-Your Pov-

You sat in the training range, and waited patiently as your mechanic did a routine maintenance check. No matter how many times you had done these, he never stopped being less methodical, checking every piece of you twice, as if it had broken since the last time he had done it. As he worked, he hummed an old song to himself, and began to change pieces in and out of you. No matter how many times he did this, you never felt any different, which made you wonder what the point was for him switching the pieces. However, you knew if you said anything, he would work even slower out of spite, and say something about how patience was a virtue.

As he worked on you, Penny sat happily in the chair across from you, her mechanic working much quicker than yours was. She stuck her tongue out at you, and then you rolled your eyes. It never ceased to amaze you how childish she was, despite being a state of the art weapon, the final stages of one of Ironwood's many secret plans. And yet, Penny was content to act like a child, even with the gravity of being an android, and everything that came with it.

The two of you had gotten more lectures than you cared to remember about how important it was for the two of you to blend into society. You were the first Androids to have souls which meant that if anyone knew your secret, they would be dying to try and replicate it, and both you and Penny held thousands of bytes of confidential information inside of you. Every day, Ironwood reminded you of the responsibilities you had, not only as an Atlas cadet, but as the embodiment of Atlas's technology and military might.

Sitting there bored out of your mind, you then watched as Ironwood walked into the room. Both of the mechanics stopped, and then quickly came to attention, as did you and Penny. He gave all of you the command to stand at ease, which you gladly did, sitting back down to let the maintenance work on you continue. Ironwood then used something to display a map of Beacon Academy, and then he looked at you and Penny, and then you sighed mentally when you realized what was coming, which was the speech about the responsibilities the two of you had.

" Cadets, as you know, the Vytal Festival is coming up. This year, it's to be held on the grounds of Beacon Academy. The two of you will be going to represent your teams, as well as the larger Atlas Academy. Each of you represents the best chance Atlas has at winning the tournament, and bringing pride to the kingdom. I expect the two of you to compete honorably and well. However, that isn't why I called you here. Ozpin has offered for students from the other academies to stay at Beacon, and have a chance to learn their curriculum. The two of you are our best students, and so will be representing Atlas as transfer students."

Ironwood continues to talk and give you instructions, and then he walks out of the room and you all render a salute as he leaves, and then Penny has a big smile on her face, and looks at you eagerly. " This is sensational," she says, talking quickly. " I've already had the chance to see places in the Beacon area, and they're simply beautiful! And (y/n), this would give you a chance to meet all my friends I made, and the Ruby girl I keep telling you about!"

You nod as she continues to quickly talk, and then find yourself on an airship to Beacon. As you land, you can't help but notice that the area's are beautiful, just like how Penny had described. Compared to how Atlas looks, this is a veritable utopia. When you see the school, you note to yourself how the students are all laughing, and having fun and bantering with each other, a far cry from the formal salutes and referring to each other by looks you all are accustomed to at Atlas. This feels like a school and not mandatory military service.

Penny noted to you that it was lunch time for the students at Beacon, and then she quickly and eagerly dragged you to the cafeteria, and then looked around the room. Looking around, you saw all kinds of different hair cuts, appearances and ways of dressing, almost none of which would fly at Atlas. Before you can continue to think this, Penny taps your shoulder, and then points to a group of four students, whose names she quickly rattles off to you. " Blake, Yang, that's Weiss, isn't her hair amazing, and then that's Ruby," she says, and then you nod, before you get dragged to sit at the table with her.

The four of them introduce themselves to you, and then you notice Ruby avoids your eye contact, and speaks nervously to you the entire time, and is mostly silent. You make a note to ask Penny about this, since she always described Ruby as being energetic. However, all of them seem to be the nice people Penny described them as. You continue to talk with them as you hear chatter, and then you look up to see the group of students everyone is pointing at.

One of them wears a red dress which clings to her, and the other has silver hair. Neither of them catch your attention at all. The third one of them however, catches your eyes right away. Her green hair is short, and frames her face perfectly, and her red eyes are suited just right for her darker complexion. Her outfit reveals her toned stomach, and plenty of cleavage. Her hips have a nice sway to them, and when you look, she has a great butt. Penny catches you staring, and then smacks you to snap you out of your daze. " That's Emerald," says Yang, clearly noting that you have a crush on her. You keep that in the back of your mind, and then make a note to talk to Emerald when you get a chance.

-Emerald Pov-

I sit in my dorm with Mercury and Cinder. She taps her tablet every so often, and I wonder what she's doing. The room is silent, safe for the sound of Mercury grunting every so often from the effort of doing push-ups with me sitting on his back. I consider asking Cinder something to break the silence, but I know she's still angry with the two of us for almost letting the White Fang member get out of town.

" Anything interesting happen to either of you today," asks Cinder eventually, and then Mercury and I both look up at her, and then tell her our day briefly, and then she nods and tells us we need to make friends with the students at the school in order to not give our plans away. This makes both Mercury and I grown internally, having met several students and hating them all right away. However, neither of us are stupid enough to object to Cinder's plan out loud.

" Cinder," I start, and then she looks up at me from her tablet, boredom in her eyes. " I just wanted to tell you something that might be a problem to our plan. I was in the cafeteria, and I got annoyed with all the students staring at me, so I used my Semblance to make them see something else. There was only one student whose mind I couldn't get into. It was like his mind was a steel trap. He was sitting with Team RWBY, and that girl with orange hair and freckles Roman told us about.

When I say this, Cinder's eyes widen for a moment, and then she shows me a picture of the student on her tablet, and I confirm for her that that's who he was. She nods, and then shows me a picture of him with the girl, and I once again confirm those are the two I was talking about. Cinder puts away her tablet, and then begins to think to herself. " The reason you couldn't use your Semblance on him is because he's an android. He and Penny both are. The two of them have information on the innermost secrets of Atlas. We need to gain access to those somehow."

Mercury suddenly gets a glint in his eye, the same glint that lets me know I'm not going to enjoy anything he has to say after. He clears his throat, and then Cinder looks at him, clear doubt also evident in her eyes about what he has to say. " Well, it's clear he's got the hots for Em," he begins. " And I mean, he's a dude and we're all pretty simple. What if we had Em pretend to date him? She could just trick him into revealing what we needed to know gradually."

I realize this may be the dumbest idea he's ever had, which says a lot as the two of us have tried a lot of less than advisable things in our time working for Cinder. However, she regards him with curiosity, like he said something worth listening to. I groan mentally when I see her actually consider it, and then she nods and I feel my heart sink in despair. " His plan has merit," she says, and then Mercury smirks. " Emerald, get close to him, enough so he trusts you and reveals everything we need."

Agreeing, I find him the next day, sitting with Penny and Team RWBY. They all laugh and joke, and then talk about the dance and the Vytal Festival. Looking at them, I see that Ruby laughs a little too loudly at (y/n)'s jokes, and pays a little too much attention to his stories, and her " friendly" touches linger a moment too long. It's clear for anyone to see that she has a crush on him, but he somehow manages to miss it entirely. I sigh to myself. If he's this dense, than a relationship with him, even if it's faked is going to be the most unbearable thing.

However, I make my way over to him, and then he looks up and sees me. His confident demeanor turns to one of nervousness, and a blush appears on my face. It looks like Mercury was right, it wouldn't take too long for me to have him wrapped around my little finger. " Hi," I tell him, in the flirtiest voice I can muster. " I saw you staring the other day, and I think you're cute. So rather than stare, why don't we go on a date?"

He practically trips over himself to stand up, and then I wrap an arm around his waist, both to fluster him even more, and to take his wallet from him. Seeing him get flustered, I think to myself that this is going to be interesting. The two of us walk out of the cafeteria, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Ruby deflate a little bit as his absence, and then I smirk to myself, and take (y/n) on our "date," which is just him doing the things I want him to do. I didn't even have to do anything, and I have him eating out of the palm of my hand. As much as Mercury gets on my nerves, I have to admit getting the information I need from his is going to be the easiest thing in the world, and I also have to admit to myself that this is a little fun to watch him bend over backwards for me.

At the end of our outing, I drop him off in front of my dorm, and then I see him nervously open his mouth to ask something. Just to make sure he stays as he is, I kiss him on the lips, and to my surprise, he manages to kiss back rather well. However, I pull away from him, and then walk off, savoring the confused look on his face. I have to admit, this might not be so bad. Having him as a boyfriend will be like having a pet. All I would need to do is stay in charge, occasionally give him a treat for being a good boy, and he would do anything I asked him to.

-Penny Pov-

I sit in my dorm, waiting for (y/n) to come back from his date with Emerald. He promised to come back in time for me to watch my favorite show with him and Team RWBY, all of us in the dorm waiting for him. When they arrived, they had asked where he was, and when I told them, Ruby had deflated, as she always did when the topic of Emerald and (y/n) came up. I suspected she had feelings for (y/n), but was only know realizing how deep they were.

When we realize he's not going to be coming back, I sigh and then turn on the TV. " It doesn't feel the same without (y/n)," remarks Ruby. She tries to say it like a matter of fact, but we all notice her voice catch in her throat, and then she quickly wipes her eyes. I sigh when I see this, hating to see my best friend so sad and in the dumps. I wish there was something I could to make her happy, but I just didn't know.

Eventually, there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to see (y/n) and Emerald. She kissed his neck, and sucked hard enough to leave a hickey before she walked off.  " You're late," I told (y/n) in the most scolding tone I could manage. He nodded, and then sat down. I noticed all of Team RWBY were slight degrees of irritated with him, except for Ruby, who quickly explained to him what he had missed, and then he nodded and thanked her.

I sighed again when I saw the hickey Emerald had left on him, which Ruby was looking at sadly. I wondered to myself what (y/n) even saw in Emerald. She was mean to him all the time, and treated him like a pet rather than a boyfriend, ordering him around and being downright cruel to him. They had nothing in common, and we all knew (y/n) would look cuter as a couple with Ruby. The two of them could laugh and joke for hours on end, and (y/n) was always happier with Ruby than he was with Emerald.

After the show ends, Yang gets excited and starts to show us all pictures of her dress, which looks beautiful, and we all start to compare dresses, except for Ruby. She just sits sadly, and then looks out the window. " I'm not going," she explains when asked, and then (y/n)'s eyes widen at this, and he goes to sit next to her, and he asks why not. " I'm socially awkward, so dances aren't my scene. I can't dance anyways, and I'm not going with anyone, so it'd be pointless. And well, there's someone I want to go with, but they have a girlfriend already."

" Then they're stupid if they turned you down," says (y/n), and all of us resist the urge to face palm that he managed to miss every hint that he was the one Ruby liked. " Come on, how about you go to the dance anyways? If you want, tell the guy how you feel and then I'm sure he'll realize how lucky he is you like him. And even if not, I'll be sure to find you for a slow dance. Deal?"

" Deal," she says, perking up a little bit, and then hugging him. He smiles, and then hugs her back, and then her team leaves for the night, and (y/n) and I go into our beds, and I think about him with Ruby, and how happy the two of them would be as a couple, and wonder if (y/n) is really that dense.

-Ruby Pov-

The night of the dance, I look to see (y/n) dancing with Emerald. He sends her into a twirl, and then catches her, and smiles. She smiles too, and I sigh and take another long sip from the punch I've been drinking all night with Jaune. " Couldn't get a date either huh," he asks to break the silence, and then I look up at him.

" No," I admit to him. " I wanted to come with (y/n), but he's already with Emerald." I tell Jaune this, not caring. My crush on (y/n) has become public knowledge, which most people picked up one right away when they saw us interact. (y/n) is the only one who seems to have missed it. Saying this, Jaune nods.

" I went to ask Weiss like Pyrrha had said to, but she was asking Neptune to the dance by the time I got there," he says, and then the two of us go back to drinking punch together in silence, and then his eyes widen. I see him go into the bathroom, and then come out in a dress to dance with Pyrrha. I smile at this, and then feel a tap on my shoulder, and I look up to see (y/n) smiling.

" Hey," he says. " Emerald wasn't feeling well, so Mercury took her back to the dorm. I saw you standing alone all night. Did things not work out for you and the guy you wanted to come here with," he asks, and then I shake my head to tell him it didn't, deciding not to tell him my feelings. " That sucks...hey, do you wanna dance with me? I promised you one."

I smile at this, and then wrap my arms around his neck, and he places his hands on my hips, and then the two of us begin to slow dance. I allow myself to pretend that he's looking at me lovingly, and I enjoy the dance with him to the best of my abilities. When it ends, he smiles at me and then says he's going to see if Emerald's okay.

A few days later, I sit in the stands, and then watch (y/n)'s singles match. Looking around the crowd, I can't help but be irritated that Emerald didn't even bother to stay, and she left with Mercury to go take care of something, and didn't even come back to watch her boyfriend fight like she should have, like I would have.

(y/n) wins the fight with little to no effort, and then he comes into the stands, and then finds us. We all begin to compliment him, and he laughs and jokes with us for a few moments, before he grows serious. " Hey, have you guys seen Emerald?" We tell him she went with Mercury, and then he nods and goes to find her.

Hours pass, and then I get a text from Penny, asking me to come over to her dorm. When I do, the sound of sobbing could be heard, and then I realize that it's the sound of (y/n) crying. Quickly, I open the door to see him crying, and Penny hugging him. I make my way over, and she steps aside to let me hug him.

" What happened," I ask him.

" E-Emerald cheated on me w-with Mercury," he choked out eventually. " She had been the entire time we dated." I hold him tight, and on impulse, kiss his forehead. His grip tightens around me, and then I take my cape, and drape it over him like a blanket. Penny smiles at the sight, and then walks out of the room, closing the door gently behind us.

" I'm so sorry (y/n)," she says. " She shouldn't have...I would never cheat on you."

" Oum," he says, still sobbing his eyes out. " I didn't even know I could cry. They gave me tear ducts and not a rocket fist?" He tries to say it as a joke, to make me laugh even now, but his voice catches.

" Shh, let it all out," I tell him, and then he really begins to cry. Eventually, he falls asleep from having cried, and then I lay him on the bed, and cuddle with him, using my cape as a blanket for us.

-Epilogue Your Pov-

After Emerald had cheated on you, you reported her to Ozpin for pick-pocketing, a habit you knew she had, but ignored as you were blinded by your feelings for her. she was kicked out of Beacon along with her team, which ended up being for the best, as it turned out all of them served someone named Salem.

Ruby had comforted you through the breakup, and in time had confessed her love for you. The two of you had dated ever since, and were lying on the couch, wrapped in her blanket and drinking hot chocolate. " I love you (y/n)," she said.

" I love you too Ruby," you told her, nuzzling her and realizing finally how much more valuable rubies were than emeralds.

( let me know what you thought. first cheater story, so i hope it was okay)