Blonde Roast, Pt. 5

As Jaune saw it, he was – and pardon the French – royally fucked.

Thankfully, Junior actually acquiesced and let Jaune take the night off early; with the condition that he come in early the next day to open up the shop.

The bus ride back to Beacon was a breeding ground for Jaune's thoughts and even as he tried to push them to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand, they swelled greater and greater as they crashed and collided in Jaune's mind.

He had agreed to tell Nora and Pyrrha about his job, but now that he was committed he wondered exactly what he would say. When he'd explained to Ren, everything had just sort of flowed out. It felt good to finally get it off his chest. With the rest of his team though things might be a bit trickier. Nora could be… volatile, and if Jaune said the wrong thing to Pyrrha while explaining, he could lose not just his friend but his partner. Someone who he would have to spend the next two-and-a-half years living in the same room with but knowing that there would forever be an unbridgeable gap between them.

On top of that, there was his miserable failure in interaction with Coco. He hadn't stopped kicking himself since she and her team had stormed out of the coffeeshop, and he knew that he'd still be kicking himself for a long while after. He had class with her on Monday; how was he going to handle that?

The bus ride felt far too short, and as he reentered the Beacon grounds he saw that night was beginning to fall. He checked his watch and observed that he had just enough time to change and make it to dinner.

As he made his way across the grounds, his coat pulled close to hide his work uniform, he spotted a light from the window where his dorm was and inhaled sharply, thinking that he might have to explain things earlier than he had expected. When he finally made it up to his dorm though, he found that it was only Ren, gently stirring a bit of milk into a cup of Atlesian breakfast tea. The green-clad Huntsman sipped his tea slowly as he watched Jaune from his seat before the window.

"So you did manage to get off early," he observed flatly. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah, I thought I'd join you guys for dinner." Ren nodded slowly and sipped his tea as Jaune stripped down and changed into a casual set of clothes, stowing away his work uniform in a footlocker beneath his bed and straightening his outfit in the mirror before looking to Ren. "Where are Pyrrha and Nora?" he asked. Ren sipped his tea again before answering.

"They went to the library a little while ago to finish homework." Ren's statement led to a mental jab of regret as Jaune was forced, yet again, to reflect on his earlier conversation with Coco. He merely nodded to Ren as he finished straightening his hair and walked to the door, turning to see if Ren was going to accompany him. His teammate finished his tea, set down the mug and stood, stepping through the doorway as Jaune held it for him.

As he shut and locked the door behind him, Jaune heard a great deal of noise coming from the door across the hall and waited for a moment, watching the door, before it flew open on its hinges and Yang Xiao Long collapsed onto the hallway floor. Ren and Jaune stood for a moment, watching the blonde Huntress for any sign of life before she stood and promptly doubled over laughing, pointing into her room. It was then that Jaune noticed the black ribbon clutched in Yang's hand. From inside team RWBY's dorm came the unmistakable sound of a pissed-off Blake Belladonna.

"Yang, I swear, give me that bow or I will knock you through something worse than a door!"

"Oh come on, I'm just having a little fun. Besides, you should go out without it for a change; I like when you show off those cute little—"

"Yang!"

"Oh geez, fine, here." Yang tossed the ribbon to her partner and the brunette girl caught it deftly, quickly tying it back into place over her ears. She noticed Jaune and Ren for the first time then.

"You didn't see any of that," she said. A moment later, Yang turned and waved politely and after another second Ruby and Weiss stuck their heads out the busted door.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby chirped and Jaune gave an awkward wave to her and Weiss, before clearing his throat.

"We were just heading down to dinner, you guys want to come with us?" he asked. The girls agreed and together, the six of them made their way downstairs and to the cafeteria. Dinner tonight was the usual fare; long tables with benches on either side, dozens of options on platters and in pitchers for everyone's tastes. Teachers sat at one end of the hall, with students occupying the rest. Already, many students had filed in and had taken their seats, chatting idly while waiting for the hour hit so they could start eating. Even as Jaune and the others entered, the clocktower boomed in the distance and dinner began in earnest. Students and teachers alike tore into meats, vegetables and sides of a hundred varieties.

Nora called out and beckoned Ren and Jaune over, the two bidding team RWBY goodbye as they went to sit in the pair of unoccupied seats next to their partners. Nora had already put together a plate for herself and Ren (both of which consisted of numerous food items Jaune knew the dark-haired Huntsman wouldn't be caught dead eating, and which Ren eyed wearily) and as Ren sat she burst out into conversation, her mouth already full.

"Scho, I've been thinking," she managed in between mouthfuls, "That we really need to think of team codenamesh." Ren raised an eyebrow suspiciously as Jaune heaped his plate with meat and potatoes, not realizing until that moment how hungry he really was.

"Codenames, Nora?" The ginger girl nodded ferociously and swallowed.

"It's the perfect plan!" she said excitedly. "That way, when we're on missions we can communicate without anyone knowing!"

Ren was still skeptical. "But wouldn't they still be able to tell that we're talking to eachother? The codenames won't fool anybody if they can see us having a conversation. And even then, I don't think Grimm would even be listening in on our conversations in the first—"

"Shhhhhshshshshshsh shush" Nora said, bringing a finger up and placing it against her partner's lips, staying both his argument and the spoonful of hot soup on its way to his mouth. "No need to get all technical; we can work out the minutiae later. For now, we need to figure out what we'd each be called." She considered for a moment before the proverbial lightbulb appeared and stood on her bench, eyes wide and expression enlightened.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "Ren, you'll be 'Green Sloth.' Get it? Because you wear green? And because you're a… well, like I said, details come later. Pyrrha, you can be 'Master of Poles.' Fitting, don't you think?" In answer, Pyrrha stirred slightly in her sleep and rolled over so she was facing Jaune. He noticed what Ren had been talking about now; she looked miserable. The dark circles under her eyes had grown deep and were an ugly shade of blackish-purple. Her hair was tousled and her outfit was creased and crumpled as she slept soundly on the hardwood surface of the table. He felt a pang of regret, knowing this was his fault.

"Nora," Jaune said, breaking his silence. "I for one think codenames might not be such a bad idea." He looked up and saw that Nora was eying him suspiciously, and he got the feeling she had heard something different than he had said. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to him today.

"Soooooo, you're not dead," she said and Jaune nearly choked on his food.

"W-what?" he stuttered out between coughs and Nora shrugged, never losing her accusatory glare.

"Well, you've been gone so often and you never speak when you're around, so naturally I assumed you had died and were haunting us. Naturally." She leaned in close across the table and extended a single finger which Jaune eyed warily right up to the moment it poked him in the forehead.

"What was that for?" he asked indignantly. Nora shrugged again.

"Just making sure you weren't a ghost."

Jaune eyed her incredulously for a few moments before finally muttering a very confused (and slightly concerned) "Huh?"

Dinner passed mostly uneventfully after that. Nora took to making small armies out of the green beans and baby carrots that Ren made her eat and started making them reenact battles from the War – complete with sound effects and ketchup blood. On the bright side, it at least told Jaune she was paying some attention in history class. Jaune took a minute to scan the room after he was finished eating and noticed that things were mostly the same. Team RWBY was laughing and joking, Cardin was chatting with his team and trying not to look like an absolute prick (and failing), and for just a moment he caught a glimpse of Velvet's ears over the heads of some other students before the shy girl noticed him and ducked out of sight. A little while later he saw Coco and Fox arguing by the door before the fashion-conscious Huntress made a series of exasperated gestures and stormed out, her partner rubbing his temples after she had gone.

When Nora was finally finished wiping out the forces of Greenbeanopolis with the help of the Carrotopian's newfound allies the Grapes (why the Grapes didn't get a special name Jaune was too afraid to ask), Ren stood and suggested that they head back to their dorms. Along the way he caught Jaune's sleeve and asked him to get some coffee for Pyrrha – if she was going to be staying awake long enough to hear Jaune's explanation, she'd need it.

When the team finally made it back to their dorm, Nora and Ren half-carrying a now-conscious Pyrrha, Jaune closed the door behind them and prepared the coffee for himself and Pyrrha. He noted as he did so that mixing milk and sugar into coffee from a can was a welcome step backwards from preparing intricate drinks in a high-end shop.

He sat on the edge of his bed alongside Pyrrha and gently pressed the cup of steaming coffee (dark roast, skim milk, no sugar) into her hands. She accepted with a sad sort of smile and took a long drought of the beverage. Sighing heavily, she turned to her team at large.

"So, what's going on? Jaune's home early and he's making coffee, Nora is calmed down… you're not dying, are you Ren?" Jaune struggled to hide his elation at hearing the familiar note of humor and liveliness in his partner's voice. It was there, he now knew. It was just hidden; repressed by the weight of her stress and fatigue.

"Well," Ren said, mixing himself another cup of tea, "Jaune and I had a chat today. He has some things he needs to explain."

'Hey Ren, I got this," Jaune said and the his dark-haired teammate nodded, backing off. Jaune took a deep breath and found it hard to form the words. Every thought that had been crashing and colliding in his mind up until this moment seemed to have abandoned him. What did he say? How did he say it?

A memory came back to him at that moment. It had been almost a year, but the words still echoed in his mind.

"Just be honest," the voice in the back of his mind echoed. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

"Guys," he began hesitantly. "I... I lied to you. All of you. And I'm sorry." All eyes in the room were fixated on him and he sensed no hostility, so he picked up steam. "I've... been having some money problems. I was stupid and I didn't want to accept help - I guess I still am stupid, because I still don't - so I got a job in town. I'm uh..." he reached under his bunk and withdrew his uniform, immaculately folded, and shook it out so Pyrrha and Nora could both see. "I'm a barista."

A lengthy silence followed and Jaune's eyes flitted from Pyrrha to Nora to Ren and back. Finally, Pyrrha spoke, her tone betraying nothing.

"So that is where you've been going every evening? And on the weekends? And where you've been coming from late?" Jaune nodded hesitantly and Pyrrha took a long drink of her coffee before setting the mug down. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" she asked, her voice still neutral. Jaune's shoulders slumped.

"I knew that if you knew I was in financial trouble you'd want to help, and I couldn't allow that. You guys already do so much for me... You train with me, and you give me advice and put up with my stupid stunts and I care about you guys; you're the best friends I've ever had. I couldn't allow you to give up your own money for me. This was something I had to do on my own, and I know it's stupid and irresponsible but I wasn't about to let-"

She hugged him.

A moment later, Nora leapt across the gap and joined in, clutching her leader and his partner tightly. A moment later she turned and barked at Ren for him to "get his skinny green butt over here." An order to which Ren happily complied.

Several minutes later, Pyrrha finally released Jaune (Nora took some additional convincing) and the Mistrali Huntress placed her hands on Jaune's shoulders, gripping him tightly and fixing him with an emerald gaze. "Jaune, I forgive you for lying," she said. "I understand why you did what you did, and I won't argue if you feel that you have to continue." Jaune was about to thank her before she held up a finger to stop him. "But," she said, "If you ever lie to us again, you'll wish I had left you nailed to a tree in the Emerald Forest last year." Knowing that they had reached an agreement (Jaune's saying as much was not required; she knew he would agree), she let him go.

"So," she said, "Now that you're back, what do you say we call it a night? Ren can make pancakes; it's been so long since we just sat down as a team and-"

"Actually, Pyrrha, not tonight. Tomorrow, definitely but... I have something else I need to do tonight." "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

"Oh," she said, not repressing her slight disappointment. "Alright then, but I'm holding you to your word about tomorrow." He smiled and mock-bowed.

"Don't worry, an Arc never goes back on his word."

The library was all-but abandoned at this hour, most students having retired. A few sat by themselves at tables or computers, but otherwise the place was as quiet as a crypt. Coco was sitting in the furthest corner of the space, hunched over a textbook with her earbuds in. She didn't notice Jaune until he sat across from her, plopping his textbook and homework heavily onto the table. She looked up and her eyes blazed as she withdrew one earbud.

"What?" she asked shortly and Jaune took a deep breath.

"Earlier, when I said I had other plans... I needed to tell my team that I was working at the coffeeshop. That's what took me so long." She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"They didn't already know?" and Jaune shook his head.

"Not until half an hour ago, no. But I couldn't go on lying to them, especially not once I saw how much it was hurting them. I told them everything." A pause followed while he scratched his head and Coco stared back down at her page in the textbook. Her eyes remained fixed though, so Jaune knew she was only waiting for him to continue. "Coco, I may not be the smartest, or the best fighter or the best at talking to girls, or, well, anybody really, but I amazed myself earlier in that not only did I recognize your invitation to come here, but I wanted to. More than anything; I was perfectly ready to blow off telling my team everything to come here. Whatever that means... anyway, have a good night, Coco." He stood and began to leave but was surprised to find her hand pressed palm-down on his textbook and papers when he went to pick them up.

"If... you don't have any other plans this evening... I wouldn't mind if you stuck around." Jaune turned and found a pair of intelligent, strong brown eyes returning his gaze. The same eyes he had seen that first day he was working at "The Three Bears."

"Well... I suppose I could stick around for a while," he said as nonchalantly as he could manage as he sat back down. Coco smirked.

"Perfect. By the way, you got problems 9, 10, 14 and 20 wrong."

AN: And so we have chapter 5. This one took much longer than I expected to write, but I hope the story progression and additional length make up for it. It at least partially concluded a couple of story arcs and leaves me free to devote the next couple chapters almost entirely to the main dramatic plot of the series. Looking forward to the challenge.

So what'd you guys think of my attempts to write romance? I admit, it's not my cup of tea but I did what I could because I know how much you guys like your ships. Who knows? Maybe Blonde Roast will actually become a legitimate ship that people will follow. One day... Maybe...

In any case, thanks for helping me reach 100 story favorites, and I hope you guys enjoyed! As always, favs, follows and reviews are appreciated. See you soon, and thanks for reading!