Make sure to read the authors note at the bottom, this time. I clarify some important stuff there.

Pyrrha's jaw was tight as she watched Jaune speed his way into bed, tugging his clothes off and slipping under the covers in record time. It was a tell she'd learned to realized, just like with his minute expressions - the speed with which he got ready for bed generally indicated his mood at the time.

There was more, though. She saw it. His discomfort was plain as day, now that she knew to look. His teeth were clenched when he tugged his clothes off, his arm trembling slightly as he brushed his teeth, having to correct his blanket's position on his body after he accidentally let go of it before it was in the right place.

It was obvious, and she'd missed it.

There was more, though, something that bothered her to an even greater degree than her inexcusable lack of attention (the Jaune in her head gently but firmly told her this was a stupid thing to berate herself for. She ignored him.)

What was causing this? Clearly something was bothering him, and clearly it was nothing minor - had he injured himself in the sparring match and neglected to tell them? Scrolls could monitor aura usage but they couldn't monitor internal injuries, pulled muscles or sprained joints. The technology to identify those kinds of symptoms was exclusive to Beacon Medical and no one had displayed a need to go but how many times had Jaune tried to foolishly push through an injury, before?

Pyrrha desperately, desperately wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him and demand why he didn't say anything, to rush him to Medical and figure out what was wrong with her partner, because he was hurting.

Instead, all she could do was watch him toss and turn, obviously in pain, not saying the slightest thing to her or his team about it. Nora would gripe but neither her nor Ren would complain for a second if Jaune woke them because he was in pain, so why didn't-

It was fruitless to argue herself in circles. She knew the answer, anyways.

Her partner wasn't perfect by a long or short shot, and he had no confidence in either himself or in the value or severity of anything going on in his life. Even if the pain was severe, she hadn't managed to drill through his thick skull that his pain was just as important as theirs, and needed to be taken care of. That all of them would happily drop something to help him, because her idiot partner was their friend.

...There was no point in it now, though. Jaune needed to learn that his concerns were just as important as theirs, but waking him up and pushing that debate into an argument would make this situation even worse.

It added a new item to the list, she supposed. His self-sacrificial habits that needed to go away please and never come back, and his stupid belief that he mattered less than any of them.

Nora stirred, and Pyrrha absentmindedly brushed some hair off the sleeping girl's forehead. Nora was far more peaceful in rest than when awake. Pyrrha found the contrast pleasant, trying to absorb some of the peace on her teammates face to ease the rolling emotions in her gut. It helped a little, but not as much as she'd have liked.

Ren shifted under his covers and Pyrrha sighed, knowing that she should get to bed. Whatever this situation really was and how it would be resolved wouldn't become apparent until tomorrow, and she'd have a long wait if she didn't go to sleep soon.

That didn't make it any easier, of course. Sleep eluded her even once she'd pulled blankets up to her neck, and for the first time in many months, Pyrrha found herself reaching for her scroll, tempted to message the group chat she'd been added to. She had no idea what to say, no words came to her fingers to ease the discomfort in her gut.

Frustrated, she put her scroll down and turned away from it, staring at Nora's peaceful expression enviously. It was going to be a long night.

Weiss found a strange solace in the chaos of her team's room - it was consistent, and she liked consistent things. There was always a flurry of activity as everyone prepared for bed and she always sat as a calm in that storm, brushing her hair at her desk. The repetitive, zen-like motion was something she knew would happen every night, and it was in these moments that she allowed her mind to truly wander.

The chaos today was subdued. It didn't take a genius to figure out why, of course, although no one had informed Ruby of what Blake had seen. Weiss considered it, watching the girl brush her teeth in the bathroom, almost as aggressively as Yang did, but chose not to tell her. They all needed a bit of rest, even if it was the weekend - the chance to sleep in didn't mean they should be up late, and Ruby would be worried and active if she knew.

Yang would disagree, but Weiss was slowly perfecting the art of keeping-Yang-from-remembering-to-be-dumb-by-not-reminding-her-of-what-she-shouldn't-do. It was a learned skill.

She chuckled under her breath, gently working free some small snags in her hair. She'd already changed into her nightgown and brushed her teeth, not wanting to be in the bathroom when it was overtaken by a hyperactive teenager and her just-as-bad sister.

A gentle ding sounded from her scroll, the late-night quiet notification informing her that someone had messaged a group chat. Instantly suspicious, Weiss checked the bathroom again but found that Yang appeared to be trying to ruin Ruby's hair, her scroll nowhere in sight. Guessing it was probably safe, the heiress turned her scroll from the edge of the desk and glanced at the notification.

polarity dancer: I can't sleep.

Weiss sighed, setting her brush down. She didn't need to turn to know Blake had seen it, hearing the rustling of her teammate reaching for her charging scroll.

check meowt: Music?

polarity dancer: Don't want to wake Nora. Or Ren. Or Jaune.

Weiss winced at the near-instant response. She didn't really feel concern over the situation - people got injured, or sick, all the time. Hell, Ren had been badly ill already this year. This wasn't that different.

But Weiss couldn't forget when Ruby had come down with a bad case of food poisoning. She remembered the completely, utterly irrational worry she'd felt, even knowing that there was no chance of Ruby's condition deteriorating. Knowing that she'd be fine, that she'd only be sick for a day or two, but every time she'd heard her partner heaving up what little food or broth she could choke down into the toilet she'd felt a spike of unignorable fear.

Jaune wasn't dying. He wasn't going to be permanently scarred. He'd just given some massages. But to Pyrrha? Seeing her partner in pain, seeing him hurt, unable to help right now and unable to make him better?

Weiss could imagine few worse ways to spend a night than simply existing in that panic.

She picked up her scroll to open the group chat, but after a moment she set it back down. Comfort wasn't her forte, and she didn't know any way to ease Pyrrha's...everything. Yang might, but they'd need to wait until the sisters were finished attacking each other in the bathroom to avoid telling Ruby.

...Was it right, to withhold this?

Weiss pursed her lips, deciding her hair had received enough care for the night. Sure, it sounded right on paper to not tell Ruby because it would keep her awake, but was that really a good reason? Didn't she have just as much a right to know the goings-on of this situation-

Weiss blinked, trying to discern when she'd decided she wanted to know the goings-on of this situation.

Her jaw clenched as she thought more about it.

Probably about the same time that she decided Yang's "rotation" crap wasn't entirely undeserving of consideration.

Ugh.

After a moment or two (or twelve), Weiss begrudgingly picked up her scroll and typed a quick message into the group chat.

Throwing it on to the charging pad before she could even see answers, she slipped into bed and resolved that if she fell asleep before responses came in, that wasn't her problem.

Blake snickered, watching Weiss' shoulders tense at the sound.

snow thanks: Should we add Ruby to this chat?

It may be a valid question, but that Weiss of all people was asking was hilarious in and of itself. For all the heiress' posturing and dismissive attitude, she definitely cared about her partner. Sure, it was easy to see in matters of academics and combat training, but for Weiss to want to bring Ruby in on this whole...thing, to Blake, seemed to indicate that Weiss was worried about Ruby feeling excluded.

The concern wasn't unfounded, but at the same time…

dont ask me xiao long: not now. i dont want her to feel left out of stuff but we should prolably figure out this sitch first.

dont ask me xiao long: lol prolably

Out of the corner of her eye Blake saw Weiss shoot a look away from her scroll over to the bathroom, probably wondering when the blonde had grabbed her own scroll.

Blake was thankful Yang had weighed in on it. She didn't really know how to formulate her thoughts on the matter. Yang, joking or not, was pushing an angle of rotational massages, presumably daily. Assuming, of course, they could figure out how to keep whatever was happening with Jaune from happening again.

Blake...didn't really know what to think of that. She wouldn't turn down another massage from the blond, but adding Ruby to the group chat felt like it would be solidifying this mess into something real, something consistent.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, already getting the feeling that she'd be thinking herself in circles on this topic. But something felt weird about making this 'official'.

Yang would probably have a quip on that, and Weiss would roll her eyes and mutter about making mountains out of molehills. That was, of course, the other reason why Blake didn't voice this strangeness. But she couldn't just tell herself that the strangeness was stupid and didn't deserve thinking about. Her brain, unfortunately, didn't work like that.

She supposed, in a way, it was like making mountains out of molehills (her brain helpfully supplied this in Weiss' voice, making her chuckle) of this entire situation. Like if Yang and her went to get coffee and hit a few stores every other week or so, but then all of a sudden decided to schedule every single stop down to the minute including bathroom breaks, which aisles they'd browse and exactly what they'd purchase while out. It felt like an almost unnecessary amount of focus and thought given to something that...really didn't feel deserving of that effort.

Jaune was just giving massages. To schedule them, organize a rotation, coordinate with everyone, making them consistent and a thing just seemed…

Her brain once more helpfully supplied a friend's voice, this time imitating Nora and completing the thought with "like, really extra."

She breathed a sigh, distractedly slipping her well-worn bookmark into the pages of her book. Just as she'd expected: thinking herself in circles.

Was it wrong to be weirded out by this situation? Conversely, was it wrong to want to organize consistency to something like this?

She supposed, if everyone involved indeed wanted another massage, it was simply efficient to actually draw up a schedule, but something still felt weird about it.

Well, if she could introspect enough to guess when she'd get nowhere in her thoughts, she was also introspective enough to know that sleeping on a problem often helped more than it hurt. Future-Blake could think herself in circles on this subject. Now-Blake wanted to rest.

...But without the distraction of trying to pick her own brain apart, her mind drifted towards a different subject.

Just how many times had she seen Jaune in pain, before last night? She hadn't been looking for it, but a handful of things that had stood out regardless suddenly made more sense. She'd seen his aura activate in class on his hands, but had merely figured he was doing exercises in his down time. She'd seen looks of quickly quashed discomfort - hell, he'd come out of training with icepacks on his hands, despite not bruising anything that she'd noticed.

It wasn't as if she felt an oppressive need to worry over the guy. He had Pyrrha for that, anyways, but something had been going on. Hindsight may be 20/20, but a good huntress had just as perceptive vision in the present.

She resolved to work on that, though she didn't really know how to, before pulling up her covers and setting her scroll back on it's charging pad after firing off a quick message.

Sleep came quickly, though she (as usual) remembered none of her dreams.

Yang was thankful that Ruby seemed to tire as fast as she could move when awake. She'd barely finished brushing her teeth and fixing her hair before the wind dropped out of her sails and her entire body seemed to sag.

Coaxing her younger sister into bed wasn't particularly hard, even if she did have to half-lift the girl to her hamm-bunk. However, that left Yang alone in the room. Blake was already drifting to sleep, having left a message to the chat, and Weiss was getting there herself.

Figuring she'd at least try and reassure Pyrrha, Yang clambered up into her own bed and pulled her scroll out, going through unread messages until she arrived at Blake's.

check meowt: I agree, but if there's anything to debate on the subject we can do that tomorrow. I'm tired, so good night.

Yang rather shamelessly turned to her stash of puns, each one organized by category and potential situation.

Well, that was the ideal anyways. As it was, she scrolled for a few minutes before finding the one she'd remembered (just not memorized)

dont ask me xiao long: hey pyrrha

polarity dancer: Yes, Yang?

dont ask me xiao long: how come dragons sleep during the day

polarity dancer: ...Why is that, Yang?

dont ask me xiao long: so they can fight knights

Yang's honed instincts saved her, twisting out of the way of a flying pillow as Weiss failed to resist the temptation to check her scroll.

polarity dancer: Haha

Yang frowned, not liking the disingenuity of that response.

dont ask me xiao long: what do u give a goliath that cant sleep

polarity dancer: I don't know, Yang.

dont ask me xiao long: a trunkquilizer

Weiss audibly groaned, but Yang felt no cheer as Pyrrha responded with a laughing emoji. It still didn't feel right, and she was almost certain that Pyrrha was only humoring her. That wouldn't do.

She was scrolling through her list, trying to pick the best one for this situation, when a notification rang out from the groupchat.

check meowt: Aren't you tired of these puns, Pyrrha?

Yang choked.

There was no response for a few moments, and Yang's heart sank a fraction as the silence dragged almost uncomfortably so, before-

polarity dancer: Thanks, you guys. I needed that laugh.

All wasn't right in the world, but it was better. Yang considered that a job well done, and leaned over just far enough to shoot Blake a winning grin.

Blake cocked an eyebrow, turning away from Yang's gaze without a word or motion, but Yang knew her thanks had been received. That job done, Yang turned back and yanked her blankets up.

After a few moments, she sighed, pushing them back down.

Why was this situation concerning her so much? Pyrrha was her friend, sure, but…

So was Jaune. It was a strange friendship - they didn't really interact much aside from the occasional pun one would make and the other would appreciate. The conversation during her massage had been the most they'd spoken or really interacted in ages.

She figured that she was just curious when he'd next be up to massage her, but that felt...wrong. Like she was using him, curious when he'd get better just so she could take advantage of a skill of his.

...But wasn't that what she was doing? Or did she care on a deeper level than just a curiosity of when she'd next get something nice out of this situation?

That didn't feel right. That wasn't how she saw this mess they'd all gotten in to. At least, she hoped not. They might not be 'friends' but she didn't want to feel like she was using anyone, and she certainly didn't want him to feel used.

Well, she'd just have to make sure that he didn't feel that way. Massages were nice, but he wasn't a commodity to be traded or taken advantage of.

He may be a bit bland in his usual demeanour, but there seemed to be more to him than met the eye.

Her mind flickered back to when he had nearly come to tears over a simple statement of trust. She hadn't been able to think too hard on it earlier, but…

What kind of environment results in that kind of person? She couldn't even imagine herself being emotional over someone saying they trusted her not to be a scumbag.

...Well, with the Weiss Defrosting Project and the Ruby Coming Out Of Her Sometimes-Almost-Invisible-But-Very-Present Shell Project, it wouldn't kill her to add a third to the list. Figure Out What The Heck Was Wrong With Jaune, perhaps.

The things she did for her friends.

She smiled, finally relaxing into her bed. She had a plan of action - she could figure the rest out on the journey. Hadn't failed her this far, after all.

There were many ways Ren enjoyed waking up. He liked waking up on weekends, knowing there was no need to get up for some time. He liked waking up before his alarm so he could catch it right as it went off and go back into blissful rest before the next one. He liked waking up to Nora urging him to make pancakes, though he didn't often show it.

He didn't like waking up to sounds of pain - he never had. Nora didn't have nightmares as often as she had once upon a time; neither of them slept well for a long time after they first met, but they had found comfort in each other in those times. Even now, returning to the memorial site established for his village brought them only a quiet grief, not the hellish memories that it had long ago, when the wounds bled, and had not yet scarred.

Nevertheless, he awoke before his alarm clock on a weekend, having planned to make pancakes anyways, to the sight and sound of his leader curled up in bed, clenching his hands, and looking as if he were about to cry.

Jaune wasn't a crybaby, but he did shed tears. Sometimes it was funny, like when he pretended to cry over something pointless and conjured a tear or when he actually cried because some small animal was 'too cute'. Sometimes it was sad, where he would cry over failure and only Pyrrha had a chance of consoling him. Sometimes he cried because he was overwhelmed, and then they could all help him through whatever small breakdown had fallen upon him. Nora took special care, having had moments like that herself since coming to Beacon.

This, however, was a far different beast. Jaune's pain tolerance wasn't exactly stellar, considering his lack of experience, but what was stellar and infuriating was his habit of not telling anyone he was in pain. Moments like these, when his face clenched and he hunched up, his eyes wet, gritting his teeth even in his sleep, were the most telling and most heart-rending clues. It made it obvious that something was wrong, and he couldn't deny it anymore, but it hurt to see that he had been hiding it, and it took his tears to clue them in, no matter that Ren and Nora had been gone for a few days.

Ren slipped out of his bed, his feet contacting the carpeted floor in silence. He slipped past Jaune's bed, crossing the room and gently rubbing Pyrrha's shoulder. As she rose, bleary eyed but sobering instantly upon hearing the noises, he turned to Nora and pinched her ear. She awoke near-instantly, silent in response to their agreed-upon signal for quite wake-ups.

He passed Pyrrha's stiff, clenched body, her jaw tight with frustration and sadness at Jaune's situation. As Ren approached his leader's bed he saw that Jaune was clenching his shaking hands to his body, his fingers trembling as a tear finally broke free, sliding down his face.

Ren swallowed, gently placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder and giving him a purposeful but soft shake.

"Jaune. Wake up." He whispered, trying to control his voice and not let it waver as the blonde's eyes fluttered. After a few moments his leader came to, whimpering as whatever comfort sleep brought was washed away. Ren steadied him as best as he could, Pyrrha dropping to a knee next to him and laying a hand against the blonde's cheek. After a few moments she pulled back, and Ren guessed that she'd been checking for a temperature. Realizing that she hadn't taken a closer look yet, he leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"It's his hands, I think."

Pyrrha went pale, giving a shaky nod as she motioned for Nora to take her place, standing up and heading towards the door.

"P-Pyrrha?" Jaune weakly called, and she froze, looking as if she might cry. Ren knew the feeling. He wasn't particularly emotional but when Nora went through a breakdown or when Jaune was in a state like this, he found himself sympathetically choked up.

"I'm-I'm going for a moment, Jaune." She managed to say in a strangled voice, "I'm getting, the nurse, and I'll be back soon I promise."

Jaune nodded weakly, and Ren tried to take some level of comfort in how Jaune was not protesting this treatment. Either he realized that there was no point in telling them to stop, which would be wonderful, or he was simply too groggy and too pained to coherently (and stupidly) tell them to not worry about him.

Either way, Pyrrha slipped out of the room. She likely would need a moment to compose herself.

Putting aside his own sympathetic emotions for a moment (a skill that had taken no small amount of time to learn) Ren could tell that this situation was probably not dire. Jaune was in a lot of pain, but it didn't look serious. He wasn't screaming, and given his pretty normal pain tolerance that indicated that it wasn't that bad. Painful, definitely, but not an emergency.

...Hopefully.

Didn't mean it didn't hurt to see, though. Pyrrha especially, given how invested she was in her partner. Ren could train with Nora and be fine getting battered by and with her. He was content to see the same, but when she got sick, or when she used to get nightmares…

Ren sighed, shaking the thoughts away and reaching out to gently brush a finger against Jaune's shaking hands. The boy stiffened, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood before his aura sealed the cut, and so Ren pulled back immediately. Definitely his hands. What had he been doing?

Damn. He should have asked Pyrrha before she left.

He sighed, sitting down and leaning against Jaune's bed as Nora mirrored him, fussing her hand into his hair. Ren knew from experience that this had a calming effect on Jaune, and he began telling vague, soft stories about his trip with Nora, leaving out unnecessary and upsetting details.

He hoped Pyrrha returned soon.

Nora enjoyed playing with Jaune's hair. She'd been surprised by how fluffy it was the first time she'd fixed her fingers into his curls, and she'd been unable to keep from asking how he took care of it. He'd turned quite red, but mumbled something about seven sisters forcing him to use specific hair products and habits being hard to break.

Nora had no idea why he was embarrassed about having good hair, or about taking good care of his hair. He'd seemed to lighten a bit on the subject when she'd said as much, once more mumbling but this time it was something about expecting to be teased for it.

That confused her even more, but Pyrrha had suddenly looked all serious and told him how they'd never tease him unless he was also laughing, and she couldn't see his face for a bit since he was hugging his knees, but it just felt right.

Jaune had given her free reign to mess with his hair after that, much to her delight - she took him up on that offer often. When they studied together, or sat around watching shows on Ren's scroll, or…

Now that she thought of it, they all seemed to cuddle a lot. That made her happy.

Now, though, her head-pats didn't seem to be helping him much. He still looked all scrunched up, even with Ren's storyteller voice. That at least always made her feel better-

Jaune shifted, and Nora leaned forward. His eyes were still shut and he still had his teeth clenched pretty hard, but he finally seemed to be trying to move his covers. Ren placed a hand on his shoulder before her big dumb leader could try and get up while sick, or whatever this was, though.

"Rest, Jaune." He said firmly, and Jaune's weak protests were cut off by a more insistent "Rest."

The blonde grumbled, but did not protest too much when he was allowed to lay back down.

"If you want to be useful, though, can you explain what happened?"

Jaune winced, though it seemed different than his previous ones, especially since his hands hadn't moved.

"I, u-um, I gave some massages?" He half-stated-half-asked, which confused Nora. Why would he be questioning it?

"And you don't understand why that caused this?" Ren finished.

Oh. That made sense.

"Jaune," Ren started, his voice way softer. Jaune turned to look him more directly, and Ren continued with "I need to look at your hands."

Jaune's face said exactly what he thought about that, and Ren nodded.

"I know. It'll hurt like heck, but I need to do it. It'll help figure out what's wrong."

"I-Isn't the nurse coming?" Jaune mumbled, and Ren nodded again.

"The nurse is on the way with Pyrrha, but I have an idea. It'll speed things along if I'm right."

Jaune's face pinched again but he, though reluctantly, moved his hands up. His fingers were shaking and he winced with every motion. Ren's touch was as gentle as could be but Jaune still bit his lip, trying not to make sounds as Ren gently rotated each hand at the wrist.

"Jaune?" Ren asked, and Nora knew that he was right before he even said anything. She knew that tone of voice.

"Y-yeah, Ren?"

"How frequently have you been enhancing your hands lately?"

Jaune blinked, squinting for a moment before mumbling "Uh, a lot…"

Ren fixed him with an even stare and Jaune shrank away, wiggling deeper under his covers and muttering "Every massage since the first. A-and, um, a couple other times."

Ren's stare didn't shift, the question evident on his face as Jaune's face pinched before he finally relented "F-Four massages. One training session. And once in class."

Ren sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is it safe to assume that these all took a while?"

Jaune didn't even answer, shrinking further away under Ren's gaze.

Ren, in turn, relented this time. He leaned back, his hands momentarily glowing with pink energy as he brought a finger against Jaune's. Before their skin could contact, Jaune's aura began sparking against Ren's, and Jaune yelped and yanked his hands away from his teammate.

"What was that!?" the blond cried out, and Ren sighed as he let his hands fall.

"That, Jaune, is what happens when you try and have your aura fix something that isn't broken. Your hands cramped, right? When you were giving massages?"

Jaune nodded and Ren continued before he could be interrupted.

"Your muscles probably weren't torn, but they were cramped. Knotted. What you needed to do was stretch those muscles, not continue massaging and use Aura as a pain-reliever."

Jaune's face pinched and after a moment he asked, "I thought relief from pain was tied to healing injuries, though?"

Ren shook his head, leaning against his bed to look at Jaune more directly.

"Aura heals wounds but it can also, to a limited extent, help one ignore pain. It's minor, a little bit like how adrenaline helps you ignore pain, but it can dampen the sensation and let someone continue fighting in a situation where they otherwise might be overwhelmed."

Nora realized, in this moment, that Jaune looked significantly more distracted from his pain by this than he had when Ren was telling stories.

"Aura automatically heals wounds. Had there been damage to your muscles it would have repaired them, which is how hunters can get stronger so much faster than someone who isn't awakened. Since your hands weren't hurt, they couldn't be healed, but since you could ignore the pain using your aura you could keep taxing them in the exact same way that you had been. Enhancement helped you to ignore stiffness by generally boosting your range of motion and strength, but those muscles still got used over and over again."

Jaune's face took on a funny combination of embarrassed and sullen as Ren gave him what amounted to a dressing-down, if it felt like dressing-up in a disguise. Nora knew the feeling, having been on the receiving end of a Ren dad-talk before.

Ren stood up, giving Jaune a little room to sulk as he walked to Nora's side of the room before returning with a heating pad. It was one of Nora's favorites, which she was happy to loan to Jaune.

"I expect whichever nurse we get will have you doing some stretches, but this will help too." Ren said patiently, gently wrapping the fabric around Jaune's hand and plugging in the cord, the pad rapidly heating up. Jaune blinked, before groaning in relief as the heat began to soothe his muscles.

As if cued by the sound, the door opened.

Pyrrha stepped in, not-so-subtly rushing to Jaune's side as one of Beacon's medical staff followed her in, already giving a pleased look at the heating pad.

"Good, we can skip that. Hello, Jaune," the man began pleasantly, waiting for a nod from Ren before taking a seat on his bed.

"H-Hi, um, mister…" Jaune trailed off, squinting at the man's name tag. The nurse laughed gently, helpfully taking off the square of metal and handing it to the blond. As Jaune took it, the nurse gently grasped his hands, pulling away the heated fabric.

"It's pronounced 'eun-ya'. Lara Nja."

"Hi, mister Nja." Jaune said bashfully, flushing slightly at the man's beaming smile.

"Nailed it on the first try - nice! Some people struggle, even after hearing it. Now, Pyrrha gave me the rundown on the way here. You've been having severe hand pain for the past couple days and it got really bad today? By the way, I've brought some painkillers if you want them." He finished with a wry grin.

Jaune ducked his head at the reminder of how he had kept silent about it, turning the motion into a nod as he pointedly avoided Pyrrha's gaze.

"Well, I hope to relieve everyone here when I say that it isn't that bad at all. You two," he gestured to Nora and Ren, "had the right idea with putting heat on his hands."

"Oh, that was all Ren!" Nora chirped before her partner could say anything.

"Oh? Well, Ren, could you run through what brought you to that conclusion?"

Ren blinked, not expecting to be put on the spot, before shrugging and glancing at Pyrrha. "Jaune was giving massages for the past couple days. His hands began to cramp and using aura to relieve pain didn't actually heal anything, which made it get worse due to overuse?"

He ended on a questioning note, glancing back to the nurse who looked pleased once more.

"Almost on the ball - There's one thing you missed. Aura automatically heals injuries, but we can force it to focus on certain ones to prioritize regeneration in certain places. If Jaune was forcing his aura to try and heal something that wasn't broken it probably was exacerbating the stress his muscles were under, trying to force them to promote healing when they didn't need it as well as causing them more pain."

Ren blinked, and Lara performed the same test Ren had. His finger glowed orange and sparked against Jaune's hands, causing the blond to hiss and try and yank his fingers away. Lara gently grasped his wrist, stopping him from doing so, and turned back to his audience after wrapping the heating pad around Jaune's hands once more.

"Overtaxing muscles and constant saturation of aura in locations when no healing is actually needed causes that sparking. Aura has collected there, the network in your hands bloated as your mind registers pain, your hands register stiffness and immobility, and repeated attempts to heal it have caused your aura to passively continue those attempts. Letting your hands relax and taking painkillers, which I just administered, will help to ease that effect."

Jaune blinked. Ren guessed that Lara had used his lecture, which had captivated Jaune's attention the whole time, to keep Jaune from noticing a very quick injection as he had rewrapped the blond's palms.

"I'll forward you a link to some stretches you can do when I get back to the office, Jaune." Lara said, standing up and waving off Pyrrha's thanks before she could even speak.

"No need to thank me, Pyrrha - I'm happy to help!" He finished with a beaming smile, collecting the bag he'd dropped by the door and giving them all a final wave, heading back to Beacon Medical as swiftly as he'd entered.

Nora returned to her place after a moment, snaking her fingers back into Jaune's hair as Pyrrha once more sat by his side, hesitantly grazing her fingers against his wrists and, when he gave a nod, began to rub gentle circles into them. Ren had no idea if the action itself was calming or the fact that it was Pyrrha was helping. Either way, Jaune's eyes drifted shut under the doting of his partner and teammate.

Invisible to his gaze, Ren stared evenly at Pyrrha, then rocked his head towards the door. She blinked, then nodded as her jaw set, and he nodded in turn.

"I'll be right back, Jaune. I will also assist Nora in any leg-breaking that needs to occur if you decide you're doing anything today like this."

Jaune closed his mouth, having prepared to retort. He flushed but looked somewhat happy at the same time.

He turned, slipping out of their room and finding himself in front of RWBY's door soon after. He checked his scroll, noting that it was well past 10 in the morning and if they weren't all up, they would be soon.

He firmly knocked, hearing the faint padding of steps before the door creaked open and a violet eye met his gaze. Yang's mouth snapped shut before whatever words she'd readied could be said, blinking in shock. He imagined he was the last person she'd expect to be at RWBY's door.

"Hi," Ren offered. "Can I come in?"

Yang looked even more taken aback. Ren figured that this was the first time in, well, ever, that he'd asked to come into their room. With a quick glance back (that he guessed was to make sure everyone was presentable) she nodded, opening the door wider. Ren smothered his amusement as he received double-takes from all three other members of team RWBY, stepping in and leaning against Yang's bed without even waiting to be offered a chair.

Weiss set her scroll down, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Can we help you?" She asked evenly. He was glad she wasn't predisposed to being cold to him, but at the same time he wasn't exactly presenting a friendly demeanour.

"Beacon medical just left our room." He began without preamble, gauging their reactions. Weiss blinked, Blake's eyes snapped up from her book to look at him, Ruby sat up abruptly, and Yang inhaled sharply.

That was good.

"Jaune's fine. He wasn't, though. Pain doesn't make him cry easily."

He knew he was laying it on a bit thick. It was a little disingenuous to present the story in this manner, but he needed to drive home this situation as best he could.

"Jaune? What's wrong with Jaune?" Ruby asked hurriedly, before blinking and turning a very intense stare to her sister. Yang, for reasons Ren didn't know and didn't really care to ask about right now, looked sheepish.

"Jaune isn't particularly hurt," Ren cut back in, "I don't even think there was a risk of permanent damage, but the fact of the matter is that we got here at all."

"Where is 'here', Ren?" Blake asked evenly, marking the page in her book before closing it and setting it on the end table.

"It's a safe bet that all of you were involved in the massages I hear he was giving, yes?" They nodded, and so he continued. "Where 'here' is relates to the fact that Jaune is a massive idiot who doesn't-"

He cut himself off with a sigh, burying the long-grown irritation and letting his voice return to normal volumes.

"Jaune doesn't really get that other people have an interest in him not being hurt. I don't even need to ask him to know that he didn't say anything about the pain he was in because he didn't want to bother any of you. As for what that pain was, he allowed cramped muscles in his hands to be exacerbated without proper care and stretches, using aura as a painkiller instead of saying anything."

"But-" Ruby paused, looking baffled, "why would that bother us?"

Underneath Ruby's line of sight, but well in Ren's, Weiss' eyes widened. He delayed his answer, watching her. When she realized he was looking at her, she shifted almost awkwardly and spoke up.

"Fear, right?"

Ren nodded.

"Fear?" Yang asked, blinking. "What's he afraid of?"

Ren laughed mirthlessly, gesturing to Weiss. She scowled as he realized the potential double meaning in his gesture, but the heiress continued nonetheless.

"Jaune...well, when he was giving me my foot rub we...talked, near the end. He said something about being afraid that I'd hate him because he…" She trailed off, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Yang seemed to grow an inch, inhaling to say something that he expected would be a joke, so he cut her off.

"Jaune, as far as I can tell, is just the kind of paranoid to fear that friendships with people are suddenly going to be revealed to be one big joke. Nora said that she liked playing with his hair, once, and he immediately went full-defensive and later admitted that he almost expected her to mock him because he took care of his hair."

In the corner of his eye Blake had cocked an eyebrow and Ren let out a grateful, yet deeply exhausted sigh.

"See? From one example it sounds so ridiculous, but...that's the problem. If we think of it as ridiculous then we ignore it, and stuff like this happens. Jaune decided his pain was less important than helping you, in no small part because he probably convinced himself none of you would want to spend time around him anymore if he asked for a short break to figure out what was wrong. It is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean it isn't a real problem."

Yang fixed him with a look. He wasn't sure what it said, but it was at the very least encouraging. Ruby, who had watched all this in silence since her last comment, sat up a little straighter, and Ren too shifted his weight and stood straight, no longer leaning, as he addressed them all.

"We need to help him. Even if some of you aren't really close to him-" He paused, glancing at a disgruntled Weiss. "-it's the right thing to do. If not as a friend, than as a person. This...isn't healthy. It's a symptom of a bigger problem, a bigger shortcoming - and that is what it is, that needs to be taken care of if he's to grow. "

"This just feels so...out of nowhere." Weiss commented, raising her hands in a placating gesture when Ruby shot her a look. "I mean," she continued, "I've seen weird behaviors, well, I mean...anyway, to suddenly talk about how these problems need to be fixed right now..." She trailed off with an almost distracted shrug. Ren was about to respond when Yang suddenly spoke, her voice soft.

"The other day, Jaune looked like he was about to cry because I told him that I trusted him to do the right thing. That...isn't normal." Her voice was solemn, but her eyes firm and set on Ren. She turned to Weiss after a moment, continuing on. "So what if it came out of nowhere? It's a problem and we can try and fix it."

Weiss crossed her arms but did not refute her teammate, Blake speaking up next.

"Weiss has a point, though maybe not the one she meant. This just feels like it's being blown out of proportion. He got some cramps and sure, he should have said something, but you sound like you're giving a call to action at a major rally."

Ren opened his mouth to respond, paused, shut it, and then sighed. He tried again. "There's something to be said, certainly, about the differences in investment in friendship with him in this room. I probably care a fair bit more than some of you, because that's just how it is, but-"

"Something's still wrong, and we can help." Ruby finished for him, a stubborn look in her eyes as she faced her team. Yang grinned, sitting up a little straighter.

"Do we have a mission, leader?" she said with a laugh, but it was not playful or teasing. Ruby grinned back, and Ren found that he could recall no moment where they'd looked more like sisters than right then.

"Our friend needs to feel better about himself!" Ruby declared, looking around at her team atop her unbalanced perch. Weiss was silent, staring at her scroll blankly, and after a few moments of silence from her, Ruby swung her head down to look at her partner.

"It's more than just that, isn't it though," Weiss said, tracing a finger along the seams of her scroll. Ruby tilted her head in confusion and Blake spoke up, adding on to Weiss' thought.

"It's not just that he needs to feel better, Ruby, it's that he needs to value himself more." When Ruby did not look like she understood, Blake tried again. "He didn't say anything because he thought whatever pain he was in was less important than helping us, right? That's the problem, and it's more complicated than 'feel better'."

Ruby frowned, and Weiss finally spoke up in the ensuing silence.

"He holds himself to impossible standards," she began, setting her scroll down. "I remember now, something he said. It stuck in my mind at the time but slipped it, recently. He said he felt disgusting, or something to that effect, when he failed to meet those standards."

Yang gave a whistle, making the comment before anyone could stop her. "Man, you two really connected then, huh?"

Weiss scowled, but Ren found a laugh bubbling in his chest. Smothering it, but not hiding his smile, he interrupted before anything could escalate.

"That explains a lot, Weiss. It also contributes in no small part to his lack of self esteem. As his friends, we need to help him with that."

Ruby nodded, the rest of her team following suit.

"I should return to the room. At some point we should talk about action we can take concerning this. Do you guys wanna make a group chat?"

Ren didn't know why Blake and Weiss immediately groaned and Yang cackled, but he figured he didn't really want to know.

That conversation hadn't gone entirely as planned, and he still wasn't sure he was on the same page as some of them, namely Weiss, but they'd at least reached something. They could plan more from there.

For now, he had a leader to dote on or an idiot's legs to break. He hoped it was the former.

im running out of funny jokes to put here so uhhhhh lets be serious for a moment bois and grills

I have received some reviews and PM's concerning the direction of the story. I recently updated the summary of the fic to better reflect my perspectives on that, but I'll add some more clarity here.

This story, since I began updating once more earlier, was never going to be "just a story where Jaune massages hot girls." There is an actual plot planned out. At this point, there are three major arcs I've nailed down with many chapters in each. The catalytic event of the story is the massages Jaune is giving, but those will no longer be the main focus once their arc finishes. If you are concerned that I'm going off the walls without adequate planning - rest assured, I have an idea of what I'm doing.

Also, if you're concerned that I will jump the shark again or go too dark, thank you for that concern. I am being vigilant about the direction this story goes so I don't end up cancelling it again. I want to balance funny pseudo-harem/polyship romance and fluff with the fact that things kinda go to shit, in the story. This chapter is weird because it seems like a veer straight into dark territory, but Weiss and Ren both have internal commentary on how this situation really isn't that bad.

To peek behind the curtain for a moment, what I'm expressing in this chapter is the fundamental difference in perspective between RWBY and NPR on Jaune, which is only slightly important when establishing romantic elements. I'm also expressing how (as many of you have figured out by this point) messed up and unhealthy Jaune's mindset is. That was intentional from the start of planning, over two years ago, and I am indeed going to go somewhere with it.

Sorry for this departure from my usual jokes, but since the payoff for some of these elements is going to take a while, considering it's rather slow-burn, I wanted to ensure clarity that I do, in fact, have plans for these elements and if they are uncomfortable or weird, that is absolutely intentional.

As always, thanks to my main bitch siderial, otherwise known as Akardos, for beta'ing my garbage. Love you honey 3

And what is becoming a new as-always, thanks to spooky-noodle for proofing this chapter for clarity's sake as well as pointing out my technical and grammatical missteps. You're a huge help my dude.

Cheers y'all,

Stromael.