Their first week at Beacon passed in a flash, and as the bell rang signaling the end of their last class on Friday afternoon, it marked the official start of their weekend. Books were slammed shut and hastily jammed into book bags, students leaping from their seats as Doctor Oobleck was still reciting the last few lines of the passage he was quoting.
"...them on the beaches, we will fight them in the fields, we will do battle until the very end! We will not surrender!" he read aloud, raising his head and blinking in confusion as Team CRDL were halfway out the door. "Stop!"
They froze, as did everyone else.
"And just where do you think you are going, Mr. Chestnut?"
People had stopped trying to correct Oobleck at this point; it was just one of his quirks that they were forced to live with, and was relatively harmless though confusing at times.
"Class is finished," Cardin said slowly, as if Oobleck were dimwitted. "The bell rang."
Oobleck opened his mouth and then paused, looking down at his wrist watch. "Golly gosh, is it that time already?" He shut the book he was reading from, slamming it down on his desk. "Though the bell has rung, I have not dismissed you. Back in your seats."
Cardin looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it, grunting as he trudged back down to his desk. The rest of his team followed like a pack of scolded dogs.
When everyone else was seated and paying attention, Oobleck nodded. "Now then – by our next class, I want two pages on the King's speech and the role it played in uniting his people, and your opinion on the impact it continues to have in Valean culture," several people groaned, Nora loudest of all. "I will be reading all of them and will judge them against one another, so be prepared."
He scanned them all for a moment before nodding. "That is all. Class dismissed."
"Finally~!" Nora sighed, leaping to her feet with her hands raised. "Freedom!"
Ruby giggled, copying her with a small cheer. "The weekend!"
Life at Beacon was very different from his life at home but Jaune had quickly fallen into the routine of classes and school life easily enough. While many of the classes were challenging, Jaune never felt like he was out of his depth, though Dust Usage was giving him some trouble. After a week, he still wasn't able to activate a Dust crystal without it blowing up in his face, something that Yang had even achieved. Even with Weiss Schnee helping him, he was no closer to moving onto the next step; powdered Dust.
In Weiss' own words, she'd never seen anything like it. She described his attempts at utilizing Dust as akin to an infant attempting to feed itself at two weeks old. Nora thought the comparison was hilarious and reminded him of it every chance she got, while even Blake had conceded that the heiress had a point.
He was just hopeless with Dust.
All of his other classes were going well, though. Grimm Studies, especially, he appeared to be the most knowledgeable of all his friends, and his other classmates. Survival and Navigation was another class where his knowledge of the outdoors and his prior experience were key, and alongside Blake and Nora, they were a formidable group. So far, it had only been theory work but it was clear that their respective upbringings lent them an advantage. Weapon Crafting and Upkeep was a little tricky as he'd never done anything like it, but he was helped out by his own weapon being very simple in design. Even the mecha-shift qualities of his shield-sheath were very basic and the tech was old; post-Great War but not long after. It made things easier on him.
Alongside Dust Usage, probably the hardest class for him was Stealth and Security. Jaune… didn't really have a stealthy bone in his body, and the security portion of the class dealt with technology that he'd never encountered before. Put him in a forest and he could track animals well enough, and he'd stalked one or two deer in his time, but none of that helped in an urban setting. While he knew how to use a scroll decently, he didn't know the first thing about hacking one, or bypassing firewalls in the computer system, or… well, any of that stuff.
He was just a simple farm boy.
...and though his first Combat Class had been a bit of a disaster in his own mind, his following periods in Professor Goodwitch's class had gone well. He'd fought a couple more times during the week and they'd all been victories, including a hard fought contest against Ruby. Her extreme speed was a nightmare to deal with, as was her crazy weapon; Crescent Rose. She was an incredible fighter but prone to repetitive motions, and Jaune had been able to catch her after observing her fighting patterns long enough.
That victory and the others had put him in a much better mood surrounding his first up loss, and watching Pyrrha dismantle other people highlighted just how strong she truly was.
Seeing more evidence of her greatest took the sting out of it… but a part of him was still dissatisfied with how things had ended in that first fight. Apparently, he had a bit of a competitive streak; one that he hadn't even known about until getting his butt handed to him by a four time champion.
All in all, Jaune was thoroughly enjoying his time at Beacon. It was everything he had ever dreamed of and more, and perhaps the best thing was that he'd made a half dozen friends.
Making friends had always been difficult for him. Partly because he was awkward as hell, but also because there weren't that many kids where he was from. Growing up, there might have been ten kids in his year? Forty in the entire school? And some of them in the early days had been his own sisters.
The ease in which they'd all fallen in together was quite frankly amazing. Jaune supposed that fighting together on the battlefield did most of the work. It was hard to go back to being strangers when you fought a life and death struggle against a dangerous Grimm.
Even the more prickly relationships within their new found group were smoothing out. Weiss and Blake weren't what you would call close, but they no longer glared at each other as if taking great offense by the other girl's presence. Jaune hadn't even heard them bicker since Thursday morning, a new record! While he would never accuse them of being friends, they were at least tolerating each other which was better than before.
Weiss and Ruby were also seemingly on amicable terms. After their rocky start, Jaune had sighted the pair a few times, speaking – not yelling, which was always a good sign. He wasn't sure if they'd found common ground or if his conversations with Weiss had been the catalyst, but Jaune was just happy to see them getting along.
So yeah, life was good right now.
"We should do something to celebrate our first week," Yang suggested as they left the classroom and joined the tide of students making their way back to the dormitory building. She walked in front of them, spinning around so she was moving backwards. "Ya know, like our first week anniversary or something."
"Has it been long enough to celebrate?" Ren asked.
"Sure it has! Why not?" Yang grinned widely. "It's been a whole week and none of us have been expelled yet! That's cause for celebration, right?"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself."
"What? Why? I mean, I suppose someone could get expelled by the end of the day," Yang conceded. "You're right."
"That isn't what I meant," Weiss said shortly. "I just meant that a week isn't very long. Anniversaries should be special like an entire year, or five, or ten."
"Psh, says who?" Yang waved her hand. "Are you the celebration police?"
"What?"
"Well – I think we should do something," Nora held out a fist and Yang met her halfway, their knuckles bumping before they both made fake explosion noises as they opened their hands. Weiss looked incredibly confused.
"What was that?" she demanded.
Nora tilted her head. "I said we should do something."
"No, not that. The thing you did with your hands!"
"Oh, what, this?" Yang asked, holding out her fist again and Nora bumped it, the pair once against miming explosions as their fists opened. "You mean that?"
"Yes, that!" Weiss looked between them. "What was its purpose?"
Jaune saw the expression on Ruby's face, as if she wanted to laugh but held it in because she didn't want Weiss to get angry at her, so it looked like she was constipated. Pyrrha was looking at Weiss, unable to hide her amusement, while Blake was shaking her head.
"It's just a handshake," Jaune explained for the heiress. He may have been a country bumpkin but even he knew that much. "Like… a secret friend handshake that only certain friends know."
Weiss stared at him and then glared at Nora. "We're on the same team and we don't have such a handshake."
"Then we'll make one~!" Nora looked incredibly happy at the thought of creating a team handshake. "Oh, oh – so how about we—"
"Maybe we can figure one out later," Blake jumped in, knowing that once Nora got on a roll, there was no stopping it. "We've gotten off topic."
Right, their first week anniversary.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind doing something," Jaune said, shrugging his shoulders. Honestly, it sounded kinda fun. He'd never done anything like that before! "What did you have in mind?"
"Well – there is a bar on campus, I spotted it on the first day over by the CCT—"
"No," Weiss denied at once.
Yang frowned. "What? Why?"
It was fleeting but Jaune saw distaste cross Weiss' face. "We are not getting drunk our first week here."
"You don't have to drink, if you don't want to," Yang said.
"I can think of a million better things to do than be around the intoxicated," Weiss crossed her arms. "And Ruby is too young to drink."
"Yeah~!" Ruby exclaimed, nodding her head. "Pick something else."
"Fiiiine," Yang spun back around so she was walking the right way, hand on chin. "You guys are party poopers."
"Maybe we could have a slumber party…?" Pyrrha suggested shyly, her cheeks growing rosy as they all looked at her. "Um… no?"
"...Well, I suppose we could do something like that," Weiss tried to act cool, though Yang pounced at once.
"Oho, so that's more your lane, huh? I didn't think you'd have such childish tastes."
Weiss pointed at Yang, her finger almost hitting the blonde in the nose. "I object to that remark!"
Pyrrha sagged, looking disappointed. "Oh, is it really too childish?"
Yang realized that her remark had caused some collateral damage and panicked. "Wait, no, Pyrrha – it's fine, really. I was just giving Weiss a hard time, your idea is great!"
Blake snickered. "Suck up."
Yang flipped her off.
"So we can dress up in our pajamas and do each other's hair, paint our nails and have a pillow fight?" Nora clapped happily. "Oh, yes please~! And then we can talk about cute boys like Jaune and Renny!"
Weiss gave Jaune a critical once over. "If this is what you consider cute, then I guess we could."
"Hey…?" Jaune felt unfairly under attack. "What did I do?"
"Jaune is cute and stuff," Ruby told Weiss crossly, puffing up to make herself appear taller. "Don't be mean! Oh, and Ren, too."
Ren smiled thinly. "Thank you, Ruby."
"So – is that what we're doing?" Yang asked them at large, and after a few glances, they all nodded.
Slumber party it was.
"This'll be great~!" Nora cheered. "We can play spin the bottle or truth or dare, and get to know each other's most embarrassing secrets!"
"Pass," Blake said instantly, shooting the excitable girl a wary look.
Jaune understood the sentiment. He wanted to get to know his new friends better but he wasn't exactly keen on them knowing his more humiliating moments, of which there were plenty.
Ren made his way to Jaune's side, leaning in to whisper, "So what do guys do at a slumber party?"
Jaune had no idea. His sisters would try and do his hair and nails, and would probably get him into a dress but that wasn't how things usually went for guys.
"I guess we… talk about hot girls?" he went to say but ended up asking. "And… play video games?" At Ren's blank face, Jaune held up his hands. "Hey, I don't know. I've never exactly done this before."
"We can play video games if you want," Ruby said, overhearing their conversation. "I brought my console from home and I have tons of games."
"I'll be on snack duty," Yang volunteered. "I know all the best machines to raid already. Weiss, you can bankroll us, right?"
"I do not appreciate your assumption," Weiss said pompously before sighing dramatically. "But if I must, I will do my part."
"I can help," Pyrrha offered. "My sponsorship money just sits there most of the time and goes unused."
"I'll handle drinks," Nora jumped on board. "If we let Ren do it, he'll poison us all."
Ren opened his mouth to refute her claims before sighing, and giving up before even starting. At Jaune's curious look, he said, "I like healthy alternatives. Nora hates them."
"So – what time do we meet up?" Blake asked.
They hashed everything out before they got back to their rooms. They still had their self study period, or self directed sparring, and then dinner. Jaune had been using this time to hit the gym and so that is what he did, slipping out of his uniform and into something more suitable and comfortable for working out in.
Beacon's gym facilities were out of this world, a two story building that eclipsed the size of the dorms, the east and west side walls pure tinted glass that you could see out of but people couldn't see in. If there was a machine for fitness, they had it three times over. Rows upon rows of exercise bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, stair climbers, leg presses, chest machines, lat pulldown cable machines, arm extension machines, squat machines, anything and everything, and that was before touching on the endless array of free weights. There were so many dumbbells, kettlebells, weight plates resting on weight racks and bars that if you melted them all down, they'd have enough metal to arm every person in Vale. There were large open areas to practice yoga, jump rope, wrestling and boxing with all the equipment you'd need, be it mats, balls, rope, gloves and punching bags.
But that was only the tip of the iceburg.
There were pool facilities, outfitted with two fifty meter lap pools, a dive pool, and a hydrotherapy pool for recovery. There were massage rooms, saunas, ice baths, and more. Accompanying all this was an army of staff from personal trainers to massage therapists, all ready to assist at a moments notice.
They spared no expense in training and preparing the future defenders of mankind.
It had been a little overwhelming for Jaune at first. Having access to so many resources wasn't something he was used to. His village only had a very basic gym, a bunch of free weights and a couple of benches, and half the time, he hadn't even used it, instead throwing logs around and other heavy objects on the farm. Dragging carts filled with manure with nothing more than a piece of rope strapped around his chest, hauling bags of grain from the barn and into the field, those sorts of things.
Now he had anything he could ever dream of to improve his body, the latest and greatest in technology, all at his fingertips. Once he'd gotten over his choice paralysis, he'd dove in with enthusiasm.
He'd thought about making it a team exercise to go to the gym together but he held off on the suggestion for the time being. It was only the first week and everyone was still finding their feet, so when it came to team based activities, he'd left that bare. Everyone was engaged in their own training, he knew for a fact that Weiss took this time to polish her swordplay, so he would wait before suggesting it. He'd rather Weiss and Blake remain on tolerable terms for a little bit before trying to force them to be around one another, especially when heavy equipment was involved!
But there was someone else that never failed to make an appearance, and Jaune was in the middle of warming up when she appeared, her crimson hair unmistakable in the corner of his eye.
The first time he'd run into Pyrrha, he hadn't been surprised. She struck him as a complete gym junkie and like clockwork, every early evening after class, he found her here. You didn't get a body like hers without supreme dedication and drive, and with her dressed in a pair of tight leggings and a tight crop top, it left little to the imagination.
She was a vision of perfection, as if chiseled from marble by the Brother Gods themselves. Stomach tight with firm, toned muscles, her shapely arms and legs held clear strength, her broad shoulders and powerful back, plush bottom and large chest making her the envy of many. Coupled with her beautiful emerald eyes and soft, pale skin, and model good looks, she was the peak of strength and femininity. It wasn't something he could enjoy, however. When she spotted him, he saw that brief hesitation she held around him, and it set him on edge.
"Hello again," she greeted with a smile, but it was never a smile that reached her eyes.
He wasn't sure what he'd done but their relationship was… off, in a way he simply didn't understand. They didn't throw thinly veiled insults at one another like Blake and Weiss did, and it wasn't the initial disagreement that Weiss held for Ruby. It was something else, much more subtle – but for the life of him, Jaune couldn't place his finger on it.
She wasn't rude to him, and while he felt a certain type of way about their match in Combat Class, he wasn't rude to her. This had started before that, all the way back to initiation, but because they weren't on the same team, it had taken Jaune a while to realize it.
Pyrrha was keeping him at arm's length. Friendly, but distant.
It bothered him more than he wanted to admit but he didn't dare ask or bring it out into the open. At this point, he was just hoping that things would change with time. So far, not so good – but it had only been a week.
"Hey," he returned, giving her a nod.
Jaune continued warming up, aware of her presence as she moved a few feet down and began her own stretches. He tried to ignore her but it was impossible, working his back and arms before finishing with his legs. When he was well and truly limber and warmed up, made his way over to the treadmills. Even though he always made sure to get in his morning jog, he didn't neglect his cardio work in the evening.
There was no such thing as too much running!
He started slow, more of a brisk walk than a jog, setting the machine to a slight incline to engage his calves and thighs. He couldn't have been on the machine more than a couple of minutes when Pyrrha jumped on the machine next to him.
She may have been keeping him at a distance, but she had no qualms about being around him in the physical sense when they were training and working out. Jaune had been surprised the first time she'd joined him, expecting her to move as far away as possible.
Jaune just didn't know what to think about Pyrrha Nikos.
When he hit the five minute mark, he upped the ante, speeding up into a jog, and then a run. Pyrrha followed in short order until they were both pounding away, a light sweat building. She was close enough that he could smell her scent after several minutes of running, a mixture of her natural feminine musk and simple deodorant, just the cheap stuff that you could buy over the counter at any supermarket. It was a potent mixture. It was distracting.
Five minutes quickly became ten, and then twenty. When the timer hit thirty, he increased the speed again, as well as the incline, his legs really feeling the burn now, his throat and lungs a little raw. The accompanying beeps on his machine were replicated on Pyrrha's and Jaune knew that she was matching him stride for stride.
Almost like she wanted to see just how far he could push himself, and if she could keep up. Jaune went another ten minutes before calling it quits, hitting the cool down button and slowing to a light jog. When his machine finally came to a stop, he looked over and saw Pyrrha doing the same, stepping off the treadmill and stretching out her legs.
Just like her strange attitude towards him, Jaune wasn't sure what to make of her weirdly passive competitiveness. He didn't mind it and who better to measure himself against than her, but this odd state of not even mentioning it, talking about it, it just made him feel strange.
Jaune toweled off and then made his way over the vending machine to purchase a bottle of water, beyond parched. Almost inhaling the whole thing in one go, he purchased a second one before heading over to the weight machines. His legs still feeling a little like jelly, he decided to focus on his upper body.
First things first, he began loading the bar for a bench press. One thing his teacher always stressed was to train the body without utilizing aura first, and then train it while using aura. What a person could handle between the two different states was wildly different; without aura, Jaune was still very strong, but with aura, he was able to lift weights that no person his size should ever even attempt and that was before getting into his semblance. It was the same for things like running. Without aura, he could still run for vast distances at a decent clip but with it? Everything was multiplied.
Jaune didn't know the science behind any of it and his teacher hadn't really explained, only that it was the most efficient way to see growth. He'd never led Jaune astray and so he trusted his word, and seeing Pyrrha employing a similar tactic only reinforced the viability of the technique.
"Do you want me to spot for you?" Pyrrha asked, her own towel resting across the back of her neck. The exposed part of her chest glistened with sweat and Jaune did his very best not to stare at the swell of her impressive bust.
"Sure," he replied. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Bar loaded, Jaune laid out his towel and got into position, feet against the floor with his hands gripping the bar just outside the width of his shoulders. Engaging his core, he pressed with his feet, back arched as he lifted the weight out of the saddles, bringing the bar above his chest. He felt the weight pressing down on him, not the heaviest he could lift unassisted by aura but pretty close. His forearms rippled with muscle, his biceps and triceps bulging. He saw Pyrrha at the top of his vision, standing above him, ready to move at a moment's notice.
Bringing the bar down until it brushed his chest, he began pumping out reps, lifting until his arms weren't quite straight, elbows slightly bent before bringing it back down. Jaune kept his breathing steady, exhaling as he lifted and inhaling on the descent. He kept going until ten, his chest bunched and arms ripped as he guided the bar back onto the rack.
Sitting up, Jaune rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, taking a short rest before getting back into position. He did this three times for ten reps each, and then did a final set of fifteen. All the while, Pyrrha kept her hands poised to seize the bar should he require the assistance.
"Phew," Jaune blew as he stood.
Pyrrha was next, unloading the bar slightly to a lighter weight though still significant for someone of her size. Not that she was small in any way, built powerfully from years of training and standing at six feet exactly, but she was smaller than he was.
Without aura, it was simply a matter of biology.
"Spot me?" she asked and he nodded, standing above her as she adjusted her grip on the bar. Just as he did, she went through three sets of ten, and then went for a forth at fifteen. Her arms bulged, shoulders and chest tight as she powered through, her face a mask of concentration.
She aced it.
They went back and forth, pushing themselves to the limit before activating their aura, and lifting increasingly ludicrous weights. If these bars weren't designed for Huntsmen, crafted from grade-A Duststeel, they'd have bent from the pressure being exerted long ago. This continued through several weight exercises, working on their backs, shoulders, triceps, forearms, chest and abs. Jaune lost track of time, falling into the rhythm of a satisfying workout and even though they never spoke more than they had to, the company was enjoyed – at least, by him.
Weirdness aside, being pushed by Pyrrha only inflamed his newly discovered competitive drive and they ended up going well beyond his usual cut off time. It wasn't until he got a call from Blake that Jaune realized they'd overshot into dinner time.
"Where are you?" she asked, blinking at him from his scroll. "Are you still at the gym?"
"Sorry, I lost track of time," he told her. "I'll go catch a shower and then grab a bite to eat."
"Nora wants to bring our mattresses to Team RPRY's room for the slumber party," Blake told him seriously, and Jaune knew she wasn't joking around. "Weiss told her no but Nora wants to put it to a vote."
"What did you vote?"
"I voted in favor."
Of course she did. Anything to go against Weiss. So much for their improving relationship.
"So what happens if there is a deadlock?" he asked, standing.
"Seniority wins," Blake informed him. "Your vote will act as a tiebreaker since you're the team leader. It effectively counts as two."
So what she was saying was they were leaving it up to him.
Pyrrha leaned in from behind, waving at Blake. "I don't think our room could fit your mattresses."
"Oh, hey Pyrrha," Blake seemed surprised. "Weiss already told her that but Nora thinks we can fit everything with some creative thinking."
"Right," Jaune sighed. "See you guys soon."
The struggles of being a team leader.
There will be no new chapter next week. :)
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