Ruby's first day at Beacon was not going well, at all.

Not even five minutes after Yang had abandoned her - and no, that wasn't an exaggeration. Didn't Yang know how bad she was with people?! - She had bumped into a beautiful, albeit unhealthily pale white-haired girl's luggage.

The collision had brought vials of dust rolling around in the ground, but thankfully they had not gone off. An apology was about to escape her lips before the pale girl shrieked something unintelligible at her.

Judging by murderous expression on her face, it wasn't something polite.

The pale girl breathed exhaled and inhaled in front of her in a frankly worrying pace. For a second Ruby worried that the girl was having a rage-induced panic attack - if that was even a thing.

"A-are you okay?" She used her semblance to hurry over to the girl's side, but then thought better of it and decided to dash back to her original position. She read somewhere that people having a panic attack were better off being given space, and she didn't want to make the poor girl feel claustrophobic.

"Do you need me to call an ambulance?!" Ruby pulled out her scroll.

Wa-Was that froth coming out of her mouth? Oh dust oh dust oh dust oh dust. Uh, what number contacted the Valean Emergency Services again? Oh! She got it now. She triumphantly punched in the number that came to mind.

"Hello!" A voice that somehow managed to sound both cheerful and dead inside at the same time answered her, "This is Dusty's Pizzeria, purveyor of Remnant's most delicious Dust encrusted pizza. With only a slight chance of immolation. What would you like!?"

"Um," she squeaked, "sorry! Wrong number." She quickly hung up.

Oh dust oh dust oh dust oh dust. Was she going to get locked up for this?! She had - while inadvertently - still caused this, after all. She was too young to go to jail!

"What's going on here?" An unfamiliar voice asked. Ruby turned wide eyes at the source, panic making her vision so hazy that she only so blonde hair and blue eyes - Dad! What was he doing here? Nevermind that; he was an adult; he would know what to do!

"Daddy!" He looked startled at the sound, and after it registered what she was saying Dad looked pretty shocked and embarrassed for some reason, all of the blood was rushing up to his face, and his eyes were wide.

"D-d-d-daddy?!" It was weird. His voice was different from usual. He must have a cold or something.

Ruby frantically pointed to the pale girl, who was looking a bit better now that she looked at her. But her chest was still rising and falling rapidly, and her face was really puffed up and red.

"That girl's having a panic attack!"

The rising and falling of the girl's chest sped up rapidly after hearing that. The girl's face puffed up some more.

Dad looked alarmed at that, but before he could speak up. The pale girl opened her mouth.

"You dolt!" The girl practically screeched, "I am NOT having a panic attack!"

"You aren't?!"

"Argh!" The girl threw up her hands in outrage and turned to Dad with an angry look in her eyes, "What are you even thinking? Bringing a child like that into Beacon!?

"Hey!" Ruby retorted angrily, she wasn't a little girl! She drank milk.

Dad just stared at the pale-girl, like he didn't comprehend what she was saying.

"Isn't your duty as a parent to ensure that your child does not inconvenience others? Your daughter is a menace!"

Ruby, feeling embarrassed that her father was being chastised like this on her behalf, opened her mouth to say something scathing to the pale-girl, like, 'You're a meanie!' or 'You're face looks like a butt!', but was interrupted by a black haired girl suddenly appearing from behind a random tree. Seriously, where had she even come from?!

"Shut your Faunus-abusing mouth, Schnee!"

'Schnee' recoiled from the rather sudden and vitriolic reprimand from the newcomer. The girl wore a monochromatic maid outfit, and an almost comically large bow that looked a little too stiff to be natural. And those slit eyes...

'Wow. That girl's making a bold fashion statement!'

Schnee sneered, and started to say something, but Dad decided to intervene. She was getting interrupted a lot, wasn't she? Ruby almost felt bad for her, until she realized what a total bitch the other girl was being.

"Alright," he said gruffly, and there was a peculiar aura of command that suffused through his words, "That's enough. You can have your petty squabbles when orientation is done." He then pointed towards where a relatively large building was, "Head to the auditorium."

"And just why should we listen to you?" Schnee said snidely (Ruby giggled at the alliteration).

Dad pointed to himself. Ooh this must be the part where he mentions he's a veteran Huntsman and- "I'm Jaune Arc, fourth year of Beacon. And I guess you could ignore my advice, if you wanted to be late for orientation."

What.

"What." Schnee said, a gob smacked expression on her face. Bow-girl looked similarly stunned.

"Yeah," Not-Dad grinned to himself, "I'm a pretty amazing guy, aren't I? I mean, fourth yea-!"

"Not that! You had a child so young!?"

"Okay," Not-Dad threw his hands up in the air, "What the fu-!"

Before Not-Dad could continue, Schnee walked briskly away, muttering about Beacon accepting anyone nowadays. For some reason, Bow-Girl appeared flushed, breathing heavily and muttering 'shota' as she walked away.

Not-Dad sort of just stared at both of the girls walk away, a blank expression on his face.

"Definitely Beacon material." He shook his head. "Anyway!" He turned to her, a cheerful expression on his face. "What's all this business about me being your dad?

Ruby gulped, face burning. Dust, this was so embarrassing. Now that she looked at him, he didn't even look that much like her father. Sure, he was tall, blonde, and blue eyed; that was where the similarities ended. He had a lighter skin tone, and higher cheek bones, with a princely nose, and-!

Oh no! He was hot!

"Whoa, you okay?!" he said, caching her as her knees buckled.

IS CURRENTLY REBOOTING. PLEASE STAND BY.

"Ah!" She jumped away from the hotti- from Jaune, "Sorry about that, just a bit," she laughed nervously, "overwhelmed." She desperately ignored the fact that she missed having been in his arms. Control yourself, Ruby! He could be a total creep.

Jaune nodded empathetically, a charming smile gracing his face, "Yeah. I understand that." He laughed, scratching the back of his head. Why was he so perfect? "When I first came here, a few years ago, I was little bit overwhelmed as well. Beacon just seems, so - so huge. Y'know?"

Was this guy even real? Or was he just fantasy? Caught in a landslide no escape fro-!

"Anyway." A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, and his smile turned positively devilish. A sense of impending doom settled on her shoulders, "About me being your dad." Uh, oh. How to explain to him?

"Eep." The embarrassment came back full force. Ruby, gripped her skirt town, head downturned, "I'mreallysorrymydadhasblonehairjustlikeyouandIthought-!"

"Whoa," Jaune waved his arms around, bidding her to stop, "slow down a little."

"Ah." Oh dust oh dust oh dust. She was embarrassing herself so much! Yang would pay for this. "Sorry. It's just that...you kinda look like my dad."

Jaune's face fell. "Do I really look that old?"

Ruby's eyes widened, "No! It's just that both of you are pretty tall and have blonde hair is all!"

Jaune chuckled slightly, "its fine Ruby. Just messing with you a little."

Ruby stared at him. He shifted uncomfortably. She huffed and turned away. "Meanie."

"Hnnnggggg." Jaune winced, stepping back from her. Ruby rounded on him in concern, "Jaune! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's just that you're way too cu-! I mean, um, just a sparring injury."

Ruby stared at him suspiciously. Jaune gulped, clearing his throat, "We should head to that orientation, yeah?"

Ruby mouth fell wide open in realization, "The orientation! I can't believe I forgot!"

"It's fine. its fine," Jaune placated her. "It won't be until a little while anyway." He tapped a finger to his chin, considering. "I know! Why don't I walk you to the auditorium? All of the initiates over here are just about gone anyway."

Ruby backed away, waving her hands around, as if to ward him off, "I-t's fine, I can get there on my own!"

Jaune shook his head with a smile, "its fine. It's fine. I'm just about done rounding up the lost initiates here, anyways."

That wasn't it at all. She just didn't want him around her because he made her heart beat so fast!

Just when she was about to protest once more, he interjected with a cheeky comment, "Plus. You seem to be an interesting girl, Ruby. I'd love to learn more about you." Ruby blushed an even deeper shade of red, "And you're cute as well." He added.

Ruby sputtered, hiding her face in her cloak.

"Fine!" She half-yelled in embarrassment, "But on one condition!" Jaune tilted his head, an inquiring glint in gloriously blue eyes.

She gulped, "Stop with the embarrassing stuff!"

Jaune looked confused, "Embarrassing stuff, what do you mean?"

"I mean the stuff about how c-c-cute I am!" She stomped her feet, huffing. He would surely take her more seriously now! "I'm not cute; I'm a Huntress-in-training for goodness sake!" She pouted.

"Huh?" Jaune now looked even more clueless, "Those things aren't mutually exclusive, are they? I mean, yeah. You're a Huntress-in-training, but you're also one of the cutest girls I've ever-!"

Letting out a cry that was somewhere between indignation and mortification, Ruby launched herself at him, pounding a tiny fist to his chest.

Jaune fake-winced, "What was that for?"

"I said no embarrassing stuff!"

Jaune smirked playfully, big-brother signals blaring full-blast as it informed him of an opportunity to mess with the poor girl, "That's kind of an unreasonable thing to suggest," He shrugged, "I mean, like, how can I not mention how adorable you are? You could give a cradle full of kittens and puppies a run for its money in the cuteness department."

Ruby sputtered, pulled her hood down even further down her face, and then proceeded to ignore him as if her life depended upon it.

Once Jaune had managed to prevent Ruby from fusing with her own hood - he was pretty sure that his continued and relentless teasing of her didn't help, but he couldn't help it! -, they had decided to continue on to the Beacon auditorium.

It was a nostalgic thing, walking the path to the auditorium. Jaune remembered the path to it clearly, and the first time he journeyed on it. He remembered the nervousness back then, the sick feeling that he felt from the bottom of his stomach.

He glanced at Ruby, and noticed the too-wandering eyes, and the little hops she did with every step, the way she chewed her lips. While she was no-doubt much more prepared then he was when he was a first year, she was still nervous, and with good reason. Her dreams were on the line. If she wanted to be the best Huntress she could be, then Beacon was going to be her best shot.

He decided that he would play the part of the responsible upperclassman, and try to distract her from her nervousness with his amazing conversational skills.

"Uh."

Ruby turned curious silver eyes over to him. Shit, what was he going to say again?

"You've got a, uh, nice choice in weaponry?" Jaune immediately mentally facepalmed. She didn't even have any visible weapons on her person. She could even be a hand-to-hand combatant (as unlikely and extremely adorable that image was) for all he knew.

Seemingly disregarding this, Ruby gasped, looking at him with endearingly shining eyes. Hnggg, this girl was just too precious...

"You noticed my weapon!?" She said, grabbing a bundle behind her back and showing it to him excitedly, ignoring how he couldn't possibly have seen it.

"Ah, yeah." Harness the bullshit, Jaune. Let it control you, guide you. It was basically what you were doing for the first year of Beacon anyway.

She pressed an unseen button the bundle and a split second later it transformed into an impractically large (compared to Ruby's size) crimson and black scythe. Jaune's eyes widened, it wasn't the sudden appearance of the weapon - he had gotten very used to that - rather it was the weapon itself that was so shocking to him.

The scythe clashed in a very jarring way with Ruby's adorable, unassuming appearance. Oh, no! Was she secretly a sociopathic serial killer? A bloody Rose on the lookout for her next victim, scythe held behind her and a 'hello' on the tip of a tongue behind upturned lips?!

Jaune nervously smiled at Ruby, sweat dripping down his brow.

She excitedly chattered away about her weapon, never mind the fact that she was speaking too fast for him to understand. Okay, nevermind. There was no way that a girl as adorable as this was anything other than the sweetest cinnamon roll on the face of Remnant - not including his sisters of course! - If she was, then he didn't want to leave in this cruel planet anymore.

Jaune just smiled and nodded like he understood what she was trying to say. One of his hundred and eight Arc skills was 'false attention' after all. Next to 'masterful retreat' and 'powerfully pathetic groveling'.

"What about YOUR weapon?" Ruby asked curiously after transforming her monstrous weapon back to its inactive form and stowing it away beneath her cloak, finally done with explaining every facet and function of her gigantic scythe, snapping Jaune out of his self-imposed trance. He was a little startled at the question being directed at him, but then quickly got his mental footing back, smiled, and then opened his mouth to answer.

"Well-." Jaune blinked as the auditorium appeared in sight, "Huh, got here faster than I thought we would." Well they did say that time flew fast when you were having fun, and he was indeed having fun. How could he not, when such an adorable girl was talking to him?

"Anyway," he said as they continued walking to the auditorium, "I've got a sword and shield called Crocea Mors."

Ruby's eyes shined interest. "What do they do?" she asked with almost palpable excitement. Man, this girl was like a puppy, wasn't she? She seemed to have quite an obsession with weapons too, judging by how animatedly she spoke of her own weapon. Jaune allowed a barely noticeable smirk to place itself upon its lips. Time to tease her, then.

"Crocea Mors has been passed down from my family for generations," he spoke, and she listened, eyes growing ever wider and more excited. A weapon of history...

"It's been through numerous battles and has been broken and reformed many times. It's evolved alongside my ancestors with every new iteration. Changing into something better. Into something more." A weapon of adaptability...

Ruby was practically quivering with excitement at this point, wide silver eyes looking at him as he spun the grand tale of Crocea Mors, unable to see that the webbing would soon trap her. They were only a few meters from the auditorium's entrance at this point. Jaune's smirk only grew.

"What Crocea Mors does..."

Ruby held her breath, fingers twitching at her sides. They arrived directly in front of the entrance of the auditorium. Jaune stopped and so did she.

Jaune made a chopping motion with his hands. "It can chop vegetables with a manner of ease that Remnant has never seen!" He exclaimed in a grandiose manner. Ruby's jaw dropped, no doubt awe-struck at his weapon's unbelievable strength.

The look on poor Ruby's face, that look of betrayal...it was just too much for him to handle. He clutched at his gut, unable to control his laughter.

Ruby's face reddened, and she adopted a truly amazing pout. Now all she needed was heart-pupils and a moe fang and she would be the ideal loli.

"Jerk!" She said, kicking him in the shin, and then disappearing into the entrance of the auditorium in a flurry of rose petals. Her Semblance, he assumed.

It took a few seconds from him to calm his laughter, by the end of it all, he still had a stupid grin on his face. He knew that Ruby would forgive him eventually, trust him. He was an older brother: he had lost over the number of times he had angered his sisters, they all forgave him in the end though. He imagined that Ruby would be much the same.

Shaking his head, he then turned around and made way back to the fourth year dorms.

AN

Kept you waiting, huh?

I have to be honest in admitting that there was no real reason for taking so long in completing this chapter, other than the fact that I have the most horrid attention span in all of human history. I jump from story to story with no real schedule, so my update time is kind of chaotic. This story got particularly shafted because I've honestly no clue of the direction I want it to go. Do I go full crack? Do I do it half-serious like?

And then I realized that ruminating was dumb. And just wrote what I wanted to write. This story started as a silly fic and I decided that it will always be a silly fic. Harems. Cringey anime reference. Haha, if I'm to be honest I wrote this story to be the kind of 'trashfic' that you could just sort of read through and enjoy without thinking very deeply.

I must apologize to the people I've kept waiting. I don't know if I can promise that I can finish any of my fics, but I'll definitely try my damnedest. I don't know when the next chapter's coming out, but I do know that it is.

As always, remember to leave a review.