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Pyrrha wasn't someone who was used to losing. Call it egotistical or petty, but it was the truth. While her feelings about her fame were neutral most days, the tournaments themselves were a thrill. The clash of steel on steel, bodies against bodies, it was a feeling like no other. Fighting Grimm was good, of course. It helped protect people and it was the sworn duty of all Huntsmen. But there was something different about fighting against someone who could do more than mindlessly charge and kill.
It wasn't just fighting, of course. Pyrrha made sure that she gave a hundred and ten percent into everything she did. Sports, studies, even acting in those commercials. She should've gotten an award for managing to smile after eating those horrible Pumpkin Pete's flakes. She'd never claim to be flawless - there was always room to improve no matter what - but she could say with certainty that she was never one to sit on her laurels. It was why she considered it a personal failure if she was ever forced to use her Semblance in a fight. It was a crutch, one that wouldn't work the same way if she were to fight a Grimm. Pyrrha made sure that she did her utter best when it came to all of her endeavors.
...
Except for one.
Jaune. Even thinking about his name made her chest tighten. Jaune was many things. Brave, kind, and caring towards his friends. He was also stubborn, did things without thinking them through, and (before he'd changed) prideful to a fault despite cheating his way into Beacon. Both things could be true. It was part of the reason she fell for him, honestly. So many of the men she'd interacted with tried to portray themselves as utterly flawless and perfect. The same way they expected her to be.
Jaune... wasn't. He was flawed, and not in the way that was always funny or endearing. His pride grated on her and he had an inflated sense of how easy it'd be to become a Huntsman. She remembered how he'd insisted that he had to do things on his own out of some old-fashioned masculine pride. He honestly thought that self-training with some videos he found online would be enough. As if some videos and determination would be able to bridge the gap. She thought he'd been reading too much manga at the time.
But at the end of it all, he was someone who was willing to move past his flaws and work to better himself. Huntsmen and tournament fighters were a prideful bunch and admitting to mistakes was like pulling teeth. She'd seen it more times than she cared to admit. Even Ruby had that instinctive pride and refusal to admit fault when it came to her weapon. Any suggestions for changing her weapon's impracticalities was met with a glare that would've frozen even Weiss.
Wait, she was getting off-track.
Pyrrha shook her head and slapped both cheeks. She looked up at the door to team RWBY's dorm room and took a deep breath. Right, romance. It felt bad to admit even to herself, but that was one of the few things she had no experience in. Her manager 'encouraged' her to focus on the tournament circuit over relationships. She knew that it was to allow fans the fantasies of getting together with her, but she agreed because she had no interest in it at the time. She'd been focused on training and fighting. The closest she got to romance were the rumors about heated rivalries and secret relationships with foreign contestants. Her PR manager stoked the flames to gain attention. She wasn't exactly keen on it, but she'd disregarded it at the time.
Even rivalries tended to be short-lived or one-sided. She remembered another tournament fighter by the name of Arslan who seemed to make it her life goal to defeat her. Her manager played it up a lot even though Pyrrha didn't feel much in the way of anything towards the other woman.
Pyrrha shook her head again. She was trailing off because she was nervous, it was a bad habit of her's. Every time she was stressed about something she couldn't deal with she'd hyperfocus on other things. Usually training. That helped clear her mind.
"Focus, Pyrrha," she muttered to herself. She was 19 years old now - far too old to be stuttering at the thought of even just holding hands with someone. She'd defeated tournament champions almost twice her age and yet here she was, worrying about a-asking her partner out on a date.
But she couldn't help herself. Every time she considered it, her thoughts would spiral. What if he said no? That would make things awkward. It could ruin their relationship! Or worse, what if he said yes because he felt obligated to for all the training she gave him? The thought made her gut churn with worry. She didn't want that! It would be horrible! He might even find other people to train him, and she knew she wouldn't be able to live with that.
So the solution was obvious: have Jaune ask her out instead. It was foolproof. There'd be no problem if he made the first move, right? She'd say yes, they'd go on an amazing date, and it'd be happily ever after. The problem, of course, was that she had no idea how to make that happen. She couldn't ask him since that'd completely defeat the point and for all the skills she had, subtlety wasn't one of them. She could do the research, but she'd already wasted enough time as it was. They were already in the middle of their second year. The time for waffling was over.
She needed help, and she knew just who to get it from.
Pyrrha knocked on the door, "Come in," a bored voice said. She stepped inside with a heaviness in her step, her back straight and her arms folded behind her like a soldier about to be criticized by her commanding officer.
Sitting on a beanbag chair like a queen on her throne, Blake turned the the page of her smut book. She looked up at Pyrrha through half-lidded eyes, her expression unreadable. Pyrrha forced herself to smile. She didn't really talk to Blake all that much. It wasn't that she disliked the other woman, they just didn't have a lot in common. She was withdrawn, preferred literature to spending time with others, and was... economical with her words. They just didn't have a lot in common.
And Pyrrha needed her help more than anything.
"Thank you for meeting me." Pyrrha knelt down and sat in a proper seiza position. She needed to show her respect to someone she was begging for help. Because that's what this was: begging. She wasn't ashamed to admit it. She'd come to plead with the not-so-secret Faunus for her help.
"Pyrrha." Blake made a show of closing her book and crossed one leg over the other. It was probably meant to look graceful, but it looked silly considering what she was sitting on. Pyrrha bit her tongue. No, no, don't say anything. She'd take offense, "What do you need?"
"I... I need your help." She straightened up slightly. The kneeling position was always difficult for her despite her training, "I want Jaune to ask me out on a date and I thought that..."
"That I could help you." Blake gave her a cocky little smile. Pyrrha couldn't even resent her for it. Blake was popular, almost absurdly so considering she spent most of her time cooped up in the library reading 'tasteful literature'. And not just popular in the 'she looks pretty' sense. No, she had an honest to Brothers harem. Yang was obviously pining for her, as was Sun. There were also those two transfer students, Ilia and Adam. Pyrrha had no idea where they came from but they were already trying to cozy up to Blake. Judging by how she reacted to them, she already knew about their feelings for a long time.
And then there was the Belladonna Brawl...
Pyrrha shook her head. No. She wouldn't go down that path again.
"Yes." Pyrrha clenched her hands into shaky fists, "I... you attract people." She didn't know why, but Pyrrha wisely kept that thought to herself, "I... I need advice. To get Jaune to ask me out, that is. You're... you, so I'm sure you know what to do."
"Hm." Blake uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. She was milking this for all it was worth. Pyrrha bit her tongue, "Alright, I can see you're desperate. I'll tell you my foolproof plan." She leaned forward, amber eyes unblinking, "Go to where Jaune spends his time. Are you following me so far?" Pyrrha nodded, "Once that's done, you find somewhere to sit nearby and do something. I like to read a good book, but any other intellectual habit will do. Don't play with your scroll. It looks childish."
"Okay? And then?"
"And then... you wait."
Pyrrha blinked and waited for the next set of instructions. None came. Blake just gave her a dead serious look, "Um..." She squirmed in place, "Is... Is that it?"
"What else are you expecting?" Blake asked, utterly sincere.
"Well, that is." Pyrrha paused, struggling to find the words, "I expected something more... active, I suppose? Doing something to draw him into asking me out?"
"You are doing something. You're existing near his space." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Blake gave her a pitying look, "What's so hard to get? If you need something more specific, you can cross your legs and stretch your arms above your head. It's not Dust science, Pyrrha."
"I just... is this all I have to do? Exist near him and he'll ask me on a date?" She'd already done that! She'd lost count of how many times she'd hovered in his periphery hoping that today would be the day that he'd realize she was the perfect partner and ask her on a date.
"Obviously." She rolled her eyes.
"But how do you know that? What if-"
"Pyrrha. Look at me." She steepled her hands together, "That's how I got everyone pining for me. I sat down, I read, and they came like moths drawn to a flame. I didn't do it in purpose; it just happened." She said it with utter confidence. Pyrrha opened her mouth to argue further before Blake held up a hand, "You don't believe me." It wasn't a question. Blake closed her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh, like Pyrrha just told her that two plus two equaled five, "Fine. I'll show you."
Blake rose from her beanbag throne with a fluid grace that had no business looking that elegant. She tucked her book under her arm and walked past Pyrrha toward the door, "Wait, show me? Right now?" Pyrrha scrambled to her feet. Her legs tingled with pins and needles from the seiza position she'd forced herself into. She hobbled after Blake who was already halfway down the hall, "Where are we going?"
"The courtyard."
"The courtyard," Pyrrha repeated.
"Yes."
"Why the courtyard?"
Blake glanced over her shoulder, "Good lighting, high foot traffic, and the bench near the fountain has decent back support." She said it in the same way a General talked about favorable terrain. Pyrrha didn't know how to respond to that.
They walked in silence. Pyrrha's mind raced with questions, but every time she tried to voice one, Blake's calm, purposeful steps made her feel like she'd be interrupting a surgeon on the way to the operating room. She was just walking to a bench, but why did it feel like she was about to witness something sacred?
The courtyard was busy, which made sense. It was the afternoon after classes and the tomorrow was Saturday. Students milled around aimlessly without a care in the world. A group of second-years were arguing about something near the vending machines while two women from team NDGO - Dew Gayle and Gwen Darcy, if she was remembering correctly - were stretching on the grass. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a sight she'd seen dozens of times.
Blake found her bench. She sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and opened her book. Pyrrha waited a few seconds until she quickly realized what she was doing, "So," Pyrrha started.
"Shh." Blake didn't look up, "Watch."
Pyrrha stood a few feet away with her arms crossed and felt profoundly silly. She'd fought in tournaments and defeated professionals who could shatter concrete with their bare hands. And yet here she was, standing in a courtyard watching her friend (sort of) read a book like it was a spectator sport.
She counted the seconds in her head.
One, two, three, four, five, six-
A young man she vaguely recognized from Professor Port's class changed direction mid-stride. He'd been walking toward the cafeteria, Pyrrha was sure of it, but then his head turned and something behind his eyes visibly clicked. He veered toward the bench like a man possessed, "Hey, uh, Blake?" He rubbed the back of his neck, "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab coffee sometime? Or tea. You seem like a tea person. Not that- I mean, that's not a stereotype or anything, I just-"
"No thank you," Blake said without looking up. She turned a page, "And I actually do prefer tea, you were right."
The young man stood there for a moment, mouth slightly open, then nodded about seven times in quick succession and walked away. He bumped into a trash can on the way out.
Pyrrha stared. Did that just-
Before she could even process what she'd just seen, Gwen appeared at the bench like she'd teleported. Pyrrha hadn't even seen her get up, "Hi! You're Blake, right? From team RWBY?" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with the kind of practiced casualness that Pyrrha recognized from her own commercial rehearsals. It was textbook 'cute, awkward wallflower', "I've seen you around the library and I think you're really cool. Do you want to hang out sometime? Maybe get dinner?"
"I appreciate the offer, but no." Another page turned. Gwen took it with far more grace than the guy had. She gave a small wave and walked back to her teammate Dew, who immediately grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her. She couldn't make out what they were saying, and she didn't want to.
It'd been thirty seconds, maybe forty. Pyrrha's eye twitched.
A tall guy with a messenger bag approached next, completely ignoring her without so much as a glance. She didn't know how to feel about that. She was so used to people staring or even leering that the complete abscence of any kind of attention felt almost alien. Not unpleasant, but still weird.
He didn't even bother with small talk, "Do you wanna go to the dance with me?" he asked.
"There isn't a dance coming up." Blake raised a brow.
"I can wait for one."
"No."
He accepted this with a solemn nod and left.
Then came a woman with bright red hair - not her own crimson tint, more of a ginger color - who brought an entire cupcake as an offering. Where did she get it? Was she carrying it this whole time? Did she bake it hoping to give it to someone today? Blake accepted the cupcake but declined the date. She looked like she'd won the lottery anyway.
Pyrrha's jaw hung open. She wasn't even trying to hide her disbelief anymore. This was insane. Blake was literally doing nothing. She was sitting on a bench reading what Pyrrha was sixty percent sure was smut and people were lining up like she was giving away free Dust!
"Blake," Pyrrha whispered, "How. How is this happening."
"I told you." Blake bit into the cupcake. It was red velvet, "You just have to exist."
"You- that's not- this isn't normal!" Pyrrha sputtered, "I've sat in courtyards before! I've sat in many courtyards! The only people who approach me ask for autographs!" And sometimes in the most uncomfortable of places. She'd never forget the first time someone tried to ask for her signature across their cheeks. And not the ones on their face.
"Hm." Blake chewed thoughtfully, "Sounds like a you problem."
Pyrrha made a noise that she'd later deny ever making. It was somewhere between a squeak and a kettle boiling over. Another student was already approaching. This one had flowers. Flowers. Where was everyone getting these things?! Was there a preparation kit she wasn't aware of? Did Beacon have a vending machine that dispensed romantic gestures? She expected someone with a fog machine and a storm of rose petals to come barreling in next.
Blake turned her down with the same serene disinterest she'd shown everyone else. The woman - a fourth year, Pyrrha thought deliriously - left looking oddly at peace with the rejection, "You see?" Blake closed her book with a loud snap. There was a small, almost imperceptible smile on her face.
Pyrrha wanted to be annoyed, but she couldn't. Because Blake was right. The evidence was sitting in front of her, eating a cupcake with a stack of rejected suitors in her wake. She sat down and just... existed and people were lining up to be rejected!
"See? It's easy." Blake finished off the cupcake and sucked the last of the cream from her pointer finger. A few guys not so subtly shuffled away with their hands between their legs. Pyrrha made a heroic effort to ignore it and purge it from her mind, "If I did it in your room I'm sure Jaune would be all over me."
"Don't you dare!" Pyrrha snarled. She could feel her Semblance screaming at her to grab every metal thing in the courtyard and stab Blake's face with it.
"Relax, I already have two blondes after me. I'm not looking for a third." Blake rolled her eyes, "Any more questions?"
...
"Could I borrow one of your books please?"
"I thought you'd never ask.
"You're being an idiot."
Ren didn't sugarcoat things. It was one of his better qualities, usually. She'd grown up with sycophants never willing to call her out on her mistakes. She was always right even when she was wrong. Usually, she appreciated his candor and willingness to speak his mind.
But right now? Pyrrha wished he was more like Nora (who was actually together-together with now). Blind enthusiasm, maybe a distressing love for pancakes (and an equally distressing hatred for waffles). Anything but the blunt, devastating honesty he was leveling at her from across their dorm room.
"I'm not being an idiot," Pyrrha said as she adjusted her position on her bed. She had Blake's book in her lap, some romance novel with a shirtless pirate on the cover. She'd tried not to look at the title too closely, "I have a plan."
"Your plan is to sit on your bed and read a book." Ren's voice was flat. Not angry or even disappointed, just flat. Somehow that was worse.
"It's not just reading a book." She said, "It's part of my plan, Ren. Blake showed me and it works, I saw it with my own eyes. People were lining up for the chance to ask her out. Someone brought a cupcake, another one came with flowers. The method works."
"Pyrrha." Ren pinched the bridge of his nose. He did that a lot around her lately. She tried not to take it personally, "You could just ask him out like a normal person."
There it was. The words she dreaded. Pyrrha's grip tightened on the book, "I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because what if he says no?" The words tumbled out faster than she wanted them to, "What if it makes things awkward? We're partners! We share a dorm, we train together every day, we..." She shook her head, "If I ask him out and he doesn't feel the same way, I could lose all of that. Everything we've built over the past year and a half would be ruined because I couldn't keep my feelings to myself!"
"Or he says yes and you stop torturing yourself." The words were completely devoid of sympathy. How cruel.
"He could say yes out of obligation because I trained him and he feels like he owes me!" Pyrrha shot back, "Do you know how awful that would be? No, no. I'd rather pine in silence for the rest of my life than have him date me out of guilt!" Ren stared at her and she stared back. The silence between them was deafening, "I've seen Blake's method work," Pyrrha said, even more insistent now, "It does. I just need to apply it properly."
Ren opened his mouth then closed it. She could practically see the debate raging inside his head before he eventually sighed, threw his hands up, and walked toward the door, "I'm going to find Nora. Good luck with your plan."
The door clicked shut behind him. Pyrrha sat there in the silence for a moment and looked down at the pirate romance novel with a small pang of guilt. She knew Ren meant well. He was being logical and rational, and if she were on the outside looking in she'd probably agree with him. But logic and rationality had no place in romance. If they did, she wouldn't have fallen for the scraggly guy who faked his transcripts and din't even know what Aura was during Initiation. What was that saying? Love was deaf, dumb and blind?
She took a breath as she straightened her back and opened the book to a random page. Blake said the content didn't matter, but she figured she might as well try to read it. Her eyes skimmed a paragraph and she immediately flipped to a different page. Okay, maybe she wouldn't read that page.
She found a chapter that seemed relatively tame, something about the pirate captain navigating a storm. Which was fine until the first mate started describing the captain's glistening, rain-soaked muscles in lavish detail. She was starting to understand Blake's taste in literature.
Minutes ticked by. She crossed her legs, kept the book open, and waited. Blake said ten seconds. It'd been about eight minutes, but that was fine. She was in a dorm room, not a courtyard. Lower foot traffic and half of the people inside were already dating. She had to account for variables. Any good fighter adapted to the battlefield. If her calculations were correct then it'd only take a few minutes for him to ask her out now that she was being serious about... existing.
The door swung open and Jaune walked in.
"Hey, Pyrrha!" He greeted her with that easy, lopsided grin that always made her stomach do flips that would make the school nurse worry. His hair was still damp from the shower, pushed back and away from his face instead of falling into his eyes. The plain t-shirt he wore clung in places it had absolutely no business clinging to. When had his shoulders gotten that broad? Had they always looked like that? She'd been training him for over a year so she should've known the answer to that, but her brain was suddenly being very stupid right now.
"H-hello, Jaune!" Her voice came out about half an octave too high. She cleared her throat, "Good run?"
"Yeah! Finally beat my time on the north courtyard. Ren's been showing me this breathing technique that really helps with pacing." He stretched his arms above his head and his shirt rode up just enough to-
Pyrrha's eyes snapped back to the book. Focus. She was the best Huntress in her year. She had discipline and training, she wasn't going to sit here and drool over her partner like some kind of- were those abs? Plural? Since when did he have those? Pyrrha silently cursed herself for not suggesting naked training all those months ago. She had the excuse all lined up, even had diagrams of pankration tournaments in the colosseum. But she'd backed down because it was 'improper'.
Damn you, past Pyrrha! You coward!
The book! Look at the book, she reminded herself. She crossed her legs exactly the way Blake did yesterday. Open posture, relaxed but present. Try to look like you were just trying to exist without caring about him.
"Oh, whatcha reading?" Jaune leaned over to look at the cover and Pyrrha got a faceful of soap and something earthy that made her thoughts scatter like startled birds. She could feel the warmth radiating off him from the hot shower. This was fine. Everything was fine.
"Literature," she said, which was technically true. She prayed to the Brothers that he wouldn't actually read the page.
"Cool, cool." Jaune flopped onto his bed across from her's and pulled out his scroll. Pyrrha let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, "Hey, you wanna grab lunch later? Nora said the cafeteria's doing that noodle bar thing again. I wanna try their spicy ramen."
Pyrrha's heart leapt into her throat. Was this it? Was it working already? Wait, no, lunch with the team wasn't a date. Don't get ahead of yourself. Stick to the plan. Exist, be present, cross your legs, and wait.
"That sounds lovely," she said. It took everything she had to make the smile look like a normal human's and not some desperate maiden begging for attention.
"So, any plans for the weekend?" Jaune asked without looking up from his scroll.
"Oh, you know... nothing. I'm completely free. I can do whatever I want, really." Did she sound desperate? Please tell her she didn't sound desperate, "And what about you? Any plans? Perhaps with a friend?" Pyrrha bit her tongue, but it was too late. A FRIEND? Was she trying to sabotage herself?!
"Eh, not really. Ruby's busy with Weiss, something about adding an ice edge to Crescent Rose? No idea how that's gonna work. Ren and Nora are going on another date." He stretched his arms above his head again. Her eyes flicked down and she licked her lips. Gods, she wanted to run her tongue down his-
"H-How's training?!" she asked in a rush.
"Fine. Beat my record, like I said. Getting better." He sat up on the bed to look at her properly, "Hey... I know I don't say it enough, but I really appreciate all the help you gave me. I was... well, I was a real asshole."
"Jaune, you weren't-"
"Come on, I totally was." Jaune snorted. He didn't sound sad or self-pitying, just matter of fact, "I was a stubborn jerk. Anyone else would've told on me to Ozpin when they found out about my transcripts, but you didn't. You offered to help me, and when I told you no cause 'I had to do it myself', you still tried to help me. If I was in your place I'm not sure I would've done the same."
"You would've, I'm sure of it." She set the book down.
"I hope so." He laughed and brought a hand through his messy hair. Her heart fluttered, "Thanks, Pyr. You're definitely the best partner anyone could ask for."
"I... thank you, that means a lot." She opened her mouth and stopped. She was about to ask him him out. The words were on the tip of her tongue and she desperately wanted to say them. But then the voice at the back of her head whispered. Look at how grateful he is, it said. He'll say yes just because he thinks he owes you. No, she didn't want that. She didn't! He had to be the one to ask her out, that way she could be sure that there wasn't any doubts about his feelings.
But what could she do? Clearly Blake's methods weren't working. She didn't know why. She was beautiful, she knew that, and she did her best to be kind and polite to others, so why wasn't Jaune asking her out on a date?
She needed a new plan. A better plan. Maybe she could ask Yang? She'd been pining for Blake for the past year, but she was still popular and got asked out every other week. Clearly she was doing something right. Yes, that would work. She'd talk to Yang and then-
"Jaune, Pyrrha has a massive crush on you."
...
Pyrrha's eyes snapped to the doorway where Ren was standing. The 'sensible one' of team JNPR was leaning against the door looking completely stone-faced. Pyrrha's mouth opened, but all that came out were choking sounds. Jaune looked between the two of them in confusion.
"Ahaha... Ren? What are you-"
"Pyrrha's in love with you." Ren said in the same way you'd say water was wet. Pyrrha choked again, "No, that's not an exagerattion. L-O-V-E. She's been reading a smut book for the past hour because she thinks you'll ask her out if she exists near you."
"Uh...why would she think that?" Jaune asked.
"Because she saw it happen to Blake and assumed that Blake plays by our rules. She doesn't." He shook his head, "And I'm sure that now that she's seen that it doesn't work, she's going to ask someone else for horrible advice. I'm guessing someone else from team RWBY, likely Weiss or Yang. She'll repeat this at least a few more times before deciding she must have made a mistake with Blake's methods and start the whole cycle again. I'm nipping it in the bud."
"Ren, bro... are you serious? Pyrrha liking me? This isn't a joke, right?"
"If you think I'm the kind of guy to joke about this, then you really do deserve each other." He sighed, "No, you dense fool. Pyrrha's in love with you. She'd probably shriek so loud that she'd shatter every window at Beacon if you held her hand."
"LIE REN!" Pyrrha shrieked, finally finding her voice. Ren didn't miss a beat and slammed the door shut before she could tear into him. Pyrrha tried to get up off the bed and tangled her legs on the blanket, slamming face-first into the carpeted floor.
The quiet that settled over the room was suffocating. Pyrrha didn't know if she wanted to shriek or cry. Ren had just... laid it all out there. She grabbed desperately for the fallen pillow and covered her head with it. Maybe she'd get lucky and this would've all been just a dream.
No such luck.
"So..." Jaune said. She could hear him clear even through the pillow, "That wasn't a joke, right? He was being serious? You really... you know." Loved him.
A part of her wanted to play it off. He'd given her an out, just say it was all a horrible prank because Ren had no sense of humor. A bigger part screamed at her to just stop the games already, "I... no, he wasn't lying." Her words were soft and she still refused to take the pillow off, "I've... really liked you ever since we were first years."
"Oh."
Pyrrha waited. Oh? What did he mean by OH?! Was this the part where he rejected her?! Oh, she knew it! She should've taken the out! She should've-
"Do you... wanna go on a date tomorrow then?"
...
Pyrrha slowly took the pillow off her head and looked up. Jaune was... he looked shy! He was looking off to the side and scratching his right cheek. And he was blushing! An actual blush! He wouldn't look like that if he was only asking out of obligation, right?!
"I... yes, of course!" She scrambled into a shaky stand, "B-But are you sure? I don't want you to feel like you're being pressured!"
"Pressured? Why would you think that?" He blinked.
"Well... I helped you with your training. I didn't want to think that you'd say yes only because you felt like you owed me."
"What?" Jaune looked incredulous, "You thought I'd say yes just because of that? Pyrrha, no. If I didn't like you that way, I'd try to let you down gently. I... well, I learned from Weiss." He scratched the back of his head, "That was kinda the reason I wasn't sure about asking you out before, actually. I didn't wanna be a pushy jerk again. And..."
"And...?"
"And, you know, you're you." He gestured to her, "Any guy in Beacon would kill to date you. I figured you could do better."
"Jaune..." She suddenly felt extremely, profoundly stupid. All this time and she could've just... said something. Anything. Instead, she'd tortured herself with thoughts about what-ifs and catastrophizing, "I...I'd love to go on a date with you."
"Oh! Yeah, cool!" He laughed. It made her stomach do sommersaults, "So... I'm hoping that this isn't too forward?"
"What?"
Jaune leaned forward and pecked her on the lips.
...
...
...
Across campus, Ren plugged his ears and hummed as Pyrrha's happy shriek shattered every window in Beacon.