Vendetta543
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Hey, Nice Shirt!
🕑 Added 2024-05-12 22:54:08 +0000 UTCJust a crack oneshot. Remnant's rule about colors and names can be annoying to incorporate, so here's something to poke at it. This idea came to me when I saw Kali's wiki page stating that wearing something with the color of someone you care about is a sign of deep affection. Then I decided to go all-in on Jaune not knowing the basic facts of his setting.
For anyone interested in making a commission, email me at: storylover543@gmail.com
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"Oh man..."
Jaune raised his favorite shirt and sighed at the now-pink fabric. Today was laundry day, and it was his turn to get everything done. He usually didn't mind - chores were split among all eight of the siblings back home - but Beacon was different. Mom put the fear of the Brothers in them about separating their clothes and making sure the colors didn't mix with the whites. Especially after they somehow turned her favorite white dress an ugly green color.
And now his favorite white shirt was pink.
Jaune sighed and set it down away from the rest of the pile of clothes. Despite living outside the walls, Nora didn't know about separating the whites from the colors and was slow to learn despite all the months they spent at Beacon - which she justified as her and Ren having to do everything by hand back before they got to Vale. He would've done it himself, but she woke up early and just tossed all their clothes in a pile in the machine before wandering off, leaving him to pick up the slack.
The rest of the team's clothes were fine, at least. Ren stuck to green and Pyrrha's clothes were all shades of copper and red, meaning Nora's pink ensemble didn't bleed into them. His black clothes were safe too, but his shirt...
He finished folding the clothes after putting them in the dryer and looked down at the pink shirt again. With his hoodie still being repaired (courtesy of a little training accident with Ruby), he'd have to wear it without anything to cover it up. He picked it up and pressed it against his chest before taking a quick selfie with his scroll.
Hm...it didn't look too bada, actually. Most guys, especially the hyper-masculine male Huntsmen, would've dismissed pink as a girl's color, but he grew up with seven sisters. He knew how to look good in it. Besides, Ren had a pink streak in his hair and he was one of the coolest guys he knew. Why couldn't he be awesome with a pink shirt?
Jaune looked around briefly to make sure he was alone before he took off his current shirt and replaced it with the new one then took another quick picture just to see what it'd look like. Not bad, not bad at all. He was hoping to branch out his color palette. He always found it weird how everyone stuck to the same color scheme since he knew them. Nora always wore pine, Pyrrha and Ruby red, Ren green...didn't they get sick of it? Maybe it was for the best that this accident happened.
The rest of team JNPR was gone by the time he got back to the dorm. Probably already at the cafeteria since there were pancakes. No chance Nora would miss it. He looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and fixed his hair, making sure that his 'new' shirt looked good. After a few adjustments, he nodded approvingly and made his way to the cafeteria. Hopefully next time, Nora wouldn't be so careless on where she put her skirts.
Jaune stepped inside the cafeteria and was immediately met with overwhelming silence. It was eerie. One second they were all chatting like normal and then everyone just stopped to look at him. It was something straight out of a horror movie. He was confused for a second before he realized why.
It was his shirt. People probably thought it was 'unmanly' of him to wear a color like that. As egalitarian as Beacon claimed to be, there were a lot of dated views spread around. A guy showing up proudly wearing a pink shirt would've gotten looks.
Jaune ignored all the looks and went to get a tray of food before joining the rest of his friends at their table, "Hey, guys." He slid next to his usual place to Pyrrha's left and Nora's right.
None of them said a word. Jaune's brows furrowed and he looked around to see all of them staring at him the same way everyone else did, "Seriously?" Jaune sighed, looking at all of them in disappointment, "I would've thought you guys would be more accepting. Especially you, Nora!" He pointed at the normally energetic pancake monster. Instead of shoveling in the tower of syrupy goodness in front of her, she'd gone completely quiet and looked away once he turned his attention to her. For some reason, her face was red and her eyes were wide open.
Did she get into the coffee again? He swore he locked them properly this time...
"Um...nice shirt, Jaune," Ruby said.
"Thank you, Ruby." Jaune nodded with a smile. Of course, his best friend would understand. Why wear the same colors every day?
"Yes, it's very...striking," Weiss said. The two of them had gotten somewhat friendlier after the dance. Not flirting with her and actually taking no for an answer had done wonders to help their relationship, "Is there anything that brought on this change?"
"Well...Nora." He gave the usually hyperactive girl a half-hearted glare. A part of him was tempted to call her out on how she screwed up with the laundry, but he held off. He wasn't that much of a jerk. Besides, the 'new' shirt looked good on him.
Nora gasped and her expression turned to one of horror. She must've realized what she did. Despite it being completely her fault, Jaune felt sorry for her. Making Nora sad was just below making Ruby sad in things that made you feel like a complete scumbag, "It's okay, Nora. Don't worry about it." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
She jumped up like she'd been stabbed then scooted away from him till she was practically glued to Ren's side. Well, more than usual. She still didn't say a word, and the way she looked at him was with a surprising amount of uncertainty. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out were strangled gasps and stuttering noises. Man, she really did feel bad, huh? Where was this remorse when she coated their room in red sap?
He wanted to reassure her again, but the fact that she looked like a kicked puppy ready to bolt made him keep quiet. Maybe she'd feel better after some time passed.
Jaune finished up his breakfast with everyone still staring at him. He rolled his eyes internally and tried to ignore them. Was Beacon so boring that a guy showing up with a new shirt color was enough to draw attention? He expected something like that from Cardin, but not his friends!
Especially Pyrrha. His partner hadn't said anything to him about him, but for some reason, she looked absolutely devastated when she saw him. Did she not like the color pink? Was she hoping he'd be more manly? If so, he was disappointed in her. He would've thought she, of all people, would be more understanding about stuff like that.
He finished up his breakfast and left, shaking his head at how weird everyone was being.
The atmosphere in the cafeteria shifted as soon as Jaune left. The palpable, rising tension in the air finally reached its peak and Nora screamed, "OH MY GODS!" Nora shouted, hands on her head as she rocked back and forth. Ruby had known Nora for almost a year at this point, and she'd never seen the other girl so much as frown. Now she looked like she got told that she had every terminal illness at once and only had seconds to live.
"Holy shit!" Yang shouted next to her.
"OH MY GODS!" Nora bellowed again.
"That was so...so shameless!" Weiss added, face red at just how brazen Jaune was. Ruby had to agree with her partner on it. She knew Jaune could be weird sometimes, but this was taking the cake and stuffing it in a catapult!
Ever since the Color Revolution, people's identities were tied strictly to the color they chose. Ruby still remembered when she was 13 and had to decide what color she would tie to herself for the rest of her life. In the end, she'd gone with red rather than following the white theme her mother had...and because her Aura was red.
Hey, stick to the theme, right?
But it was something undeniable to Remnant. People had a color and they stuck to it. That was why Ruby had her red cloak and Weiss had her white dress. Sometimes people had a mix of colors like Pyrrha having red and copper or Blake with black and purple, but they still had a theme. Ruby was red, Ren was green, and Nora was pink...
Everyone knew what Jaune meant by doing what he did. Wearing another person's color was a sign of how much you cared about that. Dad wore a red bandana because of how much he still loved mom. But that was just it - a memento, a small thing to show that you loved someone. Wearing someone's color was a big thing and even the most connected people only had small sign. A strip of cloth, a bit of their hair dyed...something small but meaningful.
Jaune didn't do that. No, he came in with an entire shirt of Nora's color without a hint of embarrassment at all. Maybe it could've been a different person who had the color pink, but Jaune said that he wore it because of Nora! He didn't even try to hide it!
Silver eyes flicked over to the rest of team JNPR. Nora was rocking back and forth on her seat and mumbling in a panic. It was different - scarier - than when she tricked her into making a cup of coffee for her. Pyrrha, of course, looked absolutely devastated. She wasn't crying, but she was definitely close. Ruby wanted to reach out and hug her, but she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do when all their utensils were being slowly bent.
The scariest one was Ren. As long as Ruby knew him, he was always the picture of calm and control. Now he looked like he was seconds away from throttling someone and beating them to death with his bare hands. His lips were pursed tight, his hands were balled into shaky fists, and his eyes looked absolutely murderous. If Jaune was still around, Ruby wasn't sure if even his boatload of Aura could save him.
"How shameless," Weiss said again, "To think that he would be so flagrant about it! Did he not do the same to me only because we shared a color?" She shuddered.
"I didn't think he'd have the guts." Blake hummed, "Mom and Dad have been happily married for two decades, and the most they've gone is Mom having an armband in his color. Jaune might as well have shown up naked declaring his love for Nora."
"Don't put that image in my head!" Nora cried hysterically. It was eerie seeing her so panicked, "How did this happen?! Me and Jaune are just friends!"
"Doesn't look like he sees it that way," Yang said.
"No, shut up!" Nora started rocking back and forth again, "I don't know why he's doing this! Is it cause I booped him last night?! Cause that was a friendly boop! A totally platonic booping!"
"Jaune...and Nora..." Pyrrha laughed brokenly while the utensils kept twisting in agony.
"Jaune..." Ren looked down at the table with a scowl. If it was alive, Ruby was sure it'd be crying for its table mommy right now, "You called me your brother from another mother and yet you betray me like this. How could you..."
"Um..." Ruby shifted in her seat, "Maybe it's bad of me to say, but you and Nora aren't going out." Ren turned that chilling scowl to her and she squeaked, "I mean, Nora's always going on and on about you two are 'together but not together-together' and you always agree! Jaune's...well, he's kinda dumb. Maybe he actually thinks that?"
That seemed to calm Ren down, if only slightly, though the atmosphere around team JNPR was still heavy. Ruby made a mental note to stay out of their way for the next few days.
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His team was acting weird.
That was the thought that ran through Jaune's head as he lay back on his bed. Ever since this morning, they started being weird. Well, weirder than normal. Nora refused to talk to him and seemed nervous whenever he was around. Ren was quieter than usual and wouldn't stop glaring at him for some reason. Pyrrha was muttering to herself and completely ignored him every time he tried to talk to her.
No way this was about his shirt...right?
The door opened and Nora stepped inside. Just like she'd been for the rest of the day, his normally energetic teammate was nervous. She wrung her hands together and shifted from one foot to another, looking at everywhere else but him.
"Jaune...we need to talk," she said, voice low and serious.
"Uh...okay?" He sat up and patted the empty space to his right. Her face flushed again for some reason but she sat next to him, back ramrod straight, "So...what's up?"
"We...need to talk about that." She pointed a shaky finger to his pink shirt.
"Seriously?" Jaune groaned. Was she really that worried about messing up the laundry? Yeah, he was kind of annoyed when he first saw it, but she was acting like she'd completely betrayed his trust or something, "Look, Nora, it's not a big deal-"
"It is a big deal!" Nora finally faced him and grabbed his shoulders. Her grip lasted for only a moment before she gasped and let go like she'd been burned, "Look, Jaune...I'm just confirming this again. That shirt...you're wearing it because of m-me, right?"
"Well...yeah." Jaune nodded. She was the one who messed up laundry, "But I'm not blaming you for it."
"How could you not?!" Nora suddenly shouted, "All of this is because... because..." She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, gaze steely despite the deep blush on her cheeks, "Jaune...you know how I feel about Ren, right?"
"Yeah. You like him." Jaune rolled his eyes, "It was kinda obvious, Nora. Just between the two of us, I think I likes you two." It'd
"So you know that...but you're still wearing the shirt?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"So you don't even care about Ren's feelings? Or mine? You're just shooting your shot, huh? I guess I can't blame you." She chewed on her lower lip, "Look, Jaune...you know I think of you as a really good friend. You know that...right?"
"Well...yeah. You're a really good friend too, Nora." Nora smiled, which faded somewhat when Jaune suddenly held her hand, "In fact, I think of you as more than a friend. To me, you're-"
"I CAN'T DO THIS!" Nora shrieked. He didn't get the chance to ask what 'this' was before she pushed him away and ran away like she was on a coffee high.
Jaune rubbed his somewhat sore chest and looked at the open door. What was with her? He was just gonna say she was like a sister to him. A sister from another mister. Hey, Ren was a brother from another mother, so of course, Nora would be like a sibling too.
Speaking of...
Ren stepped inside with his head held high. Jaune looked up at his honorary brother and furrowed his brow at the severe look on his face. Ren was never the cheeriest person, but there was something different in the way he looked at Jaune- no, at his shirt.
"Jaune, I want you to know that I will not take this lying down. Do not take my reticence for weakness. I have survived for ten years outside the walls. I will not lose this fight either."
And then he turned on his heel and left before Jaune could even say anything back. Jaune just watched him leave, utterly confused. Did Ren finally have one too many of his 'health' drinks? No one was making any sense.
He was considering just getting out of Beacon for a bit when Pyrrha walked in too. Like Ren and Nora, she was stiff and walked like she had a back brace. Unlike them, she sat to Jaune's right without needing to be prompted and spoke after taking a deep breath.
"What do you like about Nora?"
"What?"
"It's a simple question, Jaune. What do you like about her?"
"Uh, well...I like how she's friendly?" At Pyrrha's raised brow, he continued, "I like how she's loyal, how she cares about her friends, and how she'll never back down from a fight if it means helping others." There were other things, of course, but he was being put on the spot here.
"I see." She nodded stiffly, "And...would you say you see these traits in me as well?"
"Huh? Well, yeah, of course." Jaune nodded.
"So...could you feel for me the same way you do for Nora?"
"What?" He wanted to laugh at the weirdly serious way she asked, but her firm gaze kept him from trying to make light, "I mean...maybe? But the way I feel about you...it's different from the way I feel about Nora. It's all unique." Nora was like a sister to him, but Pyrrha...she was his partner. The closest friend he had next to Ruby. To say she and Nora were the same in his eyes was just wrong, "Hey, what's this about? Did I do something wrong?"
"Wrong? No, I can't say that, much as part of me wishes to say so." Pyrrha sighed and stared...at his shirt, "You've really grown fond of the color..."
Seriously? Why was everyone being so weird about his damn shirt? Ruby wore a cloak everywhere and no one bugged her about it!
"Not really." Jaune pursed his lips and resisted the urge to snap at her for how weird she was.
"So you would say you're not too 'attached' to said color...and all that comes with it despite how you so proudly wear it?"
"I guess not?" Did everyone go crazy when went to sleep last night?
"I...I see." And then she smiled, "Jaune...what do you think about getting some new gauntlets? I saw this really amazing pair down in Vale. Such a nice copper and crimson mix."
"Yeah...don't think I can afford that." Jaune laughed under his breath. The change in topic was abrupt, but he'd take it.
"I-I can buy it for you!" Pyrrha suddenly leaned forward till their faces were almost touching. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks suddenly burned, "It's no issue at all! You j-just have to wear it every day! Make sure that everyone sees it!"
"Uh...I think I'll pass, but thanks." He stood and left before Pyrrha could offer again. It was nice of Pyrrha to offer, but he didn't want to take advantage of her just because she had money from her wins in the tournament. He could make do with the clothes he had right now.
And of course...
People turned and whispered about him as he passed by. Jaune's shoulders sagged and he checked his wallet for whatever lien he had left. The people at Beacon were being weird and he was too tired to fight about it, so maybe some shopping was in order. A new shirt wouldn't be too expensive.
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The atmosphere in the cafeteria was tense the next morning. Ruby watched team JNPR from across their shared table and gulped nervously at the heavy feeling in the air. All of them were waiting for Jaune, waiting to see what he'd do next. The pink shirt from yesterday was already extreme, but they all got the feeling that it was just the beginning. What would he do next? An all-pink outfit? Turning Crocea Mors' blade pink? It'd have to escalate his already insane stunt from yesterday.
Speaking of extreme...
Ruby's gaze flickered over to Ren. Nora's not-boyfriend had come into the cafeteria with his entire hair dyed pink, eyebrows included. There wasn't a trace left of his natural black color. it was a blatant challenge to Jaune's own wordless confession to Nora. A shirt was pretty extreme, but you could take it off. Hair, on the other hand? That was a commitment. He was telling Jaune that he was far more devoted to Nora than he ever could be.
Nora gasped when she saw him then tackled the guy to the floor before making out with him. Like, with tongue and stuff. Gross. Pyrrha hadn't reacted at all save cradling a nice pair of copper and red gauntlets to her chest.
Now they were all just here waiting for Jaune to show up so Nora could tell him that she wasn't interested in taking things beyond friendship. She really hoped that things wouldn't be too awkward for their sister team once everything was said and done.
The door opened and Jaune stepped inside...in a white shirt. A collective gasp echoed across the cafeteria and Pyrrha's eyes burned with hope as she watched him walk to their table, "Hey, guys." He sat down and then did a double-take when he saw Ren, "Woah, Ren! What happened? Did your hair dye explode?"
"No." Ren and Nora stood, both holding hands, "We would like to announce to you that Nora and I are now together-together. Boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Y-Yeah, what he said!" Nora nodded quickly.
The entire cafeteria was deadly silent as they waited for Jaune's response. Ren had thrown down the gauntlet. Would just accept defeat gracefully or decide to keep trying? He kept bugging Weiss for months even though she told him no, so she wouldn't have been surprised if he kept trying.
"Oh...cool?" Jaune smiled awkwardly, "I'm happy for you two! It was about time. I was starting to think you two would never get together!"
Ruby blinked, then blinked again. He was...oddly happy about this. He expected more denial, or that at least he'd be somewhat resentful, but he looked and sounded absolutely sincere as he congratulated them both and joked about how this was a long time coming. The members of team RWBY looked at one another in confusion and, as much as Weiss would deny it later, some slight disappointment. The battle between Jaune and Ren for Nora's heart had ended before it even began.
A part of Ruby wondered if Jaune had planned this. Maybe he didn't like Nora that way and the pink shirt was just a way to push Ren to admit his feelings. If so, Jaune was way smarter and braver than she gave him credit for. Not even Yang would have the guts to wear someone's colors so shamelessly.
"S-So, Jaune. I have these gauntlets and I think-"
"Oh, by the way," Jaune said, cutting Pyrrha off, "When I went shopping for a new shirt yesterday, I found something cool."
He pulled out a scarf from under the shirt's collar.
A purple scarf.
Blake's entire body seized and she looked at Jaune with panicked eyes as he adjusted the purple fabric around his neck, "I saw it in the window and thought that it looked really good. What do you guys think?" He grinned.
No one answered him. They were all too busy looking at a stunned silent Blake, who could only stutter unintelligibly as she stared at the scarf. Unseen by everyone, Pyrrha cried and tossed the gauntlets away while Jaune looked around in confusion.
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Poor Pyrrha. I just keep bullying her. Oh well, the last thing I posted had her get Jaune as a pet, so it equals out. And now let's see how Blake handles being the target of Jaune's 'affection'. This'll end in either Knightshade or Bumblebee. Or both.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this one. Till next time.
