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Day One Prompt: Late Night Texting
"Oops"
“Airbus mode! Airbus mode! Airbus mode!” Jaune cursed to himself beneath his blankets in the JNPR dorm room, trying his best not to wake his other teammates. “Why can’t I find it?!”
His panicked sotto voce ceased when his ear recognized the familiar sound of a certain message he was trying to prevent from sending and more importantly being read, confirming transmission. He froze in place as he felt his chest tighten up in realization of his failed efforts.
Oh no.
Jaune had to consider the repercussions of his actions once they were received. Sure, maybe she would brush it off if he was able to come up with some ample solution as to why he would send her that message, but on the other hand, maybe he was about to live with the awkwardness of a situation he was NOT ready for.
Why? Why? Why did he have to be texting his mother and his crush at the same time? Why did he just happen to not be paying attention to which message he was responding to? Why did he have to write those specific words to her? What kind of cruel joke was fate playing on him today?
Well, there was always the hope that maybe Ruby had fallen asleep during those last few minutes while he waited to respond to—
“Message read… damn it.”
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“Hey Ruby, you okay? That was a weird noise you made.” Blake questioned from the bed next to her.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.”
Despite trying to keep herself quiet, Ruby couldn’t help but emit some noise of distress after reading her fellow team leader’s message. Granted, she did about as well as anyone could after reading an “I love you, goodnight.” On their scroll. It was those darn cat hears she surmised.
Regardless, she had a bigger problem on her hands right now. She could feel her heart rate ticking upwards as she read the message over and over. The message seemed out of place, but Jaune was an awkward guy so it wasn’t the first time he had blurted something out at the wrong time. That being said, how was she supposed to respond to this?
“I love you” could mean an array of different things, especially when they were as close as they were. So why was she having this near mental blur on what to say in return? They spent most of their days messaging one another if they were not already together for class or training, so of course they had an admiration for each other.
They were up late hours discussing weekend plans, playing video games together, getting lunch, and sneaking out to Vale to get away from team—
“Wait a sec, are we dating?” She whispered.
“What’s up, Ruby?”
“Nothing, Blake!”
Those damn ears! Well, I guess I could give this option a try.
Ruby began clicking away on her scroll. She knew if she waited too long it would get really weird between them, so she kept it short and sweet. That being said, she would have to figure out tomorrow whether they’ve been dating this whole time. After all, she had no dating experience. For all she knew, they were engaged.
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Back across the hall, Jaune paced the bathroom of his dorm as he contemplated blaming Nora for taking his scroll and typing that. Of course, then he would have to include her in what happened and that was a definite NO.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he attempted to come up with some viable scheme to circumvent the awkwardness he was about to endure for who only knows how long. He just hoped it didn’t strain his relationship with Ruby. This was the last thing he wanted.
That’s when his scroll went off on the bathroom counter. He knew at this point it was either his mother replying to the message meant for Ruby, or it was Ruby’s answer to his careless text.
“Might as well get this over with.” He commented to himself in a sullied tone.
Grabbing his scroll, he opened the reply message to see it was indeed Ruby. One click later, he read the short reply she offered, causing his demeanor to change. The thoughts of anguish and panic washed away with a sense of relief as he gave a sigh. This was something he could get used to.
After a quick chuckle at how he’d been acting only to get this response, he set his alarm and made his way back to bed. Whether it was luck or fate, “I love you too.” was enough for him to rest easy. He’d been gifted a chance here, and he wasn’t about to screw it up. Next time, he would say it to her aloud.
“I love Ruby Rose.” He chuckled to himself before turning over in bed for sleep.
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Elsewhere, a certain mother of one Jaune Arc was prepping for a trip to Beacon academy. It wasn’t often that a son asked their mother of all people to come and train with them in the morning, and she wasn’t about to let her baby boy feel dejected.
“Dear, where is my gym equipment? I need everything packed so I can fly out on a red eye to Vale immediately if I want to be there by morning!”
Mr. Arc lowered his newspaper as he remained seated in his chair by the fireplace, as he watched his wife of many years scramble around the house like a mad woman.
“You’re doing what now?”
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