Not a lot happening this chapter... I'm really busy now, so can't do much about it.

Don't worry, though, I'm still writing :)

"Lunchtime~" Crooned Jaune in relief, setting down his tray of food at team JNPR and team RWBY's customary table, a venerable slab of wood placed on equally wooden legs located to one side of the cafeteria which the two teams had often shared while eating there. Unslinging his bag as he sat down, the blonde looked up and nodded his greeting to Blake, who seemed to have beaten the rush to get to the cafeteria as the break hour rolled around. The girl peered up from her book and returned the silent greeting with a quick nod, the two quickly settled into a comfortable quiet as they waited for the rest of their respective teams to arrive.

Like RWBY, Jaune's own team had somewhat dispersed as each member went their separate ways during the lunch hour; Pyrrha had said something about scheduling the combat arenas for them, while Ren and Nora had been delayed, forced to stay behind thanks to Port's roster of post-demonstration cleanups. On today's floor; recently ventilated Grimm, courtesy of Pyrrha's sword-rifle-javelin, Milo. The first three shots had been fired completely from the hip, but nevertheless punched a neat triangle of ragged holes in the beowolf's chest. She had finished it off by hurling her recoil-assisted javelin at it, using a fourth shot to propel it in a perfect javelin throw, one which had gone straight through the beowolf, bounced off the cage that Professor Port had been using to hold it and after a short and very flat parabolic arc pinned Jaune to his seat, this time by his uniform jacket.

He was sure she was getting back at him for something. Or maybe it was her way of training up his reflexes? She had apologized profusely afterwards, though, so Jaune had to consider the third (perhaps very worrying) possibility that he had almost taken a javelin to the gut from a complete accident.

The blonde paused. He had his Aura now, didn't he? He would have been fine!

That's how Aura worked, right? Like a force field!

Drawn to the sound of rustling paper, Jaune looked up and over to the girl who sat across the table from him; wondering if it was wise to make some small talk or not. After all, Blake seemed pretty interested in that book. The black haired partner of Yang Xiao Long had chosen to sit in the back quite often, quietly choosing to abstain from the inter-team chatter that would crisscross the table when the eight of them ate together; a lot like Ren, but with more books and less coffee.

Jaune thought back to how quickly those bonds had formed: Yang and Pyrrha got along well, especially after their first training spar, and he found that his partner was quite amicable with Weiss as well. In particular, Ruby had struck up a quick friendship with Nora, which he was glad to see, though the amount of sugar the two went through seekers enough to give someone diabetes just from looking.

He made a mental note to check in the clinic for a quick – and hopefully needle-less – test.

Three words: chocolate chip cookie come-all consumer contest. Seriously, even a week later he could still feel the sugar rush, and that had been from sitting a good two meters away. He was quietly glad that the next classes had been focused on practical combat.

For the moment it seemed that Blake chose to ignore him, instead opting to continue on with the book in her hands. He glanced at the spine, reading off its title – nothing familiar to him – and went for his tray of foodstuffs.

Her attention was taken from her - not stolen, exactly, but certainly caught - as Jaune grabbed one of the two drinks he had picked up and popped it open. The sound drew the reading girl out of her little world, and she looked up to watch as he drained the carton of juice.

Like a vampire draining some poor schmuck. She entertained herself.

She was staring, now. Not at him, though; at the second box of juice. It was green with streaks of white, indicating that it was an 'aloe vera' juice he had picked up at Nora's recommendation. Given its sweetness, he could figure why. She had mentioned that Ren was an avid consumer, too, so maybe Blake would like it as well? He took the juice box and placed it between them. The bow on her head twitched as she looked over, and then reached out, quickly ripping the straw from the box and sinking it into the carton. Taking a sip, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle at the way her eyes lit up as the sweetness hit her tongue.

She smiled around the straw in silent thanks, eyes half lidded at the new taste on her tongue.

"Busy day?" He asked.

"Yes." Blake answered, glancing up and nodding quickly before returning to her book and draining the box.

Jaune finished off his own box and grabbed the energy bars on his tray, tossing them into his bag. He zipped up the side pocket and pulled free his Scroll. "Port's essay?"

"Yes." Blake repeated. She felt his eyes on him, but didn't let hers leave the book she was reading.

"Let me guess; RWBY got the Giant Nevermore to write up about?" Jaune queried.

"Yes."

"Is 'yes' all you say?" He asked.

"Y-" The black haired girl started to open her mouth but caught herself halfway as she registered what her answer was - inevitably - going to be. She looked up, gave him a crooked smile - just a slight rise from a corner of her mouth - and returned to her book.

Point for Jaune.

The blonde didn't say anything else and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence. Jaune brought up his own work and began typing out a framework for his soon due essay. Planning ahead was one of the first things he covered with Pyrrha, and it certainly made essay writing easier.

He never saw how her yellow eyes flicked up and quickly back down, nor how her book hiked up just enough to cover the redness forming at her cheeks.

Blake couldn't keep her mind on the story. It was supposed to be an amazing story, but for some reason she couldn't focus. She flicked over a page, then angrily flicked back as she realized that she had skipped a few paragraphs.

The Faunus blamed the juice. No, wait, she blamed Jaune.

Blake risked a peek over the top of her book, to where he was thoughtfully tapping the eraser end of his pencil against his chin; despite the best of intentions, all he had was a silly little cartoon rendition of a deathstalker and a little stickman figure being flung off into the distance.

Blake blinked. Oh. So that's how he intercepted Ruby.

She settled back into her seat and hummed thoughtfully. This was… odd. According to Yang and Weiss, Jaune was supposed to be some goofball who barely fit into Beacon. He had once tried to play himself up as a shameless flirt. He was supposed to be harmless (or 'pathetic', as Weiss put it), and he seemed to be atypical of the students in this academy, though even more recently it seemed that yes indeed, Beacon was teaching its young ones; the boy had grown. For one thing, he had actually been funny.

It was inevitable, though, that the relative silence be broken by another tray of food clattered onto the table.

"Hey, Yang." Blake and Jaune both gave their respective greetings as the blonde from team RWBY settled down to sit beside her partner. Looking at the blonde from team JNPR she smiled as she spotted the Scroll.

"Hey, Jaunie boy, is that my essay you're writing?" She teased, deliberately pitching her voice a lot lower than usual. Blake's bow twitched again as she looked aside and rolled her eyes at an unseen audience.

Jaune's cheeks pinkened and he tried to ignore her, looking pointedly busy as he tapped in a few notes about the Death Stalker's stinger and how it glowed. Also, about how it's tail was strong enough to throw a human several hundred meters.

"Hey, buddy. Eyes up here." Yang purred, rapping her knuckles on the table.

"Wha-?" Jaune began, before almost jumping back in surprise.

Yang's impressive bust was practically in his face as she leaned over the table, grinning from ear to ear as she watched the blonde boy. The startled student made sure his eyes met hers and remained there, though he was sorely tempted to glance back down.

Yang's grin only grew as she watched Jaune's growing discomfort.

"So, hey, Jaune. Heard you saved some girl Cardin was getting grabby with."

He nodded, still trying to keep his gaze locked to hers. "Yeah. I guess I did."

"You know he'll be out for your blood, right?" The other blonde arched her eyebrow and sat back down, taking a chunk out of the muffin she had grabbed for her lunch. "I know his type."

"... I know." He nodded.

"So don't be afraid to stick around with us. Jaune, you're a great guy, but I've seen you at the fighting pits."

Jaune let out an indignant sputter as she reached over and ruffled his hair. "Hey, you're great when it's a Death Stalker, but... Well, fighting a human is different from Grimm."

While she did soften the blow by mentioning his initiation takedown, it still hit his pride hard to admit it. But if anything, he had already learned that he didn't need to be a lone wolf. Not only did he have a team, he also had his friends; friends who understood and would look out for him.

And some friends who had no shame regarding what their friends could see of them.

Jaune turned away, but smiled.

"Thanks, Yang. I'll take you up on it sometime."

He promised to himself then that he would return the favour someday.

About the helping out bit, not the showing off.

The boisterous blonde decided to get the last word in, though: "Hey sure, it's a date!"

Blake's juice box inflated as she suddenly exhaled into the straw. Sufficiently pressurised, it shot out and covered Jaune in sweet aloe juice.

Both blondes looked at her as Jaune dripped.

The raven haired Huntress in training flushed bright red and got up in a huff.