Jaune's Resolve

8 - Recognized

"Neither did I," she said, before she could stop herself.

There was a moment of silence.

Weiss took a sip of her soup, keeping her eyes carefully forward.

Across the table, Yang arched an eyebrow at Blake. Blake just gave the smallest shake of her head. Let it be.

"So..." Jaune started awkwardly, reaching for his chopsticks. "You, uh... do okay on that quiz?"

"I got a ninety-three."

"Nice. I barely scraped an eighty-eight."

"Barely?" she echoed.

Jaune winced. "Yeah, well... those integration problems still trip me up sometimes. Professor Theodore's style is weird, right? With all his math stuff.."

Weiss stared at him.

She'd studied. Reviewed formulas. Annotated with color-coded tabs. She knew she had done well.

And Jaune Arc had missed her score by five percent?

"...You've improved," she said quietly.

Jaune paused mid-bite.

He looked at her then-not with smugness or gloating-but with something simpler. Calmer.

Grateful.

"Thanks."

Weiss turned back to her tray.

More silence.

The others were distracted, mercifully. Pyrrha and Ruby were trading scrolls, Nora was humming through a mouthful of syrup, and Ren was gently pushing her juice closer before it spilled.

Weiss exhaled slowly.

Then, before she could second-guess herself:

"When did it start?"

Jaune blinked. "What?"

"The improvement," she clarified. "Not just in math. In training. In... everything."

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he set his chopsticks down, leaned forward slightly. His voice was low-just enough for her to hear.

"I guess... when I stopped trying to catch up to everyone else."

Weiss turned her head slightly, eyes narrowing.

"I don't follow."

Jaune shrugged, a faint smile tugging at his lips. It wasn't smug. If anything, it was a little sad.

"I used to think the goal was to match you guys. Be as good as Ruby, or Ren, or Pyrrha. Always sprinting to keep up. But it just made me tired. And worse-I wasn't learning anything."

He looked down at his tray for a moment, fingers toying with the edge of a napkin.

"So I stopped chasing. I focused on... fixing the basics. Things I should've gotten right the first time. Started building from the ground up, even if it meant slowing down."

She paused as she let his words settle in her mind.

"And I'm still not there. But... I'm getting closer to who I want to be."

Weiss was quiet.

That wasn't the answer she expected.

She wasn't even sure what she had expected.

But it wasn't this. Not humility. Not self-awareness. Not Jaune Arc, of all people, giving her something to reflect on.

"...You know," she said after a pause, "for someone who used to be an unmitigated disaster, you're unexpectedly articulate."

He grinned. "Thanks? I think?"

Weiss finally allowed herself the smallest smile.

Only a flicker of moment-but genuine.

"You're still an idiot," she added.

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

And for the first time, the silence between them wasn't awkward.

It was... comfortable.

Shared.

"Wow," Ruby said, grinning as she leaned forward over her tray. "This feels like history in the making."

Weiss blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You voluntarily sat next to Jaune. And made conversation. Without rolling your eyes once!" Ruby said, clearly enjoying herself. "Next you'll be asking him to help with Dust theory."

"I would sooner trust Nora with chemical combustion."

"Hey!" Nora said, though she was more focused on licking syrup off her spoon than feeling actually offended.

"Still," Pyrrha chimed in from across the table, her tone gentle but teasing, "I think it's nice. Jaune's been putting in a lot of work lately. It's good to see it... recognized."

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly bashful. "You guys are making it sound like I just scaled a mountain."

"You did," Ruby replied, "but the mountain was Weiss's standards."

Weiss turned very slowly to look at her.

"What's that supposed to-MFFPT!"

Ruby grinned and immediately shoved a dumpling into Weiss' mouth to avoid further commentary.

Jaune snorted quietly.

Weiss didn't respond. Not aloud. But she didn't move away from him either.

[End]

Aight another chapter released