Fresh air beat fresh juice. Jaune dragged Pyrrha past the walls for what a soul really needs. Atlas had regular patrols along the outskirts and eyes in the sky. Safety wasn't a concern, these days; Sanity was a concern.
Pyrrha kept her eyes low. She walked with her off-hand gripping the one she'd struck Jaune with. She felt the pain through that whole side of her body. He was speaking to her, and his every word danced on her skin and ached inside of her.
"I'll just assume you're apologizing and forgive you. No harm, no foul. I mean, you totally could have killed me there, but you also gave me my aura, which saved me, which is how I survived, so it really evens out."
At some point Jaune realized his mouth was running, and he ran it over the cotton candy before it ran him over a cliff. His eyes darted nervously to Pyrrha. She kept her head low. Tears dripped on the seashore.
She looked away from him, to the sight of Vale high on the cliffs, to the Schnee company freighters as mighty as the ocean itself, to the vast and uncaring sky filled with a universe that was scooting her along like dust- like garbage.
"I don't think this walk is helping," she sniffled.
She stooped to the ground and covered her face. Sand shifted as her heels splayed, and she sat on the beach to sniffle. Farther up on land, two soldiers stopped to watch. Jaune ignored them.
"Look, Pyrrha, I know-"
"-Why are you still talking to me?"
The question was not a dismissal. She had sobbed it. She felt unworthy, and somehow Jaune was still following her around like a lost puppy. She saw in his eyes that he didn't have an answer. His one mystical quality was perseverance. Cardin had called it stupidity, but if it was, it was the kind that went hand-in-hand with bravery.
"Because you're my teammate," he lied.
She laughed without joy. All motions had lost their luster in the context of her imminent death. She had decided long ago to be a good person, and she was learning that there was no end to the sacrifices demanded of her. She had to make a choice: and all of her options would end her identity.
She felt Jaune's hand on hers. It was a repeat of the gesture that had made her gasp hours ago. Now, she only stared at it. She had ruined any chance at requiting that secret wish.
"You're a liar," she sniffled.
"I who'sawhatnow?"
"You're lying. You wouldn't do this for Ren or Nora," she hoped.
"But Ren and Nora have Ren and Nora. Look, the point is-"
"The point is that you're still trying to help me, Jaune. I want you to answer this. This is all that matters to me right now. Why are you still here?"
And for once, she wanted the answer to be that she was special. She saw again that he didn't have an answer.
"Confidence," he admitted.
Now it was Pyrrha's turn to be confused.
"Jaune... Confidence?"
"Yeah," he blushed.
"No," she corrected, "Jaune, you are brave, but confidence is not what makes you get up in the morning."
"I know. What I mean is... I'm faking it."
Pyrrha laughed before he could explain.
"Jaune, you have to stop taking your father's advice. It's ridiculous."
"I didn't learn it from him," Jaune mumbled.
"Then who-?" and she realized as she asked. She remembered the night on the rooftop when she gave him her most powerful secret.
"One of the laws of combat is: When both combatants think they are about to lose, they are both correct. Never think negatively! And never let your opponent think you're thinking negatively. That might embolden them."
Jaune had scratched his head and surmised, "So... Fake it 'till you make it?"
She had sighed then. She sighed now.
"I learned it from you," Jaune nodded, "and let's be honest. You aren't confident right now. You haven't been for a long time. I'm sorry it took me so long to notice."
"Don't be."
She sniffed, then sobbed, "you're the only one who's noticed."
He let her cry. The soldiers on land grew bored and carried on with their patrol. The solitude emboldened Jaune in earnest.
"Pyrrha."
He held her hand up. It tingled through her arm to her heart, and the whole of those felt like a waking limb. She met his eyes.
"The truth is..." he matched his gaze to her.
She was witnessing the dumb bravery that had she envied in him.
"I want to be there for you. I want to be for you what you have been for me this semester. And by that, I mean that you are the person who has believed in me no matter what. You have been... Everything, to me. And I want you to know that I'm here to support you no matter what you're going through, no matter what you think you've done or have to do. Pyrrha, I will-"
She kissed him. Her lunge knocked him onto his back, and her tongue sought his with a passion she had never shared. Her body wrapped around his, and she shivered her tears free as their lips parted.
Their eyes stayed together, hers plaintive, his wide with surprise.
"Wait," Jaune realized, "Do you like me?"
Pyrrha nodded.
"Like, like me, like me?"
She nodded.
Jaune slapped his head.
"I am such a hopeless idiot," he sighed.
Through tears, she smiled back.
"We both are, Jaune. We both are."
A/N: Thank you for reading. I'm taking requests. Pick two characters and I will ship them. You want a specific situation? I'll do it. I'll update regardless.