss.
It was probably even a good sign about Weiss' image of him!
Hey, is it alright if me and Blake grab lunch before we come back?
We missed the cafeteria open time until dinner and we've been walking all day
The time it took a little longer to get a response, the message came back after Blake and he had finished taking all of the stuff they had bought for the dance to the nearest Bullhead dock and gotten it shipped up to Beacon for the Dance Organisation Team to collect.
Yes, that is fine. Professor Mulberry has permitted you to use the card for it as well, as you are only out there because of Beacon. I would suggest nothing rated four stars or up, however. Unless it's for a business meeting, no restaurant above a three-star rating is an efficient use of money
"Looks like we can go get some food using the card, I think Weiss just had to get permission to use it for that. She also seems to think we were even considering going to a four-star restaurant and suggested otherwise."
Blake didn't look as confused as he was about that, snorting softly. "When you're part of one of the richest families in Remnant's history, I guess your scale of what goes for a 'normal lunch' might get a bit skewed."
Jaune laughed, shaking his head. "The day that I can go to a four-star restaurant and not be broke for the next month after comes around… I'll likely be a much older and -hopefully- much cooler person."
That got a small chuckle out of Blake for a moment, before she put a finger to her chin and tapped it a few times. "Normally I'd suggest fast food anyway, but if Beacon's paying, do you wanna find a cafe and get some proper food?"
Jaune nodded, having no objections to that, and -after a little while of searching- they found one of Vale's many, many cafes, and ordered some food. Jaune had the urge to tease Blake for getting the seafood platter for a moment but held his tongue due to how excited she looked when the waiter placed it down in front of her.
They ate in silence. A comfortable silence, however. Jaune knew that Blake's silence wasn't a sign of her not enjoying herself, Blake was just a quiet person… Whenever she isn't grumpy or worried out of her mind, it seems.
Similarly, he is fairly certain that Blake knows that he is okay with her being quiet if she doesn't wanna force a chat. Living with his mother and seven sisters -some older, some younger- meant that he had already gotten his lifetime allotment of lunchtime chatting out of the way.
He was ready to become the gruff, super-cool uncle that his nieces and nephews climbed on at the family reunions who didn't talk unless it was to amaze them with his tales of fighting monsters… Or well, he would be if he had any nieces or nephews.
But the way that Saphron and Terra were obsessed with each other, he was sure that wouldn't take long before he got one or two. And that was totally just his brotherly intuition at work, not because the two of them had outright talked to him about wanting a child they could raise together.
Definitely not.
He got a steak, some chips, and a salad. It was a pretty good meal, made even better by the fact that he didn't have to pay for it. They pay using Beacon's card after they finish the meal and head back to Beacon on the next Bullhead.
All in all, it had been a pretty good day. The lack of Yang-getting-to-torture-him had definitely been a bonus right at the start, but even the errands he was running for the Dance Organisation team had been fun with Blake to keep him company.
As the Bullhead touched down, Jaune hopped out of the door alongside Blake and almost made it back into the foyer of the main building before he realised that he hadn't felt any kind of motion sickness from the Bullhead.
"Huh… Neat. I guess being less anxious about everything really is the key…"
Not that he'd admit that to Olive or Violette, who -out of all of his family- were the ones who had been adamant that he didn't suffer from motion sickness the most.
He could just hear the smug-as-all-hell "we told you so" from both of them already.
The next week or so seemed to fly by.
Every day, Weiss and Yang got back to their dorm room a couple of hours later than usual. He still saw them in classes and talked to them during lunch but it was far less and they were usually distracted by arguing between themselves about some decision or another that the rest of Fireteam Jasper left them to it.
But for everyone else who wasn't on the team of students helping to organise it, even with the dance approaching, classes went on as usual.
Jaune's schedule barely changed. He still got up early to have a shower, still tried his best during classes -doing better in Survival Class and Tactics Class than the rest of his classes, especially Combat Class- and still trained his butt off after school finished for the day.
The only difference was the fact that his study sessions with Weiss were postponed while she dumped her focus into this, and the same was true for his hand-to-hand spars with Yang, as much as she whined about 'not getting to hit around her favourite punching bag anymore.'
Oh, and there was also the fact that he was starting to get familiar with all of the Arks he saw getting deployed in the mornings!
It seemed like it had been ticking up slightly throughout the week, leading to Jaune being able to identify Gianduja and Anesidora -two of his upperclassmen's Arks- at a glance. He was fairly certain that they were the two girls that Ren was referring to on their most recent mission, and he had seen them and some of their other teammates -Fulcrum and Retribution- being sent off as well.
There was also one that was covered in bright blue and pink paint that he was fairly sure was called Magnihild, which -if he recalled correctly- was Nora's Ark. It was usually sent off alongside Epariti, who was piloted by Weiss' weapon maintenance partner and turned out to be Nora's actual partner, Pyrrha Nikos.
He still wasn't sure why she was such a big deal, but if even Weiss thought she was amazing then she must be, cause apparently Weiss was like, one of the richest people on the planet.
He wasn't the only one who had picked up on the increase in missions being received, with Admiral Ozpin even calling a small assembly to discuss it after the first years started to worry. It was apparently… Not quite normal, but predictable that a little while into the school year requests would increase.
He hadn't been able to offer an explanation into why it happened, as much of the Grimm were shrouded in mystery, even to him it seemed, but the knowledge that there wasn't anything to worry too badly about was a soothing balm to the growing worry the first years had faced.
The fact that none of their upperclassmen had deigned to inform them of this fact turned out to be some kind of 'rite of passage' that each class had to go through.
With the extra free time that not having Weiss' study sessions or Yang's hand-to-hand sparring brought, Jaune funnelled that extra time into what he needed most, more training. Jaune continued his Aura training alongside Blake, learning to tinker and maintain Crocea Flos with Ruby, general Swordsmanship practice by himself, and… Actually he just kinda chilled with Ren, which was nice.
And helpful, too. He wasn't great at it yet but Ren was showing him the basics of meditation and how it can help Aura Control. It was… Calming. It was also, unfortunately, a really easy way to fall asleep quickly. He'd ended up taking a nap every time he had attempted it, not that Ren seemed to mind.
Still, after living with his team for over two months now, it felt weird not to have Weiss and Yang around as much during their spare time.
But if any day was going to allow him to make up for lost time socially, then it would be today of all days. The efforts of Weiss, Yang, and the whole Beacon Dance Organisation Team, finally come to fruition…
Beacon's end-of-term Dance.
Jaune couldn't help but gulp as he stood in front of the dorm room's bathroom mirror.
Weiss and Yang had left hours ago to help do the final set-up before getting changed into their outfits, Ren leaving soon after -presumably to meet up with Nora- and even Blake and Ruby had gone ahead without him after he had spent almost fifteen minutes struggling with his tie.
The suit he was wearing was -in a word- plain. Black shoes, black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a black blazer with a navy blue tie were probably the most stock-standard thing he could have worn to a Dance like this…
But he was also technically broke since 1; he didn't have a job, and 2; his mother didn't even know he was enrolled at Beacon, so it wasn't like he had an allowance or savings that he could use to go buy anything better.
And sure, maybe Weiss would buy him one if he asked but that felt like a dick move when he had her to thank for so much of his current circumstances.
He let out a deep breath as he followed along with the video he was watching on his scroll and let out a small cheer as he felt -and saw in the mirror- the tie sit around his neck as it should, and not the absolute monstrosity it had been the last few times he had tried.
You would think his ability to tie knots capable of holding up to angry bulls thrashing around would mean he could tie a tie, but apparently not. But, now that he didn't have anything keeping him locked in the dorm room -the rest of his outfit having already been put on- he stepped out towards the front door and locked it behind him.
There was no one from his team waiting for him outside, but he had assumed that there wouldn't be, so that wasn't an issue. It wasn't like he was actually going to the dance with anyone.
His feet plodded along the floor as he exited the main foyer of the dorm building, the sound of what was probably one of the most popular songs at the moment already wafting through the air and reaching him from the Dance Hall that was only just in his line of sight.
He hadn't asked anyone from his team to the dance. After the whole Blake fiasco, they were in a really good spot, and he would have been gutted if that stability was shattered by the awkwardness of him asking one of them to the dance, or god forbid one of them rejecting him.
Not that he would actually take it badly. He knew that none of them were interested in him like that. That'd be swinging so far out of his league that he'd need an Ark to reach, but it would still hang over the team and he refused to cause issues like that while he was the leader of the Fireteam.
Even if that meant going by himself to the first proper dance he had ever been to.
His posture sagged slightly as he reminded himself of that fact, a sigh escaping him. While he wouldn't have asked anyone on his team out it would have been cool to be going with someone, at least.
The unfortunate fact of the matter was that outside of his Fireteam, he knew precious few people… Let alone girls who would accept an invitation from him. The mental image of him taking Cinder to the dance as his date caused him to let out a small bark of laughter.
The one -and only- time he had ever tried to talk to her she had stared at him like she wanted to gut him like a pig at a butcher house. And hoo-boy was he not desperate enough for a date to try to even try and poke that bear.
His backup plan was to just hang out with Ren all night, spend some time with his partner… But when he had asked if he was doing anything special for the dance, he had practically been launched away from Ren by an irate Nora, who claimed that he 'wouldn't steal this from her, too.'
He wasn't quite sure what Nora thought his and Ren's relationship was like, but she seemed to have the wrong idea.
And thus, with his morals intact and his backup plan thwarted, he was going to the dance stag.
It wasn't quite the glamorous 'first big school dance' that all of the movies about rural kids moving to the big city seemed to offer, but he'd take it as a win anyway since it meant he was still a student at Beacon in the first place.
His thoughts were cut short as he reached the entrance to the dance hall, a pair of students slipping out of the front doors allowing the music to come through at full volume, and he took a deep breath, shaking out his legs.
'Alright, Jaune, no need to panic. You're just gonna, like, socialise and stuff… Or at the very least dance a little, and you know you're good at that…'