It was nearing the end of their freshman year at Beacon and Jaune sat in the JNPR dorm thinking about what Pyrrha had told him to do. He tried to listen he really did, but he had zoned out and was exhausted so by time he got focused on Pyrrha, she, Nora, and Ren were already out the door to go shopping for food and clothes. That was needed thanks to Nora's last "idea" that ended with their dorm room being wrecked.
The longer he tried to remember what Pyrrha had said, the more his mind seemed to fog up. Jaune decided that walking around to look for the answer was the most probable thing to do at that moment. He got up and checked the sheets, but they smelled fine so he knew that wasn't what he needed to do. The dorm was relatively clean so he didn't need to vacuum either. Annoyed at his own incompetence to listen to simple directions he looked around in a last ditch effort and saw it. The full laundry basket, 'Success', he thought, 'Now all I have to do is the laundry and I'm home free to train.'
Jaune walked over to the laundry basket, poured the clothes into the washing machine, and grabbed the bottle of detergent only to realize that it was completely empty. He scolded himself for not remembering something so trivial and placed the bottle down with a defeated sigh. Jaune decided that maybe team RWBY would have some detergent, so he set down the basket of laundry he went across the hall to their dorm.
He knocked and was answered with silence. Again he rapped his knuckles on the door with no response. He was about to leave when he heard someone jump up and open the door. To his surprise it was a clearly grumpy Yang who appeared to be recently woken up. Not wanting to get a taste of her knuckle sandwich, he covered his face and yelled.
"Sorry Yang I didn't mean to wake you up please don't hurt me!" He was met with a confused look, followed by a melodic chuckle at his cowardly response.
"Jaune I understand you being afraid of me, everyone should be, but we are friends. I mean our teams have been working closely together for almost a year now," she paused and began again with "you don't have to be scared of me constantly we can talk like normal friends. Unless you mess with my hair, that is." Yang said with a wink.
"I know, Yang" Jaune sighed "it's just a natural response." He added as he looked into team RWBY's room which was, to put it nicely, a mess. A mess with clothes, weapons, and ammo alike strewn across the room.
Noticing Jaune looking at the room, Yang admitted, "It's my day to clean."
"You have a lot to clean Yang, but if I can ask, where are the rest of your teammates?"Jaune questioned.
"Doing the same as your team, shopping and leaving me to sleep in," Yang said. "Or at least try to sleep in." Jaune winced hearing that. He apologized again and decided he needed to get down to business and ask what he had come there for in the first place.
"Do you guys have any detergent?"
"Always one to be blunt, Vomit Boy." Yang laughed before she answered with "Yeah we do, come in while I try to find it in this mess of a dorm room." Jaune laughed in reply and stepped into the room before observing everything around him.
As he looked around he saw Ember Celica resting in the corner but no other weapons. He figured they took them out to clean or get repaired. He then inspected the questionable bunk beds, which honestly seemed like a safety hazard but he decided to leave it and looked further. He had a glimpse into the closet and was surprised at the sheer amount of clothes and shoes before he finally put his attention onto the yellow themed girl in the room.
He acknowledged her beauty, no one could deny how truly gorgeous she was but he didn't want to get his hopes up knowing she was so far out of his league. He was brought back to earth with her waving her hand in front of his face.
"Earth to Vomit Boy, is anyone in there?" Yang questioned, and before Jaune could respond she added flirtatiously "You know when I said we are friends it didn't mean you could check me out."
Expecting Jaune to start stuttering, she was shocked to see him grow a little annoyed and asked. "Why do you always have to do that?"
"Do what?" Yang said quizzically, confused at Jaune's quick change of attitude.
"You always have to toy with me around the others and call me Vomit Boy, which I can accept with our friends, but one on one I would assume the act would drop a little so we could have a normal conversation." Jaune said, throwing Yang's words right back at her.
Yang was seriously confused; she was toying with Jaune when all of a sudden he began to get defensive. She decided to push further and figure out why.
"You never get this upset Jaune, why all of the sudden?" Yang questioned genuinely which in turn caught Jaune off guard.
He started looking around nervously and then tried to defuse the situation by responding with "It's nothing. Where's the detergent?" But he had poked the bull and the bull was not going to let up so easily. She gestured for Jaune to sit on her bed as she had already sat down, he realized there was no going back and sat cautiously on the edge of the bed.
Yang was puzzled at how Jaune was acting. She had no idea what could be causing him to react like this. She always teased him, but the teasing never elicited the strange reaction she was currently receiving.
She attempted to get an honest answer from him by continuing to push. "Jaune seriously what has gotten into you I always talk that way to you but you never respond like that." Jaune just stared at Yang, waiting for her to figure it out on her own.
Yang, getting distracted in the moment, looked into his undeniably enchanting eyes and thought, 'not too shabby.' She carefully looked Jaune over, her eyes taking in his toned muscles and endearing face. 'If he wasn't head over heels for Pyrrha I might actually consider dating him.' She shakes her head at her own thoughts. 'No Yang, this is definitely not the time to get side tracked, Jaune is always smiling and joking around so this is actually serious.' She thinks to herself as she takes in his change in demeanor from happy to almost sad. Yang attempts to get him to spill his feeling again.
"Jaune you aren't getting out of this room until you tell me what's wrong, you always look obnoxiously happy and make stupid jokes, but now you look like you couldn't even attempt a smile. I don't want any of my friends to be sad, ever. Whatever it is, let me help please." Yang thought that maybe Jaune hadn't heard her until she looked up to see him with a ridiculous smile on his face. He finally began to scoot over to her side but put a lot of effort into avoiding her sharp gaze.
"Why do you tell jokes Yang?" Jaune asked her.
"To make everyone around me laugh, why?" she replied easily.
"Well Yang, I figured you would say that. I make my friends laugh to make sure our friends aren't scared or sad." Jaune took a breath "You see Ozpin shouldn't have made me leader."
Yang tried to interrupt him but he stopped her "Yang, I may be oblivious but I do have ears. I can hear everyone calling me weak and saying that Pyrrha should have been leader, including you guys." Jaune accused. He took in a deep breath and clenched his fist before continuing. "But, I accepted that. Even though it still stings every time Ice Queen brings it up. I can live with the disapproving looks, those aren't the problem. It's knowing that I am responsible for coordinating my team and keeping them alive that keeps me awake and makes me train until I can't move my arms. But even though I can see improvement, I know I can never come even close to you guys."
He finished with an exhausted sigh and got up to leave. However, before he got far, Yang reached up and pulls him close to her. She had her head cradled into his neck and her soft golden hair brushed against the bottom of his chin. Jaune was about to speak when Yang interrupted him this time.
"And why didn't you like the Vomit Boy name and the flirting?"
He looked into her lilac eyes and answered quietly "Vomit Boy just reminds me that I'm so weak I even get sick on airship rides. The flirting I don't like because you dangle hope in front of my eyes and make me begin to think that maybe I'm on your level then snag the hope away and remind me I'm not even close." Jaune said dejectedly.
Yang blinked, surprised at how personal Jaune was getting with her. "Jaune you may not be the strongest of the group, I won't deny it, but your leadership skills are exceptional which is why you are leader. Plus like you said, your fighting has improved by leaps and bounds Jaune, don't fight me on this" She said as she gazed at him. "Also, you get so down on yourself you don't even notice Pyrrha who is practically in love with you."
Jaune whispered "I know she is"
"What?" Yang looked up at him.
"I know she likes me, but I want to just keep our friendship because we work so closely together. I know if we were together it wouldn't work out." Jaune said in the same hushed tone. "So I've accepted that no one else thinks about me that way."
"Oh Jaune, there's that good ol' lack of self confidence, have you thought about where you are exactly?" Yang reminded Jaune.
Jaune wondered what she was talking about when he realized he was cuddling with the most gorgeous girl in Beacon academy, and his face flushed as she snuggled closer as if to emphasize where he was. He tried to reposition himself but found himself pinned and looked closer to a smug looking Yang who whispered.
"You don't give yourself enough credit Jaune" Yang said realizing she had just fell head over heels for this adorable boy. "I mean," she continued, "you spend so much time being down on yourself you don't seem to acknowledge others."
She laughed at the look of shock on Jaune's face.
"Yang w-what do you mean y-y-you're so far out of my league d-don't tease me so much e-eve-en i'm not that du-" Yang leaned up and placed her lips on the stuttering boy's. Jaune began to tense up but quickly eased into the kiss as his walls came down and his chest began to fill with a bright, warm feeling. To Jaune the kiss lasted forever, but in reality it only lasted around seven seconds. The best seven seconds of his life.
Yang giggled. "Never kissed a girl before Jaune?" She teased him.
"No no one ever looked at me twice growing up but that… that was amazing Yang." He looked down at her before adding, "I t-think I'm in love with you Yang Xiao Long.
"Think?" Yang replied. Jaune's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He felt fearful that he had gone too far and was about to get up and leave. Before he could move Yang grabbed his arm and said, "Cause I think so too Jaune"
At hearing this Jaune relaxed into Yang and laid back with her in his arms. He felt calm now that he knew that his feelings were mutual.
"So wanna go on a date Friday Yang?"
"Shhh Jaune we'll talk later this is too peaceful, you're going to be my pillow for now, don't forget you woke me up from my beauty sleep."
Jaune accepted this and settle in. He suddenly remembered that becoming Yang's (almost) boyfriend stopped him from getting the laundry detergent that had sent him over in the first place. He let out a silent chuckle as he felt Yang's breathing even out on his chest and decided that since he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, he might as well catch some sleep too.
I deem this shipGolden Sunrise please leave any criticism in the comments it is appreciated this is my first fic so don't be too harsh. I typed this as a warm up for the fic I'm currently doing called the favor (Shameless plug) and decided to post it now.
Btw about the choice of ship, I actually love this ship and adore it personally don't hate me.
p.s Thank you to the person that beta'd it (you know who you are)