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: I know last chapter was super heavy so we're back to some nice fluffy goodness again so hope you all like the change of pace. Thought this one was actually kind of important because while everything was going on last chapter, Pyrrha was out getting a moment with Jaune. So this chapter is going to be a bit Arkos focused. Anyways, hope you all like it!
Chapter 26: Movies
By the time they're walking out of the theater it's already dark out and cold enough to make Pyrrha shudder the second they're outside.
The movie itself wasn't terrible. She can't really say that she'd been keeping up with the series much but she spent more than enough time around Yang and Jaune to have a good enough idea of the characters to not be completely lost. But of course the things happening on screen were more or less relegated to the back burner for the duration of the film.
Within the minutes of the two of them sitting down in the comfortable red leather recliners Pyrrha had been so distracted that twice she'd almost dropped the popcorn when Jaune tried to hand it to her, every time he tried she'd end up looking more into his eyes than at the bucket being pushed into her hands.
And it was all made worse once the movie actually started and the only thing she could think about was whether or not she should be making some kind of move like leaning up against his shoulder or, if by some miracle she could summon up the courage, actually lift the divider between their two seats. But then every time she even looked at the stupid thing her heart would start pounding so hard that she'd be on the verge of shaking.
In the end the best she could come up with was scooting closer and closer to Jaune until their arms were pressed together. At around the last twenty minutes or so she had started debating the idea of resting her head on his shoulder, but her indecision lasted so absurdly long that she actually ran out of time.
But now, as they're leaving the theater, listening to Jaune talk enthusiastically about all of his favorite parts of the movie, she can't say she's disappointed at all about the way her night had turned out. Watching the sheer, boyish excitement in his brilliant blue eyes warms her heart and she can't help the heartfelt smile spreading on her face. This was what she loved so much about Jaune, he never felt the pressure to be particularly suave or cool like some of the other boys at school. He was always so passionate, and genuine, never afraid to show his true self.
At some point they end up slowly walking down the mall, occasionally stopping to look through the windows of various little shops and they pass by this store, all the lights long since turned off, with three mannequins in the front clad in extravagant floor length ball gowns. And that brings Pyrrha back to the other topic that had been gnawing at her mind all day.
Winter Ball.
The dance was supposed to be girl's choice and worst of all, it was barely more than a week away. She already saw Nora's ridiculously grand gesture for Ren this week at school and that really only adds on to the pressure she's feeling.
Honestly when she'd discussed it with Yang she hadn't had any idea whether she was really going to go through with it but over the course of the past week she'd decided that it would be her best chance.
But how is she supposed to ask Jaune to the dance when she couldn't even summon up the courage to rest her head against his shoulder?
Taking in a deep breath, she turns her head to him, subconsciously slowing her pace slightly.
"Jaune?"
"Yeah?" He replies absentmindedly.
"I was thinking…"
They come to a full stop in front of a department store and Jaune turns to face her, apparently sensing that she has something important to say.
Her heart is racing so fast her chest is literally aching. She's not sure if she'd just missed all the parts in the movies and books where they describe the utter panic that comes with these moments or if she just never understood them until now.
"Umm…" she hesitates, suddenly having an immense amount of trouble putting such a simple thought to words. "
Jaune raises an eyebrow which only serves to fuel her anxiety.
God he must think she's having some kind of stroke. Honestly how hard could it possibly be? It literally would only take a few short words, surely she could handle that.
It feels like she tries and fails to get the words out a dozen times before she's actually able to make a sound.
"Would you… maybe want to go to… the uh..."
She hesitates, nervously biting her lip as she's overwhelmed by the panic growing with every word that comes out of her mouth. So she takes another breath to try and calm herself, knowing exactly how close she is.
No, she has to get a hold of herself. She's Pyrrha Nikos. She's done much scarier things in the past and she'd never let anything get in the way. Why should this be any different?
She can do this.
But then... she actually opens her mouth.
"...the library with me this week? Finals are coming up and all and I thought we could get ready together."
Somewhere in the back of her mind she registers Jaune agreeing, suggesting days that might work with their schedules, but she doesn't really listen. She's too busy wallowing in her disappointment and self loathing.
…
The deadpan look that Weiss gives her is enough to make Pyrrha slam her head into the kitchen table.
"The library?"
"I don't know what happened!" She wails, "I knew what I wanted to say, but the second I tried to say it I just…"
Weiss shakes her head, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "My god Pyrrha."
"I know! And then the rest of the night I could barely even look at him! He even offered to drive me to Yang's tonight and I got so flustered that I accidentally turned him down! What is wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you Pyrrha, we just need to figure out how to get you more comfortable with things like this."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"Well," Weiss says slowly, "I could print out a picture of him and tape it to my face."
Pyrrha shoots the girl a glare. "I'm glad you find my suffering so amusing."
"Oh don't be so dramatic. You still have two weeks to ask him."
"It might as well be a year with how impossible it feels." Pyrrha grumbles.
There's a bit of a pause in the conversation, with neither of them seeming to know what to say before Weiss breaks the silence.
"Pyrrha…" The heiress says slowly, "is everything okay? With you I mean."
She brings her head up quickly, seeing a concerned expression on the heiress's face that she doesn't quite understand. "Um yeah… I'm fine, why do you ask?"
Weiss's eyes immediately go wide. "No I was just… I just wanted to make sure that if there was ever anything really bothering you, you'd tell someone."
Pyrrha slowly blinks a couple of times, unsure how their conversation had taken on such a heavy tone. "Weiss, what's going on?"
"What? Nothing. I was just…"
"Weiss." She interrupts, "something's bothering you. I can tell."
With that Weiss lets out a sigh, slumping back into her chair, and reaching forward to fiddle with her teacup, her calm and neutral facade completely shattered. "I… I recently discovered that… I haven't been as good of a friend as I maybe should have been.
"What? Weiss did something happen?"
She sees a moment of hesitation briefly flash across Weiss's face, and for a second it looks like she's about to say something before she breaks off, sinking back into her chair with a shake of her head.
"I'll… tell you some other time." Weiss says, "just… as long as you're not too upset by this thing with Jaune."
Pyrrha narrows her eyes a little at her friend's strange behavior, for a second thinking that maybe she should press her a bit further, but then thinks better of it when she sees the look of resignation on Weiss's face.
"I'm fine," she says carefully, "it's just frustrating that I can't get through something so simple. I just haven't ever really done this before."
"Well… I guess I'm not exactly the best person to ask either. I still haven't figured out how to ask Ruby to the dance."
"I mean you two are already dating, do you really need to do some kind of grand gesture?"
Weiss crosses her arms in front of her chest. "I thought about just asking her casually, but it doesn't exactly feel right. Ruby was the one to ask me out and she really made a big deal of our first date so I want to return the sentiment."
"What, like Nora's confetti cannon ambush on Wednesday?" Pyrrha teases, hoping to inject some humor back into the conversation. "I have to say I can't exactly imagine you doing something like that."
"Definitely not." Weiss says pointedly. "And we really don't have a lot of time left."
"Honestly I'm surprised Ruby hasn't asked you by now, almost as surprised as I am that you haven't already figured out all the logistics for our group for the actual dance."
"There's… just been a lot going on lately. And I told Ruby months ago that I wanted to be the one to ask and she's been… remarkably patient."
"Well…" Pyrrha says, "we probably should get some stuff figured out soon, next weekend is one of our last chances to go dress shopping."
"And it'll be even harder without knowing exactly who's going with who."
The redhead lets out a sigh. "I guess that means we need to get a move on."
"In more ways than one," Weiss says, checking the time on her phone, "we said we'd get to Yang's early to help set up and it's time to go."
…
When they arrive at the Rose-Xiao Long house, there's this energy in the air that Pyrrha can't quite put a finger on.
It doesn't seem too out of the ordinary seeing Neo being a little less talkative, the girl had always seemed rather quiet in the little interaction that they'd had in the past, but Ruby and Yang are definitely a different story.
Even as Weiss relays the events of her previous night's debacle with Jaune, there's a conspicuous absence of light hearted teasing that, with the strange turn in her conversation with the heiress less than an hour ago, only nails home that something else is going on that she isn't aware of.
She finally catches the blonde alone in the kitchen, searching for snacks in the pantry while the others set up some blankets in the living room, and decides to take the opportunity to try and get some answers.
"Yang?"
"Yeah?" the blonde answers, spinning on her heels to face her.
The girl has a smile on her face that would normally be almost blinding to see up close, but when Pyrrha looks up, she finds that the brightness is absent from her sunken violet eyes. "Is… everything okay?"
"Yeah!" Yang answers, almost a little too quickly, "why do you ask?"
"You just seem a little… did something happen?"
Yang rolls her eyes dramatically and her smile spreads a little wider in a way that still isn't convincing at all. "Look don't worry so much okay? Are you going to do anything with Jaune tonight?"
Pyrrha narrows her eyes at the blonde's obvious deflecting but decides that it's probably best not to pry too much if she truly doesn't want to talk about it. And of course it helps that her best friend knows exactly what buttons to press to throw her off completely. "Um… I was thinking about it…"
"Yeah? What did you have in mind?"
"I… guess I'm not really sure… I was kind of wondering if maybe you had any ideas?"
This time Yang's face lights up with a grin that's a hundred percent genuine as she throws her arm around Pyrrha's shoulders.
…
When the doorbell finally goes off, Pyrrha can feel her heart start pounding again.
By this point Nora, Ren, Sun, and Neptune had already arrived which meant that this time it had to be Jaune at the door.
She's honestly not sure how trying to cheer Yang up had gotten her here but somewhere along the way Yang had convinced her into actually changing her outfit and it makes her feel absolutely ridiculous. The blonde had insisted that she undo an extra button on her flannel which would have been embarrassing enough, but then she'd been presented with a pair of short jean shorts that had instantly turned her face bright red.
Pyrrha had protested vehemently that it wouldn't make sense at all considering the freezing cold weather, but then Ruby, Weiss, and even Neo had chimed in about how good she looked.
Honestly she's not sure she's ever shown so much skin in her life. Even the clothes she wore for track, as form fitting as they were, somehow left more to the imagination than her current outfit. Sun and Neptune had both politely averted their eyes when they had arrived but she could still feel her face heat up whenever someone looked her way.
So now, with another ring of the doorbell, she can feel her panic growing as she notices no one getting up to answer it. It's only when Nora leans over with a sly grin on her face and shoves her to her feet that she understands what's going on. Her eyes go wide and she instinctively shakes her head before Yang decides to give her another push from behind and she stumbles towards the door.
She's sure that her face has never been so red as she shakily reaches for the doorknob.
Pyrrha opens the door slowly, revealing Jaune in his typical jeans and hoodie. It must be some kind of universal phenomenon that causes time to slow down enough for her to notice every minute detail as the boy's bright blue eyes go wide.
"Um… hello Jaune." She says hesitantly.
"P-Pyrrha! You look… I mean uh… Hi!"
She finally gives a small smile as she steps aside to let him in. As he reaches down to take off his shoes she notices the entire living room staring at them, with Nora and Yang mouthing useless suggestions that she has no chance of deciphering.
From there, the group devolves into relative chaos as everyone scrambles in various directions, with some heading to the kitchen to grab snacks, others searching the house for pillows and blankets, while the rest start throwing suggestions around for ordering some pizza. It's honestly the kind of craziness that she loves most about her friends.
But somehow, throughout all of the pandemonium, they find a way to get her sitting next to Jaune on the couch with Nora and Ren on the other side. The setup is a little cramped and she finds herself pressed pretty closely up against the short redhead but overall there isn't much to complain about. That is until Nora leans over to cuddle up to her boyfriend, pushing Pyrrha up against Jaune in the process and confirming her suspicions that every aspect of their current seating arrangement was by design.
…
Only a few minutes into the second movie and they're all starting to feel pretty comfortable, all except for Pyrrha.
From her spot on the couch she can see Ruby and Weiss snuggled cozily into the recliner, with Yang curled up in a pile of blankets on the ground with Neo sitting right next to her. Against the opposite wall, Sun has constructed a small pillow fort around himself that by some miracle is sturdy enough to serve as a footrest for Neptune who's sitting in one of the chairs they'd pulled from the kitchen.
The only real problem… is Nora.
Throughout the first movie, the girl had sprawled out further and further on the sofa, head sinking down to rest on Ren's lap, until her legs were fully pushing up into her side. Of course Pyrrha knew that she was doing it on purpose, she just had no idea what to do about it.
So she'd stayed silent, doing everything she could to resist fully collapsing into Jaune. But eventually, even her strength isn't enough to keep holding out like this. Not to mention the turmoil she's feeling as to whether or not she even should be fighting it at all.
She starts out tentative at first, pressing their shoulders together in much the same way she had at the theater yesterday. But while she hadn't been able to muster up the courage to do anything last night, now she has Nora's feet making the decision for her. So she finally caves, melting into Jaune's side and hesitantly resting her head against his shoulder. She can feel him tense up at the sudden contact and holds her breath, waiting for his reaction as her heart pounds a mile a minute.
But then, he relaxes, even scooting towards her slightly to allow her a more comfortable position.
With Jaune's wordless approval, Pyrrha melts into him completely, feeling the tension disappearing from her body as she lets her eyes flutter to a close and a contented sigh escapes her lips.
Author's Note: Makes me so happy to finally give Pyrrha her moment, and unsurprisingly this one was a lot more fun to write. I also have a bit of an announcement, this is mainly directed at those of you who actually read these A/N's, I thought about posting a bigger notice in the form of a temporary chapter update but I figured you would be my viewers that would actually care enough about this story for it to matter so here it is. With the story where it's currently at I've been going back and reading previous chapters and there's kind of a big change that I want to make for the sake of the later plot. If anyone is curious for more I'd be happy to break down the reasoning and other details in PM's. There won't be any huge changes to the overall story, just some slight additions here and there of things that honestly I should have planned more properly beforehand. With this I'm hoping that it doesn't affect my update schedule too much next week but there will be a couple changes for the existing chapters, again if you're curious I'd be happy to break it down in PM. Anyways, thanks so much for reading, hope you all liked it!
