Commission -- The Cat's Out of the Bag 007

For the rest of the semester break, Jaune spent almost every day with Blake. Sometimes it was just for breakfast at a cafe of her choosing, and sometimes it was for dinner. They made sure to visit a new place every time to change things up and keep it interesting. And when she didn’t have work, they spent the whole day together exploring the vast city of Vale.

There was far from a shortage of activities to partake in. One evening, they decided to go to the movies and watch the new Spruce Willis film. It was predictably filled with outlandish action sequences and one liners, and even though it was a bit campy, it was a fun experience. Another time they went to a bowling alley. It was a first for both of them and as you would expect, they were both horrible at it – at least, at first. They were both Huntsmen-in-training, after all. After a few games, they both had the hang of it and while they were far from pros, they were able to knock down all or most of the pins for every ball they bowled.

They visited the beach but they didn’t swim, instead taking long walks and eating ice cream like it was going out of fashion. They visited many of Vale’s historical sites like the old, white stone castle that once housed the King of Vale, war memorial park with it’s grand monolith inscribed with the names of the fallen, and the oldest section of the city, the streets still cobblestoned and the buildings appearing like a snapshot of the past, old red brick walls and tiled roofs.

Jaune showed off the arcade, and watched with amusement as Blake tried and failed miserably at every game she played. She was particularly bad at the rhythm game which was a bit of a surprise. Blake was always so graceful in her movements, dare he say she was cat-like – but when it came to moving her feet to the beat, she was horribly uncoordinated.

It was cute. Especially how flustered she got when he laughed at her.

“This game is stupid,” she declared, stomping off the flashing pad as he chortled after her. “Only stupid people are good at it.”

Jaune compared their scores. It wasn’t even close, more than a million points separating them.

“I guess I’m stupid people,” Jaune grinned. “How many times have I won again?”

“Shut up,” Blake was an even bigger sore loser than Ruby. “Who cares, it’s only fake dancing. I’ll beat you at the real thing.”

Jaune may have believed it before he saw her feet flail in a panic. She was right, of course; this wasn’t real dancing. Jaune was even better at that.

Day after day was filled with fun, and Jaune couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so carefree. While he never asked, he knew Blake was also having a good time. Ever since the incident at the docks, it had felt like something had been weighing her down, as if her mind was elsewhere. If he could distract her from whatever that was, then it was time well spent. He’d never seen Blake smile as much as during these two weeks.

There were only two more days until they were due back at school, and on the final day of their break, Jaune decided that they needed to cap off their holiday with a bang.

“An amusement park?”

Blake tried to act nonchalant about it but she wasn’t fooling him. Now that he knew she was hiding a pair of cat ears beneath that bow, he often found himself watching it to see if they ever gave themselves away. Jaune had come to find that whenever she was surprised, her bow would shift, as if her ears were flicking in response. He’d also discovered that whenever she was happy or pleased about something, her bow would almost perk up, as if her ears had grown stiff.

That’s what it was doing right now. Her face was carefully blank but her ears, even hidden, had given her true feelings away. How they’d missed this little quirk for months was beyond him. It was so obvious.

Jaune hid his smile. “Yeah. We’ve never been and we’re back at Beacon in a couple of days, so I thought we should do something special.”

“Isn’t it a bit… childish?”

Jaune shrugged. “Is it?”

Maybe it was? But Jaune didn’t really care about that – and from the reaction of her bow, she didn’t really care either. She was putting on airs, so he would humor her.

“Have you ever been to an amusement park before?” he asked.

Blake hesitated before shaking her head. “No. We – Menagerie doesn’t have something like that.”

What went unsaid is that whenever she’d been elsewhere, there had been no time for things like this. The White Fang had consumed all of her time and effort, and left little space for Blake, the girl. Jaune wanted to change that. She wasn’t a member of the White Fang anymore, she was a Huntress-in-training, his friend. Blake the Girl had plenty of time to goof off, and going to an amusement park was well within that scope.

“So it’ll be fun, right? I’ve only been to those small country fairs, you know? Never anything like this.”

“I don’t know…”

She was playing hard to get.

“I mean, if you don’t want to then I won’t force you,” Jaune said slyly. “We could always just have a quiet day at the library or something.”

Not that Blake would dislike such an outing, well aware of her love of books. But they’d already visited the library a couple of times now, so the allure had waned a little. Blake already had a stack of novels she was in the middle of. She didn’t need any more.

“I suppose we can go,” she rolled her eyes. “If you want to so badly.”

Jaune laughed. “Thanks. I do. It’ll be fun.”

Blake was also cute when she was trying to downplay her own feelings.

They agreed to meet early in an attempt at getting a good spot in the queue, for there would be no doubt a long line of people wanting to cap off their own time off with something different. Elementary, middle school and high school students were also on their break, so it was practically guaranteed to be chaos incarnate.

That was putting things lightly.

Even though they arrived well before opening, they were still fifty or so spaces back. Children of all ages were running around while their parents held down the fort, arms filled with bags containing towels, changes of clothes, and more. Blake looked like death warmed over, morning was not her forte, but once he handed her a coffee he’d picked up from a nearby cafe and she inhaled that rich aroma, it injected her with a bit of life.

“Thanks,” she muttered, sipping at her drink eagerly.

“No problem.”

He took this time to observe her. Blake was dressed in a black knee length, high-waisted skirt and a light purple, sleeveless leotard. The tight material hugged her narrow waist and healthy bust, a loose white knitted cardigan thrown over top. Along with her knee high brown boots, it was a very fashionable look. Little skin was showing and yet that did nothing to diminish her sex appeal. Her make up was very minimal but more than enough to enhance her pretty face; a touch of lip gloss, a dusting of rouge along the arch of her cheeks, and a small application of violet eyeshadow making her eyes pop.

More than a few guys were checking her out and Jaune couldn’t blame them. She looked amazing.

The crowd continued to build as they waited until hundreds of people were lined up, awaiting opening time. When the ticket booths finally opened, they were ushered forward. Jaune paid for the both of them and wouldn’t hear any objections, even when she started pouting.

“You can buy me lunch,” he conceded. “Deal?”

“Fine. Deal.”

When they entered, they found themselves in a large open courtyard and were instantly assaulted with mascots carrying balloons, streamers and buckets of confetti that they showered them with as they passed. Someone in a dog costume approached and Blake instantly backed up, slipping behind Jaune to keep him between them.

“Not a fan?” he asked, amused.

“I don’t like dogs,” Blake said sourly. “And it isn’t because--!”

Jaune raised his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

Blake eyed him shrewdly. “You were thinking it, though, weren’t you?”

Yeah. He was – but he wasn’t about to admit that.

The crowd thinned out as people rushed towards the rides they wanted to experience first. Looking around, Jaune pointed towards the bright blue roller coaster with an edgy name. A line was already forming but if they hurried, they’d be on the second go around.

“How about we try that one first?”

Blake hesitated. “If you want.”

Jaune had never been on a roller coaster like this before and neither had Blake. They stepped into the queue and watched as the people that rushed over were seated in the carts, locked in by the metal harnesses that came down with loud snaps. The tracks began with a steep climb, and all they could hear was the clunk, clunk, clunk as the chain hauled the carts up until they crested the peak and then gravity took its course.

The people screamed as they came down in a rush, hitting a corner and then a twist before going through a loop. One look at Blake’s face and Jaune saw her trepidation.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “We don’t have to do this one if you’re scared.”

Blake glared at him.

“I’m not scared.”

“Nervous, then.”

“I’m not nervous!”

“I’m nervous,” Jaune admitted. “Now that I think about it, maybe this isn’t the best idea with my motion sickness.”

Blake eyed him warily. “...you better not throw up on me, or you’re dead.”

Jaune laughed. “Right. I’ll make sure to aim it away from you.”

The ride time wasn’t long, taking about two minutes from the first drop. When they pulled back into the boarding zone, they were wide eyed and filled with excitement as the staff helped them disembark before ushering the next group of people on. By chance, they ended up in the very last car, right at the back.

Jaune got in first before Blake followed him in. Now that they were in close proximity, shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh, a gentle scent wafted across his senses. Something flowery and fresh, and without meaning to, Jaune inhaled deeply.

“What are you doing?”

Jaune blinked, realizing that he’d been leaning towards her slightly. Feeling embarrassed, he fiddled with the belt, securing it around his waist.

“Nothing. Something just smelt nice.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“Nothing, don’t worry.”

Once their belts were secure, the metal harnesses came down, securing them at the shoulders and across the chest.

“Ready?” he asked.

She didn’t answer and with a loud clunk, the chain began hauling them up the steep, vertical climb. Being at the back, they got to watch everyone else go up first, and felt the weight of gravity, their backs pressing into their seats as they started going straight up. Jaune grabbed onto the bars, holding on tight.

He sure hoped he didn’t regret suggesting this ride.

When the first car reached the top and crested the pinnacle, there was a moment where everything stopped. It lasted only a couple of seconds, and then they were pulling the back cars forward with sudden speed as the front entered free fall. Jaune tightened his hold as they were yanked forward, pulled over the hump and then it felt like they were airborne.

“Oh shit,” he swore moments before they accelerated, dropping. Wind rushed by his ears as the people in front of them screamed, and when they reached the bottom, they rocketed into a turn. Jaune couldn’t help but sway to the left before hitting the twist, corkscrewing wildly.

He didn’t know why but suddenly, he began laughing hysterically as they were tossed around and flipped at intense speeds, eyes wide as they hit another hill and drop. He felt a hand latch onto his leg and turning, he saw Blake’s face twisted in terror.

She didn’t scream but not for a lack of trying, her mouth open but throat locked up, hand tightening every time they went through a twist or twirl, drop or sharp turn. Reaching for her hand, he pried her fingers off his thigh and laced them with his, holding on tight.

When their two minutes were up, Blake looked paler than usual which was quite the feat.

“Have fun?” he asked breathlessly, heart pounding in his chest. Thankfully, he didn’t feel sick at all.

Blake’s lips moved silently more a moment before she realized they were holding hands, staring at them dumbly.

“Blake?”

“I – I’m fine,” she muttered. “I just – need a moment.”

Jaune helped her out of her seat when they were released, and led her back out onto the main avenue. She appeared dazed, almost, so he sat her down on a bench.

“Not a fan, then?” he prodded.

She looked up at him blankly before blinking rapidly.

“That was… fun.”

Jaune looked at her doubtfully.

“I liked it,” she pressed stubbornly. “I just wasn’t… expecting it to be quite so intense, that’s all.”

Now that she wasn’t stun locked, a small smile twisted her mouth. Jaune wasn’t sure if she was just putting on a prideful face or not.

“Really?” he asked.

“Stop treating me like a kid,” she snapped.

“Sorry,” he laughed. “It’s just that you looked like you’d seen a ghost. I’ve never seen you look that way before.”

Blake untangled their hands. “Like I said, I wasn’t prepared for how intense it was. That’s all.”

“So if I said I wanted to go on that,” he pointed at the tall tower that dropped as soon as he gestured at it, people screaming as they fell towards the ground. “You’d join me?”

She scowled. “Of course I’d join you!”

So that’s what they did next. It wasn’t quite as harrowing as the roller coaster but it did take you much, much higher. The view from the top was magnificent. To their right was the ocean, glittering far beyond the horizon, while the city was on their left, Beacon perched high above on the towering cliffs further still.

Blake was less rattled by this ride, having no fear of heights and the drop was over within an instant. After that, they went on a ride that flipped them up and down and upside down, and then another that spun really fast. There was one that swung like a pendulum, carrying them up into the sky just shy of flipping over completely, and another that went every way imaginable.

Several rides in, Jaune was starting to feel a little overstimulated and it must have been even worse for Blake, so he decided to pick something a little calmer in nature.

“I’m not getting on that,” Blake said at once.

Jaune stifled his smile. “Why not?”

“That ride is for children,” Blake shot back instantly, glaring at him. “We’ll look ridiculous!”

Her words were only reinforced by the overly cheerful tune coming from the ride as the fake horses bobbed up and down, circling the carousel as young children clutched to colorful poles, seated atop those fake horses. The really young children were in carriages.

“It’ll settle my stomach and then we can go get something to eat, if you want.”

Blake’s lips pursed as he walked over to get into the queue. He stuck out a little since he wasn’t six, and he wasn’t a parent. A moment later, he felt Blake sidle up behind him, sighing.

“You’re an idiot.”

Jaune couldn’t hide his smile.

She was right, though. They looked ridiculous riding on the horses and sneaking out his scroll, he snapped a picture of Blake who looked awkward, sitting side saddle because she was wearing a skirt. He sent it to Ruby and got an instant response.

Crater Face: Hey, no fair! Where are you?

Crater Face: That looks fun~!

Crater Face: ...but why are you riding the merry-go-round?

Jaune snickered as she continued to spam him messages before following it up with a call. They were just hopping off the ride when he answered, Ruby’s cute face appearing on screen.

“What’s the big idea?” she started with, pouting at him furiously.

“Hey Ruby,” he waved at her, grinning.

“Why didn’t you invite us, you big dummy?”

“Who are you – oh,” Blake blinked. “Hey Ruby.”

“Heya Blake,” Ruby beamed. “You looked really cute on the merry-go-round.”

Blake scowled, shoving Jaune. “That was his idea, not mine.”

“You looked like you were having fun, though,” another voice said and a head of blonde hair entered, Yang smirking devilishly. “So you like that kind of thing, huh?”

“I just didn’t want Jaune to go on his own,” Blake deflected. “He was begging me to join him.”

“You call that begging?”

She shoved him again, making him laugh.

“What are you guys doing, anyway?” Yang glanced between them. “Are you two on a date or something?”

Ruby gasped.

“Nothing like that,” Jaune quickly interjected before things could get out of hand. “We just thought we’d do something cool since we’ll be back at Beacon in a couple of days.”

Yang eyed Blake shrewdly.

“What?” Blake snapped.

“Nothing~!”

“Hang up on her,” Blake said sharply.

“Oi.”

Ruby giggled. “We were getting a little worried. We hadn’t heard from Blake in a while.”

“Not since semester’s end,” Yang continued. “We weren’t sure if something happened or what.”

Jaune eyed Blake curiously but she wouldn’t meet his eyes, crossing her arms and looking away.

“Uh – I didn’t know that.”

“We haven’t really heard from Weiss either,” Ruby rolled her eyes. “I think she turned her scroll off after I messaged her a bunch.”

“You sent like two hundred messages, sis,” Yang’s shoulders shook. “She probably blocked your number.”

“She wouldn’t do that!” Ruby exclaimed – before sagging. “Probably…”

That was exactly the type of thing Weiss would do.

“I haven’t seen her around Vale, so I don’t know what she’s been up to,” Jaune shrugged. “Blake?”

Blake shook her head.

“So what are you guys up to now?” Yang asked.

“About to go get lunch, I think,” Jaune was starving. “Are you hungry, Blake?”

Her stomach gurgled which was answer enough.

Blake flushed. “Maybe a little bit.”

They talked with the sisters for a few more minutes before ending the call when Yang and Ruby began bickering amongst themselves. There were food stalls all around the park but according to the large map they came across, there was an area designated strictly for food and beverages, as well as some sort of hourly show for kids.

“What do you feel like for lunch?” Jaune asked.

Blake shrugged. “Anything is fine.”

The air was already filled with the mouthwatering scent of fresh popcorn and salted fries, but when they approached the main food area, Jaune was assaulted by so much more. Towering burgers, fried battered fish, hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken wings, marinated meat in freshly baked rolls and so much more. And that was before you got to the dessert items like cream filled donuts, chocolate bananas, every flavor of ice cream imaginable, cinnamon sugar dusted churros, cotton candy – they had it all.

They also had foreign cuisine; Vacuoan-style curry, Mistralian sushi, Mantlese seafood based soups.

Naturally, Blake was drawn to the sushi.

They had a wide selection considering they were at an amusement park and not a restaurant in downtown Vale. Meanwhile, Jaune had a hankering for a good ol’ fashioned burger and fries.

“I’m buying,” Blake said before he could sneak off to get his food. Amber eyes turned to him, pinning him in place. Jaune held up his hands in defeat. “You paid for my ticket, remember?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

There was a large eating area with picnic tables, benches and a wide patch of grass to sit on if you wished with a number of trees for shade. He let Blake pick and she found a nice spot under a towering tree, shielding them from the sun.

His fries were crisp and the burger juicy, the ground beef infused with a bit of char from the grill, the egg velvety smooth. Honestly, it was one of the best burgers he’d ever eaten and Jaune quickly found himself devouring it hungrily, getting sauce and egg yolk all over his hands and lips.

In comparison, Blake looked pristine as she popped a piece of sushi into her mouth, chewing carefully. She was enjoying her food just as much as he was, though, her eyes crinkling as she smiled blissfully.

“Good?” he asked.

“Mhm,” she popped another one into her mouth. She then saw the state of his hands, quirking an eyebrow. “Jaune, you’re making a mess.”

“I’ve got napkins,” he gestured at the stack of white by his knee. “This burger is really good.”

“You’ve got most of it on your hands.”

“Very funny.”

She then stole one of his fries. “Mm – these are good.”

After finishing his burger, he wiped down his hands and mouth before asking casually, “So, why haven’t you been keeping in touch with your team?”

“...I was hoping you’d forgotten about that.”

“Are you mad at them or something?”

“What? No,” Blake denied. “I just… I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I’ve been busy with work and…”

She trailed off at his unimpressed look.

“What?” she snapped. “I just forgot, that’s all.”

“Blake, they were messaging you,” he said slowly. “How can you forget when they are actively sending you messages?”

“You’re really nosy, you know that?”

“I’m not trying to be. I just… is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” she rolled her eyes. “Really. There isn’t some big reason or anything.”

Jaune somehow doubted that but he wasn’t going to push too much. He didn’t want to upset her when today was all about having a good time. He wondered if it had anything to do with her strange mood since the incident at the docks.

“You answer my messages,” he couldn’t help but say, though.

“That’s because you’d show up at the maid cafe if I didn’t,” she replied sourly.

Yeah, that was true.

He just hoped there wasn’t something serious going on.

“You can talk to me, if you ever need to,” he offered.

“Jaune…” he knew he was pushing it.

“I’m just saying, that’s all. If you want to talk about anything, then I’ll listen. Whatever it is,” he met her eyes. “We’re friends. If you can’t talk to your team for whatever reason, you can always talk to me.”

Blake remained silent as she finished off her food and Jaune just hoped he hadn’t ruined the day by bringing it up. She was pretty reserved by nature but it wasn’t healthy to keep things bottled up.

“What do you want to do next?” he asked. “How about the Haunted House?”

“Now I really know you’re treating me like a child,” Blake huffed, though she was smiling. That was a good sign. “First the carousel and now this?”

But that was the end of her complaints, and they soon found themselves in a dark, narrow corridor as creepy ambient sounds played through hidden speakers. Fake cobwebs hung from the ceiling and when they passed by a coffin propped up against the wall, it shook.

“There is someone hiding behind the box at the end of the hallway,” Blake said with amusement.

“What? How can you see that? It’s pitch black in – oh, right,” he cut himself off, remembering that as a faunus, Blake could see in the dark. “Are they going to jump out at us or something?”

That is exactly what happened, the worker cloaked in a white sheet with eyes cut out so they could see. Someone behind them screamed but it wasn’t because of the ghost; the moving coffin had claimed a victim.

“I’d have been terrified of something like this as a kid,” Jaune admitted sheepishly. When they passed by a door, there was a loud knocking sound – but it came from their other side, an attempt at throwing them off. “My sister’s used to jump scare me all the time. Every Saturday, we’d watch scary movies and then while I’d be showering, getting ready for bed, they’d hide in my room wherever they could and jump out at me. I’d scream so loudly that my parents would think something serious had happened. My mom used to tear into them and almost make them cry, but then they’d do the exact same thing the next week.”

Blake snorted.

“I was a bit of a scaredy cat,” he shrugged. “Probably still would be but… well, it’s hard to be scared of things like this when you face off against Grimm, right?”

After they made their way through the Haunted House, they entered the House of Mirrors. At first, Jaune thought it would be a simple game of figuring which way you needed to navigate but quickly discovered that it was genuinely disorientating. The mirrored doorways constantly moved, and even the floors and ceiling were mirrored. More than once, Blake walked face first into a mirror after thinking she’d found the way through.

“Shut up!” she commanded as he laughed at her, only laughing harder when he saw that her nose was red from the impact. She stomped her foot. “It isn’t that funny, Jaune!”

“S-Sorry,” he wheezed, but the harder he tried to control himself, the more silly he felt, setting him off again. “Your expression was just so good, though. Ahaha~!”

Blake pouted the whole way through, forcing Jaune to go first so she didn’t have any more collisions.

“That was a lot better than I thought it would be,” he said when they stepped back outside, leaving behind a group of wailing kids that couldn’t find their way out. Their parents didn’t appear concerned, though, instead holding their scrolls up to capture their faces when they did finally make their way out.

Next on the list were carnival games.

It was a little unfair since they were Huntsmen-in-training with strength, agility and reflexes greater than that of even the highest caliber of athlete; even Jaune, who was as green as anyone could be attending one of the Big Four combat academies. Even when many of the games were ‘rigged’ to be much harder than they would otherwise be, Blake made short work of many of the throwing games.

After using her first few tries to gauge the ring toss, she proceeded to nail every throw. The ball throwing game with the angled bins went similarly, a practice run before she dominated with a perfect game. The stall operators watched in disbelief as she racked up points for the highest value prizes, gifting him with a dog plushie as the result of her efforts.

It was a golden retriever.

“This reminds me of you,” she said, smirking as if she thought she was very amusing.

“You’re hilarious,” Jaune deadpanned. “I guess you don’t like me very much then since you hate dogs.”

“There are always exceptions.”

Jaune got her back on the games that tested your strength.

“Who are the men out of the boys?” the man by the high-striker machine yelled into the crowd, holding up the oversized mallet. “Step right up and prove your worth! Impress your ladies! Show everyone that you have what it takes!”

“I’ll give it a go,” Jaune raised his hand, stepping forward while Blake rolled her eyes.

“Certainly, young man,” the man grinned. “You’ve got a good look about you! What level would you like to try?”

“The highest,” Jaune said at once, accepting the mallet and giving it a few test swings.

“Are you sure? Only the strongest of the strong have only ever made it halfway!”

“I’m sure.”

“Here we have it, folks! An attempt at glory,” the man glanced between Jaune and Blake, expression knowing. “I see, I see! Of course. Strike the bell, win a prize. Strike it twice, gain an even higher prize!”

The hammer was decently heavy but nothing compared to something like Magnhild, Nora’s weapon. Getting into position, he was aware of all the eyes watching him. A few guys pointed between him and Blake, chortling amongst themselves.

“Whenever you’re ready, son.”

Taking a deep breath, Jaune swung the hammer back behind him before bringing it up above his head. Engaging his core, arms and back flexing, he slammed the head of the mallet down on the lever with a loud bang. The puck rocketed up the tower and struck the bell with a loud, piercing clang.

The man running the game blinked, startled.

“Two times for a bigger prize, right?” Jaune asked casually. Blake scoffed behind him.

“Er – yes, that’s right,” the man said blankly.

Jaune nailed the lever again, and the bell rang clearly.

He had a number of prizes including a massive black cat with blue eyes, so he took that one. Blake glared at him as he handed it over.

“What?” he asked cheekily. “Now we have complimentary toys.”

A number of the men watching Jaune play the game tried their hand after it, emboldened by his success but none of them came anywhere close to striking the bell on the highest difficulty.

There were shooting games where you shot small pellets or corks at stacked bottles, rotating clown faces with open mouths where you deposited ping pong balls, and memory games where you flipped cards and had to remember where they were when you found a matching card.

And then there was something called goldfish scooping.

Blake made a beeline for this one, appearing excited as she leaned over the tanks and observed the colorful fish within. A little girl was attempting to scoop one of them into a small bowl but her paper scooper tore, allowing the fish to escape.

“You want to try this one?” he asked and Blake nodded.

It required speed, dexterity and control, all of which Blake had in spades. Effortlessly, she scooped several goldfish into her bowl, leaving the woman running the stall dumbfounded at how efficient she was. She stopped at ten.

“What are you going to do with those?”

In the end, Blake handed them out to the small children who weren’t able to secure their own, receiving a chorus of thank yous from the children themselves and their parents.

“Look at you,” Jaune teased, instantly putting her on guard by his tone of voice. “That was really nice of you, Blake.”

“Shush.”

By the time they made the rounds around the entire park, it was late afternoon, leading into evening. They revisited some of the high octane rides, including a few they had skipped out on like the Sling Shot that was a two seater and propelled them into the air at high velocity.

They had the choice to buy a photo for that one and once Jaune saw Blake’s expression caught in high definition, he couldn’t resist. It was comical, her eyes bugging out as her mouth was opened in a half-shout. Jaune just looked constipated in comparison, face scrunched up as if bracing for an impact.

“Delete that, right now,” she demanded, swiping for his scroll. He let her take it. “Unlock it!”

“I already sent it to Ruby and Yang,” he admitted, laughing as she scowled at him. “It’ll live forever now.”

There were a number of water rides but Blake wasn’t interested in getting soaked, so neither was Jaune. As the sky darkened, they stopped by the food stalls once again to have dinner and dessert. Blake settled for a corn dog, though this one was a Mistral special with a coating of sugar and chunks of potato fried into the batter, filled with a hot dog and cheese. Jaune got a box of wings with a variety of different sauces.

For dessert, they got crepes filled with fruit and whipped cream.

“These are good,” Blake said happily as she took another big bite out of her crepe, getting cream on her nose.

“You’ve got cream right here,” he pointed at his own nose and she hastily wiped it off, flushing. “That’s it.”

When they polished them off, night had well and truly fallen.

Spending an entire day at an amusement park was draining in its own way, and Jaune was beginning to feel tired. The way Blake’s eyes were half-lidded told him that she was also feeling it, so it was time to wrap it up.

But they had one more ride to go on.

The Ferris Wheel was the classic, quintessential ride. There was nothing thrilling about it beyond the height, a nice calm way to finish off their day. Together with their plushies, they were loaded into a cabin, the wheel itself lit up with a multitude of different colors.

While Blake peered out the window as they slowly rose higher and higher into the air, Jaune instead kept his eyes on her. She appeared well at ease, a small smile on her face. In this moment, the colorful lights playing across her pretty face, casting shadows across her eyes and brow, Jaune thought she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen.

That wasn’t anything new. But the swelling of affection that accompanied it was.

Jaune blinked, surprised – and didn’t even notice when she turned to him.

“What?” she asked, eyebrow arching in question.

“Nothing,” he shook his head, feeling weird. “Did you have fun today?”

Her smile widened, amber eyes soft as she said, “Yeah. I had fun today.”

Jaune returned her smile with one of his own. “I’m glad.”

They enjoyed the rest of the ride in silence, the city of Vale sprawled beneath them like a carpet of glittering gems, the shattered moon suspended high above.