You know when a character says something like "What could go wrong?" and then something immediately goes wrong? I'm feeling this in my soul because before I started writing this I said "It's just a fic about Jaune getting some head pats! How long can it be?"
I have recorded proof that I wanted this to be 5k. Part of me wants to apologize for the length and the other doesn't regret anything!
Jaune is a golden retriever faunus in this. And I have to thank (one more time) mrk50 on twitter/tumblr for inspiration. Their cute drawings and headcanons for this AU were what motivated me to write this fic!
Just a few more things before we start. English is not my first language and this was not beta read, so sorry if there are any silly mistakes and weird sentences.
Also, I wrote this with the intent for it to be a one-shot, but I will split it into 3 parts in case you need a good place to stop to take a break or something. They all will be posted at the same time too, I don't have a reason to make you guys wait for a chapter since everything is already finished and I always meant to post it as one.
Enough babbling! I hope you like it!
Restless. If existed one word that could describe how Jaune was feeling during the days that followed the arrival of his acceptance letter to Beacon, that one fit just fine.
The days before the letter now seemed a distant, way simpler time. Of course, he had been apprehensive, but he had made sure that his parents would not be able to find out in any way about how fake his transcripts were. And after they were sent, he tried not to think too much about it.
After all, all he could receive was just a yes or a no, right? From that moment on, it was beyond his control, all he had left to do was wait.
So when the confirmation that he actually got in, that he was accepted into Beacon for real, as in Beacon, the most prestigious huntsman academy in all of Remnant, those thoughts couldn't be pushed back any longer.
Yep! Jaune Arc - the only son of one of the most known Faunus families of all of Vale, with ancestors that were considered heroes for fighting bravely on the Great Faunus Revolution, with the warrior career and the expectation for greatness carrying down from each generation - was finally following his father's footsteps of becoming a huntsman to uphold the honor of the family name!
No pressure at all!
That was what he had tried to tell himself every morning. However, it was plainly obvious how agitated he was actually feeling.
After all, it took only one minute of him alone with his thoughts for his own body to find a way to express his turmoil. And his dog tail was just a really big, golden, fluffy and not subtle at all way of expression.
His sisters liked to point it out when it happened. "Jaune stop beating up the couch with your tail, show some mercy, it has done nothing wrong!" He just laughed dryly and stuck his tongue out to their sarcastic comments. They were lucky they didn't have to deal with that, he was the only one that inherited their mother's tail while all of his seven sisters had an extra pair of canine ears, like their dad.
He knew they were only trying to light up the mood though, from the way they ruffled his hair affectionately and told him everything was going to be all right.
And he believed them. He did his absolute best to believe them. But that didn't stop countless scenarios from being conjured by his mind.
There were the good ones, those that made his tail wag excitedly, there were the less pleasant ones, that caused it to twitch apprehensively, and everything in between; each day a new possibility barged through his thoughts.
So when Jaune took the first step into Beacon, he told himself that the world could throw anything at him! Even the worst motion sickness he had ever had! He was expecting it! He was expecting a little bit of everything!
He had expected from Ozpin himself to appear right in front of him and throw him back into an airship at the same second because of his fake transcripts, from a nice and peaceful school year with a great team and good friends.
Thank the gods the first one didn't happen, if he had had to go back to his home with his tail tucked between his legs, his parents probably wouldn't let him make a decision of his own for the rest of his entire life.
Unfortunately, as much as he had wished for it to happen, the second scenario wasn't accurate either.
Of course it wasn't going to be. He was a faunus, and he was no longer at the constant friendly atmosphere of his little hometown - one of the few places besides Menagerie where his species was the majority.
In addition to that, there was this other little, small detail. He was attending a Huntsman Academy and, unlike probably every other living soul at this school, with not even the basics notions of how to be an actual Huntsman.
So part of the students wouldn't even look at him in the face - or look at him like they were superior - and his combat skills were mediocre.
And the cherry on the cake was that, apparently, those were reasons to attract a team of bullies.
He had to admit, team CRDL made some of his days a nightmare, from questionable comments to accidental steps on his tail. This was no surprise though, he was expecting that to happen. And he told himself that he could handle it alone.
That turned out to not be a really good idea in the end. Every day team CRDL's nagging turned worse and worse, and when his friends decided to bring up the subject during lunch one day, he just brushed them off.
He had walked away from the table with his food barely touched that day, his tail hanging low as he felt Ruby's and Pyrrha's worried stares on his back.
If there was one thing right about his most optimistic expectation for his days at Beacon, it was the fact that he actually got good friends and a great team. It was because of them he hadn't completely given up or sent home to never even think about being a Huntsman again.
He hated making them worry. Especially Ruby and Pyrrha.
Ruby was the first person he talked to at Beacon and his first friend, and he was quick to become friends with the rest of her team too when it was formed.
Actually, scratch that, it wasn't that quick. Ruby's sister, Yang, was eager to know her lil' sis first friend, so there was no problem there.
Blake was at the beginning just a huge question mark for him though. She was nice, but always seemed a little jumpy when he was around.
At first, he thought it was because he was a faunus, that she was one of those people. But the quiet girl surprisingly always spoke up when they were the subject of the conversation or the theme of discussion during class, the way she talked got him to quickly discard the possibility.
It would take a while for him finally to find out the reason for how she acted around him and how wrong his first assumption was, and if you stopped to think about it, it was quite funny.
Well, she did really like tuna a lot.
Then there was Weiss, she was a little bit more difficult. He had tried to approach her during the first day when he saw her talking to Ruby, but the moment she saw he had a tail and he noticed she was a Schnee, they both knew that they wouldn't click very well.
After all, it was hard to find a faunus that wasn't aware of the Schnee Dust Company employment methods - and that was one of the reasons his family was proud for never using any Dust powered weapons.
After discovering Blake's secret though, Weiss' behavior started to change. Now Jaune could say that he considered her one of his friends. After all, they were both too quick to judge each other - him because of her family actions and her because of how she had been trained to think about his species.
Last but definitely not least, there was his team. And he could easily say they were the best friends he could have asked for.
They didn't even care that he was a faunus. And it wasn't even one month in and he already considered Ren as a brother he never had. Nora reminded him so much of his sisters that it was as if she really was one of them.
And his partner, Pyrrha; he could spend hours talking about her. Jaune still didn't understand how someone like him had ended up with such an amazing partner.
She was hands down the most talented student on their class, but also one of the kindest people he had ever met. She quickly became his best friend, and he gave her all the credit for the fact that he still hadn't been kicked out of the academy until this day.
It was because of her that he had the courage to stand up against team CRDL. Well, after he had to endure some of the worst days of his life.
It was all his fault though. Pyrrha had offered to help him one night after seeing that he was struggling at his classes and he, like a complete idiot, turned her down because he was too stuck up on his own head with the idea that he didn't need any help.
He ended up spilling everything about his fake transcripts, and when she left him alone at their dorms' rooftop after he denied her offer once again, he deeply regretted how loud he had shouted at her.
First, because Pyrrha was just trying to help and absolutely didn't deserve his childish outburst, and second because she wasn't the only one listening.
After days of Cardin keeping him on a leash so he would reveal his secret to the Headmaster, - and really, he really liked to joke about leashes. Days which he couldn't even interact with his team because every time he tried to be with his friends, Cardin would suddenly appear with an absurd task for him to complete or else, and of Pyrrha not even looking at him in the face, there was one point where he finally had the guts to say that he had enough.
That point was when Cardin decided that he was going to mess with his team - more specifically, with his partner.
So Jaune had said no. Not caring anymore if Cardin decided to tell everything to Ozpin and he would have to leave. He was supposed to be his team's leader, and he was doing a terrible job at that anyway.
Long story short, CRDL beat him up, all the negative emotion - and some tree sap - lured in the biggest Ursa Jaune had ever seen right to them. Tired of feeling useless, he actually managed to fight the beast and protect Cardin when it tried to attack him.
He told Cardin to never mess with his friends again. And he liked to think that he would listen.
That night Pyrrha found him alone at the rooftop, and his first words to her were a long overdue apology.
And she accepted in the same second - of course she was going to accept. She could tell how stressful those past days were for both of them, especially for Jaune; she had been upset with him because of his actions and for distanced himself from his team. But at the same time, Pyrrha hated that they weren't talking to each other, and she hated seeing him coming back to their room always late at night, noticing how his tail now was always uncharacteristic low and unmovable, without being able to do anything to help.
"Your team really misses their leader, you know..." And she really missed her partner.
Pyrrha turned around to leave, not forgetting to comment that Ren was making some pancakes - it had been a while since the last time the whole team was together for something as simple as just enjoying their teammate's cooking.
Before she could go, even if Jaune believed that he didn't deserve her forgiveness and that he didn't deserve a second chance, he decided to ask anyway.
"...Would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"
Pyrrha had her back to him, as she was almost to the exit the moment he shot his question. When she turned around and started to walk back to his direction, for a split of a second, the thought that she was going to hug him crossed quickly through his mind; his tail actually wagged for the first time after all those torturous days that caused it to be static.
His expectation was proved completely wrong when, with a quick motion, Pyrrha pushed him back and he fell graciously on his butt.
Jaune only had time to shout a quick "Hey!" as he looked up to see his partner smiling at him.
"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She offered him a hand. "And you need to remember to use your tail to assist you in your balance."
He accepted her help, and Pyrrha pulled him up easily. He gave her a sheepishly smile, which she returned as they continued to hold on each other's hands.
"Let's try that again."
During that night Pyrrha had to stop her instructions several times to tell him that his stance would be way more solid if he could just stop wagging his tail so much.
He tried, really. But Jaune was feeling so content that everything was ok between them again and that she had accepted to help him. And the times when she encouraged him during the lesson and told him that he was getting the hang of it - proven by how instead of falling on his butt he just stumbled back a little bit when she pushed him - never failed to make his tail to start moving again like it had a life of its own.
Pyrrha just let out a few giggles at his enthusiasm; it was nice to see him acting like himself again.
"Sorry, I guess I'm just…" Jaune shrugged lightly before letting a smile overcome his face. "… Happy!" He never was really good at controlling how his tail gave it away how he was feeling so easily. "I'm glad it's all over…"
Her expression softened before she matched his smile. "Me too…"
A different kind of silence fell around then, somewhat comfortable, that didn't feel heavy or like they would have to make a lot of effort to break. A silence that enabled her to take in the immense relief she was feeling - as if she had been holding a breath for days and she was finally allowed to let go. And that just by watching the curl of her partner's lips, making his eyes crinkle at the corners with genuine happiness and gratitude; the quietness between them now was only tinted with the sound of his tail swaying against the air and the strangely loud pound of her heartbeat inside her ears.
It took a few seconds, but Pyrrha managed to speak up the moment she realized she was staring. "I think we can stop for the night then." She turned to the door, trying to cover the sudden feeling of intense heat on her cheeks. "Ren and Nora must be worried."
"O-oh! Right!" He followed her out of the rooftop, his tail waving from side to side with each step. "Do you think there are still some pancakes left?"
Jaune felt like his year had truly begun from that night forward. Thanks to Pyrrha, he finally was able to make progress on his combat classes, and the threat of failing seemed more distant with every study section they had together. And he made sure to let her know and thank her every single time. After all, she was the reason he was still hanging on and that he was able to move forward.
If there was something that Jaune could say it was more than he had expected, it was her.
Jaune thought that his problems were fixed after that day, so you could say that he was very much surprised to find out that that wasn't exactly true.
Because if there was a thing that he was absolutely not expecting at all, it was to be feeling this way. Whatever this was.
Really, it was hard to describe. It was a weird sensation and somewhat familiar, since he found himself having it occasionally since his first days at Beacon, especially when he spent too much time alone. But during those times where he barely interacted with any of his friends and his own team, those feelings had only intensified.
At first, he thought he was just missing his family and his home, and at the beginning that was probably the exact reason - it was the first time he was this far away from them after all.
Then it continued to grow in intensity into something else, at the point he could tell that it was more than just because he was missing someone.
It was an unusual feeling of emptiness, a kind of cold discomfort that made him shiver and still was more prone to appear when he was by himself, a strange sensation that he wanted something, but as much as he tried to ask himself what that something was, he could never find the answer.
Sometimes it made him feel kinda down, others, somewhat of annoyed, especially when he was expecting that getting back to socializing with his friends would put an end to it.
It certainly helped. When he was with his team, he would forget completely about the feeling. Still, the same moment he would go to bed at night, if he took even the slightest longer amount of time to fall asleep than usual, it would surface all over again.
Why was he feeling this way? Everything was going fine. The only thing he had to endure from Cardin now was some annoyed glances, his relationship with his team was back to normal, now every other day he and Pyrrha would head to the roof for his training sessions, and he could already feel the progress he was making.
Even though most of the time he ended up on the floor because his feet were in the wrong place, or his knee wasn't bent enough, or he forgot that keeping his tail a certain way could improve his balance, without Pyrrha's help he wouldn't even know about those mistakes.
And he wasn't even a little bit surprised at how good and how patient she was when teaching. Every time he fell, she was right there to offer him a hand and an encouragement, and he never hesitated in taking them.
Jaune clutched his pillow - well, one of his extra pillows, he started sleeping with three when he found out that having them helped somehow -, burying his face on the fabric to muffle a sound that was something between a groan and a whimper, preventing it from spreading around the silent room and bothering his sleeping teammates. He was happy! What more could he want?
Like always, he had no answer. So after letting out a huff, he decided to try to think about anything else until he managed to fall asleep.
What could he think about that would help him turn off though? Something that made him sleepy… Oobleck's class always managed to make him drowsy, maybe thinking about the subjects would do? Except… that was a bit too fast for his tired brain.
He was not even going to consider thinking about Port's life stories.
Then what about combat class? He hadn't been called to fight on the arena against a classmate since he fought Cardin weeks ago, he wondered how much better he would do now.
His mind wandered, making connections between his thoughts on its own, reaching his training sessions. He was actually excited to test some new stuff he learned from Pyrrha in a real match.
His straying thoughts went further and reached that first training session he had the night he apologized to Pyrrha. Remembering the time she had pushed him on the floor when he asked her if she could still help him, he found himself letting out an inaudible, tired chuckle at the memory.
He also recalled how he had thought she was actually going to hug him.
"A hug would have been… nice..."
Jaune found himself agreeing with what his subconscious had just whispered to him as he snuggled into the softness of his pillow. And without even realizing, he finally was able to slip away into his dreams, feeling oddly satisfied, as if he had just received an answer he was looking for.
He didn't even notice at some point while he was still lost on his thoughts, his tail had started to wag and his sheets had ended up on the floor.
It didn't take long for him to notice the pattern and to find out what exactly was happening to him.
From that night forward, every time his mind would wander until he was able to find sleep. Random thoughts that would soon meld with his dreams. But if there was something in common between those thoughts, was the intriguing fact that they always involved some kind of physical affection.
The idea of a caress would soothe him to sleep; a comforting hug, a nice scratch behind the ears or a hand going through his hair, and warm tingles would promptly replace the cold shivers.
He paid no mind to those occurrences for the first few times though. After all, he barely remembered them, since they emerged with his last wisps of consciousness.
The moment the daydreams began though, it was getting pretty obvious what his subconscious was trying to ask for and what was bothering him so much for the past weeks.
Yep, Jaune Arc had expected many things for his years at Beacon; but to be craving affection of all of the things, was certainly not one of them.
He blamed his wonderfully loving family. He blamed his ever-caring mother, his famous for his bear hugs dad, his supporting older sisters, and his clingy younger sisters.
He blamed the difference between his comforting home and the colder atmosphere of Beacon. Don't get him wrong, he loved being able to attend the school and the presence of his friends, but aside from them, everyone else seemed kinda distant.
Not everyone was dying to be friends with a faunus.
Ah yes, there was no denying that the fact that he was a faunus also contributed to his situation.
But could you blame him? If Blake liked to relax in sunny spots for a while and to eat that much tuna, and if Sun liked his bananas and climbed trees as his pass time, he could have the tendency of wanting to enjoy some pets, right?
Totally normal. And sincerely? He should have expected it.
The problem was that Jaune had no idea of how to fix this little problem of his.
This wasn't something he could just throw at his friends, just go to them and ask! It was embarrassing! And even if he had the guts to tell this to one of them and ask for help, none of the available options seemed very promising.
It was completely out of question asking for someone of team RWBY. He couldn't even imagine a situation where he would tell Weiss or Blake, Yang would probably tease him for the rest of his life, and Ruby would probably not take it very seriously because she would find the situation too adorable or something like that.
As for his own team, less unlikely, but still complicated. Ren was a reserved guy, an apologetic pat on the shoulder would probably be the only thing he would get for him. Once Nora gave him a hug and he actually needed to go to the infirmary to get some ice, so he quickly scraped her from the possibilities. And Pyrrha… Well…
As much as he hated to admit, Pyrrha sometimes made it very hard for him not to ask for her help.
Especially after all the extra time they spent together with his training sessions. And now that he knew what he wanted, he couldn't help himself from being hyper-aware of every touch.
And Pyrrha could be touchy.
She always lay a hand on his shoulder when comforting or encouraging him, she always took his arm when she wanted him to follow her somewhere, she always pointed the mistakes on his stances with a gentle touch, always guiding the correction of those mistakes with a light push, she always placed one hand on his cheek and the other on his chest when she would help him engage his Aura and he would have to fight hard the impulse of just leaning into her touch.
And why Jaune had the feeling that if he decided to ask for her help, she wouldn't say no?
And was it a coincidence that most of the times during the thinking before going to sleep, he didn't imagine anyone specific giving him the contact he craved for, but when he did, Pyrrha was the one with him?
Was it bad that one of his recurring daydreams was that she gave him the hug he was expecting that day instead of pushing him on the floor?
And that he was sure it would have felt really nice?
And was it weird that for some reason he was thinking about her more than usual? And that the way she smiled, and talked, and laughed, and the way she was just… simply there for him, made his tail to wag, and his heartbeat to speed up, and his face to grow hot, and his stomach to flutter and-
"Jaune!" He jumped in place, his thoughts fled from him with the sound of his name being called and quickly turned to the direction of the voice to see Pyrrha jogging to meet him on the corridor. "Sorry it took so long. There was no ice left, but luckily Weiss was in the kitchen too and she gave me a hand." She chuckled lightly and offered to him one of the two water bottles she had with her.
"Ah! Don't worry about it!" He smiled at her and took his bottle, quickly deciding to focus on the chunks of ice floating around the liquid instead of how his fingers had just brushed hers for a moment. "Thanks."
Pyrrha looked down for a second when she caught the swift movement behind her partner with the corner of her eyes. "Are you that excited for training today?"
Jaune always looked eager for learning more about combat, so his tail wagging before their sessions was not an unusual sight - it would be if it wasn't, actually - but the velocity of the movement today was certainly new.
"Oh! Ahn…" Crap, his tail! Since when it started wagging? Jaune tried to calm it down when he saw that Pyrrha's eyes were on it, and he was not surprised that the best he could do was to only slow it down a bit, instead of completely stop the movement. "Y-yeah! You could say that."
She giggled, a sound that made even harder for him to try to control the sway of his tail, and he could feel his face heating up. But it was not of embarrassment. No, it was something else.
The thoughts he was having before she arrived suddenly came back to him with outstanding clarity.
"Let's not waste any more time then." She nudged him with her shoulder, prompting him to accompany her to the stairs that led to the roof.
Jaune blinked before he was able to give her a smile. "Right!"
He walked beside her, deciding to take a sip of his ice water to see if it would help his face cool down. It didn't do much though, some water wasn't going to wash away his realization.
So, hm, a crush. On his partner of all of the people.
Oh well, liking someone was a thing he expected to happen someday. It was no big deal, right?
The fact that his tail was back to wagging faster than normal told him otherwise.
Apparently, Pyrrha took his supposed extra enthusiasm for training today as a reason to make him work extra hard.
"So, like this?" He was already out of breath, his water was long gone and this was already the fourth move they reviewed this night. Still, he made himself to keep going, trying to execute one more time a basic technique for disarming an opponent they had learned during class a few days prior.
"Almost." Pyrrha blocked his swing in the last second. "For the last movement, keep your arm a little higher or your adversary will have an open angle to block."
She walked to his side. "Like this." Placing a hand on his upper arm, she guided it to the correct position. He just nodded at her instructions, doing his best to focus, ignore her closeness and keep his treacherous tail from moving - it would totally hit her from where she was standing and mess up with his stance - all at the same time.
Pyrrha walked to the same place she was occupying before, assumed her own stance and gave him a patient smile. "Let's try it now."
She advanced and he executed the movement. The next thing he registered was the sound of her weapon clacking on the floor.
"Ha!" He didn't hold back his tail from wagging this time. "I did it!" Pyrrha's method of fixing his mistakes with contact could mess up with his focus a bit, but there was no doubting that it worked.
"Well done!" She could only laugh at his pure enthusiasm. "But don't forget to keep your guard up... Or…"
Before Jaune could even blink, she ducked into the floor, rolling out of the way of his sword, and quickly retrieved her own weapon, that was soon pointed to the back of his head. "You will create an opening for them to get back into the fight."
All of that happened in just a few seconds, he was startled for hearing her voice coming from behind him when she was just on his front not even a moment ago. His instincts told him to turn around, so he did, but he was too fast, too sloppy, his balance was gone and he ended up tripping on his own feet mid-spin.
He could only let out an "Oof!" as he fell clumsily on his side.
"Jaune!" He opened his eyes to see Pyrrha still standing at the same place, her weapon now lowered and her hand on her mouth. Her shoulders scrunched. "I'm sorry!"
He shook his bangs out of his eyes; Pyrrha's worried face was cute. A small chuckle escaped from him, she only tilted her head in confusion at her partner, and that only made her expression ten times more adorable. He started to laugh, her expression softened before she let out a few giggles of her own. He liked that sound, he liked her, and oh no what he had gotten himself into?
Jaune ran a hand through his face. He had realized that earlier, but it seemed that the crushing weight of his epiphany had only downed into him now. His laugh transformed into a groan and he rolled into his stomach.
Pyrrha's giggles died down in the same second as worry overcame her. "Jaune! Are you ok?" She hushed to his side, kneeling in front of him. "Are you hurt?"
"No." The concrete muffled his reply. "I'm just… I'm just a bit tired." It was not a lie; only these few seconds of laying on the ground made him realize how much his muscles were aching for a rest.
"I'm sorry. I should have noticed." His tail twitched at the genuine concern on her voice. "Please tell me next time when you think we should stop for the night, ok?" Sometimes she forgot that he was not used to this intensity of training as she was.
He raised his head, supporting his chin on the floor. "Ok, yeah. I'll do that." He chuckled as he looked up to her. "And you don't need to apologize."
The concern on her face melted into a soft smile. "Let's go then?"
"Oh right. That would be nice." Yet, he didn't make one single effort to get up. "Just give me a sec."
He finally decided to move after a few seconds. Jaune let out a huff as he attempted to push himself up, only to flop back into the floor when he felt a muscle on his arm complaining. "Go without me Pyrrha." He made a dramatic gesture with his other arm. "I think I'll just stay here just a bit longer."
Pyrrha rolled her eyes lightly but played along. "I can't just abandon my partner in a moment of struggle." She looked down to him, his position didn't seem very comfortable, but his tail still had started to sway steadily from side to side, he smiled with his eyes and everything about that was, admittedly, comically adorable. So she didn't even think about what she did next.
"Come on, Jaune." She placed a hand on his messy hair, ruffling it lightly. "I know you can do it!"
Jaune froze with his partner touch, had she just…?! No way! He could handle himself mostly fine the times when she touched his shoulder, arms, or even his cheek. But patting his head?! That was pushing his buttons!
For his disappointment though, just as soon as her hand came, it was going away - going away too quickly! He involuntarily let out a small whimper, and before he knew, he was using all the strength he had left to push his body up.
His head met her hand again on the halfway point of its trajectory back with a satisfying pap.
Pyrrha stopped completely when she felt Jaune's head under her hand once again. The only thing she able took notice of was how fast his tail was wagging, because before she could even fully process what happened and say anything at all, he recoiled back just as fast as he had moved forward.
His tail immediately dropped as if someone had just attached a weight to it. "A-ah! I… S-sorry! I-" He stuttered. What had he done? You can't just throw yourself at people's hands like this! "I thought y-you were… were going t-to…" He fidgeted with his hands as he found a very interesting crack on the floor next to him. "Erh… You know what? N-never mind, let's go."
But any plans he had of just bolting out of the rooftop powered by sheer embarrassment to find a nice hole to jump into, were frustrated by the simple feel of Pyrrha's touch on his hair again.
He let out a squeak before he was able to look back to her.
Pyrrha's expression was still mostly confusion, as if he had just spoken in another language to her and she was trying her best to understand. Her fingers suddenly moved, burying themselves on his strands, and he couldn't help of letting go of a sigh.
"You… like this?" Surprise and understanding crept into her tone of voice.
Jaune lowered his head to hide his face, which was rapidly growing warmer and warmer with each second, and only nodded as a reply. He was sure that if he tried to speak, no words were going to be able to pass through his dry throat.
"I… I can't believe it…" Pyrrha hesitantly moved her fingers to scratch him lightly behind his ear, the strands slipped around the leather of her gloves smoothly, without any tangled spots on the way, his already fast moving tail started to wag so hard she could hear it.
Jaune finally found his voice again only to whisper. "D-don't tell anyone… please."
"I won't." With her reply, he had the courage to look up to look at his partner in the face again, her gentle smile and her sincere expression, without any trace of mockery or revulsion, together with the feeling of her caress, were more than enough for him to finally allow himself to relax fully.
This was actually happening! So he might as well enjoy it while it lasted. His shoulders dropped with his tension leaving him, he let go of a breath that was getting painful to hold and he finally leaned into her touch.
Jaune's reactions were enough to bring the color to her own cheeks - he actually liked being head pats! It was just too adorable! It wasn't just that though, Pyrrha had already admitted to herself that she was attracted to her partner weeks ago. After how insufferable the days that they weren't talking to each other were, and after how happy she had been when it was finally over, it was hard to deny how he occupied her thoughts more than she would be willing to admit.
The moment she noticed he treated her like a normal person, not thinking as if she was above other people because of her accomplishments, he had captured her attention. And after becoming partners with him, her interest had only grown.
She could say that he was more than meets the eye. When she had unlocked his Aura during Initiation, she felt how pure his soul was, she felt the qualities of a great leader and of a great friend, and she felt the enormous potential she knew he had, even if he didn't think that of himself.
Pyrrha honestly believed she couldn't have asked for a better partner, and soon she started noticing more things about him.
She noticed how he smiled when he was with his friends, how his tail wagged cutely when he was happy or excited, how he fumbled with his hands and his tail twitched when he was nervous, how determination crossed his face when he was fronted by a challenge, how his eyes shined when he was able to perform a move right on their training, and she had noticed that night on the rooftop when he apologized to her how much he made her heart flutter.
So discovering this new side of him - this new and adorable side - seeing how he trusted her with it, and how he was reacting to her touch, all of that only made heart do some flips on her chest.
Her hand moved to the back of his head, Jaune let out a content hum. She had never seen him so relaxed before, especially after the incident at Forever Falls.
Pyrrha had a hunch that there was something bothering her partner for the past few days; he seemed to be having problem sleeping by the way he was always tossing and turning on his bed lately, and he sometimes suddenly went very quiet, staring out to space with his tail shuddering from time to time.
All of that made her worry. He was back to talking with all of his friends, and he was doing way better at class, so she had no idea of what could be upsetting him.
So seeing how happy he looked right now gave her the courage to ask. "I noticed you seemed a little… stressed lately…" Pyrrha's quiet voice prompted Jaune to look up to her again. "Did something happen?"
Jaune was a little taken aback by his partner question; she had noticed, of course she had. However, the moment he tried to gather words to explain to her why he was acting that way, he found out that he actually didn't know how he was supposed to do that.
He had been so against asking for help with this problem of his that he hadn't even stopped to think how he would tell someone about it.
"No, nothing happened." He offered her a small smile, trying to ease her worry. "I'm just…" What could he say? Just spill that he was craving affection? No way!
"I'm just… I think I'm just a bit homesick lately."
Close enough.
"Oh! I'm sorry..." Pyrrha realized that was something she couldn't exactly help Jaune with.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He smiled at her again, but she could only notice how his tail had slowed down after his reply.
Her hand automatically moved back to behind his ear, he tilted his head slightly to give her a better angle and his tail immediately sped up again.
A tiny chuckle escaped from her lips. Taking his behavior into consideration, maybe there was something she could do. "So, hm... Does… Does this help?"
"Y-yeah. It does." He beamed at her. More than you could ever imagine.
As much as Jaune wanted to just stay at the rooftop for the rest of the night, just enjoying Pyrrha fingers combing through his hair, after days of just having to imagine how that would feel, he had to admit to himself that that was just not possible.
It was getting late, they were already supposed to be back to their room by this hour, they had class tomorrow morning and even if Pyrrha seemed willing to help, he didn't want to make her waste the rest of her night.
And she already helped him in so many other ways, he couldn't help but feel like he was being a drag and asking for too much.
"Thanks, Pyrrha." He almost gave up of suggesting that they leave when he looked at her, with her soft smile and her soothing touch, he almost believed that she wouldn't mind staying with him on this roof for a little longer. Almost… "I'm feeling much better now."
"I'm glad." Pyrrha moved her hand to the top of his hair, ruffling it one last time before retrieving her hand.
Jaune let out a laugh when his bangs fell into his eyes when Pyrrha messed with his hair, then the contact was gone, and even if he didn't want it to end, he was actually feeling happy.
What had he done to deserve a friend like her?
"Let's go then? Can you stand up this time?" Pyrrha got up and offered him a hand.
"I think I can manage it." He smiled at her and took her hand, and soon the rooftop was empty again.
That night, Jaune fell asleep almost at the same second his body touched the bed, drifting lightly into the first undisturbed night of sleep he had in ages. The only movement coming from his corner of the room was one or two faint wags of his tail in response to his happy dreams.
I had been two whole days since that last training session on the rooftop.
Neither of them had brought up what had happened that night. Still, it was undeniable how only some simple head pats improved Jaune's mood. He actually felt lighter, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was a possibility of that happening again.
"You could maybe just ask…"
"No! Focus! This is not the time for this. Stop thinking about it, it was probably a one-time thing."
Oh, who was he trying to fool? As much as he told himself to clear his mind, it was getting pretty clear how close to impossible that was.
After all, the realization of his crush on his partner together with the memory of her fingers going through his hair meant Pyrrha was on his mind nearly one hundred percent of the time.
And yeah, he had to admit that his partner was a little bit - very - out of his league. The idea of her seeing him as more than a partner and friend was quite... amusing and unbelievable overall.
So he did his best to suppress any thoughts about it as fast as he could. "It's just a crush. You're just infatuated with her because she's nice and beautiful and kind and has a cute laugh and helps you with stuff and gave you head pats once and-"
"Stop it!"
So, surprisingly, doing that turned out to be easier said than done. And it certainly didn't help either that during the day they were in the same room nearly one hundred percent of the time.
"Jaune? Do you want to take a break?" Pyrrha's voice snapped him out of his moment of distraction - a moment he was totally not supposed to be having because he was in the middle of training.
"Hm, yeah! Can we?" He had to admit that he was not making a lot of progress that night, so maybe a break was what he needed.
"Of course!" Pyrrha put her weapons away before sitting on the floor of the rooftop, legs dangling from the edge. He always found incredible how she never had displayed any fear of falling.
Jaune sat beside her, staring at the flickering lights of the Beacon tower and allowing the faint breeze to cool him off. He had the hope that filling his mind with combat techniques and battle strategies would distract him out of his distraction. But admittedly, he had no idea of where this hope had come from and that it was kind of ridiculous.
Had he forgotten with who he trained with? Pyrrha's method of teaching was still the same - kind words, sweet smiles and light touches - and those things never failed to make his heart skip a beat.
He let go of a breath, his face felt hot, he hoped that it wasn't too noticeable.
"Jaune, are you feeling ok?" Pyrrha couldn't help but to notice how her partner seemed the embodiment of frustration; a loud sigh, a furrowed brow and a tail that was thumping against the ground apprehensively from time to time.
"Yeah. I- I just feel a little out of my game today, that's all." He chuckled lightly, motioning his head to where he had left his sword and shield to indicate what he meant.
"Do you want to stop for the night?" He glanced at her direction as she made her question, but quickly looked away from her worried expression; deciding to stare instead at the lampposts that dotted the courtyard down below, feeling his face heating up again.
"Nah, just need this break and we can get back to it."
"If you say so." She had to smile at how he insisted in keep going despite a few mistakes. Still, she wasn't completely convinced he was totally fine, his tail was still twitching and he seemed lost in thought.
"Hey..." She scooted a bit closer to him, bumping her arm on his to capture his attention, and he wasn't able to avoid glancing at her direction this time.
"Don't worry too much about it. We have time and can go over that last move again. Or if you want, we can move on to something new and leave this to another day." She placed a hand on his shoulder, he froze. "Ok?"
"Ahn…" Jaune blinked, taking notice of how close she had gotten - her eyes had more different shades of green than he remembered. "R-right, ok."
He did his best to stay calm, but he was really screaming on the inside. Why she had to be so touchy? Why she had to be so nice? Why she- his tail was wagging again wasn't it?
Pyrrha couldn't hold a laugh from escaping when she saw how Jaune's tail had sped up the moment she touched his shoulder. "Or is there something else on your mind?"
"N-no! It's… it's nothing." He turned his head to the side, hiding the blush he knew it was coming.
"Are you sure?" He only mumbled an unintelligible answer. He could hear the grin on her tone of voice and that didn't contribute at all on his now constant effort to stop his tail from moving.
"Well, ok then." She giggled at his muttered reply and took her hand away from his shoulder.
His tail dropped at the same second her contact was gone and Jaune had to bit his tongue to prevent a complaint from escaping. He hadn't wanted it to go away!
"Ah- I'm fine. It's just..." Jaune made vague gestures with his hands. His plan was just to reassure her that there was nothing wrong once again, but every part of him kept screaming at him for him to change his mind – Just ask! Would be that bad if you just tried? "I-I mean… Fine. There is a thing… I- Could you maybe…" Ok, deep breath; the worst that could happen was a simple no to a simple question. He could do this!
"L-last training we had…" He chanced a glance at her direction again, just to see Pyrrha waiting patiently for him to stop fumbling with his words and finish what he wanted to say. Though the tiny curl of her lips told him that she already knew what this was all about. "Could you maybe… do that again?"
His shoulders scrunched and he decided to stare down at the lampposts once again, he was pretty sure his whole face was red. "I mean, if... if you don't mind, that's it. And o-only if you want to. And if it's not too much to ask. And it's ok if you say n-"
His unbridled rambling came to a sharp halt when he felt Pyrrha's hand on the back of his head.
Jaune gasped, her fingers moved in a light scratch, burying her fingertips on his strands, sending a shock wave from the top of his spine to the bottom of his stomach.
"Do this?" A smirk found its way to her face.
His tail picked up a frenetic pace. "Hm, y-yes."
Pyrrha could only giggle softly at her partner's flustered expression and rapid wags.
"Sorry, I know this is kind of a weird thing to ask for." He let out a chuckle and closed his eyes to try to calm himself down. And that wasn't going to be very hard, Pyrrha's caress was even better than he remembered from that other night; gentle and soothing - exactly what he needed.
"It's not weird." She reassured him. It was a bit unexpected and definitely cute, but she didn't think it was weird. Pyrrha realized that if a faunus like Jaune would have any tendencies, this one really fit him well. "And I don't really mind."
His eyes snapped open and he turned his head to her direction. "Really?"
Pyrrha just nodded. It was the only thing she had managed to do when he tilted his head adorably to the side, letting out a content sigh after she moved her hand to scratch behind his ear. She thanked the fact that it was a somewhat of a chilly night because if it wasn't for that, she was sure her face would be nearly on fire.
She liked the feel of her fingers going through his hair, she liked watching his reactions to her touch, she liked seeing how something as simple as some head pats made him so happy.
"And… Well, if you want me to do this…" Pyrrha slid her fingers to the top of his head, ruffling his mess of blonde hair. "You can just ask."
"Really?!" He looked at her through his bangs, not able to hide the surprise on his voice, and his tail perked up.
Again, Pyrrha just nodded. It was the only thing she managed to do after seeing the pure joy overcome her partner's face after her offer.
She would do this, all right. That is, if she could contain the way her heart almost leaped out of her chest, her stomach fluttered and her face warmed up by being so close to him, and feeling him relaxing against her hand, and seeing his cute smiles, and adorable wags of his tail and oh no what she had gotten herself into?
Turned out Jaune didn't even need to ask.
Now every time they had a break during their training he would just sit by her side, like they always did before, but now Pyrrha would scoot closer or pat the ground for her partner to do the same, and she would gladly bury her fingers on his strands.
Her touch was always a bit hesitant at first; he always froze a bit the second her hand came in contact with his head. But soon her fingers moved with purpose and she was scratching behind his ears, or sliding to his nape or messing the top of his head, and he managed to mumble a flustered thank you before relaxing and letting his tail wag as it pleased. Then they would start talking about their day or just random things, or just enjoy each other's company in silence and everything would fall into place and feel just… right.
Sometimes, he did ask her if she really didn't mind doing this, and Pyrrha would always do her best to reaffirm to him that, yes, she didn't, and her words came always with a beautiful smile and a reassuring scratch and he believed it was almost too good to be true.
Still, he felt like he owed her - a lot. She was so good to him - too good for him; it was uncountable how many times she had helped him only on those few months of knowing each other. Combat, classes, grades, not dying at Initiation, just simply believing in him and now this.
Jaune had his eyes closed when she tugged light at the strands of his nape, his tail was moving so fast it pierced the air with noise, Pyrrha always let out an adorable giggle at the sound and that would only make it wag even faster.
It was almost impossible to control it though. After all the brief touches Pyrrha always gave to him, having her fingers going through his hair fully felt absolutely amazing! Every stroke up his scalp sent the most delicious shivers down his back, he had never imagined that a simple scratch behind his ears could feel so satisfying, he had to bite his tongue to prevent gasps from escaping when she tickled the back of his neck and he would have to fight even harder the strange urge to just spread onto her lap, or just throw himself at her arms and shower her with kisses like a happy puppy.
But Jaune wasn't going to do that. So he just converted all this excitement that came with her touch to unrestrained wags of his tail.
And the effect her caress had on him lingered for days. His mood had improved drastically, he slept like a rock, there was no more annoying thoughts or unanswered questions nagging him before falling asleep, he felt lighter and well rested during the day, and that caused him to do way better at his classes.
And he had decided. He was going to find a way to repay her one day. Just saying thank you didn't feel like it was enough - it had never been. But what a guy like him could do for a girl who already had everything?
He didn't get an answer to his question. So, for now, he realized that the best he could do was to do his best.
Pyrrha deserved the most amazing partner that could ever exist, Jaune was clearly far from that and he believed he was never going to get there, but at least he could be better, he could improve, and those past months were no better proof.
So he took his classes extra seriously. No more dozing off at Oobleck's class, he found out that trying to take notes at the same time as listening to the teacher was not a good idea, so he gave one hundred percent of his attention to the lecture and it was actually easy to keep up with after getting used to the rhythm.
Reading the chapter in the book about what Port was supposed to be teaching while he bragged about his glorious deeds was actually quite productive.
And thanks to Pyrrha's guidance, he was in a state of constant improvement at combat classes. Even Goodwitch had quickly commented how better he was doing one day; and if the teacher had said so, he had no reason not to believe it.
Now Jaune gave his everything and more at their training sessions, taking every single one of Pyrrha's advice by heart. And deep down - very deep - he kinda hoped that if he worked himself more during their lessons they would tire out faster and break time would come earlier, and that was seriously the highlight of his day.
That plan kind of backfired though. First, because Pyrrha wouldn't let him overwork himself too much, and second because with all of his training, his endurance actually improved. He only noticed that when one day Pyrrha's Scroll beeped with messages from Nora, telling them that she and Ren were heading to the kitchen in a few minutes to prepare for their pancake night, and they hadn't had any breaks for the whole time.
"Oh? Already?" He was doing so well with his training in this particular day - he hadn't fallen on his butt not even once! - he seriously hadn't even noticed the hours passing by. "Guess... we should head down then." Jaune had tried to refrain from letting his disappointment to leak into his tone of voice, but he had failed, because Pyrrha noticed immediately.
She fidgeted with her Scroll, before finally typing a quick reply to Nora. He clearly didn't want to leave now, and admittedly, neither did she.
"She said they were going in a few minutes." She put away her phone. "And you know what that means coming from Nora..."
Jaune perked up, watching her walk to the edge of the rooftop instead of to the door to leave.
"They haven't even left the room yet, still have to go down to the kitchen and prepare everything…" Pyrrha continued as she sat on her usual place on the floor. The moment he noticed where she was going with this, his tail was quick to give away his newfound enthusiasm.
Turning her head back to him, she gave him a smile. "I think we still have a bit of time left."
"I- really?"
Pyrrha just patted the floor next to her, and he didn't even need to be told twice.
Jaune plopped by her side, with a smile just full of the most genuine happiness that made her cheeks flush instantly. There was barely any distance between them - if she had the guts, she could place her hand over his with just a small movement. She didn't though. Pyrrha just raised it to slip her fingertips into his smooth hair, as she always did.
She enjoyed these moments as much as he did, after all. Just like their training sessions, these breaks were something that it was just… theirs. It was a moment her mind finally was able to be clear from combat techniques, a moment where there were no teachers watching her every move, expecting nothing but perfection, a moment without those people who only saw her as the star student of their class or the champion of tournaments, or the girl on the cereal box.
It was a moment that she could just relax and be herself - just be an ordinary girl who happened to have a helpless crush on her partner, a partner who sometimes was too adorable for his own good.
Jaune let out a content sigh the moment her fingers buried into his hair, tilting his head to the side to give better access for her scratches, his closeness meant that sometimes the long fur on his tail would brush lightly against her back as it moved from side to side.
The reflected light of the moon made his hair to resemble threads of gold, his eyes were half-lidded, focused on the green lights of the Beacon tower ahead, giving them a beautiful ocean shade of blue, a satisfied smile was plastered on his face. He also had a light, cute flush on his cheeks, she always wondered if it was just because they had just finished training, or because the situation was still a little embarrassing to him, or maybe... if there was something else.
His angled head gave her sometimes a nice view of his smooth neck and sharp jaw, and she would be filled with the sudden urge to just get closer and make a trail of soft kisses through his skin, wondering if he would like that, and how fast his tail would wag if he did.
Pyrrha blinked, she was staring again, wasn't she? How much time had passed already? They probably should head down, Ren and Nora should be waiting for them at the kitchen by now.
So turning her face forward so she could try to hide her blush, that probably was quite noticeable taking into consideration the direction her thoughts had taken, she started. "I think it's time for us to go."
Jaune pressed his head against her hand one last time. "Yeah, I'm actually a bit hungry." A grumble came from his stomach. "Ok, fine. Really hungry."
She laughed, glancing back to him, even with his agreement neither of them made a motion to get up. "With the way you were going all or nothing today I guess you would be."
"It's because I have an amazing teacher, you see." His tail thumped playfully into the floor as he bumped her shoulder. "She deserves a dedicated student."
"And she couldn't ask for a better one." Pyrrha looked down to her swaying feet when she felt her light blush spreading around her face. "If you keep up like this, I will run out of things to teach you pretty soon."
"I doubt it." Jaune let out an amused laugh. "But, hm…" He suddenly went very quiet. "Do you… Do you really think… that there will be a day we won't need to come up here anymore?"
"I…" She looked up again, she hadn't even realized those implications on her words. "I mean, yes…"
His tail dropped immediately, he had never considered that there would be a time that classes could end for the day and he wouldn't have their training sessions to expect for, but before her reply could sink in fully, she continued. "We won't be living here anymore after we graduate after all."
"Ah!" The second he realized what she meant, his smile came back to his face and his tail picked up the pace again. "Pyrrha! For one second-" He laughed into his hands. "For one second I almost believed we would really stop one day."
Pyrrha laughed with him, a melodious sound that never failed to wake up the butterflies in his stomach. "We don't have to stop." She looked ahead, the fractured moonlight allowing barely the discernment between the buildings; the tower, the classrooms, the arena, the ballroom… just a few months ago she was at that exact place, eyeing curiously a faunus boy who was wondering where he would find a nice and quirky girl to talk to, but it already felt like a lifetime. "Even if one day I run out of things I can teach you… we can - and should - still practice what we already know and what we will be learning at class, right?"
"Right..." His reply came out softer than he had intended, but that was all that he had managed after he realized that her words meant that he could always count on her.
Jaune didn't even think about what he did next. And if someone asked him why he would have no clear answer. Maybe it was because he was feeling so happy, that he had to demonstrate that somehow.
He just moved his head forward by a fraction, since they were already so close, touched his forehead to her temple and his nose to her cheek, nuzzling her lightly. "Thanks, Pyrrha."
Her loud gasp and the way she shuddered under his touch were like a wake-up slap.
He abruptly jerked away at the same split of a second. "P-Pyrrha! D-dust, I'm so sorry!" He covered his face with his hands unable to look at her direction again, feeling the heat emanating from it. "I just… I- sorry, this is something-" Jaune uncovered his face when he noticed that his hands muffled all his words, so now they were gesticulating wildly as he rambled. "This… this is just something my mom does to us… she does that to me and my sisters, and I also do to her and my sisters sometimes, it's like… like a family thing I'm so sorry if it's weird I shouldn't hav-"
Jaune was still babbling his explanation when Pyrrha finally found out she still could move. Her mind had gone blank, the sound of her quickened heartbeat almost muffled the sound of his voice, but thankfully, the small part of rationality that had survived connected the dots for her.
"Jaune…" She called as calmly as she could, eyes staring fixedly at the horizon, and that was enough for him to stop his frenetic talking. "It's alright, I understand what happened."
"Y-you d-do?" He stuttered, glancing quickly at her direction before averting his reddening face to the side again.
Pyrrha nodded slowly. "That day… you told me you were homesick." She finally was able to look at her partner again. "Does… does getting pets reminds you of home?"
Jaune found himself nodding; it wasn't a lie after all.
"And that…" She avoided his eyes for a second; his touch still tingled warmly on her burning skin. "Is something you do to the people at your home… so you reacted to something familiar to you… with a familiar action."
"I… Y-yeah, that makes… makes sense." He agreed; that was an explanation he was willing to roll with.
Pyrrha nodded, it did make sense. There were a few seconds of heavy silence before she decided to speak up. "So, hm, let's go then?"
Jaune nodded again and she was already up. He jumped in place when he saw her hand stretched to him, offering the usual help for him to get up.
As always, he took it, pushing his body up with only one motion. Yet, he found out that he still able to look at her in the face, she had reacted so calmly… was she mad at him?
He muttered one more quick "Sorry" before he could even think more about it.
"Jaune…" Pyrrha squeezed his hand, and he finally looked at her. "It's all right, really."
She gave him a small smile to reassure him, and he returned, but the way his tail was unmovable between his legs told her that he was still a bit uneasy.
Her hand had let go of his almost without her noticing, finding the way to his hair out of habit. She scratched behind his ear, and as always, his tail was unable to keep quiet.
She giggled at his reaction and he had to let out a small laugh of his own. He relaxed under her touch, leaning into her palm as a real smile found its way to his face, and soon the unbearable awkwardness was gone.
"Don't worry too much about it. It was… it was nice." She admitted, glancing to the floor for a few seconds. And before he could say anything she continued. "C'mon, you did great today and we deserve some pancakes." She ruffled the back of his head lightly - she realized that this was only the second time she petted him while they were face to face, the very first being the other one, it would be so easy to just slip her hand to the back of his neck and pull him closer towards her.
But she didn't. She just removed her hand and headed to the exit.
Jaune followed her close behind. "I hope there's still some syrup this time."
She let out a chuckle, but her smile faltered for a second as soon as they reached the dark staircase.
"I also do to my sisters sometimes. It's a family thing." His words suddenly came crawling back up to her thoughts.
Should she be happy because he considered her close enough to extend to her a gesture of affection reserved only to his family? Or could that mean he only saw her as a sister?
She seriously hoped that the last option wasn't the case.
A have some theories why this thing turned out so long… The first is that I wanted to write something for this AU for almost half a year, so I had a lot of time to accumulate a bunch of cute scenarios in my head and didn't want to let any of them out.
The second is the true, simple fact that writing without being restricted to just one character POV is too much power! You can explore freely both of their feelings?! wACK!
I'm probably not messing with this great force again for a while tho, and I hope the narrative isn't confusing because of it.