Chapter Text
Jaune Arc considered himself to be a pretty straightforward guy. Sure, he was a little awkward, not always the best in social situations, and a touch too dense for his own good, but compared to most guys, he thought himself fairly average in many regards.
There were moments, however, where the utter absurdity of his life since enrolling at Beacon Academy hit him like a brick…and looking at the certified Schnee Technologies report that had been delivered to him regarding the results of his semblance testing…this was definitely one of those moments.
See, curiosity had gotten the better of Jaune. After one of his nights training with Pyrrha, he asked her to draw a blood sample with a kit he’d purchased since he’d gotten curious about his semblance. She was kind enough to assist him in retrieving said sample, and additionally in buttering up Weiss enough for her to ship off said sample to one of the local labs in Vale. Now that the results were in Jaune’s hands, however…
“Ah, Jaune? Are you alright? You…look a bit tense all of the sudden…” Pyrrha chuckled nervously from her bunk, watching as her partner glared daggers at the results on paper while slowly starting to tremble from a steady build up of emotion. “J-Jaune…?”
“Pyrrha…my dear partner, who I respect to no end…in the grand calculus of the multiverse, all the crazy possibilities of our world…what are the chances, would you say, of having a normal semblance?”
“Oh, um…fairly common, I suppose? Given how all semblances are unique in their own right, even hereditary ones, I’m quite sure what you--” Pyrrha started to reply with a bemused look on her face, only to yelp in surprise as Jaune suddenly thrust the paper in her direction, unable to even look her in the eyes.
“Just…promise me you won’t think less of me when you read the results…?”
Utterly baffled at this point, Pyrrha quickly assured her partner she would do no such thing, accepting the report and giving it a quick once over…before her eyes widened and her cheeks pinked swiftly in realization. “Oh…oh my…”
“Dear Mr. Arc,
Our tests have discovered that you are in possession of a remarkably powerful semblance! According to our findings, your semblance appears to be an advanced form of probability manipulation, specifically one generating “good luck” for the user. The power level alone is astounding, but…we did discover a troubling caveat.
Apparently, your semblance requires sporadic activation, as the “luck” effect lasts daily and needs to be reapplied in a less than orthodox method; to activate this power, Mr. Arc must receive a kiss on the lips from another individual, faunus or human, lasting approximately five seconds or longer. Otherwise, there will be no noteworthy effects and his semblance will be all but moot in nature.
Thank you for choosing Schnee Laboratories! Please feel free to call us using the number listed below if there are any issues, we hope you use our services again!”
The message tempered off with the doctor’s signature at the bottom, with a flushed Pyrrha trying her best to process what she’d read while Jaune continued to tremble, an outburst gradually growing inside of him the longer he waited.
“W-well, ah…that’s not what I…hmm…I suppose…this isn’t sooooo bad…?”
“NOT SO BAD?!” Jaune promptly exploded, prompting his partner to squawk in surprise as he wheeled around, hands in his hair and looking positively manic. “Pyrrha, how can you even say that with a straight face?! Did we read the same report?! Because from where I’m standing, it sounds absolutely insane!”
“J-Jaune, please! It’s really not that bad!” Pyrrha weakly attempted to placate him, which only seemed to rile him up more as he started to stomp around the room with a verbale breakdown playing out.
“Not that bad?! Oh, Brother above, how could this possibly be a semblance?! It makes no damn sense!” He sputtered onward, stressed out of his mind as his panic only seemed to grow more intense. “A member of the Arc family, infamous for their honour and bravery in battle, and this is my semblance…what will my sisters say? Oh gods, what will my mom say?!"
Before the young man could spiral any further, a sudden hand on his shoulder yanked him back to reality, forcing him to turn and face a much calmer and reassuring looking Pyrrha Nikos, his heart stuttering in his chest for a moment as he met her gorgeous emerald eyes.
“Jaune, please, take a moment and breathe. While your semblance may be…unusual…this doesn’t change anything. You are still JNPR’s leader, my partner, and my friend.” She assured him firmly, though the kind sparkle in her eyes did wonders to bring the panicking blond back to reality as he sighed, soon slumping back onto his bed as Pyrrha moved to sit with him.
“You’re right…sorry for freaking out there, I just…of all things, that really wasn’t what I was expecting when I sent that blood sample out.” Jaune admitted with a disappointed sigh, his heart rate settling back to normal levels as he laid there. “I mean, I would have been okay with just about anything, but…kissing based luck? On a daily timer, no less?”
“It is more than a little absurd, I’ll admit.” Pyrrha giggled, prompting Jaune’s cheeks to pink a bit as he glanced over at her, the sun shining through the nearby window at just the right angle to make her look positively radiant. His cheeks grew crimson as she glanced his way. “But think of it like this; there’s nothing that says you have to make use of your semblance. Countless Hunters throughout only use them sparingly, it’s not like you have any major reliance on it!”
“Yeah…yeah, I guess you’re right!” Jaune laughed, the last of his worry melting away as he closed his eyes for a moment and relaxed on his bed. Pyrrha was right! There was nothing that said he had to use his semblance! Hell, he hadn’t even tested it out yet, it probably wasn’t even worth the trouble!
“...um…Jaune?” Pyrrha spoke up again, prompting the knight to crack open an eye as he noticed her sheepish expression, suddenly looking quite embarrassed as she tapped her fingers together in a shy manner, her cheeks flushed in a way not all too different from his own moments before. “W-with all that said, um…w-would you like to test it out…?”
“...huh?” Jaune blinked dumbly at the spartan for a moment, before swiftly sitting up as his cheeks suddenly grew quite warm once more. “W-what do you mean?”
“Well, it’s just…we technically don’t have any proof, the test could be false, so…s-shouldn’t we test out your semblance to see if it actually works…?”
Jaune was dumbfounded for a moment, staring at his redhead teammate as he tried to process her words. She…she couldn’t really be suggesting…could she? Despite the shy look on her face, Pyrrha looked pretty serious about her offer…
For just a moment, Jaune truly considered her words as carefully as he could. He wasn’t blind to how stunning Pyrrha was, her beauty amazed him almost daily, but what she was suggesting…kissing her…would it be fair to do that with one of his closest friends? Could he live with that going through with that?
Could he live with not doing that…?
"...i-it’s just one kiss, right?"
Pyrrha, who’d started to look rather embarrassed, sat up sharply and quickly nodded, trying to hide just how eager she felt as her heart thundered away inside her chest. “O-of course! Just a kiss, five seconds! J-Just to see if the test was correct!”
Jaune nodded slowly, turning to have Pyrrha as he fought to meet her gaze, his cheeks burning as he met those gorgeous green orbs and gulped thickly, letting out a nervous chuckle. “I-I’ve never, uh…actually kissed a girl before…kinda embarrassing…”
“N-nonsense. I’ve never kissed anyone either, Jaune.” Pyrrha reassured him, flushing an even deeper shade of red as she offered him a small smile. “Besides…I’m glad you’ll be my first.”
Hoo boy, don’t overthink that one…just accept the compliment and try not to pass out.
Jaune took another deep breath to stabilize himself, nodding as he scooted just a touch closer. “Right then, guess that means there’s only one thing left to do…”
Pyrrha beamed at him before closing her eyes, gently taking hold of Jaune's cheeks and beginning to lean in. Surprisingly, this was the boost he needed to actually commit, screwing his own eyes shut as he carefully leaned towards her…
And then their lips clashed together.
Soft, warm. Pleasant feelings engulfed Jaune the instant their lips met, but as the seconds ticked by and they finally reached the five second mark…a pulse ran through them both, like a concentrated spark of electricity in the form of sheer lust. Just before he was about to pull back, Jaune found himself ensnared by Pyrrha’s arms around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss.
She moaned lowly, a sound that sent shivers along spine as he found himself leaning back onto the bed, with her following. As his head met the sheets beneath him, he grunted in shock as Pyrrha’s tongue pushed its way past his lips and promptly invaded his mouth. He had no complaints, of course, letting her dominate him fully as a low, almost needy whine escaped him.
Their sudden makeout session lasted at least another ten seconds before Pyrrha seemed to regain herself for a moment, letting out a muffled eep! as she suddenly yanked her head back, looking quite flustered as she stared down at him, practically sitting in his lap as they both fought to catch their breaths.
“I-I’m sorry…don’t know…what came over me…” She apologized between pants, though internally she couldn’t say she had any real regrets after finally getting to show her crush how she felt, at least to a slight degree.
“Nah, ‘sfine…no worries…” Jaune babbled back in response, head swimming from the incomparable high of making out with the Invincible Girl herself. Pyrrha giggled a bit at the dorky smile on his face before asking him an important question.
“Do you feel any different?”
Jaune quickly reminded himself of what the actual objective of their impassioned moment had been, and took a quick mental stock of how he was feeling. He felt weirdly energized still, like he had after the five second mark, but otherwise…nothing super noteworthy.
“I mean…not really? How else should we test it?” Jaune questioned with a tilt of his head. Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully, seeming to mull over the question herself for a moment before snapping her fingers in apparent realization.
“I have an idea!” She announced, hopping off his lap and helping him back to his feet. “Just hold still for a second, I have just the thing!”
Jaune trusted Pyrrha enough to not question whatever she had in mind, patiently waiting for her to turn back around as she grabbed something from her bunk…before spinning around with her blade in hand and taking a few swipes at him.
With a yelp, Jaune effortlessly backpedaled, formlessly dodging each and every surprise strike from his partner. As she came to a halt after the fifth strike, Jaune sent her an incredulous look before realizing what had just occurred; he’d managed to dodge every single precise strike of a sneak attack from one of Beacon’s best students.
His semblance was legit, alright…for better and for worse, and he was going to have to figure out just how to use it in the coming days.