#maybe not if i read through it

When Cardin had gotten into this relationship, he didn’t expect to be needy . Or very touchy at all. Of course he was touchy with Russel, but they were basically raised together. Same with Velvet. Except instead of being raised together, they just clicked in such a way it was like they’d known each other their whole lives. It was natural to reach out to them. And they reached back. Same with Sky and even Dove sometimes, if he was to be honest. Now that the team had finally worked their issues. That he’d finally started to really work his issues. (Touch starved, is what Russel, Velvet, and Sky jokingly called him and he hated it but he couldn’t really argue with it either.) But this was… certainly different. Of course it was all Jaune’s fault too.

Okay, his fault. Partly Jaune’s though, too. But not in a bad way. In a good way. A very good way. Though it did also very quickly become Jaune’s fault in a spiral he wasn’t prepared for nor did he actually hate. Jaune was a menace. Because Jaune realized he wanted to reach out constantly and wouldn’t so he reached out himself. Knew that he wanted to kiss his stupid face at any given moment so Jaune kissed him whenever he could. Anytime he reasonably could, since. They were secret to anybody who wasn’t CRDL or Velvet. It just seemed easier at the time. Given the blackmail. Cardin didn’t think any of Jaune’s first friends would ever trust him.

He couldn’t blame them.

But back to what Cardin was actually thinking about. The Incident. Not the Ursa one, but the one that had happened ten days into dating this personification of a star. Because he was an idiot. An idiot that things went surprisingly well for and he didn’t really know what that said about Jaune given he was dating him, but he has witnessed Jaune do some pretty dumb things. Dumb, dumb sacrificial things. Things that still make bile rise to his throat. Like pulling him out of the way of a shot he should’vetaken.

(A hand grabbed his collar- they weren’t in their armour, why weren’t they in their armour they were in Forever Fall, it had grimm, they knew that personally - and yanked him back. Claws swiped down and connected . It was an ursa. Because of course it had to be. There was a shout from both of them. Jaune fell back into Cardin and Cardin backpedaled them toward the closest trees.

Blood. So much blood, seeping past the new tears in Jaune’s shirt. A lump crawled into his throat. By the time he dispatched the ursa and its ash floated off into the air, the wound had already started to stitch back together. But the blood… Red soaked the midsection of Jaune’s shirt. Three jagged lines cut into it. It was the most blood he’d seen spilt from another person. It felt like that was all he could focus on. Not the defeated grimm, not the nearly healed skin, not even the cuts in the shirt, just red seeped dark into brown. That red was life . And suddenly Cardin could focus on one more thing.

That shot had been meant for him . Those wounds had been meant for him . And Jaune had moved him out of the way. Anger pulsed heavy and red hot. Blood hot. Did Jaune even think ? His hand pressed against the newly healed skin. Drying blood smeared under his fingers and he knew they’d be stained red when he pulled away. But the skin under his hand was soft and pale. No scars. No sign at all that his gut had been torn to shreds just minutes before. None but the tears in his shirt. Cardin’s heart pounded and he punched the dirt next to Jaune with the hand not currently against Jaune’s stomach. It shuddered under his hand with a breath. Sure, he couldn’t heal like Jaune could, but that didn’t mean he had to… take shots for him.

“ Cazzo. Idiot. Never do that again, I can handle myself you idiot ,” Cardin hissed under his breath.

“I know.” Jaune smiled up at him and he felt his heart clench . This was the stupidest man he’d ever met. And then, as easy as breathing, “I love you.”

Cardin glared. He could feel his heart pound harder, his face flush at the words. Wanted to return them but… It was like the words got stuck behind his teeth with the curls of anger that still lingered there and the relief that Jaune wasn’t like him, that Jaune had the normal healing, had above normal healing with the larger pool of aura he had. So instead he bent down and kissed him for the first time. It held the words he couldn’t say and the anger that didn’t want to fade until Jaune softened it with a huff of laughter through his nose. Until Jaune softened it and only the silent ‘ I love you too ’ remained. It filled Cardin with warmth as Jaune tilted his head to the side, as Jaune breathed into his mouth like he wanted him to know he was fine and alive, as Jaune pressed a warm hand against Cardin’s cheek that was a little tacky with his blood and it wasn’t really what Cardin was expecting from a first kiss, but it was soft and kind of perfect.

So maybe it was another Ursa Incident. In a way. They haven’t had a date in Forever Fall since.)

“Cardin?” Cardin blinked.

“Yes?” Cardin asked, cheeks heated from the memory and the realization Jaune’d apparently asked him a question he fully missed.

“You didn’t hear me, did you?” Jaune asked with a smile in his eyes. It was incredibly knowing.

Cardin pulled at his long sleeve shirt. “No.”

“That’s okay,” Jaune asked. “I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out, since my friends are going to be busy away from Vale for the weekend…”

It was easy to pick up Jaune’s meaning. Teams RWBY and JNPR, minus Jaune of course, would be gone, so they’d be free to do really anything without having to sneak around.

“Yeah,” Cardin said. For some reason, Jaune turned sheepish after his answer. He looked away and his cheeks pinked.

“I was wondering if you might want to sleepover in my dorm, too? Since everyone will be gone.”

A sleepover? Cardin felt a little frozen at the question. That was the first time Jaune had ever asked about that. Obviously. He’d never had the dorm to himself like this before.

It was the first time he’d ever been able to ask that. It wasn’t like Cardin’d never had a sleepover before. Growing up, he’d slept at Russel’s plenty of times. Nowadays CRDL slept in a pile more often than they didn’t. But, that was his team and his brother. This was his boyfriend . He looked at the hopeful look in Jaune’s eyes that started to slightly dim as Jaune shifted and oh no, how long had Cardin been taking, thinking about it? Slightly panicked, he cleared his throat so it wouldn’t show in his voice. “Yeah, sure. That’d be cool.”

Immediately Jaune lit back up with a smile. “Awesome! I’ll get extra blankets, and we can share the bed, and we can watch a movie on my scroll.” Jaune blushed a little harder. “I mean, if you want to. Sleep in my bed. With me.”

“Yeah,” Cardin said, adding after a pause, “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Cool,” Jaune’s smile widened and it almost felt like his face couldn’t handle it, but he couldn’t stop. There was a heat uncurling in his chest, like flower blossoms. A whole weekend of just them. No sneaking around. No hiding from his friends. “Cool cool. So, I’ll find you after they leave?”

Cardin nodded. “Cool,” Jaune said, like it was the only word in his vocabulary. He kissed Cardin real quick- just a peck on the lips- and headed out. There was a skip to his step. It made Cardin roll his eyes. Since Jaune couldn’t see him, he didn’t bother suppressing the fond smile.

Friday (after school)

The weekend came quickly, yet also much too slow. By the time Jaune saw his team off, he was practically vibrating. It felt impossible to hide his excitement.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Pyrrha asked for the nth time and Jaune chuckled, maybe a little more hysterically than he should’ve, but give him a break, he was excited.

“Yeah, I’m sure Pyrrha. Go on, have fun!” He shooed her off. She lingered, but eventually Yang walked over with amusement to save Jaune from her worried looks. Two years at Beacon and Pyrrha had slowly transformed from ‘distant’ to ‘dad’. (Ren was adamant he was the mom of this family and Jaune had to agree.) “Thanks, Yang.”

“No problem, Jaune,” Yang said, dropping an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders.

“I’m just worried,” Pyrrha said.

“I know,” Jaune said. “But you don’t have to. I’m a big boy. Seriously, Pyrrha. Go have fun with everybody else. Take a vacation.”

“Yeah,” Yang agreed. She squeezed Pyrrha closer to her. “Oum knows you deserve a vacation from vomit boy.”

“Hey!” Jaune protested, eyebrows lowered in only half mocked annoyance. Seriously, would he ever live that nickname down? Yang just smiled at him, a glitter of amusement in her aura, and he sighed. Now he wanted to be saved from Yang. “ Please , Pyrrha?”

Pyrrha looked between the two of them, and seeming to deem him worthy of being saved from Yang, she nodded. “Alright. Don’t get into trouble while we’re gone.”

“Me?” Jaune put a hand on his chest and Pyrrha simply gave him a Look that Ren had definitely been teaching her in secret. She was getting good at it. “I promise.” It was just for a weekend anyhow. Pyrrha nodded and let Yang lead her away so finally, finally they were all leaving. Jaune waved goodbye to them all. Feeling only a little sorry to see them go. Once the ship was out of sight, he booked it for his team room. While the others were still here he couldn’t exactly set up for the weekend. Now that they were gone he wanted to do so as fast as possible before he got Cardin or Cardin came looking. It wasn’t exactly a hard setup. He just grabbed as many blankets as he could- he threw the blankets the others had left behind in the wash to use- and piled them onto his bed. He spread them out as well as he could while keeping them in a sort of bunched, nest shape. Like his siblings and him have always done. Then he left to grab Cardin.

Cardin was in his room, seemingly actively pretending he wasn’t waiting while Russel amusedly watched. The second Jaune slipped in Cardin’s eyes snapped to the door. There were a few seconds where Jaune saw a smile. Then Cardin’s face morphed into something approximating false nonchalance that really didn’t fit the moment. But Jaune decided against mentioning it. “Hey,” Jaune said instead.

“Hey,” Cardin said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. A bag was on his bed. It wasn’t too big, but it made Jaune crook his eyebrow. Their dorms weren’t too far away, since they were both in first year dorms. If Cardin really needed anything he could easily return for it. Plus, while the bag wasn’t big, it did bulge. He knew Cardin many used a military fold and it did not fill him with confidence over what was in that bag. Or could be in that bag. 

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Russel said with a shrug.

“What? What’s wrong with it?” Cardin glared at the both of them.

“It looks like you’re planning to move in for a week instead of just spending the weekend,” Jaune laughed.

Cardin’s cheeks and ears reddened. “I didn’t know what to bring.”

“I told you what!” Russel protested.

“When have we ever had a sleepover, Russ?” Cardin asked. Russel opened his mouth then closed it.

“Point.”

“I guess I don’t have to ask you if you’re ready,” Jaune said.

“Shut up,” Cardin said.

Jaune bit his lip to keep from laughing again.

Cardin stared at Jaune’s bed once they made it into JNPR’s dorm room and the nest he’d made curiously before he moved to drop his bag and pillow at the desk. Despite the days Jaune spent thinking about this, there were only really a few things he knew he wanted to do. He wanted to watch at least one movie; he wanted to cuddle (and sleep ) on the bed; he wanted to see the stars because he knew Cardin would like that. Outside of that… he didn’t really mind what they did. As long as it was together. And in this room. Maybe it was selfish- actually it was definitely selfish- but Jaune wanted Cardin to himself fully for these few days that he would be able to have that. At least he wasn’t sure that was totally bad. Or unwanted.

Still at the desk, Cardin leaned back against it and crossed his arms over his chest. His glasses were on now. It was weird to learn that Cardin actually needed glasses. Like, permanently. He still never wore them during class or anything, but Russel had gotten him to wear them in the dorm. About a month ago he’d started wearing them around him, Sky, and Dove. It felt good to be one of the people Cardin felt okay enough to wear glasses around. Though he didn’t really know why Cardin didn’t wear his glasses as he was supposed to. “So what do we do?” Cardin asked.

“Uh,” Jaune paused and shifted his weight as he looked around the room. Was it too early to watch a movie? It wasn’t evening yet but it was after school and classes so maybe not. He really wasn’t sure. Boy did he wish he was sure. He swore he wasn’t normally awkward like this but he’d never actually dated anyone before. And while he was comfortable with Cardin- more than comfortable- he felt a little unprepared. He took a breath and let it out maybe a little awkwardly. “I’m not really sure. I have a movie if you want to do that now but we can also save it for later and do something else. I know I have a board game or two around here somewhere if you’d rather that and I’ve definitely got comic books if you want to read. Or we could eat. Is it too early to eat?”

“What movie?” Cardin asked, effectively redirecting his thoughts away from the spiral of ‘there’s nothing else I actually do’ and the sudden realization that unless they wanted to eat just snacks (and possibly risk angering Nora and Ren) they’d have to leave the room.

“Howl’s Moving Castle,” Jaune went over to his laptop where he already had the movie downloaded. Not from his own doing! Marion had downloaded it years ago. Though Kiki’s Delivery Service had been his download.

Cardin nodded. It didn’t look like an 'I know what you’re talking about’ nod. More an 'I have absolutely no fucking idea what you’re talking about but I’m gonna pretend I do and I know you’ll explain eventually’. Just, without the cursing. Because it was Cardin who somehow didn’t curse. Which was something he’d expect from somebody like Pyrrha. Who also did not curse. Or Weiss. Who actually did curse but rarely and Jaune had a theory that was actually Nora and Yang’s influence. Also a bit Ruby. All three girls cursed pretty heavily. Though he couldn’t really say anything. Not without being a hypocrite.

“It’s an animated movie, I think you’ll like it,” Jaune said. He more-or-less flopped onto the bed, but that was fine. It was technically his. At least for this year. (The thought that, eventually, they’d leave these dorms was weird. Though that was still half a year away.) He squirmed down into the covers, holding his laptop up from them until he was comfortable. Once he was he sat the laptop on his lap and patted the space next to him. “Come sit and bring your pillow.”

With another nod, Cardin pushed himself from the desk and grabbed his pillow. He sat down a lot more gracefully than Jaune chose to. Or even cared to. Jaune waited for Cardin to position himself within the blankets as well. It really should not have surprised him as much as it did when Cardin ended up against his side.

“Are you ready?” Jaune asked.

“Yeah,” Cardin said. He gestured to the paused screen. “You can play it.”

The movie, to Jaune’s satisfaction, was a hit. (Though now he’d have to find the book before Cardin did. Jaune thought it would make for a good surprise.) When his laptop immediately started to play the next saved video, he scrambled as fast as he could out from under the blankets at the sound of his own voice. Only to have Cardin catch his wrist and pull him back down. In a move that was the meanest thing Cardin had done since he’d blackmailed him. Possibly even meaner.

“Cardin, let me change it,” Jaune said.

“I kinda want to see it,” Cardin said. And he smiled at Jaune.

Definitely meaner.

“Cardin ,” Jaune whined.

“…” Cardin looked away from him. Not even back toward the laptop, but instead at the wall where Ruby had stuck a poster of historical swords when Jaune had made a passing comment about his weapon compared to every other student. It’d been embarrassing, but he’d appreciated it. “If it’s okay.”

Jaune settled back against Cardin and Cardin turned to give him a questioning look. “ One ,” he said and held a finger up for emphasis. Cardin smiled at him briefly before his attention redirected back to the laptop. This one wasn’t a particularly embarrassing video, at least. It was from about two years ago, when Marion, Saphron, and him went to a park at like midnight. Saphron rocked on one of those spring riders that was shaped like a kelpie, touching the ground on each rock backwards. Marion went along the monkey bars upside down just to show off. At one point Jaune slid down the pole like a stripper. They were good memories. Cardin pointed at the screen when Marion was there.

“Who are they? Marion?” Cardin asked.

“Yeah.” Jaune nodded. He paused it on a shot of Marion briefly and then did the same thing with Saphron, introducing both. “This is Marion, my twin. This is Saphron, who’s the second oldest.” Despite what he’d said about only showing that one video, it sent him down a spiral of showing videos of all his siblings and his parents, introducing Cardin to all of them. Part of him kind of felt bad for it. They all looked pretty alike, both his parents were blonde and the Arc genes- his m’man’s side- were strong . It was probably all scrambled in his brain by the end. But Cardin did laugh and there was, like, a pleased feeling from him so Jaune was sure it was fine. Probably.

“You’re okay with this?” Jaune asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah?” Cardin glanced at him, an eyebrow slightly raised. “Of course.”

“Oh,” Jaune nodded and barely kept himself from breathing a sigh of relief. “Okay. Okay, good. Cool.”

Cardin rolled his eyes with a slight smile. “ Cool.”

Jaune stuck his tongue out at the light hearted teasing.

“Anyway , I need to show you the time Gwen made this like super layered cake only for Phineas to trip onto it- Cake and icing went everywhere , it was fucking great.”

“Delphine?” Cardin asked, to be sure he actually got the names.

“Yep!” Jaune went back to the videos to search through for the one he wanted. On the way he ended up detouring to two other videos. One being a rather… vicious pillow fight between Maëlys, Chamois, Marion, and him. Saph almost got hurt just taking the bit of video she got. The other was a clip from a funny card game- Gwen snorted on screen and Cardin echoed it next to him.

It was late by the time Jaune got half through the videos and he’d never realized how much of a ‘camera family’ they were. Though the only reason he even stopped was because Cardin yawned. Which apparently triggered his stomach to growl. Jaune held it, a bit embarrassed, and quietly shushed it.

“I’ll make us food.” Cardin moved to struggle his way out of the nest.

“Nooo,” Jaune whined. “I wanna stay.”

“You will.” Cardin kissed him on the forehead. Before Jaune could grab him, he was out of reach. Just how had he gotten out so easily. “ I’m getting the food. Don’t want us to be poisoned.” Cardin smirked at him and Jaune frowned. Out of the goodness of his heart, he ignored the joke about his cooking skills. (It was true anyway.)

“But I want you to stay too,” Jaune said.

“I’ll be back soon enough,” Cardin said. The door closed behind him and Jaune sunk into the blankets with a pout. He didn’t want either of them to leave this room. This quiet space where it was just them and they could be themselves. With nothing better to do, Jaune looked through some other things on his laptop. A new meme was going around tunglr. He looked through a bit to figure out what it was. Thankfully Cardin wasn’t long, like he said, and he closed the tab. Jaune took the food from him so he could sit back down and get comfortable again. Once he did, instead of handing the food back he plastered himself to Cardin’s side.

Neither of them left the rest of the night except to use the bathroom and get ready for bed.

Saturday

Jaune woke up cold and alone. Or, alone . There were too many blankets to really feel cold but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he’d gone to sleep with someone else in this bed. He stretched out and yawned, still groggy, before he slowly went to find Cardin. Only to practically run into him point-blank when he returned to the room.

“Cardin!” Jaune exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly since the door was open. Cardin walked past him to put the food down on the desk then turned to him. He held his right arm folded in front of him and brought his left arm under, folding his left hand in front of his right wrist. It wasn’t an action Jaune really recognized. Somehow he didn’t think he’d get an answer if he asked right now, though. So instead he handed Cardin his glasses off the bedside table instead of asking. Cardin took them with a nod. And Jaune’s eyebrows rose because he’d never seen Cardin just take his glasses without hesitation unless he was actively annoyed at not being able to see properly, but Jaune still didn’t have a lot of brain power yet and couldn’t really process anything at the moment. How early even was it?

He walked back to the bed for his scroll to check the time. “ 7 :30,” Jaune said, surprised. Even for classes he never woke that early. Most of the time, Pyrrha or Nora had to wake the group. And on weekends Pyrrha didn’t wake any of them till late, because the three of them slept in. As far as he knew, even Pyrrha actually slept in a little bit. But Cardin never slept in, he remembered that from their slightly darker time, though it wasn’t really ‘dark’. From the blackmail and the late nights doing homework- his own and CRDL’s, of Cardin correcting essays and berating him on the little things, on his grammar and his punctuation and his spelling. Of mornings, way way too early mornings when even the rest of CRDL weren’t up and it was just Cardin and him and the haziness of morning. Cardin was completely quiet those mornings, too. At the time he allowed it without question. Let it provide him with an excuse to doze- overly drowsy still and feeling soft with it. Jaune felt soft with the drowsiness and the early hour of the morning and let it direct his feet light to Cardin so he could drape himself over the slightly taller boy and just exist. Fade in and out of the world and dreams. Let Cardin lead them slow and dreamlike around the room so Jaune could move his feet enough to follow, enough to stay attached, as Cardin did things quietly enough to be mistaken for a shadow made solid. The food was cold, anyway, and Jaune preferred to stay right where he was. Though eventually he woke up enough for his stomach to growl and Cardin nudged them toward the food with an amused huff.

“What was that motion?” Jaune asked as they ate.

“What motion?” Cardin asked.

“From this morning,” Jaune clarified and he mimed the motion Cardin had done.

Cardin looked down at his breakfast. At the cereal and fruit and the orange juice. It seemed less like interest and more like a desire to redirect his gaze so he didn’t have to look at Jaune. “It was sign language. It meant 'morning’.”

“Oh,” Jaune said. Maybe that was why Cardin was so quiet. “You’ll have to teach me some.”

“What?” Cardin looked up at him. There was a flash of surprise before it flattened back to Cardin’s more typical neutral expression. A flat look with no real substance- no smile, no frown, seemingly no emotion. Usually around Russel, Velvet, or him and slowly around Dove and Sky it would soften to something pleased. Not a smile, but pleased . Happy. And every so often it would shutter and close off like this. Jaune never knew what to do about that.

“Teach me some sign,“ Jaune said. "That way I’ll know what you’re saying next time.”

Cardin blinked at him. Eyes wide behind his rectangular frames. His expression shuttered again, but the tips of his ears went red and Jaune smiled. He bit his lip on a laugh as Cardin ducked his head. “I can do that. If you can actually manage to learn it.”

“Hey!” Jaune laughed. “That’s so rude. Just watch me, I’m gonna learn it even faster now.”

“Sure you will,” Cardin said.

Russel had told him once that Cardin and him never really played video games growing up. It wasn’t exactly that they couldn’t, it was just that neither of them had much of an interest in it. They did a lot of stuff outside. Nothing ever confirmed that tid bit quite like playing a game with Cardin. Which was always infinitely funny. Because Russel was actually pretty good at games, especially shooters, though nobody on CRDL had quite the skill of Dove on pretty much every game. Something that was also funny and almost insulting to Jaune given Dove’s track record of beating him in games- especially shooters- when Dove also said he’d only ever played video games once or twice while growing up. Because apparently Dove was somehow the most boring member of CRDL. Also the most academical, right under Cardin, and that was definitely related in Jaune’s mind. Cardin seemed to do well at the Kirby game he had, though.

“Wait, there’s a-” Jaune cut himself off as an enemy hit Cardin and killed him. Jaune winced in sympathy. With a sigh Cardin took off his glasses to rub at his eyes. He absently cleaned the lenses on his shirt while he had them off.

“Maybe I should just watch,” Cardin said.

“What? No, you were doing great!” Jaune said.

Cardin put his glasses back on, presumably just so he could look over them at him like a disappointed teacher. “Jaune.”

“You were,” Jaune insisted. Cardin sighed and rolled his eyes, but started the level again. No doubt to Cardin’s annoyance, Jaune cheered when he did.

The dating sim Jaune booted up on his laptop next was probably the best idea he’d had. Cardin’s look of confusion when Ryouta- a rock dove- was introduced as the protagonist’s childhood friend was something Jaune would carry with him forever. It just got better when he confirmed that, yes, he was a possible love interest. To his immense pleasure, Cardin really seemed to enjoy the game. Jaune made a note on his imaginary ‘win’ column and wrote a note on his scroll that just read ‘story/reading games’. Something subtle enough that if Nora went through his scroll again or someone else saw it they wouldn’t understand and pointed enough Jaune would hopefully remember.

Eventually it cycled back to Cardin watching as Jaune played a game. Jaune didn’t mind. Especially since Cardin leaned against his side the whole time. Sure, there was at least one moment where Cardin moved weird and the alien almost got him and Jaune almost died . Worth it.

Cardin reached down to take Jaune’s hand and pull him up onto the roof. Could they have gone through the stairs? Yes, but why bother when JNPR’s window led directly there, just as CRDL’s did. Speaking of, Cardin directed them more to the middle of the roof. Just in case anybody- Sky or Russel- got nosey. He didn’t want them being weird. Or hearing them. Or honestly both because it would likely be both. At least the second year dorms were further so he didn’t have to worry about Scarlatina.

“Brothers, Arc, did you bring enough blankets?” Cardin asked. There was a pile at his feet where Jaune dropped them, though it only really looked like three. It was still a lot.

Jaune hummed as if in thought. “Nope, I don’t think so.” He turned around as if to go back and get more. Cardin caught his arm with a quiet laugh.

“Jaune ,” Cardin said and Jaune turned back to him with a bright smile.

“Yes?” Jaune blinked innocently at him.

“Just lie down,” Cardin said.

“Alright but if I get cold you have to cuddle me,” Jaune said.

Cardin rolled his eyes. As if that wouldn’t be happening either way. Predictably, the second Cardin lied next to Jaune the other boy plastered himself to him. Being the accommodating and kind boyfriend he was, Cardin wrapped an arm around Jaune and pulled him closer. Because he was kind and accommodating. Not because he wanted Jaune closer. Jaune snuggled into Cardin’s side and Cardin felt something inside himself loosen and settle. Like he hadn’t been calm enough already. If he became any calmer, if he settled any further, he’d fade away. He tightened his hold on Jaune. Like that would keep him from becoming unmoored. Looking at him from the corner of his eye, Cardin was pretty sure it would.

“So.” Jaune laced their fingers together. “Tell me stories, starboy.”

“You’re the star,” Cardin said quietly with an amused huff. Jaune looked at him with surprise and Cardin steadfastly ignored him. Ignored the wondering fond look in blue eyes made darker with the lack of light. It made him wonder, though. Had he never said it outloud? Had he never called him ‘light’? Louder, he said, “Pick a constellation,” and Jaune did.

They were up on that roof, under a pile of blankets, for a long time. The chill wasn’t quiet as bad as Vacuo could get at night. And the stars weren’t quite as bright with Beacon’s light. Still Jaune pointed and he told. Told until his throat felt sore. Told even past that. Jaune was a solid line of heat against his side the entire time. At some point Jaune’s hand had wandered to Cardin’s chest. To rest over his heart.

Cardin didn’t want to leave this moment.

Sunday

“You don’t really talk in the mornings, do you?” Jaune asked him and Cardin forced down a flinch. Shook his head instead, tried not to feel bad. Before, when he was still in his own dorm room, when he could worry about this with Russel, Russel had told him Jaune wouldn’t be upset over the quiet. That Jaune was kind and understanding- so, so kind, so understanding ‘ He agreed to date you, after all. Even after everything ’- and Cardin trusted Russel. Trusted his brother. He did . So he shook his head and he pushed everything back down again. Where it belonged, deep, deep in his soul.

Jaune nodded. Not a true nod, just a small bobbing of his head. Cardin felt it against his shoulder. Just like the day before, Jaune was plastered to him. Some part of Cardin felt he should be annoyed. Instead it just felt… warm. Except for where Jaune’s chin dug into his shoulder when he was done nodding. “Alright. That’s cool.”

Cardin smiled and gave a single nod. A quiet thank you. When Jaune turned his head and pressed his lips to his neck, Cardin felt he understood that.

The rest of their time together was spent split between card games- an equal amount of wins somehow between them- and cuddled in the nest with a movie. There were only a short few hours left after the first movie. Part of Cardin wanted to leave right then. He didn’t want to risk Jaune’s team returning earlier than expected. Cardin carded his fingers through Jaune’s hair, tugged gently at the strands. Jaune sighed and melted further into him. The press of weight against him helped Cardin try to secure himself in this moment. To press those thoughts and the worry down until he could better ignore it.

All things had to end, though. Soon enough Cardin had to rouse Jaune so they could put things back the way they were meant to be. Or close to that.

“If everything’s perfect it’ll be weird,” Jaune said.

Cardin nodded. “I wouldn’t exactly call you neat.”

Jaune threw a pillow at his face and made an annoyed sound when he caught it. “That’s not fair , you’re not supposed to catch it. You’re supposed to get hit by it and be surprised.”

“You threw it while I was looking directly at you,” Cardin said. He put the pillow on the desk with his backpack when he noticed it was his.

“It would’ve been funny,” Jaune said petulantly and Cardin rolled his eyes. A child. He was dating a child. Though he wasn’t too upset with his taste in men when Jaune made his way over, arms loaded with blankets, just to kiss him. Before he could pull fully away Cardin pulled Jaune’s hood over his head and tugged the strings right. As Jaune struggled with his new predicament, Cardin grabbed the blankets from him. He practically whistled as he walked away. Content in his small revenge.

This time, the pillow was a direct hit.

The ensuing pillow fight brought them dangerously close to RWBY and NPR’s return, but it also distracted Cardin enough for him to not care. Both of them were panting and flushed by its end. Cardin seriously considered whether a pillow could cause a bruise. Any remaining time was taken up by their mouths on each other’s. Kisses slow and lingering. Cloying like candy on Cardin’s lips. Once more he found himself reluctant to leave. But he knew he had to. Jaune was not yet ready to share their relationship with his group of friends. And to be quite frank, Cardin was still scared of their reaction when he did. The anger would be called for. It would be just and right. But he feared them taking Jaune from him. Feared them making Jaune realize that he wasn’t good, that he wasn’t worth it. Wasn’t worth him . (Because he wasn’t- no matter what Jaune said. Cardin didn’t realize he could fear losing something as much as he feared losing Russel and Russel’s parents. As much as he’d begrudgingly began to fear losing Velvet and Sky and Dove.) Jaune melted sweetly into him and Cardin opened his mouth and silently begged whatever to listen to let his mind forget for a moment longer. The kiss turned sharp like cinnamon and Cardin’s thoughts hazed out.

Sunday (evening)

“Jaune!” Nora bounded down the dock and tackled him, knocking the both of them to the ground.

“Hey Nora,” Jaune laughed and hugged her back just as hard. Already he missed the thought that Cardin would be back in the room when he returned. But that was okay. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t see each other every day. Though they’d have to go back to secret affection. Or more secret than it had been between the two of them, alone in his dorm room. Even still, it was nice to have the rest of his team and RWBY back. He looked over Nora’s shoulder to the others. “How was it?”

“Well -” Ruby began as she pulled him up from the ground after Nora stood up.