“Okay, so… Pyrrha and Neptune take the south bend, Nora and Sun have the east, Ren and Scarlet have the west, and Sage and I take the north. Everyone has their missions, right?”

The rest of the group gave their various affirmations as they stood at the edge of the woods. Jaune resisted the urge to sigh. He’d been given a mission from the professors to take his team and team SSSN out to a section of the Forever Fall forest to observe Grimm activity. They were to split into four pairs and observe from all sides, but Jaune had to pair them off with people who weren’t be on the same team, as a way of teaching them to work with others outside their little group. While he could understand why, Jaune was more than a little worried and mostly wishing Sun had been put in charge instead of him.

Still, he put on a confident smile for the group. “Alright, let’s head out. Remember, we’re not here to fight them, just observe.”

“That means you can’t go up and attack them, Scarlet,” Sun adds with a grin.

Scarlet makes a noise of protest. “Why are you singling me out?”

“Because that’s something you like to do. Can we get going? I’d like to actually get out there.” Sun bounced a bit, tail flicking behind him.

Jaune chuckled a bit. “Yea, let’s go. See you all in a few days.” He started down the path, glancing back to make sure Sage was following. It was mostly quiet as they made their way through the forest. Eventually, though, Jaune felt the silence grew awkward, so he spoke up again. “Forever Fall is beautiful, huh?”

Sage glanced at him, surprised. Then he smiled. “You’re nervous.”

Jaune laughed. “That obvious, huh?”

“It’s natural to be. You’ve been put in charge of a team that is not yours in addition to your own and have them in groups of two.” Sage put a hand on his shoulder. “While I find some of the choices… well, interesting, I support you fully.”

“Thanks… Wait, interesting?” Jaune looked back to him. “That doesn’t exactly sound… well, that good.”

“No, I just mean, it’s not what I would have done. But I don’t know your reasoning. Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“Oh. Well… I talked to Sun, and figured since Scarlet likes to get into fights, they’d be best with Ren, who’s really good at keeping Nora out of fights. The south bend is pretty close to where the Grimm gather, so Pyrrha would be best there, as she’s the best fighter, and Neptune’s the most observant and stuff so he’ll be best at actually getting the info we need. And I wasn’t really sure who to pair with Nora, so… Is it bad that I flipped a coin?” Jaune chuckled a bit, embarrassed.

“No, I think either or Sun could handle her fine. I’m glad that you trust me, though.” Sage looked around. “Is that the tree we’re looking for?”

Jaune looked to the tree Sage pointed to, which had a blue ribbon tied around it. This mission was common, and he’d heard from Coco that everyone at Beacon went through it at least once through their years at Beacon, and having a non-Beacon team go along as well wasn’t unheard of.

Jaune pulled himself up the ladder, carefully climbing up to the lookout station. It was rather high up and made him more than a little nervous. He breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled himself inside, then looked around. It wasn’t terribly small, but it wasn’t too big either. It had a shelf and a wide floor and a window that allowed them to peek through the foliage at the Grimm. “Heh, it’s like treehouse.”

Sage came in behind him, looking around with a slight smile. “It’s rather nice up here. Staying the night shouldn’t be too bad.” He pulled off his backpack and unstrapped the sleeping bag, rolling it out. “So, who will take what watch tonight?”

“Hm… Well, I slept pretty well last night, so I could probably stay up longer than usual. I could take the first watch, then wake you up at… When will sunrise be again?”

“About seven. I usually go to sleep around ten.”

“Alright, so I’ll wake you about four?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Sage moved to the window. It didn’t have any glass, so it was more like a square hole in the wall. “And there’s the Grimm… Two Beowolves to the west and a nesting Nevermore to the east. It’s a small one, shouldn’t be too big a hassle if it spots us.”

Jaune shivers. “I’d rather not have it spot us period. Can you see the other tree house things?”

Sage shakes his head. “No, these places are too well camouflaged. Besides, if we could see them, that means Grimm would be able to as well.”

“True.” Jaune pulled a notebook out of his pack and opened it, clicking his pen. “… This is going to be boring.”

Sage chuckles. “Unfortunately, it seems so. Just try not to fall asleep.”

Staying awake was surprisingly easy for Jaune. Conversation was easy with Sage, he was simply so kind and patient, Jaune felt like he could tell him almost anything. Jaune was a bit disappointed when Sage finally went to sleep. It was so quiet, it was almost chilling. He may have found himself dozing off if he wasn’t so nervous. He hummed softly and drummed his fingers on his leg. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the alarm went off, waking Sage.

Sage sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. “Looks like it’s my watch…” He yawns a bit. “All quiet?”

Jaune nods with a slight smile. “Yea, the only Grimm I’ve seen is a Taijitu heading North.”

“Alright. Go ahead and rest, Jaune.” Sage gave him a small smile, making Jaune’s heart jump.

“Yea, thanks.” Jaune crawled into the sleeping bag. It was warm, still, from Sage’s body heat. He did his best to get comfortable and fall asleep, but he couldn’t help but think of where they were. He tosses and turns and eventually rolled himself into a blanket burrito. Suddenly, he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him and lift him up. He peeks out of the blankets to see Sage smiling softly at him.

“Sorry, I just noticed you were really uneasy. I know this usually helps my teammates if they’re unable to fall asleep.” He pulled Jaune into his lap, resting him against his chest. Jaune’s face flushed bright red, but he didn’t say anything. He could see exactly why this helped Sage’s teammates. Sage was warm and broad-chested. Sage brought up a hand and brushed through Jaune’s hair. “Just go to sleep, you’re safe here.”

Jaune hid his face in the blanket again. “Thank you, Sage…” He curled up and it wasn’t long before he found himself dozing off. He was thankful that it was just the two of them. Ren probably wouldn’t say anything, nor would Pyrrha most likely, but Nora, Neptune, Sun, and Scarlet would be sure to tease him to death for it.

Jaune wasn’t sure when he actually fell asleep, and when he finally woke, it was far past dawn. When he looked up, he saw that Sage was still awake, watching out the window. “… You could have woken me, Sage.”

Sage looked down with a smile and a small squeeze. “Maybe, but you needed the rest. That and you looked pretty comfortable, I didn’t have the heart.”

Jaune felt his face heating up again and scrambled from Sage’s lap and worked himself out the blanket burrito. “Um… Thank you, anyways. I probably wouldn’t have gotten any sleep otherwise.”

“Anytime, Jaune. I’ll be more than happy to help.”

“Uh…” Jaune’s face was as red as Pyrrha’s hair. “I-I, that’s uh.” Jaune didn’t know what to say. Instead, he covered his face, a poor attempt to hide his blush.

Sage chuckled, watching him. “Now I see what Neptune was saying. You’re very cute.”

“Neptune said that? Whyyyyyyyy?”

“Because he thinks you’re my type. And I have to agree, after spending some time with you.”

And that was not helping Jaune’s blush. “You really think so?”

“Yes. You’re cute, kind, and genuine. And if you’d like, I’d like to take you on a date,” Sage said.

Jaune peeked out from between his fingers. “Really?” He finally brought his hands down, putting them on his lap.

“Yes, really. Maybe dinner and a movie, or maybe we could go roller skating? I’m not entirely sure what’s all around here to do.” Sage shrugged. “Of course you don’t have to say yes, but-“

“No, no! I mean yes! I’d love to.” Jaune laughed a little. “Sorry, I’ve never been asked out before. Roller skating sounds nice, and I know a nice little noodle place.”

“How about this weekend?”

“Yea, it’s a date.”

Sage smiled brightly and leaned in, kissing Jaune’s forehead and making him blush bright red again. “Yes, I suppose it is.”