There wasn't much conversation at dinner. They all sat down in one of the hotel rooms and gobbled their food down: RWBY in particular eating like starving women. Even Weiss had thrown aside her usually impeccable table manners to happily devour the burgers, fries, and shakes.
Afterward, all five world saving heroes relaxed. Jaune had taken one chair, Yang, Ruby and Weiss the couch and Blake a small loveseat that she lounged on with some difficulty given its small size.
"Full stomach feels sooo good," Ruby sighed happily. She beamed at Jaune. "Thank you Jaune!"
"You're welcome, really," Jaune said with a laugh. Weiss nodded, tapping her fingers together.
"It-It's very kind of you," she added. "Though strangely enough, I miss the fire cooked meals we had on the road."
"Oh yeah, me too!" Yang enthused, "Especially that wild turkey! Mm! And the boar! You cooked it, didn't you Jaune?"
"Yeah, Ren and Nora caught it," Jaune confirmed with a smile, "Had to gather the herbs myself. Glad I packed the salt."
"We all are," Ruby enthused.
"It went better on fish," Blake opined. Yang snorted.
"You would think that, you stereotype."
Blake scoffed.
"I'm not a stereotype! I like fish! Lots of humans like fish too! Ren loved fish!"
"How are Ren and Nora, anyway?" Ruby asked quickly, more than likely trying to head off another argument between her sister and her ex. Jaune smiled warmly and helped his best friend out. Besides, he was glad to share more good news.
"They're great! They're living in Radian. They just moved into their new house. Ren is teaching Aura and martial arts at the hospital part-time, and Nora's serving in the militia and as a demolition company."
"Wait, it's just her?" Weiss asked. She then sighed at everyone else's looks and shook her head, "What am I saying? Of course it's just her."
"My sister Tangy helps with the finances and gets her jobs," Jaune said with a smile. "She and Ren are going to get married right after Lilac does."
"That's great!" Weiss enthused. "More weddings! I love weddings!"
"So," Jaune said with a smile, as his manners and instincts pushed him to a response he felt was a good idea, "How about your families?"
In an instant, the good mood vanished and all of RWBY seemed to sink into depression. Jaune could swear a dark cloud appeared over all their heads. He cringed, realizing his tactical misjudgement immediately.
"I-I mean we don't have to-"
"My parents lost the election in Menagerie to Shere Khan and Wile E. Coyote," Blake moaned, "By a landslide. Turns out they were doing some money laundering to get their big mansion. Not like, a lot? But enough they got sued. Plus the fact they couldn't act against White Fang because I was their hostage for years made them really unpopular when that got out. So um... They're still in the government but they're working to pay off their debt and uh... I'm avoiding them because I'm the one who found out about their money laundering and revealed it and um... Yeah."
She shrugged listlessly.
"Oops?"
Weiss bowed her head deeply.
"The Schnee Dust Corporation was essentially destroyed by the new anti-trust legislation the restored government of Atlas passed, and um, my father didn't actually leave me or Winter anything. At all. It all went to Whitley. He uh... He's still not happy about me pulling a sword on him and declaring we'd made up. He runs his own engineering firm now. Mother is um, is doing better. She's out of rehab. Winter is running the Atlasian military but uh, well... She wasn't happy with how I dealt with Whitley so things are uh, a bit strained? Eheh..."
Yang and Ruby tried to sink into the couch together.
"Dad ran off with some young hot millionaire heiress who wanted a DILF," Yang sighed, "He sends us money sometimes."
"Uncle Qrow won the lottery. He said he hadn't had a vacation in decades and so he ran off, we haven't heard from him since," Ruby mumbled.
Jaune very slowly nodded. He decided to choose his next words very carefully.
"That... That all sucks," he said. RWBY sank into a deeper depression. "But! But... This isn't as bad as when we were fighting Salem. We don't have to worry about her anymore."
He smiled and reached out his hands to them.
"And hell, I survived like twenty years in the Ever After," he said, "You didn't have to go through that!"
"We wouldn't have survived five minutes without you," Ruby grumbled.
"Doesn't matter," Jaune said firmly, "We're going to the wedding, and we'll sort things out after. I promise. Don't dwell on all that. It won't help. Let's look to the future, okay? It's been rough, but it's going to get better."
Ruby stared at his hand for a moment. She then slowly reached out and took it. Yang, frowning, reached out and took his hand too. Weiss, not wanting to be left out, wrapped both of her hands around his free one. Blake stared for a moment, making some kind of mental calculation... Before she got up, walked around and hugged Jaune from the side. Yang, Weiss, and Ruby all scowled. Jaune maintained his happy smile.
"Okay?" He offered.
"... Sure," Ruby managed, eyes narrowed at Blake.
"Okay," Yang agreed, her eyes glowing red as she shot Blake a very dirty look.
"Of course, Jaune," Weiss said, glaring daggers at Blake.
"We'll see, Jaune," Blake said, staring back at them intensely.
Some kind of silent conversation was being held between all the girls and Jaune didn't really know what it was about. They had been under a lot of strain and pressure lately. Again, probably something best nipped in the bud.
Jaune coughed to get all their attention on him.
"Well... Uh... It's getting late," he said. "Um... Anyway. Maybe we should get to bed and rest up?"
"Of course Jaune," Weiss said brightly. She got up and pulled Jaune to his feet. "Let's get to bed!"
"Yes! Let's!" Ruby added, also standing up and tugging on Jaune's hand. Yang got up and tugged harder, nearly pulling Jaune off his feet. She caught him, smiling strangely.
"Oops! Clumsy me!" Yang said, holding him against her chest, "But you had a soft landing, right Stud?"
"Uh, yeah," Jaune said carefully. He slowly stood up, pulling away from Yang. "Anyway, there are four beds. I'll grab the pull out from the couch and-"
"Nonsense!" Ruby insisted, hugging onto Jaune tightly, "We used to sleep in the same sleeping bag all the time on the road, Jaune! It'll be just like old times!"
"Um...?"
"I couldn't put you out like that, Ruby," Yang said, tugging Jaune her way, "As the big sister, I'll take the hit! You deserve a bed all to yourself!"
"Uh..."
Weiss joined the fray, yanking on Jaune's shoulder.
"Please Ruby! As your partner and friend, I will accept the burden of Jaune in my bed!" Weiss said with a gleeful smile.
"Er, that's not-"
Blake again intervened, hugging onto Jaune tightly around the waist.
"I've caused so much trouble," Blake said, "I'll handle this for you three. After all, I have the most experience."
"Yeah, like the alley cat you are," Yang snorted. Blake growled.
"You didn't want to do anything!"
"I didn't want to do anything you suggested because it was all from your porn books!"
"EROTICA!"
"I'm smallest, he'll have the most room with me!" Ruby growled.
"Please! I-I'm nothing next to him!" Weiss insisted, "I-I'll just get lost in his arms-!"
"Okay!" Jaune said loudly but calmly, pulling away from all of them, "I'll just go get another room. You all deserve to have beds to yourselves, and I've got the money. It's no big deal. All right?"
"But-!" Weiss insisted, but Jaune shook his head.
"You guys have a LOT of issues. Being at eachother's throats hasn't helped. So, we all sleep separately and we'll feel better tomorrow. That good with everyone?"
"I..." Ruby nodded, drooping like a kicked puppy. "Yes Jaune."
"Sure Stud," Yang sighed.
"Of course Jaune," Weiss murmured quietly.
Blake just nodded, still staring intensely at Jaune.
Jaune nodded back to them and smiled.
"Good. See you tomorrow," he said, "Good night."
They said their goodnights back. Jaune turned and went out the door. The moment it shut behind him, all four women glared daggers at eachother-Though three of them focused mainly on Blake.
"What the hell was that?!" Yang demanded.
Blake shrugged.
"Nothing you weren't thinking," she replied cattily, "Jaune's single. He's well off. He's dependable. And we'll be at a wedding. It's the perfect time."
"Perfect time for what?!" Weiss demanded. "For you to-to sink your claws into him?!"
"Basically, yeah," Blake shrugged.
"You-You shameless alley cat!" Yang snarled.
"How do you know he's single?!" Ruby demanded. "It's not like you searched through his social media accounts when he handed you his Scroll, is it?!"
"No," Blake smirked, "But you did."
Ruby went bright red. At everyone else's scowls, she glared back.
"S-So what if I did?!" She sputtered. "Just to make sure he was single! I-I'm curious about him! He's my best friend, despite, you know, everything!" She pointed an accusing finger at Blake.
"You just want him because you want an easy life!"
"Yeah, and so do the rest of you!" Blake shot back. "But he's also courageous, handsome, kind, and everything else a proper romantic lead should be!"
"You barely exchanged ten words with him during our whole adventure to stop Salem!" Weiss sputtered.
"Yeah, and I also didn't reject him when he courted me in Beacon!" Blake smirked.
"Yeah?!" Yang growled, "Well, you'll just run off on him the second things get tough or-or cheat on him with Sun!"
"WE HAD AN OPEN RELATIONSHIP!" Blake defended herself.
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" Yang snarled. "Me? I'm going to stay with Jaune and-and build a proper home and family with him! I'll have twenty kids and we'll be happy!"
"Yaaaaang!" Ruby shouted, betrayed. Yang blushed.
"What?! You'll still be part of the family, Rubes! But you had your shot. I'm taking mine!"
"I'M TAKING MY SHOT!" Ruby snarled.
The argument continued... Until there was a knock at the door. Ruby scowled at her teammates turned traitors and stalked over to it. She threw the door open.
"WHA-Jaune?!"
Jaune stood there, looking disappointed. A hotel employee stood with him, looking annoyed.
"Guys," Jaune said, "This is why I said we should sleep and take care of this tomorrow, okay? Now everyone? Separate beds. Go. Now."
With his light beard and stern visage, he looked like the Rusted Knight again. All four girls nodded.
"Yes Jaune," they said meekly.
Blake and Weiss headed to their room, heads bowed, but still shooting dirty looks at eachother and Yang and Ruby. Yang and Ruby did the same, even after they were out of sight. Jaune shut the doors on both their rooms, sighed, and turned to the hotel employee.
"I'm really sorry about this," he said.
"Keep your harem in line, sir," the employee stated. Jaune scowled.
"They're not my harem!"
"Tell them that," he scoffed. "Also, you gonna tip or what?"
"For you responding to a noise complaint?" Jaune asked in disbelief. "Really?"
"Really!" The employee agreed. Jaune sighed and slipped some lien into his hand. He smirked saucily.
"Thank you sir... Though you know... If you and your ladies had a different sort of noise complaint, I could ignore it for a few more-?"
Jaune flared his Aura. It was like staring into the sun-A stern, powerful, angry looking sun in the form of a seven foot tall man built like a mountain.
The employee gulped nervously, handed the tip back, and tipped his hat.
"H-Have a good night, sir!"
He scurried off as Jaune glared after him. He sighed, released his Aura, and slowly shook his head.
"Some things never change," he muttered as he went off to his bed and his well deserved rest.
- - -
Yeah it's now a harem competition fic. It was going to happen eventually.
However, it's gonna require a lot more character growth to get to the happy ending.
