[Teaser] Jaune's Pineapple Jam Ch 15

When Jaune and Pyrrha went to meet Team RWBY, they expected to have a fun and normal day, and maybe feel out Blake a little.

Jaune did not expect Weiss to be hostile to Pyrrha for some strange reason.

Jaune did not expect Weiss and Blake to argue so much, though he probably should have if he knew that Schnees aren't that popular with faunus.

And he definitely did not expect a blonde monkey faunus to wink and flirt at Pyrrha, for some unknown reason that irritated Jaune….

Alright, he lied, it wasn't an unknown reason. He just got jealous.

Which is irrational because he and Pyrrha aren't even dating! Heck, he doesn’t even know the full extent of his feelings for Pyrrha yet.

He knows he likes her as a friend, but before he can even think of her romantically, he needs to be worthy of her first. She deserves nothing less.

Going back to unexpected things happening. He did not expect to meet someone from his dream today!

Penny Polendina, self-professed meat person, master of board games, a nice and quirky girl, and more importantly his believer.

“Do you believe I will win the tournament?” Jaune asked

“Absolutely” Penny Polendina replied

Looking at her right now, you would see a nice pretty girl with orange hair, green eyes, and light skin with freckles.

With Penny’s presence, this proves that his dream was real. He makes eye contact with Ren and is surprised to see him look at Penny and Nora with a horrified face.

And looking at Penny right now together with Nora side by side sends a shiver down his spine. That prompts Jaune to widen his eyes, looking at Nora’s grin, and then at Penny’s smile, he has one thought.

Oh Gods! There’s two of them.

“Salutations! My name is Penny! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“You already said that.” Jaune replies, seeing that all the others are also coming to the same conclusion. There’s two gingers now.

“So I did!” Penny blinks back with a smile.

Not knowing what to reply and with everybody else staying quiet he introduces himself.

“Hi, my name’s Jaune, Jaune Arc.” Jaune introduces with a smile.

“Nice to meet you Jaune-Jaune Arc!” Penny replies, which causes Jaune to facepalm.

And so starts introductions from all of them towards Penny.

“Guess what Jaune-Jaune! Penny’s looking for friends!” Nora intrudes with a grin.

“Uhhh. I don’t see the problem? Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. And since Penny and I have met, we’re already friends.” Knowing how good and innocent Penny was as a friend in his dream, he has no problems being her friend again here.

“Friend! Did you really call me a friend, Jaune-Jaune Arc?! Are we really friends?!” Penny says as she approaches him.

“Uhh…yes, we’re friends now. You can just call me Jaune by the way.” Jaune replies as he raises his hands up in defense.

“Sensational! It’s nice to meet you boy friend Jaune!” Penny announces as she grabs hold of both of Jaune’s hands.

That comment short circuits Jaune’s brain for a second and causes his throat to lock up.

Boy…friend.. Jaune

“””WHAT?!””” As expected, multiple voices including himself make their surprise known while most of them only laugh.

“Was I wrong? Are you not my friend Jaune?” Penny looks at him with a pout. It’s super effective.

He doesn’t know who taught her that but he moves to clarify the situation.

“No! No! I’m your friend Penny. But you don’t need to call me boyfriend.”

“Then how do I know you’re my friend?” She tilts her head at him cutely, still holding his hands.

Looking to his friends for help, he sees all of them take a step back, even Nora.

“Uh….You just do. Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet, so once you’ve met them you’re already friends.” He throws out his mother’s advice in a moment of desperation.

“..Do you mean to say, I have more friends I haven’t met yet?”

“Yes?”

“Sensational” Penny replies with glowing green eyes and a tightening grip.

All of his friends take another step back with wide eyes. Feeling Penny’s tightening grip, Jaune seeks out a way to escape his predicament.

“Hey Penny, you know who else needs a friend?! Meet Ruby Rose, she’s socially awkward so she needs your help to make more friends!” Jaune says as he looks at Ruby’s eyes, growing wide at the betrayal.

In a flash, Penny lets go of Jaune’s hands and moves to Ruby with a speed that will rival the resident speedster.

“Is that true?! Would you like to be my friend?” Penny asks as she approaches Ruby's face.

Looking over Penny’s shoulder towards her friends, she sees them motion to reply no. Facing Penny again to say her answer, she sees wide innocent green eyes looking back at her.

“Uhm… Yeah, sure.”

“Sensational! We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, friend Ruby!”

“Uhm..yeah, sure.” Ruby replies as she looks at her sister for help.

“So..What are you doing in Vale?” Yang asks, getting Penny to face her and leave Ruby alone for a second.

“I’m here to fight in the tournament!”

That surprises everyone except for Jaune who already knows from his dream that Penny is a participant.

“Wait a minute. If you’re here for the tournament does that mean you know that monkey-tailed…rapscallion?

“The who?”

“The filthy faunus from the boat!”

That gets a wince from Jaune and even more of his friends. He knows Weiss could be mean but he didn’t expect her to be such a….bitch. That gets his eyes to widen and his view of the world tilts a little bit.

And it seems he isn’t the only one who thinks Weiss has gone too far.

“Stop calling him that!” Blake argues from behind the group with a glare aimed at Weiss.

“What?”

“Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He’s a person!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamp post as a lamp post?” Weiss asks sarcastically, while pointing at the trash can and lamp post.

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?! He clearly broke the law! He got detained by the police! Give him time and he’ll probably go crazy and join a group like those psychopaths from the White Fang!”

“ENOUGH!”

An unexpected voice shouts in the middle of the group. It takes Jaune a moment that the shout came from him. He’s just as surprised as the others, but more than surprise, he can feel another emotion more. Anger.

“WEISS! That’s enough!” Never did Jaune think he would shout at Weiss like that. He isn’t the only one because everyone is looking at him in shock except for Penny who is confused.

“HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?! You’re not even involved in this, so stay out of it!” Weiss shouts indignantly, eyes narrowed at Jaune.

“I’M INVOLVED WHEN I HAVE A FAUNUS FRIEND!” He motions to Pyrrha who is still wearing her cat ears. Pyrrha is just shocked that she suddenly became the center of attention.

“What?.. But she’s not even a real faunus?” Weiss asks confusedly, lost at what Jaune is trying to point out.

“It shouldn’t matter Weiss! Whether Pyr has cat ears or not, it shouldn’t matter, she’s still our friend.” Jaune says while his eyes flick to Blake at the last part.

“...I apologize…But you don’t know what you’re talking about Arc.” Weiss says flatly as she turns to leave.

“So…I think we should go.” Yang says slowly, as she stares at Ruby who is staring apologetically at Jaune and Pyrrha.

“Bye guys, sorry for ruining the day.” Ruby says apologetically as she follows her partner, Weiss.

Blake just looks at him, and he gives her a shrug and a resigned smile. She smiles back and nods her thanks as she turns to follow her teammates.

With that, Team RWBY leaves Team JNPR alone together with Penny in the docks.

“I don’t understand.” Penny states confusedly.

“Me too Penny, me too.” Jaune sighs as he notices all of them staring at them.

“Is friend Weiss a racist?” Penny asks.

Jaune can only remain silent at that, not knowing how to answer the question. One thing he understands is he is hurt by the possibility that she could be.

He is hurt because the girl he thought he loved was someone like that. Just goes to show that he was just liking her superficially. To him, it’s just like a fundamental law of the world just shattered.

It started out as a good day with Pyrrha, and ended in a sour note with Weiss.

“I hope not Penny, I sure hope she isn’t… I think we need to go too, Penny. Be careful on your way home, ok?” Jaune can only sigh as he bids goodbye to Penny.

“...Okay friend Jaune.. It is my pleasure to meet you.” Penny says quietly, and gives him a smile at the end. He smiles back at the pure innocent girl.

Looking at his teammates, he's thankful to have their support but he is sorry that he managed to ruin their day.

“I’m sorry guys, it looks like I ruined our day.” Jaune apologizes.

“Don’t be Jaune. You did the right thing.” Pyrrha comforts him with a smile and a touch of her hand.

“Yeah Jaune-Jaune! You were so cool standing up for others!” Nora cheers him up.

“Indeed, it is better to do the right thing, than stand back and let others do wrong.” Ren says supportively.

“Thanks guys, it’s just that….I didn’t expect that Weiss would be like that.” Jaune says somberly.

“That's ... .understandable. I think we were all surprised. Regardless of whether Weiss has a reason to act that way or not, it has made me more sympathetic or understandable to faunus who would wish to hide their trait.” Pyrrha says, alluding to Blake’s circumstance.

That’s another thing, they know that Blake is sympathetic to the faunus as it should be, but they have no confirmation whether she is still in the White Fang or not. It looks like they’ll just have to talk to her another time, hopefully she’ll be more open since she just saw him stand up to Weiss for faunus.