𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 17

Jaune was stretching himself thin.

Ruby could tell because despite being younger than everyone else and a little scatter-brained at time, she paid attention to those she cared about – and Jaune was the first friend she made at Beacon. He was the guy who approached the girl laid flat on her butt and dared to befriend her, and for that he'd always be special to her. If it wasn't for the little confidence bump he'd given then she wasn't sure if she'd have found the nerve to talk to Weiss and Blake.

Of course, she'd never admit to him how important he was. That'd be embarrassing. She'd been really excited when he and Yang became a thing though. Surprised, but excited. Jaune had matured a lot in the last few weeks – even Weiss was saying it – and it felt like he was a lot more "aware" of the people around him. He'd even somehow made friends with a mute girl from Mistral and Velvet's team after losing his cool and thumping Cardin. Why did they call it "losing your cool" anyway? He'd looked awesome when he did that. He'd gained cool. Yang had been practically vibrating for hours after. Even Blake had gotten into it.

There was no denying that Jaune was a lot better than he had been before. That felt cruel to say, like his old self was bad, but it wasn't like he was a different person. He'd just applied himself more or something. He'd wised up. Grown up. Whatever you wanted to call it. All things told, it was a good thing, and yet she couldn't help but watch him drag himself around the classes and yawn into his arm when he thought no one was looking. He would thumb at his eyes, clench them shut, and at times his head would bob precariously forward, only for him to catch it and prop his chin up on one hand. He would smile, and laugh, and chat with his teammates when they engaged him, but the moment their attention was elsewhere such a look of fatigue would take over him that Ruby wanted to run over, kidnap him and stuff him under a pile of blankets.

It's not worth it if you look like that, Jaune...

Everyone else was happy. Weiss was happy, Yang was happy, Blake was happy, his team were happy, but he wasn't. He looked like he was trying to balance six spinning plates at once, and more kept getting added. First Mint, then Velvet, now Coco. Jaune laughed and talked and apologised and kept up with his lessons all at the same time, but you couldn't do all that without making sacrifices elsewhere.

"Ruby," said Weiss, voice a whisper. "You're staring at Arc again."

"Can't you call him Jaune?" she replied. "I thought you were on better terms now."

"We are. It's... It's habit at this point. Nothing more. He's shown an admirable side of himself these past few weeks and I certainly have no complaints. He's become awfully popular with older women though, don't you think? Not only Coco and Velvet, but that Cinder woman from Mistral is paying attention to him. Isn't Yang worried?"

Yang? Worried? Ruby would have snorted if she wouldn't have been told off for it. Yang never worried about anything, and why should she? Yang was confident, pretty, good at talking, and wasn't afraid of anything. Ruby wasn't jealous – okay, maybe she was – but it always felt like Yang got everything right, while she floundered. It sometimes made her wonder if that was the difference between an extra two years of having a mom. Ruby had grown up with only a few memories, and more of a broken-down father for the year it took dad to build himself back up and become a real father again.

Now that was something she was undeniably jealous over. Ruby remembered her mom's smile and her cookies and being held by her, but most of what she knew came from what Yang and Taiyang had told her. Yang had actual memories of her, and they were much more solidified in her head. It wasn't fair at all, but it also wasn't something she could complain about. Yang hadn't had a say in how mom died.