A Date with Disaster (Dragonslayer) - Chapter 1 of 2

Dragonslayer story. It was supposed to be a oneshot, but the setup ended up going longer than I thought. Chapter 2 will come out later.

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Yang Xiao Long was someone who had it all. Skills? Best in her year (besides Pyrrha, and Cereal Girl had that bullshit Semblance). Confidence? Through the roof. Charsima? Guys were lining up for her smile. Maybe not literally, but they were there. She was the hottest chick in Patch and was still a Beacon 9/10. And it would've been a 10/10 if she didn't have to compete with people like Blakey, Weiss Cream, Cereal Girl, and that weird Cinder chick who cackled about nefarious plans.

Plus she was hot. Muscles for days, the objectively best hair in Beacon, and tits that would make men (and most women) go hubba hubba awooga. Complete with cartoon sound effects cause they were just that good. The Girls™ had gotten her a lot of passes once puberty hit her like a truck. Plus it meshed super good with rebellious bad girl party animal image. She would've looked like a princess playing pretend if she looked like Weiss.

But for all her many, many assets (heh), she'd never so much as kissed a boy. Oh sure, she'd gone out on dates before and went to dozens of parties, but she'd never gotten that far. She'd barely even held hands. Way too many assholes thought she'd put out after the first date and got a knuckle sandwich instead of a kiss when they pushed after she said no. Daddy didn't raise no fool. And neither did Uncle Qrow (who definitely wasn't getting laid as much as he claimed).

She thought Beacon wouldn't be much different. Sure, being in a true Huntsmen Academy instead of a Combat School like Signal was a change, but it was always the same crap. Guys in both places tended to be meatheads who only cared about showing off by killing Grimm and flexing their muscles. Cavemen, all of them. Like future Huntresses were gonna be impressed by that. Some, sure, but Huntresses could kill Grimm too, dipshits. She wasn't gonna be impressed just cause Cardin killed an Ursa. She did that before getting into Beacon.

Not to say that she didn't appreciate the show - she was a woman, after all - but a good show didn't mean she was gonna drop her shorts and put her ass up.

Which brought her to her current problem: Jaune Arc. Okay, Jaune wasn't the problem. He was...alright, he had his own flaws. He cheated his way into Beacon (Weiss Cream was NOT happy when she found that out), he had some real pride issues before Cereal Girl knocked it out of him, and...well, that onesie. It spoke for itself.

But so what? People had their hiccups. Weiss used to be snobby and racist, Blake used to be a terrorist (which probably should've been a bigger deal, but whatever), and Ruby knew more about rifles than interpersonal relationships. Everyone had their flaws...well, except her. She was perfect, but that took years of being concentrated awesome. Not everyone could get to that level of cool perfection, of being the rebel icon everyone looked up to.

Wait, what was she talking about again? Oh yeah. Her problem of having a massive crush on Jaune.

She had no idea how it happened! Seriously, his first impression was puking on her favorite pair of boots, for Brothers' sake! That should've been an automatic disqualification right there. Especially once she saw that onesie. Plus he had that massive crush on Weiss and (poorly) serenedaded her. By all rights, she should've looked past him and found someone more like Sun (before Blake called dibs, as much as she keeps denying it). Someone more her speed, really.

But then she started to notice him. It made sense at first. He was Ruby's best friend besides Weiss and the two hung out playing games in their dorm room. That was normal. Sure, she teased him and called him Vomit Boy cause of his horrible puking incident, but it wasn't anything serious. At first, she figured that would've been that. He'd just be Ruby's dorky friend who puked on her boots and playes games with her precious little sis. Maybe they'd even run into each other occassionally after graduation, but that would be it.

Instead, she found herself looking at him more and more. The first thing he noticed was how good he was with Ruby. A lot of people tended to get...put off by her sister's quirks. Ruby was hecking adorable, but her gun rants and speeches about Scythe Superiority™ tended to get on people's nerves; even Weiss had her days where she needed Ruby-free holidays. Not Jaune. He hung out with her whenever he wasn't hanging out with team JNPR or training with Pyrrha.

She almost thought that the two of them would've gotten together before Ruby suddenly announced she was dating Penny. Made sense once they found out she was an android. A walking weapon's platform who Ruby could upgrade. It was her (wet) dream come true. No shock there.

The second thing she noticed was that he was actually a hard worker, which was pretty surprising considering the whole fake transcripts thing. Pyrrha put him to work and he didn't whine a single time. Impressive, considering even she would've flagged from P-Money's personal training.

The third thing was that...well, he was just a nice guy. Not flawless - again, nobody was (except her) - but still nice after he got his head out of his ass. Different than the usual Beacon meatheads. Even the nicer guys in Beacon acted like they wanted to be the biggest dog in the room. She didn't really hate them for it since it was pretty much impossible not to be that way given Huntsmen culture, but it did mean she got seriously tired of guys trying to impress her by talking about what kind of Grimm they killed. Yeah, team RWBY killed a Nevermore during Initiation. Not impressed.

That wasn't to say that Jaune didn't try to look cool, but there was something endearing with how he did it. Earnest instead of using it to try and get laid. Even the way he tried to woo Weiss was...okay, it was kind of annoying, but in an endearing sort of way. Plus he backed off when Weiss sat him down and told him that she didn't find it cute or quirky. Another plus.

The fourth thing was he'd gotten hot. Those late night training sessions with Pyrrha were seriously paying off. Those corded arms, those broad shoulders, those abs when he lifted up his hoodie to wipe away the sweat. Sure, there were bigger and buffer guys at Beacon, but there was something about Jaune that drew her eye. Maybe it was how he didn't seem to realize just how he looked. The only time he ever talked about it was when he let out this dorky little smile about how strong he was getting. She could practically see a tail wagging behind him when he said it.

The first time she realized how bad she had it was when she kept checking him out. Looking at hot guys? Fine, sure, everyone did that. Even Weiss Cream, as much as she tried to deny it. But she just kept on looking. And then when she caught other women doing it, she felt this little tug of anger in her chest. It took her a while to realize she was jealous. It was...a new feeling. She'd never gotten jealous before. She was always on the other end of it back then. Guys thinking they owned her after a single date. Pissed her off to no end.

The feeling only got worse as days passed. She didn't have some big angry meltdown like those trashy books Blake "secretly" read, but she did find herself getting more and more annoyed. She even clicked her tongue when Jaune showed up for his and Ruby's daily video game brawls and asked to join in. Ruby looked confused and said she was usually at the club by now, but Yang had brushed her off. She could tell her little sis didn't believe her, though. They could read each other like open books.

The next day, she decided to deal with this...thing and go on a date with Jaune. Problem: she had no fucking idea how. Oh sure, she'd been on dates before, but it was always guys (and some girls, cause she had broad appeal) asking her out. She was never the one to make the first move. Never had to. Now, she was...stuck.

It should've been simple! All she had to do was head over to where Jaune was, lean forward (that was important), and ask him out on a date. Simple, easy, maybe ten seconds tops. But every time she thought about it, she suddenly found herself freezing up. What if he said no, something in the back of her mind whispered. It'd be awkward. She'd have to sit across from him after he said it and then everyone would know her as the girl who got rejected. UGHHH! She couldn't take it!

Which was how she found herself here.

Yang sat on her bed across Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. The three of them looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to spill the big secret she asked to talk to them about, "Right, so..." Yang sighed and rubbed the back of her head, "I need your advice about...romance." She cringed. Saying it like that made it sounds so pathetic. Weiss' brows raised up to her hairline, Blake closed her book, and Ruby looked both surprised and excited.

"Romance?! Who is it?!" Ruby leaned forward. A couple of months ago, she would've stuck her tongue out and said that was gross. Dating Penny really changed her, "Is it Blake? You two have been hanging around a lot lately."

"No, Ruby, it's not me." Blake rolled her eyes then hesitated, "It isn't me...right?"

"Try not to sound too eager." Yang scoffed, "No, it's not Blakey."

"It isn't me, is it? I've seen the lingering looks in the showers." Weiss crossed her arms, "I'll admit that I consider you a good friend, Yang, but I'm not interested in-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, it's Jaune!" Yang threw her hands up, "Vomit boy! Our resident knight! Mister tall, blond, and muscely! It's not anybody here!" If they suggested Ruby next, she was gonna start throwing hands! And for the record, she wasn't staring at her, Ice Queen. She like her partners a little less bony.

The room went quiet for a beat before Ruby squealed, hands covering her mouth as she bounced in her chair. Blake blinked, then blinked again before tilting her head to the side. But the biggest reaction was Weiss. She gasped like she'd just gotten stabbed and looked at Yang with an unreadable expression, "Arc? You have an...infatuation with Jaune Arc?" Her words came out slowly, like she was talking to a kid, "I need to be clear about this since this sounds...implausible."

Yang's cheeks flushed and she suddenly felt defensive for a guy she wasn't even dating, "Hey, he's not that bad!" Weiss raised a brow that said a thousand words, "Alright, so maybe he was pretty cringe a few months ago, but he's gotten better! Even you have to admit that!" Weiss pursed her lips but didn't disagree. She'd take it, "And yeah, I wanna date the guy." She didn't say the L word. That was way too much too fast. She just wanted to see where this went.

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Ruby finally stopped bouncing, "My big sis and my guy bestie getting together! Ooh, maybe we can have double dates with Penny!"

"Moving a bit too fast there, Rubes." Yang laughed. Ruby always had a way of making her smile, "That's actually the first problem. I don't..." She paused, trying to find the right words, "I don't really know how to ask him out."

"You? Having trouble saying what's on your mind? I doubt it." Blake scoffed, "I know you, Yang. There's no chance of that."

"Hey! I can't always be my awesome self! Sometimes I have off-days!" Yang huffed and crossed her arms, "I just...it's gonna be awkward if he says no!"

"Why would it be? I rejected Arc over a done times and he still had no issues sitting across from me at lunchtime," Weiss said, "Frame it as something casual. A friendly outing, perhaps? Don't just club him over the head and drag him to our room."

"I wouldn't do that! I've got class, Weiss Cream."

"I've seen your secret stash of booze. I have my doubts."

"Weiss is right," Blake cut in before they could start bickering, "Just text him right now. He won't even think anything about it. I heard him talking about that new Spruce Willis movie that came out. What was the name? Die Harder?"

"Die Harder: The Legend Only Dies Thrice," Ruby said, "Penny and I were gonna watch it too."

"You really think it's that simple? Just...text him?"

"Why not? You've done it with others before." Weiss hummed, "I have to admit, Yang, this is...unexpected. You always came across as confident to a fault. Emphasis on fault."

"Love you too, Ice Queen." She sighed, "Alright, so I'll text him later, but that's just the first problem." Another beat, "See, I...I dunno what I'm supposed to do. On a date, I mean."

"You've been on dates before. You've bragged over and over about how experienced you were," Blake said.

"Yeah! You went on dates with a bunch of guys back at Signal. There was David and Mark and Iris and-"

"Alright, Ruby, we don't have all night," Yang cut in, "Those dates back then...I didn't care about them. I treated them like hanging out with friends. If it went any further? Great. If it didn't? No skin off my nose. But with Jaune, it's..." She wrung her hands together, "I don't wanna mess it up, you know? If I fuck this up then I don't get a second chance and I'm gonna feel awful about the whole thing. Then it's gonna be you three's problem cause I'm gonna be really damn annoying about it."

"Horror of horrors," Weiss said dryly, but she was smiling, "Well, you came to the right place, Yang. Especially given Arc's unwanted infatuation with me a few months back." Her smile turned smug, "While his attentions weren't welcome, I can't deny his taste. He clearly prefers elegance, beauty, and grace." She gestured to Yang, "You have your own appeal, of course, but my qualities are clearly what drew Arc's attraction. I can't blame him. Atlas elegance is clearly in short supply around here."

"That's cause Beacon's not full of snobs!" Ruby cut in. Weiss looked offended but Ruby barreled on before she could reply, "Don't listen to her! What you need is to get on Jaune's level! Games, comic books, guns! Just go for those three things and Jaune'll be eating outta your hands!"

"Uh...shouldn't you be telling me to be myself?" Yang asked.

"Why? If that was gonna work, you would've asked Jaune out already instead of asking us for advice." Yang blinked. Since when did her baby sis turn into such a savage? "Oh, oh, oh! Combat skirts too! That...half skirt thing you're using isn't gonna cut it."

"As much as I disagree with most of Ruby's suggestions, she's correct on that front." As if to emphasize the words, Weiss crossed her legs, "Combat skirts are objectively superior to shorts or pants and Jaune clearly has a good eye."

"But don't forget to talk about guns! That's important!" Ruby added, "Jaune gets this happy little smile when I talk about forgotten weapons!"

"Yeah...I think you're a bit biased there, Rubes." She filed their suggestions away anyway. Couldn't hurt, right? "What about you, Blakey? Any advice for your lovable partner?"

"Hm." Blake made a show of steepling her hands together. She was trying to play it calm and cool, but Yang could see how excited she was. Months with Blake as a partner allowed her to see the subtle tells, "I think Ruby and Weiss are wrong." Both of them looked at Blake like she just grew a second head, "I don't really know a lot about Jaune, but think about it. He's already spent months hanging out with Ruby and going after Weiss. He's seen it all. He needs something new."

"Excuse me? Are you implying something, Blake?" Weiss pursed her lips.

"Just saying that something fresh would be good." Blake's lips quirked up in a smug little smile, "Yang, you wear your heart on your sleeve. That helps in a lot of ways, but it also means people know what they're getting into. Where's the mystery? The hidden depths? People want to peel back layers. If there's nothing there then the exictement dims. The best romance stories are the ones with twists and turns, Yang. Straightforward vanilla is so...vanilla."

Yang rolled her eyes. Romance? Was that what she called her trashy books? Whatever helped her sleep at night.

"You seem rather confident of that, Blake. Do you have any proof besides your...literature?" Weiss asked.

Blake raised a brow, "You mean besides the fact that four people have asked me out this week, including Sun?" Okay, she definitely couldn't hide how smug she sounded. All three of them glared at her. Weiss was having no luck with Neptune, Ruby had to literally spell out to Penny that she wanted to date her, and Yang...well, she already said. Meanwhile, Blake was getting guys (and some gals) practically on their knees for her. There were even rumors about a battle royale taking place so they got a crumb of Blake's attention.

"Jaune didn't ask you out, though," Ruby pointed out.

"For now." She hated how confident Blake sounded, "Not that I'm interested in him, so Yang getting together with him is for the best." Oh, how generous, "But yeah, the point stands. Yang, you're...open. That's a good thing, really, but for someone like Jaune, you have to keep him wanting for more. Give him just a glimpse of who you are underneath. Once he gets a taste, he'll keep coming back for more." Uh...was she talking about dating or selling him drugs?

"What do you propose, Blake? Reading in a corner and hoping it draws Arc's attention?"

"No." Blake wrinkled her nose, "I'm saying she should keep her cards close to her chest. Entice him by showing she's more than who he thinks she is." Like what, Yang thought. She was pretty much what she said she was. The best big sister on Remnant, a future kickass Huntress, an icon for rebels everywhere, and so hot she basically broke the scale. Those were all amazing, sure, but it wasn't anything she hid. That false humility crap just got annoying.

...Okay, so maybe she had some issues with her egg donor running off, but that wasn't her fault. That was Raven being a bitch, and she doubted Jaune wanted to hear about her mommy issues.

The three of them continued to bicker about what she should do...while completely ignoring her. Great. Yang sighed and left the room with none of them even realizing. Ugh, this sucked. Why did this have to happen to her now? For the longest time, all she ever wanted was to find Raven so she could punch her in the face for being a deadbeat bitch then spend the rest of her youth having fun. Going on adventures, seeing the world, saving people.

Now she was thinking about stupid Jaune and his stupid muscles and his stupid smile and-

"Yang?"

"AH!" Yang jumped up and turned around with her fists up. Jaune's eyes widened and he took a step back, "Vom- Jaune! Fuck, you scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry, sorry! I saw you wandering around looking...distracted. Wanted to check in on you." He smiled and rubbed the back of his head. Yang's heart thumped and she grit her teeth. If Blake was here, she would've said some weird Mistral shit about her going "doki doki", whatever the hell that meant, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah! Totally fine!" She forced a grin on her face that was just a little too wide, "Just...thinking about that new Die Hard movie coming out!"

"You too?" Jaune grinned back. Doki doki, "It's coming out this weekend. Man, I'm so pumped! Apparently this is Spruce Willis' grand finale! His last movie ever! They're gonna be pulling out all the stops to make sure it's as epic as possible!"

He was saying something else now, but Yang couldn't hear him. In one ear and out the other. Gods, she wanted to reach out, tug on his shirt, and pull him into a kiss. But she didn't. No, she had to hold herself back. Be careful.

The words came out of her mouth before she could think better.

"You wanna go out with me?" Jaune paused and looked at her, blinking in confusion. It took everything she had to not blush and instead lean against the wall, cool as a cucumber, "To watch that new movie, I mean. I asked the rest of my team, but they said no. Ruby's going out with Penny and both Blake and Weiss think they're to good for action movies." Not that she was a super big fan herself, but she didn't tell him that. She did watch them, sure, but she was a Huntress. She did more epic stuff that that in the weekends.

"Sure! Sounds fun!" Yang almost started fistpumping the air with both hands, "I asked my team too, but they were busy. Ren and Nora are visiting that new pancake house that opened up and Pyrrha has to meet her manager for some new commercial."

"Cool. So...meet you at the bullhead docks? 9 sound good?"

"Yep, see you there!"

Yang watched Jaune leave and made sure he rounded the corner before she finally started celebrating. Fist pumping, walking around, and grinning so wide you would've thought she won the lottery, "Yes, yes, yes!" she said, making sure to keep her voice down just in case Jaune could overhear. She did it! She fucking did it! Ha! She jumped up and down, stamping on the ground over and over again

The door to her right opened and Russel stuck his head out, giving her a look like she was some kind of weirdo, "What are you looking at? Wanna fight?" Russel shut the door with a slam. Yeah, good. Yang brought both hands across her face and took a deep breath. Okay, so she just asked Jaune out. Now all she had to do was make sure she didn't fuck this up. She shook her head. Be more confident, she told herself. She was Yang freaking Xiao Long! Jaune should've been counting his lucky stars!

She thought back to what happened in the room. All of them gave her advice, and all of it contradicted each other. Weiss wanted her to be some snob, Ruby thought being a gun nut with a sugar high was how she'd win, and Blake...she didn't even know how to describe what she wanted her to do.

But what other options did she have? She didn't...no, she had massive aura (in more ways than one), but she didn't know how to use it. Every time she thought about treating Jaune like the other guys she flirted with, she clammed up. No, no. She had to make sure she didn't spend the whole date being some weird stiff! She shook her head again. She still had a few days to prepare. All she had to do was follow their advice. If one didn't work? Switch to another. It was foolproof!

Yang laughed to herself. Oh yeah, this was gonna go great.