Author's Notes: Here it is! My first contribution to 9 Days of Lancaster in far too long! Honestly, I'm not sure if the whole story is going to be great or not, but I had fun writing it. I hope you'll stick around for the other three chapters, and potentially, beyond!

Ruby breathed out a sigh of relief, sweat dripping out of every pore as she attempted to find a reason to keep on living through the pain.

Her Aura had been completely drained, her legs weak and wobbly. Perhaps training until she was vulnerable wasn't the brightest idea, but it lit a fire inside of her that always made her feel amazing after a quick rest. The pain was worth it; momentary punishment for a reward worth a thousand years of such torment.

It was the greatest feeling she had ever experienced, though in her relatively short life that wasn't that surprising.

She wouldn't admit that one of the reasons she had gone so hard, though, was who specifically she was training with this time around.

Her eyes shifted, her grip on her stockings faltering.

Normally, she wasn't so shy about it. They were just stockings, it wasn't like she was taking off anything he hadn't seen before.

She sent him a quick glance, her eyes moving rapidly from his face to his chest, blushing ever so slightly.

"Okay… Focus, Ruby." she whispered to herself, giving a small, awkward chuckle that Jaune was too far away to hear.

Jaune rested his back against the cold locker, feeling instant relief from his body heat which he was pretty sure exceeded natural levels at the moment.

Chugging from his water bottle, he found his eyes drifting to Ruby as she pulled her legs free of her tights. He quickly averted his eyes, knowing that the chance of catching a glimpse up her skirt was a bit too high for his liking.

He may have been a man, but he was not a crook. Or a pervert. Well, at the very least he wasn't a pervert beyond acceptable societal measures.

They were still in their school uniforms, having had no real urgency to change out of them just for a bout of sparring. Jackets and vests, however, were just insanely hot in general when one works up a sweat.

Jaune had immediately tore his off as if the offending articles were some kind of leeches, sapping his life force away every second that they were on. The dress shirt underneath was soaked and clung to his skin. Still, he kept it on purely because he was a little self conscious.

Pyrrha may have helped lessen the severity of such issues, but he felt that it was still a good many years away before he would be free of that shadow. The one thing he couldn't help, though, was that his chest was very clearly visible through the now transparent fabric.

Curse you, the color white!

That may have been the reason that Ruby kept hers on. After all, they were comfortable around one another despite their awkward nature, but that was one thing that neither of them wanted to face.

Ruby's legs were finally free, and she rested her bare feet against the cool floor and let out a sigh of contentment. Soon, when her muscles stopped aching, she would feel euphoria beyond measure. She would be floating in satisfaction, calm and free of any worry, knowing that sleep would come easy.

Jaune, on the other hand, was in hell.

Working their bodies to their limits clearly had two profoundly different effects on the two teens, and Jaune envied Ruby for this.

His hands found purchase on the floor and he pushed himself up off the ground, making his way to sit beside her on the bench she sat upon.

"Remind me to never do this again," he said, laughing at his own half-joke half-complaint and setting his water bottle down by his feet.

He knew that it was important to work hard and train like your life depended on it. Because… well, it did. His dream, it required him to constantly improve and push past the limits his body set for him. This was all just a part of the game. Didn't mean he couldn't hate it, though.

"You've gotten better, Jaune. Much better. I mean, you're still not close to beating me but…" Ruby leaned in towards him, her joking tone only slightly revealing that she was teasing. Jaune pushed her lightly, making her giggle. "You know I'm only teasing. You'll get there someday! Maybe even sooner than you think with the way you're progressing! I'm uh… hehe... I'm super proud of you. I know the others are too."

"Thanks, Ruby… it really means a lot to hear that. Especially from you." Jaune resisted the urge to move in for a hug. He doubted either of them wanted any sort of close physical contact right now. "I just… have trouble with countering moves as insane as yours."

"Wellllll, I do kind of have a weapon that works well against a simple sword and shield combo. My semblance doesn't really help either. I guess we're not exactly the best matchup in terms of fairness, but… isn't that why you always ask me to fight you instead of someone like Weiss or Blake?" Ruby stared down at her legs in thought, kicking them back and forth just slightly above the ground.

"Yyyyyeahhhh, that's more or less why," Jaune said with just a tinge of nervousness to his voice. He was looking anywhere but at her, fiddling slightly with his fingers. "It just makes sense. I mean not all fights outside of school are going to be fair, right? I should learn how to go against someone in a fight where the odds aren't exactly in my favor."

It was clear to Ruby that that wasn't the whole truth, but she didn't press it. "Yeah that makes sense. Honestly, though," and here her tone of voice changed to be more boastful, "my fighting style is pr-et-ty amazing. I'll be surprised if you can ever get the best of me, Vomit Boy." She smirked, snickering at the faux offense he turned to show.

Jaune rolled his eyes, but he smiled afterwards. He held his own against her, the two of them were incredibly in sync today. Despite his troubles dealing with a fighter of her nature, he surprised himself with what he was capable of. He couldn't wait to show Pyrrha the recording of the match.

"Maybe I can ask your team for some tips. Weiss might have a wealth of insights into your fighting style." Jaune began fanning himself with his hand, opening the collar of his shirt with the other until it was almost halfway unbuttoned.

"Please…" Ruby started before coughing into her hand, not noticing at first just how desperate the words had come out, her eyes slowly moving to devour the sight of his clavicle. "W-Weiss would never betray me like that," she stated matter-of-factly, trying to distract herself from the way he was unknowingly toying with her.

"So you say, Ruby… so you say. But an Arc has his ways." He stood up from the bench, making her sigh in relief. She watched as he opened his locker to grab the change of clothes he prepared. It was only a simple white tee and a pair of jeans, but anything was better than the sweaty torture devices they called their uniforms.

"Anyway," he continued, "I should really get going. We've been training for hours and Nora will be upset if I miss out on team movie night. Or as I like to call it 'watch this movie I picked out or I'll break your legs' night."

"Ah, yeah, that…" Ruby mumbled, slightly disheartened at his sudden need to depart. She knew that it was probably unhealthy to crave his attention and presence as much as she had recently, but there was a greedy part of her that just wanted to spend all of her time with him, and for him to feel the same way. At the very least she could suppress it enough. "Well, I had a good time today, I hope we can do it again soon!"

Jaune smiled, feeling a little fuzzy at her hopeful tone. "Of course, maybe… tomorrow?" He would probably regret that. Aura worked wonders for healing what ailed ya, but working too hard naturally wore a person out mentally. And mental scars and weariness were things Aura couldn't touch.

Ruby nearly jumped for joy at the prospect of hanging out with him all day tomorrow, but she managed to keep it all on the inside. Mentally cheering, she started squirming in her seat. "Absolutely!" But maybe she was showing her excitement a little too much. "I mean, uh, yeah! For sure!" Maybe still a bit too much… "That would be… ahem, that would be cool."

Smooth, Ruby. Smooth.

Jaune found the display of excitement super adorable, his hand finding itself behind his head in that very tropey way it always did. "Y-yeah, I'll uh… I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that he turned around and left.

Ruby just sighed, but as soon as that sigh left her lips she started wiggling, holding her hands close to her chest.

"Yes!" she cheered quietly to herself, starting to hum a happy little tune as her teeth began to show in a wide smile. It was going to be very hard for anything to ruin her night.

She allowed herself a moment to calm down from the excited energy that coursed through her being, and when finally she felt like any longer in the sticky clothing that was honestly pretty cold now was something she absolutely could not tolerate, she began to take it all off.

Quite a bold move, considering she was still sitting in the middle of the locker room. Perhaps she could have just waited, but her impatience got the best of her. That and her excitement clouded her judgement.

This was not something she would do under normal circumstances, and she became aware of it only through the cool air blowing against her bare chest.

It was almost eight in the evening, no one ever trained past six. Except for her and Jaune of course. This hadn't changed for as long as she had been at Beacon. Thus, she assured herself, this was perfectly fine. There was no reason to be up in arms. The chances of someone walking in on her changing were very little. Nearly nonexistent, actually.

Still, she shivered, and right as she made the move to gather fresh clothes from her locker, one of the worst things she could possibly imagine happened.

She was put in a situation.

"Hey, Rubes, just forgot my water bottle an- OH GODS I'M SO SORRY!" Jaune screamed out, his voice reaching an almost unnaturally high pitch. He covered his eyes immediately, yet his feet made no move to retreat from the area.

Ruby felt the need to scream. Any number of things. 'Get out, what are you doing here, don't look.' All pretty good things to scream out in the moment. But to her credit, she didn't scream. She didn't do anything at all but cover herself up and sit back down on the bench in a small moment of panic.

A few moments passed in silence.

"O-oh. Um…" She blushed, never once taking her widened eyes off of the statue that was once Jaune Arc.

Neither moved a muscle. Jaune, in all of his infinite wisdom, felt that dinosaur rules applied in this scenario. That being that Ruby's sight was based on movement and if he so much as moved a muscle he would suddenly be met with a faceful of scythe. Or dust rounds.

Hopefully it would be gravity dust so that he could float out into space and never see another soul as long as he lived.

Ruby, for her part was… taking it all extremely well, actually. Despite the concerns that stopped her from taking off even her jacket just a small bit ago, it wasn't like she was going to die or anything. Her face, however, was beet red. In fact she had never been more red in her entire life. Which was funny, considering.

"I-I'm just gonna… go…" Jaune mumbled, taking a few steps backward before he slipped on the pile of dirty clothes he had forgotten alongside his water bottle. He fell onto his ass hard enough to noticeably disrupt his Aura, letting out a pained grunt.

"J-Jaune! Are you… are you okay?" Ruby asked with an awkward smile. The worry was unnecessary, unneeded. All he did was fall on his rump. Didn't bump his head or anything. But she still asked. And afterwards she cursed silently at her own stupidity. Of course he was okay.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright," Jaune sighed, opening his eyes so that he didn't make the same mistake trying to stand up. But as soon as his eyes opened he slapped his hand over them again as he caught sight of her trying to keep herself covered, gasping as if he had pricked himself on something.

Ruby may not have felt like it was the end of the world, but as awkward as she was her mood was definitely easily molded by the reactions of others. And Jaune was making her feel very self conscious. If he just would… pretend like everything was normal… this would be a lot easier. Maybe. She pulled her crumpled up clothing even closer to her chest.

"Y-you know, you don't have to keep your eyes covered. I'm not… nothing's… Um..." She mumbled to herself, trying to search for the assurance she wanted to give. But it took a while. Too long of a while.

She was getting frustrated with herself. Her mouth opened and closed as she desperately tried to force something out. Anything. She closed her eyes tightly, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she finally found the right words to say. Something that would undoubtedly defuse the situation.

"I'm covered! So it's fine! Really!"

Okay, that was… not exactly how she wanted to say it. But whatever got the point across, she supposed.

Jaune slowly uncovered his eyes, taking a few moments to steel himself before he stood up, still stiff as a board. He was internally debating the situation, wondering if it was just awkward because he was making it awkward. That could probably be asked regarding his whole life, but he really didn't need that dilemma floating through his head right now too. So he breathed in slowly, and exhaled.

Then he looked her in the eyes.

She was covered. If he were being honest, he shouldn't have even overreacted. It was just like all the times he had walked in on his sisters, or Pyrrha, or Nora. Family. It wasn't a big deal. They never made it a big deal. He shouldn't have made this a big deal.

But then again, Ruby was… different. Very different.

"I'll go now," he said, this time without stumbling or mumbling. Just very clearly and calmly. But the nervousness returned tenfold the second he turned around and Ruby stood up and-

"Wait!" Yelled very loudly.

She held out her right hand, the left busy preserving her dignity for the time being. She watched as he froze on the spot, clearly just as stiff as he was when this started.

Nice one, Ruby.

She bit her lip. Honestly she didn't know why she did it. Well, maybe she had a clue. She wasn't so naive.

"Y-yeah?" He turned his head only slightly. Any more movement, he was sure to die from sensory overload.

"H-how… how much did you see when you walked in?" Ruby asked, more out of curiosity than anything. She didn't know why she wanted to know, but something possessed her to ask. Normally, this kind of thing would be asked in a much more demanding tone she was aware but she didn't at all feel enraged at the idea of him seeing her… assets.

Could they be called assets? Yang's could, but… yeah. She supposed they could. It wasn't like they were Weiss levels of small. Not that… not that that was a bad thing because breasts are breasts and… and… yeah.

"I didn't see much, I swear!" He said in his own defense. Never really a good tactic. If it was anyone other than Ruby, they wouldn't have believed him. l swear is always the best thing to say to cap off a truthful statement. "But… I…" He sighed, knowing that being truthful was always the best thing to do in situations like these. Now if it had been Yang instead of Ruby, he would have lied through his teeth. In his defense, two entirely different threat levels. "I really didn't see much. I promise. It was just a flash before I closed my eyes."

Ruby took his words in calmly, thinking them over again and again. He had seen her boobs. But just a little. For some reason, she felt a light, funny feeling pass through her chest at that revelation. It was almost… freeing in a way.

'Jaune Arc saw my boobs.'

'Jaune Arc. Saw. My boobs.'

Those words just kept passing through her head over and over, different speeds, different tones. Each word left an impression. An impression that was very stubborn and refused to go away.

She felt… happy? No, scratch that. She felt downright giddy. Why? Who cares? She held in an excited squeal, trying not to squirm and reveal her inner feelings on the matter. That would be revealing too much. That would be… telling him how she felt just about.

Which would be very bad. Very very bad. For her. Gods that would be so awkward right now. Not that she didn't want him to know! Just… maybe not yet.

She did however want to try something.

She was never particularly adventurous with expanding her social life in any meaningful way. She had her family. Her sisters, her brothers, her father… Zwei. That was really all she had wanted. Until a few months back. But Jaune was special to her. She had never made a connection like the one she had with him with ANYONE else. Which was to be expected, what with her inexperience and overall seemingly nonexistent interest in matters that weren't related to her dream.

Things had been different lately, however. She had been thinking of him in ways that confused her. Not because she wasn't knowledgeable about the subject, after all she had been given the talk. She understood plenty. It was an important thing to know about, and she wasn't just some innocent child who would scratch her head at a dirty joke or innuendo. Maybe it would be a little hard for her to catch onto but that was mostly because she didn't have a very dirty mind.

No, she was confused because it seemed so sudden. It had started with one stray thought, as his hand brushed up against hers. She had thought of holding his hand, of pulling him close to her so that she could feel his Aura meld with hers. Then the thoughts just got… dirty. She supposed it was only a matter of time.

She would find herself red and panting lightly as she thought about such distracting things. His body, which had definitely benefited from his training routine, and… and she imagined him kissing her, so close, holding her into a wall, asserting dominance which she wasn't even sure he had in real life with his hand to her side, sliding up and up and then grabbing at her-

Gods. She was hopeless.

The first time she had been caught staring at him in class, with red face and eyes clouded as she explored her new fantasies, she had been reprimanded by Weiss. A slap on the wrist, a pile of study material she was all but forced to work through. Weiss hadn't really caught on but Blake and Yang stared at her like they knew quite well what kind of things were going through her head.

Maybe she was just a late bloomer. Maybe her hormones had finally caught up to her. Or maybe it was just Jaune.

Still, as non-adventurous as she was… She wanted change. She wanted to experience… certain things. And the only way to do so was to take initiative. Because everyone knew that if they were going to become a thing, whether that thing be… a serious thing or a thing that… was just… a thing. It wouldn't be Jaune who started it.

She would give him all his due credit, but she still knew him. And at heart she knew he would never take the next step without her making it clear that it was what she wanted.

So she took the next step.

"D-do you wanna?" Ruby asked him, holding back a crack in her voice like a pro. It took him awhile but he turned to meet her gaze with wide eyes and a mouth open in disbelief.

Oh yeah. That happened.

"W-what-" he stuttered out, taken aback by her words. She really hoped that she didn't cross a line too soon.

"You said you didn't really see much. Do... you want to see more? O-of them? My uh… y-ya know." Her voice faltered slightly, her stomach twisting into knots and her heart doing some major intense cardio.

She was surprising herself, really. She had slain a countless number of Grimm. Beowolves? Pshhhh, easy. Ursa? Please. Nevermore? Maybe a little harder but nothing she couldn't handle with her team by her side.

But honestly, she'd have thought that this would be a million times more difficult. She was the worst at social interaction. There were times where she would even stumble over herself in front of her close friends. There were times where she wouldn't know what to say to certain things, or she would say the wrong things and embarrass herself… Heck, she constantly felt the need to dip out and be alone for a while with Crescent Rose. Just her and her baby.

But she was totally cool. If not just a little on edge. The simple thought of doing this though… of saying these things… Things that were just so… scandalous. Lewd. Dirty. Smutty! Indecorous (thanks Weiss)! Salacious. Obscene… filthy… uh… indelicate? Words.

She shivered. It was just so different from anything she would be expected to do. But she had already done it. The words were out there, and it was in Jaune's court now.

Jaune was in awe. If shock could be described as awe. He was still staring right into her eyes, and with each passing second she was made to wish that she hadn't have said anything at all. She didn't want to ruin what they had over stupid feelings and… and lust. If that was even the right word.

She was, thankfully, pleasantly surprised. The shock dissipated, and he was less stiff by the time he managed to clear his throat. Perhaps he was trying to match her bravado, but he definitely, at least outwardly, appeared more calm and in control of his emotions. On the inside she bet he was just all over the place.

He moved to sit by her, taking the space he occupied not too long ago. He started looking everywhere he could that wasn't directly at her. That seemed to be a common thing. She was hoping it meant what she wanted it to mean.

"Ruby, I… A-are you sure?" was all that he asked. She felt her heart skip a beat. He just… he just wanted to make sure she was…

Internally, Ruby's emotions flared. Why did he have to be so… so… dumb and stupid and cute and lovely and stupid and dumb! Ugh!

She wanted to scream that of course she was sure. She wouldn't have offered if that wasn't the case. But she knew he was just being a friend. She smiled, looking him in the eye as he finally turned to look at her.

"Yes. I'm sure," she said softly. His eyes travelled from hers down to her smile, but not daring to go lower than that. "You just have to ask me. That's all I'm asking. I want… to hear you say it."

Jaune looked down at his hands, both suddenly locked together tightly as he hunched over on the bench. 'There was always something,' he thought, laughing to himself. She wanted to hear him ask. Sure that was a simple idea, but actually finding the courage to ask… not so simple.

It was obvious to both of them that it was happening. He hadn't declined, he had taken a seat beside her. If he didn't want to see he would have left. If she really didn't want him to see them, she would have withdrawn the offer by now.

But she had thrown the ball in his park. He was up to bat, he could either choose to not swing and strike, or swing and get a home run; Arcs were not raised as fools.

He had heard Saphron's stories about her hijinks with Terra. He had put up with all the information that he had not asked for in the slightest. He understood now exactly what point she was trying to get across.

They were not just borderline lewd stories told to him in confidence. They were her advice to him. Advice that was probably ten times better than anything his father could give. Confidence played a role, sure, but…

She and Terra were married now, they were happy. All because she had seized the opportunity when it was given to her. Whether this little bit of intimacy would lead to anything other than just a slightly more… ahem, sexual relationship with Ruby… or something else… he would never know unless he took the plunge. Just like his sister.

And maybe… he needed this.

"Ruby," he started, freezing after only saying her name. He fought with himself to unfreeze. "Ruby…" But it seemed like all he could do was say her name. "Ruby." He winced at his own sorry display of what he interpreted as patheticness.

"Jaune." She smirked, her blush dying down a little at the awkward energy he was throwing out into the world. She tried to hold in a chuckle as he clearly struggled to try his best.

"Ugh. I… Ruby." He really wished he could strangle himself.

Ruby couldn't hold in a laugh. One that she received a glare for. "I'm sorry," she said, her giggle fit subsiding. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying, it's just… honestly really cute… heh…"

Jaune fought back a smile as he looked away. The smile quickly faded, however, replaced with just a little bit more determination. As silly, and as childish as this whole thing was… He felt it could be an important step in their friendship. A friendship which could potentially turn into something else, but… only through blind leaps of trust and experimentation. And this was one such blind leap.

He took a deep breath and exhaled out all of his inner turmoil. He wanted something special with this girl, he just had to admit it to her.

"Ruby Rose. I want to see your breasts… will you show me?" His tone was entirely too serious for this. Ruby let out a snort-laugh. He wondered why on earth he had thought that tone was a good idea. He turned away as Ruby continued to laugh at his expense, crossing his arms while he rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry," Ruby said through her laughter, her face red for an entirely different reason now. "Ahem, n-no, sorry. Really. I just… haha, yeah. Just had to get that out. I…" She bit her lip. "I know that's what I asked for, I just, eh, expected something a little less serious. I honestly half expected you to make a joke out of it or something." She started to squirm again. There was yet another beat of silence. They were really trying to delay this weren't they? "Okay! Okay. That's… okay. Jaune. Here…"

Ruby sat up straight, staring down at her bare legs for just a moment before steeling herself to just… rip the bandage off. It was never that bad afterwards, she just had to brave the initial sting. And she did so, quite admirably for someone of her… social ineptitude.

She pulled the crumpled up clothing away from her chest, feeling the air hit her immediately and causing a stray shiver to run through her spine.

Jaune was only staring at her face at first, watching with rapt attention as she bravely did away with the barrier that they had been trying for the past several moments to break down. Her face seemed to just grow more and more red. Her ears were practically on fire. She was so pale, it was honestly really easy to tell.

Finally, Jaune's eyes dipped below her shoulders.

Ruby was pushing her chest out. Giving his eyes full access to stare as much as he wanted. He hadn't imagined that his day would end like this, and how could he? But he was glad it was.

His eyes traced every inch of her exposed flesh, all the way from her adorable face to the skirt she still wore. There were many stand out features of the top half of her body that he found he really liked looking at.

Obviously, her breasts. They were perfect. Her belly too. Toned, and very firm. But it still looked delightfully squishy in all the right places, and he couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like. He couldn't help a lot of things. Like his eyes trailing back up to linger on the hardened buds that stuck out to him the most, perhaps, out of everything. They, much like the flesh surrounding them, were perfect.

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

He couldn't get that word out of his head, it just fit so well.

The surprising thing was that he wasn't as focused on her breasts as he thought he would be. Indeed, he was taking in everything he could find almost hungrily. His eyes searched her shoulders, her stomach, her breasts and even her arms. They didn't know what exactly they were searching for but everything they found, suffice it to say, was golden.

Each and every single freckle, and she did have a few of those scattered around, and each scar that could probably tell quite the story had he just asked… She had a blemish or two that, whenever he caught sight of, he saw her tense up… He was sure if he looked closer he would notice more imperfections.

But imperfections just served to make everything else even more beautiful. They themselves might not have been part of the beauty, but they were as natural as everything else and they would always be there. They were tiny little things in the grand scheme of things. Things most could go a lifetime without noticing, even Ruby herself. Like with any good art piece, he could look past them quite easily.

But he suddenly wanted to know each and every one. Each tiny little thing she hated. He wanted to have her trust him enough to know them intimately.

"If you… if you keep looking at me like that…" Ruby let out a nervous little titter, unsure of exactly what she was going to say in the first place. What if he did? What would she do? What would she say?

His eyes were full of… something, and not the something she had expected to see. She really thought she knew how this was going to play out. But she was surprised. Again.

She was happy when she noticed they weren't just sticking to her chest. Showing him her breasts was quite obviously the whole point of this little… experiment. But the fact that he was visually exploring everything that was on display was both breathtakingly amazing, and somewhat embarrassing.

"You're…" Jaune bit his tongue. One step at a time. "I mean, uh… You can cover up now." He leaned forward, shifting as he realized suddenly that another little situation had… risen. He took his eyes off of her and focused on trying to be as clandestine as possible to the fact that his little friend had decided to butt in on their moment.

He really was trying his best to not make this seem so sexual. Obviously, that was the main thing here. But there was plenty of time for that if there was a next time. If this was a first time like he hoped it was, he wanted it to be an experience that wasn't marred by any unnecessary awkwardness.

Despite this, Ruby noticed immediately that he wasn't acting normally. She could tell something was up with the way he was sitting and shifting uncomfortably and she figured she had a pretty good idea of what it was.

Out of respect, she said nothing. But she felt proud of herself. She held in the urge to happily hum to herself as she gathered her change of clothes and walked out of view. Soon enough, she was dressed quite comfortably in a tee shirt and sweatpants.

By the time she was done changing, however, Jaune was up and gathering the things that had forced his return in the first place.

She smiled, sneaking up behind him and wrapping him in a firm hug. He jumped, but laughed just as she did when he realized what was going on.

"You big scaredy cat!" She teased, pressing her head into his back and closing her eyes. She felt at peace.

"You just caught me off guard, that's all." She hummed in response, feeling like she could stay like she currently was forever. But the thought occurred to her that she wouldn't have normally done something so affectionate. This was new. And it felt so natural.

"Jaune… um… You can see them anytime you want, you know… Y-you uh, you just have to ask." Ruby said, letting him know where they were at now in a way that she was sure would leave him red all over. And she was right, she just couldn't see it.