Alabast is crouched down and intently staring at something. His arms are crossed over his chest and there are only a few lights in the room.
"You need some help there son?" A heavy and low voice says from behind Alabast.
"I don't know. Maybe" Alabast stands up and half turns towards the voice.
An older looking man walks up to the glass case in front of Alabast. He has gray hair that is slicked back and ends at the base of his neck. He's got wrinkles on his face and it looks like his eyes are closed but don't let that fool you. He can see very well.
"I see the suit fits you nicely, looking for a tie now?" The old man asks.
"Yes, and I don't know what color would be best" Alabast looks back at the glass case where there are various ties with different colors and designs.
Alabast is wearing his suit to make sure it properly fits. And it's nice, but he doesn't know what tie would be good.
The old man rubs his chin that is hair free. "Hmmm. This is always the hard part. I can fit the suits near perfectly, but the ties can make or break the look. What color dress is your date wearing?"
"They haven't let me see them" Alabast says. "Maybe I should just go with black"
The old man raises his eyebrows when he hears that Alabast has multiple dates. He grins. "You don't need to match your dates color to your tie, but being able to compliment their dress color would have been nice. How about…"
Alabast watches as the old man opens the glass case and takes out a tie and holds it up to Alabast while he squints. "Yes, I think we could match this to your eye color" He then takes a different tie and holds it up. "Or we can go with the almost white color of the tips of your hair" The old man holds out both ties. "Which one do ya want? Both would be good"
Alabast grabs some of his hair and looks at it. He had left it alone for a while and hadn't checked it in a while. It had in fact almost gone back to white at the ends, it was still slightly dark but it is noticeably lighter. Alabast let's it fall back in place and grabs a tie. "I think this will look better"
The old man smiles. "That one was my first choice" He puts the other tie back. "I just have to give the customers choices so they don't feel like I forced them into buying anything"
——————
Ren walks out of the bathroom after taking a shower with a pink towel wrapped tightly around his waist. "Haaaah" he sighs in the satisfaction of the slightly colder dorm room air compared to the steamy bathroom air.
He begins walking towards his clothes but suddenly stops.
Jaune comes out of nowhere and grabs him. "We need to talk"
Ren isn't able to respond or ask how he got in here before Jaune pulls him over to his own bed. Ren's 'Samurai Shampoo' falls from his hand and spins midair before falling to the ground.
Jaune sits next to Ren on Ren's bed.
Ren keeps his legs close together while he sits with extremely straight posture and his shoulders tense.
Jaune has his elbows on his thighs while he talks with Ren. "Ren... I'm just gonna come out and say it. You are one of my BEST friends. These past few weeks, I feel like we've really bonded, even though you don't say much. I mean, you're really quiet. Even quieter than Alabast when he doesn't want to talk. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you, personally, but DARNIT, I consider you to be the brother I never had!"
Ren continues to uncomfortably sit there but manages to slightly smile. "And I you" He keeps his closed hands on his thighs to keep his towel on.
Jaune feels great to finally have a guy friend since in the past it had only been his father or his master that unlocked his aura trained him for a few months. Ren and Alabast are his two truly best guy friends. "Which is why I wanted to get your advice on..." He hangs his head and weakly finishes his sentence. "…girls"
"Girls?" Ren is surprised and confused. Mainly why Jaune would ask him of all people when Alabast is the one with 5 girlfriends. And he STILL doesn't know how Jaune got in her. But he reaches out to the side towards his clothes that are barely out of his current reach.
"I just... don't know... how to... girls. Um, I-I guess what I'm asking is... Well, how did you and Nora... y'know..." Jaune awkwardly asks.
"Uh... uh... uh..." Ren stops trying to grab his clothes and looks back to Jaune as he scrambled to try and find an answer to this.
"Ahe-he-he-he-hem!"
Jaune and Ren look at the bed that is slightly separated from Ren's. On it is Nora in her black shirt that has 'BOOP' in pink letters on it and pink lightning bolt shorts. Nora has pink headphones around her neck with a book on her knees.
Nora cleared her throat to help Ren out. "We are together-together… but we haven't… actually… SAID we're TOGETHER-together"
Jaune places his palms together and points his hands at the orange haired girl. "Nora, please. This is a talk between MEN. Now would you please put your headphones back on?"
"Only because you asked so nicely" Nora says while she puts her headphones back on while lifting her book back up. She wouldn't have done it if Jaune was rude because he isn't her leader. And only Alabast, Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and especially Ren can yell at her. But Ren barely speaks, not even talking about raising his voice. He's also mostly calm and rarely shows his emotions on his sleeves…..
"Pheeeeew" Jaune sighs before speaking in a slightly depressed tone while he stares at the floor. "It's about Ayaka. I've tried talking to her for the past few days and…. it just doesn't seem to be working out"
"Huh?" Ren has his hands folded in his lap.
"It's just that I've been trying to be a good leader y'know. And you and Nora have been together for a long time right?" Jaune asks.
"Nora and I have traveled together since our youth" Ren nods.
"So, do you have any pointers on how to work with her? I just have trouble understanding her actions. Sometimes she will be nice, and then the next second she could be pissed at me for seemingly no reason!" Jaune explains.
"Example?" Ren requests.
"Let's see" Jaune taps his knee with his hand. "Ah, here's one. Just the other day while my team was training together. It was break time and I was tired and on the ground out of breath. Ayaka came over with a towel and water bottle. She handed them to me which is very nice of her. We talk for a bit after I thank her. Everything is fine until WHAM! Suddenly she's mad. She becomes cold and walks away to continue training on her own" Jaune helplessly states.
"What did you say before she was mad" Ren tries to reach for his clothes again.
"What did I say?" Jaune thinks for a second. "At first I asked how she was doing. She said fine. Then we talked for a bit about classes and how she helps me study. And then just before she got mad…. I think Dazz brought up the dance and then after that I think she got mad"
"Has she not gotten a date for the dance?" Ren is 95% sure he has found the answer. He gets very close to grabbing his clothes, his fingers just centimeters away.
"Has Ayaka gotten a date yet? She says that she is waiting for someone specific. But she has loads of guys that will go with her! So it's obvious she will have a date for the dance. I mean, she is Ayaka Mika. One of the most beautiful, intelligent, calm, and caring people I know! How could anyone not want to take her to the dance!" Jaune emotionally expresses.
REN's clothes drop to the floor and he blankly looks at them before sitting back up straight. "Do you have a date?"
Jaune slumps down low. "No. I'm just going with the other guys…"
"If Ayaka doesn't have a date and you don't have a date" Ren flatly points out before looking at the sad boy to his left. "Why don't you ask Ayaka to the dance"
"What?!" Jaune nearly jumps up. He looks at Ren like he's crazy. "I've seen some of the people that have asked Ayaka to the dance. If she turned them down then what chance do I have? And besides, she's waiting for 'the one' to ask her"
"So…." Ren shifts the towel covering his lower half. "….. why exactly are you here then?"
"Right…" Jaune shakes his head and gets back to the main topic. "… I want to be a good leader. And I've been trying to be. I can lead Dazz and Nyx no problem. I understand them, their semblances, their weapons, and how they fight. But when it comes to Ayaka it's like I walk on a tightrope. I understand her weapon. It's simple enough and doesn't transform. Her semblance is weird but after she explained it to me I've understood it a lot better. But her actions don't make any sense. To anyone else she is like this elegant and perfect girl, but when she's with me she changes slightly. I don't know what it is. I thought it was because she thought I wasn't a worthy leader, but when I asked her she got mad and stated that I was a good leader and stormed off"
Ren closes his eyes. "Have you specifically talked to her about this?"
"Yes… no?… I don't know…. It's not like I can just ask her why she treats only me different from everyone else" Jaune lowers his head onto his hands.
"Why not do just that?"
Jaune looks through his fingers and sees Pyrrha standing in the door way.
The redhead walks into the room. "Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines, no beating around the bush because your worried about hurting her feelings. Just... be honest. We talked about this right?" Pyrrha gives a friendly smile while she stands at the foot of the bed and picks up Ren's clothes and hands them to the practically naked guy.
Ren nods his head in appreciation. He doesn't want to speak and cause the conversation to halt.
Jaune lifts his head and places his hands on his thighs. "Right" Jaune pushes off his thighs as he stands up tall and full of confidence. "I just need to ask her honestly"
Jaune confidently walks to the door but falters when he gets through the door. He tightly grips the handle and turns back towards the room. "But what if I-"
"Jaune" Pyrrha cuts him off. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth. Be honest with her and she will be honest with you. And don't just let her storm off if she gets mad or frustrated, go after her and ask her why and tell her you don't understand. That should do the trick"
Jaune gains his smile back. "You're right, thanks Pyrrha" He waves to Ren. "Good talk, Ren!"
Ren smiles and waves Jaune goodbye.
Nora takes her headphones off. "So how did he get in here?"
"I was going to ask you" Ren says while he stands up with his clothes.
Nora and Ren look at Pyrrha.
"I'm sorry, I don't know either" She apologizes. "But maybe it was Alabast?"
——————
Jaune goes out and looks for Ayaka. He wants to get this out of the way so he can actually focus on something else.
As the sun is setting he finds Ayaka down a random hallway. He forgot to charge his scroll so he couldn't contact her.
"Ok Jaune. Honesty. Truth. Confidence" He clenches his fists as he hides behind a corner. "Don't worry about the fact that she is practically a sexy assassin fox lady… wait, how is that helping? Cmon~…" He nearly psyches himself out. "No, I'm her leader. She's my friend, a really good friend. Why is talking to her so much different than Pyrrha? And since when has talking to a person this hard?"
Jaune's breathing begins to pick up and a drop of sweat rolls down his cheek. "Are the walls closing in? Is the sky falling? Did my heart stop? No, it's just beating way too fast. Oh jeez man"
He shakes his head. "I just gotta get this over with"
As Jaune goes around the corner he notices a black haired man talking with Ayaka. The guy looks handsome and around their grade. His hair is decently long and his facial features are sharp and his amber colored eyes are full of confidence and admiration. He's wearing the Shade Academy uniform, it's similar to the Beacon Academy uniform but the students aren't required to wear it at their school all the time.
Jaune can barely hear what this guy and Ayaka are saying, but what he can hear he isn't great.
The black hair guy holds his left hand out for a handshake. "I'm sorry we haven't met yet. I've tried tracking you down but you are one sly fox. My name is Daniel Mahoon. It's a pleasure to finally meet you"
Ayaka's tails begin moving asynchronously, and Jaune knows what this means. He has paid more than enough attention to Ayaka to know that this means she is happy or in a generally good mood. And Jaune knows that Faunus tails move like this when they're happy because Alabast's tail moves similarly when he is with his girlfriends. Of course a fox tail and a 4 foot wolf tail move differently, but Jaune has seen some similarities.
"Hello Daniel" Ayaka says And shakes his hand.
Jaune is only able to see Ayaka's back and Daniels front.
"Please, call me Dan" Daniel charmingly smiles and lets Ayaka's hand go.
"Hello Dan" Ayaka corrects. "And may I ask, why we're you so eager to track me down?"
Daniel nods his head. "I know it sounds creepy, but just hear me out. I saw you one day in the garden a week ago. I think you first years were taking a test for Professor Peach? Anyway, I saw you among the flowers and my heart was instantly captured by your beauty. I know it's a bit cliché and all, but I wouldn't say it's love at first sight"
"That certainly would be very silly and cliché" Ayaka harshly, and a bit bitterly, says.
"Right" Daniel nods but his smile doesn't go away. "And that's why I started asking around campus about a beautiful and elegant fox Faunus with silky purple hair"
"Hopefully all good things" Ayaka politely speaks.
"Indeed, lots of good things. And I don't believe they had you mixed up with another three-tailed fox. Not many of those around here, although I did hear of a second year Beacon student named Fox. But that's beside the point. I heard some information about you and grew more and more interested in you. I was trying to find you but it's like you slipped right by me"
"Well, I can say I wasn't trying to avoid you" Ayaka clasps her hands in front of her near her waist, she is wearing the Beacon uniform.
"That makes me very happy" Daniel puts his right hand over his chest. "Now about why I wanted to find you, I wanted to get to know you better"
Jaune turns around and walks back down the hallway that he came from. He doesn't want to eavesdrop on this conversation. And his heart pangs a little. He can just talk with her when she goes back to the dorm room later.
Ayaka's tails stop moving. "And what is it that you would like to know?"
"I wanted to know if we could be friends. I want to get to know you better and learn about you from yourself and not from others. And I know I'm a bit late, but would you go to the dance with me?"