[RWBY] You're No Prince Charming (Abandoned Idea)

MnemoD

Well-Known Member
#1
An idea I started writing, and figured I'd post it here and in my abandoned ideas bit over at AO3 before I purged it from my google drive. If you enjoy it, feel free to pick it up. If not, at least maybe it ought to entertain you for a minute.


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You're No Prince Charming

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I involved with Rooster Teeth or Warner Bros. Studios, and have no affiliation with the RWBY franchise. Wankers.

Synopsis: (No Fall AU) Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't that Jaune was terrible with women- it was just that he had terrible luck falling in love.

He was just a regular guy, no Prince Charming, after all. And this is a story about falling in love, in a whole different way. With yourself.



Prologue
You have no Kingdom
You Have No Crown
You Have No Dragon
You Have No Queen
Anywhere To Be Found






"That's what I like about you."

"Here I am feeling sorry for myself. Man." Even after the dance had ended, nothing had particularly felt right. He'd excused himself to change back into more casual clothes and take a lap around Beacon's grounds- though he'd hardly even gotten halfway through the courtyard before he'd slowed to a meandering walk rather than jogging.


"I'm just heartbroken, I'm thinking too much about it." He was, he had to be. Sore over giving up on Weiss in favor of seeing her happy, hearing Pyrrha's honest need for friendship and he was... just feeling sorry for himself.

"You could be doing anything, and here you are, stuck in your head again." Jaune grumbled to himself, pausing long enough to look around and note that he'd found himself around to one of the many ponds on the grounds. Stepping over near the surface of one, he stared at his reflection on the surface of it with a void in his stomach.

Finding a flattened rock nearby, he settled onto it with his hands on his knees and let a deep breath out from his chest. While he was prone to thinking out loud, he felt he deserved to a little bit, at least tonight. "Is it me? Dad said all you need is confidence, but I've tried that. All it gets me is doors slammed in my face..."



He'd been working so hard lately to improve his combat and test scores, maybe he'd lost touch with how to socialize. Sure, he had plenty of friends, but something had to be wrong, right?

Kicking his feet and leaning back onto the smooth surface of the rock, he let his eyes drift towards the stars. "Mom said she loved all of Dad's cheesy little things. Playing music for her, flowers, chocolates, that kind of stuff..." He even remembered how she would smile when he'd playfully kiss her hand and call her Mademoiselle. Was it wrong of him to want something like that? To be in the midst of your life and still so in love that one little gesture is enough to make your day better?

Maybe that kind of thing just didn't work on younger women? That thought made his face scrunch up. Was it that his methods were outdated? Or maybe-

"Mr. Arc?" He sat bolt upright, almost scared out of his skin for a moment before he noted the timbre of that voice. While it was the Ms. Goodwitch he knew, this wasn't combat class. As his attention turned towards the blonde, he tried to still his racing heart. The woman had appeared out of nowhere, it felt like! "While it's not yet past curfew, I don't feel like sleeping out on the grounds is particularly good for you."

Was that... humor? Wow, Ms. Goodwitch must have had a great night to be in the mood to crack a joke! Though, as he glanced at the path she must have been 'patrolling' to see him, he thought about it.

She was an older woman, more experienced in both life and Huntsman ways- why not ask? She was his teacher, after all- even if this didn't quite fall under combat classes. "Ah, I was just thinking, Ms. Goodwitch- which... if you don't mind, could I ask you a question or two?"

The raised eyebrow conveyed far more dryness than the rest of her expression, which almost made him flush. Yes, he knew he didn't particularly ask a lot of questions in class! "I'm doing my last round before I can retire for the evening, but if you make them quick."

Well, that explained what she was out here for, even if he had kind of already guessed that. Probably making sure no one was out getting drunk or otherwise 'cavorting'.


The thought made him suppress a smile. She'd probably scold at him if she knew he was thinking about her like that in his head. "Am I trying too hard? Too little?" When the green-eyed woman's brow lofted again, he elaborated, "I just- maybe you'll think I'm not focusing on the important stuff, but I wanted to have a date tonight- for things to go well, you know?" As her face screwed up even more in confusion, he could only blink.

"And you and Miss Nikos?" She asked, as if repeating a simple answer.

"We're just friends, she's made that pretty clear to me." Though he missed her incredulous look, he continued after a breath, "I'm sorry, you probably want to tell me I shouldn't be thinking about things like that, and I should focus more on my studies, and stuff like that."

Despite how he felt the conversation ended there, he could all but feel the blonde Professor's presence for a few moments longer until she spoke up again. "I don't think it's quite the way you imagine, Mr. Arc." As he turned to face her again, looking more surprised than he probably ought to, he caught sight of the conflicted look on the older woman's face. "Huntsmen, Huntresses, live short- fast- lives. It is rare for us to make it to the age of Professor Oobleck and I- let alone to the age of Professor Port and Ozpin."

"Really?" The look he got in return made him wince a bit, even if it mellowed back out to her usual 'instructor's' stare.

"While I'm sure you have reason to believe differently, not everyone who becomes a Huntsman gets to retire. It's a thankless, dangerous job at the best of times. We deal with more than just Grimm. Politics, human- or faunus- threats, and while you may see a good sum of lien from it, it doesn't match the danger inherent."

The passion of her speech- while not out of the ordinary considering her stance on teaching- did catch him off guard a little.

"No, Mr. Arc. I don't think it's silly, or wrong for you to think about things like dating, or love. You're young. I was, too, once. That's part of why I moved from fieldwork to teaching." His interest must have shown on his face, as she gave a small smile herself. "Alongside being safer, I had a reason to want to be closer to civilization more often."

"Someone you liked?" Jaune ventured, wrapped up in the conversation now and seeing no real alternative when his curiosity was piqued. He watched Ms. Goodwitch glance off towards the clocktower high above Beacon's hall for a moment, before she moved closer and settled down near him, producing her Scroll from a pocket and- after some fiddling with it- showing the screen to him.

What he saw took his breath away, a smiling Goodwich- Glynda Goodwitch! Smiling!- holding a young girl with buck teeth in a dress. They shared blonde hair, but the girl's eyes were a rich chocolate brown. "It's important to know what you're doing it for, even if sometimes that means stopping."

It took him a moment to swallow past the lump in his throat to ask, "Your... daughter?" When she nodded, he knew better than to ask about the 'Ms' part of her title. Whatever happened wasn't a can of worms he wanted to stick his hand into.

"Jezebelle." Ms. Goodwitch explained, and he nodded his head, taking one last look at the picture before she seemed to lose herself in thought looking at it herself. "I'm sorry, you had another question?"

Despite himself, he shook his head. "You helped me more than I thought already, Ms. Goodwitch. Thank you." As she stood, he offered her a somewhat lacking smile, "Get home safe, Ms. Goodwitch."

"And you return to your dorm before curfew, Mr. Arc."

Even as she resumed her patrol, Jaune found himself returning to his thoughts. Maybe he wasn't mature enough? Probably- he'd seen plenty of women's magazines talking about the ideal man being mature, but with a roguish charm. Of course, those were civilian magazines his sisters had loved- but were Huntresses really that different from other women- teen or not?

He'd gotten off track from asking Ms. Goodwitch the question he'd really wanted to ask, but the perspective into her own life- as rare as it was, considering how she was usually all business- did make him feel like he was just looking at this from too narrow a scope.

He needed to look at this from a different angle. Neptune, for all his 'coolness' had turned down Weiss because he couldn't dance- so it clearly wasn't just looks or attitude.

As he looked at himself in the pond's reflection again, he let out a sigh. It was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, but maybe it was time to put himself at the mercy of the one successful person he knew.

"Saphron is gonna talk my ear off..."

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While having a plan hadn’t made sleep much easier, it did let him lie to himself enough to try and sleep- which did eventually lead to him getting some sleep. There was only the weekend between the dance and their semester mission, so he only had the day to really get hold of Saphron and . . .

Ask for advice. The thought alone made him want to groan, because he knew Saphron would do as big sisters tended to do and just be aggravating about it when she absolutely needed not to, but he was out of options- nearly literally. His friend group was all women save for Ren, and they were his age- while asking them might seem logical, he knew girls his age weren’t the best basis for asking how to be more appealing … to girls his age.

And honestly, the only one who might have even entertained his questions would be Ruby, and he just didn’t see her having any better clue- or even interest- in guys let alone how other girls worked. MAYBE he’d be wrong, but he wasn’t going to put lien on it.

One of the benefits of having a sister who favored the fairer sex, at least, was that she would have empathy- and also a unique perspective on things. Experience and age made for better wine, as they said.
 
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