A/N: Haha! I just turned twenty last Friday! Go me! One more year and I'll actually know what some of these drinks taste like, and how a bartender works IRL! XD On that note, this one was a little (a lot) hard to write, so by all means, please tell me how y'all feel about this one. Hope y'all enjoy :)

That guy: Hey, like I said, it's not really a problem, it's just a little weird seeing a person review to the same chapter three times XD. And Velvet being a worker? … I could expand on that. Someday. Maybe. :) The rest of your questions will… be answered at another date :)

And that's fine. You do realize that if you make an account, it would make things a lot easier right? And I could answer your questions right away, like what's in the drink. :)

Guest: Yeah, that's something I'm trying to point out in this story itself. Depression and grief and pretty much any negative emotions are just so… complicated to deal with. Everyone had a different way of doing it, but when they try to help others, it's like they forget their way isn't always the right way. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but some of the advice given from Jaune or to Jaune have been a little… spotty. It's mostly because everyone giving advice is just a human being, not some wise sage that's experienced all that life can offer. The best we can really do is offer our view of the world and support others when they need it. :) Thanks for the review though, and I apologize for the small rant XD

Jaune was starting to get the feeling that people deliberately waited until he had no customers before walking in, just to make it so that Jaune didn't have any time to take a break.

As what Jaune thought was going to be the last customer left his doors, another one came in, twirling his cane in one hand. Jaune took one look at him and groaned, to the other man's displeasure.

"What, expecting someone else?" The man teased, walking over the table that Jaune had just cleaned and falling into one of the seats, taking off his bowler hat and putting it onto the table, as well as hanging his cane on the back of the chair. Jaune sighed, tucking away his rag into his belt.

"Yes." Jaune replied. "Literally anyone else but you. You're a wanted criminal, Roman." The man laughed, waving a hand dismissively.

"That's why I waited until everyone left before I came in."

The waiter raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "You were watching the bar for that long?" Roman tilted his hand side to side, smirking at him.

"I may or may not be keeping tabs of when you're busiest and slowest times are." He said smugly, making Jaune roll his eyes.

"Of course you are."

The entrance swung open again, Jaune having a brief heart attack at the thought of someone finding him talking to a criminal mastermind. His heart rate went down for a second, before going back up as he saw Neo standing there, rocking back and forth on the heels, the picture of innocence.

"I should've known that Neo was gonna be here if you were." Jaune commented, one of his gloved hands lazily tracing the wood patterns on the table. "How're you doing Neo?" The dichromatic girl smiled wide and bowed deep, her legs crossed and her one of her arms out, an almost perfect curtsy. It was kind of scary to look at actually.

"Well, if I come here, I've got to have a look out and a backup plan. And who better than the wondrous Neo?" Neo jumped up, clapping her hands joyfully before finding a seat next to Roman, looking expectantly at Jaune. The boy ignored her briefly, focusing on the ginger.

"Backup plan? What do you mean—"

The doors to the back of bar opened up, Scarlet popping his head out.

"Hey Jaune, since there aren't any more customers, I'm just gonna—" He stopped talking, noticing the company that Jaune was with. "Oh I didn't realize we still had customers. Do you guys need anything?" Scarlet smiled flirtatiously, confusing Jaune. Did he just now know who these guys were? Jaune turned his head to look at Roman, only to find that it… wasn't.

Sitting where Roman was, a grey-haired man that looked in his mid-forties sat in a black suit, smiling kindly at the boy. Neo had dark hair pulled into pigtails, her eyes shining emerald.

"Just a draft of your house beer for me, my man. And my lovely daughter will get some, uh, apple juice-ow-I mean she'll have some ice cream." When Neo didn't let up her glare, Roman blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I'll make her drink." Jaune said, finally closing his mouth, pulling himself together. "Just take out a portion of vanilla vodka for me." Scarlet nodded and turned to get the order, before pausing, turning around sheepishly.

"What's the, uh, house beer again?"

"The first one on the tap." Jaune said wearily, refraining from making any noises as he waved the boy away. Roman and Neo watched the new bartender stumble about to fill their order, Jaune also spectating for a good minute before he stood up to make Neo's drink, still finishing it faster than it took Scarlet to draw up a draft, find, and pour out the appropriate amount of vanilla vodka. The boy held it up curiously, showing it to the blond.

"This is the right amount... right?"

Jaune nodded, gesturing Scarlet to pour it into the glass. There was a tad too much to make it a proper portion, but the waiter knew Neo liked her drink to be a little bit stronger anyways. The fact that he didn't want to watch Scarlet painstakingly measure out the proper amount again didn't aid in his decision at all.

Finally the drinks were successfully put together, and Jaune carried them out to the two waiting, setting them down on the table. The thief pulled out some lien, placing it onto the table as payment before he picked up his brew, Neo already halfway through her own. Blue eyes narrowed while looking at the lien, something bothering him in the back of his mind. His suspicions rang true when Jaune decided to pat his pockets, realizing that he was missing some money. The exact amount needed to pay for the drinks that he had just delivered, in fact.

Turning to Roman, Jaune found a smug smirk on his face, the man calmly drinking, leaning back onto his seat after he finished.

The blond grabbed the money—his money—and crossed his arms, taking care to sit a little further away than before, eyes darting between the two sitting on the opposite side. The room was silent for a little while as Roman, as usual, didn't speak while he savored the tastes residing inside his glass, and Neo being Neo stayed silent because… well, because she wasn't the best conversationalist in the first place.

Setting down the empty mug, Roman let out a quiet sigh, satisfied with his drink. Raising a gloved hand upwards, he gestured for a refill, Jaune standing up to do so. Quick movement made Jaune pause, seeing Scarlet standing where Jaune should've been standing, picking up the glass that Jaune should've been picking up.

"So, uh, you want the same thing… right?" Scarlet asked nervously, making Jaune frown. Of course he wanted the same thing. If he had wanted something different, he would've said that, wouldn't he? Jaune held his tongue, not wanting to embarrass the bartender, even though the blond's mind was continually racing to find mistakes that Scarlet was committing.

Don't touch the top of the mug. Don't force a smile when you don't need to. Refilling meant getting another glass, not actually filling up the same cup— Jaune stood up, quickly correcting that mistake.

The red-haired bartender nodded hastily, blabbering on about how he had just forgotten, which wasn't something that he needed to say. Jaune's head bobbed up and down tiredly, stopping the flow of words coming from the other boy as Jaune simply told him to remember the next time he needed to refill someone's drink.

Jaune let out an explosive sigh as he settled back into his seat, to the overt amusement displayed by the pair sitting at the same table as him. They could laugh all they want, Jaune thought to himself. They weren't the ones that would have to worry about an angry customer complaining about the drop of service because of something like that.

"So Jauney," Roman started off slowly, every syllable rolling off his tongue in a way that made Jaune tense up little by little. "Why in hell's name have you been replaced by someone so..." The man made a vague gesture, Neo making a much more obscene pantomime behind him. "incompetent?"

"He's not that bad." Jaune said the words without emotion, defending the boy only as a token gesture to the fact that Scarlet was at least trying. "It's only been a few days, and everyone's got to start somewhere."

"And yet you just seemed to pop out of nowhere." The older man purred, both of his hands supporting his head, eyes watching Jaune shift uncomfortably.

"I… didn't come out of nowhere." Jaune objected feebly, eyes unable to help search for a clock, desperate to have a reason to kick the man out. There were still a good ten or so minutes till closing time though, which meant that avenue of escape wasn't possible at the moment. Roman nodded thoughtfully, fingers idly tracing the wooden patterns on the table.

"Hm. Maybe not. But you're leagues better than Mr. Good-looks-for-nothing over there." Roman pointed to the bartender rudely, making Jaune grit his teeth, glad that Scarlet wouldn't be able to hear the man from so far away.

"He's not—" Jaune tried to repeat, only to hear a yelp and a spray coming from one of the taps, interrupting his sentence. The waiter whirled around to find Scarlet soaked in drink, blinking in shock at what had happened. The 'bartender' had probably tugged on the hose a little too hard, cutting off the supply for a moment before squeezing the trigger too hard and spraying himself. It wasn't really Scarlet's fault, for once, but after everything that's happened, Jaune had had enough.

The blond boy stood up, chair screeching as it slid back, the boy marching towards Scarlet. With as much restraint as possible, Jaune threw him a clean towel and grabbed one of his hands, looking into the trainee's eyes.

"Go. Home."

Scarlet didn't say anything back, happy to just nod and scamper out of the bar, getting as fast away as he possibly could from Jaune, who seemed like he was about to blow.

He didn't, of course, having a bit more self control now that one of his bigger problems had left, having only one (or two, technically) more to deal with before he could go home and fall into bed, body exhausted.

"I'm… going to use the bathroom a little bit," Jaune said, nodding to the two customers. "Just yell if you need anything."

Roman waved a hand in permission, still laughing at what had just happened. Neo wasn't as overt, but still had a huge grin on her face, eyes tracing Jaune's path to the restroom.

The waiter tried to stall as much as he possibly could in the bathroom without raising the two criminals' suspicions, but found all his efforts ruined when he left the bathroom to find that Roman had helped himself to another mug of drink while Neo had cut the middle man altogether and was eating the tub of ice cream that she had pilfered from the freezer.

Jaune just plopped down onto the seat, not even caring anymore as he lay his head on the table, groaning.

He was going to have to apologize to Scarlet tomorrow for being so rude. He didn't mean to be so short to the bartender, but Jaune seemed to be discovering that he was growing to have a shorter and shorter temper by the day. Jaune didn't know if it was because of trying to teach Scarlet, watch Scarlet flail around uselessly, or because he hadn't had a drink in the last three days.

Of all the times I decided to try and quit… Jaune thought miserably, wishing that he hadn't been so stupid a few days before. Life just seemed to enjoy knocking him off his feet over and over again.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself in there." Roman talking reminded Jaune that he wasn't the only one in the room, the boy lifting his head blearily to eye the man in front of him. It was meant to be an intimidating look, but judging by the thief's reactions, it had failed spectacularly.

"What do you want, Roman?" Jaune sighed, getting straight to the point. The ginger leaned back, legs crossed as he pulled out a cigar, lighting it.

"A lot of things, really." Roman took a puff and pointed it at Jaune. "Want a puff? I don't normally offer, but you look like you need it."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at the smoking cigar, having half a mind to take it, if only to get his mind off of everything. Willpower and higher morals, for once, took over though, and Jaune shook his head politely.

He was still trying to get through one addiction, he didn't need to add another one to the mix.

Roman shrugged and took another puff, blowing it out towards Jaune, who wrinkled his nose. "First things first. What do you think of Neo?"

Jaune blinked at the unexpected question, eyes swinging over to look at the petite girl, who was destroying the tub of ice cream with manic glee, shivering in happiness every time the spoon touched her lips.

"She's… uh, not the worst company to have?" Jaune asked more than answered, not sure why Roman was asking that sort of question in the first place. The man huffed out an annoyed breath, the gust of wind strong enough for the smoke to hit Jaune's face, making him cough a little.

"No you dimwit. What do you think of Neo right now?" The man pointed to the girl who was still in her disguise. Jaune tilted his head to the side, wondering why the man cared what Jaune thought. Sure the disguise was a little weird, but maybe that was because Jaune was so used to seeing Neo sporting her vibrant colors. In fact…

"She looks… normal." Jaune said reluctantly, looking up to find a satisfied expression on Roman's face.

"Good. That's exactly what we were going for, kid."

Jaune was completely lost. "Why?" He asked, hoping that Roman had drunk enough to start talking about things he usually wouldn't talk about. It didn't work, the man shaking his head, a smile on his face as he puffed the cigar.

"Something for the future. You won't have to worry about it, trust me."

Jaune wasn't sure if he should've felt relieved, because he didn't. In fact, that words seemed to inspire more worry in him than before, his gut whispering to him that something wasn't quite right.

"Anyways," Roman said, stopping any further questions from popping up as he continued to go down his own list. "Next is… How're you feeling, kid?"

Again, the question completely took him off guard. So he stood there gaping at the man, wondering if he had heard Roman right.

"You mean right now?" Jaune asked, wondering what Roman was trying to achieve with this weird line of questioning. An exasperated sigh escaped Roman.

"No, I meant tomorrow morning." Roman rolled his eyes, taking out his cigar. "Man, am I slurring my words or something? My cigar isn't that big. You can hear what I'm saying right Neo?" The girl nodded, saluting helpfully. "Okay, well then it's definitely not me that's the problem here."

"Alright, alright!" Jaune held out his hands. "I get it, stupid question."

Neo snorted, tossing her hair back. "Well, at least you knew that was a stupid question," Roman said derisively, sneering at the boy. "Now if only you could answer a question properly, you probably wouldn't have lost your job."

That hurt, and Roman knew it by the look on his face. Jaune inhaled sharply, feeling like a needle had stuck itself carefully into his heart, not fatal, but it sure as dust stung whenever his heart beat.

"That was unnecessary." Jaune said lowly, hands gripping the table edge. "I don't think there was any… need for such low blows." Saying what he needed to say, Jaune let out a steady breath, the wind making the smoke from Roman's cigar dance in interesting ways. The smoke scattered as Roman laughed, rolling his eyes.

"I'm a thief, kid. I only deal in low blows." Roman snapped his fingers, as if remembering something. "Except when it hurts more for me to hit above the belt."

Jaune combed his fingers through his hair, quickly losing track of the conversation. Every time Roman visited was like a whirlwind, even when Jaune was bartending. There was something wily and observant about the man, in a way that Roman always seemed to glean more out of their conversations than Jaune ever could.

"Even so." Jaune finally said. "It was still unnecessary."

Roman didn't say anything, eyes flickering up and down Jaune, as if looking for something. The silence was deafening, the only thing Jaune could hear was the sound of a metal spoon hitting the bottom of a tub of ice cream, everything else blocked out.

"It might not have been necessary for you." Roman finally said, breaking the spell of silence. "But maybe it was necessary for me." He tapped his cigar, letting the ashes fall onto the table, Jaune scowling at the action. "Sometimes it's more important to see how 'necessary' something is for the other person before you look at yourself." The ginger shrugged, chewing on the butt of the cigar. "Think on that, kid. Some free advice from your local thief." Jaune nodded, not sure what else to do in the face of all of that.

Seeing that Jaune was completely baffled, Roman continued on, happy to keep confusing the boy.

"Now. On a completely unrelated note, I hear little Miss Cinder had tried to offer you something the other day?" The tone was completely conversational, but made Jaune freeze up, his mind racing.

Roman was a big time criminal, that was pretty much established in the first fifteen seconds that Jaune had met him.

Cinder on the other hand, was… something else. She was more secretive than Roman, which is a huge task to do, and the way she spoke just made Jaune feel wrong.

Roman just made him feel confused.

But for him to be asking about her…

Jaune's headache grew a little stronger, and he decided to push the thought out of his mind. He wasn't going to be able to piece together a kid's puzzle right now, let alone the one thousand piece jigsaw that was being held in front of him.

"Yes." Jaune said shortly, deciding to tell the truth. Besides, Neo had been there, so it wasn't like lying would've actually done anything.

"Mm." Roman tapped his lips, face screwed into a thoughtful expression. "Now, from what Neo told me, Cinder was trying to get you on her… side, which is an interesting thought."

Jaune blinked, looking at the two of them. "Neo told you this." The blond said flatly, the girl smiling innocently at him.

"Yeah, she's quite a gossip. Absolutely talks my ear off, she does, the little scoundrel."

Jaune opened his mouth, and kept it open, not sure what to say to that. Neo, on the other hand, just sat there preening, taking everything that Roman had said as a compliment.

"…Yes." Again, without knowing what to say, Jaune agreed with Roman, knowing that it was the easiest option to go with at the moment. The man took out his cigar, pinching the tip of it to put it out before leaning in towards Jaune, eyes intent.

"You have an answer yet, kid?" Roman's tone was radically different from the lackadaisical one that he had been sporting since he had entered the room, Jaune getting the feeling that this one would mean something big however he answered it.

So what was his answer?

Every conversation that Jaune had while in the hospital stuck with him in some way, but there were only a few that really kept him up at night, each of them for their own reasons.

Professor Goodwitch's for the anguish that Jaune had caused her, and the reminder that Jaune was recovering not only for himself, but for the people around him that cared.

Blake's because it gave him… hope. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time, but out of every conversation, hers was the one that made him hope for the future. It wasn't the best heart-to-heart he's had, dust, it wasn't even all that well put together, judging by how uncertain she had been when talking to him. But it was heartfelt, and it was by someone who usually kept everyone at arm's length, and that meant something to him.

And then there was Cinder's conversation. It was the shortest out of the three, but kept him from sleeping the most.

Do you wish to be more powerful?

The words echoed in his mind all the time, and the ones before as well.

I should just kill you right now.

Why did she say that? Why did she even come visit? Sure, he had talked with her quite a bit, the woman visiting on a semi-regular basis, but it wasn't like they talked about much. Or did they?

There always seemed to be a second conversation going on when he was talking with her, and when she left, it was always Jaune who was furrowing his brow, trying to understand what Cinder had meant.

Right?

"…I don't know." Jaune said heavily, refusing to look at Roman or Neo, whose spoon had stopped rising and falling, her whole body still as if carved out of marble. "There's a lot on my mind right now and… and I don't think I can really give her an answer until- until I'm ready."

"Ready?" Roman repeated the word, the question dancing in his eyes. "Ready for what?" The thief was gently prodding, trying to find something, something that Jaune wasn't sure he wanted to give out yet. In a rare reversal, Jaune shook his head, not wanting to give away any more than he already had.

"Just until I'm ready." Jaune said firmly, smiling at the man. "It doesn't hurt to prepare yourself for life, does it?"

The eccentrically dressed man sat there, fingers weaved together, his eyes piercing into Jaune's. "No." Roman said slowly. "I suppose it doesn't."

Jaune kept his eyes on Roman's, not sure what to say or do after that. There was a bubbling pit inside of his stomach, his frustration rising. It seemed that recently all he's ever done was react. Roman always seemed to have the upper hand in every conversation because Jaune keeps letting him have the upper hand. It was frustrating, and quite frankly Jaune had had enough of it.

"Why're you here Roman?" Jaune asked suddenly. If Roman was surprised by the question, he didn't show it, simply raising an eyebrow at the blond.

"What can you possibly mean by that?" Roman asked, amused. His eyes spoke a different story though, telling Jaune to be careful about what he was going to say next. Even Neo seemed to be enraptured by what was happening, idly twirling her umbrella around in her hands.

"Just curious, is all." Jaune said evenly. "I mean, don't you think it's fair for me to ask since you've been doing the same thing?"

Roman cracked a small smile.

"That does sound fair." The man relented, nodding. "It's a shame that the world doesn't operate on fairness though."

"Maybe it doesn't." Jaune answered back. "That doesn't mean we have to go willingly with how the world works. You of all people should know that." It was a mediocre comeback at best, but judging by the look that Roman gave Jaune, it might've been enough to skate by.

"Not bad Jaune. You're learning. Not very well, but." The ginger shrugged. "it's more than I can really ask for out of you."

"Out of me?" Jaune's mind suddenly started to work, the conversation playing back in his mind. "Why are you so interested in me, Roman?" The boy caught Neo smiling viciously at him. Roman didn't have quite as much of a smile, but Jaune could still see the hints of… of something in his eyes. Something that told Jaune that he was starting to get on the right track.

"Why am I so interested in you Jaune?" Roman leaned forward suddenly, his hand flying out, trying to strike Jaune's neck. Fast, faster than Jaune had thought he could move, the boy shoved himself backwards, letting the chair slide along with him, avoiding Roman's grip.

And hitting Neo, who had seemingly teleported right behind Jaune. Metal on metal rang out as the girl drew her sword out of her umbrella and placed it on the boy's neck. Muscles locked up as the waiter froze, not wanting to provoke the dichromatic girl.

Roman stood up from out of his chair, putting on his hat and casually strolling towards Jaune, his cane spinning in lazy arcs around his arm.

"It's a good question, I'll give you that, kid." Roman said, stopping in front of the boy. "There's a lot of good answers, too." The man's other hand grabbed the handle of Melodic Cudgel, pointing it upwards to the roof, the ginger's critical eye going up and down the weapon. "Maybe it's because Cinder seems to be interested in you, blondie. Maybe it's because I can name off half a dozen very influential Huntsman and Huntresses that like your company." The man placed the barrel of the cane onto Jaune's temple. "Maybe it's the queer fact that you have an influence with everyone you speak to, and that it isn't always the best kind of influence." The barrel left Jaune's head, slamming onto the ground. "Or maybe because you just seem to be so damn fun." Neo giggled at the last one, her first audible noise since she walked into the bar.

"Tell you the truth kiddo, there's a lot of reasons that a lot of people should be keeping an eye out on you." Roman waved a hand, and Neo withdrew her blade, skipping towards the man. "All good reasons. But you know what? They're not my reasons."

A shot rang through the bar, Melodic Cudgel firing off and the shot hitting the floor next to Jaune, heat searing through his pant leg.

"Maybe I'm just interested in the fact that you don't ever seem to be afraid of anyone, Jaune." Roman didn't lower his cane, in fact actually raising it, pointing it straight at Jaune again. "There's all kinds of people walking into the bar here Jaune, and you never blink twice to any of them. Cinder, Goodwitch, Ironwood. All monsters of their own right, and yet I never see you back down from them. Why?"

The room was so quiet that Jaune thought he could hear the leather of Roman's glove creaking as he tightened his finger around the trigger of his weapon.

And yet, Roman was right. Jaune didn't know why, he wasn't sure how, but he wasn't scared. Even with what was practically a gun pointed at Jaune's head, he wasn't panicked. Dust, he had been more panicked the other night when he mistakenly taught Scarlet how to serve a body shot when Pyrrha asked for it than he was now with a gun pointed towards him, threatening to blow his brains out.

"Maybe it's because I don't treat them like monsters." Still his voice was steady. "I don't know why. Maybe I'm broken." Jaune shrugged. "Maybe it's just me."

Roman stood there, his cane swaying a little before it went back down, a huff of breath leaving him.

"We're all broken, kid. You're not living 'less life's had her way with you, made you broken." Roman closed his eyes briefly, thinking about something before opening his eyes again, looking calmly at the boy.

"Be careful, kid. Choose your words carefully the next time you meet with someone… different. You'd be surprised at how much you can change the person." Roman held out his hand, Neo placing her hand on top of it. "For better or for worse."

And the two of them shattered, disappearing into the night.

Not a second passed before the doors swung open, Professor Goodwitch striding through, her eyes flying left and right, brandishing her riding crop in an offensive stance.

"Are you alright Jaune? I hope I've not come too late." She spoke in a calm voice, filing away everything around Jaune. Two empty glasses, and two chairs pulled away from the table. Jaune sitting further back than he should be, a shadow of some sort of bruise around his neck maybe. Nothing was broken, but there was a black mark next to where Jaune was sitting, a rip in his dress pants close to the site of impact.

And blank look of calm on Jaune's face.

For someone who had sent the text Help just a few minutes ago, he didn't look much in need of the help he was asking for.

The boy turned to Professor Goodwitch and cracked a shaky grin.

"I'm fine."