Author's Note: Guess who's back and posting stories again? This guy. Hope you guys enjoy this piece. Also, this story was commissioned, so if you have a one-shot idea and don't mind paying me, I'll happily write it for you.

"Any reason the two of you are eating on my bed?" Jaune raises his eyebrows as he stares at Blake and Yang. Blake, the black haired Cat Faunus, book always in hand and Yang, the sunny blond with innuendo and puns in the place of polite conversation, looked up to him, bread crumbs and sesame seeds continuing to fall onto the simple white sheets as they chewed on their sandwiches. Jaune looks around the room for any other choice changes to his once pristine room. Nope, still the same room with posters of bikini-clad women and historical figures in equal measure. In the corner of his room though is a photo frame of the three of them at the beach. Jaune smirks at that before turning his attention back to the two in question.

Yang stares directly into Jaune's eyes and shoves the rest of her sandwich into her mouth. Cheeks puffing out as she says, "What sandwich?"

Blake stares her sandwich and intelligently mumbles, "Uh."

"Yeah, Blake. Why would you eat on Jaune's bed?" Yang's shit eating grin grows even wider after she swallows her food. At her side, Blake winces at Yang.

"Yeah, Yang. Why would you do that?" Jaune deadpans.

Blake takes the last bite of her sandwich, her eyes closed as she smiles at the flavor of the tuna.

"No chairs in here, and we were so tired!" Yang gasps as she clasps her heart. "Plus, we were waiting for the dashing Lady Killer to save us from our boredom."

Jaune narrows his eyes at her. "On a bed." Blake moves to get off the bed, but her hand slips and she falls onto her face.

"On a bed~" Yang moves on top of her. "Wah, what are we going to do here?"

"We just had…" Jaune pauses to think about two very important facts. One, his parents are home. Two, the walls are paper thin. Hands start shaking, forehead grows damp, his face glows heating pad red. "Get off. My poor parents had to put up with the three of us last night. I'm not giving them a repeat performance."

"Boo. Lady Killer, come back to bed~" Yang starts taking off her shirt.

"Blake, I will give you a signed copy of Ninjas of Love if you keep your girlfriend from further ruining this family vacation." Jaune sighs exasperatedly as he rotates his left hand in a hurrying gesture. In response, Blake's cat ears twitch suddenly, betraying her thoughts completely. "Oho~ Are we excited?" Jaune sing-songs, teasing the dark haired faunus.

"Excited, eh?" Yang wiggles her eyebrows

Blake pushes Yang off of her and pins both of Yang's wrists above her head. "Wait, give?" Her eyes widen as she turns her attention towards him. "Not buy?"

"Whoops." Jaune hangs his head downward, grin not fading. "Gave myself away."

At Jaune's words, Blake vibrates on the spot. She nods her head down and back at Jaune. One could almost hear a rubber band snap at the speed of her actions. Finally, she turns her head towards Yang with a soft predatory smirk. Yang gulps, knowing Blake had chosen her side.

"Let's not be too hasty." Yang responds shakily as she backs away. However, her attempts are futile as she falls out of the bed head first. "Ugh. Hello hardwood, how's the trip handling you?" Yang's legs are in the air and the back of her neck touches the black painted floor.

"Boo!" Blake's smile's gone. "I demand compensation for that pun."

"What, no sympathy for the poor girl in pain?" Yang face contorts into a pout, but her eyes gives her amusement away.

"None." Jaune and Blake snicker at answering at same time.

"So, what are we doing today?" Jaune asks the two as they all walk out of his room and down the stairs to the living room.

Jaune takes the lead to show them the way to the living room, yet Yang's eye is caught by the pictures on the wall as they descend the stairs. She comments on how pretty Iris is. Jaune cranes his head towards her slowly and squints at her. He turns his attention towards the pictures, the very thing he wanted to avoid looking at. Here, here was the proof of his worth growing up. Most of the pictures are of his sisters and their various, real accomplishments. Whereas Jaune's pictures are inane, meaningless, have no purpose. His eyes linger on his seventh birthday picture, first guitar. All of his pictures were birthday pictures, not anything of any real merit.

Constant reminders that he's not good enough. Never good enough.

Jaune's eye glances Iris' picture frame as he continues walking. The youngest Arc to reach the rank of General. She'd be the one to continue the family legacy. Not him. He pauses at the base of the stares.

Lily, the next oldest, became the personal bodyguard of the Council members of Vale.

Azalea, a hotshot lawyer. Long hours, rarely home, driven. She was the one who looked after Jaune the most growing up. She'd text him every morning to check up on him. The only family he checked up with to this day.

His three older sisters, all way ahead of him. All upholding the family legacy while he floundered in Beacon for the first year just trying to catch up. A school he didn't even get into legitimately. His fingers straighten as memories pelt at him, heartbeat increasing along the way.

Azalea was the only one who didn't treat him as a participation trophy. She said from the outset that he could become a Huntsman, but their parents had said no. Especially after Noir died.

The whole town came as they buried his older brother. Jaune's eye starts twitching as he tries to stop the memories flooding in. Eight years old. Everyone dressed in yellow, the priest lining the perimeter with Purity Dust to keep the Grimm from noticing the pooling negativity. The extended family all armed to the teeth.

Jaune's body shakes as his breathing grows heavier. Suddenly, He felt an arm clasp his shoulder, pulling him out of his memories.

"What's wrong?" Yang squeezes his left shoulder. "You zoned out there for a good few minutes."

"...There's a reason I didn't want to come back." Jaune can't keep the bitter edge out of his voice.

"Come 'ere." She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his forehead. "Blake and I are here if you need to talk." Lilac eyes peer into his, promising comfort and love.

Jaune's forehead wrinkles upward as he tries to stamp down on his vulnerability. He must be strong, stoic, in charge. He's a leader. An Arc.

"Don't." Blake brushes her fingers across his back in small circles, massaging his tense muscles. "It's okay."

"I…" His throat hurts as he curses his emotions. Arms limp at his side, Jaune continues to stare at the family photos. He shakes his head and lets out a laugh so empty that it comes off a grunt. "It's not important. Let's go to the living room. If we're lucky, my parents won't say anything."

Yang winces at Jaune before letting go of the one-sided hug. Blake nods her head, opting to wait before pressing him.

They reach the base of the stairs and turn heel around the stairs to walk towards the living room in the back. Upon entering, Yang and Blake notice many Vecchian rugs with intricate patterns littering the room, along with what was once a simple once white TV now painted on with the colors of the rainbow in the corner. A middle-aged couple stood admiring the finished finger painting on thick cardboard spanning the entire left wall.

"Hey Mom, Dad." Jaune calls out. The lady can't seem to look Jaune in the eye while the man gives Jaune a shit eating grin with a thumbs up.

"Told you all you needed was confidence." The man stands up as arms thicker both Jaune's combined come into view.

"Confidence. Sure." Jaune rolls his eyes. "That didn't work the first fifty times I tried."

"But it did work on the fifty-first, yes?" The grin grows even wider. "For you to have not one lovely lady, but two!"

"You weren't kidding, Jaune. Terrible, terrible advice." Yang slings her arm around his neck.

"Yang…" Jaune pleads.

"Jaune~" Yang starts rubbing her face against his. "It's soooo cute."

"Cute? Not what I'd call my boy-" His father's protests die as Jaune's mother grabs his bicep, silencing him with a terse shake of the head.

"Gris." The Matriarch finally speaks up. "Be nice. My poor boy needs to recover from his workout last night." she says seriously, though her amused smile takes any serious intent out of her words.

"Ritual suicide sounds really good right now." Jaune covers his face.

"Oo oo, can I join in? I've wanted to say that I've done it once." Yang tightens her grip on Jaune.

"Can we just… not?" Jaune begs.

"Sure. Let's put the suicide to a later date. We're still in the 'bring your girlfriends to your parent's place' phase."

Jaune starts shaking like a leaf in the wind at that.

"Yo, you okay?" Yang lets go of him.

Giggles erupt from his lips. "I don't know what I was expecting, but this clearly wasn't it."

Gris Arc lets out a hearty chuckle, the deep bass of his laugh reverberating in the air. "I missed you kid." He grabs Jaune's head like a volleyball and brings it to his chest in a quick motion. Jaune struggles against it but Gris tightens his grip. "I was worried." Jaune goes limp at that. "My kid, heading off to Beacon, with no training, no plan, with an heirloom that's better off as a back scratcher."

"Dad…" Jaune starts, but the words die in his throat.

"Imagine my surprise when Ozpin was glad that you chose to come to Beacon. Imagine my surprise when he said your forged documents could use some work. Jaune, I know you want to be a hero. I know that, but look at it from my perspective." The tight, constricting, warm embrace slackens as each word comes out, until the once vice-grip the towering man held, is a slack hug.

"I can't. I can't let the line end with me. We're part of history, I can't let go of the one thing connecting me to the lineage." Jaune mumbles into his dad's shirt. "I promised Noir that I'd…"

"And an Arc keeps their word." the pain-filled cerulean eyes droop lower. "I wish I forbade him from telling you those stories. This isn't the idealized path the books make it out to be. We're not heroes."

"We still have to try." Jaune hardens his voice. "We still protect those who can't protect themselves." He pushes his hands against his father, prying himself away from the feeble hug.

"I know, but I wish it wasn't you." Gris closes his eyes for a moment and hums a soft tune that he would hum to the once crying infant Jaune, a tune that would calm them both. The towering man lets go of his little boy and turns his attention towards the awkwardly shifting duo behind his son. "Take care of him. He's a prideful idiot. He'll try to take on the world by himself out of-"

"We know." Yang and Blake smirk at that. "You should've seen him in the first semester." Yang continues on. "Mr 'I can do it myself' over here wanted to learn how to fight on his own. No training from his partner, no help from his friends. What was it that he said to Pyrrha?"

"I believe it was, 'If I can't do it on my own, then what good am I?'" Blake quips. "Thankfully Pyrrha disabused him of that thought."

"I have the scars to prove it…" Jaune grabs a fistful of his shirt over his left breast with his right hand.

"Want me to kiss the boo boo?" Yang makes kissy noises.

"Yang I swear to- You know what, do it!" Jaune challenges her. "Kiss it better." He moves to take off his shirt.

"Let's not." Jaune's mother places her left hand on Jaune's right.

"That's a good idea…" Jaune rubs his neck.

"Your sisters wanted to see you by the way." She stares directly into Jaune's eyes without blinking.

Jaune palms his left arm and scratches it. "R-right. That's why we came here. To play with girls. I mean. To play games with my sisters." He starts burying his face in his hands after Yang wiggles her eyebrows at that. "You know what, no, I'm here to spend time with my family. Get your mind out of the gutter, Yang."

Yang laughs a sickly sweet almost-innocent laugh. "Don't worry, we'll play with the girls later. All four of them."

Blake groans. Loudly.

"Where's the cute little buggers?" Jaune pokes his mom repeatedly in the sides and shoulder. She grabs his finger and does a forefinger rub with her index finger. He pokes her with his other finger with a cheeky grin. Gris snorts at the exchange and shakes his head at his son. Jaune's grin grows wider.

"They're at a sleepover. They didn't know you were coming."

Jaune scratches his face with a weakening grin on his face. "Sorry I didn't call sooner. These two wanted to meet you really badly." Jaune points at Blake and Yang with his thumb over his shoulder.

His mother's eyes narrow at him. "They wanted, is it?"

"Moving on from this very dangerous conversation, we don't want a repeat of that one birthday celebration, now do we, Azure?" An expression of pure fear makes its way onto Gris Arc's face as he tries to pacify his wife. Blake and Yang can only look at each other in silent fear in response.

"...No, I supposed we don't." She pinches the bridge of her nose.

Jaune looks around for something to get away from that line of dialogue. The TV would do nicely. Maybe there'd be a good show on now.

Jaune walks up to the TV and smiles softly at it. The then four year old Daisy, a fiery little hellion that refused to wear dresses, accidentally splashing paint on the TV and crying that mom and dad would hate her and throw her out. Jaune, without a beat, went into Clover's room for art supplies; he dragged Clover along with him to paint on the TV the colors of the rainbow. Soon Olive and Blossom joined in. Once everyone was done, Jaune made sure to clean the screen. Daisy was latched onto Jaune the whole time. Even at 13, Jaune tried to look after his siblings.

Jaune traces his fingers along the fading, peeling painted surface of the TV. Small pieces of red, blue, and yellow break off, he rubs his fingers to try to get them off, but they stubbornly stick to him. He sighs, family's important, and he failed to keep in touch. Azalea not pushing him to talk to the rest of the family was both a blessing and a curse.

Blake walks up to him and raises his right arm and wraps it around her waist. "Any good shows lately?" She awkwardly twiddles her thumbs.

Jaune caresses her stomach with his thumb absentmindedly. "The X-ray and Vav pilot's going to air in a couple hours. Watch it with me?" He rests his head on his hers.

"Sure, it's the least I could do to get a signed Ninjas of Love book." Blake nuzzles into his neck.

"Oh yeah, that." Jaune starts snickering; the vibration of it soothing for Blake. "We'll have to wait until tonight before that comes in."

"Why? The author doesn't sell signed copies online." She tilts her head upward. The snickering intensifies. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I'll let her answer that question when she gets here." Full on shit-eating grin as he squeezes her tightly and kisses the top of her head.

"Jaune! Tell me!" Blake whines and pulls on his shirt tail.

"No can do. Patience my little kitty." A swell of pleasant heat washes over Jaune when she pouts, his face a warm buzz. He kisses her neck and whispers in her ear, "I'm glad I came to Beacon. I wouldn't have met you and Yang."

She lets go of the embrace to look at him directly. Amber eyes searches his, "Even with all the puns and my never wanting to get out of bed?"

"Even then. Especially then." He rests his forehead against hers. "You two rank pretty highly on my list."

"You have a list?" The corner of Blake's eyes fold in happiness despite her teasing tone. "Going to check it twice?"

"Shhhhhhhhh." He places his thumb on her lips. "I'm trying to be romantic here."

"Try harder." She kisses his thumb and takes it into her mouth.

"Should I though?" He pulls his thumb back slightly as she suckles on it.

"Mhmm." Eyes begging for…

"Too bad, my parents are home." Jaune lets go and gives her a quick peck on the lips.

"You tease…" Blake groans. "And no, they're not. They left with Yang. Something about not having enough celery for the best meal for her son who totally kept in touch the last two years. Something, something, lady bonding and friends you haven't met yet. Your dad laughed and said he's not letting your mom get away with murder and chose to tag along"

"You ate breakfast in my bed." Jaune's lips twitch upward when Blake frowns. He intertwines his fingers with hers as he looks around for a moment. Yup, gone. "Let me do you a favor and I'll eat first when the meal is ready." He breathes in with his nose and out with his mouth as he stares deep in her eyes.

"Okay?" Blake bites her lip as she squints at him.

"I might writhe around on the floor in pain. That's your cue to tell her that you're not that hungry." No hints of teasing, no eye creases to indicate laughter, nothing.

"...What?" Blake cheeks raise as she blinks rapidly.

"There was only one time I said to my mother that another woman's cooking was better than hers." Jaune shudders. "Aunt Mahin. She made a mean Khoresh Karafs, some North Eastern Mistralian stew that's actually pretty good. Every time Spring would start, she'd come around and give me and my siblings some lien. It was pretty cool." Jaune walks to the couch to sit down, his legs wobbling a bit. "You might get to meet her. Mom only makes the dish when she comes."

"She sounds nice." Blake she follows after him.

"She was. But when I said I liked her food better than Mom's, Mom got really competitive." At Jaune's admission, Blake nods her head, that indeed would do it. "She tries to make the stew and every time I try to placate her, she knows I'm lying. She can't make that one dish worth crap." Jaune looks at the ceiling and stretches his body against the couch.

"Was she the one to teach you how to cook?" Blake places her feet on the couch and rests her head on her knees as she listens.

"Yeah actually and the guitar. I learned dancing with the help of Uncle Goldwin. Those two were amazing. I looked up to them in a lot of ways." Jaune's hand finds its way to his stomach and grabs his shirt: the once smooth cloth wrinkling as his fingers close into a fist.

"Were?" Blake places her soft but calloused fingers onto his arm and squeeze.

"They.." Jaune trails off and closes his eyes. "They were disappointed. Thought I was being unreasonably selfish." His eyebrows knit together. "Aunt Mahin left me fifty different messages begging me to drop out of Beacon."

"You didn't listen." She squeezes his arm.

"I didn't listen." Jaune hides his face in his hands. Blake tugs his arm; Jaune turns his attention towards her. "What?"

"You said she's coming today. You could talk to her and tell her what you truly feel." Blake rubs the back Jaune's neck "Show me the Jaune who's able to face an Ursa." She leans in and purrs softly into his ear.

"That... " Jaune blanches at that thought. "You think Weiss would buy us an overnight airship ride back to Beacon?" He scratches his arms.

"No. I want to meet this lady." Blake runs her fingers through his hair.

They sat there for the next few hours, turning on X-ray and Vav when it played on the TV. Jaune would point to all the cool moments and Blake would roll her eyes, telling him the plotline was extremely predictable to which Jaune would tell her that she's just a book snob. Blake would then turn up her nose and speak in Received Pronunciation leading to the pair breaking down into giggles. They kept watching TV as Blake lay on him.

Jaune drapes his arm around her and kisses the top of her head. As the marathon continued, Jaune's eyes drooping lower and lower until he falls asleep.

"Jaune, this is starting to get a bit boring. Can I change the channel?" Blake rubs her thumb across the hand she's cupped in her own.

No response.

"Jaune?" She looks back. "Oh." The right half of her mouth turns upward as she lifts his arm off of her. She checks to see if he's still asleep. Yes. She rolls off of the couch at snail pace dropping onto the Vecchian rug. She checks again. Still asleep. "Good."

She gets up and stretches as she yawns. The wall clock said four-thirty in the afternoon. Her scroll vibrates in her pocket, a soft single drawn out vibrating hum. Pulling it out, it's a couple texts from Yang.

Puns:[On our way back. Mama Arc is both awesome and scary. Can we keep her?] Blake snorts at that and types out a simple response.

Lady Napper:[Sure.]

Puns:[Miss me? *3*] Blake smiles at Yang's text.

Lady Napper:[No. =P] Her lips sucker face as her eyes betray her glee.

Puns:[Guess who's sleeping in Zwei's bed? =)] That prompts Blake to laugh out loud.

Lady Napper:[I'll take Jaune with me. =P] Blake's stomach starts to ache.

Puns:[Nuu! My bed warmer! QuQ] Blake starts wheezing as her laughter goes completely silent.

Lady Napper:[Technically my bed warmer now.] Her eyes water as her laughter starts to die down.

Puns:[We're here. Come help with the groceries.] Blake nods her head at that.

Lady Napper:[Sure.]

Jaune wraps his arms around Blake, startling her. A loud yawn escapes his lips as he rests his chin on her neck, "Your laugh is adorable."

"So's your sleeping face." Blake lifts his hands to her face and kisses them softly. "Sleep alright?"

"Yeah." He yawns even louder.

"We have to go help with the groceries. Point me to the garage?"

"Sorry about falling asleep on you. It's the summer heat." Jaune lets go of her and gets up, he curves his back backwards and grabs the back of his thighs. He yawns once more, "Sure, follow me."

They head to the garage: Jaune and Blake grab the groceries while Yang grabs Jaune's shirt to yank him into a kiss. Once the groceries are inside, Azure starts preparing dinner with Yang there to make sure nothing goes up in flame. When Jaune raises his eyebrow at that, his dad whispers to him that he told Yang that Azure was liable to poison them with her attempts at making the meal. Yang took that as a personal affront to the holiness of cooking and told Azure in no uncertain terms that she would be helping.

"Yup, that does sound like Yang." Jaune covers his face with his hands. "When's Mahin getting here?"

"In five minutes. You going to be okay?" Gris places a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"She was my favorite Aunt growing up. I'll be fine." Jaune stares at the door with a shudder. "I hope."

"With any luck, she can convince you to come home more often." Gris grins.

"About that... " Jaune bites his lower lip. "I only have a year left at Beacon. The girls and I have been saving up to buy the old house Noir used to live in."

"...You came back to convince Mahin to give it to you." Gris clicks his tongue.

"Well... I needed to be at Beacon for a while to gather my resolve before I spoke with you all." Jaune's voice is barely above a whisper.

"And it took you two years and a very specific reason." His dad just shakes his head. "Don't tell your mom that this is why you came back. Hell, don't even bring it up. Pretend that you came back because the ladies dragged you back like you did earlier." Gris just pinches the bridge of his nose.

Jaune nods at that. "I'm sorry."

"You're here. That's all that matters to me." Gris shoves Jaune affectionately. Into the wall. Two years at Beacon and his father could still knock him around.

A knock at the door and Jaune opens it. A lady walks in wearing jewelry on her neck, wrists and a single golden band on each ring finger.

"Yo, Aunt Mahin, I'm going to need your pen and your hand for something." Jaune grins.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa, my little Jauney came back!" The lady runs towards him and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Can't bre-"

"Tough! I'm giving you all the hugs you missed out on you little shit!" She tightens her grip. "Wait, you said you need my pen, why?" She lets go of him.

"One of my girlfriends' is a fan." He coughs as he clutches the wall.

"Please tell me it's not of Nin-" Mahin starts.

"Of Ninjas of Love." Jaune's grinning.

She shoves her tongue beneath her upper lip and breathes out rather heavily. "Wait, one?"

"Yes?" Jaune tilts his head forward and to the side while raising his palms upward toward her.

"Thought your parents raised you better than-"

"They're also dating each other." Jaune clicks his tongue very loudly.

She raises her finger to retort, but a few seconds pass by; an unbroken uh escapes her lips before she covers her mouth and gives up.

"Just ask them at dinner." Jaune laughs. "They explain it better than I can."

"Lead the way little man." She ruffles his hair. "Lead the way."

"...I'm taller than you." Jaune pokes her cheek.

They walked to the dining table, Jaune carrying the bags Mahin brought in and taking them upstairs to the guest room. Two years ago he would've been heaving to bring the bags up the stairs, but his increased muscle density and Aura now make this mostly trivial. Though his aunt trapping him in a bone-crushing hug was embarrassing. Back down the stairs and everyone was seated at the dinner table.

Jaune draws a seat and sits. No one has touched the food yet. He nods gravely and grabs some of the stew, lobbing it onto his plate. Silently he prays to the two brothers as Yang snickers at his stalling. Jaune breathes in and out, heartrate is picking up, his arm hair sticking and clumping onto itself. He glares at the food and nods his head once slowly. Picking up the spoon, he scoops the dark green and brings it to his lips.

"Now or never…" Jaune chews the food and gulps. He waits for his body to fall limp, but something else registers in his mind. "This is good."

Azure Arc let out a huge sigh. "Looks like the lessons with Mahin paid off."

Jaune blinks. "You... When?"

Her smile dies in her eyes.

"Oh… After I…" Jaune placed his hand under his neck, as his chin touched his chest in a mock-choking gesture.

Yang stands up, pulls Jaune's chair back, and promptly sits on his lap facing him. "No sad Jaunes allowed."

Mahin almost chokes on her food and swallows a huge glass of water. She thumps her chest a good few times as her laughs get louder. Once her laughter dies, she looks at Jaune, "I like her."

"Yay~ Familial approval~" Yang pulls Jaune into her chest and caresses the back of his neck.

Blake shakes her head at that. "Yang…"

"What, he likes it! He hasn't even said anything!" Yang puffs her chest out. Jaune breathes out clouds of steam.

"Yang." Jaune jerks his head back from her iron grip.

"Yes da-" Jaune clamps her mouth shut with his left hand.

"Finish that sentence and I will spray you with the SDC's experimental hair remover. The one labeled 'For Naughty Pun users.' You know the one." Jaune cups her face in his hand before tapping her face.

Yang gasps, "You wouldn't dare!" Lilac turns to red.

"I would. So get off me before my parents ask me when to expect-"

"So when are we going to expect children?" Mahin rests her chin on her folded hands, a grin graces her lips that would put Yang's to shame. Jaune lets out a long-suffering sigh. "What, you said parents, I'm an aunt. So dear, tell me."

"I think we should finish this delicious food." Jaune sits back as Yang gets off of him, her fingers trailing his neckline.

"I agree." Blake nods.

"Jaune, you back for good?" Mahin stares directly at him now, mirth gone.

Jaune shakes his head, "I still have a year left at Beacon." He takes a sip of the wine in front of him. He's forever grateful for alcohol exception to Hunters in training.

"I see." Mahin's lower eyelids blankets half her eyes as she looks Azure. Azure shakes her head. "You are going to visit more often, right?" Her eyebrows knit together.

"It depends if I have time." Jaune starts to look away before frowning and closing his eyes for a moment. He breathes in deeply and the frown disappears. Opening his eyes, he looks directly into her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch. I had to… I had to prove that I could do it. And if I spoke to you all, I was afraid my resolve would've broken."

"My silly little Jauney, you underestimate yourself." Mahin smiles weakly. "If we couldn't convince you to stop at ten years old, we couldn't have stopped you at seventeen."

"I…" Jaune swallows. Yang places her right hand on his left.

"You keep in touch, alright?" Her voice cracks a little.

"I will." He nods, a slow smile pulling at his lips.

Jaune watches the rest of the conversations play out in front of him, as Blake gushes about loving Mahin's books, as Yang banters with his father, as everyone talks over one another, as the dessert comes in, as Mahin says goodbye to everyone, as the table is cleared, and as the night grows darker and quieter.

Everyone leaves the table one by one and Jaune stays there for a single moment, his face sore from the smile that never left.

"Thank you." He gets up and gets ready for bed.

AN: A bit of unrelated news, The Chessmaster's Choice is on indefinite hiatus, the storyline is a mess and I'll have to do another rewrite to fix all of the issues present in it. Stuff like pacing and whatnot. I'm working on a different story at the moment called Checkpoint Established. Without giving too much away it's a dual 1stPOV of Jaune and Blake. They both have different semblances in the fic, but it's not really AU.