Chapter Text
Bunny was a very, very happy rabbit.
She was in her favorite spot, all curled up nice n' warm on Owner's lap, feeling his hands stroke her ears as she lapped at his face. He laughed, which only increased her enthusiasm, and she loved the way it made the nametag on her collar start jingling. Like a little musical note reminding her who she belonged to. Everything was perfect.
Except… there was one small thing that annoyed her. Bunny couldn't help but notice that Owner's attention wasn't quite entirely on her, and looking back, she could see the reason.
Foxy and Kitty, Owner's other pets were also in the room. Fair enough, Bunny knew she had to share Owner's love, and she enjoyed playing with his other pets. But this! This was… this was obscene! They were drinking from their water bowls, but of course, rather than drink like normal, they both drank facing away from them, and in a way that let them stick their hinds right up in the air! She knew they did it to flaunt their long, silky tails, wriggling them to steal Owner's attention from her. Bunny got very cross with that, knowing exactly what they were trying to do. And it made her even more cross that it was working, seeing Owner's eyes get wide at the sight.
Well, she thought with a wicked grin, she also had a tail she could wiggle, and it felt very nice to grind her soft cotton tail (and oh! that felt nice inside her to wiggle it!) and her even softer butt into his lap, feeling his growing appreciation beneath her. He moaned gently, which only encouraged her to squirm even more.
And it seemed that things weren't going quite as well with her rivals. Kitty seemed to enjoy the feel of her tail wiggling in her backside a little too much, and her sexy sway grew more exaggerated—and starting to bump against Foxy. She nipped at Kitty's nape in return, and soon, the two were wrestling on the floor. Bunny couldn't help but feel a little worked up at the sexy display of limbs entwined as they struggled for dominance, and, judging from her seat, she felt that Owner had the same thoughts.
But he also had to be the responsible one. "Pyr! Hey!" he shouted, and Bunny grinned to know what was coming next (though slightly annoyed by someone breaking character), "Get your leash," he commanded.
Foxy, chastised, went over to the corner where she picked up her leash, and carried it back, shame-faced, in her mouth before setting it down at Owner's feet.
"You know you're not supposed to be fighting the other pets," he lectured sternly as he got up off the bed. Bunny usually wasn't happy to have to give up her spot on Owner's nice, warm lap, but if it was for punishing a naughty fox? Well, she could make an exception for that.
She smirked as he clipped the long leash to her collar and then started looping it around her body, making sure it made some nice contact with her puss* and expertly framed her perky breasts, before tying her up. Foxy struggled not to moan—she was such a little slu*t for bondage—but her struggle was in vain as the leash tightened around her and she let out a wanton, whorish noise. Bunny heard Owner's jeans slip to the floor, and she was eager to watch as he disciplined Foxy for being a bad girl.
Kneeling and panting, she opened her mouth wide in anticipation as Owner slipped out what they had all been waiting for. Bunny felt her mouth salivate as she thought about what it would be like if she were the one in trouble, and what she could do for Owner to make up for being a bad Bun. But as those sexy crimson lips wrapped around his shaft, the look of pure bliss in Foxy's eyes as she bobbed down on it, Bunny felt her hands get a very naughty thought about what they could be doing right now. And maybe Owner would have to punish her for it…
But while Owner was distracted by disciplining Foxy, and Bunny's attention was fixed on the tied up vixen, she suddenly realized that she had lost track of Kitty. Until she heard a predatory purr coming from behind her, and she turned to see Kitty looming over her, posed on the bed. Her wide, golden eyes seemed hypnotic as she stared into them. She should have cried out for help or fought back in a panic, but either from fear or those big, mesmerizing eyes, she found herself unable to resist as Kitty pounced, thrusting her tongue into her mouth.
She was rolled over as Kitty started her assault, Bunny's cries for help muffled into impotent squeaks. That was, if she could even make them at all—those seductive, amber eyes seemed to fill her vision and drive out all thoughts of resistance. Satisfied that Bunny was helpless, she started pawing at her breasts, enjoying the spoils of her conquest. But Bunny wasn't helpless. As Kitty kneaded her big, sexy boobs, she closed her eyes in pleasure, breaking the spell. And that was all Bunny needed to flip her over and become the dominant one. She wasn't a helpless little rabbit, after all!
Except… as she was about to start getting rough, pressing the startled Kitty down and preparing to mount her face, she felt a hand slip around her collar. She whined, as she turned around to see Owner's stern face. Well, mock-stern. It was hard to imagine he could be angry, especially with how he was making Foxy make it up to him for being bad. She licked her lips, jealously.
"What's gotten into you girls?" Owner laughed, "It's like you all want to be punished!"
He laughed again at the way both of their heads eagerly shot up at that word.
The enormous metal club swung down with force enough to take Blake straight out of the fight, but her opponent's strength didn't matter when the White Fang operative was too slow, too clumsy to ever really hit her. She dodged backwards as it crashed into the floor of the train car. He wasn't even remotely in her league, but that blow still came a little closer than she would have been comfortable with.
And it seemed she wasn't the only one to notice. "Blake!" Ruby yelled from the back of the car, "keep your head in the fight! Take him out, then go with Yang after Roman!"
She grumbled, but her leader wasn't wrong. Her mind was still on last night, and the blissful evening she'd spent with Jaune, Velvet, and Pyrrha. It was a very good night, validating her commitment to saying yes to whatever Pyrrha asked of her. But it wasn't even so much that the petplay was sexy, though she certainly hadn't expected how much she would enjoy wearing the tail, but what sat with her was that they could do it at all—that she felt safe enough with Jaune, to let him be in a position of superiority over her. Being "Kitty," thinking of him as "Owner," as though she was nothing more than his little pet—she couldn't have shown that kind of vulnerability to anyone before Jaune. She couldn't help but feel that their previous conversation, where she'd declared herself only interested in casual sex (and ear scritches, she reminded herself, he was very good at ear scritches), might… might have been a mistake.
But before she could think more on that she heard a screeching noise she hated to admit was awfully familiar.
"They're detaching the train from the cars!" she yelled to her team.
Weiss gave a cry of shocked surprise, "What! But the dust's behind us?"
"Yeah," Blake answered, "But Roman's up ahead. He's cutting his losses!"
Ruby, tied up with two White Fang soldiers, made a quick decision. "Blake! Yang! Weiss and I will handle the remainder and stick with the dust, you go after Roman! Don't let him escape!"
The two of them broke away from the fight to race to the lead car. Sure enough, it had just started to unhook—but just enough time for them to still make the jump, so Blake leapt, using Gambol Shroud as a grapple to pull herself onto the lead. She hadn't spent so much time planning to thwart this train robbery only for Roman to throw in the towel and get away. However, upon landing, she realized she didn't hear the familiar crack of Ember Celica firing to propel Yang along.
She turned, to see that Yang was locked in combat with another unexpected White Fang fighter. A rapidly receding Yang gave her opponent a swift kick, then turned to yell at Blake, "Go! You've got this!" She nodded and turned, expertly hotwiring the lock and opening the door to the lead car.
But it wasn't Roman in there.
It wasn't Roman at all.
Tall. He had always been so damn tall. A long black coat, a White Fang mask, and that unmistakable red hair she used to run her fingers through while he rested his head on her lap. And that sword…
"Blake."
His voice had no anger, no judgment, but it was still enough to make her take a step back, Gambol Shroud raised. But in response to her movement, there was none of his usual fury, he just… looked sad.
"I don't want to fight you, Blake. I just want to talk." She kept her weapons up. He sighed, regretfully, "After you left I… I was angry, but I took time to take stock of what happened in our relationship, and I… I realized that I was… I wasn't good to you, Blake." She stared at him, slack-jawed, trying to process exactly what he was saying. It was a trick, surely, how many times had he promised… but he sounded so sincere and contrite! She wasn't sure what to make of it, but knew that it couldn't be good.
When she said nothing, he opted to continue his apology. "I was jealous, I was controlling, and I never treated you like a partner. I became everything I hated, and for that, I am truly sorry. Blake, what I did to you was inexcusable, and I don't expect your forgiveness."
"You…" she tried to say more, but the words, choked either by anger or grief or emotions she didn't even know, refused to come.
"Blake, I'm not asking you to take me back. I know I've lost your trust, and I don't expect you to forgive me for that. But I'm asking you not to turn your back on the Cause. Please, Blake, you're a hero to the younger members, and-"
"I have a boyfriend!" she blurted out like some kind of lunatic, then she raced back out the doors and, flinging Gambol Shroud as a grappling hook, was yanked away from her ex.
From the outside, Tukson's bookstore looked like nothing extraordinary. Which made it an excellent spot for the White Fang to use for exchanging messages, but there was something about it that always made Ilia slightly uncomfortable. She'd heard from one of the Valean recruits that, a few month's ago, Tukson had started getting cold feet, and there was "talk" about what to "do" about it. And then… nothing came of it. But she knew that's not how those things typically went, and it made her a little jittery every time she went there.
But this time, jittery or not, she had to go. She'd received a message from somebody she thought she'd never see again. Somebody she'd deleted, blocked, unblocked, and re-added to her scroll's contacts more times than she could count. Somebody who made being assigned to Vale, what was now obviously a clear sign of having earned Sienna's disfavor, all worth it.
She saw Blake immediately, looking so pale and graceful and beautiful that it hurt, but what hurt even more, though, was the look on her face. She was clearly upset, so upset that her usual mysterious stoicism had completely failed, and she looked liable to cry if even an inch more sadness came to her.
It broke her heart. Ilia wanted to pull the girl into her arms, kiss her tears away, and let her know that she had somebody who would never turn her back on her. Someone who would never take her for granted the way Adam did. But… like always, even when she had her chance, she just clammed up.
"Hey, Blake," she started softly, "how are you doing."
She buried her face in her arms. "Not great, Ilia, not great. Adam and I… had a talk."
"I'm so sorry!" she blurted out like an idiot. She knew this had been inevitable, ever since Adam was dispatched to Vale. Sure, he said he was a changed man, that his painting class at the learning annex was really making him realize how much his anger ruled him, and that he'd avoid Blake as much as he could, but she knew, Ilia just knew, that he'd go roaring after her at the first hint of opportunity. "I… are we safe here? Can we speak freely?"
She lazily looked back at the large Faunus man at the register. "Hey, Tukson!" she shouted, and he looked up from his newspaper. "Have you seen anybody here tonight?"
He took a moment, then replied, "Nope," and went back to his paper.
"Nobody's going to learn that you were here or that you met with me."
"Okay," Ilia said, realizing that the real thing keeping her from speaking freely was inside her, "So what happened with Adam, did he… did he try to hurt you?"
She shook her head. "No, he just…" she sighed, "we just talked."
She looked at her in horrified realization. "Oh no."
Blake gave a harsh, rueful laugh. "Yeah, it… didn't go well. I, heh, I panicked, and I can't believe I did this, but I yelled that I had a boyfriend, and ran away. I can't even imagine how he's going to process that."
Ilia understood that Blake was making a joke at her own expense, but that joke had one word made of two syllabic knives that made laughter impossible. "Boy… friend?"
Blake waved her off. "I… I panicked. I- I don't have a…" she trailed off, and Ilia realized that there was more going on here, but it was a painful matter that she didn't want to upset.
"So…" she tried to change the subject, "What'd Adam say?"
"Well… He admitted he treated me poorly, he apologized, and…" she swallowed, resolving her courage, "He asked me to come back to the Fang."
You should! "Oh, Blake, he's…" lie, lie, lie, you idiot, make her come back, "he's changed a little. But… even though he's not as angry anymore, he's still… he's still Adam. I'm sorry Blake, it's not… safe for you, not here."
"I figured as much," she answered sadly, "I think the Fang and I have taken different paths, that can't come back together." Her words were a knife in Ilia's heart, a reminder that she had to choose between one or the other—and that she'd already made her choice. "But… I didn't come here to talk to you about the Fang."
Ilia, at a loss for words, just nodded at her to continue.
Blake nervously bit her lip. "The last time I fell in love, it… it's still hard to trust people, to stop myself from thinking 'Well, when are they going to turn on you?' Or just believing that it was my fault, that Adam just realized that I don't deserve more than what he gave me, that he was about to figure me out and that's why I ran away, or-"
"Blake!" she could tell that she was already spiraling, "You deserve the world! Adam was an idiot who thought you'd put up with anything and you were right to cut him loose! And most of the world's better than him. I know this, because you're better than him!" Words poured from her wounded heart, the sincerity aching in Ilia's chest. "You remind me that people can be good and heroic, and not just cynical and angry. You're," she choked, "you're my hero, Blake. You still are."
"But I…" and the tears were back to mar her beautiful face, "I ran. I always run. I ran away from my parents, I ran away from Adam, I ran away from the Cause, I literally came here after running away from everything again, and I'm just… maybe I'm just a coward. Maybe it's better if I never get honest with my feelings, so that way I can't hurt anyone else…"
"Blake, there are people who care about you—you know this! People who will never treat you like he did, people," her voice started to falter as she blushed, "who l-love you. Who'd do anything for you, who'd treat you like a queen, if... if you only gave them a chance."
"Ilia," Blake clasped her hand and Ilia couldn't help but gaze into those beautiful, amber eyes, alight with happiness for the first time since she'd seen her in years, as she waited for the words she'd been longing- "you're a good friend."
Oh.
Of course. A good friend. That's what she was. She was Blake's good friend.
Obliviously, she kept talking, her voice full of emotion that should have belonged to her. "You're right. You're so right. I have to talk to Jaune. I have to let him know how I feel. Thank you, Ilia, I'm so glad I talked to you."
As Ilia sat, watching the most beautiful girl she'd ever met run out of the bookstore to pursue another, she pondered if there was any way she could have handled that worse. Had she seriously just given her crush the pep talk she needed to tell some random Beacon jerk that she loved him? Really! And what the hell kind of name was Jaune?
Well… that did bring up an interesting note. She now had a name. A name that would probably set Adam right off and the two of them could find him and make him pay for-
No.
No, she couldn't. Idiot that she was, absolute, total moron that she was, she couldn't do that to Blake. You better be good to her, "Jaune," she thought to herself, or you'll wish it was Adam who was after you.
Blake was so glad she'd talked to Ilia. She'd always been there for her when she was dating Adam, hearing her earliest misgivings, and always encouraging her to value herself, and to find someone who'd truly appreciate her if Adam wouldn't. And now she might just have given her the push she needed to finally talk to Jaune about… well, she wasn't sure. But she knew he could help.
But now, away from Tukson's and Ilia's passionate words, her mind was starting to churn with anxiety with every step she took from the Bullhead. Glancing at her scroll and the dozens of unread messages from Ruby, Weiss, and Yang… she knew she'd have to face them, to give explanation for what happened. At least Yang's was clear that she was willing to give Blake all the time she needed to talk. She never thought that her partner, so loud, boisterous, and willful, would be someone who could be so good to her. But even if Yang was willing to give her space, she'd still have to see them at some point tonight, and she didn't have the strength for it, not yet.
So she quietly slipped down the hallway and knocked on a different door, and was dismayed that it was, of all the members of JNPR, neither one of the ones she was sleeping with nor the one she got tea with, but instead, the one who didn't understand that sensitive Faunus ears didn't respond well to loud yelling.
"I-is Jaune available?" she asked, quietly.
Nora nodded. "Hey, Jaune!" she shouted, much more loudly than needed, "Blake's here to challenge you to a duel!"
"What!" her knight said in surprise, popping up behind Nora.
"It's not a duel!" she sputtered.
"Well, she's upset about something," she shrugged, "so I figured she was going to fight you. You can't say I'm-"
Jaune gracefully pushed her aside, and, with one look at Blake's face, quickly followed behind her without saying anything until they made it to the roof. She knew he practiced up here with Pyrrha, and she hated herself for tainting their special space with this, but she needed some place private.
Jaune was the first to speak. "Are you alright? Ruby was really worried about you, and-"
"I haven't talked to my team yet."
"Oh." His eyes opened in understanding, the kind of understanding she was so grateful for, but, at the same time, reminded her of her guilt. Ilia understood you, she thought, and yet you ran away.
"You remember the ex I was telling you about?" He nodded. "Yeah, I saw him on the train. Wait!" she waved off his interjection, "I saw him, and he… he apologized. He acknowledged… he acknowledged that he was bad for me, and said he's changed, and said he didn't want me to come back to him, but to come back to the White Fang."
"So… what'd you say?"
"I, um," she felt her face get hot, "I yelled that I had a boyfriend, and… I ran away."
He gave her a reassuring smile. "Kind of panicked?" he asked.
"Yeah," she gave a half-laugh, but her mood improved little. "I texted Ruby that it wasn't Roman, and that I had some things to take care of, but, I haven't answered any of their other messages and… Jaune, what if I'm the problem?"
Jaune was briefly surprised by the shift in conversation, but he quickly tried to moderate his reaction. "Blake… Adam's not exactly what I'd call less than half of the problem here, if you know what I mean."
"No, Jaune, it's… I got scared, and so I ran away, like I always do. I ran from Adam, I ran from my team, I ran from- Jaune, I want to be happy, but I, I, I can't." she sobbed. She was babbling now, running from one idea to the next, showing him exactly how messed-up, how hopeless she was, "I want to be like Pyrrha and Velvet, I want to be happy like they are, to make my move like they did, but I can't!"
He attempted to soothe her. "Blake, it's okay-"
But she wouldn't let him. "You don't understand! I always ruin everything and I always run away. Always! And I'm so scared when it will happen again. I just know I'm going to run away from you and Beacon and, and," the tears were now flowing out of control, "RWBY, oh gods, I know I'm going to let them down and I can't-"
"Blake, please." His voice, still soft, not a yell, but with a quiet insistence that cut through her panic.
She stopped, looking up to him, eyes fearful, afraid to hope.
"Blake, it's alright if you're scared. It's alright. It's normal. You've… dealt with some really extraordinary things. And we're here for you when you need us. And if you run?" he asked, his voice ringing with knightly courage, "Well, I'll go after you. I'll bring you home. And so will RWBY. All of us want you in our lives, no matter what's happened to you in the past." He said it so sweetly, so insistently, she clasped on to his hand and never wanted to let go. "And for our relationship… Blake, you can take your time. If you want things to stay how they are, I'm fine with that. If you want to pursue a real relationship, I'm fine with that. If you need time to decide what you're comfortable with and what you really want for your life, I'll be with you the whole way. I'm not going anywhere, and I won't leave you behind."
And then he pulled her into his arms, enfolding her into a tight, emotional hug, whispering "I will never leave you behind," so softly, it was at the edge of even her senses. And… she hugged him back. They stood there, her face pressed into his warm chest, feeling the steady march of his heartbeat, as he held her.
But even there, in the safety of his arms, something cold and bitter crept through "You know the old saying," she whispered softly, like making a dark joke, "about when a black cat crosses your path?"
Jaune released her from the hug to look her in the eyes, and Blake almost couldn't meet his gaze and his look of pained worry. "Blake," his voice almost quaking with concern, "You're not bad luck. You've changed us, all of us—you don't realize it, but it's true. You're the only person I've ever known whose gotten Weiss to change her opinion!" Blake couldn't help but laugh a little about that. "And Ruby, she doesn't want me to tell you this, but she talks about you like you're the coolest girl she's ever met. And Yang is… Yang cares for you. And you know that far more than I do. You're our friend, Blake. We're better for having known you, and that's something I know to be true."
And then he pulled her back into a hug. She was crying again, making his shoulder wet with her tears, but these were happy tears. Friends. She did have friends here at Beacon, real friends, and Jaune-
Jaune.
Friends, she thought, ruefully. That's what she said she wanted, wasn't it? Just like what she had with Ilia, with just a little touch of extra spice. She didn't want to commit to him because... because she was afraid. Afraid of falling for someone as hard as she'd fallen for Adam, but even more so, afraid of loving someone when she knew she would hurt them. It was the easy way, to just act like she didn't care, like she didn't look at Pyrrha and Velvet and feel a longing so deep she-
And then she realized something. Standing in the moonlight, held in his arms, it felt like she was living a scene from one of her novels. The honorable samurai refusing to give up on the treacherous ninja, his unconditional love for her making her realize that she could be something different. The kind of story where, under the light of the shattered moon, she would feel her broken heart start to mend.
"Jaune?" she asked softly.
"Mhm?" he replied.
"Can I ask for something?"
"Anything"
"I want you to… I want you to make love to me, Jaune," she said in a husky whisper, "Nothing kinky, nothing playful—I want you to make love to me. Take me like a lover tonight, take me… take me how you take Pyrrha."
And then he kissed her, long and deep, and she felt herself fold into him. He guided her, gently, to the wall and kissed her again, a little more forcefully, a little more powerfully. It felt almost like a challenge, but as she kissed him back, she knew it was one she wanted to be bested in. She wrapped her arms around him, appreciating his height, as she let his tongue explore her mouth.
It made her dizzy, and she appreciated that she could just lean against the wall and lose herself to the feelings. Time slipped away as he switched from kissing her mouth to her neck, and she felt her fingernails dig into his back as he started slowly, gently, and then picked up the pace until he was fiercely setting into her. She felt his hand slip down to her skirt where she helped him slip out of his jeans as he slipped her out of her panties, and then he easily lifted her up—she loved how light she felt in his arms—and pressed her against the wall, and she gasped as he entered her.
She'd learned from Adam that size wasn't everything. It was- it wasn't bad, but it could never compete with this! Jaune was like an artisan, displaying an incredible skill that made her wonder how she had ever thought of him as a clumsy, awkward annoyance. She felt the slow, rhythmic thrusts as he slowly explored her, found out her most sensitive areas and where her gasps got the most euphoric. He had always been a skilled lover before, but this was different. It was more personal, more connected, like he was learning everything about her as he did her. This was what it was like with his Spartan. And it was wonderful. She wasn't just part of a foursome, she wasn't just a little extra spice in a relationship. He wanted her, wholly and fully, he wanted her.
"Oh, Jaune," she gasped, loving the way his name sounded in her voice, "Oh, Jaune!"
They were connected in this moment, more than just physically, as he found her spot and relentlessly set to it. She had never had anything like this before, anything so intimate and generous. Sex, good sex, bad sex, all her history—nothing really compared to this. Sensation and pleasure were there, but there was more. She felt like a virgin again, like all those foolish mistakes of her youth weren't present here. All of her fears, her anxieties, her insecurities—they had no hold over here, not when she was with him. Her heart swelled with a powerful warmth that banished all other thoughts from her mind. It didn't matter that he belonged to another, it didn't matter her history, and it did not matter if it was anything other than what he was doing for her and she was doing for him.
"All for you, Blake," he whispered, and she loved the way her name sounded in his voice, "It's all- for- you!"
She felt the hitch in his breath and her muscles tightened around him, wanting this more than anything. And then, a surge of warmth flowed in, and she came, calling out his name into the night air, not giving a damn who might hear them.
He gently lowered her down, and Blake felt a wild giggle come to her, almost unable to believe what had just happened. Jaune leaned against the wall, and she now realized that his legs had been nearly shook to jelly from the exertion. That thought took her over the edge as she broke out laughing.
Jaune gave her a wry grin. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she said with a sigh, "just… did you ever picture us like this? Like, our first night at Beacon, when we were sleeping in the hall? Did you ever think the two of us, on the rooftop…"
He snickered at that, shaking his head as he lowered himself down to be seated. "Not in the least," he said, and he gestured for her to sit next to him, which Blake was all too happy to do, curling into his side. "But I'm really happy it happened."
And as she nestled in her brave knight's arms, she thought, one day, she'd tell him how important he was to her. One day, she'll say "I love you," and he'll say it to her. And one day, she'd ask to be a part of his life, fully, not just as an aside. As much as Pyrrha and Velvet were. Not as a sexual partner, not even as a girlfriend. As something more. Forever and a day. She snuggled in closer, appreciating his warmth. It… might be a long way away, before she was strong enough for her feelings. But it would come. She just knew it.
