Author's Note- Stopped caring about RWBY forever ago but this is a nice vessel of random dumbass ideas I have so I guess that's what yall get huh (evidently I also get some dude's soul for writing this, how cool is that)? Been a few years so let's skip the preamble and get to it.
Pain, aching, suffering, pure and unapologetic agony. These among an endless number of other synonyms could all be used to describe the feeling coursing through each and everyone of Blake Belladona's screaming bones, and was the first thing she noticed as her conscious slowly returned to her. Beyond the ache she felt a subtle rocking and bobbing, as if she was being moved somewhere on some sort of vessel. Her entire world was black, and remained such as she slowly found the strength to open her impossibly heavy eyelids. It took multiple efforts and even then the world was still an unfocused blur. She managed a weak groan as things began to regain form, most notably a mane of blonde hair staring at her as she slowly came back to her senses.
"Hey, You! Finally awake?" The blonde called out to her, and she noted that the voice was too feminine to belong to the blonde she should have been waking up to. "You were trying to cross the line with Jaune weren't you, same as me...and that thief over there!" The Blonde, who she was now capable of identifying as her partner Yang, accentuated by turning her head to look at another passenger.
Said passenger responding with a jolt and then a glare. "Thief? Jaune was fine until you damn interlopers came along, I could have ridden him and been half way to our honeymoon by now!" Blake only knew one person who was lame enough to use the word "interlopers" in a sentence with full confidence, and quickly deduced the indignant thief was none other than Ruby.
"J-Jaune." Blake managed to groan out, gaining the attention of the sisters before they could get into one of their inane spats. "Where is Jaune?"
Ruby puffed up her cheeks in a pout before gloomily muttering "Over there." Yang also had a similar vibe as she sucked her teeth with a grimace. Blake used every ounce of willpower to force her uncooperative neck to turn, and sure enough there he was...sitting not in a seat, but rather in the lap of another with his hands on his knees as he meekly stared at the floor.
"H-Hi, Blake." He weakly offered, before jolting as his "seat" reached a hand up to stroke his hair.
"Now now Jaune, don't pay that siren any mind." Pyrrha, the cause of Blake's current condition, cooed with a content smile on her face. "Even in a wounded state she may try to lure you away, just focus on me and relax." She continued, causing only a solemn nod in affirmation from Jaune.
"Oum I wish that were me." Ruby groaned out in abject envy, before turning her focus back towards Blake. "She...suggested that she should have special privileges on the trip back, because she was the one that managed to get us a ride in the first place."
"And because she thoroughly thrashed you with almost no effort." Yang offered, as if Blake had already forgotten why she felt like death itself.
Ruby subtly glanced at her sister. "Huh, reminds me of somebody else I know." Yang also turned to face her sister with a look of disdain but it did nothing to stop Ruby. "I guess partners really do have a lot in common, maybe you two should have a badge or something. Y'know like from elections but instead 'I was destroyed by Pyrrha Nikos' after talking myself up' or something."
Yang snorted. "Oh yeah, because I guess it's an embarrassing thing to at least try to fight instead of just rolling over immediately." She nodded in Pyrrha's direction. "Or you trying to say you'd wipe the floor with her if push came to shove?" She challenged.
Ruby gave a glance to Pyrrah, who was currently on cloud nine with a dumb smile as she continued to pet and pamper Jaune, before turning back to her sister. "I mean, yeah. I'm team leader for a reason, I'm just built different. I would...uhh, just see red y'know. I got that dog in me." She answered confidently, in an incredibly hushed tone that Yang and Blake could barely hear while she constantly glanced over to make sure Pyrrha wasn't listening. A small shuffle, most likely just Jaune shifting in Pyrrha's lap, was enough to make her eager to change the subject though.
"A-Anyway, how are you feeling Blake?" She asked with a nervous smile.
Aura was doing it's part in mending the damage so speaking was becoming more and more possible, never easy though. "I...I am not d-daijoubu." She managed to choke out.
Ruby blinked a few times before turning towards Yang, who only offered a shrug, before responding. "Ummm, good to hear?" Blake groaned in response, a mix of pain and disgust at their lack of culture, before Ruby continued. "Anyway, we're on the way back to Beacon now and figured we had some things to sort out with you before hand."
Yang nodded. "Yep, make sure you're up to speed with how things are going to work from here out." She nodded in Jaune's direction. "Regarding the piece of work who took my spot as everybody's favorite blonde bombshell ever."
Blake narrowed her eyes in a glare that promised bloody murder, which maybe once upon a time could have been considered intimidating, but not now that she was sitting in her chair much like plastic bag filled with baked beans. "You mean how if you all know what's good for you, you walk away and leave Jaune to me and me alone."
There was a lurch in the bullhead while it gave a disgusting groan, as if in pain. Blake felt the seat under her distort and twist in an uncomfortable way, pieces of metal twisting and reshaping to jab her. A cold sweat formed as she turned towards Pyrrha, who merely retained her sweet and blissful smile as Jaune trembled in her lap.
"Ack!" Ruby cried out in a panic as she entered damage control mode. "No need to kill all of us Pyrrha, we'll sort this out. Swearsies!" She practically pleaded.
Slowly the bullhead stabilized, though the disformed chair under Blake remained as a reminder, and Pyrrha let out a giggle as if nothing had happened. "Isn't it amazing how stupid some creatures can be Jaune?" Jaune made no effort to respond.
Yang to her credit didn't even seem phased by the whole ordeal. "When she's right, she's right." She lowered her voice in mocking tone "Hurrrr, I'll just anger the person who can control metal while flying in a giant metal coffin, durrrr."
Ruby playfully slapped her sister's hand. "Yang!" She regarded Blake with a disarming smile. "Don't make fun her, she just didn't understand the situation she's in." While the smile remained her eyes were unnaturally calculating and...cold. "Right?"
Blake, being ever so calculating, merely responded nervously with a nod. "Right, a slip of the tongue."
Yang, not being so calculating, chortled. "Right, like how you tried to slip Jaune some tongue ha."
Ruby snapped her attention back to her sister with a mixed look of worry and awe of stupidity. "Maybe just let me handle the talking sis? Another thing you and your partner seem to share is a lack of...tact." She did her best to diplomatically tell her sister she was a bumbling idiot who just might get them killed.
Yang made no effort to retort, responding with a disinterested shrug. "K."
"Anyway, here's the thing Blake." She turned back towards Blake while interlocking her fingers with a posture that screamed pure business. "In a perfect world you" she glanced at all of the females on board instead of Blake specifically, "would understand that there are plenty of fish in the sea and move on from Jaune."
Blake retorted with venom and a sneer. "I don't want any damn fish."
"First time for everything huh?" Yang interjected again with a snort, this time even earning a chuckle from Ruby.
"We understand that Blake, and we know just like us you're dead set on Jaune." Ruby nodded with genuine understanding. "That being said the three of us have come to a understanding...more or less." She finished with a twinge of uncertainty, obviously some 'details' were up in the air.
Blake narrowed her eyes in wary curiosity. "An understanding? What and how?"
"Well simply put, we all get our happy ending without seriously maiming each other." Ruby answered with an excited smile.
"As for how, well more or less by reaching the same state you're currently in." Yang helped with the later question. "More in an emotional sense though, really got put through the ringer"
"Well yeah, but it was also pretty physical for Yang too." Ruby corrected, eager to put herself above her sister.
"Not as bad though." Yang corrected the correction, eager to defend her pride.
Ruby only gave a condescending look that asked "was it really though" before she turned back towards Blake. "And because I, your amazing leader, am so nice I figured I should extend this understanding to you, my loyal underling."
Blake mulled it over in her head, glancing at all the passengers as she did so. She would normally leave stupid puns to her partner but the truth of the matter is she may have burned through some of her supposed nine lives today. Like 'her amazing leader' said, in a perfect world it would just be her and Jaune but this was reality. She simply wasn't strong enough, cunning enough, fast enough, or ruthless enough to eradicate the competition like she had so boldly claimed. Hell even if she was, would Jaune ever just accept all his 'friends' biting the dust? Of course not. As annoying as it could be, that overly caring and accepting personality of his was part of why she fell in love...even if it at the moment directly conflicted with her ideals.
Of course there was the other issue that Blake loathed to admit, her self proclaimed 'tsundere' mentality of at the very least not wanting to outright murder her friends, which it would probably have to come to if she wanted to be the sole proprietor of Jaune's seed. She had hoped intimidation and maybe getting close to death would have gotten them to stop, giving how her body felt now compared to her resolve to keep pursuing Jaune she could only assume they had a similar mindset...actually she genuinely couldn't even tell if Pyrrha had the same misgivings about murder which admittedly worried her.
There was really only one possible answer in this situation, as imperfect as it was. "Fine." She slumped in her seat even further, though honestly a part of her felt relieved. That wouldn't stop her from pouting in her seat, as pouting and throwing a fit was evidently one of her favorite hobbies.
Ruby excitedly pumped her fists. "Yes! Score!" She offered a high five to her sister, who merely gave her a disinterested look, before turning back to face Blake. "An unanimous agreement, I knew we could do it!" She cheered in celebration.
The term "unanimous agreement" caused the most silent passenger of the bullhead to do some mulling over of his own. As Jaune sat in the lap of his partner, now lovesick near murderer, who was gently stroking his hair with the occasional sniff of his neck that he was sure she thought was subtle, he pondered the nature of his situation. On one hand they sometimes scared him with their...devotion and there was surely times, current position included, that felt just a tad bit emasculating. On the other hand however Jaune was still a hot blooded male and the idea that not one, but four, of the most beautiful women he knew was openly approving (read: demanding) of a relationship with him was frankly the best kind of absurd. Hell, it wasn't even a full day ago that he was counting his lucky stars that Ruby had accepted his confession and now here he was sitting in the lap of the girl he had written off as 'sister' because he genuinely thought there was zero chance of her seeing him in any light past platonic. Question upon question, with potential answers and counters raced in his mind.
Would he be a scumbag taking advantage of their feelings to live a playboy dream? If anything they were 'taking advantage' of him with how dead set they were all on the matter, and Jaune couldn't even find it in himself to mind or even play the victim. It's true that of the four he only ever saw Ruby in a romantic light, but that was more so out of self doubt and underestimation than anything else...wait, was that line of thinking rude towards Ruby? It's one thing to reject the mere idea of ever getting with a girl but another thing entirely to reject a girl that had made it abundantly clear that she wanted you.
Could they all be happy in poly relationship? Jaune had seen a few horror stories on the net, of desperate males 'opening' their relationship and some serious falling outs and insecurities that caused. The girls had not so subtly hinted that they were kind of settling with this arrangement, Yang saying earlier during the ride that "the bed should be a 1v1 pvp match", so would these issues pop up often?
Was he fine with being a perm bottom? The idea definitely caused the most blood to race to his face, he never really considered himself a super macho man, admittedly it did feel nice having his hair stroked, but there was still definitely some pride in his easily overpowered form. Then the idea struck him: would they be against him taking the lead? The last few days had been such a whirlwind of confusion and embarrassment that he had always felt swept off his feet, but maybe that didn't always have to be the case.
The sound of various bickering and conversation from the three members of RWBY was drowned out as he went deeper and deeper into his mind, but a dreamy sigh from Pyrrha as she pressed her cheek against his back snapped him out of his thoughts as a blush creeped to his face.
He allowed a small smile to form, surely even if he did feel like disputing Ruby's claim about a unanimous agreement the timed had passed anyway right? The bullhead came to a rest as the trip finished, and Jaune made ready to leave. Pyrrha, perhaps not even noticing the effort, had other ideas as she without any strain lifted him up in a bridal carry. "Could one of you do me a favor and remind the pilot about our agreement? I'd hate for anyone to get hurt." She chirped as she made her way off the landing pad with Jaune in her arms.
There was grumbles in response as Yang reached over to help Blake up, slinging one of her arms over her shoulder. "Bit late for that." Blake groaned in agreement.
Ruby waved her off. "Sure I'll handle it, you just make sure not to get carried away."
Yang shot her a suddenly interested glance. "A pun?"
Ruby looked confused. "Huh?" She then had an epiphany watching Pyrrha practically skip away with Jaune in her arms. "Oh, ha." She answered without any trace of humor.
Jaune, noting that the hallways were deserted because of the late hour, simply 'allowed' himself to be carried by Pyrrha as she skipped back towards their dorm happily humming. All in all, after weighing the pros and cons of the so called arrangement he had concluded that while the pros heavily, utterly, completely, totally outweighed the cons but he would still be mindful of them. One such potential 'con' would come rearing it's head in the from of his former crush Weiss. In all the hustle and bustle that followed he had nearly forgotten about the so called date he had set up with her, and how she was the first to call it such. Given his recent encounters with the fairer sex Jaune had come to an understanding about Weiss, and what tomorrow really meant.
It was plainly obvious that Weiss knew of her team's attraction toward him and was excited to share the news with him, as it would be the final nail in the coffin of his unrequited love. Like she had said, he had made the first step in mending their relationship to that of friendship and now she was going to return the favor by letting him on her team's little secret, probably why she had playfully referred to their outing as a date. He'd in turn surprise her with the news about the relationship and then they'd probably gossip like schoolgirls, heck maybe she'd even give him some pointers about dating! He smiled to himself as he played through the scenarios in his head, something that Pyrrha took notice of as they had made it back to their dorm.
"Oh? Excited about something Jaune~" She cooed as their door, only recently repaired, was thrown open unceremoniously.
"Hmmm?" Jaune looked up with an innocent smile, as Pyrrha looked down with a non innocent glint in her eyes. He blinked a few times, Pyrrha panted a few times, as understanding came to him.
Pyrrha gently laid Jaune down on his bed. "I promised I wouldn't take things too far, part of the agreement" she draped herself over him, "buuuut" she grabbed each side of his head gently, caressing the skin. "if you were to do something...well, that would be fair wouldn't it?"
Jaune gulped. "N-nah, that's not what I was thinking about...I mean not right now at least y'know?" He offered, and while there was a humpf of disappointment from Pyrrha she didn't push the issue, perhaps satisfied by the 'not right now' at the very least.
"Booooo." She pouted, while she slumped next him. It looked like at the very least cuddling was non-negotiable, and Jaune didn't really mind. "So then, what's got you smiling then?" She asked while she nuzzled herself into his side, tenderly drawing circles on his chest with a finger.
"Ah nothing, just thinking about Weiss is all." Jaune nonchalantly answered as he got comfortable.
The tender circle drawing immediately came to a stop. "What?"
Ending note: No, I do not feel sorry with opening after all this time with a Skyrim reference. Next chapter, whenever that comes out, may or may not focus on the long neglected Weiss, who knows. Oh also my keyboard is on the fritz a bit with my enter key sometimes inputting a backslash, I did my best to catch them but in case one is still up there somewhere: No, that is not some creative artistic flair.