A/N: We're coming up to the dance! Dance Dance Inflitration is probably my favourite episode in the entire show. I'm really excited!
As always, leave a review about what you thought! I'm curious to hear what you think about her father, too.
Laws of Attraction
After she had a few moments to clear her head, Pyrrha was able to bring herself back down to JNPR's bedroom. Although spring was fast approaching- and with it, the Vytal Festival- the winter's evening chill was still more than enough to drive her indoors. One could only contemplate whilst freezing outside so many times per week, after all.
Rather than putting her combat gear away, she headed straight home. There was no class the next day, so she'd be able to return her gear and pick up her school uniform leisurely later. As she approached her bedroom door, however, something caught her attention. Leaning against the ajar frame, ducking her head out of sight, she tuned back into what was going on within the room, the frustrated, familiar voices spilling into the hall.
"I just… don't know... how to... girls. Um," she heard Jaune pause, desperately trying to find the right words, "I-I guess what I'm asking is... Well, how did you and Nora... y'know..."
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, trying to stifle the chuckle which wanted to escape despite her soured mood. She could practically see Ren's fear and confusion when she heard the more taciturn boy's voice mumble dazedly back.
A lighter, more feminine voice cleared their throat and laughed nervously, and the sheepish smile Nora was probably wearing was clear as day to Pyrrha's mind's eye. "We're actually not 'together-together...'"
Jaune immediately screeched, "Nora, I said headphones on!"
"Oop!" Nora squealed.
Pyrrha's fingers itched to push open the door, to see what was going on with her own eyes. She bit her tongue and waited.
She heard Ren sigh. "Jaune, what is this all about?"
To her surprise, rather than putting on a show or trying to play it off, Jaune sighed just as heavily as he had upon the rooftop with Pyrrha- maybe even more so. "It's Weiss," he finally admitted, and Pyrrha's heart sank to the floor. It really was serious, if he was even talking to Ren and Nora about her. "I'm completely head-over-heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented-" the boy paused, and Pyrrha could despondently imagine the light shining from his eyes as he added incredulously, "I mean, have you heard her sing? I-I just wish she'd take me seriously, y'know? I-I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up." He let out a heavy breath, and the room quieted.
Pyrrha pressed her forehead against the wall, trying to banish all the thoughts which were surging through her mind unbidden. I'm half of what he said! I'm smart, I do well in classes, I'm talented- that's what everyone says- so why?
And yet, she knew why. He doesn't want you. He wants Weiss- he wants someone 'graceful'. He wants someone who can sing, who can flirt, who's feminine, who's incredible. She let out a shaking breath she didn't know she'd been holding. And I'm not.
So what's left? she reasoned with herself. If I'm really not the one he wants, no matter what I do, then what is left for me?
A part of her cringed at the thought. She hadn't done anything to win Jaune over, not really. Jaune had put more effort to woo his crush than Pyrrha could ever imagine doing for Jaune. It was just too terrifying to even think of acting flirtatiously around him. For some reason, though, it was too hard to acknowledge that fact head-on. Her heart ached too much from the thought of not doing anything, of just accepting her place as Jaune's teammate- but it also ached from the thought of what rejection would feel like, coming from the sweet boy's lips.
It had already hurt too much when he had pushed her away during their fallout over Cardin. If he ignored her again, she didn't know how she'd react. She didn't want to know.
But she knew what to do in this instance. She hated it, hated the fact that her stomach knotted itself up and that her palms were sweaty in her gloves. She couldn't stand the trembling of her shoulders, the knobbiness of her knees as they clanked together in her greaves. She hated feeling powerless like this- this wasn't who she was, and yet, she couldn't change a thing.
Because no matter how hard she tried, she'd never be as icy sweet as Weiss Schnee.
She paused, took a deep breath in, out- 1, 2- and stood in the doorway, placing the sweetest smile she could muster upon her lips.
"Then do it." She was proud at how calm and level her voice was, how self-assured she seemed.
Three surprised pairs of eyes looked up at her, and she had to keep her expression neutral as she saw what had actually occurred in the room. It seemed that Jaune had cornered Ren right after the quiet boy had finished his shower, as he was still clad in nothing but a small towel around his waist and an expression of pure discomfort. Nora was seated upon her bed, pulling her headphones off her ears to listen in on what Pyrrha was about to say.
And Jaune- Jaune looked confused, startled, unsure of what she meant. "Uh, wha-?"
She ambled into the room slowly, stomach plummeting to the floor with every step. "Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just... be honest."
The blond's trademark self-doubt and concern flashed upon his features. "But what if-"
"Jaune," she insisted, searching his worried eyes. They were so, so blue, so bright and clear and lost- and not looking at her. Not really.
Her brows furrowed before she could help it, and she couldn't maintain her calm expression. Wryly, she murmured, "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."
After a moment of meeting her gaze, she watched confidence click into place. "You're right." He began scooting out of the room with a newfound vigor. "Thanks, Pyrrha! Good talk, Ren!" he added, waving to the still-half-naked boy seated upon his bed. He seemed more lively and determined than he had been since the silly guitar performance.
Ren smiled and waved back to the blond as he left the room, taking Pyrrha's smile with him. She felt all her energy slip away, and she stumbled to her desk, ready to go to bed and put an end to this day. As she passed Nora, she heard the soft, tired words of her friend stabbing her through the heart.
"Practice what you preach, Pyrrha," the smaller girl murmured quietly.
The redhead braced herself upon the back of a chair, letting out a shaky sigh. She shrugged, feeling a wave of frustration wash over her again for the umpteenth time that day. "It's not that easy."
"It could be," Nora insisted. "You clearly know what to do. Just do it, already."
"I wish I could, Nora," came the mild reply after she had leveled out her voice. She could practically hear the disappointment dripping off of every tired word from Nora.
Out of the corner of her eye, Pyrrha saw Ren's uncomfortable expression shift. Meekly, he glanced between the two girls, then shuffled over to his closet. "Did something happen, Pyrrha?" he asked, trying to gauge the situation. He still didn't know about her feelings for Jaune, after all.
Neither girl replied.
"Can I put on pants now?" he mumbled.
"Yes Ren," Nora replied, eyes never leaving Pyrrha. Her shoulders had gone rigid, her voice unexpectedly icy. Without another word, Ren nodded and complied, grabbed his clothes off a hanger and bolted out of the room.
When Ren shut the door behind him, however, Pyrrha felt all the energy finally drain out of her. She collapsed heavily onto the chair, rubbing her eyes tiredly. A faint pinprick behind her eyes signalled potential tears, and the utter feeling of inadequacy overwhelmed her once more.
She didn't get a chance to become truly distraught, thankfully, as Nora stood up and began rummaging through Ren and Jaune's closet. After a moment, she found what she was looking for and pulled out a small box of chocolates. Pyrrha raised a brow, but the orange-haired girl simply put a finger up to her lips and giggled weakly. "The last place he'd expect a stash, right?"
"That was mean, Nora. Ren doesn't get the whole situation."
"I'll apologize later. He knows I didn't mean it. He saw me hitting puberty, he knows what I look like when there's actually an issue," Nora added, rolling her eyes.
She didn't have any words to argue with that. With that, Pyrrha unbuckled her armor, changed into her pyjamas, and curled up on Nora's bed with the smaller girl, picking out little pieces of chocolate from the assorted container.
"If it's any consolation," Nora murmured through a mouthful of coconut cream-filled squares, "I think you're prettier."
Pyrrha instantly knew what she was talking about, and before she knew it, she was throwing her head back in a hearty laugh, the sound brightening up the stilted atmosphere immediately. "That's not very nice," she chided at last, although it did warm her heart a little.
Nora shrugged and ate more chocolate, leaving Pyrrha to grin and push aside the disappointment for just a little while longer. If Jaune had stronger feelings for Weiss than Pyrrha, then the redhead had little she could say about it, after all. All she wanted was for Jaune to be happy, and if that meant she'd have to live with her own heart crumbling, then it would have to do. She'd figure out a way to piece it together again one day. She always figured out a way.
Thanks to Nora's antics (and her uncomfortably large supply of chocolate) Pyrrha was able to push the day's events out of her mind, and Saturday ended up being relatively low-key. She saw very little of Team RWBY, as Blake had disappeared somewhere whilst the other three girls were setting up for the dance on Sunday night. They insisted that they didn't need any additional help, however, leaving Pyrrha and her team very little to do other than study for midterms.
Jaune was really depressed that day. No one commented, but the tension- and its cause- was obvious, from the moment Jaune returned to their room Friday night. Pyrrha didn't know whether to feel happy that Jaune wasn't going to be unavailable, or upset that Weiss had clearly broken his heart. It hurt either way.
At least Ren was a bright spot in their day. He was dedicated to ensuring that Jaune did better this term than the last, so the quiet boy had become almost authoritarian in his regimented scheduling of Jaune's review and note-taking. Combining that with the higher effort the boy had been outputting in order to win Weiss over, and Jaune actually had a good chance of scoring decently for their next set of exams. It was very amusing to watch.
Thanks to his hard work, Ren decided to let them off the hook early that evening, giving Nora more than enough time to drag Pyrrha into their closet to scope out dresses to wear for the event the next day. It took the excitable girl barely five minutes to decide on a dress- a sweet, dark pink affair with a lighter, puffy chiffon petticoat. Absentmindedly, Pyrrha realized that the other girl didn't exactly have a large selection to choose from, having basically only the minimum of everything despite her bombastic personality and love for knickknacks.
Pyrrha was far different. Due to her numerous appearances as an 'upcoming star for Mistral' she had collected quite a plethora of dresses to choose from, all of them gifts from her mother. The older woman adored dressing Pyrrha up and parading her around during formal gatherings of Huntsmen and media folk alike.
She thumbed through a few hangers, but nothing stood out to her until saw a smooth, suede, floor-length dress she had worn for a gala the previous year. Running her fingers down the high, classy neckline, she felt a smile creep onto her face. Her mother had hated this dress- she had claimed it showed off too much of her legs, due to the long slit running up the right side, and too much of her shoulders, with its low scoop sinking down to rest upon the small of her bared back. And yet, when Pyrrha had worn it, she had loved it- she had felt confident and powerful and feminine in it. It was the only reason she had kept the thing, after all.
Well, that and the look on mother's face, she conceded wryly. It was one of her few past acts of rebellion against the woman; a fond memory.
"Ooh, that one's really cute," Nora commented excitedly, pausing from her own hunt for comfortable shoes amidst the pile at the bottom of their closet. "The colour matches your hair!"
Pyrrha hummed in response, holding it out to the light. Her father had always called her 'his little fireball' because the colour red suited her the most: the red and gold of his workshop, her hair, his metalwork, Miló and Akoúo. His fireball, perfect to go along with his own fiery Semblance, stoking the flames in his forge. She wasn't sure whether she would enjoy the dance- in fact, she knew she'd be alone for it, just as always. If she was going to be isolated anyways, that didn't mean she couldn't try and turn some heads, and maybe live up to the pedestal that people had placed her on. And maybe, just maybe, Jaune would look at her for once, too.
Maybe he'd call her 'wonderful' again.
A little flutter in her stomach showed her that she was actually looking forward to the following night. Flashing a soft smile at Nora, she hung the dress back up near the front where she could see it on display. It was perfect.