Chapter Text

Pyrrha was good at reading people. It was the result of years of combat training. In a battle, being able to predict what move an opponent is going to make just by looking at their eyes and body posture is the key to being a great warrior.

So when Jaune started acting differently when it came to her, she noticed almost immediately.

It started at the Vytal Festival.

Everyone at Beacon was excited about the tournament, team JNPR was no exception. They trained for weeks, and, when they won their first team match against team BRNZ, they knew their effort paid off, even if they had a little disagreement in regard of team attacks.

Nevertheless, the doubles round went off without a hitch, she and Nora were chosen to represent the team, and they were, as their friends in team RWBY described excitedly right after the battle, a dangerous combination. The agility in her attacks and defense and Nora's pure power were no match for the pair of boys from Atlas, who were quickly knocked out of the battlefield.

She wasn't surprised when Jaune approached her later that day, touched her shoulder, and asked if she was okay about going to the single rounds, saying that it was totally fine if she was feeling tired from her last matches, but of course, she accepted.

"I knew I could count on you, partner!" He smiled in that way that made her cheeks grow warm and went off to tell Ren and Nora about her decision.

The chosen participants for the single rounds gathered on the stage and waited for Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port to finish explaining the rules. Even though she was more than honored to represent team JNPR in the final rounds and was more than used to one-on-one combat, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Before she always fought for herself, she was the Invincible Girl, the Pride of Sanctum. Now she had a team, she had Jaune, Ren and Nora, she was Pyrrha Nikos from JNPR and she liked this title way more than the ones she carried over from her career in Mistral. She was going to represent her friends and Beacon, and she couldn't let them down, it was a completely new feeling.

The random selection process started, and when the faces of the two participants appeared on the big screen, Yang and some student from Haven she didn't recognize, she let go of a breath she didn't notice she was holding.

Since it was one of her friends that was going to fight, Pyrrha decided to watch the match from the backstage the remaining competitors had access to. The round was intense, and when Yang won the battle, surprising her smug opponent with her fiery semblance, Pyrrha waited for her to come back to the backstage to congratulate her and they went together to find their teams.

Alone in the JNPR dorm room and with all of the excitement for Yang's victory gone, the nervousness returned. But before she could think more about the matter, the silence of the empty room was broken when Nora busted through the door, in workout clothes with Ren right behind her, with that pink apron that said Please do nothing to the cook that his partner got him from his birthday.

They were saying something about no more moping around and extra exercise routines and green smoothies with an amazing nutritional value and the benefits it had in your body until Jaune came in and noticed she was kind of overwhelmed with all of the sudden attention, and suggested them to take some fresh air.

They went to explore the fairgrounds together, but as soon as she had an opportunity, she separated from the group to find a calm spot to think. The chilly autumn air was relaxing, but her worries were still there. She knew it was a bit silly, her friends would not be mad at her if something happened and she lost a match, but she didn't want to disappoint them. For the first time in a tournament, she really had something to fight for.

Jaune found her sitting outside the dining hall, leaning against the wall.

"Hey" She looked up to him. He was smiling, with a cotton candy cane on his hands. "It's no green goop, but I think it still might do some good."

She accepted the treat, giving a small smile of her own back and thanked her friend. He sat beside her.

"I, hum... Noticed you seemed a little down. Is there something on your mind?"

She didn't want to tell him the truth, the idiot would probably think it was his fault; since he was the one who asked her to participate in the finals.

"It's nothing, Jaune, really." Pyrrha answered instead, looking away. However, she didn't sound convinced enough, and she knew that, because he continued.

"You were the first person to ever believe in me, you know that?" She looked back at him when he laughed weakly. "Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"I'm sure they didn't mean-" She began, but stopped mid-sentence, gasping and letting the cotton candy fall from her grasp when Jaune placed his hand over hers.

"I guess... I'm just trying to say that... you've always been there for me... even when I didn't deserve it. And I can tell there's something on your mind, so... I don't know. How can I help?"

Her shock only lasted one second before she smiled. "You're already doing it." She said as she closed her eyes and leaned her head on Jaune's shoulder, feeling him stiff for a moment before relaxing.

They stayed like that until the sun went down, talking, and while their conversation went on, Pyrrha could feel her worries melt away. How could she overthink this so much? Her friends would be by her side no matter what, Jaune would be at her side no matter what. Deep down she already knew that, but she let her anxieties take over. Yes, she didn't want to disappoint her team. Yes, she had something to fight for, and that's why she would do her best.

They talked about random things, like how many stuffed toys Nora would bring to their dorm today, what's going to be on the menu for breakfast tomorrow; how was it possible for a person to drink so much coffee like Doctor Oobleck and survive, why Professor Peach was never around much, and how they should get going or they were going to miss dinner. He got up first and offered a hand to help her up, she accepted it, and when he let go, she could feel a slight hesitation on his part.

She didn't want him to let go either.

The tournament continued. The single rounds always started with eight competitors, so to get to the real finals, the participant had to win the last three matches in a row.

Pyrrha stood in the stage again waiting for the random selection process to pick two of the remaining students for this next round of the quarterfinals, now feeling way more confident than the last time. So when her picture popped up in the big screen, she just got in her place in the field, faced her opponent, adjusted her posture and waited for the countdown for the battle to begin.

"Let's do this!"

She made it to the finals. The quarterfinals and semifinals went off smoothly, the opponents she faced gave her some good matches, but she managed to come out victorious in both of them. However, now she was about to face one of her toughest battles yet.

"Just because we're friends doesn't mean I'll go easy on you, Cereal Girl." Yang Xiao Long joked as she cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes to the nickname as she got into battle stance. "That's the last thing I expect you to do."

It wasn't uncommon for two students from the same school to compete against each other in the finals, and it was even less surprising that, when it happens, both of them were from Beacon, since it was basically common knowledge that the school was considered the best huntsman academy in all of Remnant.

As Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port introduced them both to the crowd and the stage rose, she and Yang were already in position, anticipating the moment where the battle would begin.

Pyrrha knew this battle would be everything but easy, but she had a strategy. She saw every match that Yang fought, and she noticed the obvious pattern: she used her semblance to win every single one. So all she had to do was last until the rush of extra power given by Yang's semblance faded, and then give everything she got afterward. But it was easier said than done, Yang was probably the definition of strength, the probability of surviving one of her all-out attacks was almost zero, and during all year studying together, she never saw someone achieve such a feat.

"There's a first time for everything." She thought as the countdown started.

"The final match from this year Vytal Festival starts now!" Doctor Oobleck shouted "Three! Two! One! Begin!"

In the blink of an eye, the two were engaged in a series of attacks that was probably hard for the audience to keep up. Pyrrha knew she needed to go offensive in the beginning to get Yang tired out enough for her to activate her semblance, but she also needed to conserve her aura levels for it to last until after this moment arrived − it was a double-edged sword.

Finally, after dodging a fiery punch, she noticed an opening in Yang's defense. She took the opportunity and landed a kick that sent the girl flying, dropping her aura into the orange zone, the audience gasped excitedly, and when Yang started to rise again slowly, she knew it was coming. But, different from most of the opponents the brawler faced, she was ready for it.

"It's now or never."

Pyrrha got into a solid defensive stance as Yang screamed and the floor around her caught on fire, red eyes met her own as the blonde approached with incredible speed, fists raised for a deadly punch. The attack connected with Pyrrha's shield, creating a sound probably heard by people all the way down to downtown Vale, and even if it was a successful block, the sheer force of the punch sent her sliding back.

She rolled to the side, dodging multiple shots from Ember Celica and feeling her aura absorb the damage from the ones she wasn't able to avoid, making it drop into the orange zone, tied with Yang's own. She knew that the first one of them to get a full hit now would win the match. Moving Akoúo̱ to block a kick from the blonde, she pushed the shield forward, making Yang stumble for a second before the girl quickly recomposed and continued her assault, with a punch Pyrrha recognized as the one she used to finish many of her past opponents. With a subtle flick of her own semblance over Yang's gauntlets, Pyrrha modified the trajectory of the attack by millimeters, giving her a chance to dodge the blow that would be fatal.

Yang wasn't expecting to miss, her mouth opened in a silent gasp as Pyrrha moved to the side, noticing that in that exact moment the red from the girl's eyes, wide from surprise, were being replaced with its usual lilac tone.

"This is it!"

Positioning herself behind Yang, Pyrrha tightened her grip on Miló and landed the final blow. The aura around the blonde's body sparkled and finally dropped to the red in the screens around the stadium. The buzzer indicating the end of the match sounded and the audience erupted in cheers.

"Pyrrha Nikos wins! She's the winner of this year Vytal Festival"

The noise around the Coliseum was deafening as the stage lowered to its original place. Pyrrha tried to steady her breathing as the adrenaline from the battle faded. Placing Miló and Akoúo̱ on the usual place on her back, she jogged to Yang and offered her a hand.

"Nice job, Cereal Girl." Yang said as she rose to her feet. With a serious expression, she continued. "But it won't stay like this, I want a rematch soon." She winked and squeezed her hand a little bit too tight before letting go and turning around to leave the stage.

The cheers from the crowd were still going, but one corner of the stadium that was louder than the rest. Nora was basically a pink blur, she was alternating between screaming, jumping in place, running around and shaking Ren. Ren, when not being shaken by his hyperactive partner, was clapping enthusiastically and smiling the widest smile Pyrrha ever saw on the boy's face. And Jaune… Where was Jaune? She looked around in the stands for him, but all she could see was his empty seat beside Nora. She lowered her gaze, finally noticing a white dot running in her direction, she squinted her eyes to try to see better with all the lights from the stadium reflecting in the white from the person armor. Her eyes focused enough for her to be able to realize that it was Jaune and that he probably broke a few rules jumping over the wall that separated the stands from the battle arena, but that was the last thing on her mind when his arms came around her in a crushing hug.

"You did it! You did it!" He laughed on her shoulder.

She gasped with surprise, her heart was back at beating fast and face heating up like she was still in the middle of a battle. The last time he was this close to her was probably at the dance, before the Festival, it looked like it happened longer ago than it really did. It took a few seconds for her to realize that her arms were still raised in an awkward position, she finally dropped them on Jaune's shoulder, closed her eyes and laughed with him. "I did it!"

Neither of them made a move to let go. So when she noticed that they were still in the middle of the arena, with confetti falling around them, and probably making a scene hugging for this long, she blushed and started to move. But an extra pair of arms around them and a hand on her shoulder stopped her on her tracks before she was able to move away.

"YEAH! GO TEAM JNPR!" Nora shouted so loud that made her and Jaune flinch.

"Congratulations, Pyrrha!" Ren said in a more acceptable volume.

Pyrrha moved her arms so she could embrace her other two teammates. "Thank you so much! But I wouldn't be here if weren't for you guys!"

She blinked rapidly to get rid of a few tears that were starting to appear in her eyes, she wasn't used to this. Yes, she had won countless tournaments in the past, but she always got out of them with no more than a handshake from the organizers and a pleased smile on her sponsors' faces. It was a little better when her mother was able to be present and, of course, there was the material prize, like medals, trophies or money, but all of that got nothing on the attention she was getting from her team at this moment.

When they separated from their group hug, Jaune grabbed her hands and started to lead the way away from the field. "C'mon, we got some commemoration to do!"

He let go of her hands when she followed him, but he stayed by her side, so close that she had to resist the urge to link their arms.

And after that day, the signs began.

The Beacon students were awarded an extended weekend after the Vytal Festival, to rest after the battles and commemorate the school victory.

During these days, Pyrrha had to endure being the school celebrity again. When she got into Beacon, people who recognized her from her wins in numerous tournaments, or even because of Pumpkin Pete's cereal boxes, were always sending glances in her direction, and some would even ask for her autograph, there were people who admired her and people who had more negative opinions towards her, but it was undeniable that she was well known among the students.

All this fuzz about her quieted down as the year went on, but with her victory at the Vytal Festival, she was topic of conversation all around the campus again.

Some talks she heard flattered her, some were less kind, but she was used to it, but one new topic in particular made her a little bit more nervous.

She and Jaune were at the library, classes were starting tomorrow and some teachers already asked for a list of books for the next lesson. The place was more crowded than usual for this reason, so while they waited in line to check out the books, a conversation caught her attention.

"There they are." Someone looking through a shelf located behind them whispered, probably thinking that she couldn't hear.

"Oh!" Another person answered, in the same rushed whisper tone. "Do you really think, they are, like, together?"

"How wouldn't they be?" The other one raised the volume of their voice a little bit, just to realize the mistake and get back to the murmuring. "He literally jumped in the middle of the arena and hugged her for, like, half hour!" The two snickered.

"Well, they are cute together…"

The two walked away so she couldn't hear the conversation anymore. Jaune was right in front of her in the line; she blushed when she realized that he probably heard everything too.

He was shifting his weight between his feet, looking out at the window; his eyes were wandering like he was searching something to pay attention to, fidgeting with the cover of a book in his arms.

"Oh, he totally did."

When classes started again, they came back with full force. There were only a few weeks left before the final exams began, and then, it was time for the winter break, Pyrrha almost couldn't believe that she was already finishing her first year in a huntsman academy.

After the "incident" in the library, Pyrrha was afraid of the possibility that Jaune would start acting differently around her, or worse, start avoiding her, and with their busy schedule, it wouldn't be hard to do so.

But it didn't happen.

It was quite the opposite actually.

He was closer.

A random person watching them probably wouldn't notice since they had always been close; he was her best friend, and the person you spend most of your time within a huntsman academy is usually your partner. But the signs were there.

He started walking closer to her than normal, the back of their hands brushing so often that she was almost getting used to the feeling of electricity running through her body when it happened. Sometimes, she could feel his fingers twitch, as if he wanted to take her hand, but he never did. At those times he would just withdraw his hand to scratch the back of his neck and continue to walk and talk about whatever subject was the topic of their conversation, like nothing ever happened.

Other times, usually when they had to go through a door, he would let her go in first, and she could feel his hand hovering protectively behind her back. Once, when they were heading to their dorms, she stopped abruptly in the doorframe "just to check". His hand came in contact with her back, and he moved it away so fast that it looked like he touched burning coal. He just rushed past her, babbling about being tired from all the classes they had that day, and jumped on his bed. Nora, who was already in the room, sitting on her own bed, working on her homework while listening to music, sent a quizzical look to their leader and then to her. Pyrrha just shrugged her shoulders, containing the blush and the smirk that wanted to appear on her face.

Now Jaune always sat by her side in every class. Teams sat together for the lectures when they could, but it's not always that there are four, or even two vacant seats next to each other when they got to the classroom a little late.

But now, he made sure the team was never late for any class, with the excuse of working hard for the approaching finals, but she knew he had another motive too.

Pyrrha always did her best to pay attention to class, and Jaune knew that, so they didn't talk much during it, but she appreciated the company, and she could tell that he did too.

It was nice.

And she also liked when their shoulders or knees would touch and he didn't make an effort to move away.

He stopped completely flirting with Weiss.

Besides getting late to class, other times that the team did not sit together was when Nora wanted to sit in the back to take a nap, or when Jaune sat with Weiss to try to ask the girl on a date.

He would also make sure to sit as close to Weiss as possible in the lunchtime, leave the dorm to go to classes at the same time as team RWBY so he could bump into her, wait for her outside the classroom until she left; always dropping some lame pickup line or invitation for a date or study section, anything to impress the girl.

And every time, he got rejected or ignored completely.

All this blunt flirting actually toned down after the dance, but you could still notice his eyes following the girl around the room sometimes, like he was wondering what could have been.

And then it stopped.

They were in the locker room, putting away their gear after the weapon management class and picking up the books for Oobleck's lecture. Team RWBY was in a corner taking care of their own materials and Ren and Nora had just left ahead to try to save some seats for the four of them.

Pyrrha placed Miló and Akoúo̱ safely on her locker and closed the door.

"I just can't understand why he asked us three books… For one single class!" Jaune complained as he slammed his own locker door with his shoulder and adjusted the weight of the books on his arms.

"Well… he can explain the subject really fast…" Pyrrha said in the middle of a chuckle. Jaune just groaned in response.

She went to grab her books that she left on the wooden bench beside her locker, but stopped when she noticed the title of the one in the top of the pile, The Grimm Encyclopedia.

"Oh, I grabbed one of Professor Port's books by mistake." She turned to him. "You can go ahead if you want, I'll just get the right one."

"No, I'll wait for you." She smiled at his words and grabbed her scroll to unlock the door once again.

That right there was something he always did now - wait for her; it was like he was taking every chance to spend time with her, and every time he made the decision to stay, it never failed to make her heart flutter.

A voice crossed the room, interrupting her thoughts. "C'mon Ruby, let's go or we are going to be late." She heard Weiss talking to her partner a few meters down the hall, the annoyance clear in her voice.

"Just ooone second… Aaand… Done!" Ruby answered, sounding unfazed by the tone of Weiss' complains.

The two girls passed behind her to leave the room while she exchanged the Encyclopedia for History of Vale, and Pyrrha glanced over her shoulder.

If this moment were happening a few weeks ago, she would be able to tell exactly what would occur next: Jaune would see Weiss leaving, he would blurt an excuse to Pyrrha saying that he needed to go, then run out of the room after the girl, trying one of his small talks, and being ignored for the most part, all the way hoping to find an empty seat next to her in class.

But the scene she witnessed now was way different.

Jaune was leaning against his locker, books still on his hands as Weiss and Ruby walked past him. And this time, his eyes didn't follow the girl in white.

She was completely ignored, because they were totally focused on something else.

They were on her.

Pyrrha was used to people staring at her, but the soft look on his eyes, the slight blush on his cheeks and the fact that Jaune had just basically chosen her over his crush, former crush, made her own face heat up.

But before he could notice that she noticed, in one quick movement, she grabbed the other two books in the bench and turned to her partner. Their eyes met, he jumped a little as he was caught staring and lowered his gaze to the now unstable pile of books on his arms, trying to hide the now more obvious flush on his checks.

She bit her lip to contain a giggle from escaping, walked to him and bumped her shoulder on his playfully. "Let's go see if Ren and Nora managed to save us a seat."

"Hum... Yeah! Go! Right." He sped up to catch up to her.

And then he tripped in one of the wooden benches.

Pyrrha just rolled her eyes.

The next couple of weeks were a blur.

Tests, exams and assignments were everywhere, the library was always full, the canteen never sold so much coffee.

Then after a lot of studying, struggling and stress, it was finally over.

All of team JNPR did well in their final exams. Ren had straight A's all over his bulletin, Nora managed to get her good grades in the more theoretical subjects, even if she spent more time sleeping over her books than reading them, and she was proud at how far Jaune had come in his combat classes.

And now they had time to breathe, with one month of winter break ahead of them.

The students were agitated, people were excited to go back home to see their families, like Ruby and Yang, or talking about trips they were going to make, like Weiss, or just appreciating the peace they would have in the coming weeks, like Blake.

JNPR had their plans too. Jaune would go back to his hometown, Ren and Nora would stay at Beacon, even after an invitation from their leader to spend the break on his house, and Pyrrha would spend her month in Mistral, as requested by her mother.

She was looking forward to seeing her home after so long, but she knew she was going to miss Vale during the break.

It was Saturday, and it was the last day the team would be all in the same place for the next month, the airship to take her to the Vale airport would be at Beacon by the sunrise next day, and Jaune would leave soon later, in the afternoon, so they planned the whole day of activities together.

It started with Ren's extra special pancakes for breakfast and ended with a movie marathon as the sun set. During the day, they recalled all the adventures and crazy moments they had, and everyone agreed when she mentioned that she couldn't believe that a whole year had passed already.

When night arrived, she excused herself from their gathering to go back to their dorm, she still needed to finish packing some things and sleep earlier to survive waking up before 5 a.m. tomorrow.

Nora gave her a crushing hug.

"I'm gonna miss you sooo much!" She wailed, her arms around Pyrrha's waist.

Pyrrha patted the smaller girl's head. "Come on Nora, it's just one little month."

"DUH! A lot can happen in 'just one little month'" Nora quoted. "You could find new friends and replace us!"

Pyrrha just laughed at the silliness of her friend. Nora stuck her tongue out to her in response and let go of the hug.

"Nora, Pyrrha won't replace us." Ren placed a hand on each girl's shoulder. "I hope you have a safe trip."

"Thank you, Ren." She smiled.

"Yeah! And how could she replace us?" Jaune approached. "We are, like, the best around!"

She patted her chin. "Are you sure about that?" Pyrrha joked, raising an eyebrow.

Jaune pretended to be hurt by her words, making a distressed expression and putting a hand over his heart. "How could you..."

"And YOU, mister!" Nora suddenly interrupted, pointing a finger right on Jaune's face. "You're going to be away the whole month too!"

Now it was time for their leader to be a victim of a Nora Hug™.

"I'm gonna miss you sooo much!" She repeated, but after one second, her expression turned serious. "But you're going to be closer… So if you even think of replacing us, Magnhild will find you." The hug turned more into a death grip than a display of affection.

Jaune squeaked an "O-ok!" While Ren tried to make Nora not injure their friend's internal organs.

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous scene in from of her.

Jaune's eyes met hers, and he gave her an awkward smile and wave, while being freed from their teammate's hug.

It looked like all the goodbyes had been given.

She went to their room, finished packing her bags, leaving a change of clothes ready for tomorrow and went to bed.

She fell asleep with the image of her friends in her mind, and how she was going to miss them.

The morning, if you even could call 4:30 a.m. morning, came too soon.

Pyrrha tuned off her alarm as fast as she could, not wanting to disturb her sleeping teammates. She quietly folded her sheets and placed them and her pillow together with the rest of her bags.

Grabbing her clothes and the backpack where she placed her toiletries, she went to the bathrooms to get ready.

She almost regretted booking her flight so early when she stepped out of their heated room and into the chilly and dark corridor, but she made herself move forward.

After taking a hot shower that took a lot of courage to get in and a lot of self-control to get out, putting her warm clothes and brushing her hair and teeth, she was ready to leave.

All she had to do now was to get the rest of her bags back in the dorm. She wasn't feeling hungry at the moment, so she would have her breakfast that was already packed in her backpack, later in the morning.

She was surprised to find all of her bags already outside the dorm room, and Jaune next to them, completely dressed in winter clothes, waiting for her.

"Hey." He whispered. "I thought you maybe could use some help? I think I got all of your stuff, is there something missing?" He pointed at the lugged in the floor.

"Yes. I mean, no! That's all of it." She answered after the initial surprise caused by his sweet act. "You didn't need to do this for me. It's really early. You should be resting for your trip."

"Don't be silly, Pyrrha, that's what partners are for."

Of course, partners.

"Let's go then? Or do you need to do something else?"

"I'm all ready, let's go."

She bent to get her bags, Jaune did the same, their hands touched, and their foreheads collided.

"Ouch!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry, its fine." He chuckled.

She looked up, their eyes met, and suddenly, it wasn't so cold anymore.

He held her gaze for longer than necessary, the corridor was dark but she could distinguish every speck of blue in his eyes, their noses were millimeters apart, she could feel his breath over her own, he was so close…

"C'mon, let's go or you're going to be late." He picked up her bag, without incidents this time, and stood up.

Pyrrha almost let out a sigh of frustration, she grabbed her pillow and adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and followed Jaune out of the building.

They waited in silence for the airship to arrive, it was an awkward silence and Pyrrha didn't like it. It was cold, and after being used to him standing so close to her these past months, the small distance he put between them seemed like miles.

Before she could think of something to say, the ship pointed in the horizon.

"Well, there it is."

"Yeah…" He agreed.

As the ship landed, she grabbed her bag, her pillow fit between the handles, and turned to her partner.

"I guess I'll see you next month." She gave him a small smile. "Goodbye Jaune."

She turned to leave, but a hand on her wrist stopped her on her tracks.

"Pyrrha, wait!"

Her heart skipped a beat. She turned back to him.

"I, hum…" He struggled to get his words out. "Please get in touch with us when you get home." He started. "Oh! And don't forget to eat your breakfast." She smiled at his worried expression. "And if you need anything, don't hesitate to call. Ok?"

She giggled, the awkwardness gone, it was so like him to worry like that. "I promise."

Jaune opened his mouth, but closed soon after, giving up on what he was going to say. He took a deep breath, looked at the other few passengers getting on board the ship, and turned back to her.

"Pyrrha, I, I… Just… try not to replace us, okay?" He grinned at her.

"Only if you do the same." She matched his smile.

"Deal."

His hands slipped slowly from her wrist, stopped on her hands and he gave a gentle squeeze; he continued the trail through the back of her hand to her fingertips and then let go. Even if this lasted no more than a few seconds, it felt like an eternity. Even if they were both wearing gloves, she felt the heat of his touch like fire. Even if he just had let go, she already missed it.

"I should get going…" He only gave her a tiny nod in response.

She turned to leave and he didn't prevent her from doing so this time.

In the door of the airship, she looked back to him and gave him one last smile and wave. He did the same.

She could feel their smiles matched once again, both with a hint of sadness.

Being back to Mistral was nice, the familiar streets of her hometown and the presence of her mother was comforting. Even so, Pyrrha never felt like a month could pass so slowly.

The first week was fine. She spent a lot of her time with her mother, catching up, telling stories about the school, her friends, Vale. It was nice being with her again, even if she could be a little strict sometimes.

She seemed interested to know more about her teammates, she knew the basics from the calls they had from time to time, and Pyrrha suspected her mother was only trying to find out if her daughter was really in good company. Only the best for her girl.

So she told her more. She told her how Ren was quiet, but was one of the most caring people she ever knew, how his cooking was incredible and how it seemed he had an endless supply of patience.

She told her about Nora, how she had an endless supply of energy, and how she and Ren complement each other, how she could light up the room with her energetic personality and, at the same time, intimidate most people with her incredible strength.

And then she told her about Jaune. She told her about their leader with a heart of gold. How he made sure everyone in the team was doing okay, how he improved during the year, how he was great in battle strategy and made the team work together so easily.

She didn't tell her mother how she had developed a crush on him within the first few weeks of class. Or that the way he treated her like a normal person was a like a breath of fresh air, or how he had that cute boyish charm that she found out she was unable to resist, or how the way he smiled when he got a new move right in their training sessions could light up the night, or how the shade of blue of his eyes changed depending on the ambience, or how she dreamed of running her fingers through his messy hair. Nope, her mother didn't need to know any of that.

But the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks the more she talked about him gave her away, and that only made her mother raise an eyebrow. Of course she would notice; part of Pyrrha's ability of reading people came from her.

Her mother seemed to approve of her teammates when she noticed how her daughter was happy with them. And Pyrrha silently thanked the gods during all the rest of their conversation, because her mother had decided to not bring up the fact that she definitely noticed that she had a crush on her partner, and spared her from the embarrassment.

The following weeks were a little slower, there wasn't anything new to do. She didn't really have friends in the town, and people were starting to notice that the famous Pyrrha Nikos was back, so she didn't leave the house much.

She missed Vale, and she knew she was going to miss her friends in Beacon, she just didn't predict how much.

They mostly exchanged messages in their group chat, calls were more complicated because of the time zone difference, but it wasn't the same.

She missed the smell of Ren's pancakes in the morning, she even missed Nora's hyperactivity, and she missed Jaune. Oh, how she missed him. Since the moment they parted, when she got in the airship out of Beacon, she felt a strange feeling in her chest; her heart clenched when she thought how far they were going to be from each other.

Every day this feeling would get stronger, sometimes it almost hurt when it came with a memory of the Beacon Dance, or how he treated her during the Vytal Festival, or how the back of their hands brushed together while they walked down a hallway, how close he would sit to her during classes and lunch, how close they were after they knocked their foreheads in their last day together, the feeling of his hands slipping away from her wrist and the hurt on his eyes when she got in the airship.

As the day of the return to Vale got closer, anticipation, excitement, and butterflies in her stomach were replacing the hurt in her chest. Every night before going to sleep, she thought that she never knew a person that was more eager to go back to a school more than she was.

Finally, the day came. It was Friday, classes would be back next Monday. She didn't actually need to leave so soon, but having the weekend to catch up with her team was all she wished for.

Her mother parted from her at the airport with a hug and a kiss on her forehead, and then she was on her way to Vale.

She would be landing by nightfall, Nora and Ren, of course, would be already there, and Jaune probably would arrive a few hours before her.

He insisted in shortening his break by this weekend too when she told her friends about her plan of coming to Beacon a few days earlier, this made her wonder if he felt anything like she did when they parted one month ago, and she couldn't help but daydream a little of his reaction when they meet again.

She could already see the green lights of the Beacon tower in the distance.

Suddenly, her palms felt sweaty and she felt a cold in the bottom of her stomach, and she knew it didn't have anything to do with the sensation of the ship losing altitude while it landed.

She saw them. She saw him.

Nora was trying to hop on Ren's shoulders, waving her arms wildly. Ren was trying to maintain his balance and keep Nora from falling. Jaune was just following the trajectory of the ship with his eyes as it descended, but she could see, even from the air, that he was standing stiffer than normal, fidgeting with his hands. "He is nervous." The cold in her stomach turned into butterflies. "Am I the reason?" She already knew the answer.

The airship finally came to a full stop. The other passengers gathered close to the door, anxious to leave. With her bags in hand, she was one of the last people to step outside.

Even if Nora was now on a safer piggyback ride on Ren, using her hands as binoculars, it was Jaune who spotted her first.

She stopped involuntarily when he locked his eyes with her. She saw the changes in his expressions, the apprehension, probably for wondering why she was taking so long to get out of the airship, was replaced for just one second with surprise, then with relief, then with such a pure joy that made her heartbeat accelerate.

His expression changed one final time, acquiring something akin to determination. He took a step forward. With the movement, Nora finally noticed that she was there, and started shaking Ren to make him move, but that only made the poor boy lose his balance, making him walk backward instead, trying to keep them both from falling.

But she didn't saw the end of that, because her partner was now walking in her direction. She did the same.

His walk turned into a jog. She unconsciously sped up too.

He was running now, he was close enough for her to really notice the growing smile on his face.

She realized what he was going to do one second before it happened, so she let her bags drop on the floor.

She expected a hug like the one he gave her when she won the Vytal Festival, but instead, he laced his arms around her waist, lifted her up and spun her around once, making her yelp in surprise.

She was sure her face probably matched the color of her hair.

He put her down, laughing and she finally took a good look at him. Even though the night was dark, she could see the flush on his cheeks and the shine in his eyes.

"Hello again." She smiled.

"Hey, Pyrrha." He breathed out.

The way he said her name sent a shiver down her back, the way he was looking at her made her legs go weak, as if he couldn't believe she was really there.

He let out a chuckle, and, as if he knew she was in needed of support to stand at that moment, he hugged her for real this time.

"I missed you so much!" He laughed into her neck, his breath tickled her skin, sending another shock wave through her body.

Her heart was beating so fast that made her body shake, so to sustain herself, she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes.

"I missed you too."

He was so warm and smelled like home and she didn't want to let go, but after a few seconds, she opened her eyes, just to see Nora, a couple of meters ahead, wiggling her eyebrows at her and grinning like a manic, making hands gestures that alternated between little hearts and finger guns, and Ren by her side, with his hands behind his back, with the smuggest smile on his face.

She found out that she could blush even harder at that exact moment. So she buried her face in Jaune's shoulder and let out a small groan in embarrassment.

"What is it?" He asked, a hint of worry on his voice.

"Nothing, Nora is just being weird again."

"Do I want to know why?"

"No!"

He laughed and she raised her head, avoiding the eyes of her teasing teammates in front of her.

"I should go say hello to them…"

"Yeah…"

"Jaune?"

"Hm?"

"I need you to let me go."

"Right. Yeah. Ok!" His voice actually cracked.

He moved away from her so fast that he stumbled back a little, getting a giggle out of her. She rolled her eyes at his clumsiness and walked in the direction of her other two teammates. Nora didn't even wait for her to approach, she just rushed forward and tackled her in a hug so hard that she almost had to use her aura to not get hurt.

Ren's hug was a hundred times less dangerous.

As she walked into the school with her friends, she never felt so happy.

After the way he acted on their reunion, she was, without a single doubt, one hundred percent sure that her partner felt a little more than just friendship towards her.

But one thing still intrigued her.

Why in Remnant hadn't he made a single move?

Even Nora and Ren sometimes sent them knowing looks like they were saying "Why aren't you guys together already?" She just sent the same glance back, since considering their own situation, they had no rights to think that.

She sighed and leaned against the wall of the corridor where their dorm was located, waiting for Jaune to get ready for their daily practice in the rooftop, and during the wait, those thoughts came to her.

Yes, he was closer, and he hugged her a few times, but that was it.

And it was confusing because he was always so straightforward and confident with Weiss. He flirted openly with her, he tried numerous times to ask her out, he played guitar for her, he always had a pickup line ready for her.

Ok, she could live without the pickup lines.

The only time he ever made something that could be considered a big move was when he held her hands and hugged her at the Vytal Festival.

Something clicked then. "That was probably when he realized his feelings..."

And after that he probably got self-conscious.

Great.

But she couldn't be really mad at him, she knew that sometimes he was really insecure and had a lot of self-doubts, so he probably spent these months since the Festival overthinking about what he was feeling.

So, the result was that, with her, he was always or a clumsy mess, like when she caught him staring in the locker room, and she had to admit, it was kinda cute sometimes; or he would withdraw himself as fast as he could when he realized that maybe she noticed that he was a little closer than normal, like when she stopped in the door frame of their dorm and he touched her back, as if she would be angry at him for that.

And she had to admit, it could have been worse, all of his self-conscience could have led him to avoid her, and that would have been painful.

So at least he got closer, it was something… But what to do when this something wasn't enough?

"Are you ready to go?" Jaune asked her, startling her out of her thoughts, while adjusting the straps of his armor.

"Yes, let's go." She led the way through the familiar corridors.

They went to the rooftop of their dorm building, it was their first extra training session since the end of the winter break, and they reviewed some of the basics to begin, and decided to end by having a little spar.

She could spend hours just narrating how much he improved, and her heart filled with pride when she thought about how she was part of the reason for his progress.

But that day, she noticed that it looked like he lost a little of his touch during the break, or he was really distracted, when she managed to knock him out on the floor for the second time in the night in less than one minute of their match.

"Are you doing ok?" She asked as she offered a hand for him to stand. "Do you need to take a break?"

"No! I'm fine. I just needed to warm up, that's it." He answered as he got up, dusting himself off. "Let's do it again! No more playing around!"

She smiled at his determination and got into the battle stance.

However, the same situation repeated itself. She managed to disarm him easily, and when he tried to make a move to recover his weapons, she noticed an opening that he should have been able to detect and avoid by now, and made her final move.

She grabbed Jaune by his arm and flipped him on the floor, her knee on his chest, one arm on his throat and the other one with Miló, raised above his head.

He just groaned in pain.

"Jaune, what was our first lesson?" She lowered her raised arm, but kept the rest of her position.

His eyes didn't meet hers. "Keep your stance wide. Keep your body lowered. I know…"

"Are you sure you're feeling ok?" She couldn't stop the worry in her voice.

"Yes, I'm fine Pyrrha." He finally looked at her. "I was just..." His face suddenly turned red."…Distracted."

Oh.

Now she was the one heating up.

She watches his eyes trail down her face slowly and stop on her lips, which suddenly felt very dry.

She caught a small movement of his mouth, so fast that she almost missed. "Did he just lick his lips?"

She felt her heartbeat so loud that he probably could hear it too.

But of course, like every time he got too close, he pulled away as fast as he could.

He let his head fall back on the floor with a thud and groaned. "Ok, I'm beat. Can we wrap up for tonight?" His eyes focused on the sky now.

She couldn't believe what he was doing. His actions made her actually ponder if she should slap him in the face for being so dense, or just kiss him in the spot to end this.

But she just let out a sigh and got up quickly.

"I also think that wrapping up here is for the best." She placed her weapons on her back. "You should get some rest."

He was heading to the door, Crocea Mors already on his belt. "I will. Thanks, Pyrrha."

And then he left.

Well, that was frustrating.

She stayed at the rooftop for a few more minutes, the shattered moon shining in the distance. Suddenly a realization struck and she felt very stupid.

She was always wondering why he hadn't made a move, but why hadn't she either?

She spent so much time analyzing his actions that it didn't cross her mind that she herself could have made a move ages ago.

She could have kissed him when their foreheads knocked together in the corridor, she could have pulled him closer when he grabbed her wrist before boarding the airship and she had another chance when he hugged her when she got back.

But, no, she only had the idea to do it two minutes ago and she didn't take the chance.

The situation was now so ridiculous in her eyes that she couldn't help but to let out a quiet laugh.

Maybe they were both helpless.

But not for long.

Determination crossed her face. She would give him one more chance, until the end of the week, if he doesn't make a move himself until them, she would take the matter into her own hands.

For real this time.

Friday night, they were again in the usual rooftop, this time for their aura training session.

Even though Jaune had improved greatly in combat, he still had trouble dealing with his aura, and he had yet to unlock his semblance.

If Pyrrha had to guess the reason of his entire struggle, she would say that he has so much aura that it was difficult for him to take control; so now, they always reserve one full day of their extra training to work on it.

She was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, eyes closed, just concentrating. The night was quiet, the weather was pleasantly cold. It was relaxing.

Until a loud sigh and a grunt interrupted her concentration.

She opened her eyes, her partner was in front of her, he wasn't wearing his armor, something he only did for aura training day to help him relax for the meditation, sitting in the same position, but with his back hunched and a defeated expression on his face.

"Why can't I do this?" The frustration was clear in his voice.

"You're thinking too much. Try to relax a little." She said calmly.

"I think I forgot how to do this during the break." He let out a small laugh.

"I thought you said you kept practicing during the break?" She raised an eyebrow.

"And I did! But it was mostly the combat part. Just go and try to find a calm spot to concentrate in a house with other nine people living in it!"

She laughed, imagining the scene.

He scratched the back of his neck.

"Could you maybe… Give one of those… Pushes like you did in our first classes?" He asked.

"But if I do that-"

"Please? Just so I can get the hang of it again?"

She stopped a second to think and smiled at him.

"Fine. But just once. Next time you're trying again by yourself, Okay?"

"Deal!"

She scooted closer to him, until their knees touched, and placed a hand on his cheek.

Closing her eyes, she started feeling the warmth of her own aura activating, looking for his to make a connection. When she felt it reacting, she placed her other hand over his chest, feeling his heartbeat and pushing the forming bond further. This sensation was now familiar to her, the feeling of his aura was comforting and at the same time, powerful.

Behind her closed eyelids, she felt a white light, his aura fully responding to hers, so she withdrew her hands and opened her eyes.

The white glow surrounded his body; his expression was serene.

"Now concentrate." She whispered slowly. "Feel the pull of your soul and try to manifest your semblance."

He exhaled, the glow got brighter, almost making her block the light with her hands.

But suddenly, his eyebrows furrowed, the light flickered, he inhaled, trying to get the control back, but the glow faded a few seconds later.

He just let out another groan.

"I almost had it!" He opened his eyes and tilted his head back, looking at the cloudy night sky. "I finally felt something… Something different… But when I got closer, it disappeared like it was running away from me."

"Oh! But that's great news!" She smiled. "That's a sign you're improving!"

"I don't know…" His gaze went back to her. "Isn't there… an easier way to do this?" He asked sheepishly.

"Well, we could put you in a life or death situation…" She patted her chin. "The stress and urgency at the moment could help-"

"You know what? Let's keep doing what we're doing."

They laughed a bit, but Jaune stopped and looked down at his gloved hands, like he was expecting them to glow again.

She let out a sigh and took his hands on hers.

"Jaune, I know your aura is being hard to deal with, and I know it can be frustrating doing all of this for something that looks like such little progress but-"

"You must keep trying." He squeezed her hands. "I know…" He looked up at her. "I won't give up… At least, not when you're still putting up with me." He smiled.

"I guess we're going to have a lot of time to work then." She matched his expression.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." He whispered.

And there it was, another one of those moments, that were occurring frequently now, that made her face flush and heartbeat accelerate. She could see so clearly in his eyes an adoration that was rarely seen on the face of just a friend, why couldn't he notice that she always sent the same look back?

He looked down at their hands again, for a second, it seemed he was going to say something, but at that moment, a chilly breeze blew through the roof, he shivered, and even if it was hesitantly, he let go of her hands and started to get up. "It's getting cold... Let's go back to the room before we get sick or something."

One more chance, until the end of the week.

And he didn't take it.

But now she would take the matter into her own hands.

She got up too.

"Actually Jaune, there's one more thing we need to do."

"Oh! What is it?" He stopped, halfway to the door.

She turned to his direction and smiled.

And, in a blink of an eye, she pinned him to the wall, left arm placed right on the side of his head, right arm on his neck and one of his legs secured between hers.

His armor-less back met the wall with a thud and then he let a groan of pain. His eyes were closed from the impact, and when he opened them, focused on her and how close they were, she noticed the blush rise on his face.

"I… Hm, t-t-thought that we were going to train hand-to-hand combat t-tomorrow?" He stuttered.

"Oh! We will!" She answered cheerily, and then lowered her tone. "I thought I would just give you a little… preview…"

"P-p-preview?" His breath hitched when her right arm left his throat and found the way to his hair.

She let out a tiny chuckle. "Jaune?"

"Hm?" Their noses touched.

"I know."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I know how you…" Her other hand started toying with his hair. "… Feel about me…"

His eyes widened in realization, just providing the confirmation for her statement. She just smiled at that.

"I noticed you were getting closer, but you did only that, got closer… Why?" Her brows furrowed, genuine curiosity in her voice.

"I, hm... I… You see-" He struggled, averting her gaze.

"Jaune…" He looked at her, and even though their level of proximity at the moment was new, she gave one of her encouraging smiles, like he was so used seeing in her face.

He exhaled, she felt his body relax, but only by a tiny bit, and he started. "I-I wasn't sure if you l-liked me back…"

"Oh. Really?" She fought the impulse to roll her eyes.

"A-and I'm… I'm just… this guy and you're you, And I know I've been getting better, but I can't help but feel like I'm pulling you back sometimes…" He sighed. "So I thought that maybe…" Oh no, he was not going where she was thinking he was going. "… You deserved someone bett-"

She didn't even let him finish that dumb sentence.

She kissed him.

For one agonizing second she wondered if she came out too strong, she felt him stiff when their lips met, and he didn't move.

But apparently his initial shock faded, and all of her doubts disappeared when he kissed back.

It was awkward at first, his lips were soft, but they trembled in nervousness, so she deepened the kiss to encourage him. He felt him relax, and they found their rhythm right after.

She let a happy sigh escape when she felt his hands trailing slowly down her spine, and then stopping at her waist, above her skirt. Feeling the heat of his touch on her bare skin, she felt like she could catch on fire any second now.

Her hand lowered from his head, to his cheek, to his chin, to his neck, where she managed to get a low groan off him; then to his chest, where she could feel his heartbeat, pounding just as fast as hers, like they were trying to get in sync.

She gave his lower lip one last gentle suck before parting for air, their foreheads and noses still pressing on each other for support.

"Pyrrha…" He breathed out, the tone of his voice and the way he looked at her with half-lidded eyes made goosebumps crawl all over her body.

She kissed him again, and when she licked his lips, looking for an opening, he was happy to oblige, pulling her closer, if it was even possible at that point.

And then the time where she could not ignore her need for oxygen came, regrettably, she started to pull back, but his mouth followed hers, and this made her smile against his lips. She pushed him back with a peck, accidentally making his head bump on the wall, and moved away completely from him.

Without her to support him, he slipped down the wall, he moved his hands fast and propped them by his sides to stop the fall.

She took a long look at him. His breathing was ragged, his hair was a complete mess, his hoodie was out of place and pulled up, revealing a bit of his stomach. His face and ears were red and his lips were pink and swollen; that alone tempted her to kiss them all over again and maybe his neck too this time?

But she didn't.

After taking a deep breath to control her own breathing, all she did was head to the door, turn to his direction and say "Get some rest. Tomorrow is Saturday so we will continue our training in the morning."

He was still in the same position, he tilted his head in a cute way to look at her; his eyes had a different shine on them. "Hm... Ahn… C-continue?"

She just smiled at his stuttering. And then she left.

As she went down the stairs, she had to bite her lips, which still tingled from the kiss, to contain her giggles.

She couldn't believe that she had just kissed Jaune and left him there.

Was leaving the best option? Maybe not, but, oh boy, he was going to play her game for a little bit now.

They would have all the time to solve everything in their training session tomorrow morning, which she was really excited for.

And just by the look she took at him before leaving, she could tell that he felt the same.

Pyrrha was good at reading people.