A/N: A few people reviewed/messaged me about what Jaune would play, and I died reading your suggestions. My take? You know this punk would play Riptide over and over again, thinking it made him look cool. If you have any other ideas, let me know.

Let me know your thoughts if you're reading along!

Thrown to the Wind

Pray

The split lip's swelling died down by Monday. Pyrrha was uncomfortable seeing him, now that she knew everything about the boy's mysterious injuries- he was just so happy to see her, and she just… couldn't be. Her smiles were weaker than usual. If he noticed, though, she didn't know.

How could she face him? She suddenly felt so inferior. He was working so hard, looking out for his family, whereas Pyrrha, being an only child, had only ever focused on herself. Nora and Ren were the closest thing she had to siblings, but she had never needed to protect them.

If I was in his shoes, would I be able to keep smiling like that? She didn't know.

When she got back to her room after class, she found Nora laying with feet propped up on the wall and head hanging off the edge of her mattress. "Pyrrha," the orange-haired girl groaned.

Pyrrha sighed, dropping off her bag to the side. She reached over to her chocolate collection (the blond had begun supplying her with so much chocolate that she genuinely thought of getting a box to pack the rest of it away. She had no idea how to tell him that she didn't actually eat chocolate normally, but he always looked so happy to bring her some, she just couldn't reject it) and grabbed a bar, wandering over to Nora. Taking care not to kick the curtain which hid away their pancake paraphernalia, she climbed onto the bed, unwrapping the chocolate and feeding her roommate before lying back on the girl's bed. "What's up?" she murmured at last.

"I'm so tired," Nora moaned. "Like… someone in our club screwed up, and we can't even find who! How did half of our extension cables go missing? Someone spilled paint on half of the props table, and I'm just…" She screamed to vent her frustrations, then collapsed back onto her bed once more. "I'm tired."

Pyrrha patted the girl's knee comfortingly. "I'm sorry," she soothed, feeding her another piece of chocolate. "That's awful."

"And, to make matters worse," Nora added, throwing her hands up in the air angrily, "Ren has to invigilate three midterms today. Three! I won't get to see him until tomorrow basically!"

The redhead hummed. "Maybe you could do something for him tomorrow? Get him some breakfast or something? He has 8 AMs tomorrow, doesn't he?"

Nora rolled over to rest her head on Pyrrha's legs, nodding. "I'll make him something yummy," she promised, smiling despite her own weariness. "It'll cheer him up!"

"It will," Pyrrha agreed sweetly.

Taking another piece of the chocolate bar, Nora murmured, "When's your presentation?" One of the redhead's classes required a presentation on large-scale contemporary revolutions, but since the professor's former Ph. D supervisor was coming to watch, they all needed to dress up and make it far fancier than any undergraduate class outside of business schools had any right to ask of them.

"It's tonight. I'll get dressed and head to office in a few."

"How did Glynda take it, since you're missing practice?"

She shrugged. "I'm a student. Academics matter. I already miss enough class for meets and stuff in the spring, so she was pretty understanding."

They were quiet for a few moments, the only sound being Nora's quiet humming and the crinkling of the chocolate bar's wrapper. Finally, Nora asked, "So… Jaune? Did you see him today?"

"I did." She hadn't told Nora about Jaune's situation- it felt too personal to share. However, that meant that she felt like she had to bear the burden on her own, and the truth hung heavy on her heart.

The girl blinked owlishly up at her, eager and excited. "So? So? Did you ask him-"

"I already told you," Pyrrha laughed wearily, slipping herself off of Nora's duvet and walking to her closet to avoid Nora's eyes, "he's working Friday."

"Tell him to take it off!" she squawked in response. "I have such a good costume for you, he needs to see it!"

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, pulling out a smart blazer and pencil skirt. She tuned out Nora's ramblings about the costumes for Neon's party (apparently the theme was 'fictional characters', meaning Nora couldn't make Ren go as peanut butter to her jelly again) and how she had hijacked all of the materials from her theatre club's copious supplies as Pyrrha got dressed. Soon, her makeup was pristine, hair smoothed to flawless crimson perfection, presentation securely saved on a thumb drive along with her CCTS cloud, and cue cards tucked in her pocket. "I'm heading out!"

"Go break some legs!"

She chuckled wryly. "That's not how the saying goes, Nora."

"Don't challenge the theatre kid!"

So, Pyrrha stepped out of her room, heading to the elevator in her classy pumps. All she could do was focus on banishing thoughts of an injured blond out of her mind.

When the elevator finally reached the seventh floor to pick her up, however, a familiar face stepped out. Mercury whistled appreciatively, ignoring how Emerald and Cinder rolled their eyes and walked into the floor's lounge, effectively leaving Mercury alone with the redhead.

"Looking good, Pyrrha," he commented, not even bothering to hide his creeping gaze.

She sidestepped him and entered the elevator, sighing when he popped his arm through the door, preventing the doors from closing. "I have to go to class," she said wearily.

He nodded, feigning casual kindness. "You know, Pyrrha," Mercury murmured, "I heard through the grapevine that you're still third-wheeling. If you want, I can change that." She smiled wanly at him, jamming the button to shut the elevator. Seeing her reluctance to talk, the boy pulled away, smiling sickeningly-sweet. "Okay. I'll see you around, Nikos."

The doors shut, and she leaned her head back against the elevator doors. She didn't want Mercury to look at her like that. Why couldn't he just take a hint?

She grimaced. It felt hypocritical to say, but the blond was the only person she had ever wanted to really see her.