I wasn't so sure how these more unique drabble-style/themed fics go, so I'll just wing it based on the ones I've read and liked before. So. It's my first time doing something like this, so please tell me if I did anything wrong by the Fanfic Handbook. Anyways, I became an Arkos fan recently, so enjoy!
Sights
They were some of the only two shield users in this year's batch to Beacon. By a weird coincidence they ended up in the same team too. This statistic didn't escape Jaune, and he wondered if this similarity contributed to the bonding between him and his teammate Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha," Jaune asked one day when they were alone in their dorm studying. "Did you stick with me in the forest because I used a shield too? Because we had the same fighting style?"
"Oh, no, Jaune," replied Pyrrha, stopping from flipping through some pages to focus her full attention to him. "I only found out afterward, while we were fighting."
"Then, why...?"
Pyrrha laughed. "Will it be so big of a surprise if I just said it was just because of you?"
"What? Huh?" said Jaune, clamming up. "Then what was it...? 'Cause I'm... you know - me!"
"And what's so wrong with that?" she just said, smiling, before returning to her work, satisfied.
Jaune just looked at his own unfinished homework, in puzzlement. He whispered to himself in an incredulous tone.
"Everything...?"
Names
After Ruby excitedly recounted her team's story of the rematch with Roman and the stolen Paladin, Jaune gathered his own team together for a 'strategy meeting' as well.
"Tag team attacks?" noted Pyrrha, intrigued.
"But why the funny names...?" asked Ren, not buying it.
"Because names are cool!" said Nora, flexing her biceps for no good reason. "Ooh, ooh! Name me and Ren's as Ren... Nora... Ren - Renora!"
"Yeah, that's not bad!" said Jaune, pumped up. "Not as fancy as team RWBY's but it gets the job done!"
"Then what do you name me and Jaune's, Nora?" Pyrrha said, landing a smack on Jaune's arm and getting oddly close - by Jaune's standards anyway.
"Oh, um, um..." said Nora, her expression showing deeper concentration than the two thought possible, but Ren knew she only exhibited it when pondering the more inane matters of life. She snapped her fingers in an 'Eureka!' moment.
"Aha! ARKOS!"
"Yeah, not bad..." said Jaune. He felt embarrassed for some reason.
...
Later that night, it took much more time to come up with the other combo attacks.
Nurse
When team JNPR went out to the Emerald Forest for training, Jaune got hurt the most - being covered in bruises, cuts, and even a sprained ankle. The others fared a good amount better, but Nora had bruised her head pretty hard. Pyrrha was worried they might be held behind and night would fall before they could arrive at Beacon - when the Grimm were more vicious, and had a better advantage.
However, Jaune managed to keep up faster and faster as they went on, and by the time they reached Beacon right when the sun set, he was completely recovered - with only a nagging sensation on his ankle.
"Amazing..." Pyrrha mused, trying to bandage Nora's head while she was attempting to move her head to eat some late-night sandwiches. "Your power of Aura is truly remarkable, Jaune."
Jaune just laughed shyly as he sat on his bedside, watching Pyrrha work while he massaged his ankle. Ren was repeatedly advised by Pyrrha not to strain himself until she got to him, so instead of studying like he wanted to, he had to settle with lazily listening to music on his Scroll on repeat; and given that his playlist consisted of about thirty songs - only three of which are his while the twenty-seven were Nora's that she wanted him to transfer during that one time she lost her Scroll - and Ren was very bored indeed.
However, Pyrrha herself felt a little disappointed. Usually after training or strenuous work, she patched the team up of any injuries that they didn't want to bother Beacon's own nursing staff with. This meant herself, Nora, and even Ren, despite his objections.
But it would seem now... not Jaune...
Out
"So, Pyrrha, you know, uh, I was thinking, after this... maybe we could go grab a bite to eat? And, uh, y'know, I-I-I got two tickets to that new Spruce Willis movie if you wanna make the trip to Vale. I hear it's awesome! And... then maybe after that we could... study, together?
"I mean, you're smart and I'm, uh... you know.
"Pyrrha? Did you hear me?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" was what Pyrrha whispered to herself, but everything Jaune said just now was directed toward her friend in team RWBY, Weiss. He was trying to ask her out during one of Professor Port's long anecdotes.
After Jaune failed to woo Weiss and his head met the desk in dismay, Pyrrha just sighed to herself at the sight, sitting opposite him at a different seat.
I just would have enjoyed an outing like that! she thought to herself. I don't go to those sort of things often, so I would have enjoyed going on an outing with Jaune...
Pyrrha tried emphasising "on an outing" in her head, rather than "with Jaune".
She knew better than to believe that, but for now... she did.
Game
"So, how does this game work, again?" asked Pyrrha. Jaune got Ruby to lend him her board game and give him the basics and rules, and he laid it on the floor during a boring, homework-less night.
"It goes like this..." began Jaune.
"Wait. Just so you know," Ren muttered. "I have a small grudge on this game because of its association to the library."
A second of silence.
"Okay, go on." Ren gave them the go ahead. "I never said I wasn't playing."
Ten minutes later and Ren was barely struggling with his meager Vacuo troops, Nora nearly drained all of Mantle's resources trying to take on both Ren and Jaune at once, and the Jaune-Pyrrha alliance seemed set on winning the game by a landslide.
"I'm done." Ren threw up his hands. "I can't do this."
"You can't do that, Ren!" Nora took him by the shoulders and shook him like crazy. She then went close to his ear and whispered. With Nora, though, her whispers were more like loud hissing. "Listen - if you join forces with me, I'll forgive you of your treachery and you may live just yet."
"You attacked me!" said Ren, exhausted. He pointed to the allied pair, then to Nora. "Heck, you know what - I'm joining their alliance to help take you down, then I'm surrendering once they're done with you. Let's get this over with."
"REN!" Nora suddenly screamed and made loud wailing sobs, clinging to him. "I can't believe you would do this to me...! Uhuhuugh...!"
Five more minutes passed according to Ren's proposal, and Jaune and Pyrrha were the last two on the map, with Nora only having harmless production units left.
"Good game, everyone!" Jaune clapped his hands once, satisfied. "Mantle - Vacuo has already cut their losses and join us, so..." He shrugged.
"You can still choose to join us," Pyrrha smiled, finishing Jaune's sentence. "And not leave Mantle a smoking ruin."
"NEVER!" Nora slammed the floor, toppling some of the game pieces. "I'll die with my honour intact!"
"Okay then, don't say we weren't fair." Jaune laughed. He and Pyrrha took Nora - and Mantle - out of the game with a turn each. Jaune sent his ground troops first in full force, like ants over food, while Pyrrha backed him up with her utterly huge Vale air fleet.
"Hey, that's overkill!" yelled Nora. "They were poor, defenseless workers! Boo, boooo!" Nora jeered as the pair swept the board completely clean.
"We won!" Jaune said in victory. Ren gave a slow clap, slightly hindered by Nora still apparently crying into his chest as the last of her gatherers disappeared into the enemy scoresheet. Jaune reached out a hand to Pyrrha. "We did it! Congrats, Pyr-"
Pyrrha stopped him by raising her palm. "Not so fast, Jaune. The game rules say only one Kingdom can be left standing."
"Huh?" said Jaune. "Oh! Don't worry, Ruby said that the Kingdom with the most points-"
"Yes," she nodded in affirmation. "And we're currently in a draw. This could only go one way."
"Pyrrha wait, heh... heheh," said Jaune, his nervousness showing in his laugh. "Wait. We can divide Remnant between us! Heck, take 70%! Just..." He waved his hands toward his numerous pieces and great and prosperous Kingdom, mournful. "Everything I built...!"
"I'm sorry, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled a mischievous smile. "All's fair. And since my turn is still not over..."
Ren sat back and watched with a smile, shaking his head. Nora recovered from her melodrama quickly and watched with Ren, with a look on her face that clearly showed she was insanely relishing the moment.
"Pyrrha NO-"
Pyrrha cleared her throat, interrupting Jaune.
"My airfleet deploys their seismic Demolisher bombs, then pull down and attack. Since your troops are entirely anti-tank to counter Nora just now, they are completely defenseless."
Ren clapped again, much more sincerely this time. Nora pointed at Jaune and laughed. Jaune could do nothing but cover his head under his hands and be pointed and laughed at.
Even in glorious victory and poetic subterfuge, Pyrrha still laid a comforting hand on Jaune's back as he mulled over his defeat. Perhaps she felt a little guilty, despite the massive enjoyment.
Schadenfreude didn't suit Pyrrha well, as she confirmed that night. Next time, she'll play nicer - if Jaune would still trust her after this.
Dance
Jaune's first time dancing with a girl and Pyrrha's first time dancing with a guy started with Jaune pointing out he didn't know how to dance - in anticipation of Beacon's prom night.
"For Weiss, am I right?" said Pyrrha in a knowing tone and smiling, trying to embarrass her leader.
"R-Right..." Jaune said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not sure what I should do..."
"Then I'll help you!" Pyrrha immediately stood up from her seat. "Come here. We will practice right now!"
"Huh?!"
Pyrrha was quick to guide Jaune's hand to her upper waist, and she grabbed his hand and soon rested her other hand on his shoulder. While she was very, very forward, she was never forceful the whole time - and Jaune was just as mesmerised by her amazing gentleness and grace as he was by her quickness to take the initiative.
Pyrrha's inherent sense of coordination meant she got it down pretty quickly, despite it being her first proper dance, but Jaune kept slipping and stepping on her toes and was always apologising every second his hand slipped a little lower down on her waist by just a few centimetres.
He was too scared to make eye contact, but every time he did, all he saw were two bright green eyes, looking at him like he was the only thing in the world worth looking at - something he's never had the privilege of feeling before.
And then she told him to put both arms around her back, and she circled his neck with her own arms, they took a few steps closer to each other, and that feeling intensified by tenfold.
He had no choice but to look at her straight in the eyes. Her perfect, green, deep, perfect, alluring, magnetising, perfect, eyes...
Jaune entire thought process the whole time went along the lines of What did I do to ever deserve this? What did I do to ever deserve this? WHAT DID I DO TO EVER DESERVE THIS?!
The dance was ever so slow, and the moments were ever so long... but Jaune still wanted the dance slower, wanted the moments longer. He still felt the dance was too fast to take everything in - the moments too few to savour every conscious, waking moment.
"Hey, Pyrrha...?" said Jaune, not looking at her at first.
"Yes, Jaune?" she said, smiling.
"I..." Jaune looked into Pyrrha's eyes, as deeply as he possibly could. He wanted to stay like this all night, but he knew... he knew he had no right to. But maybe... maybe just this once... "...Nothing. Let's... keep practicing."
He kept his gaze, and she averted her eyes for just a moment, a light blush painting her cheeks. "If you say so, Jaune."
"Right..." Jaune felt a little brave, brave enough to tighten his hold around her, but nothing more. After that, he let go, and soon Pyrrha did too.
They decided to just call it a night. None of them washed up, none of them bothered to change into their pyjamas.
Jaune made a conclusion that night, after they were both in their respective beds. He had plenty of time to think, because he couldn't sleep all night - knowing he was in the same room as the first girl he danced with. When Nora and Ren came back and found them both still awake, they even thought he had come down with something.
Just focus on Weiss, he thought to himself - all while he wrapped himself under the sheets till he couldn't possibly see anything. Couldn't possibly see her. Weiss may keep shooting me down, but I have better chances with her than with Pyrrha.
To Jaune, he felt braver to let himself get shot down one hundred percent all the time than to ask a girl out he knew was one hundred percent too good for him. He didn't know why. It was stupid, but what else could he do...? Suck it up and make use of Pyrrha's kindness, once again? First the training, then this, what else...?
He thought he was over all that pride stuff, about rejecting Pyrrha's good intentions. But this wasn't about him being too good for help anymore. This was the opposite. He was nowhere near good enough.
...Jaune decided not to resort to asking Pyrrha out. It wasn't about him anymore. He had to save Pyrrha the embarrassment of having to go with him.
At least he had that one dance. It was unofficial, but it was enough to make up for a thousand prom nights that would never come.
Better to go to the prom dateless than to go undeserving.
Pyrrha was a little better at pretending to be fine when Ren and Nora came back. When they saw the intense blushing on her face, she just told them that Jaune told a joke that made her laugh her guts out, and they left it at that. She went back to bed right after that, leaving Nora talking to a puzzled Ren.
"Going back to sleep already?" said Nora, pouting. "Oh, c'mon! I wanted to hear the joke too!"
"Enough, Nora," said Ren, a little wary of the atmosphere in the room. "Let's go brush our teeth. I'll even put the toothpaste for you."
"Oh, cool!" said Nora as she followed Ren to the shared bathroom, turning the lights off on their way out.
There was a long, unmoving silence in team JNPR's dorm room, which soon became unbearable for Pyrrha. She suspected the same was for Jaune, too. She had to break it.
"Jaune, listen... I..." she said, her words tentative.
No reply. But she knew he was listening. Walls kept forming in her throat, getting in the way of her words.
"I..." she stammered.
"Pyrrha."
Jaune removed his sheets and sat up, prompting Pyrrha to do the same. They both looked at each other. It was too dark to properly discern his emotions, but she could tell he was looking straight into her eyes.
She could make out a smile forming in his expression.
"Thanks," said Jaune, warmness emanating from him, yet at the same time a feeling of distance, deliberately being reined in and let go at the same time. "For the dance."
Jaune slowly went back to bed without a word. After a while, not knowing what to say back to him, Pyrrha lay back down, too.
But she actually did know what to say.
Only... she said it so only she could hear.
She had her voice lowered to nearly a whisper, at the same time trying to nurse the heat in her cheeks as she put her hands on them.
"No, Jaune.
"Thank you."