Making Something from Nothing - Chapter Six

"Hey guys." Jaune said quietly as he walked into his team's dorm.

"Jaune! You're back late; did the nurse check you out?" Nora asked.

"Didn't go to the nurse. I had too much to do." He replied casually.

"Well, did you at least get something to eat to help replenish your aura?" Ren questioned.

"Nah, but I'll be fine, I just need to get some rest and clear my head. How's Pyrrha?" He asked to divert the conversation away from him.

"When I left to find her, she was a wreck. She kept crying and saying you weren't ever going to notice her," Nora said. "You really should talk to her."

"What do you mean, I notice her all the time! We train almost every day!"

Ren sighed, "Not like that. She likes you, Jaune. A lot. And all you seem to care about is Weiss."

"Wait, she likes me?" Jaune perked up.

"Yes." His teammates replied simultaneously.

"I never noticed…"

"Probably because you're so naïve," Ren muttered. "So will our glorious leader go address the problem?"

"Now?" He asked, picking up his equipment from the shelf he had left it on.

"Yes, now." They replied unhappily.

"Alright! Sheesh, calm down. Save us a spot at dinner." He said walking back out of the dorm.

He strode down the hall with new-found confidence.

"Pyrrha likes me! The most talented girl in the school likes me of all people!" He internally cheered.

He turned a corner to head towards the stairs.

"Wait a minute, how do I even do this? Do I even like her?"

He reached the stairs and began climbing up to their training spot.

"Do I? Or am I just feigning interest?"

He reached the landing and opened the door. Looking around, he saw nobody.

"Huh… Thought she'd be here." He said to himself.

Walking out on the rooftop, he sat down on the edge.

"Hey, Cardin, you there?" He asked down towards CRDL's dorm.

No response.

"Good, I can think about what I want to do without any issues. Now what do I do? I can honestly say I like Weiss. She's just… Weiss."

He scanned the garden down below.

"But Pyrrha is just so much nicer, and I actually have a chance with her."

Down on the bench beside the flowers on the far side was a familiar white dress.

"Wait a minute, that's Weiss. Same bench, different day, I guess."

Weiss didn't have her usual poise. Her elbows were on her knees and her head was in her hands. Almost everything seemed off.

"Well, I guess she's in the same position I am. I've got to tell Pyrrha I've finally come around, and she's finally noticed Ruby. At least Ruby told her…"

Jaune began to get up when his pants caught a loose piece of piping, pulling him back down with force. Before he could react, he was falling forward off of the dorm building.

To him, everything felt calm. The end was coming in the form of solid pavement. Seeing the ground coming at him quickly, he braced for a hard impact and closed his eyes. A hard yank on his belt caused him to look around. He was hanging by his shield. Looking down, he saw Pyrrha, arm outstretched and hand glowing with aura.

"I was looking for you!" Jaune called. Pyrrha brought him down closer to the ground and released his shield.

"Nora said you were." She said. Her tone was sad, but still strong.

"Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to go get dinner in town some time." He quietly.

"Is this just because I saved you from a painful death?" She asked.

"Nope, I just finally got the memo. It's about time, and I'll understand if you don't want to go."

Pyrrha seemed to brighten with Jaune's statement.

"Actually I'd be happy to oblige." She said with a small smile.

"Well, since we don't have classes tomorrow, how about then?"

"That would be fine with me." She said, back to her happy attitude.

"You know, I'm really sorry about taking so long…"

"It's alright. I could have been a little more straightforward, and a little less passive aggressive." She laughed a little.

"Maybe. Say, would you like to take a walk through the garden on the way to the cafeteria?" Jaune asked, getting an idea.

"I would like that," Pyrrha said, tilting her head somewhat, "How did you know I wanted to take a walk?"

"Lucky guess?" He suggested, starting forward.

Jaune took the left path, making sure Pyrrha was close to him. Cautiously, he brushed his right hand against hers. Grinning ever so slightly out of the corner of his mouth, he calmly bided his time.

Slowly, they made their way down the trial. Reaching the corner, Jaune eased his hand next to Pyrrha's, taking her hand in his. Pyrrha silently responded by giving his hand a small squeeze.

"I'll feel bad about this later." He thought to himself as they went around the bend. Just as he had predicted, there sat Weiss. She must have not heard them coming because she continued to sit hunched over. As they neared, Jaune heard sobs. As though the world sympathized with him, an acorn fell from a nearby tree right in front of Jaune's path, in which he crushed with his shoe.

The crunch caused Weiss to sit up and look over at the new couple walking towards her. Face shining with tears, her mouth was slightly open in shock and despair. She noticed Jaune's hand in Pyrrha's and got a grasp on the situation. She bolted up from the bench and ran past Jaune, hitting his side as she passed.

"So she was crying the whole time? I thought she was happy with Ruby…"

"Jaune, what was that?" Pyrrha asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I heard something from Blake about Ruby having a crush on Weiss. Something probably went wrong, I don't know." Jaune said, casually.

"You have no idea…" He internally muttered, continuing to walk.

"That's sad. I hope they fix whatever's wrong." Pyrrha said empathetically.

"Yeah, a happy ending would be nice around here." He chuckled. Jaune opened the door to the cafeteria for Pyrrha, letting her go in first.

"Thank you." She said, going in the entrance.

"No problem." Jaune said, following her in.

They grabbed their meals and headed over to the table where JNPR and most of RWBY were sitting.

"Saved your seats like you asked, team leader!" Nora announced.

"Thank you, Nora." Jaune said, taking his seat and Pyrrha sitting next to him.

"Did you get your issues straightened out?" Ren asked.

"I'd say so." Jaune smiled, Pyrrha laying her head briefly on his shoulder.

"Aww! That's just so cute! They're so adorable!" Yang cooed.

Ruby scoffed, refusing to look at anyone.

"Why is she irritated?! I thought everyone was happy with the results except me? Hold on, Ruby being irritated after getting rejected means that Weiss wasn't upset about Ruby…" He rationalized.

"But what does Weiss have to cry over? Is she just that stressed?"

"What's up with Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, almost reading his thoughts, "We saw her coming here, but she seemed a little distraught."

"She's a little 'distraught' because she got hung up on this idiot!" Ruby shouted, pointing at Jaune. The cafeteria got quite. Everyone looked at Ruby as she got up and stormed out.

After she was gone, everyone turned and looked at Jaune.

"Well, that's certainly new."

Isn't this a nice little change of events? Finally starting to get into the conflict/ sub plots a little just give everything a slight bend. Also, I like making everyone bitterly sad. If you can't tell by now, characters are OOC, and that should really be taken with all of my stories. Next chapter for A Day for Love will be up next, and then Proto and I will move from there!