So… the funny thing is that I had more time to write and upload things BEFORE summer vacation started… since that's the case, I should be able to do more now that summer classes have started! Anyway, I worked on this instead of math, because who needs math, and while I own nothing, I hope you enjoy!

By the way, I meant this to be up earlier, except it wouldn't let me put this onto the doc manager until I changed stuff... kinda ridiculous. Anyway, hope you enjoy and thanks for reading guys!

Road Trip AU: Life is a Highway

Nora was the one to go to if you were running late for class, or a meeting, or for work. She was definitely the one to call if you were having a horrible day and needed ice cream immediately.

She was not the person to go to if you just wanted a pleasant drive, or if you weren't fond of near-death experiences.

There was a reason Nora was in the backseat with Ren as Pyrrha drove, Jaune leaning back comfortably in the passenger seat.

"Hey look! That way looks mysterious! Let's go that way instead!" Nora was pointing excitedly, practically climbing over Ren to show Pyrrha. "It'll be an adventure!"

"Like the creepy trucker in Alabama?" Jaune was quick to shake his head in protest, sitting up straight.

"Or that time we snuck backstage in Oregon?" Ren joined in as well, ignoring Nora's annoyed look.

"Or how about that time you broke 'It's a Small World'?" Jaune could have gone on for hours, but Nora was just as quick to defend herself.

"That song's annoying!" Nora protested, sighing in disappointment as Pyrrha kept driving on their already determined route.

Still, it wasn't as if she could really complain. After all, this road trip hadn't even been her idea; surprisingly, it had been Pyrrha who wanted to do this together before they all went to college in the fall.

And it had certainly been a trip, starting in Disneyland -because who could miss that, even if it was in their hometown- and driving to anything interesting they thought of while looking at the map.

They had been too late for some things because their graduation date; Nora was still disappointed about Mardi Gras, but the timing had been wrong. Even so, they'd certainly had their little adventures.

Driving through Alabama was supposed to be an uneventful thing, a boring stretch of road between destinations. However, since she was bored out of her mind, when Jaune stopped for gas, Nora had started talking to random truckers that were nearby, much to Ren's dismay. Friendly as she was, Nora could keep them talking there for hours, when all they wanted to do was get to the hotel and get some sleep.

Ren was subtle, drawing Nora back to their own car, but when they finally managed to leave, Pyrrha noticed they had new additions to their trip.

Nora had to take the wheel so they could lose the truckers and never see them again.

And how was she supposed to resist seeing how everything worked backstage? Just because they were nearly arrested doesn't mean that it hadn't been fun! She was helping to create memories before they had to go to their separate schools!

"Pyrrha, we had fun on our adventures, didn't we? I mean, think about it! We… hey!" Nora had draped herself over the driver's seat before getting yanked back, the seatbelt clicking ominously. "Ren, I don't like it! Nooooooooooooooooo!"

"You have to wear it," Ren replied, nodding in response to Pyrrha's grateful glance backwards. No one wanted to get pulled over and ticketed because of a seatbelt being off.

"But why?" Obviously, the last seven hours in the car had turned Nora into a three-year-old… or maybe it was just the seatbelt.

"Because you could get Pyrrha in trouble." Recognizing the mutinous look in Nora's eyes, Ren went to his last resort… candy. "Did you want a chocolate frog?"

"Yes!" Nora's mood dramatically changed at the idea of candy. "Does it have a wizard card?"

"Don't eat too much; I'll be pulling off for lunch soon," Pyrrha warned absently, knowing very well Nora's appetite wouldn't be ruined by candy. Nora had a separate stomach for all the sweets she ate… and after the Jelly Belly factory, they all knew exactly how much she could handle.

"Where? What's for lunch? Can we have pancakes?" Nora perked up even more, bouncing in her seat excitedly. "Denny's is good! Ooh, or we could go to Ihop! We could totally have breakfast again!"

"We had pancakes yesterday. And this morning," Pyrrha noted, looking for a handy pull off. They were almost to New York City, Nora having claimed they just had to see the Statue of Liberty before returning home. "You really want more today?"

"Well, yeah! Because syrupy pancakes are the best!" Nora made the claim easily, throwing her hands in the air. "Ren's are the best of the best, of course!"

"…Tomorrow," Pyrrha promised after a long moment, letting Nora rant on and on about pancakes. "We can even have breakfast all day if you want." She could make that sacrifice for them all, knowing Ren wouldn't mind and Jaune would deal with it… but she did not want any more pancakes that day.

"Cool! Ren, did you hear that? All day for pancakes!"

"Very nice." He could find something besides pancakes on the menu. Relaxing slightly, Ren leaned back into his seat, making sure Nora's seatbelt was still buckled -she could be sneaky about taking it off.

"Mm-hmm!" Nora giggled, leaning into Ren comfortably, resting her head on Ren's shoulder. "We can eat them out of syrup!"

"Nora…"

"Kidding!"

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

Lunch had been uneventful… loud, but at least the burger place they'd gone to hadn't exploded, been robbed, or completely out of inventory during their visit. However, now they just wanted to sleep, and the troubles started.

"What do you mean we don't have a room? We had a reservation!" Ren was holding onto Nora's arm while Jaune and Pyrrha tried to block her view, none of them willing to let her run loose… however tempting it might be.

They had booked this room weeks ago -it was the most expensive hotel of the trip, their final farewell, a resting place of luxury… and their room was gone! It had been stolen from them!

And after all this time, they barely had enough money to get home… they just didn't have the money or willpower to get themselves another place to sleep.

"I don't wanna sleep in the car! It's cramped and smells weird and I want a bouncy bed! This is unfair! We paid for that room!" Nora's words were almost enough to convince them to let her run loose… almost.

But the temporary satisfaction of Nora-styled justice would probably not be worth the jail time.

Dinner, in comparison to their cheerful lunch, was a sad affair. Nora was pouting into her soda, Ren was silently eating his fries -not like that was a surprise- while Jaune and Pyrrha tried to look on the bright side of the situation.

At least they were together… and nothing truly bad had happened! It was just an annoying inconvenience! By the time they got home, they'd be laughing about tonight!

Nothing they said cured Nora's bad mood, and uncharacteristically for her, curled up silently in the backseat with a blanket over her head.

"She's really disappointed," Pyrrha whispered, taking her own blanket from the bag. "If I'd known…"

"It's Nora! She just needs some time… right Ren?" As a response to Jaune's question, Ren nodded, sitting back quietly, trying not to bump into Nora too much.

She just needed time to get over this disappointment… and Ren didn't want to wake her up until something had changed.

Nora would wake up on her own anyway.

Psst! Psst! Ren! Ren Ren Ren RenRenRenRenRenRen…"

"…Yes Nora?"

"Are you awake?"

"…No."

"Oh good. I'm going to walk around then!"

Ren turned over as Nora got up, wondering why his bed was so uncomfortable that night. He would later chalk it up to grogginess after being woken up, but it took a full minute to realize where he was.

They weren't at home, where they knew the streets and everyone knew Nora was a threat to any normal dangers that crossed their path. They were in New York City, sleeping in their car, and Nora had just nonchalantly gone for a midnight stroll.

Ren was out of the car instantly.

"Nora!" He was hissing, although his first instinct was to call out loudly for the girl to come back… but the last thing he wanted was to draw attention to themselves.

"Yes Ren?" Where had she come from? Honestly there was no way Nora could have just teleported next to him.

"…Were you hiding by the car?"

"Yep! I just knew you'd come after me, so I waited for you!" Nora seemed so proud of herself as she linked their fingers that Ren couldn't be upset with her. She was just so… so… so Nora. There just wasn't another word to describe her.

After a few minutes of walking, listening to Nora babble on, Ren finally stopped. Nora was a talker, but she normally had a point… this conversation however, was jumping around even more than it normally did.

"Nora… what's really wrong?" The girl practically froze at Ren's words before laughing it off.

"It's just… we came all this way! We had adventures and fun and cool stuff, and then it all got ruined!" Nora threw her hands in the air dramatically, groaning loudly. "And what if life is that way? Our friendships are amazing and we're all awesome, but we're getting separated -well, not us two- but what if we stop talking to each other? What if our friendships got ruined like this trip? I mean, not ours, because we're us, but what about Jaune and Pyrrha? They're all awkward crush as it is, and what if absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder? We could all drift apart and life would never be the same! And as much as I love you, I need Pyrrha for my girl talk! And Jaune…"

"Nora."

"Yes Ren?" Nora looked up at Ren hopefully, squeezing their fingers together comfortably.

"Do you really think Jaune and Pyrrha could avoid you if you wanted to talk?" Ren let that idea sink in, amused when Nora burst out into laughter.

"You're right! We'd totally hunt them down if they stopped talking to us!" Nora was immediately cheered at the thought, giggling quietly as Ren steered them back to the car. "Oh, did you hear earlier? There's docks not far from here, and I heard boats! I mean, boats are so much cooler than the car, even if Jaune gets seasick, which makes me queasy!"

Besides that, the beats had given her an idea to plot out under the blanket earlier… Nora was not ready to let this trip end on such a bad note! Their last memory would not be of sleeping in their car!

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

It had taken more time, and very great care to move Pyrrha into the backseat without waking her, but at least Ren had fallen asleep again quickly. That made her task so much easier than it would have been otherwise.

"Impulse control asleep, impulse control is asleep…" Nora was careful to make sure none of her friends woke up during this drive… that would ruin everything!

She made it to their destination without a problem, and thanking mobile banking, managed to pay -bribe really- a captain for a very special trip for her friends… and their car.

Settled once more, Nora grinned to herself as she drifted back to sleep. Once morning actually came, and her friends woke up, everything would be amazing!

"What the- Nora!" The girl jumped out of the car immediately at the sound of Jaune and Pyrrha's chorus, giggling cheerfully.

"Good morning!" Ren had his head in his hands, obviously understanding the situation as Nora bounced up and down. "Isn't it awesome? The trip continues!"

"Nora…" Pyrrha's patience was wearing thin, but she still barely managed to remain calm. "We're on a boat."

The reminder had Jaune rushing to the side of the boat, clutching his side while Nora chirped happily. "Uh-huh!"

"There's no road on the ocean." Where in the world were they headed to anyway? "You can't have a road trip on a boat."

"Oh sure you can! You pretend to drive, walk around a bit, and when we hit land, zoom zoom! Right Ren?"

"No comment," Nothing would convince Nora that she was wrong… and protesting would not make a difference. Ren was just holding onto the slight hope that they could convince Nora to let them go home when they got to land.

"Nora…" Pyrrha was at the snapping point, the scary moment when she went quiet because she was so upset.

Nora didn't feel any fear at the tone of Pyrrha's voice, throwing her hands up in the air with a shout.

"Adventure!"

I have no idea exactly WHAT AU I'm gonna do next, but hey... making a list of possible AU's and selecting from it should take at least one math class! I know this wait was really long -especially for me- but I'll try to upload more often! Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!