Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in any way. I claim no expertise in areas of existential dilemmas, stalkers, or professional art critiquing. As a reminder, this is a modern-day AU – certain characters will be a bit OOC as a result.

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Tuesday morning.

There were many, many questions that plagued humanity: What is the meaning of life? Did we evolve or were we created by a higher power?

For Jaune Arc, there was only one question that needed an answer: Why do people like to run so freaking much?

He was no closer to an answer as he rounded the last leg of the track, finishing his second lap of the morning. Or of all time. At this point, it could go either way.

Running, as far as the blonde boy was concerned, was an activity that should only be done when there's a large man chasing you with a knife. The idea that humans could enjoy such a thing was truly alien. This is why we have cars, dammit!

After two slow, agonizing laps, Jaune collapsed to the grass next to the water table. Velvet leaned over him and stared down with a look of half-concern, half-amusement. She handed a bottle to him and chuckled, "You gonna make it there, Turbo?"

"You're hilarious," he responded wryly. He made no move to get up, though. Every fiber of his being was crying out in anguish. He could feel his very soul parting from his body…

"Are you okay, John?"

A sudden burst of muscle power launched Jaune straight to his feet as that voice spoke up from behind him – the voice of an angel.

"Pyrrha! Hi! It's… Jaune, actually. I, uh… I'm good… how are you?"

The tall exchange student smiled sheepishly, clearly amused by the silly blonde boy. "I am fine, but it is you I worry about. You should rest for a few minutes, Shaun."

You know what… that's close enough. "Yeah, I… I think I will. Thanks."

Ignoring the drink table, Pyrrha nodded and turned to continue her running. The girl could probably run all day if no one stopped her – and Jaune would have watched all day if no one stopped him.

He silently praised Blake for bringing them out here this morning. Honestly, why hadn't he ever seen such a gorgeous girl before? Pyrrha Nikos…

"Isn't she a bit… above your pay grade, Jaunny boy?"

Velvet Scarlatina, on the other hand, seemed like the definition of the word 'plain.' On the plus side, she had the ability to quickly become friendly with anybody. They had only known each other for a grand total of one hour and thirteen minutes, yet they had already reached a level of banter he usually shared with Coco.

"Oh mind your own business, four-eyes."

Where was Coco, anyway? She should have been out here with the rest of them…

The brown-haired girl suddenly darted a look off to one side, then off to another. She rubbed her own shoulders quickly, like she was trying to warm herself up.

"You okay there, Velvet?"

"I swear someone's been staring at me all morning… it's giving me the creeps!"

Jaune tried to look around as well, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Other than nearly a dozen other students running along the track, all he saw was about four or five others simply waiting next to the school building for classes to start. "You sure?" he asked carefully.

"Well I can't prove anything… but it just feels like… someone out here is… undressing me with their eyes… … … bleah…!"

"Should I go find a teacher…?"

"No, no… it's okay. I'll deal with it if anything happens. Thanks, though."

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… … …

Wednesday morning.

Ruby was already starting to feel a bit irritable now that she and Weiss were holding back on their kissing. Ruby wanted to keep herself focused on the challenge… but it was having unwanted effects.

Yang was the first one to get snapped at yesterday, but the blonde handled it much like any other disagreement they'd had in the past – with a chokehold. Ruby ended up apologizing only after tapping out. Ah, big sisters.

Both yesterday and earlier this morning found one classroom in the school near to icing over. Ruby and Neo had been ignoring each other so hard that the windows of the room had started to fog up. A few students half-joked that they could see their breath during that period. Talk about cold.

But now it was lunchtime, and Ruby found herself gnawing on a piece of dried-out pizza. She was also sitting by herself, but that was not uncommon. Likely had to do with her facial expression.

The only thing on her mind was Neo. Ruby was determined to win this contest.

She would not let Neo have Weiss.

Ruby growled a bit as she tore off another piece of the pizza. A few nearby students scooted just a little bit further away.

At least she didn't have to worry about practicing for this drawing contest… right?

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… … …

Thursday afternoon.

The steady bap-bap of her punches filled the empty room with a steady percussion beat that she could have easily danced to. In fact, she almost was dancing as she punched the heavy bag. Her form hadn't improved for almost a year, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

Sun Wukong.

A guy who needed his ass whooped.

Yang increased her rhythm and her force, punching as hard and as fast as she could while still keeping her form. Boxing was never her forte, but against a heavy bag it was the best sort of workout. Her face dripped with sweat, her muscles burning from overuse.

She didn't know who this Sun guy was, but that didn't matter. She was willing to fight him for Blake.

Yang paused for a moment as she tried to create a mental image of Sun – not easy, as she had no imagination to speak of – and attach it to the bag's sweet spot. Gathering her rage, she let loose one punch right to his stupid, smug face…

Then nearly screamed as a sharp pain shot up her arm. She'd sprained her wrist.

The bag landed on the floor a moment later, having been knocked loose from its mount. The blonde fell to her knees alongside it, holding her pained hand very gingerly.

So much for the workout.

Biting back a string of curses, Yang made her way to the locker room and headed into the showers. She would need to ice that arm soon, otherwise it would swell up like a balloon.

Eventually she got that done and slowly made her way back home, but her mind was only on one thing: Black hair and amber eyes, an almost feline grace, and a body most guys would kill for.

Most guys… and at least one girl.

Truth be told, Yang probably would never have considered pursing her old friend like this, but with Ruby getting a proper girlfriend in the Ice Queen, Yang might have been feeling a bit… left out.

Not that she was jealous or anything. Of course not.

And she wasn't scared of meeting this Sun Wukong, regardless of how much Blake's description of him really did scare her. A Kung-Fu master? Six feet tall? With a high-school girlfriend?

That alone earned him a whooping in her book.

Setting her resolve, Yang made it home before the sun was fully below the horizon. She spared it a glance, enjoying the vivid colors for a moment before going inside.

Oddly enough, that one glance seemed to be enough to lift her spirits… if only a touch. Maybe Ruby's artsy-fartsy thing wasn't so strange after all.

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Friday afternoon.

Weiss had learned over the course of the week that Neo had out-of-school business to attend to on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving her to bug the two of them all three other days of the week. Wednesday was similar to Monday in that the midget tried to get between them once again, earning her the attention of the entire room.

She was mainly there to remind Ruby of their little 'duel' set for today. A drawing contest, of all things. How would that even work?

The class was almost over for the day, so Weiss muttered a quiet, "You know, …you didn't have to agree to this thing. Neo is actually really good."

Ruby's pencil stopped mid-line. The redhead glanced over at Weiss from her seat, then muttered back, "I don't care how good she is… I won't let her take you from me."

Only with the greatest force of will did Weiss keep from choking and blubbering on her own spit. Try as she might, however, a deep blush found it's way onto her face.

That was the single most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her!

The young Schnee was sure her face was giving off steam by this point.

From the other side of the room, Coco saw the exchange and grinned. She also waggled her eyebrows obnoxiously. Great, now Weiss would have to explain why she was red as a tomato.

Even Ms. Fall noticed how red she was becoming, but the art teacher was much more… subtle than one would expect. Rather than calling out one of her students when they were already deathly embarrassed, Ms. Fall had come up with a few non-verbal signs to communicate with. She tilted one hand and raised one eyebrow, signaling 'Are you alright?'

Weiss rubbed her face a bit, took a deep breath and nodded slightly: 'I'll be fine.'

Ms. Fall turned the edges of her mouth downward and shrugged: 'If you say so…'

From the corner of her vision, Weiss saw Ruby start to say something – no doubt to ask if she was feeling okay – when the bell rang. Most of the room took this as a signal to go home for the weekend.

The rest knew what was coming. Neo was on her way.

Both Weiss and Ruby stood to find different seats for the contest. Ms. Fall stowed a few supplies, along with their project for the day, then walked to the corner to retrieve a large piece of cardboard. Coco decided to stick around too, though she admitted it was just to see what the midget would pull next.

Right on cue, the pink and brown haired girl entered the room and opened her mouth to speak-

"The way this will work," Ms. Fall started before the girl uttered a single syllable, "is simple – you will sit on either side of this partition and draw the live model I've called on. You will both have just twenty minutes. Pencil only." The teacher wedged the cardboard between two desks, creating a small wall. "You will accept my final decision without argument, or you will forfeit. Are we clear?"

Both Neo and Ruby gulped in unison, then nodded at the same time.

"Good. She should be here any minute…"

The door opened to admit a brown-haired girl in thick glasses. Seriously? How did she rope Velvet into this?

"Ms. Fall? Did you still need me today?"

"Yes, come on inside. I'm just going to have you sit up here as a live model, Ms. Scarlatina. Easy job – all you have to do is hold still."

"Now that I can do."

As the art teacher got Velvet into position on the black pedestal, Weiss just heard Coco chanting something under her breath: "Please be a nude model, please be a nude model, please be a nude model…" Weiss frowned.

Velvet took her place with all her clothes on, causing Coco to grunt in irritation. The only thing Weiss could do was punch the tall brunette in the arm – anything else would have led to an all-out catfight. Bloody pervert.

Each artist was given a blank sheet of paper and a standard number-2 pencil. Cinder Fall pulled out a stopwatch and said, "Twenty minutes starts… … … now."

At the push of the button, both girls instantly fell into the Zone. Weiss had honestly never seen anyone achieve that state so fast before.

For most of the twenty minutes, the only sound in the room was the rubbing of graphite on parchment. At first Weiss had found this sound annoying, but after watching Ruby work her pencil magic for this long… now it was like music. She almost closed her eyes and let herself drift away… but then she would have missed watching the two of them work.

Ruby studied her model for several seconds at a stretch, then worked at her picture for just as long. She used lots of sketching strokes, long and steady, as she built the form. She had a base drawing done in no time – then moved on to the detail work. Weiss would never grow tired of watching a series of lines come to life beneath her girlfriend's master touch.

"QUIT MOVING! Dammit…!"

Neo, on the other hand, was a different story.

The short girl whipped her head up and down, up and down, several times in rapid succession. It was enough to make anyone's neck sore just from watching her. Her own pencil moved in short, quick strokes as a truly insane level of detail emerged onto her page. Weiss watched in awe as tiny details she didn't even know where there suddenly jumped out of the scene. This was beyond just 'good' – this was a genius talent.

Weiss sighed as she mentally prepared herself for Neo's victory, which would inevitably include consoling Ruby. And kissing a midget. Oh happy day.

As the time drew near, Weiss noticed another odd detail: Cinder Fall. The woman had taken her seat at her desk to watch the contest unfold, yet Weiss couldn't help but notice that most, if not all, of her attention was on Ruby. It almost looked like she was studying the redhead. Maybe it was just a 'critic' thing…

The stopwatch beeped as the twenty minutes ended. "Pencils down," Ms. Fall commanded.

Both contestants gave an identical grunt of "Crap…!" as they stopped. Weiss blinked. Wow, how in-sync were these two?

Both Ruby and Neo stood up and waited on Ms. Fall to judge the two pictures. Weiss was already sure how this would play out. Ruby was good, of that there was no doubt – but Neo was on another level entirely.

Still examining the pictures, Ms. Fall said, "I've done a bit of research on you, Neo… what was your nickname in the art class at RTA again?"

"They called me the photocopier," she replied with an extra helping of smug.

"Indeed," the teacher replied with the driest tone Weiss had ever heard. "You truly have a great talent for drawing exactly what you see. As far as I can tell, this drawing might as well be a graphite photograph."

She laid Neo's masterwork on the desk for all to see. Everyone could see that it was definitely the better of the two as far as details were concerned. It was basically perfect…

"However… … … Ruby wins this contest."

"…"

No one said a word for several beats. Weiss could see Neo's brain trying to jump out of her head as they stood there. She'd never seen someone get under the midget's skin quite like this. It was impressive.

Oddly enough, it was Ruby who asked the big question: "Why me?"

"One word – interpretation."

Four sets of eyes blinked in confusion. Even Velvet didn't follow that logic, and she was the most language-capable person Weiss knew. The brunette could figure out even the most subtle figures of speech with ease.

Ms. Fall began her explanation. "While Neo's skill is without question, I could not bring myself to declare her piece the winner because it was no longer 'art' …it was just a copy. Her eye for detail has become so exact that she cannot express her own style or taste in her work. She simply copies exactly what she sees. If that was all I wanted, I would have simply taken the photo myself and saved us both the time and hassle."

Everyone winced at the teacher's blunt tone. That was a bit harsh…

"On the other hand, Ruby's portrait shows that she altered a few details to make the image her own – a trait that is key for a proper artist. Take a look…"

A second pencil image of Velvet was placed next to the first, and everyone could instantly tell the difference. Neo's drawing was like a photo – yet Ruby's picture was almost alive.

She ignored the details of the background, choosing instead to fill it with a smooth gradient. The folds of her clothes were a bit smoother, as well. The biggest change, at least as far as Weiss could see, was Velvet's face – the picture showed her with a warm smile (the model had kept her face blank).

That smile… Weiss felt her mood lift just looking at it.

"As you can see, these two are far from the same. My choice was based on how each of you chose to interpret the subject, and on that note Ruby won by a mile." Weiss thought she saw a glimmer of a smile on Ms. Fall's face as she finished.

Neo exhaled loudly through her nose, then nodded and said, "Very well… … … I accept your j-j-judgement. You have w-w-won this c-c-contest, Ruby R-R-Rose…"

Weiss' eyebrows shot up. The Neopolitan was …stuttering?

Ruby started to say something in response, but held back at the last moment. She chose to simply nod instead.

Coco spoke up at last, bringing attention to the one thing Weiss wished had been forgotten by this point. "Didn't you two have a wager of some sort…?"

Ruby and Coco grinned.

Neo flinched.

Weiss gulped.

Velvet just blinked.

Ms. Fall sighed, "I'll allow it this once, but after this I'll have to enforce the school's PDA policy. Get it over with so we can go home."

As Ruby made her way over, Coco added, "Don't forget, shorty… you're supposed to watch."

Neo groaned in response, but did not look away.

The redhead was already starting to breathe harder as they drew close to each other. Weiss knew her girlfriend had been holding herself back all week, but hopefully this wouldn't get too… out of hand.

Of course, Weiss had been holding back too. If anything happened today, she was just as likely to be the culprit.

Weiss was very conscious of the eyes around them, but Ruby could have cared less. She gently placed Weiss' arms over her shoulders (easy with their height difference), leaned close… and kissed Weiss.

Ever since their first real kiss back at the train station, all of the kisses that followed had lacked that spark they first felt. They were all good and several were intense, but none had the same …oomph.

That is, until today. That old spark was back.

Weiss couldn't stop her hands from running through Ruby's gorgeous deep red hair. She nearly started moaning as Ruby's hands began clawing at the back of her shirt. The passion had escalated far more quickly than she expected, but the young Schnee could not have cared less at that moment.

"Oh my…!" Velvet squeaked.

"Hot damn!" Coco cheered.

"Control yourselves, kids… … … goodness sakes," Cinder Fall shook her head in exasperation. She was also smiling, one might be inclined to notice.

Ms. Fall's voice was enough to snap Weiss back to reality. She pulled herself away from her girlfriend with tremendous effort, panting from lack of oxygen. Ruby was also breathing hard. She couldn't help but smile at the thin line of spit connecting their mouths as they separated.

Very quietly, so none of the others could hear, Ruby whispered, "I think we've got some catching up to do…"

Weiss had to try very hard to keep from squealing at the prospect. She settled for giving her girlfriend a light boop on the nose.

"Uh… guys?" Velvet sounded a little worried. "Is she alright?" Nearly everyone in the room soon noticed that the brunette's finger was pointing at Neo.

The pink-and-brown girl was visibly trembling. It looked like she might literally explode at any moment. Neo raised her eyes, opened her mouth, and let loose a high-pitched, inhuman howling noise.

"#…*…=…~…%…!"

The sound reverberated through the room for a moment as the occupants recoiled in fear. Did a human just make that ungodly sound?

"Ruby Rose… … … this isn't over… … …" Neo growled as she turned to exit the room. "I will not rest until Weiss is mine again!"

The short girl tried to slam the door behind her… but the pneumatic device caught it anyway, causing it to simply sigh closed instead. Neo's frustrated growl was clearly audible from beyond as the tiny girl stomped away down the hall.

In the awkward silence that followed, Coco started chuckling. "And that, my comrades, is what is known in certain circles as 'jealous gay screeching.'"

This time Velvet started laughing, mostly at the taller girl's tone as she gave out this information. Weiss also giggled a bit – that name was all too appropriate.

Eventually they all made their way out of the room, finally heading home. They all said their goodbyes and started on their way.

Before they separated too far, Ruby sent Weiss a series of hand-signals – she mimed the action of typing on a keyboard, tapped the back of her wrist, then held up two fingers: 'Chat in two hours?'

Weiss nodded and gave her a thumbs up: 'Absolutely.'

Still grinning like idiots, the two girls went their separate ways. With any luck, there would be a bit more …catching up over the weekend.

Weiss shuddered in anticipation.

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… … …

"How much would it take to convince you to part with Ruby's drawing?"

"Sorry. This one's not for sale."

"How about Neo's?"

"Ten bucks."

"I'll give you five."

"… … …Done."

"A pleasure, Ms. Fall."

"Do behave yourself, Ms. Adel."

"Oh sure, take all the fun out of my weekend…"

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Story Note: This chapter was mostly me catching up with the other characters who didn't get a segment last chapter. And painting a bit more detail into the coming conflict (Hey, look! An art pun!). While I still have issues with how my pacing plays out most of the time, I hope you guys enjoy this thing as much as I am.

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