Chapter 3 – In Which Nikos Lays It Out

"Shut. Up."

Jaune sat up, and looked over at Pyrrha. She had a violent look in her eye, and she was trembling with anger. He unconsciously scooted a little farther away from the furious Amazon.

"Just shut up, Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted. She sat up—a little too fast; she was still dizzy—and yelled, "I am so damn sick of this pity-party you've been having for yourself this week! I know you haven't been writing an essay."

"P-p-pyrrha—"

"No! Just shut up and listen to me!" Pyrrha was trembling even more now due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "I don't ever want to hear you say that I deserve better than you ever again." By now, she had moved over to Nora's bed and had all but backed Jaune against the headboard. The fear he felt when he saw that Deathstalker during initiation was nothing when compared to seeing Pyrrha Nikos truly angry at him.

Narrowing her eyes with fury, Pyrrha sat on her knees and leaned on her hands directly in front of her terror-stricken partner. "Jaune, did it ever occur to you that I might have actually wanted to be your partner? I'm the one who pinned you to that tree and searched you out at initiation, remember? It wasn't because I felt sorry for you or any crap like that." Like Yang, Jaune knew that if Pyrrha was using language like that, it was really serious.

Meanwhile, Ren was over on his bed, sincerely wishing that he was not in the room but too afraid to move.

Pyrrha went on. "I thought you were funny, and… and… nice," she waved a hand as she searched for the word, "and I knew that you weren't just plotting to team up with me because I was famous or good at fighting. I'm not stupid; I knew that's why Weiss was sucking up to me." She gritted her teeth at the memory and hung her head. Jaune was frozen in shocked silence.

"You told me that you want to live up to your family's reputation," she growled, "but did you ever think about the pressure that will be on you if you do? It's like being a team leader all the time but a lot harder. People depend on you; look up to you. They expect you to be strong all the time!" Jaune—still petrified—had never thought of it that way before.

"You put them on a pedestal, you think they're perfect, you you you! That's who it's all about, isn't it? Did you ever think about how they feel?" She looked up at Jaune for a moment, then, unable to meet his eyes any longer, let her eyes dart to random objects around the room. Jaune was starting to realize that Pyrrha had moved on from talking about him and was now talking about herself.

"Do you think it's easy even when you… when you… win tournaments, and have your picture taken all the time? When you don't know if people actually like you or if they just want things from you because you're famous?" Jaune could clearly smell the alcohol on her breath as she moved a little closer, panting and leaning more heavily on her hands.

"When you have to financially support your family when you're fifteen, knowing full well that if you so much as broke your leg, your parents would have to move back to your grandparents' farm and… and… breed horses?" Pyrrha's face scrunched up as she tried in vain to suppress the tears in pooling her eyes. "To be just like… like… a horse? Trained, worked, groomed, shown off, admired," she broke off and sobbed a few times, "and still be able to be rendered useless in one second?" Then the dam burst, and Pyrrha started crying her eyes out for the second time that night. She crawled several feet away from Jaune and flopped down on Nora's bed before curling up as tightly as she could.

Seeing his beloved partner crying like a little girl at the foot of the bed brought tears to Jaune's own eyes. He hated seeing any girl cry, but when it was Pyrrha… He finally realized what he'd been putting the girl through. Without even realizing it, he'd put her on a pedestal, and he hadn't considered how she felt. Pyrrha didn't need another admirer; she needed a friend who would treat her like an equal. Jaune's high opinion of Pyrrha had come back to bite him.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was still curled into a little ball—at least, as small a ball as possible since she still had half of her armor on—and weakly berating herself for her outburst. She had schooled herself for years to suppress outbursts of emotion like this because other people looked to her as a source of strength. If she broke down, they might, too. But tonight, it was like she couldn't help it. Later, Pyrrha would realize that it was the alcohol that had finally induced her to lower her inhibitions enough to say what she'd wanted to say all that time. And—to her surprise—letting it all out was a relief. She hadn't felt this relieved for so long…

Ren took the opportunity to slip out into the hallway in order to escape the extremely awkward situation in the room as well as intercept Nora when she got back from the movie.

Pyrrha's sobbing was starting to die down, so Jaune took a chance and touched her on the shoulder. "Pyrrha?" His hand was smacked away as Pyrrha sat up again quickly.

"Don't touch me!" she snarled. Jaune jerked back like he'd been bitten.

"I-I j-just wanted t-to apologize for—"

"For what?" Pyrrha shouted. "For being a 'bad friend' or a 'bad partner' or something like that?" As Jaune looked at her miserably, his eyes red and puffy, Pyrrha realized that she was being too hard on the boy. He just wanted to help, and dust knows she understood that feeling. She slumped her shoulders and stared at the bedcovers, then sighed heavily and lowered her voice. "Jaune, the only way I'd say you were being a bad partner… or a bad friend… is when you shut me out like you have the past few days. I… just want to help you… with whatever… because you're my best friend… and my partner… and I…" She sniffled a little and hiccupped. "It's like you don't trust me, and I don't know if it's because of something I did, or if you needed to do things on your own, or if I tried pushing you too hard, or—" She was interrupted from her rambling when Jaune touched her shoulder.

To Jaune's immense relief, she didn't slap his hand away again. He rubbed her shoulder gently. "Pyrrha," he began hesitantly. His partner still refused to look him in the eye, but didn't stop him. "I didn't realize that you were holding so much back, and you're right about me. I haven't been thinking about how you feel, and I am so sorry." Jaune choked a little on those last words. "You didn't do anything that made me push you away. I guess I just… didn't want to bother you with my problems." Pyrrha looked up at him for a second, then back down at the bed. Jaune continued rubbing her shoulder. "I guess that just made it worse. I was worrying about you, and I guess you were worrying about me… and we were both trying to be the strongest…"

"And now we're here." Pyrrha finished. She blinked sleepily and lay down on her stomach. "I guess we should just try to be strong by working together." She yawned. "And actually talking to each other, dustdammit." She laughed softly in spite of herself.

"Yeah." Jaune scooted back over to the headboard. "Dust, this has been a long night."

"Mmmhm," Pyrrha mumbled in agreement, before finally nodding off.

Jaune continued to watch over Pyrrha, glad to see that she was finally getting some sleep. If anyone deserved it right now, she did. The Amazon was still a total mess: red hair everywhere, face blotchy from crying, half-dressed in her sweaty combat armor, smelling like alcohol, and stretched out crossways at the foot of Nora's bed. Despite all that, she looked like she was sleeping more peacefully than Jaune had ever seen her sleep before. Was it the alcohol or was it the relief borne of not having to carry such a heavy burden all alone anymore? Dust only knew…

As he looked at the sleeping girl, Jaune again thanked the gods for such an amazing partner. He had never meant to hurt her; he just got caught up in his own issues again without thinking about how that could affect her. He was so stupid! Pyrrha was nothing if not loyal and willing to drop everything to help him—even to a fault, bless her. From then on, Jaune resolved to be a better partner… and a better friend… to Pyrrha. He really did care about her—no, he loved her—and he was going to start treating her like it. The object of his affection was now drooling on Nora's comforter. Jaune smiled softly and slumped back against the headboard.

Approximately two minutes later, he was just nodding off when the door swung open and a loud, high-pitched voice said: "Ren, why are Jaune and Pyrrha on my bed?"

Nora had returned.

Ren grabbed Nora's shoulders and Jaune frantically held a finger to his lips but it was too late.

Pyrrha groaned and pushed herself up on her arms. "Nora… I'm trying to sleep." She blinked a few times to focus on the source of the annoying racket that had woken her.

Nora crossed her arms. "But you're on my bed! Go sleep on your own."

Pyrrha collapsed back down onto the bed, knocking a purple stuffed unicorn onto the ground as she did so. "I don't wanna. I'm happy right here." Her voice was muffled by the large, pink, Ursa plushie she was currently burying her face in.

Ren squeezed Nora's shoulders to get her attention. "Nora, Pyrrha's had a really rough night… just let her use your bed." Nora turned around to glare at him. "Please?" Ren was pleading with her at this point.

Nora looked back at Pyrrha, noting her mussed hair and makeup as well as the fact that she was still wearing half of her armor. "Ren," she whisper-yelled, "what happened to Pyrrha? She looks like hell!" The disheveled Amazon heard that and growled.

Jaune quickly got off of Nora's bed and ushered his other two teammates into the hallway and shut the door. "Listen, Nora. Pyrrha got drunk and kinda fell asleep on your bed—"

"She got drunk? But that's illega—" Ren clamped a hand over the now-shouting Nora's mouth.

Jaune shot Ren a grateful look. "That's why we've got to be extra quiet! You don't want her to get in trouble, do you?" Nora—mouth still covered by Ren's hand—shook her head. "Right, so we've got to be quiet when we go back in there, and just let her sleep, okay?" Nora nodded.

She licked Ren's hand and he quickly removed it from her mouth. She looked back at her leader. "But Jauuuune… where am I gonna sleep?" Ren wiped his hand on his shirt and looked at Jaune, who looked at Nora, who looked at Ren.

Jaune rubbed his temples; it was really too late for this. "Nora, can't you just sleep on Pyrrha's bed?"

"No! Since I broke it when I was playing 'the floor is lava' last month, she forbade me from ever getting on it ever again." Jaune recalled that incident. If Pyrrha woke up in the middle of the night and dragged herself over to her bed only to find Nora lying on it… he shuddered.

"Okay, you can sleep on my bed."

Nora's eye's widened. "Your bed? But you're a boy! I could get cooties or something! Ew! Eww!" She had returned to her default volume of "outside voice".

Ren squeezed her shoulder again. "Nora, not so loud." He looked at Jaune, who was clearly backed into a corner as far as sleeping arrangements went. "She… could sleep on my bed…" Ren ventured. Nora's eyes lit up and she started bouncing around Ren excitedly, chattering about sleepovers they'd used to have when they were younger and hanging off of her partner's neck. "If… *cough* Jaune says… it's okay… *cough*" Nora released Ren's neck and looked at Jaune expectantly.

That look in her eye… Jaune had seen it somewhere before. That's right: when he'd tried to take a piece of raw chicken away from a Rottweiler. "Fine," he sighed. Nora started making high-pitched sounds that were quickly silenced by Ren. Jaune looked to the quiet boy. "As long as both of you stay clothed." Ren nodded while still fending off the elated Nora.

Finally they made their way back into the room. Pyrrha was still sleeping on Nora's bed, drooling again… right onto the pink stuffed Ursa she was using for a pillow.

"Oh no." The words had barely left Ren's mouth before Nora was marching over to the sleeping Amazon. Jaune looked at Ren—what was it this time?—who said, "Nora never sleeps without her stuffed Ursa."

Jaune sighed. He didn't even have the energy to panic anymore. "The one Pyrrha is using as a pillow, right?" Ren nodded. Both boys knew that it was pointless to intervene now. They were just going to make sure the girls didn't kill each other.

Nora tapped Pyrrha on the shoulder. "Pyrrha, you can stay on my bed, but I need Ursee back."

"Shut up, Nora. I'm trying to sleep," Pyrrha grumbled.

"No, not until you give back Ursee!" Nora had been sleeping with Ursee for the past fifteen years and she wasn't about to stop now.

"What are you talking about? Go away."

"I will go away as soon as you let go of Ursee!" Nora was not going to drop this.

Dimly, Pyrrha realized that "Ursee" was the thing she was using as a pillow.

Pyrrha mumbled incoherently and relinquished the stuffed toy, grabbing another and stuffing it under her head.

Nora grabbed it eagerly. "Yay! I have rescued you, Ursee, from the clutches of the—" Her gaze darkened. "You drooled on Ursee."

Pyrrha, though visibly agitated at this point, apologized, and rolled over to go back to sleep.

She turned to Ren and Jaune, and said, "What am I supposed to do now? Ursee still has drool and Pyrrha-germs all over him!" Unfortunately, she'd forgotten all about the "be quiet and don't disturb Pyrrha" concept they'd gone over in the hall.

"Nora! Go the hell to bed!" Pyrrha screamed, sitting up to face her hyperactive teammate.

"Stop yelling at me! You're the one who slobbered all over Ursee!" Nora screamed back.

"Nora…" Ren said, trying to convince his overexcited partner to leave the Amazon alone. "We can go clean Ursee off with a washcloth now, then wash him with the laundry tomorrow."

Nora and Pyrrha didn't even hear him; the boys just had to stand there and watch the trainwreck happen right in front of them.

"'Ursee' is not my problem. Just take him and go to bed already!"

"No! Ursee must have justice!" Nora pounded her fist decisively into her other hand.

Pyrrha was losing interest in this stupid argument and lay back down. "Bite me," she muttered.

The words had scarcely left her mouth before Pyrrha felt a set of teeth sinking into her right upper arm. She turned to look and found herself face-to-face with a gleeful Nora.

The instant Pyrrha had said "bite me," Ren sprung into action. Nora never backed down from a challenge, and everyone in their middle school could attest that she was prone to biting.

But he was too late; the damage had been done.

Pyrrha looked wildly around for Miló, her hand glowing black as she used her semblance to try to summon the spear to her gauntlet. Jaune did his best to reach her gym bag and grab the weapon before she got ahold of it, but something entirely unexpected happened: Pyrrha—hands still glowing black—was yanked off of the bed and fell to the floor before skidding a few feet and…

Sticking to the minifridge.

In her drowsy, alcohol-addled state, Pyrrha had lost control of her semblance and accidentally magnetized her armor to the nearest large metal object: Team JNPR's minifridge. As though that weren't bad enough, she hadn't figured that out yet and was still using her semblance to try to summon Miló, causing her to stick even more strongly to the fridge.

For a moment everyone went silent. Then Nora burst out laughing at her embarrassed and extremely pissed-off teammate. Jaune and Ren didn't dare laugh at Pyrrha—though Ren secretly thought it was pretty funny—and were just formulating a plan to evacuate Nora (and Ursee) from Beacon when Yang practically kicked down the door.