"Uhh, Ruby, are you sure this is a good idea?" Jaune asked, the frown on his face far from enthusiastic.

"Hmm…" Ruby pondered this inquiry briefly before loading Crescent Rose. "Nope."

"Oh good– Wait, did you say 'nope'?!" Jaune took a step back.

"Relax, Jaune, you'll be fine." Ruby took her aim. "Just keep your shield up and I'm sure it'll absorb the blast."

"Ruby, I don't think that's how shields work…" Jaune hesitantly raised his shield and braced himself.

"And I don't think you should be questioning the girl wielding the sniper rifle." Ruby retorted.

"Why did you even feel the need to mount a grenade launcher to a sniper rifle?" Jaune had been wondering this entire time. "It's already a close quarters scythe for crying out loud–"

"Incoming!" Ruby shouted as the loud pop of the grenade launcher echoed throughout the training room.

While Jaune wasn't necessarily the brightest bulb in the box, he was no stranger to bad ideas. Unfortunately for him, he'd only forgotten the laws of conservation of momentum and energy until fairly recently, like half a second before Ruby pulled the trigger recently. Thankfully his shield didn't burst into shrapnel on impact, but the force sent Jaune flying backwards and into the opposite wall. It all happened so fast that all he had time to register was Ruby shouting "Incoming" and then a bright flash.

"Oh my god, Jaune, I'm so sorry!" Ruby's voice slowly brought Jaune back to his senses. That, and the fact that she was violently shaking him by his shoulders, snapped him back to reality.

"You're alive!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically.

"Ughhh…" Jaune pulled himself to a seated position. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ummm... Well, you know, the whole explosion thing." Ruby smiled, but her voice still revealed her guilt. "And you might've been unconscious for like ten minutes."

"Well, I'm alive." Jaune turned toward her. "Wait, I was out for ten minutes, you thought I died, and you didn't call for help?!"

"Well it worked out, didn't it?" Ruby sat down beside her injured friend.

"I swear, one of these days one of you guys will be the death of me." Jaune groaned in pain.

"But not today!" Ruby exclaimed. "If it makes you feel any better, the recoil kind of bent my wrist funny."

Jaune stared her in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The pair sat in awkward silence before Ruby finally broke.

"Fiiiiine…" She laid on her back in defeat. "I'm not funny and I'm sorry for blowing you up."

"Thank you." Jaune smiled through the pain.

"How about I make it up to you?" Ruby said with determination.

"You could do my homework for me."

"How about no." Ruby frowned at the thought of extra homework. "I was thinking more along the lines of taking you to lunch or something."

"I do like food…" Jaune pondered this for a moment. "And all these near-death experiences do make a guy hungry."

"Then it's settled, we're going right now!" Ruby pulled Jaune to his feet only for him to quickly collapse from the pain of his earlier incident.

"Right after we take you by the infirmary!" She exclaimed as she dragged the limp hunter out of the training room.

"Thank goodness for aura." Jaune smiled as he chatted with Ruby. The pair had decided on a small diner, known well for its desserts more than anything.

"And thank goodness for not dying." Ruby gave Jaune a thumbs up. "I don't know how I'd have hid the body if things went the other way."

"Yeah, it would've looked like a clean case of murder." Jaune laughed at this before noticing Ruby's rather serious and solemn expression.

"Wait, were you being serious?" Jaune pondered, slightly taken aback.

"Don't worry about it." Ruby smiled before stuffing her mouth full of cookies.

"You know, they do have other food here than dessert." Jaune stared at the mess of crumbs before him.

"I had an apple." She smiled sheepishly. "That's fruit!"

"A caramel apple doesn't count, Ruby." Jaune laughed at her behavior.

"Fine, I'll eat some real food." Ruby reached across the booth, stealing a handful of fries from Jaune's plate.

"Honestly, I don't know how you can eat so much junk food." He watched as Ruby quickly followed up the fries with a drink from a milkshake.

"Dad always told me I have a high metabolism." Ruby smiled proudly. "I call it ingenuity!"

"I don't think you're using that word right, but I call it diabetes." Jaune smirked.

"And I'm okay with that!" She held up a fist in victory.

The two students made their way from the diner into the bustling business district of Vale. Somehow Ruby had convinced Jaune to go shopping with her for new ammunition for Crescent Rose, on the condition that he was never on the receiving end again. The weapons store contained an absolutely monumental armory, although Ruby swore she'd seen bigger. As the huntress skipped off like a kid in a candy store, which she definitely didn't need right now, Jaune inspected each strange new weapon. He held a seemingly innocent-enough sword before noticing a safety release on the hilt. As he depressed it, two smaller blades deployed from where the hand guard should have been forming a cross-like blade.

"How the hell does someone not slice their hands off with this?!" He turned the blade slowly in his grip, pondering the bizarre design.

Next he found a small briefcase full of what appeared to be kunai-like throwing knives. He picked up two and tossed them around in his hands. He was starting to think they were pretty cool as he stuck a pose with the blades before noticing the words "HE Incendiary Round" on the grip of one and "AP Ballistic" along the other. He cautiously set the pair back into the case before vowing to never play with weapons again before reading the instructions. Soon enough, Ruby had found the insanely over powered ammunition she'd been searching for and the duo were off once again.

"Jaaaaune…" Ruby groaned as she carried her boxes of fresh ammunition in a satchel.

"Yes, Ruby?" Jaune turned toward his friend.

"We're friends, right?" Ruby averted her eyes.

"Of course we are." Jaune grew concerned.

"And you'd do anything to see me happy?" Something seemed off.

"Yes." Jaune answered truthfully. "Always."

"Good!" Ruby perked up. "Give me a piggyback ride. I'm exhausted and this ammo is heavy."

"You sure know how to get what you want, don't you Ruby." Jaune groaned before catching a glimpse of her puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, hop on." Jaune smiled in defeat.

Ruby hurriedly climbed on his back, enjoying the relieving ride toward the airship docks. Jaune on the other hand was dying, but he wasn't going to admit that, not after surviving a direct hit from a grenade launcher. Ruby's weight, although light, combined with the weight of the ammunition was more than a workout for the young hunter in training. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was more like fifteen minutes, the pair found themselves at the docks.

"Ah, sweet relaxation, you shall soon be mine." Jaune mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Ruby inquired from his back.

"Oh, nothing."

"Thanks again, Jaune." Ruby got to her feet again. "And I'm sorry for nearly killing you again."

"It's alright, I had a lot of fun." He wanted to add a comment about his being used as a pack mule, but decided against it.

"I did too." Ruby hugged her friend before giving him an innocent kiss on the cheek.

Jaune thought nothing of it, the pair had settled their stances long ago. Jaune was with Weiss. Unfortunately for them, the young heiress herself happened to be in the vicinity.

"Just what the hell is this?!"

"Oh hey, Weiss!" Jaune greeted his girlfriend. "Didn't expect to see you here. Are you excited for tonight?"

"Well, I was. I was out shopping for an outfit tonight, then I come across this!" Weiss gestured to the duo.

"Uhh… what is 'this'?" Jaune gave her a puzzled expression.

"You ignorant lunkhead." Weiss sounded none too pleased at what she believed had transpired. Before Jaune could get any answers though, the young huntress stormed off.

"What was that about?" Ruby turned toward her friend.

"I don't know really…" Jaune too was confused. "I'm sure it'll be fine though. She knows everything's cool between us."

Jaune stepped into his room later that afternoon. He had to get ready soon or else he'd be late for his date with Weiss. He hadn't seen her since earlier in the city, but he was confident she wasn't the jealous type, especially over such an innocent occurrence.

…

"Hello, Jaune." The voice of his clearly displeased girlfriend broke the silence.

…

"Aw crap…"