Jaune goes to prom.

Life was a funny thing, Jaune mused. Every day was a trial, a trial he refused to back down from, but a trial nonetheless, as he always seemed to have a new obstacle to overcome that would inevitably blindside him with it's audacity.

These ranged from the mundane, such as Nora devouring his breakfast on a bet, leaving him hungry for the day, or having his footy-pajamas shrunken in the wash, to the absurd, like being launched several hundred feet into the air into a dark forest full of terrifying monsters, or Professor Port regaling the class with the rather morose and disturbing tale of his dating life.

Today Jaune had to find a prom date.

Now strictly speaking it wasn't exactly 'prom', it was the 'Mid-Winters' Solstice Ball', a rare school sponsored event to let the students at Beacon unwind and enjoy themselves. It was a much fancier, and much more to do event than Jaune had been used to back in his old school, but the sheer fact that Beacon had something so simple as a school dance surprised Jaune. So far his schooling, everything from physical education and combat classes, to their more traditional subjects were a grade apart from anything he had been used, and much of it was much more, *ahem* old fashioned about the standards expected of their students, so he had just assumed that he was going to have to do without much of the standardized school clichés.

Like being bullied, and having to cram for tests, and fighting for his life, and trying to impress girls.

All that aside, Jaune had set out unusually optimistic about the dance. For whatever reason, he still figured he still had a chance with the whole, new school, new chances thing, meaning hopefully most of the girls he asked for dates wouldn't turn him down out of hat for being a loser.

No, they'd turn him down for many other reasons.

But optimism was the only thing keeping Jaune going at this point, aside from the support of his team and friends, and lots of milk. With that in mind, he decided to find the prettiest girl he could find, and ask her to be his date for the dance.

"Not in your wildest and most disturbed dreams Jaune." Weiss told him as he and team RWBY were walking down the halls.

"Ouch Weiss, way to break a guys heart." Said Blake who was carrying a stack of books with her.

"Alright, fine." Weiss whined, before turning back to Jaune. "I apologize, but I've had so many other nitwits and buffoons asking me to go, and many of them tend not to take a polite and curt no at face value." She elaborated, causing Ruby and Yang to snort in laughter, as Jaune was guessing her no's were far from polite or curt.

"Ah no problem." Jaune said, brushing his defeat off. "All's the better, after all, I wouldn't want to deprive all the other beautiful ladies of a chance of all this." He said, gesturing to himself, causing several snorts of laughter from the rest of team RWBY. "Just don't expect that I won't have plans next time you see me Weiss, I doubt I'll be on the market for much longer."

Weiss rolled her eyes while the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR kept quiet not wanting to exacerbate the issue.

"What about the rest of you guys, have you made any plans?" Jaune asked.

"I'd much rather just stay in our room, but the rest of my team won't let me." Blake told them.

"I just can't stand the thought of such a cutie being locked away in a tower were no-one can appreciate her." Yang stated, grabbing Blake, and pulling her into her impressive bosom. Blake surprised expression was soon hidden behind the white flows of fabric from Yangs shirt that sought to cover such mountainous hills, and Blakes ebon locks went on to carress the bounteous woman-flesh, separated by but a few layers of cloth.

"Any of you have dates?" Jaune asked innocently.

"I intend to do a good bit of prowling if you know what I mean." Yang said with suggestive eyes as Blake began to struggle against Yangs most gifted of assets.

"None of us have been asked yet, well I mean, a lot of people have asked Weiss, and Yang and Blake, but they haven't chosen anyone." Ruby said helpfully. "I know Jaune's looking for a date what about the rest of you?"

Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something before Nora jumped in front and happily began on a long tangent. "Ooh! I can't wait for the dance, there'll be music, and lights, and dancing ooh! I love dancing! I asked out a couple of good looking guys if anyone had invited them to the dance yet, and one of them was just the sweetest guy, and we're both going to go together, and we're going to have a wonderful time, and it's going to be magical!" Nora stated with all the energy that was generally associated with her brushing her teeth, which to most people was the same energy people had after their sixteenth espresso.

"So, you're not going to go with Ren then?" Ruby said. She and Yang had an ongoing argument over the extent of Nora and Ren's relationship, which Jaune stayed out of as he could hardly fathom the two.

"What? No! I mean, yeah, Ren's a great guy, and sure he is handsome, I mean you are handsome, but I mean that'd be just weird, besides, Ren's got his own date already, and I don't want to be part of a third wheel, yunno?"

"You have a date Ren?" Yang said, sending a triumphant look to Ruby.

Ren opened his mouth only for Nora's voice to spill out. "Well it wasn't easy getting them together, let me tell you! First-"

"Pyrrha!" Blake said, eager to stop Nora before she started. "What about you?"

"Oh, well, me." Pyrrha said, taken off guard. "Well, to be honest, nobody's asked me to the dance."

"Really?" Jaune said, shocked and confused.

"Yes, really." She said shyly.

"I would have thought you'd have been asked out a hundred times by now." Jaune told her, causing her to blush.

"Well, it's not that big a deal. I mean, this is actually the first dance I've been a part of, my old school never had them, so I was kinda hoping someone would ask me out."

"Well… maybe they're just intimidated." Yang suggested. "They say that really pretty girls are never asked out because guys are always afraid they'll say no."

"Oh please, if that were true, then I wouldn't have nearly the same amount of trouble I am now." Weiss said. "I mean if someone like Jaune can work up the courage to-" Yang quickly interrupted Weiss with a jab in the arm. "Ow! I mean, yeah that's probably it."

Pyrrha looked a little down, so Jaune tried to comfort her. "Hey, it's okay, I've been to plenty of dances before, and I always manage to find a date. Granted most of them were as friends, but hey, if a yutz like me can do it, there's no reason why you can't."

"Thanks Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"I tell ya, this time next week, everything'll be peachy keen for all of us."

That time next week, things were not peachy keen. Peachy Keen even told him to jump off a cliff! He had asked any and every girl he could find, and did his best to try to impress them with his suave demeanor and dashing good looks, only to end up failing each time. He didn't know what went wrong. Though he suspected things started really going downhill after the girl with the bazooka sent him skyrocketing into a tree. He had at least thought if he asked enough girls, at least one of them would have said yes, but here he was, with only a day left until the dance, and still no girl.

He was about to go back to his dorm, his metaphorical tail in between his legs at his newest string of defeats, before he heard something behind him.

He thought he heard the sounds of harsh whispers before he turned around and saw Ruby being shoved out of her room in her PJ's, and having the door slam shut behind her. She pounded at the door desperately before turning to Jaune with a look of panic on her face.

"Hi Ruby." Jaune said.

"Hi Jaune! Hi Jaune! Hello… Jaune."

"Hi."

"Hi Jaune."

"…So um, what was that?" Jaune asked.

"What that?" Ruby asked. She glanced behind her. "Oh that! Oh, you know, just girl stuff." She quickly turned and pounded on the door again. "You let me back in here this instant!"

Jaune heard a muted 'never' from behind the door, causing Ruby to slump in defeat with an adorable whine. "So Jaune…" She said, turning back to her friend. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know… good."

"Good. Good. That's good." Ruby said.

"Yep." Jaune said.

"And um, what about that…. You know… that…. Thing?"

"Thing."

"You know… about the um… the… dance?" Ruby squeaked out.

"Oh that." Jaune said. "Yeah, you know, yeah, that's been going really well."

"Really?" Ruby almost whined.

"Yeah, no not really." Jaune said slumping in defeat. "Every girl I ask won't give me a chance."

That seemed to calm down Ruby for whatever reason.

"Oh really? Yeah me too. Wait! I don't mean that I've been asking out girls! I mean not that there's anything wrong with that, I mean, actually I think it would be kinda nice- I mean!"

"Ruby is there something you want to talk about?" Jaune asked.

Ruby moaned, and cradled her head. She took in a deep breath to calm herself, and after a few moments of collecting herself, she tried again. "What I mean to say is… I was wondering… if you… don't have anyone else… to go to the dance with… and since I don't either… and we're both going to go to the dance anyway… I was thinking… maybe we could… go to the dance… together…"

There was a tense moment of silence, with Ruby glancing back and forth at Jaune.

"You mean as friends?"

"Friends! Yes! Of course as friends! Yes! Of course! Friends!"

"I think it's a great idea!" Jaune said.

"You do?" Ruby said.

"Yeah. I mean, well I was kinda hoping to go on a proper date for my first year here, but hey, what can you do, besides, the point of these things is to have fun anyway, right? I can't imagine a better person to go with."

"Really?"

"Yes of course really!" Jaune told her.

Ruby's face erupted into the most beautiful smile. "Thanks Jaune. I'll um…. just go back to my room now." Ruby said, turning the doorknob, which now seemed to work, and quietly stepping inside.

The next day, at no particular moment of importance, Jaune found himself walking the chilled grounds of Beacon with Pyrrha, who inexplicably faired no trouble with the cold despite her rather, ahem conservative, apparel. Jaune was prattling about something inane getting a few chuckles from the Amazon beauty before she decided to try to change the conversation.

"So, the dance is tomorrow night." Pyrrha said.

"Oh yeah, scary how this stuff sneaks up on you, huh? Have you found a date yet Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, trying not to shiver.

"Actually, no I haven't." Pyrrha said.

"Still?" Jaune said incredulously, perhaps a little more harsh than he intended.

"Well… yeah." Pyrrha admitted.

Jaun couldn't believe that no-one had tried to ask out Pyrrha. "I just can't believe that no one would ask you out Pyrrha!" After all she had been on the cover of a cereal box. "I mean you were on the cover of a cereal box!"

Pyrrha blushed. "It's, it's not that big a deal, really."

"Well then…" Jaune said at a loss for words. "Well, don't worry. This is your first dance right? You should go anyway. I mean, if no-one will ask you out, or nobody will agree to go with you, you should just go with a friend."

"With a friend huh?" Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Yeah, just like me and Ruby, I mean I know it sounds a little sad, but better that than not going at all."

Pyrrha stopped in her tracks. "You and… Ruby?"

"Huh?" Jaune stopped himself. "Oh right! Sorry I didn't tell you guys." He said, knocking himself on the forehead. "Ruby and I were talking last night, she couldn't find a date either, and asked if we could go as friends."

"Oh really…" Pyrrha said forlornly.

"Is something the matter?" Jaune asked concernedly.

"No, it's okay." Pyrrha said, as she kept on walking.

Jaune followed her, and tried to get the gears working in his head.

"Oh…" Lightbulb.

"Oh what?" Pyrrha asked.

"Were you- were you going to ask me to the dance?" Jaune asked.

"Jaune-"

"I mean, I just realized that the only guy friends you have are me and Ren, and Ren already has a date. I mean you could always have some other guy friend that I don't know about of course! I mean, it's not like I know everything about you it's just that the rest of our friends are girls. I mean, you could always ask one of them of course! There's nothing wrong with that, I mean I just assumed, in fact that would be actually kinda-"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said grabbing a hold of him to shake him out of his tangent.

"Yes Pyrrha?" Jaune said.

Pyrrha sighed. "It's okay. I was hoping maybe we could go to the dance together, but it's fine if you and Ruby have already made plans."

"Sorry."

"There's nothing for you to feel sorry about." She told him.

"It's just- I kinda feel like I'm letting you down." Jaune told her.

"It's fine." She said with a smile. "I'll just go by myself. Besides, the point of these things is to have fun, right? If all our friends are there, then I'm sure we'll all have a great time."

"Yeah." Jaune said. "Yeah you're right. We'll go ahead and have the time of our lives, even if it kills us."

"I'm not sure if we want to go that far." Pyrrha said with a wry smile.

"Hey who knows? I mean this is Beacon; Acadamy of adventures, dangers scattered across the halls, perils lying behind every desk, death at every pop quiz."

Pyrrha giggled, and the two continued on with their inane and meaningless talk.

"Alright guys: I'm coming out. Be harsh." Jaune said. With that he opened the door to the rest of his team, his tuxedo on, and braced himself for their opinions. He was wearing a baby blue tuxedo with a bowtie and frilled shirt, and the best pair of dress shoes he could find. That is to say a clean pair of sneakers, since he couldn't find any dress shoes.

Pyrrha's face turned a light shade of red in amusement, while covering her mouth. Ren remained as stoic as usual, while Nora zoomed up to him and scrutinized him from every angle possible.

"It's… PERFECT!" She exclaimed.

"You- you really think so?" Jaune asked, looking over himself.

"Ab-so-lutely." She told him. "It's so you Jaune, you look so cute!" She said, giving him a quick back-breaking hug.

"Whoa! Okay there!" Jaune said.

"The color really sets off your eyes, and the suit make's you look all cool and handsome, and the ruffles here make you look like a pirate! And the little bowtie just wraps it all in up one big Jaune package!"

"Really?" Jaune said. "Thanks. Thanks a lot Nora." The rest his teammates smiled at him. "To be honest I was worried my old tux wouldn't be up to snuff, but I guess I have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing at all Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"Alright, with that team JNPR, let us head out." Pyrrha and Jaune stood up, and the four of them exited the room and stepped into the hallway, which was a little busy itself, with various students waiting for their teammates. Team RWBY had left their door open, and were putting on their final touch's. Jaune walked over, and knocked on the doorframe. "Are all you wonderful ladies ready for a night of magic and wonder?" He asked.

"Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed as she froze in place.

"Hey guys, we're just finishing up, give us a few seconds, okay?" Yang said, popping into view. She slammed the door in his face, and he heard some kind of frantic struggle going on behind the door, which burst open again, as Team RWBY filed out.

All in all, both teams looked rather dashing. Starting with Team JNPR, Jaune did his best to look fancy in his blue suit. Nora wore a sheer pink strapless minidress, and a pair of pink dress shoes. Pyrrha wore a sparkling crimson gown with a single strap over her left soldier and an exposed back, a red sash wrapped around her waist and trailing down her leg. The rest of her ensemble were a pair of high heeled sandals, with a dash more makeup than she usually did, and a pair of emerald earrings to match her eyes. Ren himself didn't seem to dress up much, his dress for the evening appeared to be darker silk version of what he normally wore, with gold inlay around the stitches, silver embroidery of flowers, and a fancy scarf that hung on either side of his neck.

As for Team RWBY, their fearless leader tried her best to shrink in her dark red gown, which cut off at her knees, with a black corset helping to show off her curves. Along with it she seemed to wear her traditional boots and stockings, along with her omnipresent hood. Aside from that, her hair had been combed down from her more usual mess, with a headband that had a cloth rose helping to keep her bangs out of her eyes, and a clear spattering of expertly applied makeup adorned her face, accentuating her cheeks and eyes with a thick application of mascara. Weiss did her best to look absolutely magnificent, and had what was likely the most expensive outfit out of all of them combined all of it a paler whiter than her usual ensemble. She had a fancier version of her half jacket that had more flowing sleeves, and pair of white gloves covering her hands. Starting from her chest, her dress tightly hugged her slim body, until blossoming out at her hips, flowing nicely until they reached halfway down her legs, were her white high heeled boots met them, all wrapped like a beautiful present with a silver ribbon around her waist. Blake wore a simple black dress with thin straps covering her shoulder, with white stockings covering her legs, ending in a pair of simple black shoes. Yang somehow managed to out do them all, her sparkling yellow dress started in flows around her neck, flowing loosely down past the open valley of her cleavage, perfectly caressing and accentuating the perfectness of her roundness, proudly showing more than a simple wide swath of her firm creamy wonderment, before joining again, just underneath the mountains and valley. The dress also went on to show much of her back, and came with a round oval hole for her navel, and clung to the rest of her body before ending scandalously short, a pair of tight black shorts saving her modesty, leaving Yang only wearing her yellow heels, her makeup, and a pair of gold earrings beside.

"So what do you guys think?" Yang asked, throwing back her hair.

Nora soon launched into yet another tangent admiring their dresses before anyone else could get a word in. Jaune looked over to Ruby, who was trying to disappear beneath her hood, and was shyly glancing at him.

"Oh that reminds me!" Jaune said, producing a rose from nowhere. "Here I got this for you!" He said, handing it over to his friend.

"What is it?" Ruby asked quietly observing it.

"It's a corsage." Jaune told her. "Girls like these kinds of things, right? I got a rose because of your name."

"Oh! Thanks Jaune." Ruby said, taking it, and slipping the accessory on to her wrist, admiring it.

Just about then Nora finished her tangent, allowing regular conversation to begin.

"Thanks. I guess." Blake said.

"Alright enough waiting, let's get moving." Weiss said, following her own advice, and not waiting for everyone else.

"So you guys are going to meet your dates at the dance hall?" Yang asked.

"Me and Nora are, yes." Ren said.

"And you?" Pyrrha said. "Ruby is going with Jaune, and Weiss is going with that handsome guy from Prof. Port's class, what about you and Blake?"

Yang wrapped her arm around Blakes hip. "Me and Blake here are going to be finding our own dates when we get there, we'll be together, on the prowl, devouring anything in our way, amirite?"

"You are most certainly not right." Blake said annoyedly.

"I feel sorry for most of the boys there." Ruby whispered to Jaune.

"What was that little sister?" Yang asked.

"Just that dad would kill you and skin you if he saw what kind of dress you were wearing tonight." Ruby said obnoxiously.

"Yeah, well Dad's not here, and what he doesn't know, won't hurt him." Yang told her.

"Not that I'm one to criticize your fashion sense Yang." Weiss said, causing said person to immediately roll their eyes. "But your dress does seem a bit… much…"

"I'd say not enough." Ruby stated eliciting a few chuckles.

"Hey if you've got it flaunt it." Yang said. "Besides, in this, no boy's gonna be able to resist me." She said, grabbing Jaune from Ruby, and burying his head into the depths of her open valley, the softest heavenly pillows gently massaging his face. His vision was enveloped by creamy perfection, and his face reddened as he felt Yang's fiery body heat radiate from her soft and sumptuous chest. "Isn't that right Jaune-y boy?"

"Uh-buh-huh…" Jaune was soon yanked away from Yang by both Ruby and Pyrrha who were giving the blonde beauty disparaging looks.

"I think I've made my point." She said with a smile.

They all arrived at the main hall were the ball was to be held. All in all, it was probably the fanciest thing he had every seen. Fairy lights lined the gardens and walkway, twinkling beneath a light layer of snow. Students and their dates hung out outside for need of fresh air, as the last of the crimson and orange sunset faded giving way to a black sky and white snow.

Inside the great door a great draft of heat warmed their bodies, where more than half the student body were assembled, with various professors in various amounts of eveningwear to supervise them. Silver decorations adorned the walls, and in the rafters lay an incredibly copious amount of well-constructed decorations, streamers, wrappers, mobiles, papier-mâché, and origami all hung with the greatest of care, each with a specific motif of the moon, the stars, and the snow, with holographic stars twinkling lightly overhead.

The lights were dimmed just so, with both a full orchestra on stage, playing lightly on their instruments, and DJ who was presumably setting up for later. By the walls were tables with nothing less than a feast assembled atop their pristine tablecloths, full beasts roasted and decorated with all kinds of herbs and spices, lain atop and beside intricate silverware, with fountains of sparkling soda, and kettles steaming with hot-chocolate and coffee ready for serving.

And in the center, sitting on a pedestal was an ice centerpiece of a huntress, her armor glistening, and her weapon raised to the sky.

"Wow…" Ruby said, her eyes widening at the display of it all.

"You said it." Jaune said.

"ALRIGHT LET'S GET TO PARTYING!" Yang exclaimed, grabbing Blake before she could protest, and diving headlong into the crowd and disappearing from sight.

"Ooh those are our dates over there! Come on Ren, let's go!" Nora said, dashing off in her own direction.

"See you guys." Ren said, following her.

"What about you Weiss, where's your date?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, but I can tell you that I'm not jumping into that mess to find him. I suppose I'll just wait by the entrance." Weiss said turning back.

That left Jaune, Ruby and Pyrrha by themselves.

"This is all… quite impressive." Pyrrha said. "Are dances always like this?" She asked.

"I wish." Jaune said. "That ice sculpture there would have taken up the entire budget for my last schools dance. This place is great."

"What about you Ruby?"

"Oh what me?" Ruby asked, startled. "I wouldn't really know, I tend to… avoid these kinds of things?"

"Really?" Jaune asked.

"What changed your mind this year?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yang." Ruby said annoyedly. "She wouldn't let any of us miss this. She loves these kinds of things."

"Yeah, I can tell." Jaune said as he glanced over the crowd and could see a small crowd of male students surrounding Yang and Blake.

"So I suppose all of us are a little out of our element here." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah… I guess we are." Ruby said with a hint of smile.

"Well let's not let that stop us!" Jaune said. "Come on, last one to the snack bar is a rotten egg!"

"Ahem, excuse me." Everyone turned to see Headmaster Ozpin on stage supporting himself on his cane, hunched over a microphone. "It is so good to see each and every one of you here today. Your very presence at this prestigious academy is a mark of your achievements thus far." He said before pausing.

"Today we are celebrating the Mid-Winters Solstice Ball. A festival of lights on the darkest night of the year. A time of love, laughter, joy, and merrymaking. Here we take this marker of darkness, and make it our own. We reflect on our accomplishments thus far, and those we yet hope to achieve. But for now, we shall enjoy this moment. At this place at this time. For now, enjoy yourselves, all of you, for you have earned this moment of respite and rest, for who knows what the future shall bring. Let the festivities commence."

And with that, the hall applauded Ozpin as he walked off stage, and the orchestra continued to play.

"Here you ladies go!" Jaune said, returning with three silver cups filled with sparkling soda, handing one to Ruby and Pyrrha.

"Thanks Jaune." Ruby said, as she took a sip of hers.

"So Ruby, what do you think our chances are of becoming king and queen of the Ball?"

Ruby almost performed a spit take, instead inhaling her drink, and almost choking. "What?" She managed to cough up.

"You know, King and Queen of the ball, we can put our names on the ballot, and then we dance in front of everyone, and if we do well, we'll get put on stage, and get crowns and stuff."

"Jaune, I know what your talking about." Ruby said, her voice croaking slightly before she cleared her throat. "I just didn't think you'd want to do something like that."

"Why not?" Jaune asked.

"Well um…" Pyrrha started.

"You see…" Ruby said, searching for a tactful explanation.

"You'd have to get your name seconded by several people in order to contend." Pyrrha stated.

"Yes! Exactly that!" Ruby said enthusiastically.

"Can't let that stop us." Jaune stated. "Besides, I already thought about that."

"You have?" Ruby said despairingly.

"Yeah, I figure if both our teams and their dates second our names, we should have no problem entering the contest." Jaune said brightly.

"That um…" Pyrrha said.

"Weiss!" Ruby noted. "Over here!"

Jaune turned to see Weiss in her white gown, her arm around her date. The two of them walked over to the three of them. Weiss looked as stunning as usual, her date meanwhile stood almost as regally, in a bright red jacket, with gold buttons and sash, complementing his cream pants.

"Hello Ruby, what is it?" Weiss asked.

"Who-who's your friend?" She asked.

"This is my date for tonight, Christian. Christian, these are my friends, Jaune and Pyrrha, and my teammate Ruby." Weiss said, introducing them.

"Very nice to meet all of you." He said to them, shaking each of their hands. "My name is Christian Tinmen."

"Likewise." Jaune said.

"So…. How did you two meet?" Ruby asked.

"It wasn't easy." Christian told them. "I had to try a couple times."

"He sits in the back in Professor Port's class." Weiss asked. "He must have asked me to the ball a hundred times."

"What made you say yes?" Pyrrha asked.

"A number of reasons." Weiss said reluctantly. "Was there a reason you called me over, or did you just want to introduce yourselves?"

Ruby glanced at Pyrrha quickly before turning back to Weiss.

"…Jaune wants to run for King of the ball."

Weiss' face turned blank, before turning to Jaune, who smiled awkwardly.

"…No." She stated flatly.

"Hey!"

"No offense Jaune, but I just can't see you winning." She told him. "Especially when I'm running for the position for myself."

"You're running for Queen?" Ruby asked.

"Naturally." Weiss said with a smile. "And I don't intend on holding back either. Though I suppose since I can't vote for myself, I may as well give you my vote Jaune."

"Huh, what?" Jaune asked.

"Run if you really want to, nobody can stop you from doing that."

"Huh. Gee thanks Weiss." Jaune said, while Ruby whimpered.

"No problem." Weiss said. "Come on Christian, let's dance."

"Sure." He said. "It was nice meeting you all." He said before walking off.

"Alright it's settled then!" Jaune said, turning to the two girls. "Lets go find the rest of our team, and go tell them the good news!"

"Um, you go ahead Jaune, we'll just stay here." Ruby said.

"You sure?" Jaune asked.

"I'm sure, yeah."

"Alright then." Jaune said, finishing his drink, before diving into the crowd to find his teammates.

He made a mental list in his head. He only needed to find Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren. He wouldn't be surprised if he found them in pairs. He was proven right after much wading, when he saw Ren and Nora waiting by the doors.

"Hey guys!" He said, walking up to them.

"Hey Jaune." Ren said.

"Where are your dates?" Jaune asked.

"They stepped out for some fresh air." Ren explained.

"Oh that's cool. Introduce them to the rest of us, when you get the chance." Jaune said. "Hey I have a crazy idea."

Nora immedieately saddled up to Jaune. "Let us hear it!"

"Okay. So, we were thinking of running for King and Queen of the Ball, I was hoping we could get you guys' endorsement." Jaune explained.

"Oh my! I can totally imagine you two up on the stage, admired by everyone! Have I told you what a cute couple you two make?" Nora told him.

"Sure, we can do that." Ren told him.

"Thanks guys. I'm gonna go ask Yang and Blake too, have you seen either of them?" Jaune asked.

"I don't think Yang's left the dance floor, but Blake's just over there." Nora said helpfully, pointing over to a far wall that didn't have much activity around it.

"Alright, thanks." With that Jaune was off once more through the throngs of people. Each couple were dancing elegantly to the music, moving to it's rhythm, making it very difficult for Jaune to find his way. He was afraid he was going to bump into someone, which was soon realized when he actually did, knocking himself, and them over.

"Ow…" The two of them said. Jaune opened his eyes to see he was still on top of some, a very female someone, and soon got off. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you." He said, grabbing her arm, and helping her up.

"That hurt you know." She told him. As Jaune got a better look at her, he saw that the girl he bumped into was a brown-haired rabbit Faunus, one of his classmates in Prof. Ooblecks History class. She was wearing a brown and white tartan dress.

"I'm sorry, it's kind of hard to navigate here."

"You should still watch were your going." She told him.

"I know I'm sorry. What's your name again? I know you're from Prof. Ooblecks class."

"I'm Velvet."

"Nice to meet you Velvet, I'm Jaune. I'm just trying to get to other side of the ballroom." He explained.

"Me too." She said. "I'm not really one for dancing."

"Oh, well I suppose we may as well carry on before we bump into anyone else." Jaune suggested, at which the two of them started to keep going through the dancing couples. When they finally managed to escape, Jaune decided to strike up a conversation. "I like your dress."

"Oh? Thanks."

"Are you with anybody?"

"No. Why are you?"

"I'm with a friend." Jaune answered. "I was thinking we'd run for King and Queen, may as well, yunno? I've been trying to squeeze votes from my friends."

"Is that what you're trying to do right now?" Velvet asked.

"Maybe." Jaune answered. "Why is it working?"

"Not really." Velvet said with a small smile.

"Dagnabbit. Are you sure? Not even a little bit? I mean every vote counts you know. You are not a number."

"I'm sure." Velvet said. "Maybe though, if you get nominated, and you impress, then I'll vote. But you'll have to work for it."

"But of course."

"Very well then. I guess I'll be seeing you." Velvet said, heading off in her own direction. That left Jaune a moment to reorient himself so he could find Blake, who was still standing by the wall, and go find her.

"Blake! How you doing?" Jaune asked, walking up to her.

"Hey Jaune." Blake said bored.

"Where's Yang?" Jaune asked.

"Over there." She said, nodding in Yang's general direction, where she was being swarmed by all kinds of male attention.

"Well seems to me like she's accomplishing what she set out to do." Jaune said.

"I suppose."

"Is something the matter?" Jaune asked.

"I'm bored out of my mind." She confessed. "These types of functions typically aren't my kind of deal. All the attention that Yang wants it the kind I don't. I wish I brought a book to read or something."

"Oh come on, there's gotta be something for you to enjoy here." Jaune said. "You just gotta know where to look. Maybe… socializing with Yang may not be that interesting, but there a lot of interesting people here that you don't normally talk to. Just now for instance, I was having a wonderful conversation from that one girl from Prof. Oobleck's class. Right after I crashed into her."

Blake sent a glare in Jaune's direction.

"Or maybe that's not your type of thing, okay." Jaune said. "But at least stay a little bit longer, I'm gonna need your vote."

"My what?" She asked.

"I am going to sign Ruby and myself for King and Queen of the ball. That's right, and I've been going to all our teammates to beg off votes, what do you think?"

Blake opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped to think about it, and eventually a smile struck her face. "You know what? I think I will."

"Thanks Blake. And could you pass the message to Yang? I would, but I think most of those guys are like twelve times my size, and could gut me with a teaspoon."

"No problem."

"Thanks."

"So guess who's going to sign himself up on the ballot for Mid-Winters Solstice Ball King? This guy." Jaune said as he popped back in on Ruby and Pyrrha who were right where he left him.

"They all said yes?" Ruby asked.

"Every single one." Jaune said proudly. "And you guys thought I couldn't do it."

"We never said that!" Pyrrha said hastily.

"Well um…" Ruby muttered.

"Well it doesn't matter, the point is I was right, and you were wrong, now to sign ourselves up for the ballot, what do you say?"

"Eh…"

"Um?"

"Great let's go!" Jaune stated, leading his friends, who reluctantly followed him, to the table on the side where prospective candidates were hanging waiting to put on their own names. The table was presided over by an overtly elderly professor, thin as a pole, wrapped up in his clothes like a present, and showing but a few scant inches of skin from behind his thick bushy gray hair.

"Are you sure you want to do this Jaune?" Pyrra asked as Jaune picked up a gold pen.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, I know I might not win, but hey, I'll never win if I don't try. Besides, it'll be fun."

Pyrra and Ruby smiled nervously at him, until Ruby was violently shoved to the side to be caught by Pyrrha by a large brute of a man in a tux. "Watch where you're going pipsqueak." He said cruelly as he went to grab a pen on the desk. "I'm here to win King of the Ball."

"Hey that was mean!" Ruby complained childishly.

The man turned, revealing himself to be the dreaded Cardin Whinchester. "Hey I go where I want pipsqueak."

"That was rude of you." Jaune told him.

"And what are you-" Cardin froze as he turned to Jaune. "Oh. Hey Jauney. Um, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to sign my date and I for King and Queen of the Ball." Jaune answered coolly.

"Oh, good for you." Cardin said, looking back at the two girls. "You and that Pyrrha chick huh?" Despite the glare she was giving Cardin, Pyrrha was blushing.

"That's my teammate. I'm with my friend Ruby. The girl you knocked over."

"Oh."

"Apologize."

"Um. Okay." He turned to Ruby who was still being cradled in Pyrrha's arms. "Sorry I knocked you over and stuff. Sometimes I don't look where I'm going, you know. I uh, didn't mean anything by it."

Ruby helped herself back to her feet, and continued to try to kill Cardin with her eyes along with Pyrrha.

"So, okay then." He turned back to Jaune. "I um, I guess I'll just write my name on the ballot, you don't mind if I do that, right Jaune?"

"Go ahead." Jaune said.

"Thanks." He said, signing the list. "And um, best of luck with the contest and everything. Bye." With that he walked off, making sure to stay out of anyone's way.

"Well, now that that's over." Jaune said more cheerfully, going back to write his own name down.

"What was that all about?" Pyrrha asked as soon as Cardin left.

"Oh you know. Just Cardin being Cardin. It's a long story. Ruby?" He said, handing the pen over to his date.

"Oh! Right!" Ruby tentatively taking it from his hand, and going to write her own name under submissions for queen. As she signed her name, she noted Weiss had already placed her own signature above her.

"And done. Now all we have to do is hope our friends can get us enough votes." Jaune said.

"So um, what now?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe we could sit down, and have a bite to eat?" Pyrrha suggested.

"Sit down already? But we haven't even done any dancing." Jaune complained.

"Eating! Yes! Let's go do that!" Ruby said.

"But-"

"I think I see an open table!" Ruby said, dragging her date by the hand, not giving him a choice in the matter.

The three sat down at one of the tables at the hall on the far end, far from the stage and orchestra. The each got a silver platter lined with food and drink and sat down, soon to be accompanied by the rest of their teammates.

"Nora, Ren, what happened to your dates, why aren't they here?" Pyrrha asked her teammates.

"They said they'd rather eat with their own teammates and didn't want to keep us from ours." Ren explained, as Nora went on to spear the roast turkey, and carve its flesh for her meal.

The eight of them tried to sit next to their dates, with Weiss' date joining them as a ninth member.

"So Christian. You said you had a story about how you got Weiss to agree to be your date. How did that go?"

Weiss kept quiet and leaned back in her seat, and Christian looked at her before speaking.

"I think it might be a bit embarrassing for Weiss, I'm not sure if I should say." He told them.

"Ooh! Goodie! Even better!" Yang said, leaning in, only to be pulled back by Blake.

"No, no, it's fine." Weiss said. "They are my teammates. If I have to trust them with my life, I suppose a little embarrassment isn't out of the question."

"Ah you do care!" Yang stated. "You do have a heart, and you do love us."

"… On second thought, don't you dare for a minute think about telling them what happened." She told Christian.

"Understood ma'am." He said.

"What about the rest of your team, where are they?" Pyrrha asked, trying to stay sociable.

"Oh, well, um to be honest I don't think we're quite as friendly as you guys, but um, one of my teammates is here with his own date, though I don't know who, the others wanted to stay behind to catch up on their studies."

"Well that's no fun." Jaune said. "These things only come up so often, you can't afford to miss them. I mean, these are supposed to be the best years of our life, right?"

"Well, there is a certain someone I know who could benefit from the night off to catch up on his homework." Pyrrha stated, causing Ruby to giggle.

"Hey, I told you I have a plan for that. I'm just going to have to not sleep for the rest of the week." Causing most of the table to laugh. "So can I count on your guy's vote for the ballot? They should be counting those up soon."

"Of course!" Blake said. "You don't mind if we use our votes for Jaune, do you Weiss?" She asked, as Weiss had already announced her own attentions.

"Of course not." Weiss said. "Not to sound conceited, but I remain confident that I can get all the votes I need on my own." She said conceitedly.

"Then all aboard for the S.S. Jaune!" Blake said.

"Hooray! I love boats! And Jaune!" Nora proclaimed.

"Thanks guys." Jaune said. "So then, everyones had a good time so far?"

Blake rolled her eyes as Yang started going on about her night. "So many hunky boys, so little time. Unfortunately my little darling here refuses to play." She said nuzzling her ebon haired friend, who had an amused, yet still annoyed expression on her face.

"I've been having the time of my life." Christian said. "This place seems so magical don't you agree?"

"The atmosphere is quite nice." Pyrrha said.

"Well… I just like hanging out with all my friends is all." Ruby said.

"It's been just perfect! Absolutely divine!" Nora said, launching into a long list of praise.

Jaune watched amusedly as he noticed the current song end, and another about to begin. "Hey, Ruby, do you maybe want to go for a dance?" Jaune asked his date.

"Huh? What? Dance? ME?" She asked in rapid succession.

"Well yeah." Jaune said. "I just thought it seemed like a good time."

"Oh, well, um, I, um, I-"

"Oops!" Pyrrha said, prompting the two to look towards her. "It seems that I have spilt my drink. Jaune, would it bother you to refill it for me?" She asked.

"Oh, okay." Jaune said. "No problem. Just hold it right there." He picked up his teammates goblet, and departed from the table.

"Thanks." Ruby said.

"No problem." Pyrrha told her.

There was an awkward silence between them as their friends chatted around them.

"So-"

"YES!" Ruby jumped.

"You don't want to dance with Jaune do you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh GOD no!" Ruby said. "I mean, I like Jaune and everything, well, not like-like, I mean, he's a nice guy but... well..."

"Yeah..." Pyrrha said.

"You've been training with him, right? Has he gotten any more... you know... coordinated?"

"Well..."

"I knew it." Ruby said laying her head on the table. "I'm doomed. If we get up there to dance, all eyes will be on us as we collectively shake our four left feet together. It'll be humiliating."

"You can't dance?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not to save my life!" Ruby moaned. "I've never danced once!"

"Well... I'm sure Jaune wouldn't care." Pyrrha said, trying to be reassuring.

"Of course he wouldn't, he's a nice guy, and he's all confident. I'm not..." Ruby said, before, sighing, and sinking into her chair. She looked back and forth to make sure all her friends were talking amongst themselves. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault if you don't want to dance. I'm sure Jaune would understand."

"Not that..." Ruby said dejectedly. "I know you wanted to go to go with Jaune."

Pyrrha kept silent at that. "It's just that... I don't really know too many guys, and Jaunes so nice, and these things aren't really my, well... and it's true what Jaune said, I'm at Beacon now. I want to make the most of it. But I'm sorry you didn't get to go to the dance with Jaune."

Pyrrha tried the best to smile for her friend. "It's okay Ruby. Yes, I did want to come here with Jaune, but it's okay. We're both here, and having a good time. That's what matters."

"Yeah I guess you're right." She said.

"Maybe..." Pyrrha said, averting her eyes. "I could... take him off your hands?"

"You'd do that?" Ruby asked.

"Only if you didn't mind Ruby. I mean, you did ask Jaune first." She told her. "But if you want, I could take him to the side. Maybe try to explain the situation to him delicately."

"Could you?" Ruby asked with the most adorable puppy dog look she could muster, which for her was quite formidable. "Ah, I would be so grateful for you if you did. I just wanted something nice and quiet tonight."

"Of course, what are friends for?"

"I have your drink!" Jaune said, riding in as a chivalrous Knight would, placing it in Pyrrhas hand. "Now, what are we talking about?" The two them froze as Jaune surveyed the table. "Hey, what happened to all the food?" He said referencing the food that was now not there.

"Nora." To whom the name belonged sat contentedly ignorant of all the harsh looks and glares being aimed at her.

Ozpin tapped the mike a few times before the music and the chatter quieted down.

"It is now time to announce the candidates of King and Queen of the Mid-Winters Solstice Ball. For the successful candidates who made it this far, be sure to dance elegantly, earning the admiration of your fellows and peers. Those who gain the most admiration, shall receive their adulations, and come to the stage, so you may be admired. Without further ado, the candidates:"

And with that, Ozpin began a list of male and female names, some of whom teams RWBY and JNPR recognized, some of whom they didn't. Weiss made the list of female candidates, looking proud and smug as her name was called. And when he reached the bottom of the males list-

"-Christian Tinmen, Cardin Winchester, Jaune Arc."

"Yeh-hay!" Jaune cheered, while Ruby stifled a moan, and Pyrrha felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Wow, I'm impressed Jaune!" Yang, who had rejoined the table after another long bout of flirting, said.

"And you all said I couldn't do it!" Jaune told them.

"We never said that." Said Blake who had never left.

"No, but you were thinking it." To which nobody at the table had a rebuttal for.

After a while long the group had their fill for the moment, and got back to their various doings. Ren and Nora had flocked to their dates, Yang, doing whatever she pleased, Weiss impressing everyone with her elegant movements on the dance floor. And in a surprising bout of coordination, Ruby excused herself for a simple and obscure reason, keeping Blake company, while Pyrrha managed to wrench Jaune from his ambitions as King of the Ball to herself for a few scant moments.

If Pyrrha was being honest with herself, she felt a bit guilty, stealing Jaune from Ruby like this. However, she was also feeling like being a bit selfish, after all, it was her original intentions to come to the ball with Jaune, for now things were how they were meant to be. Besides, she did have Ruby's graces for the moment. And she did have a mission to fulfil.

"So Jaune, what should we do next?" She asked him with a smile. "After all you're the expert."

"Huh? Well... gee, I've never really thought about it. I'd offer to dance-" Pyrrha tensed for a moment. "But I mean, I am with Ruby, so I'm worried that that would be a little rude." Pyrrha relaxed. "Course I'm going to have to get dancing at some point, I am on the ballot after all." Pyrrha sighed slightly. "Anyway! We've eaten, hung out with friends, um, want to take a walk outside? That might be nice."

"I'd love that Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"Great!"

They quickly made their way out the hall, and to the stark frigid night outside, where ever so slowly snow was falling.

"Chilly!" Jaune said, wrapping his arms around his chest.

"Well, it is the Mid-Winters Solstice Ball." Pyrrha said.

"Are you cold? I could do that thing, where the guy offers the girl his jacket?"

"I think you may need it more than I do." Pyrrha said, taking slow steps.

"Are you sure? Heh, no need to act tough in front of me." Jaune said, shivering slightly.

"I'm sure." Pyrrha said. "I've enjoyed myself so far. I wish my old school had dances like these."

"Yeah, they can be a lot of fun. All that matters is that you go with people you like." Jaune said.

"Like me?"

"Of course like you Pyrrha!" Jaune said. "Honestly, I don't think I'd still be alive if not for you helping me out."

"Well..." Pyrrha said. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask; why are you trying so hard to become King of the Ball? It doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

"Yeah, well, ordinarily you'd be right." Jaune said, taking a look at the frozen grounds around him. "I just hung out with people I knew in my old school. I didn't quite like being at the center of attention. I mean, maybe it's stupid, especially considering my, you know..."

"Yeah.."

"But, well, I mean, I just figure... doing the things we do, it's dangerous, right? I mean for you also."

"Being a Hunter or Huntress isn't an easy life Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"No, it's not. It's not something I want to back down from. I don't want to be who I used to be, I want to be someone stronger than that. So, if a yutz like me is going to go around fighting monsters, well, do I really have an excuse not to do something as silly as this?"

Pyrrha didn't know how to respond.

"I want to do something with my life Pyrrha." Jaune said. "And I'm not quite sure how I want to go about doing it. But I do know I don't want to say no when life starts giving me opportunities."

They walked quietly for a while after that.

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"Was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Um... no, nothing that I can think of." Pyrrha lied through her teeth.

"Oh, okay then."

"So you can't dance, and Jaune wants to really badly, particularly in front of a large crowd of your friends and peers, and Jaune is well, Jaune." Blake surmised.

"Yeah."

"You're right, that does suck." Blake said.

"I know!" Ruby sighed.

"Hey there." Weiss said, joining the two, breathing slightly heavy from her dancing.

"Hey Weiss." Ruby said.

"Where's your date?" Blake asked.

"He had to excuse himself." Weiss said. "I decided I could use a little rest."

"I saw you out there, you're really good." Ruby said.

"Why thank you, though if they let me sing, I'd have this thing in the bag." Weiss said.

"Think you have stiff competition?" Blake asked.

Weiss mulled it over in her head for a few moments. "There are some good dancers out there. But I think I have a good shot."

"Well good for you." Ruby said, still trying to be chipper.

"So how have you two been?"

"Rubys worried that she'll die of embarrassment if Jaune-"

"Abububh-buh-bhu!" Ruby cried covering Blakes mouth. Weiss raised a pale eyebrow.

"I know you're trying to hide something, but quite frankly I don't care." Weiss said.

Pyrrha and Jaune continued their nice walk, until one of them, not Jaune, found the cold too much to bear, and they headed back inside. He excused himself, as their was a call nature was giving him, that he found rude to ignore. Unrelated, he mused on the nature of the journey of sparkling soda through the Human body. He found the necessary restroom, and entered.

"John, right?" He heard a voice, and saw Weiss' date there as well.

"Oh, hi."

"Hi."

"Have you had a dance with your date yet?" He asked.

"Oh, not yet, soon though." Jaune asked, as he started going about his business.

"Oh, well, I hope you do. After all the effort you put in to get on the ballot."

"Um, would you mind waiting until I finish my business?"

"Oh, sure."

After an awkward silence, Jaune went to washing his hands.

"So how has Weiss been?" Jaune asked.

"Just great. She's been, well, dancing with her has been great."

Jaune finished, and moved towards the door, while Christian decided to follow him. Right before a particularly large and rowdy student barged in, knocking them to the side on his way to seek relief.

"Outta the way!" He cried, heading to the wall, and proceeding to relieve himself.

"That's not very considerate of you." Christian complained, making sure his red jacket was unsullied.

"Get over it." The guy said with a sneer.

"Cardin, I'm really getting tired of this." Jaune said.

The Cardin in question stilled, and looked like he would have wet himself, were he not already.

"Hey Jauney, funny bumping into you again, huh?" He finished up his business, and turned back to Jaune. "Um, how's it going?"

"Cardin, I don't think you've been on your best of behavior tonight."

"Well, huh-" Cardin said with a scared chuckle.

"Quite frankly, I think you need to be sorted out." Jaune said in a high and mighty voice.

"Now-now Jauney-boy, you-you don't need to do that!" Cardin said, his voice rising in pitch.

"I think I do, sort things out between us tonight, in front of everyone."

"You! You wouldn't!"

"You. Me. Dance Off. Fifteen Minutes."

"... huh?"

"You heard me." Jaune said. "You and me are both running for King, let's you and me sort this out in front of everyone."

"Oh. Cool. Um... Okay then. Um, so then, do our best?"

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Jaune said.

"Good then. Well um, bye, I guess." Cardin said, awkwardly vacating the restroom.

"What was that about?" Christian asked.

"So in conclusion: I'm going to win, simply because I'm better at everything compared to every single person here." Weiss finished.

"Oh hey, isn't that your date over there Weiss?" Blake said.

"Oh, you're right. I suppose I should get back to him. Nice talking with you. Good luck with... whatever it is your doing Ruby." Weiss said, before leaving Ruby and Blake to themselves.

"So you and Jaune." Blake said.

Ruby moaned. "Well, hopefully everything will be sorted out. I sent Pyrrha to gently talk Jaune out of it. I can just have a nice quiet evening with friends like I was hoping."

"Ah, I see." Blake said. "Isn't that her over there?"

"Pyrrha!" Ruby soon flagged the red-headed amazon over to their little area of the ballroom. "Did you take care of that thing I asked?"

"Thing?"

"You know, about Jaune?"

"Jaune?"

"About the dance?"

"Dance?"

"How long are you going to keep doing this?"

"This?"

"Pyrrha! Did you or did you not convince Jaune to drop the whole dancing thing!?" Ruby asked, waving her arms about for emphasis.

"Well..."

"Oh god..." Ruby moaned, dropping into a fetal position.

"I'm sorry! It's just that he was so excited, and he started talking about how he wants to be a better person, and it was all sweet and inspiring, and I didn't know what to do!" Pyrrha explained.

"Um, guys?"

"That's it. High school is over. Beacon is over. I'm going to commit social suicide in front of everyone."

"Why don't you just tell Jaune yourself you don't want to dance?" Pyrrha asked.

"Guys."

"Are you crazy!? Are you some kind of crazy... crazy person, or something?" Ruby asked.

"Guys!" Blake yelled.

"What?" The two asked.

"Isn't that Jaune over there?"

Yang sauntered up to the microphone stand on the stage, heavenly illuminated by the bright stage lights, grasped it firmly in her hand, and proceeded to enjoy herself as much as possible. "LAAAAAADIES AND GERMS OF BEACON! Welcome to the Dance Off! To our right; we have the biggest, baddest, toughest freshman in the entire Academy, it's eponymous leader of team CRDL, CARDIIIINN WINCHESTERRRRRR!"

Cardin stood with his arms crossed, trying to look big, tough, and unfazed for his public, who showered him with cheers.

"And on our left! It's the ineffable, infallible, incomparable, and ladies, I hear he's single, the the blue, blonde leader of team JNPR, it's JAAAAAUNE ARC!"

Jaune stood smiling with his hands on his hips, being gifted with just as much ego-enlarging applause.

"Oh no." Pyrrha said.

"Just kill me." Ruby whimpered.

"For those of you just joining us at home, these two have challenged each-other to a Dance Off! The Loser with a capital L of this will drop out of the competition for King of the Mid-Winters Solstice Ball in shame! Each of these two strapping young men will strut their stuff for our entertainment, the one with the most applause from you all will be the winner! Now, first things first, let's decide who starts. I do seem to be missing a coin to flip, could I have a volunteer from the audience?" A number of hands were thrust into the air with various change in their fingers. Yang bent over and plucked one for herself. "Boys?"

"Heads." Jaune called.

"Tails."

"Okey-Doke-" Yang tossed the coin high into the air, and expertly caught it, slapping it on the back of her hand.

"Cardin, you'll be the first to dance for our amusement! DJ! Play my favorite song!" At that, the DJ, someone cloaked in shadows obscuring their features, flipped a record in their fingers, placing it down, and it began playing a fast, heavy, peppy song.

Cardin loosened himself, and began to dance. And worst of all, he was good.

"Just tell me when it's all over." Ruby said, burying her head into Pyrrha's side.

He moved with a sense of smugness and arrogance, but his outrageous swing backed it up. The crowd cheered for him, as he kept it up and up, with no signs of slowing or stopping. The song ended with a great bout of applause and cheers, and he backed off, and Yang approached the mike.

"Not bad, but now it's Jaunes turn, let's see what you've got for us?"

Jaune waited for a new song to play before moving, a light-hearted piece of pop. He wasn't good. He wasn't mediocre. To say he was bad would be utterly incorrect. Jaune was great. He moved with the song, fluid and stiff in all the right ways, his feet steady, and his balance even, the crowd was briefly silent as he wowed them, but as the song picked up, and his dancing became more bodacious, the crowd soon joined in, making sure to let him know how good he was doing.

Blake tapped Ruby's shoulder.

"What is it?" She asked, her head still buried in Pyrrha.

"You'll want to see this." Blake said.

Ruby reluctantly peeked an eye to see Jaune absolutely owning the dance floor. The crowd was clapping in time with the song as Jaune threw out awesome move after move, a cheer with each. Ruby found her jaw slack like her two companions as Jaune continued to boogie down. The song too soon for such spectacular display, ended, as Jaune finished with just the right pose to cap off his awesometacular performance resulting in a wide eruption of clapping, screaming and whistling, thundering through the ballroom.

"Well, well, well, looks like we do have a winner!" Yang announced with a huge grin. "Come up here Jaune!" Jaune came over to the stage, where Yang effortlessly picked him up by his collar and lifted him onto the stage, and lifted his arm high into the air. "Ladies and Germs! The winner of the Dance Off, JAUNE ARC."

It took more than a few moments for the festivities to die down. Cardin did his best to look angered, but mostly looked utterly baffled at the turn of events, and slipped away without much notice. Jaune was hailed by several students, some he barely knew, many he didn't know whatsoever. It was a teensy bit suffocating, and Yang made sure he couldn't slip away without too much hassle. There was some more dancing to be had, but after more than a few minutes of hassle the groups found themselves back at their table to rest.

"Well... that was a thing." Blake said.

"Thanks." Jaune said, looking a little harried. "I'll be honest, I was sweating a little but it was all good."

"I have to say, you certainly impressed out there." Yang said.

"Thanks."

"I'll admit Jaune, that was a surprise. You're not hiding anything else from us, are you?" Blake asked.

"You're not secretly a member of a terrorist/freedom-fighter/civil-rights group for instance, right?" Weiss asked, only to be jabbed in the ribs by Blake.

"What me? Keep secrets, pshaw, yeah, I would... never do... something like that." Jaune said. "Ah-hem I'm just going to get another drink excuse me."

"You did very well out there Jaune." Pyrrha made sure to tell him before he left.

"Thanks. You want something?"

"No thanks." He nodded and left.

Ruby craned her head to make sure that Jaune was out of earshot before continuing.

"Did you know he could do that?" She asked Pyrrha.

"NO! I had no idea!" Pyrrha said.

"How could you not know! Aren't you training with him?"

"Yeah, but apparently dancing and fighting have nothing to do with each other, otherwise, Jaune wouldn't have gotten stuck in that tree last week!"

"You have to give him respect for being willing to go all out like that." Blake said.

"I can tell you, I'm pretty sure my odds of winning have gone down significantly." Christian said. "Does anyone know what the deal is between him and that other guy?"

"Long story." Pyrrha said quickly.

"Who would have guessed Jaune was a good dancer?" Yang said.

"Not me, that's for sure." Weiss said.

"I guess we were a little silly to worry about him like that." Ruby said. "I mean, we're his friends, we should have a little more confidence in him."

"Does that mean you're less worried about dancing with Jaune now Ruby?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess a little bit." She said. "I guess I don't have to worry about Jaune tripping over me, or me tripping over him. But I guess their might be a few more people watching. I mean especially after that performance. And now that they've seen what Jaune can do, and how good he is, they'll be watching him, and me, and him and me together, dancing, together, and how bad I'll be next to him, and ohhhh, it's going to be even worse now!" Ruby's head hit the table in frustration.

Jaune did as he stated he would, and refilled his goblet with sparkling soda, and would have returned immediately, if not for the extremely unusual sight he saw. There sat Ren, and there sat Nora in her sheer pink minidress, with the oddest expression on her face. She wasn't smiling.

"Hey there Ren, Nora, how's it going?" He asked.

"Oh, hey Jaune." Ren said.

"Hey." Nora said, lacking much of her pep, her get up and go.

"Something wrong Nora? You look... sad. I didn't know you could look sad."

She seemed to cheer up a little at that. "Our dates left us." Ren said.

"Really?" Jaune asked.

"Turns out they were using us to make the other jealous or something, and hooked up while we weren't looking." Ren said.

"Oh, wow." Jaune said. "Hey, why don't we grab some snacks, and we head over to the table, the rest of us have sat down, we've just been talking about the Dance Off."

"Ooh, Dance Off! That sounds interesting! What happened?" Nora asked.

"You mean you missed it?"

"I guess so. What happened?"

"Ah, well... I'll tell you about it later."

"Okey-Dokey."

Ozpin cleared his throat a few times as the music dimmed again. Teams RWBY and JNPR sat at their table, their snacks eaten, tired and satisfied. So far they had distracted Jaune from Ruby to keep her from her mortal fear of being in public.

"It is now time to announce the King and Queen of the Mid-Winters Solstice Ball. There were many fine entries, and most of you performed admirably. The votes have thus far been tallied, and I hold the names of the winners. Firstly, the name of the Queen." There was a brief silence that overtook the ballroom, everyone tensing to hear their own name as Ozpin opened up his envelope, and took out the small piece of paper with the name of the winner.

"Ms. Weiss Schnee." A beacon of light shone at the table of RWBY and JNPR, illuminating the pristine girl in wait as a wave of applause came back and forth the the ballroom, her friends and teammates furiously clapping. She stood up from her seat, gently squeezing Christians hand as she left. She walked up to the stage beside Professor Ozpin as the applause got louder. Ms. Goodwitch was on the stage as well, and gave Weiss a bouquet of wintery snowy flowers, and a beautiful silver tiara.

"Congratulations." Ozpin said to her, as she smiled triumphantly at her conquest. "And now for the name of the King." The Ballroom quickly hushed once more as Jaune screwed up his face, and crossed all the fingers he could, hoping and praying. "Mr. Jaune Arc." Jaune carefully opened his eyes and saw a spotlight of him, and he practically exploded into happiness. He gave a brief hug to Pyrrha and to Ruby, and made his way to the stage, where Weiss was waiting with a shocked and bewildered face. He hopped on stage where Ms. Goodwitch handed Ozpin a crown and sash, which he then placed onto Jaune. "Congratulations." He said. "The two of you have gone before all your peers, and out of them, they chose you as the most worthy. This is but a small reward for a small task, but nonetheless it is one we shall celebrate."

And with that the hall had it's longest bout of applause.

"And you said I couldn't do it, Snow Angel." Jaune said.

"Yes, well, I'm certainly eating my words now." Weiss said.

"And now, to round off the night, another dance. Maestro-"

The orchestra played a long slow melody. For that is what it was. A slow dance.

It was awkward at first, certainly Weiss had never even thought of broaching the notion that Jaune and her might end up dancing that night, but yet here they were. Weiss was taking a bit more a lead that Jaune was, and they made the traditional twist and turns, he held her hand and her waist, and they quietly listened to the music and went through the motions.

"So, Snow Angel-"

"Jaune, I'm gonna stop you right there." Weiss said. "I'm dancing with you because you somehow pulled a magic trick to get here. I'll dance, as friends, but please refrain from the flirting."

"Okay, fine." Jaune said, continuing to dance.

"Although, I will admit you did quite well." She said. "I think it's very nice that you won. You deserve it."

"Thanks. Do you think our dates will mind we're up here?" He asked.

"I think Ruby will understand. Christian, well I certainly hope he's mature enough to understand. To be fair, we still don't quite know each other, so I certainly hope he's not the jealous type."

"Yeah, he seems like a nice dude." Jaune said.

They continued to dance in the center of the Ballroom, along with a few more couples, enough to make a crowd, but most people who weren't taking there last dance for the night were resting the duration of the night away. Pyrrha looked on with not just a touch of envy and loneliness.

"Well Ruby, looks like your problems are solved." She said. "The Ball is almost over, and you haven't had a single dance with Jaune. And it looks like he might be busy with Weiss for the rest of the night."

"I know..." Ruby moaned. "But now some stupid part of me is jealous and wants to dance with him more."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "Ruby, I think if Jaune is brave enough to put himself out there, you should be too."

"I know, you're right." Ruby said. "I wish I was confident like Jaune with other people. I'm good with people I know, and my friends and family and junk, but I just can't go up to new people like Jaune can."

"Well... maybe you'll learn." Pyrrha said.

"Maybe one day." Ruby said, staring at the ceiling. "Not today."

"Hey guys!" Jaune said, appearing in her field of view.

"AH JAUNE!" Ruby jumped out of her seat, only to fall on the floor. "Ow..." She whined.

"Jaune, shouldn't you be dancing with Weiss?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, dancing with her was nice, but we both decided we wanted to get back to our dates." Jaune said, Pyrrha turned to sea Weiss now in a dance with Christian.

"Oh isn't that nice." Ruby said from the floor.

"So, that said, want to share the last dance with the Prom King Ruby?"

"What?" Ruby said. "Oh, Jaune I'd love to but..."

Jaune crouched down to her level. "Ruby, I'm not stupid."

"You're not?"

"I know what you've been doing."

"You do?"

"You've been avoiding dancing with me."

"I have?"

"Is something the matter?" Jaune asked.

Ruby tried a last ditch effort to lie, but it died before it left her tongue. "It's... I don't do crowds well. I don't want to feel like everyones watching me."

"Well... I think I might be able to help with that." Jaune said, helping her up. "Come on!" He said, dragging her to the dance floor.

"Hey! What!"

"Don't worry, it's a slow dance!"

"S-s-s-slow dance?" Pyrrha watched Ruby being dragged against her will by Jaune to the dance floor, and she gave a heavy sigh.

"You okay?" Blake asked her, certainly not up for a last dance like Yang was, even if she had burned through a lot of her energy that night.

"I'm fine." Pyrrha said, waving her off.

Blake paused before offering a rebuttal.

"It's okay to admit you're not happy with something." She said. "Even if that something involves a friend."

"Maybe." Pyrrha said. "But tonight is Ruby's night. I'm fine with being patient. I can wait."

Before Ruby knew it, they were in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by other couples. "Jaune..." She muttered. Jaune simply put a hand on her waist, and held aloft her other. Slowly in time with the gentle music, they swayed back and forth through the night. "Hey Jaune, how did you learn to do this?"

"Eh, my aunt." Jaune answered. "She wanted to teach me a couple things about being a gentleman and stuff."

"You're surprisingly good at this."

"I know. I like dancing. You know, like regular dancing, not this kinda dancing. Though, I mean this is nice too, you just can't do it whenever you want though. To be honest though, this is the first time of done this kind of stuff at school, and I'm a little rusty."

"Really, um... I can't tell." Ruby muttered.

"That's a good thing then." Jaune said.

"I'm uh, sorry Jaune." She muttered.

"Hm? Oh, for not dancing sooner? Nah, don't worry about it, I'm fine with just the one dance, even if it's at the end. Honestly I prefer just hanging out with my friends anyway."

"Well, it's just, um, it's just?"

"Yes?"

"I just thought you were like me."

"How?"

"I'm a klutz." She said.

Jaune paused at that. "No. That's not right. I'm a klutz. You are not a klutz, Ruby you are a lot of things, pretty, smart, athletic, you are not a klutz."

Ruby blushed. "Thanks Jaune. But I am. I can't dance. I have two left feet. I look like a total dork if I try. And I really don't like being in front of crowds too. It's kinda why I didn't want to come in the first place until Yang made me. I kinda thought you were the same, it's kinda the, well it's not the only reason, but I kinda thought I'd be able to avoid dancing tonight."

"But-but you're seem so coordinated when you're fighting!" Jaune said.

"Well, yeah. But Jaune, you're... not."

"Well... yeah."

"But you're, well honestly you're great at dancing! So I guess I'm the opposite."

"Well, you've been dancing with me, I don't think you're that bad." Jaune said.

"Jaune? I've been stepping on your feet the entire time." Jaune looked down to see Ruby step on his sneakers with her boots ever third step, she was so light he hadn't even noticed. "When I'm fighting I'm focused, I know what I'm doing. But dancing is so different. I'm always feeing I'm doing something wrong, and I'm worried that everyone is watching."

"Well, I still think you're doing good." He said, getting a small smirk from his date. "And if you're worried about everyone else, then my Dad always said-, well never mind."

"What? What did he say?"

"Well, he said that when your dancing with someone, and it doesn't matter who the someone is, then the whole world is only you, them, and the music around you. Corny right?"

"No, no I like corny." She said, blushing a little. "Thanks Jaune."

"Eh, don't thank me, I'm just stealing someone else's advice."

"No, I mean, thanks for taking me to the Ball, and getting me to Dance. It's nice."

"Heh, anytime."

And so, with a few final words on the stage by Ozpin, by which point most everyone was too tired to take them in. A few of the students tried to scrounge what was left of the feast that had been picked barren by ravenous teens. At the death nell of the night, they pored out from the ballroom into the various halls of Beacon, the snow still settling softly on the illuminated ground beneath a grey and black sky.

Team RWBY and JNPR walked beside each other, telling the other anything they may have missed, and whatever had transpired in the last few moments of the Ball. Jaune and Weiss both got plenty of adulations for their positions as King and Queen, which they were happy to receive. They got to the dorms, and bid each other good night, and stayed up only long enough to disrobe themselves into their sleepwear, and fall swiftly to sleep in their warm beds, as the night outside snowed, and blowed, and did it's best to stay as dark and long as possible, despite the jubilations.

All in all it was an event for which, despite any missteps that may have happened along the way, would be one of many happy memories of their time at Beacon for whom all those who had attended.

The End.