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The restaurant had changed a good bit since they'd been there for their 'business meeting' turned, as he liked to call it, 'surprise date field testing under the guise of investment which probably made it illegal'. Or as Coco liked to describe it the 'if you make a joke about me sexually harassing you again I'll bite your dick' protocol. He, enjoying that not happening, opted to accept the name correction without much complaint. Which she seemed to appreciate on the ride to the restaurant, thus his need to pinch his Atlesian collar up a bit more to better hide his neck.
Apparently, his oh-so-precious faith had been betrayed, and she didn't have any libido discipline at all. Who knew?
Him.
Jaune knew.
He didn't mind all that much, really, but he knew her well enough by now.
"Ah, Miss Adel. And Engineer Arc as well." The host, someone wholly different from their first visit for reasons Jaune didn't want to dwell on, smiled as they entered. He must have seen Jaune's grimace at the memories that line of thinking brought up for he smiled and assured him, "The old host is alive and well, good sir. I can see your concern on your face and thank you for worrying over my friend."
"O-Oh." Jaune flushed and, chuckling anxiously, reached up to smooth his mussed up hair down while he stammered, "Yeah. Uh, I'm glad to hear that. Just… Bad memories coming up when I think about all that, you know?"
"I do, yes, and at the risk of causing offence I am glad you and Miss Adel are safe. I heard what happened to your shop and you and feared the worst." The host nodded his head in apology for mentioning it and Jaune waved the concern off. It wasn't his fault things had happened like they had, and Jaune appreciated the concern that was being shown. "I am gladdened to see someone so locally famous alive and doing well. Atlesian White becomes you."
"U-Uh…"
"He's a bit easily flustered when it comes to compliments, Ser Host." Coco explained with an air of faux-refinement, smiling at her boyfriend all the while. It was the same teasing sort of smile he was sued to and helped to ease his flustered state somewhat. "I'm sure he appreciates your concern and familiarity, though. Right, babe?"
"Y-Yeah, that's right. Just… Wasn't expecting it and easily flustered, that's all." It was a bit weird how friendly and familiar the man was, but it didn't bother him. Not per se, at least. And certainly not enough for him to complain about it. Seeking to avoid either Coco teasing him or them being late, he asked, "So, uh, are my parents here? Coco said she sent them a message about it."
"Mister and Madame Arc are here, yes." The man nodded, turning and retrieving menus from the little stand he stayed at, "They arrived ten minutes ago and kindly requested I 'stall you' so that they might get their orders made before you got here. Something about Sir not knowing the menu very well and not wanting to 'look the fool in front of his son and his girlfriend', as he put it."
"Should you be… Telling us that?"
"Ordinarily, no." The man nodded, smiling pleasantly and handing them the menus to look over for ostensibly the same reason. While they leafed through it - or rather, while he did since Coco seemed to already know what she wanted - the man explained in that same refined tone of voice, "But the Madam told me to because, as she put it, her husband was 'being a silly, dense old fossil' and 'it would be quite funny'."
"So one wanted the secret, but the other wanted it not to be." Coco summarised, one brow raised and a fist on a cocked hip with the question's healthy dose of needed sass, "How do you pick which you prefer when your orders are conflicting like that?"
"Why it's rather simple, really." The man smiled, nodding his head towards her and answering, "When the Sir and Madam conflict in their stated desires, always follow the Madam's orders. Such is how one keeps the peace in a household, after all, as any man knows that the madam is the one truly in charge."
"Oh really now?" Coco grinned and Jaune groaned as she rounded on him, eyes sparkling mirthfully behind her shades, "What do you think of that, babe? Which of us do you think is the head of our little part, hm?"
"Is there an answer to that question that I won't regret in some way?" He smiled, watching her roll her eyes and fight back a snot before turning to the man, "I'd love some of the meat pies and some jelly tarts, if you don't mind. And some hot cinnamon tea, too. Thanks."
"Of course, sir." The man nodded, taking both the menus back from them. "And you, Ma'am?"
"I'm feeling cheap today so… A handful of grilled cheeses and some chicken soup, please and thank you." Jaune gave her a look and she rolled her eyes, punching his shoulder playfully. Something he was more than aware of, since if she'd wanted she could have actually hurt him fairly bad. "Shove off, babe. I'm just in the mood for something a bit simpler today. And they make their cheeses with some oomph behind 'em, too."
"Pepper Jack and muenster cheese, ma'am, along with mild cheddar." The man explained brightly with a small, curt bow of his head. "Would you like to be shown to your table or to find your parents yourself, then?"
"I think we can do it, sir." Jaune nodded, idly and anxiously straightening his uniform as he did. "Could you just… Give us some directions, just in case?"
In case of what, he wasn't sure, frankly. But it was in case of something,that was sure.
And no, it most certainly wasn't because he was anxious to see his parents again after everything that had happened. And to introduce them to his girlfriend. And he'd come in a military uniform, too. And they'd ask about his surgery, and how he'd managed that, and he couldn't just tell them about Penny.
But no.
He was not nervous. Or stalling…
"Directly back from the door, sir." The host answered with a pleasant smile and a flourishing bow, his hand waving towards the door politely. A clear offer for Jaune and Coco to politely be on their way at their will. "Your father is rather a large fellow, I dare say, and the curtain was not pulled. You should find him, and so them, as easily as you find your breath."
A dramatic statement to be sure but, once they'd pushed through the heavy wooden door, he was pleased to say it wasn't inaccurate. The room's decor hadn't changed much if at all, thankfully, and that gave him a sense of odd nostalgia. He even saw their table, empty now, but where he remembered going out with Coco for the first time. It had been weird, he'd been anxious then too, but now? Now it was one of his favorite memories in a long, thick list of good memories.
And in spite of the bad ones, too. The ones he tried to shake off nearly constantly, like the memory scorched into his brain of her beautiful head in a Beowolf's jaws…
"Babe, you doing okay?" Coco's hand in his shook him out of the bad memory and he smiled at her when she leaned against him, tall enough it pressed his head against her shoulder. He pulled his hand out of her and wrapped an arm around her hips for a hug and she murmured into his hair, "I saw that look. You okay?"
"Yeah, just bad memories coming back for… No apparent reason, really. In a nostalgic mood in all the worst ways, I guess." He gave her a squeeze and pulled away, head on a slow swivel as he spoke, "It's nothing to worry about, I promise." Finally, he spotted his family and smiled, "There they are."
His father was still the great bear of a man he'd known when he left, blonde hair steadily greying and face lined in wrinkles. Instead of his simpler town clothing or his Hunter's armor, he wore a simple set of pressed dress pants and a nice, buttoned up dress shirt, and a long, dark coat that lay bundled on the booth seat beside him.
On his other side was his mother in her favorite simple red dress, who was closer to Jaune's size in the worst way. Middle age and eight children had done no kindnesses to her, leaving her squat and tired looking, with greying hair and a face with as many wrinkles as a woman ten years her elder might sport. Until you looked at her eyes, at least, and saw the sparkle of mischief and happiness in them. Eyes that widened and sparkled as the somewhat round woman spotted him and slapped her husband a dozen times inside the second, dragging him to a stop in the midst of whatever story he was in the middle of regaling her with for no doubt the thousandth time.
"Oh please don't yell…" He waved, though, and grimaced when his father stood and smiled widely. Pushing up off the table he slid out of the booth and rose to his full height, lumbering towards them as threateningly as an Ursa. "Oh no, here we go… Brace yourself, babe. He's the touchy type and here he comes."
"What do you mean he's the-"
"My baby boy!" Her words were cut off as the veritable bear of a man reached them and, in one fell swoop, stooped down to scoop them both up in a big, gentle hug. Coco squeaked her surprise beside him and he'd have laughed if his face weren't caught between two chests. Letting them stagger away the man planted his hands on his hips and smiled, "Oh, you look amazing in uniform, my boy! Not crazy that it's Atlesian but beggars can't be choosers, eh, son?"
"I mean, Atlas isn't that bad, Dad." They'd given him everything he had now short of Coco herself. Including his life, in fact, given the scar on his chest and the reason for it. He felt comfortable admitting to some loyalty to Atlas after that particularly gift. "They pay really well, and the general respects me. And you should see the tech and supplies they're willing to just… Hand me!"
"Yes, well… Hunters and soldiers don't tend to get along. A friendly rivalry, though, nothing bad. We compete for work, you understand." The great man sighed and gave the woman beside him a look and grinned, "Ah, and you must be Miss Adel."
"Yes, sir, I'm-"
"Shame." He grinned, teeth bared in a goofy, toothy smile, "Just two letters off of Arc, plus the spare. Not much paperwork in the end, though, I suppose. Eh?"
"U-Uh, I don't-"
"Dust damn it, Dad…" Jaune sighed, flushing a brighter red than the first time Coco had earnestly and properly given him a good teasing. Hiding is face in his hands he groaned, ignoring the little bolt of pleasure at seeing Coco shaken for once in the life of their relationship. "You just met her, Dad. And we just started dating. Can't you wait at least a little while before you start teasing us with that?"
"You're right." The man nodded.
"Oh thank the gods…"
"Wait for it, Babe." Jaune suggested, smiling when the woman gave him a concerned, narrow-eyed look. He smiled and, as if on cue, the huge man swung around them and hugged them against his sides. With a sigh, Jaune grunted, "Told you so."
"I can't tease you until your mother can join too!" The man laughed, half pushing and half dragging them forward towards the dining booth while his mother waited, grinning from ear to ear and resting her chin on a palm. "Here," his father grunted, shoving Coco in beside his mother and then dragging him into the seat next to him, opposite his wide-eyed girlfriend, "sit so we can tease."
"Talk."
"That's what I said, isn't it, dear?" He asked, chuckling and waving his wife off with a smile. "So, how'd you two meet?"
"Your son wasn't a racist ass to my teammate, she told me, and I went to meet him." Coco shrugged, still put off in the way only a parent could do but slowly coming around and easing in. Their drinks arriving seemed to help with that, and she smirked, "He was a nice guy, so I approved of 'em hanging out. Turned out he was damn smart, too, so we started meeting up too."
"Oh?" His mother asked, smiling, "I always told him he just needed to relax and everything would go so well."
"About that…"
"Yeah, he is still not exactly the cool cucumber in the room." Coco chuckled, the sound rolling into an honest peal of laughter when he pouted at her. Taking a breath she shook her head and sighed, "He's a dork, really. But I love it. It makes him… Interesting to be around, most of the time. Even if he is the dumbest smart person I know sometimes."
"Gee, thanks. And here I thought you like me." He snorted with a roll of his eyes, though, and dodged the playful boot aimed for his shin.
"And a total, irredeemable, aggravatingly slow dork for anything without an instruction manual or a soldering iron." She grinned playfully and bumped her shin against his comfortingly, earning a small smile from him and then adding in a softer, more genuine tone, the woman smiling softly all the while, "But he saved my life, you know. And he's nice even when he has every reason not to be, to people who he really should have never thought to be nice to. He's just… A good guy."
"He'd have made a grand Huntsman, in another life." His father nodded, voice low and grave in contrast to the wide smile he wore. The he saw their food on its way and grinned, waving them and the somewhat gloomy atmosphere off with a hand, "We can berate my son for poor life choices like running in against the Grimm after dinner."
"Oi!" He barked, sliding his father's plate by him with a hand and scowling, "I make perfectly acceptable life choices, thank you. And defending my girlfriend against a giant monster is one of them for… Reasons."
"Like?" His father asked, grinning when the younger blonde grimaced and the barking a short laugh. "Like I thought, son. You're a terrible bluffer, you know? A good Huntsman you would have been, but certainly not a good gambler."
"He wasn't bluffing, he had reasons that were pretty good to wanna pull my cute behind out of the Grimm's paws." Coco argued simply, taking a sip of the tea that had been brought out and repoured for her and then smiling. His father hummed a question and, before Jaune could say anything, Coco raised a hand and did her best mime of a blowjob, grinning and staring Jaune full in the face all the while. "See? Good reasons."
The table was silent for a moment before his father snorted and, ashamed of having laughed, turned to look at his wife with a wide, apologetic smile.
"Well," the woman sighed and rolled her eyes, "he is an Arc boy after all. And you lot always seem to have a one track mind. Reminds me of that time you decided to punch an Ursa Major in the face because, as you put it, 'it looked at me wrong'."
In unison and perfect agreement, the other two Arcs groaned and ran their hands down their faces in exasperation. Also in unison, though in far different tones, they sighed a simple, "Why did I end up with someone so damn crazy?"
"And for the record," the eldest of the men there grunted, jabbing a faux-accusatory finger at his wife, "it did look at you wrong. And I didn't quite like what it said about your butt either, for that matter."
From there, dinner progressed rather quietly, when one of the two women wasn't teasing either of the men. It was a pleasant experience, to say the very least, and definitely one of the better ways to end a hard day at work. And to Jaune's great appreciation, no one decided that then and there was the time to ask about his surgery, or the events surrounding it. Which was good, really, since Jaune hadn't decided how he would or could answer those questions. Without selling out Penny and her father, at least, which didn't seem like a good idea.
Because Atlas had military guys that wouldn't look kindly on that.
Oh, and because Penny would pout super hard if he let slip how he'd been helped, and why. That was certainly a concern for him, and no doubt for Coco too. But was it a bigger one than the supposed Atlesian death squads? He wasn't sure, really. A bullet only hurt for a bit, after all. But seeing a pouting Penny would last him a lifetime.
Also, Ruby would shishkebab him if he made Penny cry, which… Eh, Yang would do worse. And Weiss, too. And Blake. And Coco, now that he was thinking about it. And speaking of Coco...
"I'm glad you all get along." He finally said quietly, once they'd eaten and their dishes had been collected. Shrugging unsurely at their curious azes he added, "I… Wasn't all the way sure whether you would or not. You guys were always kind of over-protective of me growing up."
"Might have something to do with your dying if we weren't." His father grunted simply, familiar with the old complaint. Taking a drink of his tea the man sighed and, for Coco's benefit, explained, "Our son is a good lad, you know that. But sometimes, he didn't like what we had to do, raising him. How we couldn't let him go out to play like normal, or explore the woods, or anything like that."
"Broke my heart when he was little. Seeing him cooped up inside while the girls played outside." His mother added, tracing a finger around the rim of her mug and smiling sadly. To Coco, and for reasons that embarrassed Jaune to no end, she added, "No mother wants to see her son sad and alone like that, growing up or as an adult. So thank you for giving his… Well frankly, all of his weirdness a chance. It means the world to me and the family, to see him happy."
"Thanks, Mom…"
"He's worth it, so I don't mind." Coco smiled, shrugging and adding, "What other kind of dumbass would attack Grimm to save a Huntress?"
"Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that particular decision." His father rumbled, lacing his fingers and resting his hands on the table with a wide, angry smile. Beside him, the Arc matron mirrored the gesture, eyes narrowed in her fury, but she let her husband ask, "So, dearest son and heir, what exactly possessed you to attack Grimm with your condition? And I swear to the Creator, if you say it was in any way to get laid I will break your leg."
"I mean…." Coco made a face beside his mother and grinned when Jaune glared. More seriously she asked, "Why did you attack, though? It can't have been your armor, you knew it was civilian grade and wouldn't hold up. And I swear to god if you answer 'love' then you will sleep alone tonight."
"Does he not every night…?" His father asked, one brow raised and leaned back like he was simultaneously curious and did not want to know.
"No, he does sometimes." She shrugged, waiting just long enough for his parents to relax and Jaune to sigh, she grinned and added, "I do have classes at Beacon after all. And, well, when I don't have them… Eh, who needs sleep right?"
"I do!" He groaned, face hidden in his palms for embarrassment and the truth of the statement, "I need to sleep."
"Pfft." Coco laughed and he groaned, the woman rolling into the tease easily, "You don't say that when you see me in my cute little shorts and-"
"Anyways!" His father interrupted, clearly no longer in any way curious about anything like that. Across the table, both women grinned and snickered, but the man ignored it and eased back in his seat. "I'm curious to hear your answer. If it wasn't your libido and her, as I believe she put it, 'cute little shorts', and it wasn't for love, even if I would have respected that-"
"Same." Coco grunted, "Woulda broken your face for it, but eh. Woulda broken your hips later, too. And not with my fists."
"Anyways times two!" The man grunted loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose against Coco's usual innuendo filled antics, "I just- Is she always like this? All innuendo and teasing?"
"Not always, no." He grunted, giving Coco a meaningful cheshire grin across the table and raising an eyebrow. "I mean, usually, yeah, buuuuut not always."
"Jaune, I swear to the Grimm, you do what I think you will and I won't let you-"
"Sometimes I give her a very special kind of headpats and she gets really quiet." He grinned, ignoring the groan from his father and flaring his Aura the way Coco had shown him all along his legs. Just in time for Coco's heel to strike and her to pout at his grin, "I win."
"And now there's two of them, wonderful. Just wonderful. I am quite glad I already ate." The older man sighed, head rolling back to rest on the back of the booth behind him. With a wave of his hand, he asked again, "I want to know what caused you to rush in without proper training, a proper weapon, or a body able to handle it. Please. Without any sexual innuendos just… For a couple minutes."
"I was there and she needed help, I guess. Since you pushed me on it, I mean." He shrugged simply, drumming his fingers on the table for a second in thought and sighing. "It's... True that part of it was how I felt about Coco, but I'd like to think I would have stepped in regardless of how I felt and how cute those shorts may or may not be."
"Are." She chipped in quietly, unsure of how to be in such a serious situation, "No maybes about it. They are."
"Fair point, Coco, thank you for contributing." He rolled his eyes and smiled, turning back to his father and shrugging. "I don't know. Maybe it was a bit of both. I couldn't leave someone behind to die while I ran away, and I care about her. I… Don't really have more to offer, I guess. Not really."
"Hm. Good enough, I suppose." The man shrugged, giving him a slow and respectful nod of his great head. "All I wanted was to know why, for peace of mind. And so I knew it wasn't something silly, or wrongly selfish. I think I can breathe easier knowing you are the good man I thought."
"Thanks?" That it had apparently been in doubt irked him a bit but he moved on quickly, wanting more to be rid of the tension than anything. "So, uh, how about we order some dessert and just chat for a bit?"
"I-"
"You don't count as dessert, Coco." He interrupted, pointing a finger at her, "And even if you did, I'm not sharing you with my parents."
"Okay, yeah, fair." She nodded, grinning and raising a hand and, probably ignoring the call button for the laughs of it, called, "Waiter! We want to place a secondary order, please!"
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As previously stated, this story is not on a regular rotation schedule anymore it's as I have time and Supporter interest. Been lacking in time since I'm developing a tabletop fan-game of RWBY AND we have started earnest work on Re:Programmed stuff, the first of which is in the 'writing the story' stage of things.
I've also been in a weird place with this story. When it started, we didn't know much about Coco, so I built a lot of her myself. In canon, though, she's gay. So it's felt… Weird, to me, to write a Coco that isn't gay. Just feels icky to me, doing that. I'm going to work on this story regardless, since I started it, but yeah.
That all said, enjoy what I got for you… Whenever this comes out!
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The Unholy Smirk:
Yes, it's called 'Out on a Limb'. Search it up and check it out if you're interested.
TyphonyX:
Less 'the Coco and Jaune date show' and more 'slice of life from the POV of an engineer in RWBY'. It started out as that, too. Also, I already described Jaune's family, for the most part. So no getting bogged down over here.
Du Man Heiu:
It also helps to make story-telling easier, and make reading it easier too. If someone starts a sentence before a PARAGRAPH of design, for instance, it would get hard to follow what is happening or being said. A balance I hope I have struck well enough.
AN 25:
The next act has already started. It's a slice of life story, so the structure is a lot looser. Just people living their lives.