After Friday night's sparring Sunday morning had come too quickly for Jaune. Sure it was only two days, but it felt like he blinked and was now here packing his bag to go to Beacon. He wouldn't be leaving until 2pm, and he was already feeling more than a bit nervous.

'How badly will I stick out compared to the rest of the applicants?' Jaune thinks as he stuffs his pajamas haphazardly into the bag.

Maybe he would go to lunch before he left. He had enough money to after all. He should invite Junior or Neo. Probably Neo if so. She was the one who helped train him and while he did serve as her punching bag it didn't really feel like he did all that much for her.

So Jaune makes the decision and texts the girl. They usually texted 2 or 3 times a week as of late. With them either just talking or Jaune asking questions which would sometimes get answered via text or delayed ass beating.

Within a few minutes Neo had responded saying she was down for it and for him to just tell her where. Jaune thought about it for a minute before deciding on a sandwich shop he found a few days before.

The shop was deep in the Lions territory. But that didn't really matter seeing as most of them knew him, and his sadistic teacher seemed to have a similar reputation outside of their training sessions as she did in them. Jaune felt fairly safe that nobody would try anything with them.

So he texted Neo the address, put on his hoodie, and left his apartment. Walking down the street the knight walked towards Juniors. The club seemed to be coming back together fairly nicely from what he was seeing.

When Jaune walks in he is immediately greeted by Miltiades and Melanie. "We heard you're leaving today…" The sister dressed in white said. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I told you weeks ago though?"

"We weren't listening." Miltiades shrugged

"Ugh… Why do I even bother telling you guys anything? Just like my sisters I swear…"

"We're just messing with you. Lighten up."

"You come to see us off before you leave?"

"Yeah. I wanted to see you guys."

"Awww you are gonna miss us. I knew it."

"I guess a bit. Where's Junior?" Jaune looks around ignoring the sisters teasing.

"He's dealing with some business right now. If you wait around for a bit he'll probably be back fairly soon."

"That's alright, I'm on my way to meet up with someone for lunch anyways. I might stop by if I have time before leaving though."

"Who are you going out to lunch with and why haven't we met them?"

"It's just the girl who's been helping me learn to fight these past few months."

"Sounds like a date doesn't it sister?"

"Why yes it does,"

"It's just a thank you. She would kick your guys butts if she heard you say that."

"Ooh defensive…"

"You guys aren't going to get me today. I'm going now I don't want to hold her up or she'll kick my butt. Hopefully I'll see you guys later." The knight smiles as he walks back through the doors to the street.

Melanie turns to her sister. "I wonder who he haed training him."

"We never even got a description or name from him. Sneaky bastard."

Jaune got to the sandwich stop just before noon. Luckily he only had to wait a few minutes before Neo showed up, and tapped on his shoulder scaring the piss out of him. After she stopped laughing from his high pitched squeal, Neo pulled her scroll out

'Why'd you bring me here?' Neo said

"I'm not leaving for a few hours so I thought I could take you to lunch as a thank you."

Neo nods in response, and opens the door to the shop. Jaune following behind her. As they walked to the counter, both looked at the options for a few minutes when Jaune's phone went off. Neo had texted him while he was looking.

She had texted him what she wanted. Jaune ordered for both of them, the man on the other side smiled and told them he'd call them up in a few minutes. Jaune and Neo sat down at one of the small tables that were meant for one or two people and were perfect for the duo.

After about 5 minute of talking about what they were up to earlier in the day Jaune is called and grabs the food, and thanks the man and pays for the sandwiches.

As Jaune grabbed their food, and started to turn around the shopkeeper spoke "You two make a cute couple."

The knight snorts. "I don't even think we're all that good of friends."

"You two seem fairly close from what I've seen."

"She's my sparring partner and teacher nothing more sir."

"If you say so." the greying man said.

Jaune rolled his eyes amused, and walked back to the table. Handing Neo her sandwich Jaune sits across from her and pulls his out of the paper, and starts eating.

'These are really good.' Neo texts him, and Jaune nods enthusiastically with a mouthful of sandwich happy to share this place with her.

Jaune and Neo enjoy their meal taking small breaks to take a drink, and talk. Jaune asked Neo how everything was going with her jobs, and partner, and she asked him how he was feeling about going to Beacon.

Jaune was excited, and also extremely nervous so is what he told her. Neo was also a bit nervous. Several things on her mind. For one Cinder was going to be watching the numbers tonight to see how much Roman mattered to the whole operation.

Unfortunately this meant her and Roman would both have to be making the rounds to make sure that when she "gave" him a day off tomorrow that they would outproduce the fang on their own.

The next thing was Neo wanted to plan a dinner between her and Roman tomorrow night. Neo might ask Jaune about that, he had sisters and was a guy. Surely he would have some insight? Speaking of her pupil she was also a bit nervous about him getting into Beacon for entirely selfish reasons.

If he didn't get in then that meant she wouldn't have an outlet for her stress as the stakes kept getting bigger. There was also the pride aspect in the whole thing. She had done a solid amount to help him, at least she felt she did.

Jaune failing would hit her hard. Both of them had already talked about what he'd do if he didn't get in. That was work for Junior or go home and neither was all that good for the thief.

Neo didn't want that to happen. She knew that after a while he'd end up being more than just a janitor for Junior. While that would've interested Neo from a couple months ago who would've tried bargaining it into more favors and having a better in with Junior for information. This Neo realized it would moreso mean Jaune wouldn't be talking or meeting with her.

For the past few weeks now she had been trying to get extra information to help Jaune, and got next to nothing. She hadn't told him though. He didn't need to know that she was doing that or why she was doing it…

"-eo? Hey Neo." Said girl blinked stupidly at Jaune. "You alright Neo? You've been just kind of staring into space for a few minutes now. You got something on your mind?"

Neo nods, and decides to bring up one of her many dilemmas. It's not like anyone but Jaune would know anyways. Typing for a few minutes Jaune eats a bit more waiting for what the mute had to say.

'So tomorrow I have a free night, and I want to make it a romantic dinner with my partner so maybe he'll get the hint. I have been trying to do something like this for a long time, and he's either too tired, too busy, or doesnt even see it as a romantic gesture. It's really frustrating and I wanted someone elses thoughts on what I should do since obviously I'm not doing something right.'

Jaune reads the text, and after rereading it again starts speaking. "So first off, I know you two are close. I know it's probably not easy, but have you considered just straight up asking him out?"

'Do you mean like telling him how I feel to his face, or offering to take him to dinner?'

"First option, but have you tried the taking him out thing?"

'No to the straight up telling him. Asking him, and getting rejected would probably put a strain on our friendship, and that wouldn't really be good for our job either. Also seeing as we live together'

"I think I get the point there. What about taking him out to dinner?"

'Kind of difficult to do without jeapordizing both of our safety, and revealing us being partners would be bad for business.'

'especially now' Neo thinks.

"I'm really not the best guy to talk about this then Neo. I'm not the most knowledgeable person. Don't you have someone else you can talk to about this?"

'No.'

The answer was simple and straight to the point. Jaune was surprised. He shouldn't be when she had come to him with this. He probably couldn't do much to help, but he had 7 sisters it had to help him out sometimes right?

"Alright then… You said this is supposed to be a romantic dinner right?" Neo nods "First off the most important part. Can you cook?"

Neo responds with a 'sort of' motion with her hand. Jaune sighs. "Can you cook his favorite meal?" To this Neo nods "Good. That's probably the most important part of the dinner. Second is making sure that the mood is set, and that he will know it's special."

Nodding she listens intently to the teen who had little to no idea what he was talking about. "Having romantic lighting might help a bit. So buy a few candles if you don't have any?"

Neo took note of that. She would stop by a shop later and pick up a few for tomorrow evening. "I'm going to be honest Neo. If having sisters dating lives taught me one thing about guys it's that you're going to have to pretty much smack him in the face for him to get the hint."

The two friends talk for a while longer, with Neo asking more and more questions about Jaune's family, and life at home. She already knew that he had a big family, but the way he talked about his town, and his family history she was partially convinced that he might be royalty.

Neo even told him a little bit about how it was when she was growing up. Leaving out a good amount of the bad parts, she mostly told him the basics. She grew up with neglectful parents, who didn't care about her, and that eventually she ran into her partner who helped her escape them.

Jaune was riveted, and looked sad that she didn't get to have a great childhood. He couldn't help but feel bad whenever he complained about his home life before. Jaune couldn't stop himself when she got up, and gave the girl a hug. Something she had not expected in the slightest.

Jaune squished her against himself in a massive bear hug. At first the girl tried to wriggle out of it, but soon gave up and hugged him back. Nobody would ever know except the smirking storekeeper and Jaune even if she would deny it to his face forever.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Jaune lets go of Neo, before grabbing his scroll, and looking at it. Quickly he turns back to Neo an apologetic smile on his face, "I've got to leave Neo. I had a good time. hopefully we can have lunch again. I hope I helped, and I'll text you when I get to Beacon. Thank you for everything." the knight rushes.

The blonde grabs his food, and shoves the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and running out of the shop.

Neo sits there for a few minutes, before checking her own scroll. They had been there for more than an hour? How had she not noticed the time slipping by. Was she that lost in the conversation and her own thoughts?

Jaune sprinted back to his apartment. He spent the absolute max amount of time with Neo that he could, and it still didn't feel like enough. Time really did fly when you were having fun. As he get to his building he races up the stairs not wanting to wait for the elevator.

Grabbing his bag, and Crocea Mors, Jaune left his apartment just as fast as he entered the door slamming so hard behind him it sounded like a gunshot. He sprinted right back down the stairs and raced out of the building and down the streets to where the docks were.

He must not have been the only one who was scared of being late, as a few others were either being dragged to the bullhead docks, or were running like himself. When Jaune arrived to the spot, he checked his scroll. 1:48pm.

He had made the right decision running he might not have made it on time if he had walked instead. Turns out he didn't have time to stop by the club after all. So Jaune reminded himself to see Junior as soon as he could. He did owe the man a lot.

Before long a speaker came to life and announced the bullheads were now ready to pack and board. Jaune and others grabbed their bags and headed towards the airships. He put his bag into the cargo hold, and then got into the bullhead himself.

As soon as it left the ground Jaune's stomach started doing flips. Gods above Jaune hated having motion sickness. Bullheads were definitely making their way onto his list of top things he hated too…

Through sheer willpower, Jaune managed to keep himself from vomiting in the ship. The same could not be said for the trashcan on the docks by the exit though. After emptying his stomach

Once he was done Jaune gazed up at Beacon, taking it in all it's glory. It was a crazy place, and in his trance Jaune started heading the same way as the rest of the crowd.

Suddenly a massive explosion shook the ground, and Jaune ran over to it to see if anyone was hurt. When he got over to the crater he saw a girl who looked a little younger than him laying in the center of it. Jaune walks to the center of the aftermath and offers a hand to the girl.

"Hey you alright?"

"Aren't you the guy who threw up on the airship?"

"I would appreciate if you didn't bring that up." Jaune groans to the girl

Giggling the girl takes his hand and Jaune hoists her to her feet. "So Vomit Boy what's your name?"

"It's Jaune Arc, Short Sweet rolls off the tongue, and Lady's love it." The nauseous knight says as they start walking side by side.

"Do they?"

"Not yet, but they will."

"I'm sure."

"Hey!"

"So I've got this thing." Ruby says before grabbing a rectangular piece of metal that transforms into a massive scythe. Jaune jumps back in surprise.

"Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle?"

"It's a gun too?"

"In simpler terms, yes."

"That's awesome."
"What's your weapon?" The girl asks looking at the sword on Jaune's hip.

"I've got this sword, and this shield?" Jaune answers pulling the sword out of the sheath and transforming it.

"So what do they do?"

"The shield gets smaller, and turns into a sheath for the sword So it's a bit easier to carry."

"Wouldn't that weigh the same anyways?"

"Well yeah." Jaune sees Ruby's disappointed look, and he sags a little "I know it's not as cool as your Scythe…"

"Hey it's still cool, not all of us are giant nerds when it comes to making weapons."

"Hold on a minute. You made that yourself?!"

"Well yeah, every student at Signal designs and builds their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"

"Well, No it's actually a hand me down. My great great grandfather used it to fight in the war apparently."
"So it's an heirloom?"

"Yeah…"

"Don't be down. I like it." Ruby smiles at Jaune "It's nice to see someone with an appreciation for the classics."

"The classics can be nice. My favorite teacher uses something more on the simple side herself." Jaune says, as they start walking again.

"What does she use?"

"A parasol that has a blade hidden in the tip. It's really nice. The parasol part of it is a shield too, and the blade can be used on its own separate of the rest of the weapon."

"That's so cool, what's the canopy made of?"

"I don't know. I've never asked." Jaune shrugs.

"So why did you help me out?" Ruby asks she can't help the curiosity.

"Do I need a reason?" Jaune shrugs. "As my mom says, Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

"Hmm interesting sentiment. Do you know where we're going?"

"I was following you? Don't you know?"

"Nope."

"Crap. Do you think there's a directory, or anyone who knows where we're supposed to go?"

"No clue."

"I think we should just head back the way we came. There was probably a reason they dropped us off there right?"

"Sound's good to me."

"Great." Jaune says, and the two turn around walking back the way they came laughing, and talking all the way back.

It turned out that the docks were actually fairly close to the hall, and the knight and reaper both felt a little stupid about how far off course they had gotten. Not a moment after they walked in was a loud voice heard calling out for Ruby heard.

"I saved you a spot over here!" The girl yelled, and before Jaune could even get a glimpse of the girl Ruby spoke up.

"I gotta go, my sister's calling for me. I'll see you after the ceremony!" The red reaper yells before vanishing from his sight.

"Hey wait!" Jaune shouts in vain. "Dang it, where am I going to find another nice quirky girl to talk to…" Jaune walks off into the crowd of teens looking for a good spot to listen to the introduction. Maybe he would find out more, and be able to text Neo, Junior, or Tukson for some tips incase they knew anything else.

Jaune settled in when he saw a girl in white point towards him. Jaune starts to walk over, when the sound of a microphone turning on catches his and everyone elses attention.

"I'll keep this brief…" A man with grey hair, small glasses, and a cane spoke to the crowd "You have traveled here today to acquire knowledge and the skills to help you dedicate yourself to protecting the people of Remnant. But when I look amongst you all I see is wasted energy."

Everyone in the room starts to look at eachother and mutter, before the headmaster starts to speak again. "Children who need direction, and purpose. You all assume that gaining this knowledge will boost you up to wherever you need to be. That is not true. It is up to you to figure out that purpose, and to take that first step."

Just as quickly as he arrived as did he leave, and a blonde woman wearing a black and purple cape took his place. Jaune thought the attire was odd, but a lot of the people here were dressed strangely.

The woman told them that they would be sleeping in the ballroom tonight, and to make sure they were ready for initiation the next day, before she left as well. 'Damn, no hints. I might as well go see why I was being pointed at.'

Jaune walks over to the girl. "I'm a natural blonde ya know."

"What?" The white haired girl said confused and annoyed

'She's beautiful.' Jaune thought. "The name's Jaune Arc, Short Sweet, and the ladies love it. Hopefully you will too miss…"

"I'm not dealing with this. I've already ran into my fill of idiots for the day." The girl sscoffs before walking away.

"Wow. It sounds just as bad when you say it to other people too." A familiar voice says. Jaune looks towards the source of the voice.

"Ruby? Huh. That was quick."

"Aren't you the guy who vomited?" a new person said

"Motion sickness is much more common than you'd think." Jaune immediately replies to the girl right next to Ruby. "Hey don't I know you?"

"I don't think so, but you do look a bit familiar too…" The blonde girl answers. "Name is Yang Xiao Long and this is my sister Ruby. I see you two have already met."

"Yang… Why do I know that name?" Jaune ponders, before a look of anger crosses his face. "You're that girl who tore up Junior's club!"

"I do know you. You're that guy I fought." Yang says a little shocked. "Why are you here?"

'Of course the first friend I made just so happens to be the same guy my sister fought…' Ruby grumbles internally. 'At least he isn't flirting with her though.'

"Because I'm trying to be a huntsman too. Why are you here. Trying to get paid for beating up innocent bartenders?"

"You mean criminals?" Yang fires back

"Junior's not a criminal!" Jaune shouts lying through his teeth to the girl. "He's a business owner who you assaulted because you thought he would have information that he didn't."

"He came onto me."

"You punched him in the face, and destroyed the club"

"That was his mistake." Jaune agreed a bit but he wasn't going to allow her the courtesy of winning so easily. He had seven sisters after all.

"You broke one of his body guards ribs, and permanently crippled several others."

"Maybe they shouldn't have attacked me." Yang shrugs "If I remember correctly I dribbled your ass like a basketball too. You want to go for a second round?"

"Oooooh beating up an unarmed janitor. You must feel real strong."

"Infact I do." Jaune said puffing his chest out. He was going to get his ass beat, but he would go out swinging.

"It's on, You're gonna get Yanged up if you want to try me dork."

Jaune paused for a moment before a smile started to form at the edge of his mouth…

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jaune starts laughing hysterically. "That was a good one." he says as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

'Oh gods no please.' Ruby pleads as she watches the blonde knight laugh.

Yang's eyes widen in shock, and she starts to laugh too. "No way! Hahahahaha! That was one of my worst puns."

"It wasn't even funny!" Ruby shouts indignantly

"What do you mean? That was hilarious."
"Finally someone with good a good sense of humor."

"Probably just a involuntary response to preserve his life" Ruby grumbles

"Maybe you aren't so bad after all Vomit Boy."
"This is my life now isn't it."

"Yep." Both sisters reply.

Jaune had settled into his pajamas, and was walking around looking for his spot with his blanket and pillow. Neo should still be up right now, he'll let her know that he got to beacon, and that initiation would be tomorrow. He spent a solid amount of time searching for any hint of what might happen.

Unfortunately none of the other teens knew anything, and the few teachers he found wouldn't tell him anything. Jaune had eventually given up, and he ignored the snickers, and light insults. If only they knew how comfortable his pajamas were.

Jaune hears a commotion, and sees the white haired girl, Ruby, Yang, and a new girl wearing a bow. 'Why would you wear that to bed?' Jaune wonders.

The girls yelling ceases almost immediately after the black haired girl extinguishes her candle. Now he was lost in the dark amongst all the others who were laying on the floor. He was pretty sure he was fairly close to the girl with the bow though cause he remembered making conversation with her.

Moreso trying. He didn't succeed, but she also didn't complain or ruthlessly tease him about the choice of pajamas. Then again she didn't much seem to really care about anything he did at all. He was pretty sure he could kill someone and she wouldn't glance up from her book unless he made too much noise.

"Blake. Where are you." Jaune whispers hoping that the girl could hear him. Apparently she could though because she harshly whispered at him to shut up, and go to sleep. It wasn't directions but it helped a lot.

Finding his spot Jaune lay down, and pulled out his scroll. 'I wont be able to text u tomorrow morning, but I'll tell u how it went as soon as I get through it. Thanks again Neo.' Jaune sent the text, and then turned his scroll off. Before he knew it he was asleep…

Neo was exhausted. Six straight robberies of dust shops, and two of them had security guards. Going in loud wasn't what's supposed to happen, but it ended up that way. She ended up having to kill 5 people tonight.

4 guards, and a dust shop owner who tried pulling a gun on her. She didn't really want to kill the shopkeeper. But when you get hit with two slugs at point blank, it's kind of hard not to kill the guy. Unfortunately for her on that robbery, her illusion shattered, and the impacts from the slugs left her ribs bruised.

Luckily it wasn't much of a fight after the shots went off but that also led her to having to steal literally everything and call Junior to lend her a few men to grab the dust. Which the man did without question. It was nice being feared sometimes.

When she left, she had made sure to destroy the shop's security camera, and took some money just to help make sure it looked like just a random robbery that went south. The police wouldn't think much of it outside of it being a tragic robbery gone wrong. The only real major downside of this was that the shop would be closed for further robberies.

The two robberies after that one had went with little issue, and Neo had made her way back to her apartment without issue. She was spent after the robberies, and didn't even see the text from Jaune before she collapsed into her bed.

Authors Note:

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Finally in a fic do we get to meet sp,epmeone else from the main cast. I've been replaying elden ring which is why I didn't get this chapter two weeks earlier. I really am sorry for sucking at time management, and at writing.

I hope you guys have a happy holidays, and that everything is going well. I also hope you guys enjoy Favors so far, and I've enjoyed reading the reviews. It's really awesome to see people interacting with the story, and giving their opinions, and or advice. I hope to see even more new people, and new reviews.

It's a busy month, and I'm sure you all know that, so if my fics can bring a little bit of joy, and such then I'll be happy. The next thing out might be a new chapter of RSSH, or maybe I'll start ABW since a good amount of people seemed interested in that. More than likely though it will probably be another chapter of Favors, or maybe a short holiday one shot.

Once again though, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like or what I can do better, as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is. :)