Hey guys!
Another week down, and it felt like it was even quicker than the last. It feels like I was just posting the last chapter!
This one was a LOT of fun to write, just some good-fashioned fun with some of my favourite characters!
The Archive of Our Own version of this chapter has 6 pieces of art in it, so I hope you check those out, too!
Jaune's foot taps on the ground as music pulses all around him.
The current song was one that he was 100% putting on the 'Yang picked this' list in his head. It was pretty funny that he could almost tell which song was picked by which of his friends off vibes alone, and he let out a small snort into his almost-empty cup of juice.
As he sips on the last of said juice, he takes another look around.
The dance hall is truly something to admire. He'd seen most of the decorations already -or in most cases at least the materials the organisation team was going to use to make the decorations- but that was only on the shelves of the shops he'd gone to.
Seeing them in their packaging had nothing on seeing them strung up all across the dance hall. Shiny stars cut out of some of the paper plates he had bought -which had felt like enough to armour an Ark or two at the time- were stuck to the ceiling and walls. There was a dark, silky material that hung from every wall and pillar that danced in the light as a disco ball above the floor of colour-changing squares spun and reflected the coloured laser pointers set up around the room.
The clash of mixing a fancy ballroom and nightclub was… Interesting, to say the least, but it worked. It was also very clear that Weiss and Yang -even as first years- had commanded enough of a healthy dose of both respect and fear, to be the ones that were calling most of the shots when it came to the atmosphere.
The food was nice, in a way that felt fancy but not too fancy, and the music and general mood felt like a party… Just not one where he expected to end up blackout drunk by the end of it. A good fusion of the two extremes that he was sure Weiss and Yang had pushed for.
He'd already danced a few times to some songs he was only vaguely familiar with, and was just taking a break… Or at least, that had been the plan, before a bright yellow rocket slammed into him.
"Chief! What are you doing? We can't let you sit on the sidelines when you helped us make this place as awesome as it is! Come dance with me!"
Jaune was about to agree but didn't get the chance to, as Yang grabbed his arm and pulled with the force of a runaway train, dragging him onto the floor behind her. She pushed and shoved her way onto the dance floor as politely as she cared to -read, not very- while giving Jaune the chance to take her outfit in.
It was a purple dress with silver accents and a black sash around her waist, held taught by a brooch reminiscent of a silver rose, which he thought was an adorable touch. Matching heels helped bring it all together, especially with how her hair was put up, separating the colours in a way that drew the eye.
Then there was the shiny shoulder pad she wore with a snowflake engraved onto it, alongside the purple and silver, bicep-high gloves. As Yang stopped moving, and his dancing instincts took over, he grabbed her hand and placed a hand on her waist, motioning towards the silver items with his head.
"Hey, Yang! You look really nice. I was wondering, though, uh, what's with that?!"
He had to yell slightly to get Yang to hear him properly over the music and the crowd around him, but she got the message, her eyes darting downwards to the shoulder pad, and an amused smirk grew on her face.
"Thanks, Chief! And this stuff is all Weiss-cream. She insisted that we have some sort of 'Partner Item' in our outfits! Apparently, it's a thing in Atlas, for when we eventually have a dance together tonight, so that we match or something!"
Jaune laughed and smiled at her. "That sounds like Weiss alright! What kinda thing does she have for you?!"
Yang just winked and stuck out her tongue at him, the hand that he had grabbed tightening slightly. "Gosh, chief! It's so rude of you to think about other girls when dancing with me! I'm so heartbroken I might die!"
That gets another bark of laughter out of Jaune, but he doesn't get much time to take the joke in as Yang starts to dance. Now, Jaune is good at dancing. Very good. But not even he can stay properly on balance when Yang Xiao Long, one of the physically strongest people he knew, suddenly started to dance at approximately Mach 4.
With the music blaring all around them, Yang danced fast and loud, whooping and cheering as she spun the both of them around and around so fast that Jaune was amazed she hadn't sprained an ankle with her heels on.
But just this one sport, this one thing, it is Jaune that has more talent than her. Using skills and techniques drilled into him by a household of seven sisters and one mother, he regained his balance and adapted to her speed and strength, and soon is no longer tumbling behind her but moving alongside her like a true dance partner.
That doesn't stop him from spinning in place a couple of times and using his Aura to negate the dizziness he feels when the song finishes and Yang releases him, however. Half keeled over, he can only just hear Yang laughing joyously over a small amount of applause they are getting from surrounding dancers, and feels a smile grow on his face.
"Yang? You didn't kill him, right?"
Jaune looks up and sees Blake standing next to Yang, a smirk on her face as she crosses her arms over her stomach. Blake is in a long, black, almost ankle-length turtleneck dress, with matching flat boots and a purple arm sleeve over her left arm that helped bring out the purple bow she wore… But now, she used it to put up a ponytail instead of hiding her ears.
Jaune couldn't help but smile at the sight, accepting the hand that Blake held out to him to pull himself to his feet. Yang just laughed at Blake's words, a smirk on her face. "Nope, he's not dead… Yet!"
Jaune faked a scared shudder as Yang waggled her fingers at him like his mother would while telling spooky stories over a campfire. After a moment, all three of them started to laugh. Jaune glances around and sees that his and Yang's audience has dissolved, and turned to Blake, opening his mouth to talk… Only to be cut off by the girl.
"Care for a dance, Jaune?"
Yang let out a gasp that was so poorly acted that Blake just raised an eyebrow in return. "I can't believe you'd steal my dance partner from me like this, Kitty Cat!"
Jaune smirked a little as he saw Blake's eye twitch at the nickname, meeting Yang's eyes with an unamused stare. "How about this, then? Stop calling me that and I'll come dance with you right after to 'repay' you."
Yang crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her chin, grinning at the two of them as a foot tapped on the floor in time with her finger. "You know what? That's a damn good deal, Kitty Cat. I'll take it."
Blake's ear twitched this time, and Jaune had to muffle the snort that escaped him. "You just… Sigh… Whatever."
She then reached over and yoinked Jaune away from the smug other blonde, who sent them off with an overly formal wave that looked like something Weiss would insist she do. As Yang darted off to do… Whatever she was doing, Jaune turned his attention to Blake, who was adjusting the purple sleeve on her arm.
Before he could say anything, a slightly slower melody filled the air as the next song started. Blake paused at that, glancing in Jaune's direction, and he stepped forward and offered a hand to her. He was starting to really remember the training his sisters had put him through for times like this, even if at the time it was more torture than training for him.
Blake smiled softly and took his hand, and as the music picked up, they started to dance. Blake was far more reserved of a dancer than Yang was, but part of that was seemingly because she wasn't very confident at it, even with the more flat-footed shoes she wore, in comparison to Yang's heels.
Still, he noticed that partway through a move he thought he was going to have to adjust his own footing to correct, her leg hesitated for an instant as she fixed how her foot landed, adjusting smoothly.
"Have you had dance lessons before, Blake?"
Blake blinked at the question, and he saw her ears tuck into her head for a moment as she thought. As she did so, he twirled them around, letting go with one hand and allowing her to spin away from him for a moment, before dragging her back in and returning to their 'default' position.
Blake nodded once they were back to normal, humming softly. "Yes, I've been to a celebratory event or two when my father's party won a much-needed vote or got a bill they had been pushing for a while through. Mostly when I was little, though, so I'm still getting used to it again. I probably should have practised a bit, huh?"
Jaune shook his head as he leaned forward, allowing her to lean back until one leg raised off the ground, dipping her slightly before bringing her back to her feet and continuing as normal. "Not at all, you're doing fine. I wasn't asking 'cause you were doing poorly, promise."
Blake rolled her eyes at that, but he saw the soft smile on her face. They fell into a comfortable silence as they danced for the rest of the song, performing moves that became more and more bold as Blake's confidence in her footwork increased with each verse.
They finish the dance off with a twirl-into-Jaune-lifting-Blake-into-the-air move, and he is breathing slightly heavier by the time they are finished, placing Blake back on the ground. "Man, I haven't tried some of those moves since Saphron started crushing on Terra…"
Blake blinked at his words, and he slapped his forehead softly, clicking his tongue. "Sorry, forgot I haven't talked about them much. Saphron is my eldest sister. When she started crushing on her now-wife she made me practise a bunch of dances with her so she could 'impress Terra' during their prom or something."
Blake smiled softly at that, a fond look in her eyes. "Ugh, that's the 'only child fantasising about having siblings' look. Don't get too into the idea, she also forced me to wear a dress while we practised because she wanted to learn the 'male' side of the dances. So don't go thinking siblings are super great just because I'm great at dancing."
Blake outright laughed at that, shaking her head. "I see, I see. Must feel different then, doing the 'male' parts of the dances yourself. Are you sure you don't want me to get you a dress as well? Or are you worried it might not suit you?"
Jaune faked an insulted look on his face. "I'll have you know, Miss Belladonna, that I look fantastic in a dress."
Blake snorted, rolling her eyes as they moved back over to where Yang was dancing solo, a small circle around her where the other students were making space. T'was a smart decision, especially with how frantic and powerful Yang's dance moves were.
"I'm sure. I will say, though, that you pick strange things to be confident about."
Jaune just shrugs at that, getting a shrug back from Blake. Before he could speak again he heard Yang yell and motioned Blake towards her with his head. "I think you should go fulfil that promise, or she'll start bugging you all night."
Blake let out an 'annoyed' sigh at the idea as she moved over to Yang, but couldn't hide the fond smile on her face as she waved back to Jaune… Before getting grabbed by Yang and dragged into the dancing mass of students, another high-energy track playing over the speakers.
Jaune let out a small prayer to the Brothers for Blake's wellbeing before heading back towards the snack table. He usually had pretty good stamina for dancing, and even more so now that he had Aura and had been training for a few months now, but he was still a little thirsty.
He weaved through the crowd and eventually found the promised land, a plastic table with a funky tablecloth placed over it, and a mountain of refreshments stacked on top of that. He avoided the bowl of punch, having watched way too many movies to risk that, and instead grabbed a bottle of water, taking a large gulp.
He was about to go and take one of the seats next to the table and rest a moment when he blinked, Blue eyes meeting Silver. Ruby -who was already mid-bite in a party pie- froze as they made eye contact, and he saw her eyes flicker over behind the table as she let out a squeak.
"Eep!"
Jaune laughs as Ruby makes a social-awkwardness-fuelled dash for the other side of the table, seemingly predicting what he is going to ask, only to almost trip over on the heels that she was very clearly not used to wearing.
Jaune felt a small amount of deja vu to the first day of Beacon -that time she detonated a bunch of Weiss' Dust and almost blew herself up- as he reached out and grabbed her arm, hauling her back onto her feet and making sure she was mostly steady before letting go.
As she finished getting herself balanced again Jaune looked at the outfit she was wearing. It was… Fairly similar to her usual outfit, all things considered, but he could definitely see a 'fancier' air about it.
Her hair was up in a small ponytail, her shorter hair not giving her many options when it came to styling it, not that Ruby seemed terribly interested in fancy hairstyles in the first place. She also had a red, flowy scarf, alongside a silver-and-red corset and heels combo over a black dress with flowy sleeves and silver living, gloves with the same, and socks that rose to just under the knee.
The outfit felt incredibly 'Ruby Rose' while still feeling just 'formal' enough for a dance. "Hey, Ruby! Nice dress! You, uh, don't seem super keen on those heels, though."
Ruby shot the shoes in question a dirty look before letting out a sigh. "Yang wouldn't let me wear my combat boots, even though they're way cooler than these dumb heels. I can't even walk properly in them!"
Jaune internally wondered how someone who could travel as fast as Ruby could while maintaining proper balance wasn't able to adjust to heels, but kept that thought to himself. "Yeah, they do some damage to your balance, don't they? But they do look nice. They go great with your Corset and Scarf!"
Ruby froze as his words seemed to click and Jaune couldn't help but grin as his face dipped down to the floor and one of her feet started spinning on its toes against the floor. "Oh, right, thank you, Jaune! You look, uh… Handsome too! I like your… Tie. Very blue."
Jaune laughed at that, grinning as he held it out to her. "Indeed it is. Incredibly blue, one might even say. Your powers of perception are as, uh, shining as your eyes?"
He cringed at himself as the words left his mouth, fully expecting Ruby to do the same, only to see her face slightly red, steam practically pouring out of her ears from the shocked expression on her face.
There was a brief moment where he was shocked by the fact it had affected her so much… but he let out a small chuckle as he leaned in and elbowed her gently, a smile on his face. "I won't tell Yang that you're weak to teasing, I promise. She might switch targets from Weiss to you if I do."
Ruby just blinked at him for a moment or two, her face getting slightly redder before she nodded rapidly, laughing with him as she put her hands on her hips. "Thanks, yeah. I, uh, appreciate it. It's been good to not have Yang bugging me so much."
Jaune just nodded sagely, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Older sisters, am I right?"
The embarrassed blush on Ruby's face seemed to fade as it turned into a good-natured grin. "God, you're so right. I swear, she got some sick joy from coming to my spars at Signal and cheering loud enough to get kicked out."
Jaune laughed at that, shaking his head. Hesitating for a moment, he eventually just went for it and offered a hand out to Ruby. "That does sound like Yang alright… But anyway, I wanted to ask if you would like to have a dance?"
Ruby freezes again at his question and he is sure he can spot her blushing slightly again, but it could just be the lighting this time. "I… Yeah, alright. As long as you're okay with me being a little wobbly…"
She grabbed onto his hand and he smiled, slowly moving back out to the dance floor. "Don't worry. Won't be the first time I've danced with someone who can't walk in heels. I do have an idea, though, if you don't wanna be so wobbly, but it might be a little embarrassing…"
Ruby let out a sigh, glancing down at her shaky feet as they stopped in place on the dance floor, a much slower song than the previous ones starting to play. "It's gonna be embarrassing either way, so… If you think it will help, why not?"
Jaune just grinned, pushing his feet out forward a little and shimmying them back and forth to draw her attention to them. "Alright, then. Step on my shoes, and I'll do all of the footwork for the dancing."
He saw Ruby's shoulder drop as she let out a sigh, and he could just barely hear her mumble 'Stupid Yang… Stupid stilts' before she stood on his toes with the ball of her feet. Jaune was rather amazed that it didn't even hurt this time, a major difference from when his youngest sister Rouge did the same, but that was Aura for you, he guessed.
He hovered over her side for a moment, knowing that she was a bit more socially awkward than the others and not wanting to push, but she gave him a nod and he gingerly placed his hand on her waist.
"Alright, Ruby. Just follow along with my movements."
Their dance was shorter than his dance with Yang and Blake because they had to set up her standing on his feet, but it was no less fun because of it.
With Ruby entrusting the footwork to Jaune, he was able to get a bit fancier with it than he otherwise would have. The speed at which their feet moved seemed to fascinate Ruby, who was whooping and cheering as they moved as gracefully and smoothly as he possibly could.
They were in the middle of spinning in place rapidly when he spotted Yang and Blake dancing alongside them. Slowing the spin down to a stop and stepping a few times over to them, Jaune grinned. "Got your dance with her after all, huh Yang?"
Yang smirked and winked dramatically, causing Blake to roll her eyes. "Hey hey! The Kitty Cat just can't resist me, Chief, what can I say?"
"How about not saying 'Kitty Cat' ever again?"
Yang just snorted and caused Blake to let out an overly emphatic sigh, the girl clearly hamming it up. Ruby giggled at their antics and Jaune joined them, a smile on his face from ear to ear. It felt so good to be able to spend time with his friends like this, but…
There was still something missing.
"Hey Yang, Blake. Would you mind dancing with Ruby for me? There's something I wanna do before the night is over."
All three girls gave him a confused look, only for Ruby to let out a loud yell in surprise as he kicked her feet off of his own, spinning her in the direction of Blake and Yang, who caught her and smoothly changed their hands and feet to include her in the dancing.
Yang turned to him and winked at him again, sticking her tongue out at him for a moment before shouting slightly over the music. "Go for it, Chief! Oh, and tell her she owes me five bucks!"
Jaune paused at the way Yang predicted what he was doing, and rolled his eyes as he sent a lazy wave to the three-person dance-cloud that was half of his team. Realising he hasn't even seen the rest of the team tonight other than that, he takes a look around for Ren and Weiss.
He spots Ren fairly quickly, the boy's brown pants and green-and-gold Mistralian formal top standing out amongst a sea of suits and ties. He is -rather predictably- dancing with Nora in a less densely populated area of the dance floor.
A smile comes to his face as he watches them for a moment, and then a thought runs through his head that causes him to snort with laughter. 'I wonder if any of the girls have seen Nora with him yet and realised they're wrong about her nonexistence? I don't think they mentioned it if they have…'
He had been holding off actually introducing any of his team to Nora for the sole purpose of their misinformed assumption about Ren talking about Nora being hilarious, but he also did want to have them all meet Pyrrha and Nora officially, as the whole of JSBYRR.
He still hadn't actually met Pyrrha at all yet, even with Weiss seeming to really respect Pyrrha, the girl probably being Weiss' best friend outside of their Fireteam. And then there was Ren, who had his thing going on with Nora, so they should really probably hang out more than they do.
So while the joke was funny… Maybe it was time to end it, so Nora could hang out with Ren even when the girls were around. However, that did beg the question of why Ren hadn't introduced the girl himself, or why Nora only ever came around when everyone else was out.
He just shrugged to himself. Nora was a hard person to understand when she wanted you to, let alone when she didn't, and even all of his experience with his sisters wouldn't help him untie the mess of a knot Ren and Nora were.
Turning away from the happy couple -as much as they'd deny it, he was sure- and continued searching the Dance hall, and… Ah, there she was!
Darting past a couple of students, he lightly jogged over to the section that was the fanciest of all… The photo booths. He could already see a couple of Fireteams -and couples who wanted their photos taken together- lining up outside of it, the occasional flash of light showing that the people inside were done.
Moving closer, he spotted Weiss fluttering about the area and seemingly micro-managing the decorations. He can't hear her over the music, but he can see her mouth moving as she seemingly mutters to herself while trying to get a vase full of flowers to stand up.
Weiss' hair was down, and she was wearing a blue and gold dress that clung to the sides of her torso before flaring out and covering all the way down to her knees, as well as matching white and gold gloves and boots.
She had a fur neckpiece which he could only assume was a nod to her Atlesian heritage, and he thought that her heels were slightly taller than normal, too. He wasn't sure enough about it to feel confident teasing her, however, as it could just be the difference in outfit throwing his perception off.
She also wore a golden tiara instead of her usual silver one, with a purple gem in the middle… That and the gold in her outfit was clearly the 'partner trait' thing that Yang had mentioned. Gold was definitely much more Yang's colour than Weiss'.
As he took in her outfit, Jaune watched her attempt to fix the one set of flowers for almost three minutes before shaking his head walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
She yelled in surprise and there was a moment of panic on both of their faces as a Glyph appeared between them, ready to throw him away from her, but she seemingly realised who he was a moment later, and the Glyphs shattered.
"Phew! I thought I was a goner, there."
Weiss just stares at him for a moment before a small smile creeps onto her face and she cocks one hip to the side, her hand on the other. "That's why you shouldn't just suddenly grab people, Arc. Would have been splendid for our reputation if I had thrown you across the dance hall."
Jaune just grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "What, you don't think I'd fit in with the decorations? I could probably be a good disco ball if I flared my Aura enough."
That got a snort of laughter out of Weiss, who genuinely seemed to think about it for a moment before raising an eyebrow in his direction and giving him an amused smirk. "I'd almost say you were asking me to help you find out with that talk, Arc."
Jaune cocked his head towards the vase of flowers she had tried and failed to fix, smiling at her. "And I'd say that those flowers aren't going to stand up for anything but divine intervention."
Weiss' smile froze for a moment before she schooled her face into something appropriately Weiss, which meant forcibly snooty and much less forcibly prideful. "I'd have gotten them eventually."
Jaune just laughs at that, meeting her eyes with a smirk. "Right. So you didn't just spend three minutes trying to fix them to no avail?"
Weiss flushed bright red at that, glancing towards the still-limp bouquet of flowers and glaring at them with the hate of a thousand Beowolves before turning back to him, the glare only turned down to the intensity of twenty-to-thirty Beowolves and causing him to laugh nervously.
Still, he pushed through her glare and remembered why he had come to find her in the first place. Weiss had a confused look on her face as he took a step back from her, only for it to turn into a look of realisation and suppressed laughter as he did a half bow, holding one hand to his chest and the other out to her.
"Lady Schnee, would you, uh, do me the honour of a dance?"
She was silent for a moment, and then another moment. The sound of the previous song faded out and another took its place in the time it took for her to respond, her eyes trained on his outstretched hand as Jaune gulped, his confidence -which had been steadily growing all night from the positive social interactions- crumbling.
That is until he feels something touch his hand. Looking up he sees that Weiss has placed her fingers in the palm of his hand, her own palm hovering slightly over his fingers. "Yes, I'd love to, Arc. But let's just stick with your normal voice, alright? Your impression of 'fancy' must have come purely from movies, because that was rather terrible."
Jaune pouted at that but was too glad that she had accepted the offer to dance and just took the win instead of arguing with her. "Yeah, I'll stick to my actual voice, that came out sounding far more nasally than I expected it to."
Weiss laughed softly, another hand reaching up to cover her mouth as she did so. "You would be surprised how spot-on you are to some of the people I've had to deal with at galas. Usually, the worst, however, so I doubt that's the image you're going for."
Jaune smiled at that and allowed her to lead him forward towards the dance floor. There is a song that is about halfway through already as Weiss stops, seemingly happy with their spot on the dance floor, motioning for Jaune to get into position.
She makes no fuss as he takes one of her hands and places the other on her hip, merely copying his stance and placing her free hand on his shoulder. The song playing isn't a particularly slow one, but Weiss initiates a waltz nonetheless, with Jaune following suit.
As they step back and forth in time to the music, Jaune realises something. Weiss dances perfectly. Her moves are flawless, even when he starts to initiate some of the more 'fancy' and 'elegant' spins and dips… But they are also kind of stiff, each one feeling like a new thing instead of flowing into the next.
Technically, she is doing everything right, it's just that it feels like a bunch of separate moves instead of one smooth dance.
Jaune sees the smile on her face, however, as they dance. He doesn't want to ruin that, especially since she's spent the better part of the night fussing over the decorations. And so he adjusts his own movements to be more in time with her instead of dancing normally.
It feels unnatural to Jaune but their dance ironically flows smoother for it as both of them move almost in sync, moving from each dance to the next. At the very least, it looks more intentional with both of them doing it than just one person.
After his adjustment, Weiss catches his attention with her eyes and nods slowly, an appreciative look in her gaze. Jaune just smiles back, nodding his head as well. He didn't say anything, however, knowing that Atlas' customs for formal dances called for silence.
Jaune thought that was a bit snobby and pretentious of Atlas, but he knew that their overly professional -sometimes clinical feeling- behaviour was just part of the culture there, albeit less so after the Colour Revolution.
Their dance having started in the middle of a song, it's over quicker than either of them expected. As they disconnect from one another, Jaune makes sure to give a small bow to Weiss, his hand waving to his side.
He sees Weiss roll her eyes at him before returning his bow with a small curtsey, and he laughs a little, even as his eyes are locked onto hers. As Weiss joins him in his laughter, he can't help but smile.
Brothers, how had he been worried about tonight? It was a fun time spent with people he had come to really care about, filled with nice -albeit slightly generic- music and varied experiences dancing with the girls on his team.
God, what would his family say if he told them he had danced with four girls in one night?
His older sisters like Saphron, Olive and Violette would probably demand pictures and proof. His little sisters Periwinkle, Cyan, Blanca and Rogue would probably ask them if any of them were princesses, to which he would have to, unfortunately, say no… Wait, did Weiss count as a Princess?
And he shuddered to think of the look on his mother's face if he even mentioned he had female teammates. He wasn't ready to dream up baby names for all the grandbabies she would inevitably hound him for.
Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts from his family back to the dance, and the probably-a-princess in front of him. He was about to say something to Weiss when Yang suddenly appeared, breaking his concentration.
"YO, CHIEF! CATCH!"
Yang got revenge for him throwing Ruby at her earlier by throwing the person she was dragging along at him, and Jaune only just got a glimpse of pink as he caught the person. Helping them get their balance back even as they spun from the impact, Jaune snorted when he met a nonplussed Ren's eyes.
"Yang drag you out here?"
A small nod and pursed lips were the only replies to that as the other boy glared at Yang, who just smirked. "Yeah, he was just standing all by his lonesome over in the corner of the room. And I thought 'How sad is that!' so I went and grabbed him… And since you seem so set on dancing with the whole team tonight, Chief, I didn't want your partner to miss out!"
Jaune notes that the music in the background changes to a much faster-paced one, likely the fastest of the night, and he glances at Ren before returning his eyes to Yang. "Does Ren want to dance with me?"
Ren opens his mouth to answer but Yang cuts him off, a shit-eating grin on her face. "You're not getting out of this one, boys, trust me."
She nodded her head back and Jaune sighed as he saw Blake and Ruby both watching them intently from the side of the dance floor, drinks and snacks in their hands. Turning to Ren, Jaune made a decision, holding out his hand.
"Ren? You know what we must do, right?"
Ren grabbed his hand swiftly and calmly, a determined look on his face. It seemed that Ren had come to much the same conclusion as he had, now that they knew that this dance was inevitable.
"I'm with you, my brother."
Neither of them moved for a moment as the song in the background started to rise while Yang and Weiss moved over to Blake and Ruby. Jaune just took a deep breath as the music came to a climax…
And then snapped into motion.
Dipping Ren almost all the way to the floor, he pulled him back to his feet in time with the music and spun him so fast the boy was a blur, before Ren stopped in place, their hands connected as they paused for a moment.
Jaune pulled Ren back towards him and initiated what could only be called a 'hyper-speed samba' with the other boy. A smug grin grew on his face as he saw the looks of absolute shock and awe on the girl's faces as he and Ren started to tear up the dance floor.
He wasn't sure why Ren knew how to dance so well, but together they put every other dance Jaune had done that night to shame, and he could tell that they all knew it. It was a showcase of skill and timing and synchronised movements that would be talked about for decades… Or far more likely the next few days, but Jaune was still proud of it.
Sweat fell off his brow as their dance came to a conclusion, with him and Ren striking matching poses. With their backs to each other, they had one hand on their hips with the other pointing to the roof, right on time as the music died. He let out a few deep breaths and then heard Ren mutter something.
"Oh god, she's never going to let me live this down…"
The nearby students -who had formed a circle around them out of sheer respect for the dance they had just performed- started to cheer and clap for them, including the girls of his fireteam. Ignoring them for the moment, he followed Ren's line of sight and saw Nora standing just outside the bathroom, staring at the two of them with her mouth agape and her nose bleeding.
"Ha! Hahaha! That was fun, huh Ren!"
Jaune couldn't help but grin as he raised a hand in Ren's direction, and he saw the small, honest smile that formed on his friend's face as well. Ren lifted his hand and high-fived him while he shook his head in exasperation.
"Indeed… But now you should brace yourself."
"Huh? What do you- oof!"
Jaune nearly toppled over as Yang and Ruby both slammed into him right after that, excited looks in their eyes. Only his Aura and training kept him from falling over, even as the two girls seemed a little miffed that he had stayed upright.
"Jaune, that was amazing! You were holding out on me!"
"Yeah, Chief! I knew you could dance, but I didn't know you could dance, y'know?"
Jaune just laughed as the two girls grabbed onto an arm each as the music started back up. He saw Weiss and Blake smiling in their direction as they prepared to dance together and also spotted Ren sneaking away back towards Nora, sacrificing Jaune to the girls of Fireteam JSBYRR.
Jaune would get his revenge, someday… Shaking his head and letting out a small snort of laughter, he allowed himself to be dragged into a three-person dance triangle with Yang and Ruby.
The crowd around them returns to their own dancing, and it continues well into the night, well past the midnight bells. It is fun, loud, bright, and felt like a once-in-a-lifetime night to those participating…
So it could probably be excused that none of them saw an Amber-eyed girl return through a side door in a sheer black dress, the smug smile on her face glowing with pride and an intoxicating feeling of flawless success.
So, what did we think?!
Like I said, this was a lot of fun to write, and do the drawings for!
We're getting right back into the action next week with another Mission Archive chapter to end off "Volume 2" of Remnant Light! We're slowly getting to the biTHING/i/b that gave me the idea for Remnant Light in the first place, which will be within "Volume 3!"
This might be a bit sudden, but after the Yang-and-Weiss focused chapter next week, BRemnant Light/b will be going on another month-long Hiatus while I rebuild even more backlog for this!
See you all next Friday!
(PS: Tell me in the comments, who has the best outfit? I tried my hardest for their designs so let me know which one is your fav!