Learning To Bloom (ch1)

2-DAY EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS! THANK YOU!!

This is a bit different from most of my other stories! It's a bit more... realistic? A bit more delicate, I'd say. You'll see what I mean.

This is also a very special story! A joint project between myself and Azure-Zer0 on tumblr, who drew lovely art pieces for this fic! It's all a big present for our good friend, Xlth! Xlth is always motivating us (and many other fandom creators), and we'd wanted to show our appreciation and love for them with their favorite characters~

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Learning To Bloom

													  Chapter 1.

Pyrrha and Weiss had more in common than they realized.

Rather, it wasn't something they really had the chance to realize at first.

It was more of the fact that they knew they had something in common, but it wasn't quite the aspect they'd been anticipating.

It was no secret around Beacon's campus that the two prestigious girls had admirers, particularly when the Vytal Festival was nearing and students from all other schools and kingdoms were welcome onto Beacon's campus.

In Pyrrha's case, she'd known Jaune had liked her even before he had known it himself. He was always giving her doe-eyed looks or offering to carry her things for her or go with her when the team split up, always chuckling nervously and saying her name and letting his gaze linger on her just a second longer than usual. In their dorm room, he'd always turn away whenever Nora was changing, but if it were Pyrrha then he'd stumble and fall as he desperately tried to run and hide elsewhere.

His reactions to Pyrrha were always in the extreme, exaggerated, so everyone was aware of how he felt even before he himself was.

And he made her laugh with how endearing he was, with how hard he was trying.

She did always admire those things about him if nothing else - his persistence and determination.

She wanted to help, she wanted to see him succeed.

And she'd been shown attention before plenty of times, but never in such close quarters and never quite like this. She didn't know how to handle it. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

So she played along, laughed at his jokes, agreed to pair up with him, helped him study or train when he asked for it. She enjoyed her time with Jaune as she enjoyed her time with any of her other friends.

.

As for Weiss, her crush on Neptune was similar to Jaune's crush on Pyrrha.

It was rather baseless at the start, relying mainly or solely upon his dashing good looks and charisma. She'd had plenty of boys after her since the moment she was first allowed to step foot outside of the family mansion at the age of five. She was used to the boys' attention, but she wasn't used to liking them back.

None of the boys who had ever pursued her had been to her liking, not by looks nor by manners nor by fighting capabilities. Neptune was probably the first in seventeen years, which was shocking in and of itself. Weiss was very picky.

His antics made her laugh, his charm made her heart flutter just a little, and seeing him fight made her want to jump into battle beside him.

She thought it was love.

She'd never really experienced much familial love in her lifetime, let alone the romantic kind. So as far as she knew, when a boy was showing her attention and she actually had the desire to show it back, that was love, or at least some obvious form of attraction.

It had always confused her though, because she had felt a sense of attraction toward many boys and girls in her life.

But that was probably nothing.

.

By this point with the Vytal Festival approaching, everyone at Beacon knew that Jaune liked Pyrrha more than he liked Weiss, which was a weight off the heiress' shoulders. And besides, now she had Neptune, who seemed to like her back just as much.

Somewhere along the lines, a double date had been arranged, most likely the work of Sun wanting to help Neptune out, so he had approached Jaune with the offer.

And of course Jaune had accepted immediately, if not illegibly at first.

With the Festival fairgrounds already set up, there were plenty of games and food stands to entertain themselves with.

But first, the girls needed to be asked out.

On Jaune's end, it was just another school morning for them, with every day's energy rising as the Festival's official opening neared. They still had their everyday classes and training until then however, which means Jaune still had some time to ask Pyrrha out.

Easier said than done.

He didn't want to do it during lunchtime with other people around, and he sure as heck wasn't going to do it before or after any classes.

So all day he musters up his courage as he stumbles next to Pyrrha in the hallways or holds the door open for her without needing to, until finally they return to their dorm in the evening. Nora is in the shower and Ren is sitting in his bed reading on the other side of the room. Jaune takes his chance to approach Pyrrha at her desk.

"H-Hey, um... Pyrrha?"

She looks up from her paper with a bright smile as always.

"Yes, Jaune?"

He nearly falters, but persists.

"Uhm so uh... I think Neptune asked Weiss to go explore the Festival together when it opens this weekend..."

Pyrrha tilts her head in mild interest.

"Oh?" For some reason that news makes her stomach feel odd, but she smiles nonetheless. "That's grand! I hope they enjoy it! I didn't know those two were like that!"

"Y-Yeah haha..." He scratches the back of his head. "B-But I uh... I was wondering if maybe... you'd wanna join them? W-With me, I mean! If we could join them. I-If you want to..."

Pyrrha blinks up at him, her smile fading only for a moment to register the request. Then it comes back full-force.

"Of course! I'd love to go with them! That sounds grand! I'm sure Weiss could use a bit of support. I can tell she's been nervous around Neptune for a while now."

Meanwhile, Jaune is still unsure if he'd heard correctly.

"W-Wait, so you'll come? W-With me, I mean? We're gonna go?"

"Certainly! It sounds fun!"

Jaune staggers back a pace in his glee and nearly fell, but manages to grab the nearest bed post first.

"Seriously?! That's... that's great!"

"Yes!"

And so they were at an agreement, without the word 'date' ever having been used to refer to the outing. Therefore, Pyrrha wasn't even thinking to consider it as one. To her it was an outing with some select friends, while the others had their own joint excursion. Her mindset wasn't one of romance, but of friendship.

Weiss' mindset, on the other hand, was one of romance.

She still couldn't believe Neptune had approached her and essentially asked her out on a date to the Vytal Festival once the fairgrounds were open. She was giddy and confused, and she wanted to brag to her teammates more out of excitement than a desire to show off.

That evening as team RWBY is preparing for bed, Weiss is still gushing about it all, in her own way.

"All my life," she's saying. "All my life I've had boys chasing after me, but this is the one I'll stop for."

"That's great, Weiss!" Ruby says, dangling over the side of her bunk.

Ruby knows little to nothing about romance. But Blake and Yang don't seem enthusiastic about it all. Blake is reading in bed and only looks up at Weiss once, flicking an ear uncomfortably, but she says nothing. Yang ends up voicing Blake's fears along with her own.

"It is great, Weiss... But didn't you say before that the guys only wanted you for the money and the family name? I hate to say it, but what if Neptune's no different? We don't really know those guys all that well yet off the battlefield."

Weiss whirls around, eager to take offense on Neptune's behalf.

"How dare you! He's a perfect gentleman! Neptune would never behave so deplorably!"

"If you say so."

"I know so."

Of course he wouldn't pull anything like that. He was a charismatic, good-looking fellow. Not only did he like Weiss, but Weiss liked him back.

There was no conceivable way, in her mind, that the boy she finally liked back after years and years of not like any of them, could be using her as a meal ticket.

He couldn't be like that. Not him.

It's her only hope.

Little do Weiss and Pyrrha know, they both ended up going to bed feeling uneasy that night.

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A/N: Just a brief setup chapter to start! You can probably tell right away it's not like most of my other fics. I'm doing my best with writing the boys too.