Radiance

Chapter 8, Team Bonding?

I do not own anything pertaining to the RWBY universe. No stocks, no stakes in RT, nothing. Don't even own any merchandise.

[RD]

Jaune wanted nothing more than to lay his head down on the desk before him as he listened to Professor Port drone on about his grandfather smelling of cabbages, finding absolutely no useful information being provided so far.

Blake was by his left side while Ruby sat to his right, both struggling to pay attention just as much as Jaune was. Yang brought up the end of the row, idly scribbling something in a small book she had withdrawn from her bag the moment the professor started his ranting, the tip of her tongue poking from her sealed lips all the while.

He had already jotted down the diagrams on the board and had even made a detailed list of each weakness he knew of the five most common Grimm before sliding the papers either way for Blake, Yang and Ruby to copy down as well despite it not being required of them. While he may not be paying attention, he would still learn what he could from the man and made sure his team did as well.

Taking notes proved to be mostly useless beyond that, however, considering Professor Port did not stick to any sort of discernible lesson plan, instead forcing him to do his best to decipher whatever grand message the man had hidden away within his long winded speech, if there was any to find.

"This is... not what I was expecting." Jaune murmured under his breath before reaching up to run a hand through his already messy hair while trying to tug at a hood that wasn't present on his head, instead reaching down to tug at his collar, "I need to talk to Headmaster Ozpin about our team skipping this class if this is what we're expected to deal with."

"Do you think he will really let us skip?" Blake questioned lightly, her eyes twinkling in amusement despite her blank facade. Jaune could only shrug, as he didn't truly know if Ozpin would allow such a thing or not.

"I'm sure if I ask really, really nicely, he won't laugh me out of his office instantly." Jaune trailed off weakly, already knowing that the Headmaster wouldn't let him skip what he already considered a useless class.

"Maybe if we bribe him with your cookies?" Ruby questioned more than stated, leaning towards Jaune slightly as she spoke, "I think we could convince the Grimm to stop eating people with those bad boys, so it's got to work on the Headmaster!"

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at just how firmly Ruby seemed to believe her own preposterous statement. He leaned heavily on one of his hands after a few moments while idly drumming his fingers on his desk to a rhythm only Blake seemed to faintly recognize. "You know, Ruby, you might be on to something. I'm going to try to feed a Beowulf one of my cookies now, just to see what happens."

The two fell silent afterwards after Weiss turned in her seat to give them a scalding glare, causing both to stiffen before turning away and pretending they were innocent and didn't know exactly why she had turned around in the first place. Her icy blue gaze lingered for a few more seconds before the Schnee Heiress turned back to face forward once more, leaving Jaune and Ruby alike to relax.

Blake decided soon after the two had fallen silent that paying attention was no longer an option. It wasn't much longer afterwards that their professors story took a turn for the worst, the mustached man somehow getting on the subject of an elderly man scaring him from the hot springs in a small town outside of Mistral by attacking the Professor with a rolled up, wet towel while using a rubber duck to cover himself.

As someone with a vivid imagination, this was not an image she wanted stuck in her head at all. To remove the vile, memetic picture that didn't seem to fade from her minds eye, she began to try and visualize a romantic night shared between herself and her chosen partner instead.

It worked far quicker than she thought it would, or should, and soon she was lost in the what-if's and could-be's her mind created for her perusal.

She didn't realize her hands had begun to wander slightly, perhaps a bit too much as her right palm brushed against the knee of her partner and leader after unconsciously bridging the gap between their bodies, leaving them shoulder to shoulder.

Jaune noticeably stiffened under her wandering touch before turning his head towards her almost mechanically, "Blake...?"

She didn't acknowledge his calling of her name, instead laying her hand on his knee completely and relishing the feeling contact with her partner brought. She had been struggling to keep from making physical contact with him since waking up and nearly running into him after he left the bathroom.

Beyond the curiosity she felt at his reaction to the nickname 'Tiger', not to mention the strange, white turtle neck he wore beneath his blazer instead of the uniform button down and vest, she had a hard time wrapping her mind around what he had said the previous night about his Semblance.

Using his own Soul as fuel for hers? The notion was hard to comprehend at first, at least for her. What type of life did he have to lead for his Semblance to be so sacrificial in nature? What could he have gone through to make him such a person that he would give his Soul for others sakes?

Her hand continued to trace along the clothed flesh beneath her palm, her long, painted nails gently raking across the smooth fabric of his pants. She seemed to remember where she was, at least some what, as she tried to bring her attention back to Professor Port's 'lecture', ignorant of Jaune calling her name or just where her hand was.

Within Seconds, Blake had to tune back out, as he was once more speaking of subjects hardly pertaining to the anatomy of Grimm and the easiest ways to kill them.

It was hard for her to not display signs of her growing... affection for the blond, especially after he has already shown her more benignity than Adam had in years and the thoughts continuously circling her mind. In just two days, Jaune cemented himself as not only a kind person, but one who was genuine through his actions.

Ninjas were willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill, so it wasn't wrong for Blake to assume he might have a more gray than white and black perception of the world, no matter if he dressed like a white knight or not.

She couldn't even be sure he wasn't an assassin, considering his choice of weaponry and gear beyond his armor, sword and shield, but his age and bond with his family seemed to implicate something far more innocent than someone constantly dealing in wet works.

She continued to paw away without conscious input, her fingers and hand clenching and rolling above his knee not unlike a cat, a trait that most feline Faunus shared in some way or another. It was only when Jaune called her name yet again that she became aware of what she was doing.

"Blake?" He tried a third time before he placed one of his gloved hands beneath his desk to gently try and pry her fingers away from his inner thigh. "W-what are you doing?"

He shivered slightly as her hand slackened and released its grip upon his thigh, unsure of what to make of the contact in the least.

She finally snapped back to reality completely and withdrew her hand quickly, once more reacting to his touch as if scalded. Jaune flinched slightly upon seeing her recoil so quickly and shoved into Ruby slightly as his body jerked to the right. Ruby squeaked lightly and continued further to the right, causing her to fall into Yang and shove the blond boxer as well.

Due to the chain reaction caused by Blake and Jaune, all four members of Team ALBR ended up falling out of their desks to the side, causing the Professor to target their leader when he quickly stood and tried to compose himself by straightening his blazer.

"Mister Arc, fantastic! Your timing is as good as your fathers was! Come on down, young man, show us all what a real Huntsman is capable of!" Professor Port seemed mostly nonplussed over the fact that an entire team somehow ended up falling from their desks at once, instead using it as an excuse to perhaps prove a point.

Weiss, whose hand had shot up immediately upon hearing the professor ask for a volunteer grunted in annoyance before once more turning and scowling at the blond from the corner of her eyes, though Jaune offering her a small, apologetic smile placated her well enough.

From the way the man smiled benignly at the awkwardly shuffling blond as he tried to gather himself enough to step down to the front of the class, he obviously wasn't trying to pick on Jaune and instead was actually interested in seeing what he could do.

The blond had honestly feared going to Beacon a bit not only due to his sister Maria and her far reaching reputation, but his father and mother as well. Julius and Juniper had been very well known during their tenure at Beacon, and not all of the vast reputation they had built for themselves had been good.

Sighing, Jaune shuffled past Blake slowly and jerked forward slightly when he felt her hand collide lightly with his back. A quick glance in her direction left their eyes locked for what felt like hours while in reality, only lasted seconds.

"Get 'em, Tiger."

Jaune wasn't sure if he liked that particular nickname sticking.

[RD]

Ruby giggled excitedly as Jaune came to a rest in the center of the small arena sequestered at the bottom of the many rows the students sat in, unable to pay attention to anything else. The murmurs of the student body around her entered one ear and exited the other, her mind wholly occupied by something she considered more important.

The blond hadn't bothered gathering his weapon, instead standing calmly with either hand by his sides as he stared down the large cage before him.

'Why didn't he go get his weapon?' Ruby questioned herself curiously as she watched Jaune decline the offer to gather his combat gear.

This once more caused murmurs to echo through the crowd of students, but yet again, she remained ignorant of just what was being said.

"Are you ready then, Mister Arc?" The Professor questioned almost as excitedly as Ruby felt, his brows having shot to his hairline as he posed the question.

The petite scythe wielder watched Jaune's lips move, but she couldn't hear what he said due to the distance between them. It must have been an affirmative, however, because the Professor released the cages lock seconds later with fervent hands.

The sound of something reminisce of a cross between a dying pig and a war cry sounded out before a black and white blur dashed from the confines of the cage. Despite the heavy bone plating along its back straps, the small Boarbatusk that was kept within the cage proved surprisingly agile as it closed the gap between Jaune and itself in seconds.

The blond leader of Team ALBR shifted his stance slightly to lean to the left before his right hand shot out, tapping the Boarbatusk on the forehead before he twisted out of the way with a flourish.

Instead of turning to face the Boarbatusk, he instead sighed and then clapped his hands into what appeared to be a praying position.

The Boarbatusk flashed white and then proceeded to explode, raining bone fragments and rapidly disintegrating ichor from the central portion of the arena outwards.

"... You couldn't have at least showed off a bit more before exploding it, Mister Arc?"

Ruby wasn't quite sure when she stopped breathing, but she had to almost force the air back into her lungs when she remembered her need for oxygen.

'He just touched it... and it exploded... it was just a love tap...'

The manic grin that appeared on her face slightly mirrored the wickedly pleased glint in Blake's eyes.

[RD]

Night had fallen once more, leaving Teams ALBR and SLVN to return to their dorm rooms to finish their unpacking and relaxing after a successful first day of school. There were only six courses available for the students to take during the first year, giving the teams two classes a day to attend in a cycle between the six.

Jaune and Blake were the first to completely finish their unpacking, carrying less on their person than either of their teammates by far. Outside of his weaponry, outfits and singular photograph, Jaune owned little in the ways of material possessions.

Blake had finished unpacking her large collection of books and had even cataloged them twice before sitting on the edge of her bed, waiting as patiently as she could for the rest of her team to finish their own unpacking. Ruby seemed to be taking stock of his ammunition, her silver eyes roving across the purple-tipped rounds one by one as she set them into the ammo crate she kept beneath her desk.

The leader of the team had busied himself with oiling and sharpening his many kunai, showing just how serious he was about his weaponry considering the entire surface of his bed was covered in the throwing knives specific to those of a certain profession.

"So, I, uh... think we should try and get to know each other better," Jaune began as he continued to sharpen his many kunai, his hesitance to break the silence apparent as he stumbled over his words, "At least a little each night, ya know?"

"Oh?" Blake questioned idly, looking up from the book she had flipped open moments before rather quickly for someone who remained mostly stoic, "Why don't you start us off, then?"

The black and white clad teenager would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in learning more about her teammates, especially the leader of the strange team that she found himself a part of. There was something off about the blond, something beyond having obvious training in the ways of the shadow warriors of the old dynasties. He was... skittish for a ninja, to say the least, and seemed a bit more apologetic than he should have been.

He always jerked away from contact unless he initiated it and, while strangely affectionate, seemed oddly withdrawn in some moments. There was sometime a distant look that entered his gaze, a strange vacancy that she had been known to adopt as well when troubled by something she didn't understand.

She was a bit curious about Yang and Ruby as well, but they didn't generate the same type of interest that Jaune did.

It was unsettling to be in the same room as the two when alone with Jaune as she was able to see just how quickly the two gravitated towards him each time, if she were being honest. They didn't even appear to be aware of what they were doing, either, which was just icing on the proverbial cake to her. Introductions might be what the doctor ordered to squash her malaise, even if only slightly.

"Er, sure, I can do that. My name's Jaune Arc, I'm seventeen going on eighteen and I have six sisters." Jaune answered easily enough, having already thought about what he would and wouldn't reveal to his team this early on in being brought together, "I've been training for around six years now and never actually went to a combat school before applying here at Beacon. My hobbies include wood carving, learning to play my fathers guitar and... other things."

He cut himself off from whatever he was going to say, going as far as laughing to cover his stumble. After a moment, the awkward blond gestured towards Blake with a slightly hopeful look on his face, not dissimilar to a silent plea for help.

She eventually decided to humor him, going as far as providing him a small, almost sardonic smile before doing so. "My name is Blake Belladonna. I've survived for seventeen years and I am an only child. I have trained for six years and like Jaune, I did not attend a combat school before Beacon."

She paused for a few seconds as she thought about her hobbies, only knowing that one of them was considered mostly acceptable by societies standards. "I enjoy reading in my free time, prefer peace and quiet and that is about it."

Ruby and Yang seemed to quickly absorb the information provided to them by their two more mysterious teammates before Ruby decided she would go next, going as far as jumping from her bed enthusiastically before speaking.

"My name is Ruby Rose, I'm fifteen years old and my only sister is Yang," Ruby went as far as gesturing towards the blond dressed in orange and black with both hands excitedly before continuing, "I went to Signal for two years before I was recruited by Headmaster Ozpin personally, and I really, really like looking at new weapons and making modifications to my baby, Crescent Rose!"

Ruby pursed her lips for a moment before nodding firmly, as if to say that was her story and she was sticking to it.

"We all know about that though, Ruby, what other things do you like?" Yang wasn't quite chastising Ruby when she said this, instead trying to be encouraging when it came to making the redhead talk about things other than fighting Grimm or new Ammo types.

"Yeah, you're right!" Ruby snapped her fingers in dismay, her brows furrowing all of a few moments before she was beaming brightly once more. "I also really like baking and playing video games, specifically fighting games!"

Ruby turned towards Yang as if to ask if that was good enough, causing the blond to nod happily before she gestured towards herself lazily.

"The name's Yang Xiao Long, you might just be screaming it later," Yang paused for a fleeting moment to send Jaune a saucy wink, causing him to sputter and blush at the obvious attempt at flirting before she burst out laughing, "Man, you are just too easy, Jaune. Anywho, I'm seventeen going on eighteen, my only sibling is this little dork here named Ruby-" "Hey!" "-and I like going to new bars, working on my bike, Bumblebee, and puns, not to mention getting a rise out of people."

Yang watched as Jaune recomposed himself almost clinically, her eyes squinted enough from her wide smile to hide the intensity of her gaze.

"Sorry about Yang, Jaune, she really likes to mess with people, I should have warned you!" Ruby seemed to be upset about her lack of forethought when it came to warning the blond, a pout appearing on her face as she turned to her elder sister quickly, "Why on Remnant would he be screaming your name, anyway? Are you two going to spar or something?"

No one spoke for a few moments before Jaune began to chuckle. It was almost inaudible at first, but eventually grew until it was the type that caused ones stomach to ache. Ruby and Yang soon joined in, though Ruby's laughter was more confused than amused. Even Blake found herself grinning at the naive question, though she visibly restrained herself from outright laughing.

"Oh man, sorry about that, I just... that was great." Jaune sighed almost happily as he laid backwards on his bed, his legs bent at the knees and hanging over the ledge.

The room once more fell into silence, though it was far more comfortable than prior. Yang and Ruby went back to finishing the last of their unpacking while Blake again pretended to busy herself with reading the book in her hand.

Jaune idly noted that she was holding the book upside-down, but eventually rationalized it as his partner attempting to challenge herself or something similar.

"Are there any foods I should try and keep stocked for breakfast in the mornings?" He eventually questioned after he picked himself up from his weapon covered bed and started putting away his knives into the large briefcase he kept beneath his desk.

"I would like fish." Blake answered immediately, not needing to think about her answer before she spoke up, "Any kind will do, but I prefer tuna."

Yang pursed her lips in thought before she shrugged her shoulders, not having a particular food she was partial to outside of the few Mistralian dishes she usually conned her dad into getting when they ordered takeout in the past. "I like anything as long as it isn't super greasy. Would you mind if I helped you cook in the mornings sometimes? I really liked how you made those eggs this morning and I want to learn how you made them so fluffy."

Jaune gave her a polite nod in the affirmative, causing Yang to give him another wide smile as a show of thanks. It was actually surprising how much she had learned watching her leader cook earlier in the morning and for the first time in years, she thought about how much she missed Summer and the mornings the two spent cooking for Taiyang while he slept.

"As long as it tasted as good as it did this morning, I'll eat anything you cook!" Ruby gushed, her eyes glistening as she thought about the wonderful batch of cookies the two had baked together at the last minute. It had nearly made their entire team late for their first class, forcing them to run to reach Professor Port's before the bell ring, but none of the four seemed to mind.

She couldn't help but once more swoon silently at the amount of consideration being shown, not used to having someone she was expected to depend on for orders outside of her teachers and dad, let alone someone who cared about what she wanted for breakfast. Having no actual friends to speak of in the past and a terrible reputation she seems to have outrun, the gesture perhaps meant far more to her than it should have.

Ruby was starving for people to share her world with and to her, her team was like a cool drink of water after spending a decade in the desert known as social isolation. Her partner, while not the person she was hoping for, was someone she had known her entire life and obviously someone she could work well with.

Her original intentions had been to get Yang as her partner, so she really won in the partner and team department now that she had gotten to know the other two members better.

The only member of the team she didn't know what to think of was Blake, the black haired beauty that had been in the presence of Jaune since before the day even technically started. There was only two times in the past few hours that the redhead had seen her leader and his partner separate for any length of time and one was only for a few minutes at best when he had gone to the restroom.

Whenever Ruby felt her eyes wandering towards the blond, Blake would quickly snap her sharp, amber eyes to her own before looking away just as quickly, as if either ashamed of what she was doing or just oddly protective of her partner already.

It was more than obvious Blake was very interested in Jaune, though she couldn't exactly tell just how far it extended and how far she was willing to go. From their interactions, the redhead could tell that Jaune and Blake had only known each other for even less time than either sister had, leaving Ruby to assume that perhaps Blake was like her, in a way.

If Blake did, indeed, begin to actively pursue Jaune romantically, Ruby knew that her chances of drawing his attention towards herself was almost zilch to none. She knew her short, lithe body and young age greatly hampered her chances, two factors that Blake was not limited in at all. She would likely be stuck somewhere known as the 'sister' zone, and any affection Jaune would develop would be platonic in nature, at best.

The thought of not having her knight in shining armor after just finding him made her stomach turn uncomfortably, to say the least. The sudden direction her thoughts took made her feel desperately insecure, something she tried to rectify after a moment with a simple question, one she had been meaning to ask all day.

"Are... are we friends, Jaune?" Ruby questioned in a small voice after silence descended over the team, causing the blond to look up from his briefcase with his brows furrowed.

"Of course we are, Ruby. Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, and I'm pretty sure you three just introduced yourselves to me pretty well," Jaune trailed off for a moment, pausing only long enough to reach up and scratch his cheek with his index finger lightly in thought, "Plus, it feels like I knew you before we met, ya know? Like I've known you my entire life, same with Yang..."

Ruby wasn't sure what to say to that, but the tears that welled up in her eyes caused Jaune no small amount of concern. She tried to open her mouth to say she felt the same way, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, what came was a choked sob.

"Wait, why are you crying? Oh no, was it something I said?! I'm sorry, please don't cry!"

She couldn't help but laugh despite the tears in her eyes and the tightness in her throat. "I'm not sad, s-silly! I'm... these are happy tears."