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Symbiote Knight
Chapter 37: Out in the Open Part 2
Yang wasn't sure where she was going, she didn't have a destination in mind she just needed some distance. Her face burned with embarrassment and anger over the whole thing, she felt so stupid and that was hurting most of all.
"Yang, please wait up," Pyrrha's voice called out as the blonde slowed her pace but didn't stop.
The taller girl caught up to her, "Yang, what's going on?"
"I don't want to get into it," Yang was already reliving both that rooftop conversation and the weeks of him knowing her feelings this entire time and not saying a damn thing to her. She wasn't sure she wanted to just let it all out.
"Well, whatever it is it was big enough for you to make a scene," this was Weiss' voice as she was catching up. "So, whatever is going on you are obviously not handling it well."
Yang shot her teammate a slightly dark look. "Really? You're going to talk about my attitude? Do we really need to go into how you acted when we all first met?"
Weiss didn't physically react, but she did feel the sting of that comment. She had spent time getting to know everyone and by now she could admit she hadn't made the best first impressions with everyone or had been pleasant to deal with.
Pyrrha quickly stepped in to try and play peacemaker before things turned ugly. "Yang, please we just want to understand and if possible, help."
Yang locked eyes with Pyrrha's as she saw the concern in her emerald gaze. Yang looked away as her fist clenched but not in anger.
"It's just…embarrassing." She muttered.
"Well maybe talking about it might help," she offered.
So that's how they ended up outside sitting together as Yang painfully went through the memory again. Of how that night when Jaune (Vale Knight) had helped them out and what she had said to him. The reactions were mixed. Weiss who hadn't really been that interested in Jaune at the moment took it easier but Pyrrha's face went pale and then chanced to a shade of red that matched her hair.
"Y-you told Jaune that I liked him?" She said shocked.
"I didn't know it was him!" Yang quickly defended herself and then groaned and she placed her face in her hands. "I said it right to his face and didn't even know it and what's worse, all this time he knew we liked him."
Pyrrha was very conflicted, yes, she had been trying to work up the nerve to tell Jaune how she felt but apparently that choice had been taken from her. It also meant that all this time Jaune was aware of her feelings for her, and she could now start to understand why Yang reacted the way she had.
"He didn't say anything," Pyrrha whispered more to herself. Did this mean that he didn't share those feelings? Was he just pretending not to know so he wouldn't hurt her? That felt like a dagger to the heart. Was he still only focused on Weiss? She cast a quick look to the white-haired girl next to her as she felt a sense of jealously and loss hit her for a split second.
"He does seem to keep a lot of secrets," Weiss scowled.
"That's a bit unfair," Pyrrha defended. "It's not exactly a secret he can just come out with."
"Not without sounding crazy," Yang muttered through her hands. "I'm still having trouble believing it and I was talking to…it."
"Valor is more of a he than an it, at least to me and my team," Pyrrha told her seriously. Valor had started to become a real member of their team as they got to know him. She saw him as another member of their group.
"Right, okay," Yang pulled her face from her hands and leaned back. "Sorry, it's just…well everything."
"It does take a lot of getting used to," Pyrrha gave a half smile.
"I still don't believe it, are you sure it's not some kind of creature?" Weiss asked her. "Maybe an escaped science experiment or something?"
She was struggling with the thought of aliens as it just went against everything, she was brought up to believe about the world.
"Trust me he is," Pyrrha nodded. "He's shared his mind with us and the things I saw…"
She trailed off remembering the images she had seen, other worlds, other life out there. The universe was so much larger now than it had been. Sometimes when they were training on the rooftop Pyrrha would ask to see how other warriors from other worlds fought. They would link and she would see the experiences from Valor's point of view.
The Kree warriors got her interested as they were very human looking despite their skin colors and were shown to be a race of warriors.
"Like what?" Yang asked grateful for a distraction from her own thoughts.
"I mainly asked to see other fighting forms to help improve myself, but I saw a lot more," her eyes unfocused on some of the memories. "There were worlds with twin suns, one that had a red sun in the sky and the sky was purple. I saw fleets of ships in space once as they fought against this huge being but losing against him. I saw crystal mountains and worlds with floating mountains where warrior monks live."
"Damn," Yang blinked at all that. It sounded awesome to her she dreamed of traveling the world and seeing all there was to see but Pyrrha got to see things no one else on this planet ever would. It made her wonder just what all the things was out there she could never reach.
"So…there really is life out there?" Weiss asked.
"Like you can't even believe," Pyrrha stated. "Through them I've seen things, and it's made me think of all the possibilities we can't have because we haven't figured out how to leave our world yet."
"I wonder if they figured out how to keep dust powered then," Weiss knew full well that every time they tried to send a dust powered rocket into space the dust kept losing power as soon as it reached a certain distance from the world. It was 'The Great Wall' in space technologies as it was called that no one had been able to figure out yet how to get around it.
"We asked about that," Pyrrha looked at her. "Apparently Valor says that dust and even aura and the Grimm are just unique to our world."
"Wait-what!?" Yang and Weiss stated together eyes wide.
"W-what do you mean dust is only found here?" Weiss's whole family built their empire on it but if it was only found on their world that raised so many questions. While no one could figure out where dust crystals came from or how they were formed they were just considered a natural element. But if they weren't, if they were just some random elements only found on their world that raised so many more questions.
"Aura and Grimm don't exist elsewhere?" Yang muttered.
"Apparently so," Pyrrha shrugged. "Valor even said that…well he said magic was real."
"Oh please," Weiss crossed her arms. "This is getting ridiculous."
"I'm serious," Pyrrha told her. "I once asked him to show me because I had my doubts about it too but then he shoed me an alien actually preforming it from his memories."
"So, what, our world gets aura instead?" Yang asked.
"He has no idea, he's just as confused about it as we are," Pyrrha tried to explain.
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose this was all starting to give her a headache. She did not need most of her life's knowledge on how the universe worked or was supposed to work to constantly be challenged today.
"Well today is just full of life shattering revelations," Yang sighed as she leaned back. "Anything else we should know about?"
"Please don't," Weiss rubbed her temples. "I don't think I can take much more."
There was a silence between the three of them as Yang leaned forward holding her chin in her hands. "So, while I appreciate the distraction there's still the big old elephant in the room."
"Yes, Jaune knew we liked him but didn't say anything," Pyrrha sighed. "You don't think that means he didn't like us like that?"
Yang winced, "I hope not but…it's hard to tell."
Wiess stayed silent as she was thinking about this as well, did that mean Jaune preferred her over the other two? It did give her a small sense of victory, but it wasn't confirmed. "I haven't even explained how I felt."
She could admit at least there was an attraction that hadn't originally been there. Sure, she was still unsure about this whole alien helping situation but that was something she could come to terms with in time. Her own feelings were that over the time she had gotten to know him things had changed.
There was a silence there before Pyrrha slowly started to say something that had been on her mind. "Well…does it have to change anything?"
The other two looked at her so she continued on a little unsure on how to bring it up. "I mean, if it's all out in the open then what's actually changed?"
The other two thought about it, what did this have to change exactly?
"I guess we can be more upfront now," Yang slowly started to realize. "Maybe he can actually take us on actual dates now."
"You want us all to date him?" Weiss demanded. "I know I agreed to this little…whatever it is, in order to make his feelings clear but I thought it ended when he picked one of us."
"Well, he hasn't really picked yet," Yang shrugged. "I mean we're going to have to have a real talk to him about this, but I wouldn't mind…sharing for the moment."
"Share?" Weiss and Pyrrha stated in surprise.
"I mean until he figures out which one to pick," Yang quickly said. "If he can't pick one of us when we talk about it, I'm willing to continue on with what we're doing for now. We each get a fair amount of time, no backstabbing and the best girl wins in the end. That's fair but I want him to pick without us pressing him into a choice. I want him to choose because it's what he actually wants."
There was also the fact that despite what happened, she still wanted to make sure she got picked and she was afraid after how she stormed out of the room her chances might have taken a hit because of her temper.
"At any rate we should at least talk to him about it and give him options," Yang told them. "What if he can't make up his mind? Do you want to risk losing out?"
Pyrrha didn't want to miss out and was slowly starting to come to Yang's way of thinking. Weiss was more unsure of it all.
"I'm not sure about this 'sharing' thing, it seems…strange," Weiss stated.
"Technically we would be 'sharing' him no matter what," Yang explained. "Or did you forget he's got a permanent roommate living inside of him?"
"Oh," Weiss had forgotten about that as she thought what that meant. If she and Jaune dated, then Valor would always be there with them. "Oh, I hadn't thought of that."
"Oh yeah kind of adds to the complexity of this all," Yang sighed. "You can't have one without the other and that's something we're going to have to accept in the long run."
"This is so complicated," Weiss rubbed her temples again. Today started out so normal and now it was like someone had flipped the table and then threw it out a window.
"Well Valor is easy to get along with," Pyrrha offered having spent the most time with their symbiote friend. "I hadn't really thought of the long-term implications, but Yang makes a point. Jaune and Valor are bonded permanently, and he'll always be there for every moment."
"So, a permanent third wheel?" Yang wondered out loud and then made a face. "I think we also need to have a conversation with him involved too, since he's going to be a part of whatever relationships Jaune will have we need to know how this works."
"I believe you are right," Pyrrha nodded.
"I can't believe this is my life now," Weiss muttered.
-Later-
Jaune was nervously as he went to the place where he and Pyrrha normally trained at night together. The girls hadn't come back, and he had been starting to worry until Pyrrha messaged him to meet all three of them at their usual training spot.
~You really are nervous about this~
'How can I not be?'
~Well while I don't understand fully how mates work on this world if you lose all three, I'll look into other options. Maybe Velvet if you're into older girls~
'Please stop,' Jaune begged.
He arrived to see all three girls there waiting for him.
"Um…hi?" He said awkwardly.
"Hello Jaune," Pyrrha nodded as Weiss stood by her arms crossed but looking a little uneasy while Yang was looking around not meeting his gaze.
~Maybe start with her?~
Jaune agreed as he stepped towards Yang. "Yang, I want to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or anything. When you said you liked me, well not to me-me, but well you know, I honestly wasn't sure how to handle it."
"Yeah…sorry for the punch," Yang said still finding it a bit embarrassing to talk about.
"I kind of had it coming," He rubbed the spot. "I did keep it from you."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Weiss cut to the heart of the matter. "Well, them at least."
Jaune flinched. "I wish I could say it was for some good reason but honestly? I just couldn't figure out my feelings. I…well I like each of you for different reasons."
He looked to Yang. "Yang, you're so fearless and energetic, you have this energy about you that brings all this natural sunshine into the room with you. You're adventurous and exciting, you make things fun and keep me on my toes."
Yang felt a warmth in her chest feeling a bit better hearing that.
He turned to Pyrrha next. "Pyrrha, you've been a great partner and friend to me, I literally wouldn't be half the person I am today without you."
~With me being the other half of course~
Jaune agreed but carried on. "You inspire me to keep going and to improve, you give this calm and reasonable side to things and help keep me grounded. Your kind and carrying of everyone around you and it seem like nothing can stop you when you put your mind to it."
Finally, he looked at Weiss. "Weiss, from the first day I met you, you had this aura about you that you knew what you wanted. That you are so sure of yourself and how to get it and have this confidence that I wish I had. You always say what's on your mind and never show any insecurities or if you do never let them get in the way. It's a strength I admire and wish I had more of."
Weiss felt her cheeks heated up a little as she looked away and nodded. "Thank you for that."
"So, then you each fell for us for different reasons," Yang surprised.
Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, as stupid as that sounds. I mean I'm not used to having the attention of, well, a pretty girl interested in me let alone multiple ones."
"Well, you can't deny that we are hot," Yang half-joked looking at the girls. "He does have a point about that."
Pyrrha blushed as she thought of Jaune finding her pretty, she had hoped so in the past so hearing that confession did make her feel nice. Weiss while not admitting to it also liked to know that he appreciated her looks.
"I just…don't know what to do here," Jaune was at a loss. "I know it's not fair, but the more time I spent with the three of you the harder this whole thing became. My emotions just kept getting more complex and mixed up."
The three girls shared a look, complicated emotions were something they were starting to understand. This whole situation was not normal, especially knowing there was another entity watching all this from inside of Jaune.
"First there's some questions we have for Valor," Yang started.
Jaune cast a look over his shoulder, no one was in the hallway behind them as he nodded, and Valor's head showed up on his shoulder again.
"That's going to take a lot of getting used to," Weiss muttered under her breath.
"What do you need to know?" Valor asked.
"How does this work," Pyrrha started to say unsure of how to phrase it. "What I mean is, when Jaune is in a relationship how do you fit in?"
"Whatever my hosts choses I go along with."
"Don't you have your own opinion?" Weiss asked.
"I can but relationships between host and symbiote are both simple and complex in nature. If Jaune were to choose one or more of you I am currently fine with."
"One or more?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not this again," Jaune sighed palming his face.
"Relationships different from species to species and culture to culture." Valor explained to them. "There are cultures where there are several sexes of a species needed to procreate. Others reproduce asexually so their dynamics are different. Then you get relationships such as this race where the birthrate is one male for every five females, you can guess how many wars were fought over just having enough males so certain groups didn't die out."
"Then there was a race that held group relationships, this ranged form multiple male and females all sharing each other."
"W-what?!" Weiss' eyes widened at that.
"It was completely natural for them, honestly the whole relationships other races form can be very complicated for my people. Mainly we're just focused on the relationship between us and the host, but we also accept that the host requires companionship or mates outside of us."
"So what you're saying is that anyone Jaune picks you are essentially fine with?" Pyrrha tried to clarify.
"Yes, thankfully you three have shown to be good candidates for future mates so it is reasonable to accept any and all choices."
"Whoa, mates!?" Yang said as the three girls blushed.
"Do you have to say it like that?" Jaune whined his own face flushing in embarrassment.
"You all have the oddest things to be embarrassed about," Valor looked at them all.
"Okay so…" Yang tried to get back on track but now she had something she wanted to ask that he brought it up. "Say one…or more…of us form a relationship with Jaune and things get, you know…intimate for instance. How does that work?"
"I have been known to join in couplings in the past," Valor explained simply to her.
"Wait what?" Weiss and Pyrrha said as one as Yang's jaw dropped.
"He…showed me a few things," Jaune admitted although it was hard to forget some of the images, he had seen of past relationships with previous hosts had.
"Okay, let's put a pin in that for another time," Yang commented.
"You didn't seem to mind the massages."
"Wait, what do you mean by that? Jaune?" Weiss turned to face him as did the others.
"Well, you see, I kind of got some…help?" Jaune raised a hand bashfully as Valor put a small amount of himself on his palm and fingers.
"So, wait that's why it felt so good?" Yang blinked she knew those hadn't been normal, but she just figured that Jaune was just talented.
'Wait,' Yang started to think. 'If that was just his hands and Valor said he's gotten involved then what does that mean? If that was just on my back and shoulders, then what would it feel like in other places?' She thought of that feeling she got during the massages but spread all over herself and she couldn't help but a small shiver at the thought.
'Okay no, not the time or place, but yeah, I'm coming back to this thought later,' Yang looked and wondered if the other two were thinking similar thoughts.
There was a bit of an awkward silence after that as none of them were sure what to do next. Pyrrha cleared her throat as it was time to finally tackle one of the bigger issues. "So Jaune, you know we all like you as well."
"Yeah," he nodded his head.
"And we were talking," Weiss spoke up next crossing her arms.
"We came up with an idea," Yang finished. "You can't pick one yet, right?"
"Basically," he sighed in defeat.
The three girls shared a look as Yang shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I guess that settles that, you just have to date all three of us until you pick one."
"I…wait-what!?" He looked up at all three of them as the girls shifted.
"This wasn't my idea," Weiss defended herself.
"Yeah, we figured we each still want a shot at you but learning all this and everything," Yang gestured to Valor. "It's kind of obvious it's never going to be a normal relationship."
"We all feel strongly about you," Pyrrha told him. "We all want a chance, and we figured this way you can figure out your feelings."
"Won't lie, this is the weirdest thing I think any of us have ever done," Yang joked. "But just hanging out wasn't doing much so, yeah you pulled the lottery and get to take out three hot girls."
"I, uh, I'm just…I don't know what to say," Jaune was at a total loss here. "So does that make you all my official girlfriends?"
"No," Weiss said bluntly. "We're dating, but given all the revelations and the whole symbiote thing is certainly going to take time to get used to, no offence."
She spoke that last bit to Valor who just nodded before she continued.
"We wanted to take this slowly we also have to know if we can handle sharing you with an alien as well."
"This is going to be a lot of growing pains for everyone," Pyrrha admitted.
"But we're willing to try," Yang nodded. "So, for now I guess you can say we're dating but just nothing official, yet that is."
She gave him a small wink as Jaune was dumbfounded. Never in a million years did he ever think anything like this would ever happen to him. He was always the loser the guy that got overlooked and didn't have any luck with girls. So just how in the world did he end up with three beauties in his life that wanted to be with him? For a moment he was wondering if he was dreaming or something, but his dreams weren't so drama heavy.
"And we expect you to take us out on actual dates," Weiss huffed. "We are owed that much for all the secrets."
"Damn right," Yang looked at him. "You are taking me out clubbing, I've been looking into a new one to go to and I think it would be fun since Weiss said she had such a great time dancing with you."
"You did?" He looked at the pale girl who was looking away, but he could see her cheeks were reddening.
"I may be a little out of my element," Pyrrha admitted to him. "I don't have much dating experience."
Yang pulled the taller red head into a sideways hug. "Just stick with me then, I got tons of ideas we can all use. Plus, we're all young, we might as well live a little while we can. We got like four years at Beacon, and I say we should spend that time enjoying ourselves and living life while we can."
"We are here to learn to be Huntresses," Weiss commented.
Yang waved it off. "We can still do that, but do you really want to spend your entire time just studying and working? There's a lot more to life than just work. Come on, we're all young, hot and got our entire lives ahead of us. I want to make some memories at Beacon that I can look back on and enjoy."
Pyrrha had to admit that Yang's eagerness was a bit infectious. She had spent so many years of her life training and being a celebrity that she really was starting to learn that she had missed out on a lot of opportunities in life. Weiss cast a sideways look, deep inside there was a part of her growing up that yearned to do things like family vacations, having bunkbeds, sleepovers and all that stuff. She hadn't because it wasn't seen as 'proper' for high society socialite like herself to be seen like that.
Jaune felt a weight starting to life off his shoulders, a lot of the pressure he had been putting himself through felt like it was finally lifted. He had no idea where this was all going but he was happy to find out.
"So then, who gets the first date?" Weiss asked as all three heads turned towards him.
"Uh…" Jaune froze as he looked to Valor for help.
"Well, you got this," the symbiote stated before disappearing back to where he came from leaving him all alone facing the three girls.
TBC…
Well, it's finally out in the open, and the girls are going to slowly try this out. I was struggling to try and make this seem natural without being too forced. I wanted them to build up trust in each other and make this seem at least slightly possible hence why they are not 'officially' dating but trying things out.