Chapter 1 – A Rose by Any Other Name

Hello everyone, this is the first story that I've ever written in my entire life. I've been woking on it for a while now, but only recently managed to acquire a laptop to submit it with. I owe a great deal of gratitude to many different authors for enough inspiration to write this: destinyTail0, The Rogue King, Defiled Ladel, H'te Rarpee, Serfius, FaintQuill, The hotdog man. But most importantly is my good friend Pozsich. Seriously, all of these authors are good enough to inspire, check them out. Oh, and if you intend to review, please be gentle~

Ruby was nervous, to say the least. In fact, she didn't know what she was feeling. The reason for this you may ask?

Jaune.

The goofball wasn't acting any differently, in fact, he was probably feeling nervous because of the way Ruby had been acting.

The moment Jaune enters a room, Ruby would do everything in her power to get the hell out of it. At one point she even went so far as to jump out of a window. Two stories up.

Ruby had no idea why, but whenever Jaune was around, she just got this odd fluttery feeling in her stomach. After asking Yang about it, Ruby learnt that what she was experiencing was called a crush, and that it would pass soon enough.

As it turns out, Yang didn't seem to understand how anyone could like that 'lady killer'. She clearly doesn't see how amazing Jaune really is.

He's the kindest, most selfless person Ruby had ever met. And if Yang's problem lies with his skills, well he's leagues ahead of himself when he first came to Beacon. Pyrrha's training was doing wonders. But that was another problem in and of itself.

Pyrrha.

One of the two female members of Team JNPR. She clearly likes him, and Jaune being the oblivious fool that he is has no idea.

That gave Ruby a chance to confess. She was currently alone in the library, it's the only quiet place in Beacon for her to think. All she had to do was leave and find Jaune when he was by himself.

"Ruby?"

Instantly arousing from her stupor, Ruby turned around to find Jaune staring at her, concern written on his face. 'Was he searching for me? What do I say?' Ruby's thoughts were interrupted however as Jaune spoke up. "Are… are you alright?... Did I do something wrong? You seem to be avoiding me."

Guilt filling her every being, simply from the look on his face Ruby replied. "NO! No I'm not avoiding you, you didn't do anything wrong." "But… are you okay?" Hesitating for an instant before replying, Ruby decided to continue lying.

"Yeah I-I'm fine Jaune." A quick shift of the eyes to the side. "You don't have to worry so much." Jaune walked closer to Ruby and replied with an arm around her shoulder. "Ruby… whether I want to or not I will always care about you, you're like, my first real friend that I've ever had. Every one of our other friends would say the same, because we all know you'd treat us like this as well. Listen, I may not be the sharpest sword in the armoury. But it's obvious that you're avoiding me. I don't know if I did anything wrong, but I do know that I didn't do something right."

Wrapping his other arm around her in a tight comforting hug, Jaune finished his little speech. "If there is anything that I can do to make it up to you, please tell me."

As Ruby stared into his pleading eyes she came to a realization. 'That's why I feel this way about him. If something is wrong with someone, even a total stranger, Jaune will do everything he can to make things better. I can't see how Pyrrha and I are the only ones who feel this way about him.'

"Thank you Jaune, but I really am fine. I feel much better now." Hugging him back, Ruby reassured her words with a quick kiss on the cheek.

She couldn't help but to giggle at the expression on Jaunes face. Skipping away happily, she turned and winked at him. 'Yang does this to guys a lot, and they seem to like it.'

Seeing Jaunes confused expression turn to that of a content smile, Ruby turned and continued to skip all the way throughout the halls of Beacon and back to her room. After changing into her pyjamas and getting ready for bed, one thought plagued her mind as she jumped into the amalgamation of sheets she calls a bunk. 'Something tells me this isn't just a small crush on Jaune.'

Then again… only time will tell.