"I'm melting! Meeelllltttiiinnnggg!!!"

The puddle that was once Neptune Versailles screamed as it melted into a blue nothing.

"It's...it's over." A strange calm washed over Ruby Rose as she stared blankly at the now bubbling mess that was her final enemy.

After years of fighting, sacrifice, and hidden true bosses, they had finally defeated the true evil witch.

Who knew Neptune's fear of water was actually meant to show he was weak to it?

"Ruby...we...we did it!" The reaper suddenly found herself in a hug as the only other person who had come to face Neptune with her.

After a few seconds of hugging, Jaune Arc's declaration finally seeped into Ruby's head.

They had actually done it. It really really was over.

It had taken them numerous sacrifices and blood and swear and tears to defeat Salem.

It had taken just a bucket of water to beat her boss' boss' boss' boss' boss.

After the calm, came a storm of emotion. Relief. Thankfulness. Happiness. Joy. Excitement.

Just every good reason and feeling of being alive at this moment and for the future was reflected in Ruby's silver eyes and when she looked in Jaune's own blue ones she found the same reasons.

Or maybe his own was just reflecting hers? Or was hers reflecting his?

Soon, the others will learn of Neptune's demise as his Flying Monkey Sun clones will dissolve along with their master and Weiss would rejoice that she wouldn't have to pay his alimony anymore.

However, right now, Ruby Rose felt like she could take on the world and, maybe it was the adrenaline talking, she knew who she wanted to take it with.

And so Ruby smashed her lips into those of a suprised Jaune Arc's who soon, much to her satisfaction, kissed her back.

Ruby didn't know where this would lead her but she knew that she wanted to find out.
/

10 months later, Ruby really needed to find out.

It started with a question on a question that all females dreaded from family, this female being a twenty year old Ruby Rose.

"So when's he going to pop the question, sis?"

Said question on a question was asked by a certain Yang Xiao Long.

To which her sister's reply was a simple: "What question?"

"You know! That question!"

"Oh!" Ruby's eyes widened a bit and she had to pretend to cough to compose herself. This was all wasted by the slight pink that graced her cheeks though.

"Well, we discussed last night but Jaune and I agreed that we're still not sure if we could handle more than three extra mouths. Maybe two at the most."

Yang's face disappeared from her scroll, replaced by the floor of her apartment, before it popped up again.

"You're thinking about kids now?!? Ruby Rose, you should tell me about these sorts pf things! At least get married first!" yelled Yang to her little sister who just shot her a look of confusion.

"Married? I don't think dogs could get married, Yang."

"What?" Like a game of hot potato, the confusion shifted to Yang.

One potato.

"What? I thought we were talking about Zwei? Jaune and I thought maybe he could have some puppies. There's this nice Husky that we know of that..."

"No, Ruby. I was thinking of you and Jaune."

"Me and Jaune what?"

Two potato.

"You know! You and Jaune getting married!"

Three potato.

The hot potato of confusion was sent back to Ruby, her face going from confusion like the one someone gets when thinking if a potato was a fruit or a vegetable to full blown blush defcon three, her face hot enough to throw in some potatos for a good baking.

The fourth and final hot potato is then held by the author as he asked himself what was up with all the potatoes? Maybe, he just found them neat.

"Hawawawa! Y-yang! Jaune and I aren't dating...yet." The last part was whispered by Ruby but was still heard by Yang thanks to the new Schnee 6 scroll's sensitive microphone.

The new Schnee 6ms camera was also able to capture Ruby's blushing expression and Yang's unamused  hidef one. She really needed to loosen up on the make-up.

The author would also like to remind that she is not endorsed by the Schnee company.

"Bullshit, Rubes. You and Jaune are totally dating!"

"No, we're not Yang." Ruby denied, her expression changing to one of disappointment.

"What about all those dates?"

"We just hang out or go out to eat. It's mainly just us goofing around before a mission."

"You guys live together."

"It's much cheaper this way." Yang had to agree. Ever since the Grimm were defeated, humanity  had started moving out more which made places near the cities become more expensive.

"Don't you guys kiss and stuff?"

"Well, sometimes." Ruby brushed back a strand of hair, trying to ignore the heating of her cheeks. "But he doesn't make a big deal out of it. They're more friendly pecks anyways."

To this Yang could't help but grin, "Don't tell me the sex is casual as well?"

"That was just a dream! Ah, I mean, um..." As Ruby tried to salvage what was left of her dignity Yang couldn't help but shake her head at her adorable little sister.

"Listen, Rubes. There are people out there that are so dense. that unless you outright tell them, they won't know you've been dating unless you tell it to their face. Then there's Jaune. I'd honestly suggest just asking him. You guys are basically a couple already anyways so there'd be not much difference." Yang paused for a second. "Except, that you guys can bang already. Although maybe Jaune's one of those after marriage types..."

Yang's voice was cut-off as Ruby disconnected the call.

The young woman sighed before burying her head in her arms.

Even if she didn't want to admit it, Yang was right. Her very ambiguous relationship with Jaune was already getting to her.

It turned out that life wasn't like a fairy tale where after you kissed at the end of a battle, you got together. Apparently, you just moved in together because it was easier on your wallets.

Still...

She did not want to ruin what they had going on right now just because Yang had a crazy assumption.

However, the thought was still nice.

She'd have to think about it. A lot. And when the time was right, maybe, just maybe, then she'd ask him out.

Besides, Yang was probably the only one who thought of that crazy idea.

/

"So did he propose yet?"

Apparently not.

"Are you serious?!? Did Yang put you up to this?" Ruby slammed her tiny hands on the table in front of her.

"Woah! Calm down, Rose. I'm just making small talk." The first thing Cardin learned when he became headmaster was that his table was made of the sturdiest stuff in Remnant, capable of hits from even the strongest of teachers and students.

The headmaster of Beacon then stood up and started reorganizing the mess Ruby had made of his files. He seriously needed a secretary.

"Fine! But this isn't over," pouted Ruby as she sat back down with her arms crossed as she watched the irate Cardin pull out a photo which he then handed to her. "What's this? Beacon's statue?"

The picture was an old one pf the statue depicting two hooded figures, one man and one woman, who were both posing dramatically.

"Correction. Beacon's old statue." Cardin answered as he stood up and did what every principal did: turn around and look out his giant window with his arms behind him. "The faculty has been discussing that Beacon needed a new statue since the old one got destroyed years ago."

"Okay, so what?" While Ruby did get the point of having a new statue she still didn't know what she was needed for.

"Well, while everyone has agreed that there should be a new statue, there is no solid decision on if we should reuse the old design or make a new one in light of the recent war." Cardin then massaged the bridge of his nose. "Ugh. They could all agree on funny hat day but not this."

"So you want me to get Yang or Weiss or something? Because I don't know a thing about art."

"Let me finish, Rose." stated Cardin as he turned back to Ruby. "Since the faculty couldn't come to a decision, we decided instead to compromise. We'd use the concept of the old statue and just update it with it more recent heroes. Now tell me who defeated Neptune?"

"We did."

"Very good, Miss Rose."

"So you want Jaune and I to model for your statue?" asked Ruby as she reexamined the picture again. Both wore hoods. The guy had a sword while the girl had an axe. The similiarities were  pretty uncanny.

"Arc's already arriving in a bit so I just need you to sign this contract as the model. Our sculptor is such a drama queen. Don't worry, your lawyer's approval is alrady stamped."

Cardin then handed her a pen with a large bundle of papers which indeed had the emblem of Yang Xiao Long stamped all over it.

"So all I have to do is hold some pose for a few hours with Jaune? Sounds lame."

"Should have thought of that before becoming a hero." replied Cardin as Ruby signed the document. "Look on the bright side, Rose. You got a few hours with Arc. Might as well make the most of it. Get this relationship drama over with."

"Oh, I don't know." confessed Ruby as she handed the contract back to the headmaster. "I think I could give it a bit more thought. We just got puppies and I'm not sure it'd be a good time to bring up-"

"-that you don't know if you're dating or not?" Cardin then put the papers in a metal safe.

"Yeah! I mean, Jaune could be so  dense. Sometimes, I try to hint stuff but he just takes it the wrong way."

"Must be tough," nonchatantly murmurred Cardin as he put the first safe into an even larger safe, the locks hissing as it was sealed.

"It is! One time, we held hands the whole movie but not once did he seem to acknowledge it. There was also this one time in the shower-Hey, why I am telling you all this?"

"Maybe, it's just my feminine wiles, Rose." Pushing the larger safe to the platform of a drop chute, Cardin then pressed a button for it to lowered to somewhere.

As the safe dropped down, so did a pit drop into her stomach.

"Hey, wait, what are you doing?" Ruby had a really bad feeling about this. Like, the same kind of feeling she got when Yang was about to beat her in a board game.

"Oh, you know," Cardin then showed her an old nostagic smirk , the one he used back when he was more of a bully. "just keeping it safe."

Safe? That was a pun. Cardin didn't pun.

"W-what did I just sign?" As her lawyer, Yang had always told her to read the fine print of things. Was this some way of teaching her a lesson?

"Oh, don't worry. You signed a deal to model for the new statue of Beacon." Cardin then held out a piece of paper. "It's just the  chosen design you have to worry about."

With a trembling hand, Ruby took the paper and was finally able to see what she would be doing,

Upon seeing it and remembering exactly who she was doing it with, the young woman lost all color on her face.

She really should have read the fine print.

/
The statue of Beacon.

In it's original form, it depicted two hunters, male and female, holding their weapons up and posing victoriously over Grimm.

A simple but iconic concept.

The male held a sword while the female held an axe. Their clothing of choice being simple hunter clothes, both with hoods.

Fine. Ruby had thought she and Jaune sort of matched perfectly. She had even heard that the basis of the guy could have been Jaune's ancestor.

For the new statue, they had thought to revisit the same motif, of a male and female hunter, only tweaked. Taking into account that this was a new Beacon and Remnant, the idea of rebirth, freedom, and purity were to be implemented.

"So we have to be NAKED?!?!?" a red Ruby Rose all but yelled into her scroll as the other person on the screen, Yang the Betrayer, filed her nails.

Currently, she was in one of the  trailer rooms and she had called  her sister to try to get her out of it. No dice.

"It's just art, Rubes. It's not a big deal. You get naked in the locker room all the time don't you?"

"Yes. No. That's not the point!" She wasn't even that open in a locker room, preferring to still wear a towel as she changed.

"What's the problem? I heard that Coco's doing it. At least, it's another woman."

"B-but Jaune will be there too, you know, nakey."

"Ah." Understanding entered Yang's eyes. "You're worried about that. Gotcha."

"Thank you." Ruby smiled. Sometimes it took a while but she could always count on her older sister to understand her.

"Don't worry, Ruby," said Yang in an comforting tone. "I'm sure Coco's not after Jaune. I'm pretty sure she's seen a ton of naked bodies anyways. Why just last week I was at her art exhibit..."

"You were at an art exhibit?" asked a skeptic Ruby.

"I have a life, Ruby. Anyways, her main piece was this absolutely gorgeous statue of a naked Yatsu embracing an equally naked Velvet. She called it Stuffed Rabit and represented man and fauna-"

"Stop. I don't mean that!" interrupted Ruby. "I meant me! It's embarassing to be naked in front of him."

To that Yang just blinked and asked, "Aren't you guys dating?"

"No, we're not! Jaune's too dense to get it."

"Well, you guys live together, don't you?"

"Yeah, but we don't walk around naked, Yang."

"So you've never see his dong?"

"No." Ruby honestly lied. She's technically never seen it but there was this one time when she dared him to wear his old onesie which was way way too snug.

"Huh," Yang rubbed her chin. "I thought you would have since you guys are dating. Cause man that thing is crazy."

"Wait. How do you know what it-"

"Are you talking about Jaune's penis again?" the voice of one Blake Belladonna suddenly popped up. "It's not that special."

"Blake?!? You too!?"

"That's because she's using fauna standards." came the snooty voice of the fibal member of Team RWBY. "Jaune's is quite...decent if we were to use  human anatomy. Why I've heard male cat fauna have barbed-"

"Weiss too?!? Why are you all together anyways?" cried Ruby in outrage but before anything else could be done or said, a message popped open on her scroll and was the perfect moment for Yang to disconnect.

Be ready in half an hour. No make-up needed. Just wear the provided robe and nothing undeneath, such as jewelry or piercings. Bring your weapon as well.

Also, there is a razor and cream in the bathroom. Do what you must, darling.

Why would she even need-Ruby them pulled the waistline of both her combat skirt and panties and peeked down.

Maybe, going agaisnt the contract, wasn't as bad as it sounded.

Jail sounded lovely at this time of year.

/

The studio itself was pretty nice. It was a simple round room with a grey platform at the center. Lights of various sizes also hung on the celing. There were no windows just one door in and out to assure privacy. It wasn't even too hot because of the air conditioning.

Jaune was also there, his blonde hair standing out among the grey walls. He was also in a bathrobe  was doing that thing he did when he was nervous.

Humming.

Hmm Hmm Hmmhmm Hmm Hmm Hmmhmm Hmm Hmm HmmHmmHmm Hmm hmm hmmhmm.

Or whatever humming sounded like written down.

Ruby also noted he was...fiddling around with his hand.

While, yes, the robe had pockets, Ruby was thinking of something else entirely. Was..was this an art thing? To make it look large in the statue? Or was he thinking of her?

The reaper blushed at the thought.

The idea that he thought of her that way, that he would use her in his fantasies was an odd feeling. Jaune was her roomate, her buddy, her pal. While recently she had been entertaining the idea of, well, something more, him finding her attractive and using her in his fiddling made her feel good in more ways than one.

Ruby's hand had started making it's way to her own pocket when Jaune finally noticed her.

Blue met Silver as Awkward met Silence. Unlike the former couple however, Awkward and Silence were able to form an unbreakable bond that held itself all over the studio.

...well, almost unbreakable.

"Hey." Jaune went.

"Hey." Ruby went as well.

Ruby made her way to Jaune, the only sound  were the slippers provided hitting the floor, as he  seemed to try to look everywhere but her. She didn't mind as she was doing the same.

Flop. Flop. Flop. Flop. Flop. Stop.

Ruby settled for a not so comfortable two meters away from him as they both stood side by side waiting for awkwardly waiting for, she guessed, Coco.

Silence returned to park and Ruby happily validated it's ticket.

Maybe, the best thing to do would be to just keep quiet the whole time. Just get it done quick and fast and try to forget about it in the morning; pretend  it never happened.

That actually sounded like a good plan. And all this talk of proposals, dating, and their relationship could be put aside until a later date.

"So, you got roped into this too, huh?" And, of course, Jaune just had to open his big mouth.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Ruby stammered out a reply. "Yang kinda set me up."

"Yang?"

"Yeah, Yang." Ruby bit back the reasons on why Yang did it. "Can you believe we're gonna be doing this?"

"Well, it was actually my idea." To Ruby's incredulous expression, Jaune immediately followed up, "N-not this. The whole redoing the statue thing. I used to dislike the statue but now I kinda miss it. Actually, some of the faculty wanted to use a faunus as one of the hunters."

"Oh, that'd be cool. Blake would  have loved that."

"Yeah," Jaune nodded. "But Coco didn't want to redo any of her old statues. She has this one of Velvet and Yatsu."

"I've heard."

"Oh okay. Well, so instead I thought instead we could update it with more recent heroes like you and your team and since you're the only one who doesn't have a statue, I thought you'd be perfect."

Jaune looked away bashfully, a slight pink dust on his cheeks.

It was actually a bit odd that Ruby was the only one ithout a statue, even if she was the one most known as the hero of the war.

Blake had one along with other important members of her reformed fauna rights group, Dead Fang or Dfang.

Weiss had numerous one's mainly because of her status as President of her company and her helpings in the defending of Atlas.

Yang and Mercury had somehow been able to carve perfect depictions of their faces on Mount Glenn last time they had fought.

"Awww, Jaune. That's sweet." Ruby was touched by her friend's gesture. Not everyone got someone a statue. It looked like she'd have to up her game during Roommate Best Friend's day. Maybe two pairs of socks this time.

"Well, everyone else liked the idea and sort of pushed me into doing it as well. It did seem pretty cool...before the whole...you know," Jaune trailed off.

Thinking about it having a statue would have been pretty cool. She'd really turn into those heroes from her stories for future students...only she'd be naked.

Well, there were worse things than posing nude. At least Jaune was as nude with her.

"Didn't the old statue have a pretty high platform. Sure, you won't turn back into ol' Vomit Boy?"

Smiling for the first time in what felt like a really long day, Ruby poked Jaune's side.

"Hey! It's motion sickness, not heights. Besides, what if you sneeze all over me, Crater face?" Jaune poked her back which sent a jolt through Ruby's body.

Soon, they were both in a poking contest which would further escalate into a tickling one as both leaders tried to out tickle the other as their restrained laughter echoed across the room.

At the moment, it seemed Jaune had the upper hand as he was above Ruby, stimulating her sensitive spots, leaving her barely breathing from laughter.

While the redhead did try to put up a defense, between Jaune's relentless assault and all the tickling resistance he had gained from growing up with seven sisters, she honestly found it hard to put up a fight.

Eventually, Jaune was able to grab both of her wrists and held them at her side."

"Do you concede? I think this makes 11-8." grinned Jaune above a flushed and panting Ruby. He barely looked winded although his robe was showing more cleavage, exposing a muscled chest that was a farcru from the old scraggly description Weiss used to call him.

"Never!" With a yell, Ruby as she pushed forward with all her might, causing Jaune to fall over. She then immediately straddled his waist, completely forgetting that she was only wearing a robe.

"Don't get cocky, Vomit Boy." heavily breathed Ruby. Her own robe was now dangerously close to undoing itself, the front cut already all the way down to her waist.

"You know," Jaune tried to struggle out but her legs were like a molten iron grip. "Even if you win this, I'm still in the lead, right?"

"Well then, maybe we should start with round two." She placed her hands on his bare chest and then snaked them underneath his robe, making Jaune's eyes widen.

"Aw, Ruby, not there!"

"Yep, there! Here comes the tickle monster mk 2.0!"

"What are you two doing?"

The tickle monster mk 2.0 and her unwilling victim froze as they turned their heads to a cross armed Coco Adel. Her face showed less curiousiry and more impatience.

"Also," Coco lowered her sunglasses with one hand, as if taat would better allow her to understand the sight in front of her. "if you're going to do some foreplay, do it in your trailers rather than the studio proper. I'll be back to get some things, be finished by then."

She then walked back out leaving two blushing dorks.

/