Time For Love: Ruby Rose X Male OC

Vol. 1 Ch. 5 Cardin & Coco

Ace's POV

My team and I were in the cafeteria with Team RWBY and Team JNPR, while Nora was telling us a story, one that was quite unbelievable, with Ren correcting her, as she said, "So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Ren replied, "It was day." Nora continued and said, "We were surrounded by Ursai..." Holding a coffee cup, Ren corrected her again and said, "They were Beowolves." Nora kept going and said, "Dozens of them!" Ren corrected Nora once more and said, "Two of 'em." As Ruby, Pyrrha, and I now looked at a distant Jaune with concern, Nora finished her story and said, "But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Ren sighed and said, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." Looking at her leader, Pyrrha spoke up and said, "Jaune? Are you okay?" Snapping out of it, turning back toward us, Jaune said, "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?" Ruby replied and said, "It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." As the others stopped their distractions and focused their attention to him, Jaune said, "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He gave us a thumbs-up while laughing nervously until his attention was focused on something behind us. I followed his eyes and saw the members of Team CRDL, standing around a girl with brown rabbit ears jutting from her hair as Cardin laughed at her and Sky held up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her unusual features. I got slightly annoyed by this and turned my focus back to Jaune as Pyrrha said, "Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Jaune replied, "Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" I rolled my eyes and said, "He's a bully." Jaune scoffed and said, "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me." We then proceeded to name not one, but three different times that Cardin had bullied Jaune. Jaune attempted to laugh it off and replied, "I didn't land far from the school!"

Pyrrha spoke up again and said, "Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Nora got up from the table and presented her diabolical plan with a not-entirely-sane grin as she said, "Ooooh! We'll break his legs!" Jaune replied and said, "Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." We all looked over as the laughing grew louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears were tugged on by Cardin as she said, "Ow! That hurts! Please, stop..." Cardin continued laughing as he turned to his cronies and said, "I told you it was real!" Still laughing with his teammates, Russell said, "What a freak!" Deciding that I finally had enough, I stood up and walked over to Cardin. Then I said, "Hey, Cardin! What makes you think you can bully an upperclassman?" He snickered and said, "She's a freak! That's why." I clinched my fists and said, "Really? The only freak I see around here is standing right in front of me." Cardin got pissed and said, "Why you little piece of─" But before he could finish, I used my semblance to briefly stop time as I threw an uppercut towards his face, knocking him out as time resumed. I looked at his teammates and said, "Do you three want to take him to the nurse or do you want to join him?" They panicked, picked up their not-so-mighty leader, and ran off. I took a deep breath to calm myself, turned towards the rabbit Faunus, and asked, "Are you okay...?" She nodded and said, "It's Velvet. And yeah, I think so. But why did you do that?" I smirked and said, "Because I don't like bullies. Are you sure that you're okay?"

Velvet replied and said, "My ears still hurt a bit." I smiled and said, "May I?" She replied and asked, "You're not going to pull them, are you?" I shook my head and said, "Of course not." She nodded and slowly moved her head towards me. I reached over and began to gently rub her ears. After a few minutes, I stopped and said, "Do you want to come sit with me and my team?" She smiled and said, "I would, but I think I actually need to head to class now." I nodded and said, "Alright. My name is Ace Dodger, leader of Team AMBR. If Cardin or his team ever bother you again, come get me." Velvet nodded and left. I went back over to where I was sitting before and sat back down. Everyone was looking at me and I said, "What?" Blake asked, "Why'd you help out that Faunus?" I smirked and replied, "I don't like people being discriminating and/or bullied just because they're different. To put it simply, I don't like bullies." They all nodded and I saw Ruby get a big grin on her face as she looked at me.