A/N: Hey sorry for literally vanishing off the face of the earth on here. I have done some writing stuff but most of it is really short so I didn't bother posting it here. I know this isn't the one I get pestered to update but let's be real; there's enough people sailing the good ship Arkos that my contribution isn't really needed nor able to measure up. So my favourite, super OOC BrOTP returns due to some friends pestering me to get back to it. Hope you enjoy and sorry to all of you who don't get this stuff at all.
"That's a stupid idea, even for you, Yang," Cardin grunted, as he continued his reps on the butterfly machine.
"Why, are the other guys that bad?" the blonde inquired, taking a long swig from her water bottle.
"That's not the issue and you know it." As the former bully allowed his arms to drop, the heavy weights clanked back into place. He lumbered to his feet and grabbed his towel off the back of the machine. "Just tell me that no one else knows about the concert or any of this."
"Dude, I cannot believe you'd accuse me of that."
"You told Blake, didn't you?" Cardin knew Yang did, before her mannerisms gave her away. The cat Faunus had almost warmed up to her former aggressor. Almost but Cardin had no illusions that that bridge was still somehow burning at the bottom of the ocean.
"Okay, fine," admitted Yang, under the knowing purple gaze of her workout buddy. "But she won't tell anyone. Huntresses honour." The blonde slashed her thumb across her heart.
"I'm sure," replied the orange-haired teen, making no attempt to mask his dripping sarcastic tone. "In any case, I'm not doing it."
"Look, even if they suck at singing, that's what auto-tune is for."
"Again, missing the point." Cardin took a brief gulp of water before continuing, his tone vastly quieter and almost softer. "They still don't know."
Yang was astonished. "How? I mean, they're your team!"
"I know," muttered Cardin. "But I know these guys. Russell would go and try to blackmail me with it. Sky and Dove would go with him, because despite being named for birds, they are more like lemmings." Cardin spit by his ankle. "Loyalty of pigs."
"Hate to interrupt your Old McDonald rehearsal but check out ten-o'-clock."
Cardin was about to object to Yang's smartass remark when she forcibly turned his body to see what was entering the gym. Blond, tall, and not-so-scraggly, Jaune walked in with Pyrrha at his side. The two were laughing as a lot of the fellow gym goers were also looking with astonishment. Sure, there were rumours about Pyrrha training Jaune but for the first time the results were on full display. Jaune's arms were no longer hidden by his oversized hoodie and were not the noodle-y consistency everyone was expecting. Even through his workout hoodie, he had some clearly visible musculature developing.
And Pyrrha, well. Everyone knew she was a well-honed force to be reckoned with. Cardin swore he still had some bruises from their fight back in first year. But she never visited the gym. At least, no one ever saw her here. People said she came here to train only when it was empty. Others said she did all of her workouts in Emerald Forest, benchpressing Ursas and armwrestling Beowolves. Cardin used to laugh off these ridiculous stories but a year later, he was finding the stories to be far more plausible than not.
"You know," said Yang, drawing Cardin out of his thoughts. "Jaune's got some good moves…"
"No."
"Maybe he'd be a decent singer too…"
"No."
"If you don't go up and ask him, I will."
Cardin's face paled. "Y-You wouldn't…"
"I'm sure," replied the blonde teen, making no attempt to mask her dripping sarcastic tone.
The silence between the two grew as they stared each other down. A moment later, Cardin groaned and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. Stay here."
As Cardin made his way to the entrance of the gym, he saw that the dynamic duo had drawn an audience as people crowded around the unusual visitors. Cardin had no issue shoving people out of the way to get to his goal, a plan formulating in his mind as he approached Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Jauney Boy, haven't seen you around here before," chuckled Cardin, as he managed to get face-to-face with his former favourite chew toy. The instantaneous flash of fear on Jaune's face and contempt on Pyrrha's face confirmed that they still saw him for the thug he was. He couldn't blame them for that but he felt himself conflicted on whether to take pride or be somewhat upset about it. That was a choice for another time.
"Cardin," Jaune and Pyrrha replied, their voices both quiet but also retaining a certain edge to them.
"Look, I ain't here for a fight," began Cardin before stopping himself with a laugh. "Well, I am, sort of. It's been a while since you and I had a good sparring match, Jauney Boy."
"Then allow me to be the one to put you in your place," said Pyrrha, stepping forward.
"Well, we all know how that would go, Nikos," Cardin replied, seeing a look of shock and confusion paint itself across the Mistrali teen's face. "I'm looking for someone in my own weight class, not several notches above it."
Jaune and Pyrrha shared a momentary glance before the blond stepped forward. "If you think I'm too scared to fight you…"
"I know you ain't, blondie," sneered Cardin, tilting his head towards the sparring ring. "I just want to see if your looks are just that or if you actually learned anything."
As Cardin finished adjusting his armour and made his way to the ring, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "You were supposed to ask him about helping you start a boy band. How badly did you fuck that up?"
Yang only received a shrug in reply as Cardin stood opposing a foe he had triumphed over easily in the past. But this wasn't the Jaune he had cowed into submission a year ago. He could tell as much by looking in those fierce blue eyes.
"You're going down, Cardin!" Jaune shouted, charging towards Cardin. Maybe the former bully gave his opponent too much credit. The headlong charge was still as reckless as it was stupid.
"Big words for a chump!" replied Cardin, winding up his mace arm to intercept the telegraphed assault. But at the last second, Jaune turned on his heel and rolled to the side, causing Cardin's blow to swipe at empty air and crunch into the ring. "Wait, what?"
Jaune wasted no time in charging from his new angle and slashing at his former antagonist. But Cardin was not going to lie down. Not in front of the crowd that had gathered here. Not after losing so many times to Yang. Not now.
The sound of clashing metal echoed the gym as the blade and mace met time and time again. How did I end up on the defensive?! thought Cardin, narrowly catching another swing with his own weapon. Well enough was enough. Another horizontal swing from Jaune lashed out. It was now or never. Instead of bringing his weapon up, Cardin ducked the attack and found himself standing to Jaune's side, where the blue-eyed hunter-in-training was vulnerable. Gotcha. Cardin wound up his attack and aimed for Jaune's back, where it would knock him flying and set the momentum in his favour.
The blow landed but not like Cardin had intended. His mighty mace's assault bounced off its target. Worse still, it seemed the strength of the attack was repelled with equal force, wrenching the weapon from Cardin's grip and tossing it to the other side of the arena with a loud clatter. Somehow, the situation was even less fortunate than that; Jaune was already turning back to face him.
"Don't give up now, musclehead!"
Jaune spun to the audience and saw Yang. "Yang?! Why are you cheering on this jerk?!" Yang only shrugged, but Cardin silently thanked her immensely. By the time Jaune turned his attention back to the fight, Cardin once again had his hands wrapped around his trusty weapon.
"Nice parlour trick, Arc," scoffed Cardin, spinning his mace around his hand. "But enough toying around!" Slamming his weapon into the ground with enough force to rattle the ring, an explosive trail shot out of the ground towards Jaune. The blond easily rolled out of the way but found himself barely having the time to raise his shield to block Cardin's renewed assault.
The two jumped back from the clash, both grinning from ear-to-ear. It did not last long, as the two threw themselves at each other. The mace slammed into the shield with boneshattering force, as Jaune planted his back leg onto the ground. The force of the blow made the blond sink to a knee… Or so it appeared. As Jaune's knee hit the hard floor, he dropped his blade and shield, throwing the airborne Cardin into a state of off-balance.
What happened next, Yang would remind Cardin of for the next two weeks. Jaune wrapped his now free arms around Cardin's waste, his hands gripping his elbows. The momentum carried the larger teen as Jaune bent his back. About a second after the mace had hit the shield, Cardin found himself slamming head first into the ground.
Three words Cardin never expected to hear were then read out in a monotonous robotic voice. Jaune Arc wins. The voice made his head hurt. Well, it added to the ringing pain in any case. So did the roaring applause of the crowd. Grumbling, Cardin balled up his fists and pushed himself to a kneeling position. He lost to Jaune Arc. He would never live this down.
"Good fight, Cardin."
Cardin looked up to see Jaune extending a hand down to him. Grabbing it, he pulled himself up. "Yeah, sure. Next time I won't go easy on ya." But the jab was spoken with a slight smile, which Jaune caught.
"Right, now that the kiddies have had their turn, time for your main event!" Yang hopped onto the ring to raucous applause. "Pyrrha Nikos. You and me. I need a challenge for once."
As Cardin and Jaune made their way out of the ring and Pyrrha made her way in, the blond turned to his vanquished opponent. "Is she always like this?"
"No. She's more of the punch first, roar challenges second type."
Yang watched her opponent take her position across the ring, her lilac eyes burning with eagerness. She had always wanted a rematch after losing to Pyrrha in a narrow defeat back in first year. But not this time. Yang was tougher than ever and if Pyrrha had spent most of her time training Jaune, she'd be rusty.
"I'm gonna win this time, Pyrrha," sneered Yang, bashing Ember Celica together before launching herself forward. Pyrrha wasn't one to participate in trash talk, so she readied her shield for the oncoming charge.
As the blonde lashed out with blow after blow, Cardin watched with awe as Pyrrha blocked every single strike effortlessly. Or so it initially seemed, but he saw the Mistrali champion furrowing her brow. Champion Pyrrha may be, but Yang was a monster in a fight; a dragon with the force to fight beyond what human limits should be.
"Pyrrha's won," said Jaune, handing Cardin an ice pack for his black eye.
The orange-haired teen scoffed. "I know Pyrrha's good but Yang is not to be underestimated. And the last time they fought, they were evenly matched."
Jaune shrugged and the two turned back to the fight. Yang was still blazing forward, each blow now clearly taking its toll on Pyrrha. But in a flash, the sword expanded into a spear and the length of the weapon caught Yang in the throat and sent her reeling backwards. A flash of red in those lilac eyes told Cardin all he needed to know; the match was over and Pyrrha couldn't stand to have another of Yang's blows land, blocked or not. And Yang was too fast for Pyrrha to dodge.
"I get wanting your girlfriend to win, but Pyrrha's toast now," said Cardin.
"You'll see," replied Jaune, taking a long draw from his juice box.
As Yang charged back, her long blonde hair flowing and glowing behind her, her fists became a blur. But somehow they were an inaccurate blur, somehow missing Pyrrha each time. The Mistrali champion was not phased in the slightest and launched herself into the center of the strikes, sending Yang flying a swing of her sword. Yang's feet had hardly touched the ground before she was rocketing towards her opponent again, aiming a single punch for Pyrrha's bright green eyes.
Pyrrha smirked and tilted her head to the left. The fist soared right through where her face had been a split second prior, before Yang's chin was slammed with Pyrrha's round shield. The blow lifted the bruiser off her feet and when she came back down, the buzzer sounded. Pyrrha Nikos wins.
The crowd was silent. Yang and, to a lesser degree, Cardin ruled the sparring ring at the gym. And not only had Cardin lost to someone not named Yang, but she had lost as well. The silence did not last long, however, as the captive audience screamed their applause. Pyrrha, like Jaune, helped her beaten opponent to their feet and the two exchanged congratulations on the match.
Cardin just turned slowly to look at Jaune, who had the most infuriating 'I-told-you-so' grin on his face. "Just drink your damn juice box, Arc."
On the airbus back to school, Yang and Cardin nursed their physical injuries and wounded pride. While neither had lost too resoundingly, they had both lost to newcomers to the gym.
"I freaking had her!" exclaimed Yang, quickly quietening down and wincing as her side pain flared up again.
"I know the feeling," muttered Cardin. "It never seems like she's moving fast enough to avoid you but she always does. Besides, it could be worse."
"Yeah. I could've lost to Jaune Arc."
"Well, I was saying you could've lost a lot easier, but sure. Make fun of me some more."
"Oh come on, Cardin," Yang's laughed helped soothe Cardin's bristliness somewhat. "You did alright yourself. But I gotta give ladykiller some props on that suplex. It was textbook."
Cardin sighed. "I really liked that gym. I can't go back there anymore. Not now."
"You lost one little fight."
"One little fight to Jaune Arc is all my reputation needs. Not to mention all those fun public humiliation matches against you…"
"You know what I have to say to that?"
Cardin moaned. It had been a while but he knew exactly what was next. "Get good?"
"Get good." Yang's posture straightened. "You aren't bad, Cardin, but you can't rely on brute strength all the time. Sometimes you gotta be a bit faster on your feet. And a bit faster up here," she tapped her forehead, "but I realize that's asking a bit much of you."
Cardin just sighed and held the mostly melted ice pack to his eye again. "You're right; I'm no good. A failure of a hunter."
"Are you deaf or something? Did you not just hear me say 'you aren't bad, Cardin' or does your mind just blank out everything before your name gets said?"
"Or what?" Cardin managed a weak laugh. "But seriously, Yang, why bother with me?"
"Because you've helped me out sometimes," she muttered. "And if you were there for me when I needed it, you're my friend. So I'll be there for you, capiche?" A heavy slap on the back made both of the battered Beacon students wince.
"Thanks, Yang."
"Don't mention it…" Yang suddenly punched Cardin on the arm, eliciting a shout of pain.
"What the hell was that for?!"
"You moron! You never asked Jaune about joining your boy band!"