When Jaune and Arslan made their way out of the shower, the dirtiest shower either of them had ever had, Arslan felt a little sad about Jaune leaving. She felt much better after he took care of her, far more relaxed, and if she could, she'd asked him to stay so they could cuddle a little together. She liked cuddling, it was nice.
But she knew that wouldn't happen. Sure, this, hopefully, wasn't a one time thing, Arslan felt far too good to not get to feel Jaune inside her again, but there were supposed to be no emotions involved... a rule she had already broken, even if it wasn't her fault, and Arslan really didn't want to push her luck. So she settled with making sure Jaune had a reason to come back to help her with some stress relief again.
"Where are you heading after this?" She asked, her tone being nothing like the unsure, quiet one she had used before their shower, taking down a towel from the wall and handing it to Jaune.
"Not sure," Jaune replied, making Arslan groan lightly in pleasure as he began drying her hair with the towel she had given him. He liked her hair, it looked so different in contrast to her dark skin and it was very soft. "I'm probably going to find Reese, maybe sneak in a quick nap so I have the energy to watch the two-on-two fights later today.
Arslan nodded in understanding, her eyes closed while she hummed in delight as Jaune's firm hands gently massaged her scalp. "That sounds like a good idea, I'm pretty tired after... that too." Turning around, she took the towel from Jaune, standing up on her toes to return the favor.
They spent some time just drying each other, not even pretending their accidental touches were anything but intentional, and soon enough, Jaune stood fully clothed by the door to the room, Arslan right behind him biting her lip while debating if she should really do this, just wearing a t-shirt and panties. 'As long as I don't do anything outside the physical, everything should be fine, right?' She thought idly as Jaune put on his shoes, and as he reached for the doorknob she came to a decision. 'Screw it, I need more of this...'
"Jaune?" She called out, making Jaune turn towards her while giving her a questioning look. "Thank you for today. I really needed that." He smiled at her, making Arslan's stomach clench in a very, annoyingly nice way. She needed to remove that smile. So she closed the distance between them and gently, but still firmly, put her lips against his, her tongue sneaking in between his lips.
It wasn't the most passionate kiss they had shared today, but it still made Arslan's spine tingle with pleasure. When they broke apart, Jaune was still smiling, but Arslan could ignore it. For now. "I'd love to do this again, soon, so, if you want to do it too, could you please ask Reese if she's okay with it…?"
She knew Reese would be, more than likely. It was almost assured that sooner or later they would be doing this little again and the thought made her shiver, and a small, pleasurable sensation wormed its way into her chest. She mentally kicked it back into whatever damnable put it came from. She didn't want to feel it. As amazing as it felt, it would just tempt her to do something stupid.
"I'll be sure to, but, you know, I don't think she'd have a problem with it if I just came over every now and then." He pulled her back in for a smaller, more chaste kiss, letting her know that he most certainly didn't have a problem with it either. Their relationship was bound to blossom into a close friendship, this the both them knew for sure.
"Of course, but ask anyway. I'll text you later when I... get my bearings straight again." Arslan let out a giggle, and she tried to stop it from sounding too dreamy.
She playfully pushed Jaune out the door and closed it behind him, before shaking her head and immediately going to flop down on her bed. "Ars, you got yourself into a world of trouble..." she rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh that was more of frustration than anything else.
Jaune laughed as the door shut behind him. Arslan had a unique personality too, now that he had gotten to experience her in full. She was a rollercoaster, in every sense of the word.
Serious at times, shy in others... at first she seemed so... vanilla, albeit motherly. But then she seemed so kinky when she had sucked him off. It was definitely a fun experience though.
He wondered briefly how Reese's day had gone and thought of all the places she could be right now. If she spent the whole day with Ruby, she could be anywhere, she could still be out in Vale. But he had a small feeling he knew where she was.
With a smile on his lips, Jaune set a course for the roof. It wasn't very far from where Reese and Arslan's room was located, so the trek wasn't long, and when he opened the door his eyes were filled to the brim with overbearing light. He stumbled out with his eyes covered, and when they adjusted, they focused on Reese, who was sitting with her legs crisscrossed with her back to him, staring out over the Beacon grounds.
He took a seat beside her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him. She accepted the embrace immediately.
She pushed herself against his side, making sure they sat as close as possible and rested her head on his shoulder, a serene smile laying on her lips. This was where she felt more comfortable than ever. With Jaune. They may not have been together for very long, but Reese knew Jaune was very special to her. Someone she had no intentions of losing contact with when she had to go back to Haven.
"Hey..." she said quietly after a while, still looking out over the Beacon grounds as the sun stood high in the sky. In just a few hours the second rounds of the Vytal tournament would start, but until then she just wanted to sit with Jaune and relax. Spending time with Ruby had been tons of fun. Not as fun as her and Jaune's date, but still fun. However, it had certainly been exhausting. Ruby had enough energy for 10 people, it seemed like, and she wanted to do everything. So, understandably, Reese was a little tired.
"Hey..." Jaune replied just as quietly, moving his head just enough so he could place a kiss on the top of Reese's head. "Have fun today?"
Reese nodded happily, though tiredly. "Yeah, Ruby's really awesome... though not as awesome as you~." Jaune couldn't help but laugh at that, making Reese only smile wider. "She might be my long lost, red-themed sister. How about you? Did you and Arslan end up having any fun ~?"
Jaune initially thought he would feel embarrassed when asked that question, but instead, he only felt the calm that he usually felt when around Reese. "Mhm, it was fun. Not as fun as it would have been if I were with you, but fun for sure." Reese felt hopeful that Arslan could finally get some good sleep tonight. "She wanted me to ask if we could do it again," Jaune laughed, and Reese found herself laughing along with him.
"Of course she did, you're irresistible after all," she replied. "I can guess you both know the answer to that question, but, just in case, I have no problem with it-"
"As long as there at no feelings involved." Jaune finished for her.
"Exactly~! Those are reserved for me," Reese sang happily, pushing her head into his shoulder a bit harder.
"Of course they are." Jaune concurred, letting the hand not around Reese's shoulders move to her chin so he could tilt it up and place a soft, but loving kiss on his something's lips, making her hum and sigh in delight. "My heart is yours and yours only." Reese giggled into the kiss at his incredibly cheesy line, opening her mouth so Jaune's tongue could make its way into hers and meet her own tongue.
For a while they stayed like that, kissing deeply while sitting as close as possible to one another, only breaking the kiss to breathe for a moment before returning to their very important lip-lock.
As they kissed, Reese couldn't help but wonder just what else Jaune's tongue had done today. Had Arslan found his tongue to be just as magical as she did? The knowledge that Jaune had had sex with someone else earlier that very same day should have made her feel angry, or at the very least uncomfortable, but Reese felt none of that. She and Jaune had a thing, and it was a very good thing, so as long as no one tried to steal the heart Jaune promised was hers she was completely fine.
She had never been a jealous person, and she supposed that was a part of it all. She figured it was the same for Jaune. "You have anyone you plan on having fun with?" Jaune asked with a smile as they parted, and Reese had to really think about that.
That was an option, wasn't it? She could experiment, but she found she didn't really feel the need to do so. She found she didn't particularly want to do so. No one could ever surpass Jaune, so what was the point? "Well... I guess I could see if Arslan wanted to, she's the only other person I really trust enough to do anything with, but... I'm not entirely sure if I really would with anyone unless I'm super desperate. You know?"
Taking a moment to picture having fun with both Reese and Arslan, Jaune couldn't help but smile pervertedly down at Reese, earning him a swift flick on the nose and a very cute, fake angry pout from his something. "Yeah, I get it." He chuckled as Reese couldn't hold her pout any longer and decided to instead go in for another kiss, one that Jaune happily met halfway.
"You're a perv, Jaune, you know that?" Reese giggled as they broke apart, and Jaune only nodded as his mouth was seized by a big yawn, making Reese giggle even more. "I guess it's true what they say, sex is like running a marathon."
Jaune just shrugged as he pulled her up to her feet, moving her so they could sit leaning against the wall instead. "It's not my fault, Arslan has a lot of energy..."
"Well, the fights don't start for a while, so you have time for a nap if you really need it, you know." Jaune nodded absentmindedly, already having been thinking of doing just that since he left Arslan. He shifted and laid his head down on her lap, which conveniently functioned as a very comfortable pillow. "I'll be sure and wake you up when it's time to go, sleepy head." She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his head before leaning back further against the wall.
It didn't take too long for her to grow sleepier as well when Jaune's breathing evened out and his body relaxed completely on her lap, and while she tried her hardest to fight back against it, it was all in vain. 'Unfortunately' she too fell asleep after a while with her hand running through Jaune's messy, but cute hair.
"Hey, you're Pyrrha Nikos, right? Jaune's partner?" The sound of someone calling out her name broke Pyrrha out of her book induced reverie and she looked up to find a tall, blonde, dark skinned girl standing before her with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Yes," she answered with forced politeness, slightly annoyed about having to put her book down when she got to her favorite love scene between the fair maiden and the handsome knight that she absolutely wasn't imagining was Jaune and her, "How can I help you...?"
"Arslan Altan," Arslan answered Pyrrha's unspoken question, "And I was wondering if you've seen Reese anywhere. I know she and Jaune are a thing so I presume they're together, but she left her scroll back in our room so I can call her." She intentionally left out the fact that she knew Reese was with Jaune since he had, well, told her that he was going to find her just a few hours ago.
Pyrrha gritted her teeth as subtly as she could at the mention of Reese's name, pulling out her scroll to check Jaune's location. "Jaune's up on the roof right now, though I have no idea if Reese is with him or not."
A part of her told her that it was a fact she just didn't want to admit that he was with Reese, but she suppressed it, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't. She didn't care if it was stupid, she just really wanted that to not be the case.
"Thanks! But how did you know that?" Pyrrha's heart stopped.
"U-uh, it was just a guess." She slammed her book shut and got out of her seat with a poise Arslan had never seen before. "I shall go with you, if Jaune is indeed with Reese up there I need to remind him that the fights start soon." Arslan nodded and the two of them quickly made their way to the roof, only taking the slightest of time for small talk to make the walk less awkward.
"So... how do you know Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, trying to break some of the tension hanging over them as they walked. She could only vaguely recall who Arslan was, and she only remembered the name because of what Reese had said when she left Jaune by the bullhead dock two days ago.
'Jaune and I had sex in my team's shower a few hours ago and I can still taste his cum if I concentrate really hard.' Was the completely honest answer to that question, but there was no way in hell Arslan would say that, even if it was 100% true. "Reese brought him to meet me yesterday after their date. He seems nice." 'And his cock feels amazing.'
Pyrrha just nodded absentmindedly as they made their way up the stairs to the roof, praying to whatever gods listening that Jaune would be alone up there and not with Reese.
Of course, the gods were fickle and didn't apparently like her whatsoever, for as soon as she threw open the door she let out a sigh of relief, only for it to turn into a sigh of disappointment as they found Jaune and Reese sleeping up against the wall. Jaune's head was in Reese's lap, and she had a small smile on her face, and Jaune too looked more peaceful than he ever had before.
'That should be my lap he's sleeping on,' Pyrrha thought bitterly, and she jumped at the sound of Arslan's scroll taking a picture. She looked over and the expression on Arslan's face was one that honestly made her want to throw up.
"Aww, they're so cute~. I'm so glad they found each other." Arslan exclaimed, hiding her own jealousy like an expert, though she honestly did think that they looked very cute together. Pyrrha, on the other hand, was having trouble being as happy as Arslan genuinely was.
"Yes, cute." She said curtly, the word cute sounding like it was describing the vilest Grimm ever known to man. "We should wake them up though, there's just an hour left until the matches start after all and I want to make sure we get good seats." Why Pyrrha thought she could fool Arslan, a fellow tournament contestant... well, technically former contestant, was quite baffling to Arslan herself. Did Pyrrha expect she didn't know about the reserved seats the Hunters-in-training teams got?
"Sure..." she said unconvincingly, resting her scroll on her hip and making her way across the roof to Reese's side. Looking down at her teammate, Arslan really felt a confusing mix of emotion. She wasn't lying before, Jaune sleeping on Reese's lap looked incredibly adorable and seeing them like this only reinforced her new-found opinion of them being perfect for one another, but still, she did feel a little jealous in the end. Though she would stamp out that jealousy as quickly as she could. "Reese? Jaune? You guys need to wake up." Arslan whispered gently, knowing how grumpy Reese got if she wasn't woken up properly, while carefully shaking Reese's shoulder.
Pyrrha held herself back from just kicking them awake, or at least Reese, as Arslan continued to gently make them return from dreamland. After about a minute, Reese finally began to rouse from slumber. "What? Arslan? What ar- o-oh... right. The fights," she said, yawning as she opened her eyes fully and stretched. Her eyes fell down to her lap and to Jaune's peacefully resting face, and she smiled as she caressed his hair affectionately. She gently shook him, and leaned down to the whisper into his ear, waking him up in no time.
Pyrrha felt another surge of jealousy and envy at that, remembering how it took her forever to get him up in the mornings. Jaune rose up from her lap and rubbed his eyes, and as soon as Reese herself moved from her original position against the wall, they both realized their mistakes.
Sleeping against a wall on something as hard as the top of a roof isn't exactly the best for your spine and they let out small groans of pain and annoyance as they tried to pop their backs, and Arslan smirked.
"Morning, sleepy heads, how was your little nap?" Both Reese and Jaune just continued to groan in response to Arslan's question, making said dark skinned blonde smirk even wider. "I'll take that to mean you were as comfortable as can be."
"Sure, let's go with that," Reese said as she cracked her neck and could finally let out a sigh of relief as the stiffness in her body lessened. She had gotten the worse end of the deal, Jaune had at least had a comfy pillow while he slept. So Reese thought it was only fair he paid her back for being so nice as to give him her lap to sleep on.
"What time is it?" Jaune mumbled as he fumbled to get out his scroll to check the time himself, not noticing how Reese sneaked up behind him or how Arslan's scroll was still in her hand. His scroll searching was interrupted as he suddenly felt a weight settle on his back, a pair of thin yet strong arms wrapped around his neck, and a familiar pair of lips kissed his ear.
"Let's go watch some fighting!" Reese declared from atop her mighty steed, said mighty stead grabbing ahold of her legs to keep her up, making Arslan chuckle slightly and Pyrrha grind her teeth.
There were few things more fun than what Reese was currently experiencing. Even skating held nothing on getting a piggyback ride from your something. The wind went gently through her messy, turquoise hair, and she held onto Jaune tightly, her arms wrapped around his neck as he ran ahead of Arslan and Pyrrha as they trekked onward to their destination. The festival was still going strong, and they were technically nearly halfway through with it all. The smell of hot dogs, and hamburgers, and other sorts of greasy, horribly unhealthy foods swam through the air, all landing right in Reese's nostrils, bringing back memories of when she was a kid, entering into small skating competitions at the local fair.
She remembered all of the boys who had always stuck their tongues out at her, claiming that she'd never be a good skater, strictly because she was a girl. She still remembered, and still to this day loved, the look of absolute disgust and disbelief as she totally ground them into the half-pipe. Her scores were always so ridiculously high that eventually she was banned from competing at the competition ever again.
She didn't really care, she had enough state fair trophies and ribbons made of fake material to last a lifetime.
She was brought back to her early teens when she thought the one thing she wanted in life was to win big at some national skating event, and she laughed at her old self. That girl was cool, but where she was now, who she was now... well that was even cooler.
The path she had chosen instead on a whim had brought her a something and friends she wouldn't trade for the world. She looked down at Arslan as Jaune slowed down next to her, and Arslan didn't seem to notice they had stopped moving at first. She was thinking heavily, it seemed. Just before Reese could ask what was wrong, Jaune put her down. She groaned in faux, but somewhat real sadness.
"Sorry, baby, but uh... I'm hungry." Her heart suddenly grew fifty times as large, and she felt her stomach dip as she let out a dreamy giggle. That was the first time he had called her baby, and she couldn't deny that she adored the way it sounded. Pyrrha just crossed her arms and clenched her teeth so hard she felt pain when she was brought back to reality from Jaune asking her what she wanted.
"Sorry?"
"I asked if you were hungry, there are a lot of stalls, I say we all pick a place and eat before the matches start."
Thinking about it, Reese realized that she actually was kind of hungry, when she and Jaune took that nap it seemed they had skipped lunch. Her stomach shared her sentiment and let out a growl of emptiness to help convince her. "Yeah, some food sounds great right about now." She didn't notice Pyrrha's annoyed visage.
"But what about the matches? We need to make sure we get good seats." The Spartan mumbled grumpily, catching Arslan giving her a confused look.
'She knows we have reserved seats... and even if she didn't, I told her...' Arslan thought, though after a moment she just shook her head and decided to ignore it. "We're not in a hurry, and I'm not going to say no to getting some food before the matches start. Do you have any place in mind, Jaune?"
Before Jaune had a chance to answer, his head was forcibly turned towards one of the nearest stalls by a very excited Reese. It seemed she had noticed a certain scent among all the others and she wanted to eat somewhere specific. "Jaune! Waffles! Please!"
Jaune didn't even get a chance to answer before Reese grabbed his hand and pulled him to it, Arslan simply accepting that they were eating waffles and following them. Pyrrha did too, it seemed, though one look at her face and anyone could have seen that she cared less about food than she did anything else.
Of course, being a stand at a fair they weren't just regular waffles. They had anything from chocolate, caramel, sugar coated waffles, topped with whipped cream and cherries, to regular waffles supersized to be as big as your head that came in a stack of three. All in all, between the selections available and the nutrition facts pasted onto a huge poster beside the menu that all of them definitely did not read, the stand was one for people whose stomachs could take a beating. Also, though it didn't really matter to them (and why would it?), there was a sticker warning about heart attacks pasted onto the menu that was ignored just as hard as the nutrition facts were.
Whatever Jaune thought Reese was going to order, he wasn't prepared for what she actually did. "I'll take a four stack of chocolate covered waffles coated in sugar with sprinkles, also put some peanut butter and extra syrup on that, with a few scoops of that vanilla ice cream. OH, and can I get it absolutely COVERED whipped cream?"
Arslan, sitting on Reese's Jaune-less side, let out a groan. She was aware of Reese's insane stomach, but even she thought that this was going too far. "Reese, you can't order that, you'll die. Your aura isn't strong enough to help you if you get type 2 diabetes..."
"But Arslan! Please! It's waffles! Waffles would never hurt me!" Reese whined, bouncing slightly in her seat while giving her best puppy eyes, making Arslan sigh. She was immune against Reese's puppy eyes, having been exposed to them for so long, and the childish way in which she was jumping up and down looked absolutely silly. Arslan knew Reese was a mature girl and that when the need called for it she could be deadly serious, but looking at her at the moment one would never guess that.
Relenting slightly, she sent Jaune a look over her aqua haired partner, "Are you okay with her eating all this? I imagine you're the one who'll be spending time with her tomorrow so when she starts whining about a stomach ache you'll be the one who'll have to suffer through it." Jaune didn't even need a second to think about it, merely shrugging and giving Arslan that cute, damnable smirk of his.
"If she wants to eat so much, let her. I'll manage." Reese let out a happy squeal at Jaune's words, quickly reaching up to give him a big kiss on the cheek.
"You're the best-est, Jaune!"
"I'll just take a regular sized chocolate chip waffle with strawberry syrup, and a small side of chocolate ice cream," Jaune said, and Arslan rolled her eyes as she ordered even less. Pyrrha just waved it off, not at all feeling hungry enough to think about eating. The sickening sight of Reese cuddling up to Jaune, watching her waffles get made with stars in her eyes was too much for her.
"I'm going to go now, I want to get the good seats before they're all taken..." Arslan figured enough was enough, and as soon as Pyrrha disappeared out of sight, she spoke up.
"What's her problem?" Jaune looked up from his waffle as the plate was sat down in front of him, and he ignored Reese's scream of absolute delight as he turned to look at Arslan.
"Who, Pyrrha? I don't know, she's been acting weird ever since Reese and I got back. I thought I solved the problem, but it just seemed to get worse." Arslan sent a look between them as Reese began to devour the massive stack of sugar that she called her dinner.
"When I watched interviews with her, she always seemed so nice, but to be honest, now it just seemed like she's kind of a... how do I put this without being offensive... a stuck up bitch." Reese swallowed and laughed really hard at the same time, Jaune having to pat her back as she began choking.
Jaune wanted to raise his voice, Pyrrha was his partner after all, and he did truly love her like a sister. She was a close friend, and she had helped him get to where he was now. But when he looked at Arslan, he found he couldn't do it. That and a small part of him was saying that she was right. Pyrrha was kind of being rude, and weird, and just... all in all, not a nice person. Very un-Pyrrha like.
"I promise that she's not really like this, she usually is really nice. Quite possibly one of the nicest, most considerate people, with the kindest heart I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. She's just... I don't know." He forked at his own waffle halfheartedly.
"Maybe she's just on her period, you know how I get when I'm going through that stuff," Reese said, going back down on her waffle as soon as the words had left her mouth.
"Okay," Arslan started, "Just because you're like that on your period doesn't mean everyone else is. And besides, that's not the 'I'm menstruating so I'm irritable' kind of rude, that's the 'I'm being rude just for the sake of being rude,' rude." Jaune just stared back down at his waffle and took a small bite, knowing full well that he had nothing to really add to the conversation. It wasn't like he could agree or disagree with anything they said either, not being personally affected by the red hell in any way, shape, or form.
And, he also knew that any comment he made could, and most likely would, be used against him in a court of law, or at least that's what his dad had always said. All Jaune knew for sure, growing up with seven sisters, was that periods were fucking scary. So he just kept eating his waffles, enjoying the taste while idly noting that they tasted very... new. These weren't some Vale-store waffles, they had to be either Mistralian or Vacuoian if the more exotic taste was anything to go by. He liked it.
Jaune kept eating in silence, just enjoying his waffles while Arslan and Reese talked about how apparently horrifying Reese was on her period until he was nudged in the shoulder by Reese herself. When he looked over he was met by a very cute looking Reese, her mouth open and her eyes closed, clearly asking for a bite of his waffles, and Jaune had no intention of denying her. Ignoring his fork, he broke off a piece of his waffle with his hand and dipped it in one of the whipped mountains Reese's own waffles were buried under, before giving her the waffle, unable to hold back a chuckle as Reese happily munched down on it, her lips becoming slightly covered in cream.
"Yummy~..." Reese sang, making Arslan chuckle along with Jaune as she shook her head. Despite her small, unfortunate, crush on Jaune, Arslan couldn't deny that Jaune and Reese were an adorable couple, even after only hanging out for less than a week. They were both goofy and silly, awkward at times, and it really seemed they were a perfect pair, especially since Jaune sleeping with her had done nothing to even remotely damage their relationship. As she took a bite out of her own waffle, she caught a glimpse of Jaune leaning in to kiss away the cream covering Reese's lips, and she had to force back another sigh. They were far too fluffy together than was healthy for her sanity.
"Attention everyone, your attention, please. Fights will start in exactly twenty minutes," Glynda's voice boomed throughout the grounds. Jaune and Reese continued to share their food with one another until they were all done and the owner of the stall took their dirty plates. Together with Arslan, they all headed towards the bullheads taking them to the Amity colosseum, the ride taking less than ten minutes.
When they got off the bullhead, Jaune allowed Reese to hop back onto his back and she let out a happy noise as Jaune picked up a little bit of speed. Arslan ran beside them as they made their way to their special seating area.
"JAUNE-Y~!" He heard a familiar and cheerful voice call out, and he looked every which way until Reese pointed him to a few rows above them. Pyrrha sat with Ren and Nora, who was waving down to him happily, and beside Nora were three seats that seemed to be saved for them.
He rushed up and set Reese down into her seat as he took the spot next to Nora. Pyrrha was very clearly ignoring his presence, creating a somewhat harsh aura, but he could ignore it.
"So who's up going first?" Jaune asked Nora, as below him bellowed a very excited Ruby and moderately excited Blake.
"Yang and Weiss! And they're going to kick so much butt!" Ruby yelled ecstatically, only taking a second to look back to Jaune and Reese, before her gaze quickly returned to the arena as if the battle would somehow be over if she looked away from it for more than a moment. "This is going to be so awesome!"
Jaune laughed at Ruby's excited mood, giving Blake an acknowledging smile as she too turned to look back to him, not being as afraid she'd somehow miss the battle as Ruby, though he could easily tell she was looking forward to this just as much as her red-caped teammate, she just didn't show it. "They'll be fighting Neon Katt and Flynt Coal from team FNKI. By the way, who are you guys nominating for your double battle?"
Jaune sent a glance at Pyrrha, who made no move to show that she had as much as noticed the look, and when his eyes returned to Blake her eyebrow was raised. "The plan was to let Pyrrha and Nora mop the floor with whoever they were put up against, but..." his voice quieted and he leaned a little closer to Blake so Pyrrha wouldn't overhear him, "Pyrrha isn't in the best of moods..."
Blake nodded understandingly, ignoring Ruby's frantic pulling of her sleeve. "I see. Pyrrha and Nora would certainly-"
"Aww. You're not fighting, Jaune?" Reese's saddened voice interrupted Blake and both she and Jaune turned to the pouting, aqua haired girl practically sitting on Jaune's lap.
"That wasn't the plan, no, I'm not very, you know, good at-" Reese crossed her arms and scoffed, blowing air out of her nose in an over-exaggerated fashion.
"That's dumb, Jaune. You can hold your own fairly well! I think you should fight!" Pyrrha suddenly laughed cheerfully. Almost... too cheerfully.
"Yeah Jaune, I think you should fight! That sounds like a lovely idea!" Ruby suddenly turned around, completely forgetting about the fight that was bound to start at any moment down in the stadium.
"Yeah!" She enthusiastically cheered. "You should totally fight Jaune! It'd be so cool! I didn't really get to see how much you've grown in your team's match, but this way we'll all get to see just how much you've improved!" Ruby's tone and Pyrrha and Reese's insistence weren't helping in that matter. Jaune knew now that he would be considered a coward if he didn't own up to their words. And in the words of his father, that unfortunately crossed his mind even though his mother said to never listen to them, 'an Arc is never afraid to take up a challenge.'
This was a challenge. Not in the traditional sense, sure, but it was a challenge nonetheless. Backing down from it would mean defeat, and he knew that if his family were watching-
His family was watching. This was being broadcast all across Remnant.
'FUCK!' Jaune cursed loudly, but internally.
Pyrrha had two very good reasons for why she wanted Jaune to fight in her place; firstly, she was very cross with him and Reese, they were acting far too lovey-dovey for her taste. She had been calmed down thanks to Jaune earlier, their long training session had been lovely, but now that he was with Reese again she felt almost ready to puke. Secondly, she really didn't want to leave Jaune and Reese alone on the stands. Sure, Arslan, Ren, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang would be there, but the mere knowledge that they would most likely be cuddling or kissing while she fought made Pyrrha grind her teeth. So now she would be hitting two birds with one stone. Though... the uncertain look on Jaune's face wasn't one she enjoyed seeing, even if she was mad at him.
"I don't know, guys. I don't want to be the reason we're ejected from the tournament, it's much safer to go with Nora and Pyrrha." Jaune felt nervous about this. He had nothing against fighting alongside Nora, in fact, he actually thought it could be very fun, but his performance in the team round had been an absolute disaster. "I'm just going to screw up ag-"
"No, you won't," Reese said promptly as she sat herself down on his lap fully. "You'll do great because I'm going to cheer you on the whole time."
Well, now he couldn't disagree. He couldn't just not fight now, the look on Reese's face was proof that that was the exact opposite of what he needed to do. She looked so gosh-darn cute, so gosh-darn... not deniable! Why did she have to have such control over him in this way?! He took a deep breath and imagined him going out there with Nora. It would be fun, if he were being generous with his abilities, he very well could make it all the way through with Nora carrying him. God knew Nora already carried the whole team on her back most of the time. She didn't seem very fazed by it.
Did she?
He sent Nora a look, and she seemed to be dancing in her seat awaiting his answer. She was smiling so widely, and he was sure he knew exactly what song she was playing in her head, it had been on repeat for the past five weeks whenever she was given the auxiliary cord in the dorm. Radio privileges were not taken lightly by Nora, she knew she only got a few days out of the week, so she made them count.
But she didn't look fazed. In fact, she looked like she could take on anything! Jaune would have to have a talk with her later about how she's able to conserve so much energy, after all, such an invaluable power would be a huge asset to the leader of a team.
"I can't really say no, can I?" He asked.
As soon as he did, everyone turned to him and said "No" in perfect unison with one another.
Jaune couldn't help but laugh slightly at how even Blake, Ren, and Arslan had also said no, and knowing that he had his team's support on this made his nerves a bit less frantic. He was about to open his mouth to reply, but before he could, Dr. Oobleck and Professor Port's voices echoed forth from the speakers all over the arena and his, along with everyone else's, eyes went down to where Yang and Weiss stood facing off with their opponents.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The first match of the second round of the Vytal tournament is about to begin! In it, we see Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee from Beacon's team RWBY face off against Neon Katt and Flynt Coal from Atlas Academy's team FNKI!" James Port's booming voice rang out and all thoughts about Jaune's own match were wiped away for a moment.
Reese leaned back against his chest further, letting him settle his head on top of hers, and when Yang and Weiss looked up to them he and Ruby sent them a wave and a cheer.
Said wave and cheer were met with very distinct reactions from Yang and Weiss. Weiss just smiled and lightly waved back, but Yang, on the other hand, had to fight back the urge to scream when she saw Reese on Jaune's lap. She hadn't thought this over yet, they needed to give her time to accept how their relationship worked before they started acting like this!
"The battle will begin in 30 seconds!"
They all watched as the pre-battle conversation was shared between the fighters, the cheap insults that Neon threw at Yang, and Flynt's recognition of Weiss and her family's effects on his own making them all cringe. It seemed very much like Yang was just about ready to explode as the countdown began and the elemental sections of the arena rose from the ground. As soon as the countdown came to a close, and Port bellowed out "Begin" it seemed like all of a sudden hell broke loose in the form of upbeat jazz.
Yang's already very small fuse was burned up this fight.
She was not good at accepting things, something her childhood had made sure of, and with everything that had happened with Jaune and Reese, and Arslan, still on her mind as she rushed towards that slippery cat Neon, Yang felt herself get closer and closer to snapping. Nothing made sense and she hadn't had enough time to process everything yet! The final straw, however, came when Neon spoke up...
"You know, you're cute when you're angry~!"
Yang's eye twitched as she stopped dead in her tracks, her mind trying in vain to crawl back from the edge. "C-could you please repeat that...?" She asked shakily, not really watching as Neon gave her a somehow confused yet flirty look.
"I said you're cute when you're angry..."
'I did not sign up for this shit...' Yang's mind groaned as she was pushed into the abyss. Everything had been piling on recently and she didn't understand how the universe worked anymore, but when Neon flirted with her, coupled with the whole Jaune and Reese thing, Yang snapped. She let out a cry of anger, confusion, annoyance, and absolute frustration, and then she charged Neon at what looked like Mach 4, making both Weiss and Flynt pause their own battle to throw a glance over to their teammates.
What they expected to see was anything but what was actually happening. Maybe in some other universe things would have worked out differently, maybe things would have gone a much cleaner route and the match would have gone on with little incident. Maybe they could have even made it to the end in a much more spectacular way, but of course, this was not that universe.
Yang was pissed.
Pissed meaning she was lit up like the goddess of fucking fire. Have you ever played a video game cooperatively with a friend that allowed them to push you around, and they decided to be an asshole and push you into a pit that was instant death?
No wait, this is a better way to describe it: Have they ever done that to you, but pushed you into a lava pit instead? Yeah, that was how pissed Yang was. Controller throwing pissed.
Neon's eyes widened, not really knowing what she did wrong. It's was simple, innocent flirting, that was all! Was Yang perhaps not into girls? That would have been understandable, but no other straight girl she's ever hit on acted like this, which admittedly was freaking terrifying.
And suddenly Neon was the mouse in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and Weiss completely took her focus off Flynt. Flynt lowered his weapon as Weiss did and walked up to her.
"Does she, uh... do this often? Because I do not dig that..." he said, watching as Yang, who was now a raging fireball of anger, chased after a terrified Neon.
"Sometimes..." Weiss answered simply, feeling a mix of exasperated and grateful for the, presumably, short lull in her and Flynt's battle. "Though... it's usually not this... severe." Together, they watched as Yang continued to chase Neon, more and more of the Faunus' rainbow trail being engulfed by Yang's burning, rage-fueled flames as she screamed bloody murder about open relationships.
Had this been one of those aforementioned video games, the moment Yang caught up to Neon there would have been a massive K.O. sign coming up from the rollerblader. She had no chance as Yang caught her tail, forcing her to come to a complete stop with a loud, surprised yelp, and then she was flying, propelled by Yang's fist. The hit was strong enough to make Neon's aura disappear like it had been some sort of magic trick, and she looked more like a meteor than girl by the point where she slammed into Flynt, not decreasing in speed even slightly, making both of them eventually crash into the wall of the arena, big Xs covering their eyes as they were totally, hardcore dead yo.
Weiss sent a look towards the still fuming Yang, the Brawler's eyes locked on anything but the knight and skater on the stands. If she saw them, she'd only get more angry and crazy.
For a moment, the whole of Amity colosseum was silent, before Yang took a deep breath and pointed towards Jaune and Reese, her eyes still locked on the floor. "YOU TWO MAKE NO SENSE AND I DON'T LIKE IT!"
Then she grumpily sat down on the arena floor and groaned in frustration a Port and Oobleck announced her and Weiss' victory.
Jaune was pretty sure he and Reese should have been applauding, he was also sure that he should have been following Blake and Ruby down to the tunnels leading into the arena but as it was all he could do was sit completely still, wondering just what the hell he had just witnessed. It was then that he realized that the biggest threat to his life wasn't some silly match, or Grimm, or anything he had thought it would be.
It was Yang.
She was the biggest chance he had of becoming an unidentifiable yellow, white, black, and blue stain on the ground. He took a deep breath just to assure Reese that he was still alive, and once his team had actually gained cognizance, they turned to him, seeking answers for what Yang had screamed up at him and Reese.
"Don't ask," he said softly, and that was that.
When Jaune had exited the arena, he did so with his team, and team RWBY, Yang now calmed and much more friendly, and Weiss still very much dazed by just how short that match was.
It should have at least been a little longer, but it wasn't. She was sure that something had changed, like some big thing that should have happened didn't, that things just kind of... shifted.
In layman's terms, Weiss felt like shit was fucked up on a cosmic scale.
Though... something about this fucked up-ness felt... nice, like she had just avoided a bunch of drama about some Grimm invasion and the reveal of magic and some maidens, which results in her being forced to return to her father, Pyrrha being turned to ash, Yang losing her arm, Blake running away, Ruby learning that she's the chosen one, Penny getting torn to pieces, and Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora head to Haven... or, you know, something along those lines. So Weiss decided that she wouldn't worry about it at the moment. She would just be happy she and Yang won their fight and then try to enjoy watching the rest of the day's battles.
Jaune, however, still felt a little scared by Yang. Sure, they had talked about this on the roof yesterday, but it seemed she still needed some time to process it all. So when she slung an arm over his shoulder and gave him a big grin Jaune remained cautious.
"Jauney-boy~! I Heard you're going to fight with Nora today! Make sure you make the battle at least as awesome as mine and Weiss'!" She almost sang, her eyes locked on his to avoid looking at his other side where Reese was located.
"Yeah, that's the plan apparently. And I'll try."
"Trying to win isn't good enough, Jaune. See here, real talk, serious stuffs, and junk. My sister? She sees you as a great leader, you are her best friend apparently, so you really need to do your best to prove her right. I dislike seeing my sis disappointed, and all that junk, and to be honest with you," here Yang laughed, "I don't think I can handle another thing stressing me the fuck out dude. So for both my sake and hers, win the fucking match... good luck~!" She sang happily, making Jaune question whether or not she was holding onto her sanity as well as she should have been.
He knew she would be alright, she really just needed some time to gather her feelings and figure things out. She was so easily overwhelmed, him having seen a few times that crazy events happening one after another was the one thing that ground her gears the most. He let out a shaky sigh and suddenly felt the pressure to win his upcoming match build back upon his shoulders like a mountain.
Then Reese had to go and talk with the rest of her team, leaving him for a moment.
He missed her, even if she was just going to be gone for a small moment to be with her team. But he felt so naked and vulnerable without her by his side. Though there was one upside to it all, and that was-
"Jaune-y~! I can't wait, can you wait, oh man this is going to be so much fun! I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we stride in there and kick their butts! It's going to be so incredibly awesome! Who do you think we're going to fight? Will it be someone we know? Or is it going to be one of those teams we've been completely ignoring? Oh well, who cares it's going to be so cool! And-"
"Nora?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's have a real strategy talk right now. I need to know you've got my back, but I also need you to know that I've got yours too. I need you to promise me that you'll work with me out there and that if I miss anything you'll pick it up for me."
Nora nodded excitedly, her mood apparently unchanged, but Jaune knew from experience that she was listening with rapt attention. She was good at that, he had realized. She may look like she was always hyper and was barely paying attention, but Jaune knew that when things got serious, being hyper was her own weird way to stay calm and grounded, as strange as it may sound.
"Okay, good." He took a deep breath before continuing, his nerves calming slightly now that he knew Nora had his back. "We fight like usual, I'll tell you if something changes and we'll plan around it, okay?" Another nod from Nora. "What I'm thinking, based on current events... we should... damn it..." his mind went blank. one minute he was thinking about a strategy for him and Nora, the next he couldn't think at all. Everyone was expecting him to show how much he had grown, to show that what happened in the team match was a fluke. He felt the pressure of not being as good as he could be once again. He didn't know what would happen, he couldn't fail...
"Jaune?" Nora asked as she stopped bouncing, her voice becoming concerned. "What's wrong?"
Jaune just took a deep breath, trying to ignore everyone else around. There was no Ruby, no Yang, no Weiss, no Blake, no Pyrrha, and no Ren. It was just him and Nora, planning. Creating a plan of attack for their upcoming fight... but he still couldn't think. He didn't handle this kind pressure well, this would just end up in fai-!
Jaune's thoughts were cut off as Nora's hand intertwined with his and she began to gently pull him away to a secluded corner where they could talk, just the two of them. "Jauney, please calm down. Take a deep breath, like Pyrrha has told you, and tell me what's wrong?"
"Just nerves..." he mumbled out as his mind tried feebly to stitch itself back together. Nora, however, knew by now that 'nerves' was short for 'I'm freaking out because of my inferiority complex' and she did the thing that she knew always helped him. She took both Jaune's hands in hers and gently began tracing circles on the back of his hands with her thumbs.
"Just breathe, we got this. It's just like when we're fighting Ren and Pyrrha when we spar, everything's gonna be totally fine." Jaune took a deep breath and focused on the feeling of her thumbs rubbing his hands. He just needed a moment to calm himself. To forget about everything except Nora helping him calm down. So they just stood there for a few minutes in silence, the soft sound of Nora's thumbs tracing shapes on the back of Jaune's hands being the only thing either of them could hear, and after another minute, Nora asked him the normal question, her voice quiet and her tone soft. "You gonna be okay?"
Jaune took one more deep breath, letting the air out slowly through his nose, and then he nodded and gave her a slightly calmer smile.
"Yeah, I got it. We're gonna rock this." Nora smiled back at him, stopping her shape-tracing but still holding his hands in hers, listening intently as Jaune spoke up again. "We just gotta go at this slowly, but make them think we're just throwing it at them in full. Let's make them think we're giving it our all when we're really sizing them up. Since we don't know who we're fighting, we've got to go about this cautiously, we never know what kind of weapons they'll have." Nora nodded in determination, and her determination filled Jaune with determination.
"I got it, we should do some light exercise so we're super ready!" Jaune knew that was an excuse to let out some of the excess energy she had pent up inside of her, and he figured it was a good idea considering his sugary meal. And to help his mind become completely calm again.
"Yeah, let's do a lap around the arena. That should be enough. Just light jogging and then walking when we get tired, that way we'll still have a lot of energy for the fight and we'll be warmed up."
Nora grinned widely at him, but before he could turn back to their friends to tell them about their jogging plan he was pulled into a hug by Nora, her head resting on his shoulder so she could still whisper into his ear. "Just pretend it's just RWBY and us out there, okay? No one else is watching, it's just us." Jaune was about to protest, but he held it in as Nora's hug became a little tighter, though it still was far from her normal bone-crushers. "Just ignore the crowd, they're not important. Let's just focus on the battle. We'll just have fun."
Jaune let his arms circle around Nora's body so he could hug her back, a smile breaking out across his face. "Yeah, I got it. It's just for fun, there's no pressure." He still felt nervous, but he knew that Nora was aware of that and getting him less jittery than this would most likely not happen. So he wanted to make the best out of it. "Thanks, Nora."
They parted and she smiled brightly at him for a moment before lifting him off the floor and giving him a 'real' Nora patented hug. "We'll kick their butts to next week!" She shouted happily and Jaune just laughed with her, ignoring the pain shooting through his body until Nora set him back down and they could return to their group.
Upon returning to the group, Nora and Jaune explained their plan, and with a few extra cheers of support, they got started on their little exercise. The arena wasn't super large, but it was still quite sizable, and Jaune was glad that after coming to Beacon he had developed a training schedule. Before, he wouldn't have even been able to run a quarter way around and would have most likely felt like death by the end of it. That wasn't the case now though, and thanks to the jog, he felt a little bit more like he could actually do this.
Nora seemed to be more excited about this match than she was about most, and Jaune attributed that to the fact that her family was watching as well, and probably called her after their last match when she absolutely annihilated the other team all by herself. Nora loved her family, Jaune knew, and she loved her friends. It was one of the things he admired most about her, her endless capacity to love.
When the call came out that their fight would begin soon, they stopped and allowed themselves to catch their breath as they did some stretches. "Jaune, remember-"
"It's just us, team JNPR, and RWBY, watching. I got it." She sent him a big smile, the biggest she had in her, and that smile made a surge of confidence course through him.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! After our short break, we are ready to begin our second match of round 2! Facing off in this double battle will be Jaune Arc and Nora Valkyrie from team JNPR representing Beacon, and Team LOVE's Lazuli Hex and Olive Seacloud representing Haven!" Professor Port's loud, booming voice coming from the speakers around them made both Jaune and Nora jump slightly before they quickly made their way out into the stadium, their eyes quickly finding Ren and Pyrrha's cheering faces, along with team RWBY, and Reese and Arslan.
"This is it..." Jaune mumbled as he took yet another deep breath, thankful that Nora took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He couldn't completely ignore that he was in the middle of a massive stadium with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people watching him in person, but he could, with Nora's help, focus on more important things. Like their enemies for the coming 20 minutes.
Nora wasn't sure if they were going to throw some banter at each other before the match started, like Weiss, Yang, Neon, and Flynt had done. She had nothing against it, but the way Jaune squeezed her hand and the tense nature of his posture told her that he would most likely be more comfortable if they stayed quiet. So that's what she did, to make sure Jaune didn't get more nervous than he already, clearly was. Instead, she just waited for the elemental stage they would be fighting on to be revealed.
Their opponents looked pretty much like both she and Jaune had expected, and Jaune noticed right away that Lazuli seemed to have no weapon, but rather somewhat oversized gloves instead. Olive was very clearly a more range oriented fighter, using what looked to be a very high powered bow.
"Jaune, she looks like a witch!" Nora whispered excitedly, staring straight at Lazuli with wide, starry eyes. Jaune looked her over, and indeed she did. Her blue robe-like outfit seemed practical in the weirdest ways, and Jaune knew she must have made it so she couldn't trip over herself while in battle. But the thing that made Nora draw the comparison, was the oversized hat atop her head that really actually did make her look like a witch.
Lazuli smirked, sending a challenging glare to both Jaune and Nora, and Olive just seemed to have an air about her that served to make her seem untouchable. Judging from the cheers in the audience, and the fainting Mistrali students on the monitor when she looked up at them, Jaune figured she must have been one of the more popular, and beautiful students from Haven. Olive herself was dressed like she was ready to take on anything, leather armor atop of fashionable clothing that looked like it was from a Schnee owned store, and a cloak that matched the tone of said armor and clothing around her neck that flowed all the way down her back.
"Let's get this fucking party started!" Olive shouted, clearly just a bit too cocky, and assured that they were going to win.
"Olive, language!" scorned Lazuli, and Olive rolled her eyes.
"I think they may have some issues," Jaune said to Nora, who got into a more ready stance. "If she's using a bow, we can't be too careful. We have to make sure we don't lose line of sight with her and be careful with Lazuli, we don't know what she's capable of yet." Nora nodded. Jaune unsheathed Crocea Mors and activated his shield as the ground started to rumble.
Both Jaune and Nora fought back the urge to cheer when a dark brown, almost gray, rocky, canyon-like arena appeared before them. This was the perfect terrain for them to avoid any sniper attacks, with how many large boulders, nooks, crannies, and the like for them to hide behind or in. On the other side of the arena, though, a large pool of water with small, floating, slowly moving islands made itself visible with one big tower in the middle that both of them understood would be perfect for long ranged assaults. Neither of them knew enough about Lazuli's fighting style to know just how dangerous she could be around water, but Jaune made a note to make sure to find out if she used any kind of electricity based attacks, while Nora cheered internally, her usual smile becoming more evil in nature. Water and her semblance were a very fun mix after all.
"Now then! Let the battle begin in three..." Port bellowed as Jaune's grip on Crocea Mors tightened.
"Two..." Nora's stance lowered, her legs ready to let her sprint forward and into advantageous positions while they scouted out their opponents' skills.
"One..." Jaune sent one last glance towards the stands, seeing Reese and Ruby standing up and cheering. Knowing that they believed in him filled him with determination. He wouldn't let this turn into another fiasco.
"Fight!"
