AN: Grand Finale time, Thanks for all the support given throughout this story, I hope you stick around for future stories and possible sequels to this one.

The night had passed in a blur of laughter, stumbling and being led around in various dances that Jaune seemed to perform with the same ease as breathing. Now, as the hall began to empty and the night began to close, she knew it was time to take her chance before it was too late and the fears that plagued her in the weeks before returned. She steeled herself once more with the memories she had created during the evening and spoke.

"Hey Jaune, is there somewhere we can talk, like, in private?" she asked the boy, looking up at him from where she stood nestled close to him from a slow dance. She had thought he would be more awkward about slow dancing with her, but something about dancing seemed to have given him a major confidence boost, so when asked if he was okay with it he had only pulled her close and continued, causing her inner romantic to squeal before being locked up to be saved until this moment.

"Sure, Rubes," he took her by the hand and led her up the stairs to an empty balcony, both of them looked out at the stars and basked in the tranquillity of the night for a minute before the blonde broke the silence by asking, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

The realisation that this moment was actually happening sent her into a very brief state of panic before she quickly went over the advice she had been given over the time leading up to the dance. She needed to be direct, not give him any other way to interpret the question, with a sigh she loaded her question and fired.

"Jaune, why wasn't I on your list of potential romantic partners?" she asked with a straight face, she looked him directly in the eye and watched as his confident state faltered, realising this may seem a little too like an interrogation she calmed the rather aggressive stance she had taken up and turned her hard expression into a calmer, yet still curious one.

"Uh, I guess I don't really know, I mean you were advising me so I guess I just figured it would be kind of awkward to put you on there. Why do you ask?" he replied, tilting his head inquisitively. Once again Ruby steeled herself and voiced her thoughts in the most direct way she could.

"Jaune I'm in love with you, romantically, or at least very interested in you, and I want us to be a couple, as in the hugging and kissing and possibly other things but those probably wouldn't come into play for quite a while kind of couple." With that said, the girl breathed out months worth of frustration and anxiety, she had said it, and with that she let the calm feeling from earlier fill her one more time as she waited for the response.

Jaune, for his part, was staring at the girl in a strange mix of fear and shock. She wished she could help him, but she had said her part, the ball was in his court now.

"Uh, wow, I mean I suspected a little, especially with that whole speech in the courtyard thing, but I thought I was just crazy, like, why would Ruby like me? But... I don't know what to say Rubes; you're like my best friend, especially after Pyrrha, and what if that happens to us too! I-I- ugh, this is so confusing!" The blonde rambled, every thought that came to his head spilled from his mouth as he tried to comprehend what the girl he considered his best friend had just said to him.

Ruby on the other hand was listening to every word of his rambling, despite her own constant reassurances that everything would be fine the sheer emotion of the situation mixed with the hope and despair she was getting from the boy's words made her veil of calm collapse. She felt tears in her eyes and forced them back, desperately hoping the blonde wouldn't notice, despite how much she wanted this to work out she didn't want to emotionally blackmail him into a pity relationship because she couldn't control herself.

Of course Jaune did notice, and he panicked as she had expected. Before he could say anything however, she decided to speak up and prevent him from doing just that and agreeing out of pity. She shook her head violently.

"M'fine, I'll be fine, sorry, I'm being stupid, emotions 'n stuff." She gave a watery smile and he nodded, turning around and composing himself. The time moved slowly for both of them, their thoughts both running fast and swirling within an assault of varied emotions. Ruby had managed to control hers only slightly, despite the lack of tears the sadness was obvious in her eyes though was occasionally fought back by her inner hope and optimism that she would come out of this better off than before no matter the outcome.

Jaune on the other hand was having much more trouble containing himself, not having had the same emotional prep time that Ruby had, thus he just began saying what was on his mind,

"I don't get this at all, I never thought you liked me like that but it doesn't seem bad, it's not bad right? But it could be, like with Pyrrha, neither of us did anything wrong but it just didn't work out anyway, even though we cared about each other it just ended, now everything's awkward and I don't have enough friends to just lose them like that y'know? I don't even know how I feel about you, I never thought about our relationship because it just was and now I have to think about it and it's all just so confusing!" He put his head in his hands and sighed, the pressure of the thoughts lifting off him as if he had been carrying an anvil that turned into a feather. He looked up at the girl before him; her face looked panicked as she attempted to process the boy's response.

"Uh, Jaune, was there an answer in there? If there was, could you translate it from ramble because I have no idea what that was." Ruby stated as she ran a hand through her hair, this caused Jaune to laugh in relief, he had almost forgotten who he was talking to in the midst of all this panic, this was Ruby, not Pyrrha or Weiss or any other crush he had developed. This was his friend, one who happened to have a crush on him and who was just as confused in this situation as he was. He needed to make this as simple for both of them as possible, because neither of them was good at this.

"My answer is that I care about you Ruby, and that's what's important right? You're my best friend," the girl began to frown at this seeming rejection but immediately perked up at his next words,"which is why I think we could try this."

"You would!?" Ruby exclaimed, looking at the boy with hopeful eyes.

"Sure, I mean how much would really change?" Jaune shrugged causing Ruby to open her mouth and immediately shut it again before mumbling out an answer.

"Well, we'd like kiss and stuff..." She seemed confused at how little their relationship would change if she thought about it.

"I get to kiss a cute girl and hang out with my best friend?" He took her hand, "This seems like a better deal by the minute." Ruby blushed heavily at his words and touch.

"When'd you get all charming?" she teased causing Jaune to mock scoff.

"Please, I've always been this charming, why else would you end up crushing on me?" He grinned at her as she giggled.

"Probably more for your comedic skills than charm, though if that was your idea of a joke I think my taste has increased in the last ten seconds." The two of them joined in laughter that eventually trailed off into a comfortable silence, their emotions had calmed and there was an atmosphere of gentle comfort that enveloped them both as they stood in each other's company. Eventually the silence was broken by Ruby.

"Soooo..." she looked Jaune in the eyes; "since we've been doing the 'hanging out with best friend part' all night, do you think we could...?" she looked at her feet and kicked the ground nervously.

"What? You want to kiss a cute girl?" He smirked, Ruby just looked up at him again, eyes filled with confidence.

"No, I want to kiss you, though you are pretty cute and you do scream like a girl, so I guess if you're going off technicalities..." she smiled devilishly and brought herself closer to the tall boy and stood on her tiptoes, "you can tell everyone that you were there when I kissed the cutest, girliest person in the school."

She brought her lips up to his and her mind exploded in fireworks, not because the kiss was so great or because she was madly in love with him, no, those would come later.

For now she was just filled with so much happiness, she revelled in the fact that despite all the trials and errors she had gone through, she had made it, she was here.

She had finally caught him.