It's me again! Bet you're tired of seeing me, huh?

This chapter is a lot about fleshing out our characters. A lot of insight will be provided on how people tick. But you'll see.

The song is "Back Seat" by Atlas Genius.

Beta: Maxaro. You found me out, I'm trying to fuck with you using all manners of strange food.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Back Seat

"And either Yang turned off her phone or it's dead," Blake stared at her own phone with a sigh.

Jaune gave her a reassuring smile. "No worries. We'll figure something out."

"Thanks."

The van was devoid of music this time around, as Ren drove almost aimlessly through the metropolitan maze of downtown Vale. It was now past midnight, but all signs of life outside the van indicated that the night was still young.

That energy did not reflect on the inside of the van, however. Even Nora sat quietly in shotgun, occasionally turning to share whispered conversations with Pyrrha.

Everyone seemed puckered out from the disappointment of the Casey debacle – among other things.

"Hey, Blake?" Jaune murmured, leaning nonchalantly on the right wall of vehicle.

"Yes?" A minute feeling of dread crawled up the faunus girl's spine.

Jaune chewed his lip before replying. "Well… I was just wondering who that Adam guy was."

"Right." Blake knew the question was coming, but it still hit her like a ton of bricks.

Sensing her unease, the blonde interjected. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, no. It's alright. I think you deserve to know." Blake sat up a little straighter on her side of the van. "Adam's an old friend of mine. I've known him since we were kids. We kind of grew up together, honestly; our parents weren't around much, so we took care of each other. I guess somewhere down the line, we got very close… we never got into an actual relationship, per se, but we got pretty damn close."

Jaune stared at his feet. "So like… friends with benefits?"

"Oh, God, no!" Blake exclaimed. "I mean… we fooled around, but we never went all the way. But I guess he thought differently."

She shifted in her spot. "When we got older, I became more… wary of the world, of people. I began to like being alone. But Adam… became more bold. He started hanging out with a lot of DJ-type people and such and started making his own EDM music. I… I don't know why, but he started thinking he was such hot shit. He kept telling me how I should keep hanging around him since he was gonna blow up in the music world."

Grimacing, Blake bitterly continued. "The stupidest part was… that I believed him. I thought, why shouldn't I? This was my childhood friend! I couldn't just leave him. And then I guess we… we did stuff, and I… I mean, I was okay with it… but he took it in a completely different way than I did. From then on he just kept advancing on me, even in front of our friends, and he just refused to understand why I tried to pushed him away. Saying shit like, 'You're lucky to have a guy like me!' or 'I'm gonna be rich and famous one day and you're gonna miss out!' It wasn't until then that I realized he didn't care about me anymore; he just wanted to feed his ego. He just wanted to be some big shot and I was gonna be his trophy lady. Just like that – our childhood friendship flushed down the fucking toilet."

By this time, tears had leaked down Blake's face, and Jaune instantly scrambled over to her, wiping her cheeks on the sleeve of his shirt. At a time like this, the blonde boy did not trust himself to say anything, and instead wrapped his other arm around Blake's shoulders, trying to comfort her.

Sniffling, Blake accepted the soothing motion and leaned against Jaune's collarbone. "Sorry," she laughed, her voice cracking slightly. "I didn't mean to become a sniveling mess."

"It happens to the best of us," Jaune smiled. "Fuck, you should've seen me when Weiss broke up with me. Not one of my prouder moments."

Blake chuckled. "The thing that bothers me now… I hadn't seen Adam in God knows how long. A year, maybe? But he walks up to me like nothing happened and has the nerve to kiss me. If he cared, he would've had the sense to actually try to talk to me like a man. But didn't care. He never did."

"Well, you've got plenty of people who care for you now," Jaune offered. "Yang, for one. And now you've got all of us!"

"Yeah…" Blake gave a crooked smile. "Funny how these things work out."

They held each other in silence for a while, enjoying the warmth that each provided the other. Words were not exchanged between the two for several minutes; they didn't need them, anyhow.

Jaune watched as Blake wiped the last of her tears with her- no, his jacket. "Is it okay if we trade pity parties?" he asked.

Blake laughed softly. "I spilled my heart out, so it's only fair you get to go."

"Thanks." Jaune's expression became somber. "You… you wanna know why I beat myself so much over being broken up with Weiss?"

"Why?"

Jaune sighed. "I think… I think that, for the most part, I blamed myself for our breakup."

The faunus girl looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "Go on."

With a slight hesitation, Jaune began. "It's just… before we broke up, I started getting more dedicated to getting our band off the ground. I guess she wasn't happy with us spending less time together. I mean, she got more distant as time went on, and then eventually she just broke up with me. I really didn't know why at the time, and even now it's still a bit of guesswork, but I just blamed myself for it. I couldn't for the life of me figure any other reason for her to just leave."

"So, is that why you were all bent out of shape when I met you?"

"Pretty much. I'm not good at dealing with when I fuck up. Y'know, I just wanted to get the chance to talk to her and see if there was anything I could fix. She just… never answered my calls."

Blake frowned. "Jaune. First thing's first – that's a dumb way to think."

"… Okay." Jaune blinked. "Wasn't quite expecting that."

"Sorry, but it really is." Blake chuckled. "Let's put aside the fact that I already don't like Weiss very much. The thing about relationships is that each person has to do their part. It takes both people to make a relationship work. If you go in doing all the heavy lifting, then something's wrong. Not to mention, I'm guessing Weiss didn't actually tell you that doing more band stuff bothered her?"

"Hmmmm," hummed Jaune. "Now that I think about it, she never really said much about it. I just assumed after she left."

"Well, she didn't tell you, and add insult to injury, she just up and called your relationship off. That's bad communication, commitment, just bad for any relationship. I mean, I'm not just trying to give you peace of mind by telling you this – don't blame yourself for that she failed to do. You're a decent guy, Jaune. If you could fix it, you would."

Jaune sighed once more. "Even though I saw the signs and didn't say anything?"

Blake lightly batted at his nose in mock exasperation. "You're blaming yourself again. Remember, a relationship only works if both people's hearts are in it, and knowing Weiss, I'd say she wasn't going to stick around for very long anyway." Her eyes shifted to the floor. "I learned that when I was with Adam, and I really don't want to see anyone else go through that."

"Right…" Jaune held her tighter, as if he were trying to protect the vulnerable side that she had shown him. "I guess the same sentiment goes for you, too."

From inside Jaune's arms, Blake smiled. "Thank you, Jaune."

"Of course. And thank you."

The pair stayed in each other's arms for quite some time. With time, all the worries and pains of yesterday washed away, replaced by solace. It was a truly wonderful, freeing feeling.

Even if just briefly.

"Hey," Jaune murmured to no one in particular. "Are we stopping at another gas station?"

"Sorry," smiled Pyrrha sheepishly. "Nora and I need to use the bathroom."

"Not sure why you'd need to be sorry for using the bathroom, but yeah," chimed Nora."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to walk around a bit," admitted Blake. "My legs are actually a little numb."

Jaune frowned. "Shit, my bad."

The faunus girl gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. I just sat wrong, that's all. You coming?"

"Nah," Jaune answered hesitantly. "I think I'll stay back here and… think about what you said, if that's alright."

Blake nodded, looking rather appreciative of his action.

"We'll be right back!" With that, Nora bounced out the van, with Pyrrha and Blake following behind her at a more reasonable pace.

Jaune sighed and leaned back against the van wall contentedly.

"You seem happy," noted Ren, turning slightly from the driver's seat.

"Is it that obvious?" asked Jaune.

"Very. It's a nice change of pace for you, Jaune."

The blonde snorted. "Very funny."

"I'm serious, Jaune," Ren insisted. "You've been a bit of a mess for the past few weeks, if I can say that."

"Well, you already did," Jaune grumbled. "But, yeah, I know."

Ren smirked. "I'd say our new friend Blake is just what you needed."

"She's… well…" Jaune pondered for a moment. "She's an amazing person. One of the coolest people I've met, by far. I mean, you could absolutely be right. But, y'know… I don't want to rush headfirst into things. Especially not with someone as incredible as Blake. She definitely doesn't need me to go fucking things up, so let's just take things one step at a time."

"Hmm… okay."

"… That's it? No… scathing criticism or telling me I should stop waiting around?"

"No. I only ever did that when you were with Weiss. For obvious reasons."

Jaune exhaled. "Point taken, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing…"

"Hey, only time will tell, right?" Ren pointed to one of the many to-go boxes a few feet from Jaune's feet. "Hand me those pancakes, will you?"

Blake walked down the shoddy-looking snack aisles, vigorously shaking the feeling back into her legs as she glanced around for perhaps a pack of gum or something even remotely appetizing.

It was rather appalling, really, that no convenience stores that Blake had ever been to sold any fish jerky. Sure, fish tended to go bad pretty quickly, but fish jerky just seemed like a no-brainer.

That's a business venture if I ever saw one, Blake chuckled quietly to herself. She shivered and thrust her hands deeper into the pockets of Jaune's jacket. Did it just get colder all of a sudden or-

"Fancy seeing you here."

Blake whirled around to see Weiss adjacent to her, with her own attention on the various gum flavors on the shelf.

No. Blake did not need this right now. Anything but this.

"You." The faunus girl's eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"

"What does it look like I want?" The girl in white picked up a spearmint pack and turned on her heel to face Blake, waving the pack in her face. "Seriously, I thought the faunus were supposed to be more attentive than that."

Growling irritably, Blake snatched a packet of green apple gum and brushed past Weiss.

The paler girl smirked and followed her. "A little birdy told me that you weren't able to keep an eye on Yang this time around."

Blake had reached the cashier before she froze in place. "What? Who told you that?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "So dramatic. Does the name 'Sun' ring a bell?"

"Yeah! He was the one who took care of-"

Weiss waved a hand emphatically. "Oh I know. You don't have to tell me. He's actually really good friends with Neptune, so naturally he told us everything, and I must say, it's quite the story, with Yang's alcoholism and your ineptitude to keep an eye on her. Some best friend you are."

"Did you just come here to gloat?" snarled Blake.

"Ahem."

They both turned towards the elderly cashier, who made no attempt to hide his annoyance.

"Oh, sorry." Blake handed the stick of gum and pulled out some loose change.

"Sometimes I have a hard time believing you're a faunus if not for those ears," Weiss jeered snidely. "Anyways, no, I'm not here to gloat. I was just thinking that since you're here, I can actually call Sun for you, if you'd like."

Blake frowned. "When did you turn into a good Samaritan?"

Weiss huffed. "Look, do you want me to call him or not?"

"I'm inclined to think there's a catch, but I guess, yeah. Please." Blake picked up her gum and crossed her arms in anticipation.

"Very well," Weiss pulled out her phone and dialed Sun's number.

"URSA! URSA! That's a big ursa!"

Yang froze. "What the fuck is that?" she panicked.

Sun sighed from underneath her. "Relax. It's just my phone. Which so happens to be in my pants. Which… are on the floor. And we're here… on the table."

"Oh." Yang grinned slyly, inches away from Sun's face. "I guess that's too bad, huh?"

The faunus boy groaned. "Yang. Could you please grab it for me?"

"Fine." Yang grumbled. "Just a piece of advice – never a good idea to answer your phone while in the middle of pleasing a woman."

Sun shrugged. "Just think of it like it's some voyeuristic-type shit. Maybe you're into that, I ain't judging."

Rolling her eyes, Yang reached over Sun's shoulder and grabbed his phone from the pants, brushing herself purposefully against Sun's chest in the process, to which he gulped audibly.

"Alrighty, who've we got here…" Yang checked the caller ID before she frowned. "Oh, it's Weiss? Wonder what she wants…"

"… Can I have my phone?"

"Right. Sorry."

Sun moved a finger to answer his phone, then stopped and looked at Yang. "You wanna get off me first, maybe?"

"Not a chance."

"Fuck." Sun sighed and answered the phone. "Hey Weiss."

"Hey Sun. Is Yang with you?"

Sun didn't have to look far. "She's right here."

"Great!" Weiss exclaimed. "I've got someone who wants to talk to her."

"Um… okay." The faunus boy looked at Yang. "It's for you."

Confused, Yang took the phone from him and pressed it against her ear. "Hello?"

"Yang? It's me, Blake!"

"Blake!" Yang shot up abruptly into a sitting position, making Sun wince. "Hey, I'm so sorry I couldn't call you! My phone died on me."

"I figured as much. Weiss told me that you guys are somewhere in the middle of downtown?"

"Yeah. Apparently, Neptune told us to wait at this pizza place on the corner of Luna Avenue and Shawcross Street." Yang glanced at Sun for reassurance, and he nodded.

"Luna… and Shawcross… okay, Weiss told me they were going to pick you guys up in a bit, but since we finally know where you are now, we'll drop by and get you. So just stay put, and we'll meet you there, okay?"

"Yeah! Sounds great!" said Yang excitedly.

Sun bit his lip hard. "Yang, please stop moving…"

"Sorry," she mouthed, with the most insincere look on her face.

Blake's sigh of relief could be heard from the phone. "Good. Listen… I'm glad that you're alright."

"Hey, c'mon. Don't you have any faith in me?"

Blake chuckled. "Frankly, no. Oh, uh… has Sun tried to do anything to you?"

Yang glanced nervously at the boy she was currently straddling. "Uhhh… n-no. Why do you ask?"

"Oh good. I just told him that if he tries any funny business, I would castrate him."

Sun watched with a sense of unease as Yang's eyes grew to the size of baseballs.

"Uh… Yang? You there?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry! You were just, uh… breaking up for a second there, but yeah, yeah, I think… I got it." Yang gave a sort of pseudo-laugh.

"Okay! Meet you there in a bit. Bye!"

"Bye!" Almost as soon as the word "bye" ended, Yang hung up the phone.

"I've never seen you so fucking flustered before," Sun muttered anxiously. "What did Blake say?"

"N-nothing! No, nothing at all. Haha." Yang cleared her throat. "Let's just keep going, shall we?"

"Funny, because I'm beginning to have third thoughts about this."

Yang gave him an inquisitive look. "You had second thoughts?"

"This whole night with you has been nothing but second thoughts."

"I suppose I should thank you," murmured Blake as she handed the phone back to Weiss.

"If you must," answered Weiss haughtily, taking her gum from the cashier. "I honestly don't care either way."

"Fine. Whatever suits you." Blake watched, just glad to be rid of such unwanted company, as Weiss strode out with her nose in the air.

She stopped short of the door however. "Do you like Jaune?"

The question took Blake completely by surprise. "W-wha?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "It's a simple question. Please don't tell me you're stumped."

Blake glared daggers at her. "What does it matter to you?"

"Well, first of all, I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing his jacket."

Blake glanced down. The jacket had somewhat become like a second skin over the course of the night.

"Secondly, if you think that I'm just going to let you have him without raising any hell, then you're sadly mistaken."

With that, the girl in white marched out, leaving Blake to stare after her wordlessly, apprehension written all over face.

As Weiss walked out of the presence of light, the darkness hid the single tear that rolled down her face.

"Remind me… to never do that again on a belly full of pizza," Sun groaned as he laid sprawled across the table. "I feel like I just ran a marathon. Scratch that, I feel like I just ate a marathon…"

Yang laughed, pulling her pants back on. "For a guy with abs, you sure complain a lot about a little bit of exercise."

"Well, why don't you try eating six slices of pizza then having a madwoman drag you around by the cuff of your neck?" Sun was promptly shut up by Yang throwing his jeans at his face.

"Rude," she chuckled. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who said you were okay with sticking your dick in crazy. You're not regretting anything, are you?"

Sun sighed. "No. I actually enjoyed it very much."

"Great!" Yang plopped down next to him as he finished dressing. "As pushy as I might be, I don't want you to do anything you don't wanna do."

"Don't sweat it. I did say 'okay,' after all." Sun shuddered. "I'm probably gonna have to face Blake's wrath eventually."

"Oh. Right. I forgot she told you that." Yang shrugged. "Don't worry. I was the one who wanted it, so technically, you're in the clear. Plus, I told you: we don't have to say a word about our little sex party."

"I guess…" Sun seemed surprised, then nodded. "So, this Blake girl… she really cares about you, huh? Trying to make sure you don't get into too much shit?"

Yang laughed. "Blake is a very nice, caring person when you get to know her. But even though she's saved my ass plenty of times, she's not my mom. At the end of the day, she doesn't tell me what to do."

"That sounds a bit harsh, don't ya think?"

"Maybe, but it's true! I'm a very independent person."

"I can tell."

"Oh, hush," Yang muttered, a smile playing on her face. "I just find it real stupid because it's probably a gender bias thing."

Sun squinted. "Explain how."

Yang sighed. "Well, obviously, you know I'm not the chaste person ever. But it's like, if you get a guy who goes around banging lots of people as opposed to a girl doing it, then nobody thinks twice about the guy, but everyone calls the girl a slut. It makes me mad that me being wildly independent is apparently a magnet for trouble, but nobody give a shit if a guy is wildly independent."

The faunus boy frowned. "I don't know about that. It just seems like Blake's really looking out for you. I mean, hell, friends like that are few and far in between, y'know. I don't she's taking gender standards into account here."

"Oh, I'm not blaming Blake for anything." Yang gave him a sincere smile. "I just wish people didn't think that I couldn't handle myself. It's like I'm being held to a completely different standard, but nobody here cares that a guy like you is going off on your own to who knows where."

"Huh. I never thought of it like that." Sun gave a nervous laugh. "Guess that makes me part of the problem?"

Yang looked at him, surprised. "No, I wouldn't say you are. It's not like society preaches those kinds of ideals anyway. You couldn't have known. Besides, you were awesome enough of a person help my drunk ass when I had no idea what I was doing, so you're no problem at all, in my book!"

"Geez, I hope you didn't fuck me because you felt like you owed me anything."

"Oh, no no no!" Yang waved her hands frantically. "It's nothing like that. I just… had a whim, that's all. Plus, I thought you were attractive and that you were a pretty decent human being. I'm a sucker for people like you; there are too many douches in the world as it is."

Sun blinked. "Thanks… I think?"

Yang smiled at him. "You're good, trust me. I've hooked up with one too many assholes in the past. I would know."

"Hold up just a minute here…"

"Oh Christ, here we go."

Sun laughed. "First off, a statement like that doesn't give me that much confidence about where I stand when compared to a sea of assholes."

Yang cringed. "Terrible word choice, but go on."

"Secondly, while I respect your right to do what you want as an independent woman, I'm beginning to question your taste in men here."

"Hey. I was eighteen and horny once. And also very naïve."

"So… nothing's changed?"

Yang elbowed him playfully. "Shaddup, you," she laughed.

Sun grinned. "But in all seriousness… I think you're a very attractive and decent human being yourself. But I guess you already knew that, right?"

"Maybe." Yang leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling. "But thanks."

And that's the end of Chapter 8. WEIRD SHIPS GALORE!

Some of my personal ideology made it into the fic. Maybe that turned you away, but keeping my thoughts out of my own writing would've been a bit of a stretch, so sorry if you hate me now because of the way I think. If that's the case, we probably wouldn't have liked each other much anyway.

Yeah, I'm not about to write smut anytime soon. I read too many of those that completely ruin a story for me, so we'll... skirt around the subject. Besides, your imagination can do the rest.

In other news, I just finished reading Inch by GodEmperorPenguin's editor Narutochaos22. It's an excellent read, far better than the cliche crap I'm writing, but it's inspired me to write something a bit less conventional in terms of romance stories. It's another movie-based fic, so look out for that pretty soon. You'll know it when you see it.

Reviews are always welcome, as usual.

Until next time! Love you all.