Ch 33: Secrets Among Friends

"Well, that was quite the interesting lecture." Weiss said as they all gathered up their stuff.

"Indeed, I found the content to be quite intriguing… if troubling." Pyrrha agreed from the row behind Team RWBY.

"But nothing he said was incorrect." Blake pointed out adamantly.

"You guys were able to keep up with all of that?" Jaune asked, amazed.

"The topics were quite original." Ren agreed. "The truth about the intellect of Grimm. Grimm evolution. The necessity of Grimm for Human and Faunus relations. The inevitable of conflict. All most fascinating."

"Now, you see, now you've gone and lost me." Jaune sighed as just Ren's summary of the topics had gone over his head.

"Haha" Yang laughed, "Yeah, Ray's thought process can be a bit overwhelming when he gets going. Ruby and I have gotten kind of used to it, listening to him arguing with teachers and adults for so many years. But we still have trouble keeping up with him."

"But more importantly," Nora's energetic voice rang out, "Pancakes! We need to get to lunch!" And with that, Nora started marching towards the cafeteria.

"What do pancakes have to do with lunch? Aren't they breakfast food?" Ruby cutely asked as everyone followed Nora out of the classroom.

"What do cookies have to do with breakfast?" Ray asked back, reminding her of the oatmeal raisin cookies she had for breakfast yesterday.

"Everything!" Ruby declared with conviction. "Cookies are one of the five major food groups. No meal would be complete without cookies."

"Well, isn't Nora the same way about pancakes?" Ray said with a shrug, knowing better than to argue with his twin over her love for cookies. It was a battle he, Yang, and their dad had surrendered long ago.

"I wonder if Nora is any better at making pancakes than you are at baking cookies, Ruby." Yang teased. Ruby loved cookies, but she got so excited baking them that they always turned out… interesting. A charcoal puck was the most mundane result her baking had ever produced.

"Nora doesn't cook." Ren said with a tired look in his eyes.

Nora zipped over to put an arm around his shoulders, "That's because Ren's pancakes are always the best. Why would I ever want to make them myself when we are always together. Though not like together, together. Hehe." Nora released his shoulders and skipped on ahead, giggling.

"At least I can avoid baking. Your snoring is a national health hazard." Ruby fired back at Yang.

"How did you girls sleep last night?" Ray asked Blake and Weiss.

"I slept quite soundly last night, thank you. My hypnopedia tapes are quite soothing." Weiss answered happily.

"The tree last night was very comfortable." Blake answered, her face black.

Ray patted her shoulder. "I can lend you some industrial-grade disposable earplugs for you to use till you can order some custom-fit ones. Normal plugs just don't work against Yang." Blake looked at him like she was looking at her savior.

"So what about Ray?" Jaune asked.

"What about me?"

"Well, we know Ruby can't bake, and Yang snores, so what is the deep dark secret of the third Rose sibling." Jaune clarified.

"Oh, oh, oh. How about how he always sneaks out at night?" Ruby started hopping around, eager to spill the beans on her twin, "No matter what Dad did, Ray would always disappear, every night, without a trace, and then return just the same, with no indication he had ever left."

"Or how about how he would always get lost whenever we went to watch the Vytal Festival?" Yang added.

"I would have thought you would have an excellent sense of direction." Weiss commented.

"I do." Ray growled. "Yang is exaggerating. I didn't get lost. I ditched them."

*Huuuuunh* Ruby and Yang gasped together. ""He finally admits it!"" Ray glared at his giggling sisters.

"Well, then," Yang said, a mischievous grin on her face. Ray suddenly felt cold. "What about the time you almost-" Ray charged at Yang, determined to shut her mouth, but Ruby blocked him laughing. "-got molested by an old man." Yang rushed to finish.

"Traitor!" Ray yelled at Yang as Ruby, Yang, Ren, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Nora burst out laughing. Blake and Weiss looked at Ray, concerned.

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

"It was Halloween, our birthday, six years ago." Ray said. If the story was already out there, then he was going to tell it in a way that preserved his dignity as much as possible. "Ruby and I were dressed up as a bride and groom, but Dad and Yang thought it would be funny if we swapped roles."

"He truly made a beautiful bride." Yang cackled.

"I feel you, man." Jaune sympathized.

"Anyway, some old perv thought he would try to cop a feel of my ass when we were waiting in front of a house. I whirled around so fast I hit Ruby with a flying Butterfinger and then proceeded to beat the ever-living stuffing out of a man in a giant teddy bear costume."

"Didn't you get in trouble?" Blake asked.

"At first." Ray nodded, "My actions really scared the other kids, but when the cops arrived, and everyone found out the man was a registered sex offender and a pedophile to boot, the parents actually thanked me and gave me some extra candy."

"On another note," now it was Ray's turn to grin mischievously as he turned to face Jaune. "What was that you said about feeling for me?" Jaune broke out into a cold sweat. "It almost sounded like you have experience with your family dressing you up like a girl." Ray's grin was huge, all his teeth exposed, as he leaned in to corner Jaune.

"I… uh… well, I… um." Jaune stammered.

"Yep, that's an admission if I ever heard one." Yang leaned in to join Ray in pressuring Jaune.

"Come on, Jaune. We're your team. You have to tell us EVERYTHING. All your embarrassing little secrets." Nora came up behind Jaune to trap him.

"You know that as a teaching assistant, I have access to every student's emergency contact information." Ray threatened, "Maybe we should call one? 'Ah, hello, I'm looking for the Arc residence. This is Ray. A friend of Jaune's from Beacon. He hinted that he had experience in being dressed in women's clothing, but he's clammed up now. Would you be willing to share all the embarrassing secrets he is hiding?'" Ray mimicked calling Jaune's family.

"No, please!" Jaune begged, "I'll talk. I'll talk."

"Please try to understand that I grew up with seven older sisters." Jaune whimpered, "They treated me like I was their dress-up doll. It started when I was seven. They dressed me in a schoolgirl uniform and gave me twin tails for my first day of school." Jaune was starting to get emotional, "They made me the flower girl at my oldest sister's wedding when I was nine. They've made me dress up like a bunny girl for their birthdays and serve them ever since I was 10." Jaune was crying now. Pyrrha walked over and let him cry into her shoulder as she patted his back.

"Well, dang, now I'm just depressed." Yang said.

"We should have just called his sisters after all. They would have told it much better." Weiss advised.

"They probably would have been willing to share pictures too." Ray agreed. Pyrrha's soothing pats paused at the mention of pictures, and an excited gleam entered her eyes.

"Are there any pictures of you dressed as a girl?" Blake asked, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"No. Ray deleted and destroyed all copies." Yang answered. Annoyed when she remembered how she had come home from school one day to find her brother burning her secret stash of cute brother photos.

"Well, that's me, Yang, Ray, Jaune, and Nora." Ruby said, looking suggestively at the others.

*Hmph* "I'm afraid I don't have any embarrassing secrets." Weiss said with a swish of her hair.

Ray almost said, 'You're a Schnee. That is something to be both proud and embarrassed about.' but thought it would be a bit crude to tease her about what was such a sensitive issue for her when she had spilled her heart out to him less than two hours ago.

"Ahh, come on, Weiss. Can't you Schnee we are all trying to have fun? Why do you have to al-Weiss be so serious?" Yang's puns drew groans from everyone and a glare from Weiss.

"I guess Weiss's embarrassing secret is that her name is pun-alicious." Blake joked. Yang shot her partner a thumbs up.

"I've never had any real friends." Pyrrha decided to throw her secret out there next.

""Oh, Pyrrha""

""Pyrrha""

Everyone called out to her in sympathy and came over to give her a massive group hug.

"Well, now you got eight." Jaune said with his arm still around her shoulders. Everyone nodded and expressed their agreement.

"Ren thinks pond scum is nutritious." Nora interjected, trying to get the conversation back on happier terrain.

"Algae contains numerous spectacular properties. But my patented nutritional supplement drink is not pond scum. It is a highly nutritious blend of herbs and vegetables that is the center of any healthy diet." Ren protested.

"It tastes like slime from a lakebed." Nora was turning green, just remembering it.

"You just don't know good juice." Ren crossed his arms and turned his face away from Nora.

Everyone laughed at the two's interaction, dispelling the rather heavy atmosphere that Pyrrha's confession had created.

"And then there was one. Blake?" Ray turned everyone's attention to her.

"Umm…" Blake blushed a bit as she thought of all the secrets she was keeping.

She decided to share one of her less dangerous secrets, "I enjoy reading adult books." Blake whispered, rubbing the toe of her shoe against the ground, embarrassed.

"Huh? What's an 'adult' book? You mean those long, complicated books on theory and relativity that are a foot thick and say a whole lot of nothing? You enjoy that stuff?" Ruby was confused about what Blake meant by 'adult'.

"Ah, Ruby, don't ever change." Yang slung an arm around her sister's shoulder.

"Huh?" Ruby was more confused now.

"Yep. Don't ever change, Ruby." Ray slung his arm around his twin's shoulders from her other side.

"Huh? Wait? Did I miss something? Why is everyone laughing? What's so funny?" Ruby couldn't understand what was going on. As the nine friends walked, laughing together, into the dining hall.