Just Tell Me To Stay

Summary: Yang and Blake have been in love with each other since the moment they met, but neither could ever reveal their feelings. But now that they're entering their senior year and all the talk is on colleges and plans for the future, their friends aren't sure they can just sit by and watch as they lose each other for good. High School AU. Bumblby, WhiteRose, Arkos

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well. Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter, I really appreciate it and I'm super happy that people are enjoying the story. This chapter is probably one of my favorite standalone chapters of the story so far and one of the longest as well, it's just so cute and you actually get to see the characters at school and idk, just really glad how this one turned out. Hope you all like it!


Chapter 15: Rough Day

Pyrrha slams her locker door a little harder than she really meant to, scaring a group of freshmen unlucky enough to be walking by. But for once she finds that she doesn't really care.

It's probably one of the worst mornings she's ever had. Her family had decided that they would spend an extra day in the mountains which meant that they hadn't gotten home until around 10 PM the previous night. This normally wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that she had forgotten her calculus textbook when they had left for their trip, which meant that she had to stay up all night finishing her math homework. And of course, her calc teacher had assigned extra problems for their week long holiday so it had taken her even longer than normal.

She's not totally sure what time she had actually gone to bed but the last time she remembers checking the clock was around 5:30 in the morning. Meaning that she was barely able to get two hours of sleep before stumbling out of bed in the morning.

Then, after she had 'woken up' and stumbled into the kitchen, she had discovered that her house was fresh out of coffee, tea, and basically any other caffeinated beverage in the world. Which brings her here. Trudging to her first period homeroom like a zombie, eyes half open and hair an absolute disaster. Her outfit isn't much better either, consisting of the most comfortable jeans she could find and a slightly oversized hoodie that was issued to the track team last year.

She probably looks like a homeless person.

Finally arriving at her classroom, she slowly stumbles over to her normal seat in the third row up against the far wall and all but collapses into the hard plastic chair, slumping forward to rest her head on the desk and letting her bookbag clatter to the floor.

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

Pyrrha doesn't have to look up to know that it's Weiss, moving into her customary spot in the seat right behind her. And it's way too much effort to even try at this point.

All she manages in response is a muffled groan.

"What happened? Are you feeling okay?" The concern in Weiss's voice is just touching enough to summon the strength to whip her body around until her head is resting on Weiss's desk..

"I forgot my calculus textbook when we went to the mountains," she croaks, "so I had to do the entire problem set last night."

"The whole thing?" Weiss exclaims, "how late were you up?"

"At least until like 5 or something…"

"Oh my god, Pyrrha! You could have texted me this morning, I could've brought you some coffee or something."

"S'okay..." she mumbles weakly, "didn't… wanna bother…"

"Oh my god…" Weiss says, mostly to herself.

She can hear Weiss pulling out her phone and tapping on some keys but doesn't think much of it, she's not even sure her brain has the capacity to process anything at this point.

A couple minutes later their teacher walks in and starts the morning announcements. She barely hears some vague blatherings about upcoming events before she passes out entirely.

She's shaken awake some time later and slowly opens her eyes to meet Weiss's icey blue orbs for just a second before they start to close on their own again.

"No. No falling back to sleep." Weiss says, "the bell just rang, come on I'll take you to your next class."

She nods her head against her arms but can't quite find the strength to move until she's pulled gently up to her feet.

Weiss lets out a loud grunt as she shifts Pyrrha's arm up around her shoulders and reaches down to grab their bags as they step awkwardly towards the door.

"Your next class is Biology right?" Weiss asks.

She gives a weak nod against Weiss's shoulder and reverts back to stumbling along under the heiress's guidance.

They only make it a few minutes before Weiss sets her down against a wall in the hallway to rest.

"Jaune!" Weiss calls out and suddenly Pyrrha's filled with renewed energy. There's no way she can let Jaune see her like this. She tries to lift herself off the ground but only makes it about halfway up before she slumps back into the wall.

"Hey Weiss." Jaune greets, "Um… Pyrrha are you okay?"

Pyrrha tries to nod but Weiss beats her to it. "She didn't get much sleep last night. You have Bio with her right? Can you take her to class?"

"Yeah of course." Jaune answers.

"Thank you." Weiss replies with a relieved sigh, "For third period she has Math with me. Do you think you can take her there?"

"No problem."

She tries to flutter her eyes open slowly but they end up shooting wide open as she's scooped up off the ground into Jaune's arms.

"Jaune!" She squeals in surprise.

"Look who's finally awake." The blond says, "Don't worry, I've got you."

He gives her this warm smile that just about melts her heart and suddenly she feels her tension fading away. With a contented sigh she curls comfortably into Jaune's arms and rests her head up against his chest, almost immediately falling back to sleep.

When second period ends, Blake lets out a sigh of relief.

World History with Professor Port is just about the most boring class she's ever taken at Beacon High and she gathers up her belongings as quickly as she can, escaping the classroom into the crowded halls.

Weaving through the dense mobs of students, she makes her way straight to the adjacent math wing and finds her usual seat almost dead center in the middle of the room. Because of how close her previous class is, Blake is usually the first to arrive so she busies herself by flipping through her backpack to find the homework due today.

She doesn't pay much attention as people trickle in until Weiss flops down in the seat next to her. Blake takes one look at the heiress and immediately notices how frazzled her hair looks.

"What's up with you?" She asks.

Weiss shoots her a weak glare. "I had to carry Pyrrha halfway to her second class."

"You what?"

As if on cue, her eyes are drawn to the front of the room by a flash of bright red hair that can only belong to one person. She can feel her jaw start to drop as she watches Jaune stumbling in with Pyrrha curled up in his arms and both of their backpacks hanging awkwardly from his neck.

"Um… hey guys…" Jaune says, "can I get a little help?"

She fights the urge to shake her head in disbelief and jumps to her feet, taking Pyrrha's limp body from him and setting her down in the seat behind her.

"What the hell happened to her?" Blake asks.

"She stayed up all night doing the calculus assignment." Weiss explains, "apparently she forgot to bring her textbook on her family ski trip."

"She did the entire thing last night? It took me two days!"

"Me too. At least Pyrrha's smart or she might never have made it in time." Weiss muses before turning back to Jaune. "Thanks Jaune, I'll get her to her next class. It's a good thing she has a free period after lunch, I was thinking of letting her sleep in the student council room for a while."

"It looks like she really needs it." Jaune replies worriedly, "I have a free period now, do you think I should get her some coffee? I know her order."

Weiss shoots Blake a knowing look and she can't quite help the grin that grows on her face.

"That's a really good idea Jaune." Weiss says, "I was going to get some for her since I'm free next period but I'm sure Pyrrha would appreciate it even more if it came from you."

She has to stifle a giggle watching Jaune's sputtering as he fails to come up with a response.

"Just go Jaune." Blake says finally, deciding that the boy had endured enough torture at this point. She takes another look behind her at Pyrrha, face planted uncomfortably on the desk but still showing no signs of waking up and says, "you might want to make it a double."

Jaune gives her a grateful look before turning and running out of the room, at which point Blake turns back to Weiss sitting next to her with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"This is why they call you the Ice Queen." Blake says.

"Hey. I just did them both a favor."

"Have you always been this meddlesome in people's relationships?"

Weiss turns to her with a serious look that she can't quite read. "Only when it involves people I care about."

She isn't able to come up with a response because honestly, what do you even say to something like that? But she's saved by the arrival of their teacher, immediately calling for people to take their seats.

They spend the next hour taking extra detailed notes so that Pyrrha won't be left to drown because of one missed lesson. Their class is famous for being one of the hardest in the entire school and they had all heard rumors from upperclassmen of how impossible it would be to catch up.

Luckily Professor Goodwitch doesn't pay much attention to Pyrrha sleeping away behind her. Not even when Blake walks up to hand in two sets of homework at once. It probably helps that the redhead was one of her favorite students, Pyrrha was in line to be valedictorian after all. And it also doesn't hurt that Weiss, the student council president, whispers a quick explanation to her as she drops off her own stack of papers.

Third period Pre-Calc is probably the worst hour of Yang's day.

She knows she shouldn't be one of those people that constantly complain about how nothing they learn is relevant to the real world, but honestly where could she possibly find a use for logarithms after graduation?

The only thing that ever gets her through this class is the fact that right after it she has a free period on top of lunch, adding up to just under two hours of free time to do whatever she wants. Although she has trouble deciding whether or not that makes the class itself even more difficult to sit through.

But the bell finally rings and Yang is out the door before you can blink because there's one other reason she can't ever wait for third period to end.

Blake.

It's kind of crazy how much of her time revolves around the girl in one way or another. In this particular part of the day, Yang always rushes out of Math in the hopes of catching Blake, Pyrrha, and Weiss leaving their Calculus class at the end of the hall. There was a time where she would wait just inside her classroom and try to time it perfectly so that they'd meet almost by coincidence in the hallway, but eventually Weiss caught on and chewed her out.

But when she passes the point where they'd usually meet, she starts to wonder what's taking them so long, until she finally spots Pyrrha's red hair shining like a beacon amongst the sea of people.

She quickly makes her way over to them and when she finally arrives, discovers Blake and Weiss, huffing and puffing as they struggle to support Pyrrha's limp body on their shoulders.

"Uhh… is she drunk?" Yang asks with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Weiss replies, "don't be ridiculous, Pyrrha would never do something so foolish."

"She stayed up all night getting her homework done." Blake explains.

Yang rolls her eyes. It really would be just like Pyrrha to spend so much time doing homework that she'd be unable to function the next day.

"Alright guys, why don't you let me take over."

Without another word, she moves forward and quickly scoops the redhead up into her arms, only eliciting the slightest groan of protest as Pyrrha nuzzles closer into her chest. She can't really help the small smile that grows on her face at her best friend's adorable behavior.

"When… did you… get… so strong?" Weiss says, gasping desperately for air.

"I used to do boxing, remember?" Yang answers simply, "now where am I taking her?"

"She's got AP US History with Ren." Blake answers, taking a few deep breaths herself, "hopefully he can cover for her until lunch."

"And luckily he's also strong enough to lift 100 pounds." She remarks, eliciting a deadpan glare from Weiss.

"There is… no way she's only 100 pounds." The heiress protests weakly.

"You're probably right," Yang replies with a grin and looking proudly at the redhead snoozing peacefully in her arms, "our girl's got way too much muscle."

With that they start walking slowly down the hallway towards the Social Studies wing. None of them talk much outside of a couple of jokes about Jaune using his free period to buy coffee for Pyrrha, and Yang can't help but notice the way Blake is hovering just a little bit further behind them than usual.

It only serves to fuel the turmoil in her head.

The advice she'd gotten from Ruby and Winter last week had been convincing enough that she had gone to bed the previous night with the vague idea of doing something definitive about her relationship with Blake, but now that she's standing just a few feet away from her, it's like her resolve just evaporates into thin air, resulting in her stealing half a dozen looks at the dark haired girl through their short walk down the hallway.

When they finally make it to Pyrrha's class they spot Ren near the back of the room, sitting casually in his seat and doodling something in his notebook. Eager to ease the burden on her arms, Yang shuffles over and sets Pyrrha down gently in the seat behind him, ignoring all the looks she's getting from the others in the room.

"What's going on?" Ren asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Pyrrha didn't get much sleep last night." Weiss explains, "do you think you could bring her to lunch after this class?"

Ren lets out an amused huff, the closest thing he'd probably get to laughing, even in a situation like this. "Sure."

"Thanks Ren." Yang says.

With that the three of them take off and Blake rushes to her next class. Weiss and Yang on the other hand, head for their typical spot in the library when they bump into Jaune, holding a large paper Starbucks cup and a 4-pack of their bottled frappuccinos.

"Hey guys," He says, face slightly red from what Yang can only imagine was a run from the parking lot. "Think you could get this to Pyrrha? I'm really late for class."

Before either of them can respond, the drinks are shoved into their hands and he runs off, leaving the two of them to watch in amazement as he somehow avoids tripping on his shoelaces.

"I still can't comprehend what Pyrrha sees in that child." Weiss says, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Hey Jaune's got some strong points."

"Oh yeah?" Weiss counters, "name one."

"Uh… I mean he's…" She trails off, struggling to come up with a response.

"My point exactly."

"Well…" Yang stammers, "maybe we'd see something if either of us were into guys."

Weiss gives her a skeptical look. "With the amount of people asking you out on a weekly basis, I'd expect you to have higher standards."

"Oh, like you have such good taste in men." Yang fires back, "what exactly would you be looking for in a guy if you were straight?"

"I would want someone a little more gentlemanly," Weiss answers indignantly, "someone more refined."

"Right. Because my sister is just the most mild mannered, ladylike person around. Face it princess, if you were straight, Jaune is exactly the type of guy you'd be dating."

Weiss tries to protest but all that comes out is some incoherent sputtering that has Yang cackling in triumph. It's pretty rare to beat the heiress at her own game but Yang liked to think that she was the best at it.

When Pyrrha slowly blinks open her eyes she finds herself lying on a worn out old couch with a number of jackets piled on top of her. The entire room is almost pitch black save for a small square of light shining brightly just a couple feet away from her. As she lethargically pulls herself up, her eyes finally start adjusting to the darkness until she can barely make out a large table surrounded by plastic chairs and a chalkboard taking up most of the opposite wall.

It takes her a second to recognize her surroundings but when she does it only fuels her confusion.

Why was she sleeping in the student council room?

She props herself into a sitting position and a couple of jackets slide off of her legs, crumpling loudly onto the ground. Right at that moment a figure in the dark that she hadn't noticed moves suddenly towards her and she lets out a surprised squeak, nearly falling off the couch in the process.

"Pyrrha! Hey it's me, Jaune."

"Jaune?" she says slowly, trying to blink away the fuzziness in her eyes.

"How are you feeling." He asks.

"Um… okay I guess… why am I…"

"Weiss unlocked the room at lunch so you could get some sleep." Jaune explains, before extending his arm towards her.

She looks down and immediately recognizes a cup of coffee in his hand and gratefully reaches for it and takes a sip, letting out a surprised yet satisfied hum when she tastes her typical vanilla chai latte with extra cinnamon.

"This is my order." She says.

"Yeah…" Jaune answers sheepishly, "Sorry it's a little cold, I got it during third period but you were still asleep by lunchtime."

"You know my Starbucks order?"

"Oh, uh yeah, I remembered it from the last time we all went to see that movie and you had to stay up afterwards finishing your homework."

"That's… really sweet..." She whispers quietly.

"Just hope it helps, we probably don't have much time until you have to get to Spanish."

She gives him a confused look before reaching down for her phone to check the time. When she does she snaps her head back to Jaune.

"It's fifth period? I slept through all my morning classes?"

"It's okay though," Jaune answers quickly, apparently sensing her sudden panic, "Weiss and Blake said they took notes and turned your assignments in for you in Math, and Ren said the same for History, and uh… well I can give you what I have for Bio but there's no way it's going to be as good as what they all have."

"Have I been here all day?" Pyrrha asks, still feeling the creeping anxiety of having to explain to her parents why she'd been marked absent for half of her classes.

"Um no, we kind of… carried you to all of your classes."

At that Pyrrha feels her cheeks heating up and she's suddenly glad that the lights are still off.

"You... carried me?"

"Um yeah, Professor Ooblek didn't seem to notice to be honest, but Ren and Weiss said they worked some magic to convince your other teachers to let you sleep."

"Oh my god." Pyrrha groans, burying her face in her hands. She definitely has to go back and apologize to all of her teachers for doing something so embarrassing and disrespectful, not to mention finding a way to thank all of her friends for being so amazing. Her mind starts racing through the kinds of reactions she could possibly get from some of her stricter teachers when she's hit with a sudden realization and snaps her head back up to Jaune. "Wait, you don't have this period off."

"Oh right," Jaune says hesitantly, "well we knew Nora had this period off with you but she had to make up a test that she missed before break, and none of us really felt comfortable leaving you in this room alone so…"

"So you ditched your class for me?"

She can see the nervousness in Jaunes face and she knows exactly why. Normally she would probably be gently scolding him for breaking school rules like this, not to mention compromising his education and probably getting himself detention, but right now she's just so overwhelmed that he'd do something so sweet just for her that she just can't bring herself to care about any of it.

Without another word she lunges forward and flings her arms around his neck, pulling him in close and whispering into his shoulder…

"Thank you Jaune."


Author's Note: Big moment for Arkos finally! Can't resist packing in the fluff for these two because they soooo deserve it. Also with Blake and Yang being such an awkward/shy angst fest right now I felt like this was pretty needed. I guess there were a few cute Bumblby moments in this chapter, particularly Yang doing everything in her power to bump into Blake in the halls which I feel like is something every stupid high schooler did at some point. Anyways, hope you all liked it. Keep dropping those reviews, I absolutely love reading them. Thanks for reading!