Chapter Five: Infatuation

Who is Jaune to me?

It was a thought that had been occurring to Pyrrha more and more frequently as the week progressed, as it inevitably slipped closer and closer to the weekend. The thought had popped into her head again as she did early morning maintenance on Milo and Akoúo.

It was a very good question. One that she had been asking more and more as of late.

Who is Jaune to me?

At a very base level, Jaune Arc was her, Pyrrha Nikos', partner and leader of her team, Team Juniper. Pyrrha had been partnered with him at Initiation by her own hand. She grinned faintly at the memory; Jaune hadn't had a landing strategy, and Pyrrha being the kindhearted person that she is had nailed him to a tree. Perhaps not the best of beginnings but at least he hadn't died!

They had ventured into a cave, chased by a deathstalker, met up with the rest of their current friends and killed said deathstalker. Initiation had ended, and all Pyrrha had known at the time was that she and Jaune were going to be on the same team together as partners for the next four years.

When Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora and Ren got called up, Pyrrha had been certain, CERTAIN, that she was going to be assigned as the team leader. There wasn't a doubt in her mind. I am a world renowned fighter as Weiss would put it, Pyrrha mused as she cleaned Milo's barrel, so why put an untrained applicant in charge of the team? Then again, maybe they didn't know about it…

The thought had again occurred to her as she sat with him on the airbus to Vale, giving him the usual reassuring pat backs as the blonde held a trash bag, praying for his last meal to not make a sudden reappearance.

Who is Jaune to me?

If someone went by personality, Jaune was a dorky goofball who tried to do the right thing. He could be inconsiderate in that regard and oblivious… yet never with any form of malice. Sure, he had all but refused any help when he had been failing. Whether it was because he had some stick-up-his-ass about pride or because he didn't want to burden his teammates, Pyrrha didn't know. I'd like to think he didn't want to burden us…that is, what he said after all…

Still, Pyrrha wasn't quite sure, he had, after all, refused help when it would have solved the whole issue. Yet the fact that he did accept help would lend credence to not wanting to burden his team…

For all his defects, he was still a good friend and cared for his teammates, his friends. From what Ruby had mentioned at one point, Jaune had been her first friend. Jaune had treated Pyrrha as he would anyone, although he didn't recognize me to begin with… He still had recognized her as a celebrity, if only because of his favourite cereal. Yet unlike some, or even most of the people Pyrrha had come into contact to, he hadn't treated her any differently.

The question faded to the back of her mind as the airbus landed.

As the seventeenth explosion in less as many seconds rang out, Pyrrha glanced at her partner. Jaune was staring at the multi-colour explosion, with admiration clearly on his face as Spruce Willis mowed down a whole squad of baddies with a gun that'd make even Professor Port blush. The question came back to the front of her mind.

Who is Jaune to me?

Jaune was an individual who wanted to become a hero. He wanted to live up to his family's legacy. So much so, that he cheated his way into combat school with literally no combat training. Even months after learning this, Pyrrha couldn't decide if it was the definition of courage or stupidity. She still leaned on the courage option.

He had a drive to honour his lineage, a drive that Pyrrha could completely understand. To bring honour to your family was never an un-noble notion. It was a noble one, especially to purse it with no initial formal combat training.

Perhaps that was the allure of Jaune Arc? He is so earnest and isn't letting something like a lack of training stop him. It ran counter to everything that Pyrrha had been taught. Her life was a heavily regimented one before Beacon; she had to strive every day to exceed what she did the previous day. It had taken her years to get to her current level. To most looking into a Combat School, the sheer level of skill the young students had would intimidate them. Jaune merely set that as his goal.

If that wasn't a praise-worthy goal to set, then Pyrrha didn't have the faintest idea what was.

Turning her focus back onto the movie, the thought was lost to the myriad of audio and visual stimuli courtesy of Mr. Spruce Willis.

The finale to the action-packed movie came to ahead as Spruce Willis and the Gemi Moore walked off into the sunset hand-in-hand. As always, there was a forced romance in the action movie, it was just how Vollywood worked.

Pyrrha found the romance unnecessary; did Gemi and Spruce get together because they were just onscreen together? She shook her head at the thought. Seriously, they seemed to share nothing in common.

"So what did you think about the movie?" Jaune piped up, breaking Pyrrha from her musings.

Pyrrha thought for a moment, a finger tapping her chin in contemplation, "It was… interesting; I liked the scene where Spruce Willis jumped from the building into a helicopter!" Jaune nodded vigorously.

"Yeah or when he took down that airship with a knife!" Dam I forgot about that… "I especially liked Gemi Moore's character! She got the best one liners!"

Pyrrha shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't think she was that great… honestly, a little unnecessary."

Jaune's expression muddled, "Really? She made the film to me, without the romance the film wouldn't have been even half as awesome!" Conviction in his voice making it quite clear his viewpoint wasn't going to change.

But why did Gemi even get with Spruce?

It was a new thought that pervaded Pyrrha's head on the trip back to Beacon Academy. As far as she could tell they held no similar interests other than guns. If they cut out the romance plot, nothing about the film would have changed. I don't get it. Perhaps it was just simple infatuation?

Pyrrha sighed as she waited for Jaune to return from the onboard restroom… his stomach hadn't been able to brave the return trip. The greasy theater food probably didn't help…

She still couldn't fathom the motivation behind that particular facet of the story.

As Sunday came to an end, Pyrrha found herself finishing up her nightly training; putting round after round at the target opposite of her on the range. Her body started to go into an autopilot mode as her hands moved on their own, the act of firing Milo being drilled into her for years. With her mind free, a new thought surfaced in her head.

Who is Jaune to me?

A friend, teammate, fellow student, partner… and the object of her crush.

Why do I like him?

It was a question Pyrrha had never stopped to consider in full. Sure she could acknowledge why she admired him, or that he had personality traits that were positive… but she why did she like him like him?

We both want to become a hunter… we both fight with a sword and a shield… These were traits not reasons. Because I feel attracted to him? Pyrrha cocked her head for a moment as she stopped firing.

Maybe? It was odd to think of it in this regard; Why DO I have a crush on him?

Pyrrha racked her brain for a moment, because he didn't treat me any differently? She blanched at that being the only reason she could come up with.

Is it really only an infatuation?

AU: Originally this chapter wasn't going to exist. Honest to whatever deities you believe in, but Acceptance was planned for... seven chapters originally. I quickly realized that it wasn't going to work so the planned chapter count keeps climbing. At this point it is at sixteen, but I'm betting that it is still low-balling it. During my semi-hiatus I actually wrote out a design doc if you will. At the time I was hoping to finish in eleven chapters. Even the design doc pushed that to fourteen In the last...36 hours I've realized I need at least, AT LEAST Sixteen chapters not even accounting for key moments, without even accounting for stuff that will work their way in-between the key chapters.

Jaune and Pyrrha go to the movies... perhaps not the most original of plots but I'd like to think I made it unique this time. Once more there is a lack of Ruby, but I'm realizing that I have to widen my focus on this story to get everything I want to communicate done. To that end, well, some chapters are going to be missing other characters. The fact that Velvet has yet to appear is a big hole in my opinion and something I need to rectify still.

Thank you everyone for your continued support! I'm still astounded at the speed this has been gaining traction! Next chapter should be by the end of next week or sooner!