Jaune Arc quite literally couldn't believe his luck. There he sat at the edge of the mattress in the master bedroom, shirtless and transfixed by the woman across from him. Yang Xiao Long was tying back her hair while looking in the free-standing full-length mirror in the corner. Jaune couldn't quite understand how she was managing to secure the hair tie around the massive collection of locks with a single hand, but to be fair, that wasn't where his attention was focused. His eyes were drawn to things other than the nimble movements of her fingers.
Yang had stolen and put on Jaune's infamous Pumpkin Pete hoodie, and something about the sight filled him with excitement. It was almost like she had claimed him as hers by borrowing the item of clothing... and the fact that she wore little else with it didn't hurt to make Jaune's heart flutter. The bottom hem of the hoodie had lifted a bit while Yang kept her arm up to secure her hair, revealing just a bit of the small of her back and the dimples on either side of her spine. Just below them was the line of her black thong and a glorious view of her toned ass. It was an ass that Jaune had gotten intimately familiar with over the period of a few short weeks, but the sight never got old.
Despite what was probably coming once Yang had her hair tied back and what Jaune was physically feeling, though, he knew not to get too invested in the idea of sex. He couldn't go that road for several reasons… or at least, he wouldn't allow himself to do so. After all, Jaune's disbelief in his luck went both ways- not just in regards to the positives of the immediate moment.
The world was on the brink of collapse. Mantle had effectively fallen, the war in the shadows had been dragged into the light and made public worldwide, and there would be no more support from far more capable men and women than Jaune and his friends. They had become the frontline- messengers, reinforcements, and quite possibly, Remnant's final hope. General Ironwood was out of reach. Professor Ozpin was dead.
Ruby Rose was dead- the girl that he had personally thought of as his direct leader, despite his own supposed position at the head of Team JNPR for nearly a year. They had been through hell together, grown close, shared secrets, fostered trust, and become almost family. Ruby's actual family member had turned and begun walking toward him, her intentions clear on her face… but he couldn't let it happen, no matter how much he wanted it. It wouldn't be fair when she was still hurting so much. It wouldn't be right to take advantage of her vulnerable state, no matter what mask she wore.
"Yang…" Jaune said softly as the girl walked right up to him. "You look… really hot like that, but, um…"
"Don't," Yang warned as she climbed atop him, straddling his lap and forcing him to lean back onto his elbows. "Don't say anything to try to stop me. I need you right now, just like you needed me up in Atlas. Let me have this."
Jaune knew better than to argue as Yang used her hand to pull him in for a kiss, and he happily obliged. Even so, he had never been one to just blindly follow advice no matter how much trouble it got him in. Not when he felt strongly about going against it.
"Yang," he said again as their lips parted. "I-I want you too, but I just want to make sure that… w-with everything going on, should we really b-"
A finger against his lips shut Jaune up, though Yang looked more depressed than aroused or angry with him as she lowered her head.
"…probably not, no," the girl admitted as she stared down at Jaune's chest. "But I don't care. I didn't really sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about her all night, I have a splitting headache, my entire body is killing me from sleeping on a picnic table…"
"Then let me just…" Jaune tried, squirming beneath her and trying to take his mind off the tingling sensation in his pants brought on by her weight atop him. "Let me take care of you. I could give you a massage? Or we could just cuddle, a-and I c-"
"And then what?" Yang asked, finally locking eyes with Jaune again. The sadness was still there, and something about it scared him. Usually, when they were about to do something naughty, she could make him absolutely melt with her glances and dirty words. Instead, Yang was behaving as though her soul had been ripped out, leaving her hollow and just going through the motions as she spoke in monotone. "If we just cuddle in silence, my mind's going to go places I don't want it to go. I want you to fuck me senseless so I can feel something good again instead of just… this. Is that so much to ask?"
Jaune's mouth was dry, and he was filled with conflicting feelings. Surely there was a better solution… but it was what she wanted. He didn't know what else to do. At the end of the day, he was just a college-aged young man…
"O-okay," Jaune resigned as he watched Yang slip down to kneel at the foot of the bed and put her fingers near his zipper. "I can… get that for you, if it's…"
Without a word, Yang seized the small piece of metal between her teeth and began to pull it down in a torturously slow motion, never once breaking eye contact. She did so unblinkingly, her eyes locked to Jaune's throughout the task. The only sounds in the room were a gasp from Jaune as he felt the fabric fall away to either side of his engorged length and the slow clicking of the teeth of the zipper as they came undone. Suddenly enough to make them both jump a bit, another, much louder sound rang out in the room.
Jaune couldn't believe his luck. It was a knock at the bedroom door.
"Hey, guys?" came Sun's muffled voice. "You in there? I've got some important news…"
"Son of a bitch," Yang muttered as she rested her chin against Jaune's boxers with a scowl. "Are you kidding me…"
"S-sorry," Jaune said, very much on edge with Yang's cheek up against the bulge in his underwear. "Um, we should probably…"
"Yeah, I'm coming!" Yang announced loudly enough to startle Jaune as she stood up and huffed a sigh. "I'm not getting dressed, and I don't want to hear any complaints!"
"What do y-" Sun began, only to blink several times as the door flew open. He witnessed just enough of Jaune frantically zipping up his pants to figure out what was going on before he'd arrived, and his eyes were immediately drawn to Yang's lower body. The faunus looked back up at her face as quickly as he could, his own seized by a furious blush as he did so. "U-uh, were you two…? I can come back later, if…"
"Mood's ruined," Yang said sourly. "Come in and lay it on us."
"Y-yeah," Jaune agreed, sitting up with a pallor to match Sun's own as he put his hands atop his crotch in an effort to hide himself. "You didn't… i-it's fine."
"Right," Sun said uncertainly, his tail nearly twisting itself in knots as he closed the door behind himself. "Seriously guys, I'll be quick. I'll make sure everyone else stays downstairs after this so you two can… yeah. Promise."
"It's cool," Yang said with a sigh before sitting on the bed next to Jaune and crossing her bare legs. "We're all close enough at this point that I really don't think we need to pretend we're all innocent and just kiss every so often. Probably shouldn't have gotten started anyway. We need to be ready."
"No, no," Sun said dismissively while waving a hand awkwardly. "Listen, I don't want you guys just… sitting around ready to go at all hours, you're allowed to… um…"
"Thanks, Sun," Jaune said, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness to no avail. "We both appreciate it. Really. So, what's up?"
Sun paused to look the pair over, his mind filling with unbidden images that he hadn't previously considered. The thoughts only caused his blush to darken, and he looked away with a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"…can I just say… I'm… happy you guys found each other in this big mess. Seriously. With all the shit we've had to deal with, it really is nice to see some good come of it, you know?"
Yang's mood actually seemed to lighten ever so slightly at the words, and she patted the spot at her side opposite of Jaune.
"Thanks, Sun. If we hadn't hooked up, I probably would've lost my shit and done something stupid by now."
"…you did fight Salem one-on-one in midair…" Jaune pointed out as Sun awkwardly took a seat beside Yang.
"Shut it. I'm glad you and Blake wound up together, too," Yang offered. "Having a partner really does make all of this easier to deal with. Start dropping hints for Blake to make me her maid of honor, alright?"
"Will do," Sun said with a soft laugh. "Unfortunately, I think Neptune would kill me if he wasn't my best man…"
"No worries," Jaune reassured. "I owe that role to Ren at my wedding, so no hard feelings in either direction."
"Yeah," Sun acknowledged. "None at all. But… when it comes to the business side of things, Ironwood called back. He's got Dr. Polendina working on a new arm already."
"Already? Damn," Yang remarked, sounding impressed.
"That's great news!" Jaune added. "So, is he getting it delivered to Vacuo, or…?"
"And there's the twist," Sun let on. "He's asking us to stay here for another two days to wait on the delivery."
"Two days?" Yang asked. "I was all for spending today in Mistral, but… should we really let Salem get that much of a potential head start?"
"I know, I know," Sun agreed. "That's what I said, but… we won't just be sitting on our asses. I'm gonna make a call to Professor Gumo once Ironwood hooks me up with a private line, and we'll fill him in on everything we know and give Vacuo a heads up about Salem. There's work to be done, but the more I think about it… the more I think this might be a good thing, in the end. We do need some time to recover…"
"We do," Jaune agreed. "How's your head been?"
"Not great," Sun answered honestly. "Waves of pain on and off. Still no sign of Ozpin or anything like that, but… it's really hard to rest when I can take a knife to the brain at any second. I'm not about to complain about having a few days to get back on my feet. I'm gonna see about picking up some over-the-counter meds, see if they help."
"You honestly should," Yang said. "We could probably all use some painkillers. Any word from Corsac yet? He hasn't contacted either of us."
"Nothing yet, no," Sun replied. "I'm sure he's fine. If we don't hear anything in another hour or two, I'll check in. For now, I'd say we should just take advantage of this rest period we've been given and try to calm down a bit. There's so much that's gone on, and a lot to process."
"Yeah, little bit," Yang said as she stretched her arm across her chest. "I'm still reeling from… everything. Hey, speaking of, can you please tell Jaune it's okay for us to fuck? He feels guilty. Maybe if he has your backing…"
"Yang!" Jaune cried, looking incredibly embarrassed.
"Hey. My man," Sun said as he leaned in front of Yang and offered him a fist. "You heard the lady. Go for it. Enjoy what time we've got, alright?"
Jaune let out an exasperated sigh and slowly returned the fist bump.
"…yeah. Can we please just… not make our sex lives into a public affair? Even though we're close, it's still really awkward. I don't want to talk about stuff like this like it's no big deal…"
"It really isn't," Yang shrugged as Sun withdrew his fist. "It's just part of life."
"Then why was Sun so embarrassed when he first walked in?" Jaune tried, sounding defiant.
"You guys caught me off guard," Sun said as he stood up from the bed into a stretch, though the lingering pink in his cheeks betrayed how he really felt. "I'm already over it. It's all good, and Yang's right. It's not really a huge ordeal around good friends."
"Really?" Jaune asked. "So, you wouldn't mind if we talked about the shower up in Atlas, huh?"
Suddenly, Sun didn't look so ready and willing to be casual about sexuality anymore.
"U-uh, let's not… I'm gonna leave you guys to it, alright? You kids have fun…"
"…oh, do tell," Yang taunted with a devilish grin. "What exactly did you two get up to in that dorm…?"
"It's not…" Sun started, glaring daggers at Jaune. "Dude, come on, that was an accident! It was only once!"
"Uh-huh," Jaune deadpanned. "I'm not gonna say anything more… as long as you don't make light of Yang and I being intimate. Deal?"
"Deal," Sun agreed immediately. "Please drop it. Seriously."
"Done," Jaune agreed. "Sorry, Yang. I won't betray him like that."
"Fine, fine," Yang said, sounding disappointed. "Keep your secrets."
"Please do," Sun added as he lingered in the doorway. "Oh, and Yang? How about later tonight… do you feel like taking up meditation again? It's been a while, and I think we could both use it."
"That sounds like a good idea," Yang said with a nod. "Honestly, I'd forgotten all about it. I'll come find you later."
"After Jaune finishes busting a nut in you, yeah," Sun said with a small wave while disappearing into the hall and closing the door. "Bye!"
Jaune buried his face in his hands, unable to look at Yang as she burst out laughing.
"…That asshole. Fine, two can play this game. Right around when we arrived in Atlas, Sun was in the shower…"
Author's Note:
Let the bonding begin.
-RD