Chapter 9: Bonding Time
Later that day, Beacon Academy Gym, 10:30 am…
"And, drop!" Nora called out, as Nathan dropped the barbell in front of him, bending down and letting out a breath.
"Fuck me, Nora! Remind me why I decided to agree to do one of your workouts?" Nathan asked.
"Well; you did say you wanted time with each of your teammates." Nora replied. "Figured we could do it by working out together."
"Well; good thing this gym already has music playing." Nathan remarked. "Only thing that'd make things worse is if you were playing your music while we were doing this."
"Don't give me ideas, Nathan!" Nora warned.
"Wasn't going to." Nathan replied. "Either way; how are you able to handle all that weight? You're lifting shit like that like it's nothing!"
"Probably cause I'm more conditioned for heavy lifting." Nora answered. "You're more built for agility and speed, while I've always been built for strength and power."
"Figured." Nathan muttered. "I seriously pity Ren as and when you both finally decide to fuck."
At that, Nora blushed, and then sighed. "It's that obvious, is it?"
"To a guy who can literally sense your emotions?" Nathan replied. "Yeah, it is kinda clear you like Ren in that manner."
"I can't help it!" Nora replied, meeting Nathan's gaze. "He's handsome, and nice, and my guts always do gymnastics whenever he's around and I hardly think straight! But I'm scared I'll mess things up, make things awkward, ruin what we have and I don't want that to happen to us!" Nora took a deep breath at that.
Smiling, Nathan walked up to Nora and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well; I heard you can't get it wrong if it's the truth, Nora. So… why not just tell him?"
Nora nodded and said: "I'll… do what I can." She replied.
"All anyone can really ask of you, Nora." Nathan said, before pulling Nora into a hug.
Nora sighed into the hug, saying: "I'm glad I have someone like you around, Nate."
"Same here, Nora." Nathan replied, stroking Nora's hair.
Later, the kitchen, 12:30 pm…
"You're surprisingly good at this." Ren remarked as Nathan sprinkled some seasoning onto the burgers they would be having for lunch.
"Picked up some cooking skills while on campaign one time." Nathan replied. "Thank fuck they came in useful once Order Sixty-Six hit. Only downside was the isolation."
Ren nodded. "I'm honestly surprised the isolation didn't drive you mad." He remarked.
"It's why I moved from planet to planet over six months." Nathan replied. "So I could still interact with new people every time I landed on a new world, meaning while I kept myself to myself, I wasn't alone all the time."
"Wouldn't that risk attracting Imperial attention?" Ren asked.
"Few times it did." Nathan replied. "Early on, I got reckless, and told the wrong person the truth about myself. They reported me, and I had to make a quick getaway. From then on, I was very careful about who I trusted. I still am very careful about who I trust. But right now, I have people around me that I can trust easily." At that, he rolled the mixture into a nice meat patty, handing it to Ren, who put it on the grill to cook.
Reaching out with the Force, Nathan brought more ingredients over and started mixing another burger together. "This should sort all of us." He said, starting to mix the seasoning in.
"So; with Order 66, I've been wondering." Ren said. "Why did you never seek out any other Jedi?"
Reaching out with the Force, Nathan summoned the holocron he had in his bag to his hand, using the Force to open it.
Sure enough, the holographic visage of Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi appeared:
"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: trust in the Force. Do not return to the Temple. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. Avoid Coruscant. Avoid detection. Be secret... but be strong. We will each be challenged: our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere and, in time, I believe a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always."
Lowering the holocron, Nathan said: "Even then; before I came to Remnant, I was planning on meeting up with three of my friends." Sighing, Nathan added: "I hope they're still looking for me…"
Team JNNPR's Dorm…
Nathan stepped into the dorm and took a breath, before hearing Jaune laugh:
"I'm serious! Trust me!" Jaune said to someone.
Nathan looked to see Jaune on his bed, his back to Nathan as he talked to someone on his scroll. Realising Jaune hadn't heard him enter the room, Nathan allowed an evil grin to cross his face. Lowering himself so that he was less noticeable, the fiery haired Jedi crept across the room until he got a better look at who Jaune was chatting to:
It was roughly six ladies of varying ages, all of them with Jaune's blonde hair and blue eyes. It struck Nathan that Jaune was talking to his family. The female side at least.
Grinning, Nathan slipped behind Jaune, and immediately started clapping his hands together loudly, shouting: "Caca dau! Caca dau!"
Jaune immediately yelped and nearly dropped his scroll, looking to see Nathan stood there laughing his butt off. "Nathan!" Jaune chided.
"Holy crap, that was perfect!" Nathan chortled. "You should have seen your face!" At that, Nathan continued laughing, hearing Jaune's family laughing on the other side of the scroll.
Finally, he composed himself, and sat next to Jaune.
"Well, here's one of the teammates I was telling you about." Jaune said to his family. "Meet Nathan Phoenix. He's sort of my second in command. And current bane of my existence."
"You say that, yet I'm the one trying to make sure you actually score a girl." Nathan retorted, making Jaune's family laugh once again.
Jaune groaned at that, knowing that Nathan was going to enjoy this.
"Either way, what's up, ladies?" Nathan said. "Like Jaune said, my name's Nathan Phoenix." Looking at Jaune, Nathan asked: "Who am I looking at here, Jaune?"
"Okay, so there's my mom Joan, and my sisters Jewel, Rouge, Verte, Crystal, and Rose." Jaune replied.
"Nice to meet you, Nathan." Joan said. "We did see you sneaking up on Jaune, but we decided to say nothing."
Joan appeared to be in her early to mid-forties, but still somehow managed to look years younger, looking just as beautiful as Nathan imagined she did in her youth.
Rose, clearly the youngest of the group at roughly four or five years old, giggled and said: "You made big bwother poop himself."
Nathan smirked. "That I did, kiddo." He replied. "Wanna know something? I can actually smell it in his pants."
"Nathan!" Jaune objected as Rose giggled some more.
"To be honest, Saphron told us about you last time she called." Jewel said. Jewel was quite clearly the eldest there besides Joan since she was in her mid to late twenties, and looked a lot like Saphron, except Jewel had a lighter shade of blonde hair. "I think she said you called out Pyrrha Nikos' mom in front of an entire crowd of people."
"Pretty much." Nathan replied. "To this day, I still don't get why she was so furious. She was getting what she wanted, after all. The chance to be the centre of attention."
"Even we'd not dare try that." Rouge said as she eyed Verte. The two were obviously twins, with both being identical save for Verte's green eyes and Rouge's burnt blonde hair.
"You'd definitely try that." Verte replied. "That's such a you thing to do!"
"Would not!" Rouge protested.
"Would too!" Verte replied.
"Girls, girls, calm down." Joan said gently. "Anyway, it's lovely to finally put a name to a face, Nathan. Good to meet you."
"Likewise." Nathan replied. "So, what embarrassing things can you tell me about Jaune when he was younger?"
"Oh no…" Jaune groaned, as his family cackled.
"Well, there was that time he got peed on by our dog when the dog was still a puppy." Joan said. "Before promptly having a bird poop on his head."
Nathan chuckled. "Talk about a bad day." He remarked as Jaune once again groaned.
"Or when he came screaming into my room because he had seen a ghost." Jewel added. "Turned out it was just a leftover decoration from Halloween that Rouge and Verte had hung outside Jaune's window to mess with him."
Rouge and Verte giggled at this, but fell silent when Joan eyed them both.
"Thanks for the new material with which I can roast Jaune." Nathan remarked. "I'll be sure to make good use of it."
"You have no idea the monster you've unleashed, Mom." Jaune said to Joan.
"I'm just trying to make sure my baby boy doesn't get too big for his boots." Joan replied with a smile.
"Mom!" Jaune spluttered as Nathan cracked up laughing.
"D'aw, is the little baby boy getting embarrassed?" Nathan mockingly cooed at Jaune whilst the rest of Jaune's family laughed. He could tell that he was going to like Jaune's family. They certainly sounded like they liked him.
Later…
"That was a pleasant surprise." Nathan remarked as he and Jaune walked through Beacon grounds.
"Yeah." Jaune said. "Looks like most of my family already like you."
"It's me. What do you expect?" Nathan asked, making Jaune chuckle. "How old is your mom? I pegged her as mid-forties, but she looks like a decade younger."
"She'll be forty-four this year." Jaune replied.
"Damn…" Nathan remarked. "You know, I'm wondering where your other sister and your dad were. Figured they'd want to join in."
"Dad's off on a mission, and Violette is at school." Jaune replied.
Nathan nodded. "I… recall you saying your dad isn't really the most pleasant of individuals." He said.
"He's… he's a very traditionally minded man." Jaune responded. "Like… he thinks that women should stay at home and do the cleaning, raise the kids, so on and so forth, while the men go out and work. So imagine his disappointment when three of his four daughters said they wanted to be Huntresses. So far, Violette's the only one of us who's lived up to his expectations of what a woman should be."
"And you're not?" Nathan asked. "You're training to be a Huntsman. You're stepping up and being a man. Why doesn't he realise that?"
"Because he told me I was going to fail." Jaune replied. "He said that I was gonna flop here, and I'd be coming home, and… he said he wouldn't hold it against me, since… since I've already been such a disappointment to him all these years."
Nathan scowled. "Well; take it from me, Jaune. You're proving him wrong. The next time you see him, I'll bet the first thing he realises is that he was wrong about you all along. That you're not a disappointment. You're proving that day by day with every improvement you make. And believe me, if he doesn't apologise for not believing in you, well…" At that, Nathan stuck out his tongue and dabbed his finger onto it, rubbing his finger against his thumb.
Jaune chuckled. "I'd pay good money to see that." He replied.
They walked in silence before Jaune soon said:
"Nate?"
"What's up, Jaune?" Nathan asked, looking at his team leader.
"There's… something I've also been meaning to talk to you about. It's… it's about Pyrrha." Jaune replied.
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Nathan inquired.
"It's just… ever since the dance last night, and that talk me and Pyrrha had; I've come to realise something." Jaune answered. "And… and I feel like such a jerk for not realising it sooner."
"Go on." Nathan said.
"I… I think I'm falling for Pyrrha." Jaune finally said.
YES! Nathan screamed internally, but held his composure. "What about Weiss?"
"Well; after me and Pyrrha talked, Neptune joined us." Jaune replied. "Turns out, he rejected Weiss' invitation to join her for the dance since… he can't dance." Pausing, Jaune added: "During our talk, I realised that… that I didn't actually like Weiss in that way. It was…" Jaune sighed. "It was just teenage infatuation."
"Perfectly normal, Jaune." Nathan replied.
"And then, during the dance, I finally saw how happy she was to be there, with me." Jaune continued. "I think that's when I realised I was falling for her."
"So what are you waiting for?" Nathan asked. "Find her and tell her how you-"
"No!" Jaune said firmly, startling Nathan. "Not right away. I… I'm gonna take it slow. Make sure I actually feel that way about her before I actually shoot my shot. I'm not gonna make the mistake I did with Weiss. You're better off with her anyway."
Nathan nodded. "Well; I'm here for you man." He said. "Just imagine your old man's surprise when you bring home Pyrrha Nikos for dinner one night."
Jaune chuckled. "That would shut him up about being a disappointment." Jaune said.
"Yup." Nathan replied. "Which is why I said it." Pausing, Nathan added: "Either way; give or take a few months, and I should probably start expecting you to message me and our teammates to seek alternate sleeping arrangements for certain evenings."
Jaune snorted. "Probably. Same with you and Weiss."
Nathan nodded. "On that; we can both agree..."
Later that evening, Dormitory Roof…
Nathan passed Jaune on the way up to find Pyrrha stood on the roof, looking at the horizon. He shut the door behind him, catching Pyrrha's attention.
"Oh! Hello, Nathan." Pyrrha said, smiling as Nathan joined her.
"Hey." Nathan replied. "So, how did training with Jaune go?"
"Pretty well." Pyrrha declared. "Jaune's improving with every day. It's slow, which is frustrating him, but it's true. Soon, it won't be long until he has me on my back."
"Yeah, with him balls deep inside you as you scream his name to the heavens." Nathan joked.
Pyrrha blushed at that. "I opened myself up for that one, didn't I?" She asked.
"Just like you're gonna open your legs to Jaune on your wedding night." Nathan replied jokingly.
"Will you stop?!" Pyrrha asked, blushing madly now.
"You'll be begging Jaune not to stop one day!" Nathan teased.
"Nathan!" Pyrrha said, lightly slapping his arm.
"Ow!" Nathan exclaimed. "Okay, now you asked for it!" At that, he used the Force to pull Pyrrha into his arms, beginning to tickle her.
"Nathan-!" Pyrrha gasped as she giggled and laughed with Nathan's torture.
Nathan grinned with every giggle and laugh that escaped Pyrrha. He'd discovered Pyrrha was ticklish after walking past her one evening, when his fingers had inadvertently brushed over Pyrrha's feet and she'd giggled a bit. Now he was weaponizing that knowledge, tickling Pyrrha until eventually, he stopped.
Pyrrha took that moment to catch her breath, before asking: "Are you finished cracking jokes about me and Jaune, now?"
"Yeah." Nathan replied, as his eyes met Pyrrha's.
A long silence passed between them as they shared a warm smile with one another. They'd hardly known each other for nearly six months, and yet it felt like they'd been friends their entire lives.
Closing the distance, Pyrrha pulled Nathan into a warm hug. "Have I ever said how glad I am to have met someone like you, Nathan?" She asked.
"You've mentioned it once or twice." Nathan replied. "But I don't mind hearing you say it again. Especially since I feel exactly the same."
Pyrrha sighed happily. "I know." She responded.
They lingered there for a while, holding each other close before finally breaking the hug and heading inside.
Nathan smiled as he did. With Pyrrha, he knew he had made a lifelong friend.
Figured I'd give Nathan some time with all of his teammates, so that he can form more of a connection with them. Even the ones he's already formed strong connections with in the form of Jaune and Pyrrha.
Just so nobody can really complain that Nathan doesn't interact that much with Nora and Ren; even if they are his teammates.
Anyway; review time!
54godamora: Not much of a cliffhanger, any more it is Nathan pining after Weiss.
Mariegrey90: Thank you for the offer, I shall take it into consideration.
Naedine-Daki: I'm grateful for the praise. Like with Mariegrey90; I shall take your offer into consideration.
Sharnorasian Empire: I've always enjoyed bands like Sabaton, Slipknot, Disturbed, Bullet For My Valentine among other bands. I have not played Baldur's Gate 3, however I am aware of its awesomeness. Were I not preoccupied with my latest playthroughs of The Last of Us Part One and Resident Evil 4's 2023 remake, I would be tempted to give it a try.
With all that said; thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. If y'all liked it; you know what to do.
I shall see you tomorrow evening with the final chapter of this story, which sees Nathan take part in the Breach Battle.
T-Rock14.