A/N: Thank you to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed! This particular chapter was really fun to write. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 76: Pyrrha
The date card came at eleven am into the women's room. It was delivered by Oscar, who always looked nervous around the ladies.
Pyrrha, sitting around the table with Coco, Velvet, Ciel, and Weiss, smiled at Oscar when he entered. He handed the date card to Pyrrha, giving a quick bob of his head and then exiting.
"Well, what's it say?" Coco asked slyly once Oscar had left.
"Oh, yes, please open it!" Velvet exclaimed.
Pyrrha grinned, tearing open the envelope and reading the card inside.
"Pyrrha and Nora," she read. "I hope you are both ready to see some action. Meet me at the palace gates at noon."
"See some action?" Weiss asked when Pyrrha set down the letter. She looked distraught. "What does that mean?"
Coco and Velvet exchanged a look, but Pyrrha merely shrugged. "I'm not sure." She stood up. "I'm sad I will miss you all today, I will surely give the prince your best." She smiled at each of them in turn, and then her brow furrowed. "Has anyone seen Nora?"
As it turned out, Nora was in the palace gardens, chasing butterflies with Penny. When Pyrrha walked out through the front doors of the palace, she heard the two girls shouting and laughing (giggling in Penny's case, cackling in Nora's).
Pyrrha smiled, shaking her head. "Nora!" she called.
Nora turned, grinned, and then bounded towards Pyrrha, Penny on her heels. "Pyrrha!" she exclaimed. "Good! We could use your help. Do you have your spear?"
Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow. "My spear?"
"Indeed!" Penny cried, beaming. "We are fighting the lancer-hybrids before they can attack the prince."
Pyrrha followed Penny's pointer finger and watched as a startled-looking butterfly fluttered this way and that. "Those aren't Grimm, Penny, those are just butterflies."
Penny's brow furrowed, and she turned to Nora. Nora shrugged. "Butterflies shmutterflies. We wanted to break some legs."
Pyrrha winced, suddenly worried for the insect populations at the palace, or in any area where Nora was set forth unsupervised.
"Anyway, if you're not here to help us fight, why are you here?"
Pyrrha smiled, pulling the note from her pocket. "We got invited on a date with the Prince."
"Really?" Penny beamed.
"Let me see that," Nora snarled, taking the note from Pyrrha's hands and scanning it herself.
"Just Nora and I," Pyrrha explained, and, feeling terrible at the look of disappointment on Penny's face, she said quickly, "but that means one of the next two dates you'll be on, either a big group one with a lot of your friends, or a one-on-one with just Prince Jaune."
Penny nodded, looking slightly better, but Nora's face was scrunched up in suspicion. "What does he mean, 'see some action'?"
"I guess we'll have to figure out," Pyrrha said with a shrug and a smile.
They met Prince Jaune back at the entrance to the palace. Unlike his usual formal clothes, he wore a white shirt, a black jacket, and blue jeans. His lack of formality made Pyrrha's insides feel funny, and when he took her hand to help her into the airship, something like electricity passed between their fingers.
"Hey, Pyrrha," Jaune said, entering the airship and sitting across from her.
"Hi, Jaune."
For a moment, looking into his pensive blue eyes, Pyrrha felt as though Nora wasn't there. She felt as though no one else in the Selection was there, and it was just her and Jaune forever and ever. She was vaguely aware of the airship taking off, of some sort of rising and falling in her stomach. Jaune held her gaze for one breath. Two. Three.
"Hello?" Nora's voice interrupted them. She stood between them, hands on her hips.
Pyrrha pulled back, embarrassed, and Jaune turned to Nora. "Hi, Nora."
"Enough with the introductions," Nora said, plopping beside Pyrrha. Pyrrha scooted over. It had been selfish of her to hold Jaune's attention for so long. This date was for both her and Nora, not just her. As long as the Selection continued, it would never be just her. And, with such a wonderful collection of girls, it would likely not be her in the end. "Where are you taking us, Blondey?"
Jaune laughed. "Is that my new nickname?"
"That or Princey Boy."
"Blondey is much preferred."
The three of them laughed, and then Jaune explained.
"Well, I know you're into leg-breaking, Nora, and Pyrrha, you used to be a Huntress, so I'm sure you miss tournaments. So I figured I'd give you both an afternoon of destruction."
"Destruction?" Pyrrha asked, taken aback.
"Demolition," Jaune corrected.
"Demolition?" Nora's eyes sparkled.
Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "I'll just give you the tickets." From his pocket, he pulled out three crumpled paper tickets.
Pyrrha turned hers over and read.
TENEBRIS DEMOLITION DERBY
ADMIT ONE
Beside her, Nora cheered.
The Tenebris Demolition Derby took place in a large stadium. The stands were packed with cheering crowds, but two stoic-looking Huntsmen led Pyrrha, Nora, and Jaune to a balcony at the very front cordoned off with red velvet ribbon.
"This is very nice," Pyrrha observed, taking her seat beside Jaune. Nora, on the other side, had already started clapping and cheering.
"Thanks," Jaune said sheepishly. "I–" before he could continue, however, he was cut off by the revving of engines, the cheering of the crowds, and the excited screaming of the bloodthirsty girl beside them.
Pyrrha watched, wincing and cringing as cars slammed into each other. It was not the sort of date she would have picked, but it was clear that Nora was having the time of her life. Twenty minutes in, Pyrrha stood up. "I'm going to get some water," she said. "Do you want anything?"
"I'll come with you," Jaune said, leaping to his feet a little too quickly.
Nora stayed in her seat. "Anything with sugar," she exclaimed, not taking her eyes off of the action.
"You don't want to come?" Jaune asked.
Nora shook her head. "I don't want to miss a second of this. BREAK HIS LEGS!" she shouted down into the pit. Shaking his head and laughing, Jaune accompanied Pyrrha to the concessions.
For a second they walked in silence through the grease-and-salt-smelling crowds. Then, Pyrrha and Jaune spoke at the same time. They both laughed nervously.
"You go first," Jaune said, and Pyrrha smiled.
"I was just going to say thank you for taking us on this date. It's exciting for sure."
"Really?" Jaune lit up. "I'm not a big demolition fan myself, but this seems like the sort of thing that Nora would like."
"Oh, it is," Pyrrha grinned.
"How… how's she been doing, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha cocked her head, and Jaune sighed.
"She had a hard time on our last date. We were making pancakes and she got… sad. I figured a date like this would cheer her up, and I invited you because, well…" he scratched the back of his neck. "Soda?" Jaune asked quickly, stepping in line at the fountain drink bar. "We should ask if they have sugar-free for Nora, because the last thing she needs is more sugar. I wonder–"
Pyrrha stopped him, putting a hand on his arm. Jaune looked at her, the tips of his ears red. "That's kind of you," Pyrrha said. She watched Jaune's throat bob as he swallowed. "You saw what Nora needed, and you provided it, even if it isn't a date that you would typically want to go on. That was good."
"Yeah?" Jaune asked, his voice cracking.
Pyrrha nodded. "Yeah."
They got their sodas and a sugar-free one for Nora, and climbed back to their booth. The derby continued for another hour– crashes and cheers and maniacal laughter from the orange-haired girl beside them. Pyrrha was shocked how invested in the game she was able to get when she let go and allowed herself to enjoy it, and she was delighted to see Jaune beside her do the same.
When at last, the last demolished monster truck drove out of the arena, the three of them vacated the box.
"That. Was. EPIC!" Nora cheered as they walked through the gawking crowds, escorted by their burly Huntsmen bodyguards. "The cars! The explosions! The flames!"
"I was not expecting that purple monster truck to flip that many times," Jaune said, laughing.
"Eighteen times total. Bad. Ass." Nora cackled. She was the first to climb onto the plane, pulling herself up and rushing to a window seat. Jaune followed, and he held out a hand for Pyrrha.
Pyrrha considered it. Back home, everyone considered her independent and capable, too much of a celebrity to need any help or even companionship. Pyrrha was independent, and she was capable, but she still appreciated a helping hand. Jaune's fingers were warm and smooth under hers, and he pulled her up onto the plane with a strength Pyrrha hadn't known he'd possessed.
When she looked up, she found herself mere inches from Jaune's face.
Jaune swallowed and coughed. He gestured for Pyrrha to take a seat, and she noticed that the tips of his ears a bright, blazing red.
Within ten minutes of their hour long flight back to the palace, Nora had fallen asleep. She was snoring softly, her head resting on Pyrrha's shoulder, occasionally muttering about pancakes.
"So, uh…" Jaune scratched the back of his neck. "What's your favorite color?"
Pyrrha stared at him for a second, and then giggled. "My favorite color?"
Jaune's face turned red. "Yeah, I mean I…" he hung his head. "Nevermind. Forget I asked."
"No, no!" Pyrrha protested, smiling. "I just am caught off guard. I've never been asked my favorite color before."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Most of the time people ask me about my battle strategies, my semblance, my academy plans. Never my favorite color or favorite food or my feelings. It's not that they don't care," she continued quickly, seeing the distraught look on Jaune's face, "it's just that there's a specific version of me that they do care about, and a version of me that they don't."
"They care about Pyrrha the Huntress, not Pyrrha the person."
She nodded, surprised that he could grasp on so quickly and accurately.
"I get it." Jaune looked down at his feet. "It's the same with me. People only care about Jaune the Prince."
Pyrrha stared at him for a moment. Then, she said, "Green."
Jaune looked up. He smiled, and her knees went weak.
"Yours?"
"Yellow." Jaune leaned forward. "Now for the real question: favorite food."
They spent the rest of the hour-long flight back to the palace asking and answering silly questions. Pyrrha learned that Jaune's favorite food was chicken nuggets, but his favorite cereal was Pumpkin Pete's, and his favorite dessert was strawberry cake. She learned that he preferred Autumn over all other seasons, and he especially hated Spring because it wreaked havoc on his sinuses. She learned that he listened to country and acoustic songs, and had been playing the guitar since his dad had taught him thirteen years prior. She learned that, before the Selection, he had never dated anyone, something that they both had in common. She learned that he could be funny and open and vulnerable and kind.
When the plane landed and Jaune parted ways with Pyrrha and Nora to prepare for his evening date, Pyrrha learned something else. She learned that she was starting to fall for him.