Chapter 13: Signature Dance

After having a shower and getting changed, Jaune waited for Pyrrha in the hallway, ready to go into town yet silently dreading it due to losing the bet on the practice match. He wore simple jeans and a short sleeved white shirt. Pyrrha descended the stairs in a red dress that went down just past her knees, a small black belt around her waist with her supple arms exposed to the light.

Pyrrha caught Jaune staring and felt a flush cross her cheeks at the attention. "A-all ready to go Jaune?"

Snapping out of his dumb-struck stare, Jaune sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he looked away. "Yeah. Hope you don't find it too boring, nothing much out here."

"Jaune, I'll enjoy every moment with you." With that she slipped an arm inside his and headed to the door.

As they walked into town, Jaune pointed out various locations. Funny stories, odd shops and precious few places related to his childhood. Pyrrha tried to draw out more information about his childhood but Jaune deflected the queries with questions of his own.

"Oh Jaune! Is that the dance studio where you learned to dance?" Pyrrha pointed at a brightly coloured building with a billboard showing a ballerina.

Jaune cursed inwardly at his family talking about his past. "Yeah that's the one... Looks like its closed though... oh well, maybe another time!"

"But the door is open..."

"Probably... airing it out... Yeah, smelly feet from all the dancing."

"There's people inside..."

"Probably the cleaners. Such a shame! Fancy a bite to eat?"

"Jaune, I won the duel this morning so you have to do what I say... and I say we go inside and have a look." She stood with her hands on hips and an angry pout on her face.

Jaune sighed in defeat. "Very well. An Arc never goes back on his word."

Pyrrha's smile was back in an instant as she grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. As they entered the dance studio they were greeted by the sight of about a dozen girls practising a slow waltz, rhythmically swaying around the room with large mirrors on one wall.

The instructor, a tall, slender woman, light brown hair cascading down her back with sharp features noticed them. "Girls, please continue while I see to our guests."

Jaune groaned knowing exactly how this conversation would go. "Hi Miss Ochre, long time no see."

Ochre looked the man up and down, similarly with his beautiful red headed partner. "I don't recognise you, I assume I have taught you before?"

"Yes that's right, I'm..."

Ochre raised a hand, interrupted Jaune before he could finish his sentence. "Pa pa pa! If you wish to introduce yourself then dance. Show me who you really are!"

Jaune's jaw dropped. "Come again?"

"Dancing is like a signature. Two people can do the same act but each, unique! Now... show me!" Ochre left the speechless Jaune standing where he was and addressed the class. "Girls, please clear the floor. This man wishes to introduce himself."

"Not like this..." Jaune whispered with slumped shoulders.

"Now you and your partner, come come! We will start with a slow waltz, you look like a man who tries to win over a ladies heart. A waltz is fitting."

Jaune and Pyrrha stood in the middle of the dance studio blushing profusely. "Sorry about this Pyrrha, she's... enthusiastic..."

Pyrrha beamed with a radiant smile. "I'm looking forward to this! Although I've never danced a waltz before..."

As the slow music started, Jaune held Pyrrha's hand and wrapped his other around her waist, bringing her close. "Its fine, it's as Miss Ochre says. A waltz is a dance to win a ladies heart and the man should lead." With that, Jaune expertly led Pyrrha around, swaying and stepping in time with the music. His unexpected mastery of the waltz meant Pyrrha was led around so perfectly it looked as though she knew it as second nature.

For Pyrrha she couldn't believe how good Jaune was. She'd seen him dance the trendier, modern music but never anything so... elegant. With a pang she wished they could dance like this in a dinner suit and ballroom gown. "Well a girl can dream." she thought to herself. Pyrrha looked into Jaune's eyes as he led her around, her body moving of its own volition, a puppet to Jaune's strings. Before she knew it, the dance was over, much to her dismay.

Many of the girls around the room were chattering excitedly as the dance finished. Envious of Pyrrha's partner.

Ochre's voice rang out across the room. "Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! I think I may have taught you after all! The dance was perfect and the love between you, clear for all to see! The girl, never taught but graceful as she flowed to your every movement." She gazed at Jaune for a moment. "I think I know who you are but the girl... so young, the man much older. One more dance will reveal all..."

Jaune started to protest. "That's really not-" He stopped as he instantly recognised the music. The music from the prom dance with his sister and the first dance he had with Pyrrha during the Vytal Festival... Jaune looked at Pyrrha as her eyes lit up knowing there was no way he could refuse Pyrrha this dance.

"Oh! This is our song!" Pyrrha's musical laughter bubbled up as she took her position.

Jaune smiled but couldn't remember ever agreeing "a song", not that he minded in the slightest. Standing side by side they danced in sync as the music started. "Baby, it's time to make up your mind..." When the music finished, they looked at each other as they caught their breath, smiles radiant for all to see.

Pulling Jaune into a tight hug, Pyrrha beamed at the flustered man. "You were just as amazing as last time Jaune!"

"Right back at you. At least this time I wasn't wearing a dress..."

"I still can't believe you did that for me..."

Jaune blushed and looked at his feet. "I'm used to people laughing at me... and it was worth it to see you smile."

Ochre stepped up to Jaune. "Another perfect dance as I feared... Jaune... I've yet to meet a blonde man learn to dance with such desperation, you can be no other." She gestured up and down with her hand. "But... how..."

Jaune scratched the back of his head with a weak smile. "It's a... long story... The short of it is, I gave some of my life to save someone I love which aged me."

Reading their expressions and noting the reticence to divulge more detail, Ochre didn't pry. "Fated lovers, a man who would do anything for those he loves..." She looked at Pyrrha with kind eyes. "You are a very lucky woman."

Holding Jaune's arm and hugging into it, Pyrrha softly spoke. "Yes, I certainly am."

Jaune smiled at Pyrrha's affectionate display. "I think I'm the lucky one. Thanks for the dance Miss Ochre, it's been quite a while since I danced here."

"You are both most welcome anytime."

"Time for us to go enjoy this lovely weather! I'll see you around Miss Ochre." With that Jaune turned towards the door.

Pyrrha waved as they left. "Thanks Miss Ochre, I really enjoyed today!"

As they walked out, Ochre was glad that Jaune had found himself a nice girl. He deserved as much. After all, she was the drama teacher who pulled the bullies off him all those years ago.

As Jaune walked down the promenade, the sea stretching out infinitely beyond the blazing sand of the nearby beach, Jaune noticed an ice cream vendor with a myriad flavours to choose from. "Hey Pyrrha, fancy an ice cream to cool down?"

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune whilst fanning herself with a hand. "Ohh that would be wonderful. It's so hot I can barely breathe! It was always hot in Mistral but this is so humid!" She was glad to be in the cool shade of the vendor's parasol as they looked over the flavours. "There's so many to choose from Jaune... I don't know where to begin..."

"Hmm... I'm going to have the Vanilla Honeycomb. Oh you might like this one! Triple Chocolate Decadence, there's little chocolate chips in it too. Or there's Cookie Dough, Ruby would definitely have that one."

Pyrrha giggled at Ruby's obsession with cookies. "She certainly would! I think I'll have the Triple Chocolate then... but only a small! Between my lack of training and your mother's cooking, I won't fit into my armour by the end of the week."

Jaune let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! You're perfect, you have nothing to worry about. We can start training each morning and build up from there if you like? Although after the duel this morning, I'd say you're nearly at one hundred percent already."

"Thanks Jaune, sounds good."

Noticing the pair had finished deciding, the vendor addressed them. "Good morning, what can I get you and your lovely daughter?"

Jaune froze with horror written across his face. Pyrrha meanwhile, turned a deep shade of scarlet and clenched her fists as her anger began to boil over. Jaune swiftly intervened before Pyrrha could say anything. "Actually we're the same age and dating, it's a bit of a long story but basically I got aged about 20 years... yeah... Grimm... Semblance... Bit weird."

The vendor looked at them in confusion but seeing their expressions, he decided they weren't joking about this outlandish story. "Well...that's... I'm sorry, I meant no offence and I'm... sorry to hear that..."

Jaune pulled Pyrrha close to him and kissed the top of her head. "It was worth it to save her and no offense was taken... we knew this would be an issue."

She looked at Jaune with deep love and affection in her eyes and felt her anger melt away. "We'll take a small... no a medium Triple Chocolate Decadence and a medium Vanilla Honeycomb please."

"S-sure thing." The vendor hurriedly scooped the ice cream, packing it into the cone until it was about to burst, far more than the usual two scoops. "Here you go! On the house!"

Jaune already had the correct change out and put it next to the till. "It's no problem but thank you for the offer. Really, it's ok. See you around!" With an ice cream in one hand, he waved over his shoulder.

As Jaune sat down he watched his cream ice as it melted in front of him, much faster than Pyrrha's thicker ice cream. Jaune felt his enthusiasm for the ice cream wane but forced himself to eat it so Pyrrha wouldn't notice his mood. "Is that us?" Jaune wondered in his head. "Me disappearing before Pyrrha..."

As they walked back to the farm, Pyrrha noticed Jaune was oddly reticent but blamed it on the encounter with the ice cream vendor. Although Jaune had defused the situation and handled it well, it was obvious it had hurt him. "Not this again..." Pyrrha whispered under her breath.

Not allowing herself to be put down by his actions, Pyrrha held his hand tightly and hugged into it as they walked. Jaune turned in surprise and felt his cheeks flush slightly, still not used to having this beautiful woman with him. He squeezed her hand in return and smiled, content that she loved him with all of her heart.

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her neck. "It's so hot! I should've put some sun tan lotion on to protect myself, I can feel my neck burning."

Jaune looked around and remembering a store nearby, pulled Pyrrha down a side street. "I think there's a shop just down here that sells sun lotion, sit here a sec and I'll be right back." Before Pyrrha could utter a word Jaune sprinted off down the road.

She sat down on the bench, beaming with the thought of Jaune running off to get lotion to soothe her neck and protect her. Shortly afterwards Jaune ran back into sight with a large paper bag in his arms.

"You didn't have to run off like that Jaune, I'm sure I could survive a few more minutes. Thank you for your concern, I really do appreciate it."

Looking away and slightly blushing, as seemed to be the norm for Jaune recently, he reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of sun cream. "Pyrrha... I... umm... would you like... me to put... the lotion on for you now?"

With a great smile Pyrrha cupped Jaune's face and turned it back towards her. "I'd love that Jaune." Pulling her long scarlet hair to one side, she pulled the straps of her dress off her shoulders. "Could you do my shoulders too please? They're feeling a bit sore as well."

Jaune gulped and nodded his acceptance. He poured some lotion on his hands and rubbed them together to warm it up.

Before he could touch her skin, Pyrrha sniffed the air. "Coconut?"

Jaune paused. "Yeah they had Raspberry, Coconut, Vanilla and Strawberry. I remembered you used coconut shampoo back at Beacon so I thought you'd... like it. Do you... not?"

Pyrrha felt her shoulders relax at the attention Jaune had paid her. "No it's my favourite! Thank you! I can't believe you noticed..." As he touched her neck, Pyrrha shuddered.

"I'm sorry, are you ok? Was I too rough?"

Pyrrha glanced over her shoulder, her cheeks flashed crimson. "No its fine, I'm sorry I moved."

Jaune started lathering Pyrrha's neck in lotion as gently as he could while making sure he didn't miss a spot. He slowly made his way down to Pyrrha's shoulders and applied more cream.

"Could you rub it in a bit harder please Jaune? My shoulders are ticklish." Pyrrha cursed herself inwardly for the white lie but she was not going to pass on the chance for Jaune to give her a shoulder massage.

Jaune began to massage in the cream, applying more pressure and working the cream into her taut muscles using his thumbs. "Hmm that feels wonderful Jaune..."

A short while later Jaune stopped suddenly and Pyrrha opened her eyes and looked at him, noticing the look on his face and the deep red flush on his cheeks. Pyrrha's eyes opened in horror as she realised the sounds she was making as Jaune massaged her shoulders. "I... I..." Pyrrha stuttered, struggling to bring coherent words to her mouth.

He interrupted her, glancing at his hands. "I think I've covered your neck and shoulders, let me just use up what's on my hands on your arms and we should be good." Jaune moved to her side and started smoothing the remnants of cream between his fingers on her arms, gentle as a summer's breeze.

When Jaune announced the act complete, Pyrrha bit back her disappointment but was pleased they had made such a big step in their relationship. Although his body might be that of a thirty something, Jaune was mentally and emotionally only that of an eighteen year old and was inexperienced with women. "Thank you Jaune, that feels much better already."

Reaching into the bag Jaune produced a large summery, pure white hat with a floral pattern and presented it to Pyrrha. "I thought this might help keep the sun off you. If you don't like it just say and we can get another or just refund it."

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune's thoughtfulness, her face radiant with happiness. "Oh Jaune! It's perfect! Thank you so much!" Donning the hat she posed a few times. "What do you think Jaune?"

Jaune smiled at her. "It looks... good on you. I'm glad you like it."

Giving him a big hug she pressed a quick kiss on his lips. "Jaune, you're so thoughtful and kind..."

Jaune looked away and scratched the back of his head at the comment, trying to hide his embarrassment and grin. "Th-thanks... Ready to head on? I also bought the tissues and some after sun lotion I can apply later to ease your burning. If you like we could go to the beach tomorrow?"

Pyrrha smiled at blushing blond. "That would be wonderful! I really felt like going to the beach after walking past it today."

He immediately imagined Pyrrha in a swimsuit lazing on a beach. "Yeah... that would be... I mean, that sounds like fun. Sure." Looking down at his big hands, Jaune realised he doesn't have any swimwear that fits him any more since he aged. "Oh... I'll need to get some swim shorts before we go though. My old ones won't fit any more..."

Pyrrha giggled. "Oh you show off Jaune! Have some decency!"

Jaune took a second to realise what Pyrrha was inferring. "Wait! That wasn't what I meant! My hips are wider and my legs... I...!" Jaune turned an even deeper shade of crimson at the thought of trying to squeeze into his old skin tight swimming trunks designed for someone half his age. Pyrrha's joke was embarrassingly true enough.

"I'm joking Jaune! Your face! You are so easy to embarrass!" Her musical laughter ringing out.

Jaune scowled. "No wonder you get on so well with my family!" He couldn't hide his grin though at Pyrrha's playfulness.

Walking into a nearby clothes shop, Pyrrha insisted that she got to pick out a swimsuit for Jaune. Looking through the various styles, Pyrrha pulled out a pair of swimming trunks that left extremely little to the imagination. "These would suit you Jaune." She couldn't keep the grin hidden on her face for long as Jaune's face turned into a grimace of terror.

"No. No! Hell no with a side salad of dear Oum no! Not going to happen! Shorts only and nothing... skin tight!"

Crossing her arms she pouted at Jaune with an angry stare. "I won the duel Jaune... Go try them on!"

Jaune's mouth flapped a few times as he tried to come up with an argument, finally coming up with something he didn't really want to talk about out loud. "You do realise there's a certain amount of... preparation people have to make before they can wear stuff like... that right?"

Pyrrha was only momentarily confused until Jaune made a scissor motion with his hands. "Oh right! I forgot! Men don't... never mind..."

Jaune smiled at her blush as he let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. "Thank Oum..."

Continuing their search separately, Jaune came across a pair of shorts that had a white background with an intricate tribal pattern in red and Pyrrha came back with the same pair with the colours reversed. As they compared their choices, both broke into laughter at their similar tastes. Neither said it aloud but they both picked the shorts as it was as close as they could get to combining their crests together. Jaune's white background with Pyrrha's red.

Opening the changing room curtain, Jaune stood in just his swim shorts. "What do you think?" Pyrrha's mouth could've hit the floor as she marvelled at his chiselled body. A few moments of silence whilst Pyrrha's eyes scanned his body from head to toe several times and Jaune had endured enough. "Guess these don't look good then..." With that he quickly pulled the curtain shut behind him and tried to stifle a chuckle as he waited for Pyrrha's reaction.

Pyrrha raised an arm towards the curtain in a panic. "No wait, Jaune you look great! I mean, I look good on you! No! The shorts! They look good on you! I... uh..." Glancing around she realised she had blurted that out, far, too loud.

Jaune peeked around the curtain to see a scarlet faced Pyrrha letting out a deep breath to the extent she appeared to be deflating as her arm slowly fell. His voice startled her. "In that case I guess I had better get these then." Pyrrha's face snapped upwards at his voice and a nervous smile crept across her features. "I also think you look good on me too." With a grin and a wink he went back to changing whilst imagining Pyrrha's reaction.

As they wandered along dirt roads leading to the farm, taking in the scenic countryside views, Pyrrha turned to Jaune. "Thank you for today Jaune, it's been wonderful. Next time we go on a trip, I'll have to take you to my home town. It's rather different though, being in a city... Not nearly as beautiful as here..." Pyrrha looked down at the thought of her over protective parents who forced her to train daily and pushed her into her fame.

Jaune put an arm around Pyrrha and held her shoulder firmly. "Anywhere I go with you is beautiful, it's you who makes it beautiful... and I can't wait to meet your parents."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune, slightly shocked at his perception to her thoughts. "How did you... know?"

Jaune kept looking straight ahead. "You never talk about your parents. I'm guessing you had more than a little push on your road to stardom?"

Pyrrha dropped her gaze as they walked. "My parents only wanted what was best for me. They just didn't... ask what I wanted..."

"Let me guess... friends?" Before Pyrrha could question how he knew again, Jaune looked her in the eyes. "I remember what you said the night of the dance about being placed on a pedestal. I can relate to wanting friends too. You can be surrounded by people but without people you truly call friends... you just feel alone..."

"Jaune... Please tell me about your childhood, the good times, the bad times, all of it. I want to know... you."

As they neared the main gate into the farm, Jaune sighed and pointed at a tree on a hill nearby. "I spent most of my childhood alone, sat in that tree, watching the town and the kids play. As everyone knows I'm not the most... socially comfortable person. Well, when I was a kid it was much worse, I never made a single friend before coming to Beacon, no matter how hard I tried."

"Oh Jaune... I'm so sorry."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha with a wane smile. "It's ok. My childhood was boring so there was nothing to talk about. Usually my sisters would come sit with me or drag me down to help around the farm."

"What about school?" Pyrrha knew about the horrific beating, hearing it from Vanilla but wanted to see what Jaune would offer.

Jaune gritted his teeth as he looked into the distance. "I had a... another tree at school I'd sit in too to avoid the bullies... Though in classes I couldn't escape."

Pyrrha's heart broke at the thought of Jaune being so bullied, he'd sit alone in a tree at school and at home. Jaune was the perfect gentleman, kind and sweet yet he had such a terrible childhood. She knew it must have been his family that pulled him through otherwise he'd either be a bully himself or completely introverted. "I'm sorry for prying Jaune... Thank you for telling me, I really do appreciate it." With that, she wrapped her hands around Jaune and pulled him in for a deep kiss.