41

"PYRRHA NIKOS!" Pyrrha winced as her mother roared in anger, her face as red as her hair. "IF YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT SOOOOOO GROUNDED ONCE THIS TOURNAMENT IS OVER, YOU HAVE ANOTHER THINK COMING YOUNG LADY!"

Wait.

"D-does that mean I can still keep competing?"

Even when feeling awful as her mom chewed her out, Pyrrha couldn't help the excited thrill run through her heart.

"Gods, why is that the one thing you took away from this conversation?" Her mother Jenniha Nikkos sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose from under her glasses. "Your father and I are both furious, young lady. But fortunately for you, your father is too busy dealing with a sudden influx of new orders to be here and berate you. HE wanted to force you to come home imm-"

"You can't!" Pyrrha shouted with fear, "I-that'll ruin everything! It's working mama."

"...Oh you only call me 'mama' when there's something you want, Pyrrha baby. My daughter. Please. I didn't want you getting caught up in that game between the Houses. I thought everything would be fine as long as we got you the training you wanted. We were saving up for you to go to Sanctum in a year or two, you know. You're talented so you'd be able to make it all-"

"Put that back into dad's business. I-I can apply for a merit test to Haven when I'm seventeen!"

"Oh, I don't think that'll be an issue anymore Pyrrha, things are… well… Look. You are grounded once this tournament is over. That is non-negotiable, am I clear? Good. You'll be grounded for the rest of the summer and I'll have you… you help with so many dishes at the cafe that your wrinkles will have wrinkles on your little pruney fingers. But… maybe we were also wrong to not let you… try. We saw your match… We're proud of you, little hoplite."

Pyrrha swallowed hard, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry mama. I just… the company means everything to dad. The other workers there… he treats them like family too, and they've all been so nice to me. Even though cousin Catalan has only helped train me because her dad works for ours. I realized I can't just sit on my hands like this. I can do this. So I have a duty to. That's what you and dad always taught me, that we have to lead by example. To do what we can. I can do this!"

The image of her mother on her Scroll looked at her with teary eyes.

"You're growing up too fast, Pyrrha."

"What's wrong with that? I can shoulder these burdens too! With you, mama. And with papa."

"...Stay safe. Don't accept any contracts with anyone while you're there. If anyone tries to make you sign anything, know that that can be used against you. Sign nothing. Not even autographs, just to be safe. I'm not saying to not make any friends-"

Pyrrha's thoughts strayed to the strange shadow-like magic mice.

"-and don't eat anything from a stranger. Trust no drinks that you didn't see someone open in front of you, and even then please don't trust anything that you didn't open yourself."

Pyrrha felt a bead of sweat trickle down her neck.

…She still wanted to eat Jaune's Katsudon.

"Ok mom. No food or drink from strangers." She promised.

Jaune wasn't a stranger now… right?

"So…."

"..."

"...Nice to, uh, officially meet you, Weiss."

"...It is good to make your acquaintance, Professor Jaune. I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Jaune scratched his cheek in the same awkward way he'd always done, his right leg bouncing up and down as his foot tapped against the ground.

"I mean I already knew that."

"Well I was quite unaware of how important you were until just this morning." Weiss's face was smiling, her voice sweet and melodic, but she knew her eyes were chips of ice. "Rather curious isn't it?"

"W-Winter did say that I was smart." He defended weakly, his index fingers pressing their tips gently into each other. "It-it's not like I was hiding anything from you…"

"There is smart and there is being a revolutionary intellect on the scale of cutting into my fathers profits enough that he's got it into his mind to use my resemblance to my older sister to try to get us to be engaged."

"It's skipping a lot of steps for sure. Parents shouldn't be allowed to decide that for their children." Jaune's face was an almost photo perfect face of righteous anger. Enough that you could print it in a dictionary with it. "I won't let him force anything like that on you."

Weiss let out a faint sigh as she daintily reached out for a teacup. She could see him stare at her practiced and elegant movements, eyes trailing to her pale wrist that stretched ever faintly beyond the sleeve of her pretty white ruffled dress.

He really tried not to be weird about it, but Weiss had always put up with him staring at her and Winter. He'd never overstepped any bounds despite clearly believing both of them to be rather pretty. Which was flattering, she supposed.

It was only that alongside the fact that he'd always been quite nice to her that she wasn't filled with an uncomfortable dread. No strange expectations and trading of favors. The fact that he always seemed to respect her desires and wishes was at least rather gentlemanly, even if he was always a bit of an awkward companion.

"It's a good thing that at least we were allowed a private room to 'mingle' amongst ourselves. Though now father will be very upset if I come out of here without something to show for it."

Jaune laughed weakly, looking away from her.

Really now. Weiss glared, her lips twisting a bit to the side. Normally he couldn't help but to stare when she wasn't looking at him, even if he seemed aware that she was aware about it as well.

"Jaune. I shall be rather cross with you if you don't look me in the eye as we converse." She tried to channel a bit of her older sister Winter as she spoke sternly.

It must not have worked quite as she'd planned as she saw the edges of a wagging tail flicker behind him.

"What. Your tail is wagging. What is it? Be honest."

"Uh…" Jaune just scratched his cheek again with a blush. "You trying to channel Winter like that was just k-kinda cute."

Ugh.

Weiss felt her cheek warm. Embarrassment for sure. That was one thing she never liked much about Jaune. It always felt like he could read her mind and it could be unnerving.

"I-it's not mind reading. I'm just really good at understanding intent. I can't turn it off."

"But you could somehow still respond to a thought in my head regardless, Jaune. That's as close to mind reading as anyone is ever going to get without a Semblance. Maybe even with one. And I wish for you to be aware that as frustrating as it is, a bit unnerving too, I don't dislike you because of it. I dislike the fact that I feel like a book in your hands."

"I'm sorry."

And there's the cute ear droop. Drat. Every time she saw that even if she didn't mean to, she couldn't help but to find it adorable. The drooping that is. It was like seeing a giant bunny rather than Jau- wait. This was unbecoming. Maybe even a little ignorant.

…it still felt like an accurate analogy though.

She could see Jaune fidget and blush a bit, but he also looked a bit uncomfortable at the same time.

He was doing it again, wasn't he?

"Sorry."

"If you can't help it, don't apologize." Weiss sighed, her hand going for another sip of tea. "We've known each other for three years now and…"

A bit of a self-depreciating feeling jolt through her body. Despite the fact that he was her age, she'd always known him to be Winter's friend. Suddenly there was a weird cold weight in the pit of her stomach.

"...we… we are… friends… right?"

Great now she was the one looking away. And… she could see his tail wag in full force like some sort of big golden retriever from the corner of her vision. Why did he have bunny ears instead of doggy ones anyways?

She liked dogs. Not that rabbit ears weren't cute but… Dogs, right?

"Of course!" He assured with full force, she looked up to see his bright blue eyes sparkle. "I've always thought of us as friends."

Jeez. Wasn't it embarrassing for him to say that so easily? She was actually mustering up a bit of courage for- nevermind.

"Then at the very least when we leave we should establish with my father that we wish for more… play-dates sounds so juvenile, but at least the fact that I've accomplished to garner your friendship should satisfy him for now."

"Ok." Jaune just grinned happily, "I just…"

He giggled with a wide happy smile, like this was an amazing moment.

"This is the first time both of us have admitted we're friends. It feels good."

Weiss found a small grin tugging at the edge of her lips.

"Yes, well… I'm glad to be friends with you as well. Not simply because you've been such a help to Winter but-" Weiss took a deep breath. "-my life at home has… improved thanks to you. It's not perfect, of course, as much as my father pretends it is on the surface. But it is still mine. I've never been very close to Whitley before and he's a little nerd but he's still my brother. And really he actually feels like my brother now."

"No problem, Weiss. I'm just glad to help!"

As much of a dummy that Jaune could be (she still couldn't believe that the boy in front of her was a genius, somehow) he wasn't dislikable. He was just brutally honest in a way that felt like a breath of fresh air compared to her manor where everyone walked on eggshells around her and kissed up to her as they reported her every failure to her father.

He seemed to like her and Winter, but didn't really know what to do with those feelings, so he just let it be something to put to the side so she and he could stay friends and that was… really nice. Weiss wished she could compartmentalize messy things like that away so easily as well.

Or, well. Perhaps he was simply trying to be a good person and friend regardless of how he felt.

Either way she liked Jaune. As a friend. It would be weird to decide that she, liked liked Jaune when he was really the only real person she'd gotten close to outside of her family. He wasn't a fake friend like all the children from other families that she was forced to associate with on occasion.

She just lacked… insight? Probab-no that wasn't it. Experience. Yes that was it.

"Do you… want more friends? I could introduce you to mine." Jaune offered confidently, as if sure that she'd get along with them. "They're all great!"

She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as he described his other friends like-

"You're great too, Weiss."

That did put a flush on her face.

"Stop saying all these embarrassing things so easily!" She scolded as Jaune just laughed.

"Sorry, Weiss."

He didn't sound sorry at all.

Pyrrha licked her lips.

"Another perfect cup of tea." She complimented Jaune's magic mouse. Semblance mouse, sure, but it still felt like magic to her. Semblances could be amazing, but little mice made of shadow delivering food and drinks still felt like something out of a fairy tale. "Thank you."

She pet the little mouse on its head as it squeaked.

She hoped the little guy liked it. She hadn't ever had any pet rodents, not even hamsters, so she wasn't aware of what any of their chittering and squeaking meant.

But it didn't shy away from her touch, so that must have been a good sign at least… right?

She read the post it note again as she twirled her number two pencil in her hand.

"Good luck. Although you're going to win, I'm sure." She read with a smile.

Jaune didn't seem alone in that sentiment, apparently.

The interview yesterday had overwhelmed her, and she'd done her best to smile politely and give honest answers to how she felt, but taking down a veteran like Hu ChoRok had seemed to garner a lot of interest in her. Suddenly she was being called a dark horse, new favorite, a prodigy.

All of it was incredibly flattering, but a bit scary.

Especially the questions about her family and her family situation.

She definitely didn't tell anyone that she'd snuck away secretly and took a train all the way to the Capital of Mistral just to take part in the Circuit, but it was hard for her to explain why she was here alone and her parents were back in Argus.

Also how did they even know that? That seemed like an… well she wasn't sure exactly what the term was, but it made her uncomfortable.

Still, having a bunch of strangers suddenly professing their belief in her and a… a friend say such were two different things. Actually, was it even a profession of belief when they flat out said they were sure that she was going to win? That was odd.

Also, Jaune wouldn't have approached her in this strangely roundabout way if they hadn't believed in her in the first place… right?

Pyrrha wasn't sure. She'd never had many friends and most of them were kids whose parents worked with her dad. Naturally those kids kind of had… a bit of a distance, even if they were nice to her. She supposed it would have been difficult had one of their parents been let go while she was friends with them and there was a fear that they might offend her and cause an issue, but she'd never do such a thing!.

"Thank you, Jaune." She whispered as she scratched back with her pencil, "I hope to win today as well."

Her opponent this time would be both easier and harder.

Her magic mouse friend disappeared with the cup, to be replaced by another. They looked a little different every time. Was that an aftereffect of the Semblance, she wondered, or was it just a different mouse every single time?

Pyrrha began to limber up, this time dressed in a navy blue sports top, once again leaving her midriff slightly bare, this time a bit more covered up as a high-waisted pair of black yoga pants clung to her skin, barely covering her navel. Red compression sleeves clashed slightly with her ensemble, but Pyrrha felt a bit more comfortable having some of her normal colors displayed still.

She almost missed the mouse reappearing with a little treat in tow, a small dark brown piece of chocolate on a little bit of decorative wax paper, as she bent down to touch the tips of her toes.

Pyrrha thoughtlessly topped the candy into her mouth, her tastebuds exploding in a mellow sweetness, the taste of a thick blueberry jam bursting with flavor from within, the faintly tart fruitiness melding wonderfully with the rich and smooth dark chocolate topped with little flakes of salt as the fruit jam provided its own sweetness to harmonize with it all.

"Mmmmmmm." She just hummed contentedly as the flavors continued to run over her tongue like some sort of melody. "That's amazing."

She let out a sigh as she reached over to pet the mouse again, noticing there was a small bit of writing in the wax paper.

"You've got this." She smiled, a bit of an excited thrill ran through her.

This secret penpal thing she had going on was fun.

She wondered who her mysterious friend was, though. With all the shadows she maybe imagined a mysterious black haired boy or girl. Pale skin, but not sickly. Someone with a bright, but mischievous grin. Maybe a cute bright apron to contrast though.

Because they made really good food. At least she thought they did. It was hard to explain why Pyrrha felt that way, but something about the Katsudon yesterday didn't feel like restaurant food for some reason (partly because she'd looked it up on the net with no success) and felt… personal. Homecooked, even if it was done masterfully.

Actually she should ask.

"Did you make all of this food?" She quickly scratched out on the back of the wax paper before handing it to the mouse who squeaked with a salute as it was replaced by another.

Yup. Magic mice.

"Match one of four will be ready in five minutes! Contestants for match one, please prepare yourself to enter the Pagoda!"

Well that was her que.

She had just enough time to grab her weapons, turn around and take a deep breath to steady herself as another note came in.

"Yup."

Yeah her strange new friend was definitely mischievous.

"Jaune? If my father finds out we will be in so much trouble."

"Don't worry. Emerald's got it. She's got a voice changing choker under her necktie that'll help cover the auditory side of things. And honestly? She doesn't even need the choker for auditory manipulation. Everything's going to be fine."

"Should I be worried that the girl I've allowed to learn stewardship under Klein has an illusion based Semblance and also has high-tech spy gadgets from my only friend?"

Jaune paused.

"...Under normal circumstances, maybe? But it's Em! She won't do anything I don't want her to. She's a super good friend." He promised. "Right Uncle Qrow?"

"Loyal as a dog." Qrow deadpanned as he gave Jaune a look. "Just absolutely does whatever you ask her to."

"...I'm not collecting anything. Why're you looking at me like that."

Qrow just shook his head at Jaune as he handed Weiss two small white and red striped wax paper baggies, one filled with fresh and hot butter popcorn from his inventory, the other with sweet kettle corn.

"You pick which one you like better, I'll take the other." Jaune offered as Weiss gave the bags he'd shoved into her hands with confusion.

"I don't know what this is." The girl quietly admitted, a bit stymied. "One smells really buttery though. Maybe a bit too rich for me."

"Still try a bit of each. You might like it." Jaune laughed.

"But I have no utensils!"

Jaune blinked in confusion as his Uncle Qrow just snickered un-helpfully.

"Jaune." Juniper's eyes lazily opened above him, causing one of his rabbit ears to jerk in his direction almost against his will, "Remember that she was raised in a very sheltered and rich manner. She's probably never had finger-food before."

"Oh." He felt dumb. Well. He was a bit dumb sometimes. "Popcorn is finger food. You eat it just with your hands."

"I-isn't that barbaric? Or unsanitary? Both?"

"Weiss, your hands are so clean I could use them as plates." Jaune rolled his eyes as Weiss gave scoff of shame/indignation. "Plus, your dad's not here to berate you about it."

"My hands might still smell like butter or sugar after." Weiss protested, "I-I'll be in trouble then."

"Jeez, is your old man really that strict?" Qrow asked as one of Jaune's shadow mice appeared by his feet with an empty cup and post-it note. "Your new pen-pal?"

"Yyyup." Jaune popped his P. "Hmm."

Juniper hovered over his shoulder, also reading it and chuckled.

A little square of white wax paper appeared in his hands and he wrote a quick 'You've got this' on it.

Big Brother Juniper said that she'd win it all and he was never wrong.

With a little fancy chocolate on top he sent it back over to Pyrrha in her changing room.

Weiss's eyes didn't leave the chocolate until it disappeared in front of her eyes.

"Oh..." There was a brief sound of disappointment, only shaken off by an immediately following cough to hide her desire for the sweet treat."

"I'll give you a couple of samples later." Jaune just laughed. "Heck, I'll just put together a little gift box for you."

He quickly hunted down a regular box of gift chocolates from his Inventory, opened it and turned it upside down, tossing the moderately expensive but not really up to his standard chocolates back into it, getting a look of confusion from both Weiss and Qrow.

"I didn't make those. But why just toss them in the garbage, right?" He explained quickly, before his fingers scrolled over his Inventory to the rows and rows of foods he'd made already to completion, arriving at his rough 'desserts' section and began to grab one of every different kind of confection until he'd filled the whole gift box of six by six chocolates to full.

There was even a bit of a color gradient that he'd arranged it into, one corner being dark chocolates, the majority being sweeter milk chocolates in the middle, then the opposing corner having chocolates with marshmallow plus white chocolates.

He grinned as he heard Weiss gulp.

Jaune might have still not developed much pride in his cooking (though he'd always enjoyed watching people eat it), but Blake had taught him that how he used his abilities mattered. And he'd always at least been a little proud of how his cooking brought joy to people for a while now.

It made him feel warm.

"I'll make sure to give this to you later, once we're back in Atlas." Jaune grinned. "We'll tell your dad that it was a personal gift from me and that should be ok."

"I-yes. That will do." Weiss nodded, "They were all… very artfully decorated."

"Yo, Jaune. None for your dear Uncle? Those looked good."

Jaune rolled his eyes.

"I made them for special occasions, Uncle Qrow." He flicked his finger through his Inventory, flicking up a dark chocolate square filled with a lemon cream. "Greedy."

Qrow just snapped it out of the air with his mouth, giving it a chew, and letting out an appreciative humm.

"Shit, that's good."

"Language!" Weiss scolded from her seat, through her eyes gazed jealously at the man eating the fancy treat.

"Here. I'll give you one too." Jaune just laughed as he pulled out a marshmallow with a raspberry infused dark chocolate coating. "Ah."

Maybe it was the scent of the sweet treat, or Weiss had just been fiending for something sweet, but she didn't protest much as she ate the treat from his fingers, despite having complained about such a thing with the popcorn earlier.

Jaune only realized a bit too late how intimate the action looked or felt as he felt her lips close over his fingertips, jerking back as they felt red hot.

Weiss didn't seem to notice as she softly chewed, silently enjoying the confection, letting out small sounds of satisfaction with her eyes closed, the lashes fluttering seemingly at random.

Qrow whistled at him as he turned to quickly elbow him in the side, the older man just leaning slightly to the side and avoiding the blow as he blushed.

The older man just grinned as he mouthed the word 'Smooth' at him.

Jaune blinked in confusion.

The… lemon cream chocolate went down smooth? He supposed it would, as it shouldn't have been very tart with the way he'd handled the lemon, but that was a weird comment all of a sudden.

Qrow just rolled his eyes at Jaune's confusion like he was an idiot.

Jaune just glared back.

What the hell did Qrow even mean there?

There was a soft crunch, causing the two to turn in Weiss's direction who blushed as she daintily held a little fluffy piece of popcorn between her thumb and index finger.

"W-what? I'm just trying the popped corn like you asked." She retorted at their stares, taking a gentle bite as she bit her teeth into the corn just enough to hold it in place before covering her mouth with a delicate open hand and began to eat and chew the piece of the concession type snack that Jaune had whipped up yesterday evening.

She waited to fully chew the snack whose baggies she was holding up straight with one hand by propping it against her stomach in her lap.

"Stop staring at me." Her hand pulled away to a small frown. "It's uncomfortable."

"Sorry." Jaune quickly apologized, wondering if he did that too much with the younger Schnee girl. Even Winter's strict no-nonsense attitude didn't cause this level of consistent apologizing with him. "I didn't mean to stare, I promise. I just- well. It's hard cuz you're really pretty."

Honesty is the best policy, his brother always said.

His Big Brother Juniper had seen many friendships and bonds severed due to a lack of it and honestly, Jaune valued his friends more than anything. He didn't want to ever mess that up if he could. Rather he was almost too scared to mess anything up.

That was why even now he had doubts about letting himself get closer to Weiss because he also wanted to repair his friendship with Adam. Because he knew that what he was doing might push his older friend away forever but… he couldn't bear to push away the fairy-like girl. He wanted to be her friend as well.

Why was this all so hard sometimes?

"Well-" Weiss coughed into a fist, her face weirdly glowing with satisfaction at the genuine compliment, "-I suppose it can't be helped. You're not exactly subtle about how you look at my elder sister, either, after all."

"I-I'm not that bad! Am… am I?"