Just One Date

Chapter 1: The White Rose

A/N: If you'd like to see early releases of this story and some of my other stories (including Of Knights and Maidens) then you can go to this link: discord. gg/zhn7zr7 [just remove the space]

"I… I'm sorry, Weiss, but… I don't really want to go with anyone to the dance." Neptune said with a grimace, scratching the back of his head and looking away.

"Ah…" Weiss muttered, looking down at the ground, "I'm sorry for asking then."

"N-No! It's alright it's just…" Neptune looked back to Weiss and sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure you'll find someone to go out with you. I'm… not exactly the best guy to ask for something like that, honestly." He then removed his hand as she looked up at him. He just shrugged. "I… good night then? I kind of have to go back to my team and… uh…"

"No, I understand." Weiss nodded at Neptune, giving him a sad smile, "Good night."

Neptune nodded, before walking away.

Weiss just looked at his retreating form and sighed. Then she shook her head and turned to her right and walked away, looking down at the ground.

She walked until she found a white rose on the ground.

She blinked, who could have…?

Frowning, she decided to pick up the forgotten rose and looked around for the owner. She didn't really find anyone until she saw a mop of blond hair in the distance.

She narrowed her eyes before looking down at the white rose. She gripped the stem for a moment before she shook her head and looked up again, still seeing that same mop of blond hair in the distance by the statue.

She knew who it was, of course. It was Jaune.

She didn't know why she walked towards him.

It was odd, she always thought that Jaune kept going for her because of her fame and stature, but… it almost didn't seem like it at this point.

At least, that's what she wanted to be the case.

Why else would Jaune look so devastated.

Right?

She stopped just far enough from Jaune and gripped at the rose's stem slightly. She still had a choice, of course, she could turn back and walk away and save herself the trouble of getting her hopes crushed.

Or she could continue and maybe find something good out of this.

She hoped.

She took the last few steps towards Jaune and took a deep breath.

Just as she was about to speak, however, Jaune suddenly spoke, head still in his hands.

"Please… just, go away. I just… need some time alone. I'm sorry…" He croaked out, voice being muffled by his hands, but Weiss could hear it already.

She could already hear just how broken and… and tired Jaune sounded.

It made her heart ache, and her other hand gripped at her skirt for a moment.

She bit her lip. If it wasn't proof enough lately that Jaune's feelings for her were real before, then this was.

She… she didn't know what to feel about that. Knowing that she's just been rejecting something real for so long, but… it wasn't like she could do anything about it either.

Or maybe she can.

At the same time, though, she knew that she was scared as well.

Gripping the stem of the rose tightly, she took a deep breath before speaking.

"Please, just—" Jaune started, about to interrupt her again, but she didn't stop.

"I think you dropped this." Weiss said, pushing the rose towards Jaune and putting a small smile on her face.

Jaune looked up suddenly, dried tears upon his face and he stared wide-eyed at Weiss. He blinked a few times before gasping and wiping the dried tears off his face. She just giggled at him and he froze, looking up at her, surprised.

"W-Weiss?" He asked, eyes blinking rapidly again.

"Jaune." She took a breath, before pushing the rose towards him again, "I think you've dropped this."

Jaune just stared at the rose before staring back to Weiss, when he looked back at the rose he sighed. "Ah… I'm sorry."

She blinked, staring as he looked down at the ground again. "What?"

"I'm sorry for everything." He shrugged, "I'm sorry for having to put up with all my… stupidity." His gaze went down to the ground again.

Weiss frowned and looked at the rose again. She sighed and sat beside Jaune on the bench, staring at the rose in her hands.

He stared at her in surprise, before sighing, and looking back down. "You don't have to pity me, Weiss. I'm an idiot. I should have taken the hint, not continue harassing you with my stupid bull—"

"Stop." She grit her teeth as she spoke, almost seething, "Shut up, Jaune."

"… I'm sorry—"

"I said shut up!" Weiss shouted, making Jaune stare at her with wide eyes. Her head hung low as she had her eyes closed.

He just stared at her, surprised, as he waited for her to continue speaking. He was about to look away when he suddenly saw something glistening drop from Weiss' face.

"All my life… boys have only cared about the perks of my last name in getting a relationship with me." She had her eyes closed as she spoke gripping at the rose's stem. Jaune just stared at her, surprised at what he was hearing. He supposed it made sense but hearing it from her… "Jaune." He stiffened as she spoke his name, and she looked up at him, dried tears upon her face. "What is it that you see in me that… that they don't?"

Jaune gulped, "W-What do you mean?"

Weiss stared at him, sighing and looking away, before spotting Neptune talking with some other girl in the distance. She bit her lip, looking back at Jaune again. "I… I wanted to know. What is it that you see in me that… that Neptune doesn't?"

"Neptune?" Jaune asked, blinking. "Didn't he…?" He muttered, before he saw Neptune as well. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, before sighing. "I guess that's why you're here, aren't you?" Weiss frowned, seeing Jaune look at the statue. "And to answer your question… many things, Weiss. Many things."

Weiss just stayed silent and waited for him to continue. If she were to be honest with herself, she didn't know why she was here. She didn't even know why she approached Jaune in the first place. Maybe it was because she wanted to find someone else to take with her, or maybe he was right and she just pitied him.

She didn't want to think much on that last one, however, seeing as it would be rather shallow of her.

But wouldn't she be considered shallow at how she thought of him that way before?

She hoped not.

"You're incredible, Weiss." Jaune sighed, a smile appearing on his face, "You're everything that I can never be. Graceful, smart, talented, and incredibly skilled." He chuckled, "You're just… perfect. I can never be compared to you. That's… there's so many more things I can say about you, but then again, it's not like you need to be reminded of things you already know." He muttered, letting out a breath as he finished speaking.

Weiss didn't know what to say to that. Her gaze moved away from Jaune and to the white rose that he had dropped earlier that was still in her hands.

She tried to ignore how much his words affected her, but she wasn't able to do that very well either, seeing as she felt her cheeks heat up slightly.

She never knew he looked at her that way—no, perhaps she already knew, but… she just didn't think that anyone would ever see her that way. She forgot what she was supposed to say to him, she didn't even know what to say to him after… after all that.

Weiss took a deep breath and stared at the rose as she spoke her next words, not trusting herself to look at Jaune properly if she were to look at him. It was just… She shook her head. It wasn't like a few words could change her whole life after all.

"Jaune." She let out a breath, continuing to look at the rose, "How can you see all of that in me but not care about how cold I am? Or care about my status at all?"

The cold wind brushed past them for a moment in the second of silence that passed afterwards.

She didn't really want to think much about herself in situations like these. But it seemed inevitable, and forced herself to truly see herself for who she is.

She was nothing but a cold and heartless heiress.

Much like her father.

Suddenly, she heard Jaune chuckle, making her head snap towards him.

He just smiled at her. A soft and kind smile, one which she'd never seen on him before, for all that he smiled all the time.

She didn't know how to feel about that.

Jaune, unaware of her swirling thoughts, spoke, "Well, so what?"

Weiss blinked, "What?"

Jaune's smile widened, "So what?" He chuckled, "Weiss, you may not notice it well, but for all that you're cold, you're also incredibly kind and caring towards your teammates. Even to Ruby… even to me, right now." He muttered that last part to himself, but Weiss heard it. She continued staring at him and he averted his gaze, looking back down to the ground. "It's… kind of understandable why you're cold though." He muttered, looking back up at the statue.

She found herself looking at the statue as well. It was a statue which depicted the first few Huntsmen and Huntresses and their triumph against the Grimm.

It was a statue meant to invigorate the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses, but she knew just by Jaune's look alone, that it meant something different to him.

"You're an heiress. You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and there are a lot of people depending on you to uphold that. Well, when you're pressured a lot and you're looking to do something different from that… it's understandable why you're who you are." Jaune sighed, "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to know so much about it, but I just couldn't help but learn so much when I looked it up. I just can't help but relate to it so much with my own family's legacy but unlike you… I'm a failure." He choked out a hollow laugh, shaking his head. "I'm sorry you had to listen to that I'm just a—"

"Why?" Weiss asked, eyes narrowed at him. "Why do you always look down at yourself?"

Jaune averted his gaze, "Because it's true—"

"What do you mean it's true?!" Weiss glared at him, "That it was true that you kept harassing me despite the fact that I could have always asked you to stop? That it's true that you're a failure despite all the things you've achieved here so far? That you're—that you're…"

Jaune looked at Weiss as tears started to fall from her face again. "W-Weiss…"

She just shook her head. "You're not… you can't look at yourself like that. Not when I can't admit to myself just how cold and how stupid I've always been towards you…"

Jaune swallowed and bit his lip. Staying silent as Weiss' tears streamed down her face. He hesitated as he moved his hand towards her.

He didn't know what to do, all he knew was that he was the one that caused this. That he was the one who made Weiss cry.

He was—

"Don't…" Weiss shook her head, staring at him in the eye as her tears started to subside. "Don't blame yourself when I'm the one who's to blame in this situation. I've been stupid, Jaune. I've been so, so stupid—"

Weiss wasn't able to finish her sentence as Jaune suddenly hugged her.

She was surprised for a moment, but eventually she just hugged him back and cried on his shoulder, still tightly gripping at the rose's stem which she held in her right hand.

She didn't even know why she was crying. It was stupid, she knew, but she was crying anyways.

After all, how could she be so stupid?

How could he be so stupid?

How could they both be so—

"Weiss…" Jaune whispered to her ear, making her tense for a moment, before his hands on her back calmed her down. "I get it. I'm stupid. We're both stupid. But…" He sighed, "It's not something we can change. It's just who we are… if we were to change it, it would take a long time and a lot of work. So, I suppose we should just appreciate ourselves a little more. Right?" He didn't know what he was saying, but he just wanted to stop Weiss' crying. He didn't want to see her cry like this. Especially not because of him.

Especially not because of what he did.

"Okay…" Weiss sighed, breaking the hug first. "I'm sorry as well."

Jaune chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, same. Though, I'm pretty sure if we continue down this road we're going to just keep saying sorry to each other for a long time."

Weiss cracked a smile as she wiped her tears away, "You're right. Then I just want you to know that you don't have to be sorry."

"Same to you." Jaune let out a breath, leaning back on the bench again. "Though I'm not sure if I should have hugged you lately since I'm pretty sure rumors are going to start spreading around at this point."

Weiss scoffed, "Let them gossip. It's not like it's going to affect us all that much." She then looked at the rose again, twirling it in her fingers, "Besides, it's not like we're dating or anything."

Jaune laughed, "Yeah, like you'd ever accept a date from me at this point."

Weiss frowned at that, looking at him with narrowed eyes, "You're doing it again."

Jaune flinched, before looking to the side, "Sorry." He muttered,

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You know what? Since you seem so convinced that I won't accept a date from you at this point I'm going to accept one date from you."

Jaune looked at her with wide eyes, "Just one?"

Weiss smirked, "Just one."

Jaune sighed, "Just one date it is…" He muttered to himself, before looking straight at Weiss. "Alright then. I'll think on it."

Weiss blinked, surprised. "You're not going to ask me now?"

Jaune smiled, "Nope."

"Okay then." Weiss smiled, looking at the rose still in her hands, "You're not going to take this back?"

Jaune shrugged, "No. I mean, I was going to give it to you when I would have asked you to the dance lately, but… hey. That didn't work out well. You picked it up anyways, so I can't really take it back and give it to you again that would just be—"

"Stupid, yes." Weiss rolled her eyes, "Alright then. You're not going to ask me to the dance this time?"

"I—" Before Jaune could answer, his scroll rang, and he picked it up, reading the contents. He grimaced, "Ah, crap. Training with Pyrrha. I, uh—" He stood up and started to go towards the dorms, "I gotta go! See you at the dance Weiss!" He said, waving back at her while running.

Weiss just stared as he stumbled, trying to run towards the dorm as fast as he could. She just shook her head and sighed. "He didn't even answer my question…"

She just stared at the rose in her hands and smiled. "Well, maybe you're the only answer I need." She muttered, chuckling for a moment.

For some reason, the notion of a white rose in her hands almost seemed absurd. Like it was some sort of cosmic joke to someone else out there.

She didn't mind though. At least now she knew just how Jaune really felt.

Now to know just how she really felt.

A/N: Hey! it's me again. So, yeah. This is basically the rewrite of Small Date, that ended up turning into something... a whole lot different from Small Date. Probably better too, but you'll be the judge of that. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it! Hoping to do a chapter of this once every week or every two weeks, but we'll see what happens.