Forgiveness
Ren: *visiting with Arkos couple after a fight with Nora*
Ren: *sighs* Thank you again for letting me come by on such short notice, Jaune…I just…needed some space from Nora right now…
Jaune: *doing dishes after dinner while Pyrrha plays with Arkos kiddos in the living room* Hey, it’s no problem! The twins love when their favorite uncle visits! *pauses awkwardly* We can set up the pull-out bed after I finish, if you need to stay the night…?
Ren: Thank you again…*hands Jaune a cleaned plate*
Jaune: *stacks plate in drying rack and starts on a glass*
Jaune: …you know, Ren, if you wanna talk-
Ren: *interrupting suddenly* How did you forgive Pyrrha?
Jaune: *nearly drops glass* W-what…?!
Ren: I-I’m sorry, I’m not very good at…expressing my emotions or talking about others…
Ren: But after what happened with Nora, I need to know!
Ren: Back when Beacon fell, Pyrrha sent you away before she went up in the tower…you said that was your first kiss, but then she used it to trap you in a locker. It was a betrayal of your trust when Pyrrha chose to send you away and go to a fight she couldn’t hope to win.
Ren: I could see that she hurt you, Jaune. Even when she came back, I saw the pain she caused you, but now…
Ren/Jaune: *look over at Pyrrha playing with squealing Arkos children, balancing one on each shoulder while squatting up and down*
Ren: …and now, I’ve never seen two people more happy or in love.
Ren: So please, I need to know…
Ren: How did you do it? How did you work past something like that and stay together?
Jaune: *puts down the glass and pauses, watching Pyrrha do push-ups with her son clinging to her back while her daughter crawls underneath*
Jaune: …I gotta tell you, Ren, it was really rough for us, when Pyrrha came back. At first, I was like, SUPER happy to see her again, you know? It was like everything could go back to the way it was before Beacon fell!
Jaune: But after that feeling wore off, I remembered all that stuff you were just talking about, like how Pyr kissed me, and then shoved me in a locker and ran off without me to get killed instead of coming with us, and it started to bug me.
Jaune: …like, I REALLY started to resent her.
Ren: We all noticed. You stopped talking around her and stopped looking her in the eye. I think Pyrrha almost cried every time she saw you because you seemed so distant.
Jaune: Yeah…I was kinda bitter…Looking back, I know what she did was a dumb teenage decision made under a lot of unfair pressure, but at the time I was still mad, and I guess I kinda wanted to see her hurt because she hurt me…
Jaune: …in hindsight, it was pretty shitty of me to be all passive-aggressive and cold just to hurt her back, and I was being a dumb teenager too…
Ren: Did that realization make the difference?
Jaune: Nope.
Jaune: Believe it or not, I called my mom.
Jaune: I told her everything that was going on, and my problems with Pyrrha, and she gave me some advice her grandpa told her about relationships:
Jaune: *does a southern accent* “When the goin’ gets tough, ya only have two options: Ya either stop lovin’ ‘em, or ya love ‘em a whole lot more!” 🤠
Ren: …so…
Ren: …that’s the secret?
Jaune: *resumes putting cleaned plates away in cabinet* …weeeeelllll…there was a lot more to it than that! Pyrrha and I had to have a big talk about our relationship, and there were a lot of tears and apologies, but great-grandpappy’s advice kinda made me sit down and decide whether I wanted to be with Pyrrha or not, and once I decided that I wanted to be with her I could figure out what I had to do…
Jaune: *feels an impact as his son glomps onto his leg like a koala*
Jaune: *grins down at Arkos kid* And I think I picked the better choice! *scoops up his son as Pyrrha gathers up Arkos daughter for bedtime*
Ren: …your great-grandpappy sounds like a wise man, Jaune…
Ren: If you don’t mind, I think I need to make a call.
Ren later called Nora and they made up on Jaune and Pyrrha’s pull-out couch.
Nora: *snuggled against Ren’s chest* I’m glad you called, Ren, but what made you decide to give me another chance?
Ren: Someone gave me some advice that helped me decide what I wanted:
Ren: *in a terribly-executed southern accent* “When tha goin’ gets tuff, ya only got two opshuns: stop luvin ‘um, or ya luv um a whole lot more!”
Nora: …
Nora: Ren, that was sweet and touching and everything, but that accent was, like, the WORST accent I’ve ever heard! 🤣
Ren: Nora, please, it wasn’t THAT bad…
Nora: I love you, Rennie, but that was so bad it was offensive! 😂
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