Cover Image: orig11 dot deviantart dot net / de92 / f / 2016 / 117 / c / 2 / rwby_jaune_arc_minimalist_wallpaper_by_archeoalex-da0f4bm .png (no spaces). All credit to the original artist

A blond walked into the bar. Now whilst most people would hear that and immediately assume that a joke is going to follow, this was not the case today. Jaune slumped onto the bar stool and caught the attention of the Bartender, who was previously just rubbing the same spot on the counter like she had been reading too much Macbeth and saw an immovable stain on the wood that she just had to remove.

"I'll have whatever's strong and cheap..." the boy moaned.

"Rough day, huh?" she asked as she put the drink down in front of him. Jaune laughed to himself and muttered under his breath.

"And there it is."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." He looked up to take his drink. "Rough day. Rough week. Rough life." The way he spoke those words were painful, they sounded broken - much like he felt.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blue eyes shifted their focus from the glass of weird liquid in front of him to the female behind the bar. She seemed genuinely concerned about him, he didn't look too great and he felt even worse than he looked. Without a word, Jaune lowered his gaze again and just nodded. She rested her hand on the counter just next to the boy's glass so he saw it. He looked up again, understanding that she wanted to speak. "Tell you what, that one's on me. There's a booth round the corner that's rarely used, we'll go speak in there. I'm off shift in like 20 minutes, if you're okay to wait." A small smile crept onto his face as he nodded. She smiled back and pointed to a corner of the bar that was basically empty, just as she said it would be. "20 minutes, that's all."

True to her word, 20 minutes later the girl was walking round to the booth with another two drinks in her hand; one for her and one for Jaune. The woman, who looked no older than he was, was also about as tall as him. Her chestnut brown hair, which was tied up when she was on duty, now flowed elegantly down her back and stopped just shy of her shoulder blades. She still wore her completely dark uniform for the job, but had since removed the apron and had undone the top button of the shirt she wore, showing a very dainty little silver chain around her neck with a crystal blue ring attached to the end of it. Her eyes were a Kobicha brown in colour with very small flakes of blue in around the iris - a detail you'd only really be able to notice if you were paying very close attention and when she wasn't wearing her glasses. She was now but, again, not when she was behind the bar. She sat down opposite Jaune, who took the drink with a small grin.

"Thank you. What was your name by the way? I didn't catch it."

"It's Lonna."

"Nice to meet you Lonna, name's Jaune Arc; short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it." He remembered using that exact line when he first introduced himself to Ruby - it'd never work on someone as crazily unique as her. On that note, Jaune had to admit that there was nothing massively spectacular about Lonna. But that level of normality appealed to the boy, especially after a drink of whatever this thing was.

"So Jaune, why the long face? You seemed very down when you came in, worryingly so. And then the whole 'rough life' thing had me worried. What happened?" The boy sighed heavily and took the first swig from his new drink.

"Where do I start?"

Flashback 1 - 7 months ago

"Weiss. Hey Weiss!" The Arc ran to catch up with the Heiress who he'd spotted walking out towards the front of Beacon on her own. The perfect opportunity.

"Hello Jaune," she replied once he'd stopped by her. "I'm glad you're here, I actually wanted to speak with you today."

"I... you did?" This was most definitely a first for the blond; he'd never had anyone actually want to speak with him before. And when it was, it was usually someone or something he didn't want to listen to. But this was Weiss Schnee, the girl he'd had a crush on the moment he saw her back when they arrived at Beacon. Everything about her was perfect to him; her intelligence and willingness to learn, a habit very clearly forced upon her from her lineage; the way her platinum hair radiated in the Vale sunlight; the way her clothes sat on her making her look even more amazing than she truly was - a feat he thought near impossible; everything was right with her. And now here she was, alone and actually wanting to talk with him. He was always the one of the two who initiated the conversation and it was normally her who halted its progress before he got to what he wanted to say. Not this time, it seems.

"Yes, I wanted to thank you." He leaned back slightly, unsure of what he did that required a thanking.

"Uh, you're welcome? Remind me, what have I done that warranted this?" The ice blue eyes of the Schnee rolled and her arms folded as she explained with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I wanted to thank you for talking to Neptune at the dance." Upon hearing that name, Jaune's hopes and spirit fell. When Weiss and Neptune's names were mentioned in the same sentence it only really lead to one undeniable conclusion. Trying as best as he could to sound enthusiastic, he faked a cheerful,

"It was nothing, really."

"But it meant so much to us Jaune. Once he had shed the 'Overconfident, Hot Stuff' persona and you expose the real Neptune, he is such a sweet guy. He's taking me to go shopping in Vale now. Truly, I cannot thank you enough. I never would have seen that side of him if you didn't force him to stop that." She looked at the boy and saw his head hung low and he seemed very much defeated. "Jaune, are you alright?" Once again, he faked how he was feeling for her.

"Oh, no it's fine. I'm... just a little exhausted from training earlier. You go on, I need to catch up with my team elsewhere." Without even letting her ask any more questions, Jaune turned around and started jogging back towards Beacon. With that, his chances of getting Weiss to like him were wiped out in an instant.

End of Flashback 1

"Oh dear Jaune, I am sorry to hear that." Lonna leaned forward so that she looked at him a little closer. Her eyes met Jaune's for but a moment, and in that time he felt like there was no one else there on Remnant but her. Realising this, he shook himself clear for his judgement and went back to his drink.

"It's fine Lonna. I'm over it."

"If you are over it, then why are you moping now?" Taking another hit of the drink, Jaune shrugged at her question. "That was seven whole months ago, right? There has to be something else." The young woman was right, there was more.

Flashback 2a - 7 weeks ago

Jaune couldn't quite put his finger on how this situation came to be, but he wasn't going to complain. Blake had broken up with her now ex-boyfriend Adam and she felt that Jaune was the perfect person to go to for consolation. To her, he seemed to be impartial to her and, whilst that had been true at the start of Beacon, over time he had actually grown fond of her. She was a sweet girl with problems and a troubled past, and he was willing to let that all slide. The pair of them had been talking for hours at this point.

"Y'know, I'm glad you said to come out here Jaune. It's helped me a lot."

"That's alright. I always used to come here back at the start of Beacon so that I could relax and think to myself." He looked around the patch they were sitting in; it was one of the more secluded gardens on campus but that didn't stop it from being just as green and beautiful as the rest. He kept staring at the scenery as he posed the Faunus a question. "So, what's the plan now? Do you want to head back to your dorm?" Much to his surprise, he felt Blake lie down on this lap as she responded.

"Nah. I'm perfectly happy here." And she shut her eyes, dosing off in his lap. Whilst his cheeks turned a distinct shade of red, he grinned at the action the girl was taking. This had never happened to him before and he was over the moon - but he couldn't exactly jump up and down about it. Instead, the Arc boy opted to lean back and enjoy the rest of the sunny day with the Faunus in his lap.

End of Flashback 2a

"That doesn't seem so bad." Lonna mentioned. Jaune shook his head and replied,

"There's more."

"Oh."

Flashback 2b - 6 weeks ago

"Happy Birthday Blake!" Jaune came bearing a card, nothing too much. Blake's voice sounded awkwardly surprised that he had showed up with a card at the dorm door.

"Jaune. What a surprise."

"Do you mind if I come in?" Amber eyes widened slightly and beads of sweat appeared on the Faunus' forehead as she battled in her mind which of two answers she should give. Should she be honest and go 'Actually Jaune, I've got someone coming round to the dorm soon and we wanted some privacy' or should she say,

"Sure, come in." Seemed her mouth made its choice before her mind could answer. The pair of them sat on the floor and talked like they had done previously, Jaune seeming much more comfortable than Blake was about this whole scenario. After a while, there was another knock at the door. Blake called that it was fine and Yang came in, her partner knocking just to make sure everyone was fully clothed before she opened the door.

"Oh, hey Jaune!" Yang sat next to Blake. As in, right next to Blake. Being the inexperienced person he was and is, he didn't think much of it.

"Hey Yang. I've just been talking to Blake; I wanted to see her on her Birthday."

"That's cool. I wanted to see her too."

"But she's your teammate, you can see her anytime you want..." He didn't notice the glare he got from Yang at that remark. This sort of conversation carried on for far longer than either girl wanted. In the end, Blake feigned tiredness and rested her head upon Yang's lap, just as she had done with Jaune less than a week ago.

End of Flashback 2b

"What happened after that?" Lonna inquired, genuinely interested in the rest of this story and as a result also feeling really guilty for wanting this boy to spill all the details of how his love life was a load of shit. But in her defence, he was spilling the details like they would explode and kill him if he kept them to himself any longer.

"Well, I stayed there for a couple more minutes and then left so that Blake could get some shut eye. I thought nothing of the whole lap thing with Yang, even though I had thought everything of it when it had happened to me. Not even a day later, the pair announced that they were a couple, and had been for the past 3 days." The brown eyed girl's jaw dropped as the revelation hit her.

"No? Really?! Wow, that's... wow."

"Yeah, it was then and only then did it actually click why they were so close to one another on her birthday. They weren't actually ready to announce it yet, but something - me - happened that forced them to say earlier than they had wanted. I felt so stupid for a week after, I'd built up false hopes because she was talking to me basically everyday for hours on end. I got attached to that fact, that level of interaction with someone for even that brief period of time and jumped headfirst to my own conclusions, making up feelings that Blake clearly didn't have for me at all." Tears of self-hatred started pooling in the corners of the boy's eyes.

"And what about the newest thing? I mean, there has to be something else. You wouldn't be feeling this bad six weeks after all of that transpired; something happened recently, didn't it Jaune?" The blond nodded, trying to compose himself to tell the story to his new companion. She shifted round to his side of the booth and rubbed his shoulder, whispering to him "Let it out Jaune. You can talk when it's all out of your system. Or before, whichever you feel more comfortable with." Judging from the lengthy pause between the end of her speaking and the start of him, the brunette came to the conclusion that he had gone with 'when' rather than 'before'.

Flashback 3 - 40 minutes ago

Jaune looked at his teammate as she got herself ready and smiled to himself. How could he have been so oblivious? There was a girl right here who was clearly harbouring feelings for him. He felt bad that it needed Ren and Nora to explain this to him. Looking back on it all, he was dumb for not seeing the signs.

There were a few others who had fallen into the category that Pyrrha Nikos now fell in. Weiss Schnee was in there, obviously. Blake was in there because of all the time they had talked after her and Adam split. Even Ruby, who he admitted that was once again because she saw him as himself rather than the person he was trying to be. But no, his mind was set on Pyrrha and he was not going to leave things too late. Not this time.

"Pyrrha?" The warrior stopped what she was doing to look at her partner. The boy stood and walked towards her, mustering up all of the courage he had, then borrowing some more from somewhere else as well. "I want to say how grateful I am for all the work you've done with me outside of classes. It's been a huge help."

"It was nothing Jaune. Really."

"I'm sure it wasn't. But, I've recently been talking to Nora and Ren about you, and about how you feel towards me." Pyrrha's cheeks grew as red as her hair in mere seconds.

"Oh Jaune! I needed to -"

"Please Pyrrha, it's taken me a long time to build up the courage to speak to you, let me speak." The girl audible groaned uncomfortably before reluctantly nodding and letting JNPR's team leader continue. "They told me that you have had feelings for me ever since the early days of Beacon. All the time we spent training was one of the ways you were trying to get me to notice you more, the way you said I was the type of boy you wished you were at the dance with, all of these hints I ignored in my blind efforts to pursue others. I'm sorry for ignoring you and as such I wanted to set things straight. So Pyrrha, do you want to go on a date with me at some point?" The girl winced at the question, something Jaune noticed. "Pyrrha?"

"I am happy that you have finally found the courage to speak to me Jaune, I really am." Her tone shifted violently to a very harsh one, a lot of anger spilling out at the catalyst in a sudden and uncharacteristic show of emotion. "But don't you think that it's a little too late for your confession?"

"Pyrrha I-"

"No! You don't get it Jaune! Ren and Nora are correct, I did have feelings for you. You saw me as someone who was just like anyone else, who didn't put me on a pedestal to be paraded round as the perfect person or the inspiration to all; you saw me as me and I wanted that sort of person to be by my side through life. But you followed a path of unrequited love, a love that never could be. You still have some feelings for Weiss, don't you Jaune? Even seven months after you found out that she and Neptune were dating there is still a tiny bit of your brain that hopes for your chance to come. Am I correct?"

"That's not what-" he was interrupted by a powerful glare from his teammate, a glare that stabbed harder than any blade ever could, piercing deeper than any bullet could ever travel. "...yes. You are correct."

"And that is why I stopped pursuing you. I still had feelings for you, but you were so focussed on Weiss that you failed to see what was right in front of you. And so, I moved on. I started looking somewhere else and I found someone else. We aren't dating yet, but I plan to change that. Tonight, I am going out with Ruby and I am going to tell her that I love her and then I will ask her to be my girlfriend." Jaune recoiled slightly, hurt by how harsh the usually calm and collected girl was being. "You missed your chance with me Jaune. And I am sorry. I'll see you tomorrow night for training - or Monday for classes, if you're not up to that." And on that, Pyrrha left.

"Jeez Jaune, you weren't kidding. You've had it terrible." The blond retorted at her, slurring a couple of his words slightly.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I'm okay."

"Jaune, no you are not." She gave him a small reassuring hug. "Listen, I've seen peole going through this a lot - one of the many 'perks' of working behind a bar. And unfortunately there have been a few people who haven't made it to see their next sunrise because of how low they've been feeling. For me, please keep fighting. They'll come, whoever they may be, when the time is right. They will make a choice to be with you, and if you reciprocate that feeling then there will be nothing to stop that from blooming into something beautiful. There's a saying; 'If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.'" The blond looked into the eyes of the woman dumbfounded at the wisdom she spoke.

"Lonna, that's amazing! Who-?"

"Bob Marley." Jaune laughed at that, and Lonna laughed with him - she was glad she brought the man some happiness when he clearly needed it. "Come on blondy, let's get you back home."

The pair walked slowly back towards Beacon Academy's main entrance, Jaune stumbling along the way. No doubt about it, he was a lightweight, so those two drinks he had put him on the wrong side of tipsy. All the while, Lonna was there close-by. She wanted to make sure he didn't accidently wobble into the road and kill himself, so she stood closest to the road. Every so often, Jaune would look at her and see her smiling back. And finally, after a few occassions of silence, he spoke what was on his mind.

"You are very pretty. Did you know that Lonna?"

"Aw, do you think so?" He responded with a smile and a nod, feeling that words would betray him. "That's very nice of you to say so."

"Do you think I'm pretty?" Lonna looked at him with surprise, then just laughed.

"Sure, I think you're pretty as well Jaune. I also think you're a little too drunk to realise what you're saying. Fortunately, we're at the gates, so it isn't too far to go before you're back in bed and sleeping this whole thing off." They both stopped as Lonna showed him into the Academy grounds. Before she could leave, the knight grabbed her in a hug that caught her off guard, so much so that she let out a little "eek!" from the surprise.

"Thank you Lonna. It was nice to talk to someone that was completely impartial to the whole thing." He hesitated before she quickly returned the hug, then broke it soon after starting it.

"No problem Jaune. Remember, I'm going to be working there every week at the same time, so you'll always have someone you could talk to there. Alright?"

"Alright. Thank you!" And with that, he turned and started stumbling his way back towards the dorms. With any luck, he wouldn't bump into Pyrrha and Ruby, or Weiss, or Blake, or anyone really. He wanted nothing more than to make his way to his bed and sleep like it was going out of fashion. At least Lonna was going to be there for him. He had a chance with her, she seemed nice and interesting.

"Hey hunnie." The voice caught Jaune's attention. He spun round to see a large man approaching Lonna just outside the gates. The couple embraced and kissed as they greeted each other, shocking the boy to partial sobriety.

"Hi. Sorry I didn't get back sooner, I had to make sure this guy was alright." The man laughed, even his laugh sounded more powerful than Jaune.

"You always were one to help when the need came."

"Yeah, I guess I am." She turned once more towards the blond, who was staring at the couple talking. "Goodbye Jaune. Stay safe!" The pair then linked arms as they headed home. Jaune waited for them to leave his line of sight before he started going home himself. His brain, still clouded by alcohol, took some time to process. But eventually it came to light that he was Lonna's partner; the ring around her necklace must have been their wedding or engagement ring and she didn't wear it on duty. As all this came to the forefront of his mind, the blond's brow furrowed and he screamed as loud as he could in frustration at yet another person life had decided to yank out of his reach.

"MOTHERFU-"

Hey guys!

I realised quite recently how bad my love life is. And how when I first watched RWBY I related to Jaune so much in all aspects, especially his love life (up until mid-Season 3). So I took a few of my own real life 'nearly dated but not' scenarios, added a sprinkle of 'Creative Liscence', left to simmer for a day or two and this is the result. I hope y'all enjoy listening to my 'dating' misfortunes in the form of a much more entertaining story than mine'd ever be.

Also, I'll be doing things with a lot more structure and order from now on. Any One-Shots will be uploaded on a Monday. Anything that's part of a larger story will be uploaded on a Thursday, failing that a Friday - that way any of you can expect a certain thing on a certain day rather than being left to guess. As a bonus for me, it'll give me an entire week to write the best chapters I can for you.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated

Until next time,
FeugoFox42 :)