Eclipse - Act 1 - The Healing

Chapter 13 - A Much Needed Talk

Jaune

Gravel crunches under heel as the two teens pace side by side under the crumbled lunar glow. Red and yellow, side by side for so long, through thick and thin, both gulp and avoid eye contact. The wedge of emotions between them has widened into a gaping chasm of solicitous hearts. Both want the same thing, both wanted the other, both wanted languid kisses, warm skin on skin, souls unbound to tie together. But the constant overhang of that fateful night, that almost last kiss that now left sour tastes and memories, has poisoned what they had, and made it so very hard to even mention where they stood.

So being their usual unsure and nervous selves, they elect to ignore their hearts.

To be friends.

But feelings only hurt and ache to near physical levels of pain when they're ignored. Now Pyrrha hurts. Now she aches, with the need to have him be hers. Her thoughts are only mirrored tenfold by the blonde boy.

"So..." Pyrrha clears her throat, ducking her chin down to hide her chapped lips behind her scarf. "What did you want to talk about?"

Jaune fixes her with a knowing look, Pyrrha frowning beneath the fabric of her scarf. "About us. Where we're at after a week or two of..." Jaune trails off, unsure of the words.

"Fixing ourselves." Pyrrha nods, letting out a shaky breath. "I'm umm...nervous of what's on your mind."

"Ditto." Jaune scoffs, rubbing a numb hand over his face as they finally went from moonlight to streetlights, entering the small village square. It is mostly abandoned this late, but a few shops are still open, luckily the coffee shop being one of them. Pyrrha stops by the fountain in the centre of the square, looking down at the water as she places a hand on her buxom chest, trying to quell her drumming heart.

She quivers a gulp at her red-haired reflection, tenderness in her skin prickling at even the ruffling of her coat against her arms. Her reflection wobbles as the ghostly carp in the cool waters slurped at the air, begging to be fed the usual crumbles of bread from the now shut bakery.

She smiles lightly, shakily even, at the giant golden scaled fish. "Hey...you okay?" Jaune asks tentatively, causing her heart to flutter at the mere sound of his voice. Pyrrha huffs, looking up at him with sparkly green eyes.

"Yes. Just needed a moment, I guess." She blows out an obviously shaky breath. Jaune smiles and nods over his shoulder to the shop. "Okay." She smiles weakly. The two walk over and he pushes the wooden door open, a bell dings above their heads to alert the owner, letting Pyrrha step in first and into the warm shop.

Porcelain clinks in the back of the shop, low murmurs of customers adding an atmospheric hum to the chorus of clinks, melding wonderfully with the sweet and sharp smell of freshly ground coffee and warm soft doughy pastry.

"I'll get us our drinks." Jaune says, Pyrrha frowning, fumbling in her pocket for her wallet. Jaune smirks, always admiring her for how selfless she always is, always happy to pay for everything just like Weiss is. Just makes it fun to do the same for her when she never lets anybody else do that. "S'okay, I got this one. What d'ya want, Pyr?" He asks, with her nickname, which makes her smile. He obviously still cares, she is just scared that it will always be as a friend.

"Umm...A latte would be lovely, thank you." She smiles that brilliant beam that he loves so much. Gods, she wanted to just lean up and kiss him, to let him know how much she means to him, and how she would die for him...but then again...she nearly did. That might not be the best thing to tell him. He smiles back warmly and steps up to the counter as Pyrrha walks over to a secluded and warm booth in the corner, looking out through a large window at the night time Town square.