The Debt

Weiss wasn't an unreasonable person. Just difficult. She pushed people away because she was cynical. She assumed everyone was out for her money or her reputation. It was all in her head and she knew it. Hence why she wasn't unreasonable.

So, when someone does something for her she must repay it. "A Schnee never lets a debt go unpaid." It was her family's code. As testament, when the bumbling idiot she despised, Jaune Arc, saved her from a stray Beowolf slash during a routine joint-team search and destroy mission she was going to thank him. Thankfully his aura healed the injury before he even got back to Beacon, much to the medical staffs relief. She felt too guilty to visit him in the infirmary, however, courtesy of the fresh scar above his left eye.

A simple slip of her footing, one crack in her defenses, and she was almost ripped to shred by the lumbering beast. It was a painful reminder of her weakness, and her desire for perfection. She was just lucky the surprisingly fearless coward thrust himself in front of her. She was still baffled by how easily he risked his own life for her, even after all she put him through. It was an even more painful experience when she realized that, by doing such an act, he was much stronger than she in spirit. His scar was proof of his strength, and her's just a slap in the face by her mistakes.

When he ran up to her a few weeks later shouting "Hey Weiss, look we match." she nearly froze him solid. He really was an annoyance. She didn't break her code, though, and politely pulled him to the side of the hallway. She needed to repay this debt somehow and, no matter how much she dreaded it, she could only think of one thing that he would want.

"Um, say that again?" He was taken utterly off-guard by her request.

"I said: As thanks for saving my life I would like you to accompany me on a date." He nearly dropped to the floor from shock.

"Really? I mean yes, yes, I would love to!" He sputtered. She gave a small, polite smile. Her next words contrasted that politeness in a way that had become typical Weiss fashion.

"Good, but I will be planning everything. Oum knows what you would do." He shrunk a little at her tone. She pretended not to notice.

"Aw, but I had a great ide-"

"If it is anything like your other ideas I don't want to hear it. Honestly, how you thought a message in a bottle would work is beyond me." She recalled all his poor attempts at courting her. As if he had a chance.

"I thought it was romantic." He muttered. She gave him a sharp glare that sent him reeling.

"Which is why you will not have a say in the venue for our date." She felt oddly embarrassed saying that. Looking back at his slouched form, she was surprised he wasn't a giddy mess at the prospect of being her date for a night like most men are.

"Fine." He relented in the end, though he could care less where they went. He was just happy to finally have a chance.

"Good, now-" She then proceeded to inform him of all the little things he would need for their date. It was so daunting it made his head hurt.

Three days of hastily rented suits and last minute reservations later, they stood outside a restaurant with a name Jaune couldn't hope to pronounce. Didn't stop him from trying though.

"Ka-eest-da-fantasy?" Jaune sounded the name out unsuccessfully.

"Ce est de fantaisie, you imbecile." Weiss scolded as she looped her arm in his. He blushed but tried to cover it up with another stupid question.

"What does it mean?" She wanted to smack him for being so tactless, but she didn't know what it meant either, so she couldn't fault him.

"It means it's fancy." So she decided to be sarcastic instead. Jaune didn't know how to respond to that, so he decided to get the night moving.

"Shall we?" He gestured to the doors in an overly dramatic, gentlemanly manner.

"Yes, we shall." Weiss rolled her eyes sarcastically, but seemed to agree with his notion and they entered together.

The restaurant certainly was fancy. White curtains, servers in black suits resembling butlers, immaculate tabletops with silverware lined up precisely. It was a new and breathtaking sight for the blonde boy, and he apparently wanted everyone to know it, much to his date's chagrin.

"Wow, I feel like I'm in a spy movie! Like Jimmy whats-his-face 009!" Jaune exclaimed a bit too loud for Weiss' comfort.

"Keep it down, you dolt! We're on a high-class date, act like it." She scolded from his side. He kept marveling at every little thing, but didn't say another word until they were seated. She was thankful for that, at the very least.

The server, who had oddly familiar blonde hair, passed them each a glass of lemon water and a menu. Weiss scanned it quickly and decided on an appetizing looking crab dinner. Jaune... had considerably more difficulty.

"Hey Weiss, um, what's this?" Weiss always expected Jaune to be on the lowest rung of intelligence, but he was quickly dropping that bar even further. As such, she answered in the simplest terms she could. Partly out of spite, and partly out of lack of care.

"Fish." He pointed to another.

"Crab." Another.

"Steak." Thankfully for her, he seemed to like that one, and set his menu down.

Silence reigned while Weiss did her best to resist the urge to wring her date's neck, and Jaune fidgeted nervously while he waited for the waiter. Thankfully for Jaune's safety, and sanity, the waiter appeared moments before Weiss leaped across the table with the intent to maim. They ordered their meals and drinks, a glass of low-alcohol wine for Weiss and a cup of coffee for Jaune.

"Coffee? At this hour?" Weiss raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"I like the taste." Jaune's answer was very simple. She supposed it was befitting of him. Simple.

The silence returned, and they were left waiting for the other to speak. Jaune, surprisingly, broke the silence first.

"You're not having fun, are you?" He spoke with no small amount of trepidation.

This is where most people would comfort their date, where they would pick up on an easy topic to talk about and ease the mood. Weiss isn't most people.

"No, not at all." Jaune sunk into his seat.

"Sorry. I really wish I could be cool like Neptune, so-" She raised her hand to halt his oncoming rambling.

"Stop. You may not be my ideal date, but you are far better than that playboy." She rested her hand on the table as she scoffed. He took a moment to register that as an off-handed compliment before continuing.

"What do you mean?" She grimaced at the thought of the blue-haired slickster. It was a raw subject for her, but something about the way he asked made her think telling him would be okay. It wasn't like she had anyone else to complain to anyway. Sun was his friend, Blake Sun's girlfriend, Yang Blake's partner, and Ruby Yang's sister. She knew how rumor chains worked.

"I won't go into detail, but it wasn't long after the dance that he moved onto some other floozy." Jaune reached over, past the scenic flowerpot with a blue-tipped white rose inside, and took her hand in his. She was momentarily stunned that he did such a thing without any hesitation, much like how he protected her before.

"Don't say that Weiss. You're not a floozy. You're the most stunning girl I've ever seen." His honest words brought a small rosy hue to her cheeks. She silently thanked Oum she put on extra blush.

"That isn't what I meant!" She quickly retracted her hand, seemingly offended by the gesture. However, that proved to be a false misinterpretation. "But.. thank you." Her voice was barely a whisper, and went unnoticed by him, or maybe he just didn't want to embarrass her further. Remembering it's Jaune, she assumed it's the former.

The waiter returned with their meals shortly and they dug in heartily. Or rather Jaune did, while Weiss scolded him on his eating habits. She ate in a far more refined, lady-like fashion. Years of lessons on proper etiquette put into practice.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to his sudden compliment while she ate. It made her feel strange inside, like she just had the air knocked from her lungs by the cutest pack of little Zwei's. It was a strange yet pleasant feeling. Not like the embarrassed feeling she got when Neptune made passes at her. This felt more honest, more... right.

Realizing where her thoughts were going, she shook her head to dispel them. She looked back to her meal, just now noticing her plate was empty, as well as Jaune's, and he was looking at her strangely.

"Weiss, you okay?" He leaned over the table to check, and she, still slightly reeling from her daydreaming, looked directly into his deep cerulean eyes. She thought of how vast and warm they were. His face was inches from her's when she returned to reality, and she blushed before pushing his face away.

"Ack!"

"I'm fine. Don't get so close, it's unsettling." He rubbed his nose gingerly while she stood up to pay for the meal. She knew it was just an excuse to hide her face, but she figured they didn't need desert anyway.

They walked out into the cool night air, arm-in-arm yet again, and regarded each other much the same as when they first stood at the entrance. Nervousness incarnate versus irritation reborn.

"So, how'd I do?" Jaune asked with a small bit of hope. The face Weiss had when she turned to him crushed any suspicion of compliment. Not that he expected much anyway.

"You put your tie on wrong, couldn't pronounce the restaurant's name nor any of the menu items, gawked like an idiot, and lacked all etiquette while eating." With each fault he became even more sullen, head sinking further down.

"I'm sorry." His voice sounded as defeated as a man could get.

"You should be. Next time, make a better effort to impress me." He continued looking at his toes until the implications of her words finally hit him.

"Wha-" He tried to look at her, but her off-center ponytail covered his vision. The brief sensation of moist lips against his cheek gave him pause.

"Here, next Saturday, same time. You better show me what you're made of, Arc." The shock of her words didn't wear off until she had disappeared into the night. He absentmindedly felt the area where she kissed him with his fingertips. He smiled in his special goofy way until another fact dawned on him.

"I need to learn how to tie a tie!"

AN: Hey guys, this is where I should say thank you for reading my first story. Truth be told it's not the first I've wrote, but it is the first I'm uploading. Anyway thank you for reading nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it. Now to explain this idea that sprung from the depths of my mind.

The basic premise to this series is Jaune goes on a date with Blank. Simple, hence the title, yet I had trouble actually writing it. Honestly, I wanted to write something that could be a casual read but still get the deeper feelings of the characters across. For some reason that was a very hard balance for me to make, and so it ended up like this.

I don't know how to feel about it, to be honest, but that's what you're here for! The reader! So I'd appreciate it if you could leave a review of what you thought. Something as simple as a "Good", or a "You suck!" would be enough. If you have any advice on what I could do better then give me that too. I'll take all forms of criticism, even flames. Oh, and if you want to suggest the next character I should write for this just leave it in a review, or PM me. (Just note that I don't have a schedule for this so it might take a while.)

Again, thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you have a wonderful existence!