"Where're you guys going?" Ruby asked, sitting up slightly on her bunk.

"Team FNKI invited us out dancing,"

Blake adjusted her hair in the mirror, not turning or attempting to make eye contact. Yang stood over her and pretended to do the same, using the action to hide a subtle touch of the faunus's back. It was irritating to Weiss, who stood to one side of the room with her arms crossed, observing and scowling.

"Yang thought it would be good to get our minds off the election."

Finally she turned, addressing the team leader properly. Though it seemed that she had only done so to push her shoulders further into Yang's grasp. Weiss said nothing. She could see what was going on between them. It infuriated her. Ruby turned and sat upright, hanging her feet off the edge of her bunk. With the number of times she had been reminded, Weiss assumed that the girl would have been attentive enough to take her gosh darn boots off before getting into bed, but alas. She knew she would be doing laundry again within the week when her partner eventually complained about gravel in her sheets. For the third time.

"I thought you said Team FNKI was annoying." posed the younger sister, cocking one eyebrow.

Yang stood up straighter and made a face.

"That's the best part about dance clubs!" she grinned, turning to Blake and switching to a devious whisper. "I can't hear you!"

Blake chuckled. What Yang had said hadn't even been funny. Why laugh? Weiss knew she was pretending, but it didn't make her want to roll her eyes any less. She abstained, for the time being, with great effort. She chose instead her usual arms-crossed-grimace-activated pose, hoping her irritation would bore into them like a drill. Lucky for everyone involved, the atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by the room door, sliding open. Weiss turned her head, noticing half of their associate team standing there. Nora's overly-chipper voice rang out.

"Ruby, Come on!"

Weiss stifled a sigh and put her hands on her hips, turning to face her partner.

"I still can't believe you're going to that thing," she said, pushing a hint of concern into her voice.

Politics were the last thing Weiss thought Ruby would like. Or want to be a part of. There were plenty of video arcades in the city that would be open late, if not later than an election 'party'. What self-respecting seventeen-year-old prioritized politics over video games on their day off? Nora seemed to take offense to this, piping up from the doorway, her chipper tone diminished slightly.

"Just because Ironwood dislikes Robyn doesn't mean we all have to. From where I'm standing both of them seem to be trying their best to help Atlas. As for who's doing a better job…"

There was the not-so-thinly veiled discontent Nora packed behind every mention of the General. It seemed to be pointed slightly at her, too. Weiss finally let a sigh slip out. More of a scoff, actually.

"But a victory party?"

The election hadn't even been decided yet. Votes were still being counted. It seemed far too pre-emptive. Weiss didn't like it. Ruby had hopped down from her bunk, and strolled her way over to the door and Nora, shrugging. How was it possible for her to be this nonchalant? Ruby gave her her best cheerful grin, but Weiss could see right through to the concern underneath.

"Invite's still open if you want in. Penny's gonna be working security."

Weiss softened a little. Maybe Ruby just wanted to spend time with her friend, and the backdrop of the political venue was merely an afterthought. She understood how much the girl had missed Penny, after all.

A forced laugh from the other end of the room pulled her out of her daydream, and Weiss turned, an accusatory eyebrow already raised. What she saw confused her. More than Ruby's interest in politics had. Was Blake… dancing?

"Oh my gosh, no." Yang said, hand on forehead.

The faunus was flailing her legs, in an arrhythmic pattern usually reserved for when one was falling down a flight of stairs. Weiss stared a moment, awestruck.

"You gotta do it like this!"

Then Yang started…dancing. It wasn't any better. Weiss understood the underlying joke that everyone else had about Yang and Blake, that bees communicated through dancing. But she also understood that Yang and Blake were absolutely terrible at communicating with each other. This wasn't any better, especially not with their feet involved.

"That's what I'm doing!" Blake protested.

It wasn't what she'd been doing at all. Weiss grimaced at the two of them. Lucky for her, she heard a distraction walking up the hallway at that very moment, sticking it's head in the door.

"Hey, Oscar and I are hitting the movies if anyone wants–"

Weiss cut Jaune off unceremoniously. "Yup."

"Oh," Jaune said, almost bewildered. "Okay…"

She turned away from the least communicative couple in the world and marched for the door.

/…/

The heat from the sidewalk radiators was pleasant enough, keeping the chill of the far-north Atlesian air to a minimum, provided you walked with a bit of pep in your step. And that's what she did, strolling quickly along with Oscar at her side and Jaune keeping pace a few feet back. The street vendor's caramel apple disappeared quickly, but not as quickly as Oscar had managed, nearly vacuuming the wooden stick into his lungs in his excitement.

"Oscar, not so fast, you're going to ruin your dinner."

The boy chuckled, using the stick to pick caramel out of his teeth.

"I appreciate your concern, but I think I'll be okay. Thanks again for buying this for me."

Weiss tutted to herself, wiping her mouth with her napkin.

"Okay, but don't complain when you can't finish your food later. You'll be getting my best 'I told you so'."

Jaune leaned his head around the two of them.

"You really should listen to her, buddy. She pretty much always knows what's best."

She chuckled to herself as Oscar scoffed and rolled his eyes. Children these days.

"Thank you for the commendation, Jaune. Do you want the rest of my caramel apple, by the way? I can't finish it."

"Hmm?" he said, skipping a step to catch up. "Oh, uh, sure. Thank you."

Weiss handed the apple back to him, careful to not touch any part of the sticky candied treat with any exposed skin or clothing. Goodness knows hard hard getting caramel out of silk was. Oscar grumbled, making her turn her head to him.

"How come he gets one and a half?"

"Because I said so, Oscar. Jaune's much bigger than you, and I make the rules around here."

Oscar crossed his arms, but couldn't hold back his smile.

"Ruby would have let me have two."

She understood that this whole conversation was in jest, but it felt right to play along and feign disappointment. She pointed a finger and looked down her nose at the boy.

"Ruby's not your mother. When you're with me you'll listen to my rules, okay?"

Oscar's eyeroll was greatly exaggerated for effect, as was the sway of his shoulders.

"Yes, Weiss."

She chuckled, one hand over mouth, before sighing and slowing her strolling pace slightly.

"This is a refreshing change from my team for tonight."

Jaune piped up from behind again.

"Something the matter with them?"

Weiss's grin turned to a mild scowl.

"Many things."

"Like what?" he asked, stepping off the sidewalk and onto the street so he could be alongside.

Weiss rubbed her forehead.

"I'm glad we're back together as a group, and I'm glad we're working together again, but there's this… tension between us that I can't figure out. It's aggravating."

Jaune nodded solemnly.

"I know what that's like."

"I'm pretty sure Ruby and I are okay, but it feels like she's at odds with her sister, and I don't know what to do about it. And it seems like Yang and Blake are… acting around each other. If that makes sense."

Jaune nodded.

"It makes total sense, actually."

"Like, they speak to each other, but they don't seem to be actually talking to one another. Like they're reading a script, in two separate rooms… in each other's faces."

Jaune put his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked up at him, slowing.

"I've seen it too. It's frustrating. I know what it's like to not be able to help."

Weiss sighed.

"What do I do, Jaune?"

"Sometimes, the best thing you can do is step away. Clear your head, and come back when you have a plan. Don't try to interfere now while everyone's emotions are flared and bound."

"Step away?"

"Yeah," he nodded, tapping her twice on the shoulder before retracting his hand. "If you tried to get everyone to talk right now, people might respond with hostility, and they might break apart. For now, take a step back, work on cooling yourself off."

Weiss frowned.

"And… let them sort themselves out?"

"No. They aren't going to. What you're doing isn't solving their problem by letting them work it out. You're simply giving yourself a chance to relax and plan."

"Oh. I suppose that's sound logic."

Jaune sighed and stretched his arms out.

"I'm fairly certain things will work out in the end. Ruby and Yang will still be sisters and still love each other, and Yang and Blake are…. A slightly more difficult proposition, but I'm sure they'll be fine in the end."

Weiss chuckled. She supposed that it would indeed be fine in the end. She looked ahead. Maybe what she needed was a night off. Jaune and Oscar seemed like exactly the company that would help. She was glad she chose to come along with them.

/…/

As they were leaving the restaurant, Oscar had his hands on his stomach and a green tinge in his olive skin. Weiss glanced his way and prepared her best gloat.

"I don't feel so good."

"What did we learn?"

The boy squirmed.

"That Weiss is always right."

Weiss beamed.

"That Weiss is always right, correct! I told you that eating your caramel apple that fast would ruin your dinner, and look what happened!"

"Is this the 'I told you so' moment?"

Weiss put her arm around the boy's shoulders and pulled him in close.

"Why, yes, Oscar, it is."

"Oof."

She sighed.

"Oh, you'll be fine. We've got plenty of time before the movie that you can work it off in. Right, Jaune?"

She turned them around to face Jaune, who'd until just now been walking directly behind.

"Jaune?"

Jaune was half a block behind, his vision transfixed into a store window and his posture slightly slouched. Weiss let go of Oscar and started to walk back to him. As she got closer she could make out the detail on his face a little better. He seemed… deep in thought. And a bit saddened.

"What's the matter?" She asked, finally strolling up to him and looking into the window he was standing in front of. "Guitars?"

Behind the glass was a row of guitars, hung neatly from a row of specialized hooks drilled into a railing. In the bottom of the display was a series of amplifiers, head units, effects pedals, and patch chords, all laid out with price tags obvious.

"...Yeah." he said, weakly.

Weiss took a moment to appreciate the workmanship on a darker-top acoustic on one end of the row.

"I forgot, you had a guitar at Beacon, right?"

"I did."

"Whatever happened to it?"

Jaune shrugged.

"Probably still there. Under the wreckage."

Weiss felt a pang of regret. That was no fate for a guitar, once loved by a musician. She took a step back and noticed the faded red OPEN sign that hung in the doorway.

"Do you miss playing it?"

"A little," he said, sniffling slightly.

Weiss steeled herself, and put a hand on his elbow, since she could barely reach his shoulder.

"You know, we've still got some time before the movie. Did you want to go inside and play one?"

Jaune was quiet for a second, clearly contemplating her words.

"Nah, it's okay. I don't need to."

Weiss frowned. She could clearly see the longing in his eyes. She knew they had the better part of two hours before the movie. She knew that Jaune had once loved his guitar. This was as good a time as any. She stood up a little straighter, and clasped her hand around his, lacing her fingers into his.

"Come with me, Jaune."

Without waiting for an answer, she pulled him towards the door and into the store. Jaune didn't exactly resist, either, as the warm light from the store's ancient incandescent lamps flooded their eyes and the smell of antique musical instruments flooded their noses. Weiss grinned as she crossed the threshold, her boys in tow.

"Ah, that's better."

She let go of his hand a few steps into the store, striding ahead. The store was a bit cramped, clearly two units worth of merchandise haphazardly crammed into a single unit. Guitars lined the walls, barely centimeters between them, and amplifiers covered the floor, stacked three and four high in places. There was an old man behind an equally messy counter off to one side, who barely acknowledged their presence with a curt wave. Weiss smiled at him and did her best 'nice girl' tone.

"Do you mind if we look around? I hope you aren't closing soon and we're not intruding."

The man blinked slowly, taking inventory of the three of them, and easily noticing Jaune's attention to the guitars on the far wall.

"I can stay open a bit longer."

"Thank you! We really appreciate your hospitality. You wouldn't be opposed if we… played a few while we're here?"

The man nodded, gesturing to one side of the tiny store.

"Not at all. Still a guitar and amp set up over 'ere from the last guy. Haven't put 'er back up yet. Help yourself."

Weiss nodded in his direction, giving her most sincere smile.

"Thank you very much. We promise to be gentle."

The man grinned, finally, before turning and disappearing into the back of the store. Weiss turned to her companions, almost gleeful.

"See? He doesn't mind, you can play whatever you want."

Jaune sighed, his smile hiding his mellow.

"It's fine, Weiss. I don't need to play anything tonight. I appreciate you bringing me in here. The atmosphere is enough."

Weiss tried her best not to frown. A change of tactic was needed.

"Alright then. Perhaps this will change your mind."

She turned her back to him and carefully weaved through the rows of hanging guitars and stacked amplifiers to the spot the employee had mentioned, where one of each was already set up. Weiss eyed the guitar nestled in the stand carefully. Her eyes lit up.

"Jaune, would you like to know a secret about me?"

"Uh, sure?"

She reached for the buckles on her utility belt.

"You're aware that I'm a singer, correct?"

"Just about everybody knows that. You're a great singer."

She pulled the belt free of the buckle and shrugged it off, holding it and her sword a bit awkwardly in her hands.

"Thank you. Oscar, sweetie, can you come take this from me?"

The boy scooted around Jaune and eagerly took her utility belt and weapon, careful to to bump any of the equipment around them. Weiss appreciated that Oscar seemed to understand where this was going. She carefully peeled her gloves off and set them on the back of a nearby chair, before unbuckling her shrug and taking it off as well.

"Thank you. Darn, I feel underdressed without all those belts on."

A smile broke through Jaune's visage.

"It's definitely a different look. No jacket, no gloves, no belts."

"It's like all my personality is gone, right?"

Jaune laughed.

"Sure. Why take them off, then?"

Weiss gave him a sly smile and reached for the neck of the guitar.

"Wouldn't want to scratch this on a buckle."

She lifted the seafoam-blue Fender Jaguar out of its stand and held it up, inspecting the neck and body. Jaune frowned.

"Pardon me?"

"I've been a singer since I was six, Jaune. In that time, I took a great interest in musical theory, and playing instruments. I started with piano, but never really enjoyed it that much."

Weiss sat down in the chair, and placed the guitar in her lap. There was a tuner clipped to the headstock, so she flipped it out and turned the volume knobs all the way to zero. Jaune sat down on a particularly large Peavey bass amp across from her

"That doesn't look like a piano."

"Wait until I'm finished with my story, Jaune."

"Sorry."

"Thank you. Anyway, one day, my butler had taken me to a recital being held at Atlas Preparatory, and I happened to overhear one of the other students playing classical guitar. And I thought to myself 'hey, that looks pretty cool, I want to do that'. So I started taking classical guitar lessons."

Weiss quickly tuned up, and pulled the guitar into a slightly awkward position between her legs, neck up at a steep angle. She fiddled with the tone knob and reached for the amp to alter the tone settings. The little black Fender GT100 had no knobs along the top, only a little display screen and some preset buttons.

"Huh, this one has presets. Neat."

After a moment of scrolling through a menu on the LCD display on the amp, she settled on a setting that seemed right for her demonstration. She turned the volume knob back up to about half, and played a simple C major chord to judge the sound.

"Something I learned quickly while learning classical is that there is a lot of carry-over from playing piano to playing guitar."

Jaune frowned and leaned back.

"In what way?"

"Well you see," she started, grabbing a guitar pick from the top of the amplifier. "All chord structures are the same through all instruments. A major chord is a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth-"

Weiss strummed a C major. The mellow tone rang out from the amp next to her chair.

"-Minor chord drops the major third to a minor third-"

She played a C minor, her hand stretching to complete the bar chord.

"-And then you drop the fifth down a semitone to make a diminished chord. Of course I had to choose C for this example, C diminished is hard to play."

With a tangle of fingers, she played the required chord. It came out a little muddled, but it wasn't a frequently used chord in most progressions. Jaune nodded.

"Right–"

Weiss continued her lecture.

"So as long as you understand chord structures and can count in semitones along a fretboard, playing classical guitar actually can come fairly easy to someone who understands musical theory from piano. Let me play you a little something."

She adjusted the guitar in her lap. The Jaguar's pointed hips made the traditional classical posture extremely uncomfortable. She leaned over to the amp to adjust it again.

"Huh, I can control this amp with my phone. One second–"

After a moment of fiddling, she had the Fender app downloaded and opened, a row of sliders appearing along her phone's screen replacing the usual row of knobs that would have adorned the top of the amp. She plucked gently at the strings as she tried a few different slider settings, zeroing in on a tone that made the Jaguar almost sound exactly like a nylon guitar.

"That's better. Okay, tell me if you can figure out what this song is."

With a short breath, Weiss started to pluck out a tune slowly, in the key of G minor. Her fingers danced elegantly around the fifth fret, the melody harmoniously flowing out and into the cramped music store. As she finished the little tune, she looked to Jaune, who had his hands behind his head and his face twisted into a look of concentration.

"Any guesses?"

"It sounds familiar. I can't place it."

Weiss grinned.

"Here, let me just change the settings a little bit and play it faster."

"Was this the secret you wanted to tell me? That you can play classical guitar?"

"Oh, no, Jaune. Not quite. See, in learning to play classical, I discovered an interesting fact about my father, my least favourite person in the world. And that fact is that he hates rock and roll and rock and roll guitar. And I learned that with my guitar and amplifier at home I had a tone knob that he absolutely loathed when I would turn up."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow.

"And what knob would that be?"

Weiss grinned as wide as she could, and resettled the guitar on her lap so that the leg cutout on the body rested over her right thigh and the neck was parallel to the ground.

"Gain."

She slid the gain slider all the way up on her phone. With a tap of her left foot to keep time, she played the melody again. This time, a crunchy, hardened, and slightly broken up lead played out. She made sure to make use of harmonics to really squeal a few of the notes, and the look on Jaune's face ensured that she was doing it exactly right. She played the melody through twice before stopping, and sitting upright again.

"Well?"

Jaune chuckled.

"Money For Nothing."

"By Dire Straits, correct, Jaune."

He crossed his arms.

"So that was your secret. That you're actually a good guitar player."

"That was actually something I learned while practicing to irritate my father, if you just turn up the gain while playing classical you can get very interesting lead guitar riffs if you add a bit of string bending or harmonics. In fact, a lot of popular guitar riffs are just classical guitar with spice, like the opening of Stairway To Heaven– which I'm not going to play!"

She pointed apologetically to the owner of the store, who had suddenly appeared over Jaune's shoulder. He nodded silently and sternly, then turned and disappeared again. Weiss shuddered.

"For a different example–"

She turned the gain slider back down, and played another melody in A Minor with the amp outputting a mellow and quiet tone.

"If I play this clean, it sounds like any solo in A Minor, but if I turn up the gain and get a little bit loose with it–"

She turned up the gain and flipped the tone switch on the guitar to the neck pickup, and played the melody again. Jaune laughed.

"That's All Along The Watchtower. I am suitably astonished, Weiss."

Weiss chuffed and sat back in her chair.

"Thank you, Jaune."

"This is very different to the Weiss Schnee I met back at Beacon, who was brusque and rude and very standoffish. This… this was a well-kept secret, Weiss."

Her smile faded a little, and she glanced down at her guitar.

"I know," She sighed. "I was obnoxious. To everybody. Including you, Jaune."

He nodded.

"Yeah."

Weiss pulled the guitar back against herself, and turned the volume knob down. Quietly this time, she played the opening riff of Hold The Line as a bit of practice for bar chords.

"I was hoping this could be a little bit of common ground between us. We're both guitarists–"

Jaune piped up.

"Wait, were you mad at me originally because I played guitar poorly at you?"

Weiss muted her strings and sighed.

"No, I was mad at you because you insisted on constantly playing at me instead of offering to play for me, but also because I was an asshole. I assumed that your lack of boundaries came from you wanting me because of my wealth, not out of genuine interest."

Jaune's shoulders slumped.

"I… sorry about the lack of boundaries thing. I should have listened to the first no."

Weiss's face softened slightly.

"Yeah, you should have. But you've made up for it enough times, I think."

He looked up at her.

"You think?"

Weiss shrugged.

"Well, if you really wanted to make it up to me, you could… take down one of those guitars and play something?"

A grin broke through his expression.

"I think I've had my share of playing guitar at you for one lifetime, Weiss."

"So don't play at me, Jaune. Play… with me."

"I don't think–"

"Actually, I'm not giving you a choice anymore. Oscar, honey, can you hand him that ES hanging up next to you?"

She turned to Oscar, who had been standing awestruck this whole time. The boy startled.

"Uh, this one?" he asked, pointing to a dark red electric guitar.

"No, that's an SG, the sunburst one next to it is an ES."

"Uh, sure."

He carefully placed Weiss's utility belt and sword down on a nearby stack of amps and turned to lift the big-bodied semi-hollow off of its hook. It was almost bigger than he was, and it made her chuckle slightly. Jaune took the guitar from the boy and settled it onto his lap. There was a patch chord still inserted into the bass amp he was sitting on, so he hooked the guitar to that and switched it on.

"An ES-335, nice choice."

Weiss grinned.

"Thought it suited you. Looks like I was right."

"You seem to know your guitars."

"I have an ES at home too, though mine's a real Gibson, not an Epiphone."

Jaune laughed.

"Of course. Am I to assume your collection is nothing but Les Pauls and Martins?"

"Not all of them. I buy guitars based on sound and performance, not just on price, Jaune. Although I do have two Les Paul Standards."

"Of course you do."

Weiss tried her apologetic face as she tossed the little clip-on tuner to Jaune.

"What, they play really nice!"

"Uh huh. How many guitars do you have, Weiss."

She flushed a little pink in the cheeks.

"...Twenty?"

Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Ugh. Rich girl."

"Come on! I only really play one of them!"

Jaune sat up, tuning complete. He fiddled with his fingers, volume knob down all the way.

"Oh, you have a favourite?"

Weiss beamed again.

"Yeah, I've got a custom all-white Troublemaker Telecaster. They only made a hundred of them for one year, and I have one. Serial number fifteen."

Jaune frowned.

"Huh. That's actually a nice choice."

"Although mine's a little extra special, I ordered it with a pair of open-coil humbuckers instead of the closed-deck ones. So it plays almost exactly the same as this Jaguar."

"You really know your stuff, eh."

Weiss grinned, proud of herself.

"I've been playing guitar since I was eight, Jaune. You don't play for that long without learning a thing or two about your instrument. Now quit stalling and play me something."

He nodded, lips pursing.

"Okay. But I'm not that good."

"It doesn't matter, Jaune. You told me earlier that I needed to take a break tonight and relax. Now I'm telling you to do the same."

Jaune froze, grinning.

"Gods, I hate–"

Weiss chirped up, smirking. "That I'm always right? I know. Play."

"Fine," he grumbled.

Jaune turned his volume knob up and fiddled with his tone, clicking the pickup switch down to the bridge pickup. He sighed, and started on a simple G major. And started singing.

"~Heard it from a friend who~"

He dropped to a C major. Weiss picked up on the song quickly, and adjusted her tone sliders to ready a lead.

"~Heard it from a friend who-oo-oo~"

All the way down to the D major.

"~Heard it from another you been messin' around~"

Weiss joined him with the power chords and a nice clean lead.

"~They say you got a boyfriend, you're out late every weekend, they're talking about you and it's bringing me dow-how-own~"

The accompanying lead part wasn't difficult for her, but she played around with it in key, bending string and having a good time.

"~But I know the neighborhoo-oo-ooh, the talk is cheap when the story is goo-oo-ood, the tales grow taller on down the li-i-ine~"

She could see on his face and in the tone of his voice that he had missed playing guitar. Despite having not played since the first few weeks of Beacon, it was coming back to him quite easily.

"~But I'm tellin' you babe, that I don't think it's true bay-ay-abe, and even if it is, keep this in mind~"

They both played the step-down into E Minor. Weiss joined his singing, her voice easily taking the high harmony.

"~You take it on the run, baby~"

She watched with glee as Jaune's surprise almost made him miss the chord change.

"~If that's the way you want it baby, then I don't want you around~"

She put more vibrato into the step-down this time.

"~I don't believe it, not for a minute, you're under the gun so you take it on the ru-uh-uh-un~"

They both came to a stop on the D major, looking at each other across the store. Weiss kept her gleeful smirk, to Jaune's still-confused grin.

"How was that? Feel better?"

Jaune chuckled.

"You could have warned me that you were going to sing too."

"Where would be the fun in that, Jaune?"

Jaune moved to put his guitar in a nearby rack, but she interrupted him before he could.

"Don't put it away yet, we're not done relaxing here."

Jaune paused.

"We're not?"

Weiss waved him off.

"No, of course not. Why don't we play a little bit of blues? You know the simple twelve-bar progression, right?"

Jaune took a moment to remember it, and re-saddled his guitar in his lap.

"In E?"

"Yeah, we can do it in E. You start."

So he did, strumming out a slow and steady rhythm. Weiss joined almost immediately, playing a smooth lick around the middle of the neck, and matching his pace. They switched down to the A major, and Weiss upped the complexity of her lead with a few harmonics and a healthy dose of string bending.

"Hey, that sounds pretty good."

She grinned and kept playing.

"Thanks, Jaune. I don't often play blues. It's refreshing."

"So you learned to play guitar just to mess with your dad?"

"Mhm."

Jaune nodded to the groove, continuing to play rhythm under her ever-complexening lead.

"Spite is a hell of a motivator, eh."

"You bet it is."

"Do your teammates know you can play?"

"They do not. Only you do so far. And we're going to keep it that way."

Jaune grinned.

"Should I feel special?"

"You will."

He snorted, rounding off the rhythm with a final E major before they both stopped.

"I do feel special. It feels nice to know someone who can play guitar and is willing to with me."

"You're welcome, Jaune."

They sat for a moment in silence, the hum of the amps the only sound made. Weiss sniffled.

"What kind of music do you like, Jaune?"

He sighed, sitting back.

"I dunno. Mostly folk rock, I guess. Really just whatever my dad was listening to in the car or whatever was on the radio in my room."

"When you played, what did you like to play?"

Jaune pondered for a moment, crossing his arms over the guitar and staring off into the distance. Weiss took the opportunity to play the opening riff to Big Me quietly to herself. Jaune sighed and sat up again.

"There was this one song that I used to like playing."

Weiss stopped and looked across at him.

"Play it for me?"

"Sure," he checked his tuning quickly. "Want me to sing too?"

Weiss smiled.

"Please."

"Alright."

He started to strum, an easy step-down rhythm from G to D to E Minor.

"~Strange and beautiful are the stars tonight, that dance around your head~"

Weiss leaned back and enjoyed the moment.

"~In your eyes I see that… perfect world. I hope that doesn't sound to weird~"

She recognized the song, and recognized that it would do with a bit of accompaniment. Jaune pulled up to a C major.

"~And I want all the world… to know~"

She joined with a clean lead, playing the three hits of G before dropping to the C and letting it ring. Jaune smiled down at his guitar and kept singing.

"~That your love's all that I need… all that I need~"

They played the step-down to G together, him strumming out his chords and her finger-picking along.

"~And if we're lost… then we are lost together~"

The swaying back and forth she'd been doing was beyond her control. She noticed that he'd been having the same problem. A nice problem to have.

"~Yeah, if we're lo-host…. Then we are lost together~"

They played through the chord changes one last time and ended on the G, letting their guitars ring out in the store.

"That was very nice, Jaune. I do like a good Blue Rodeo song now and then."

"Surprised you know them. For me, it's what I grew up listening to. So it's what I grew up playing."

"You're very good."

He shrugged.

"Not as good as you."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, it's not a competition, Jaune. Take your compliments."

"Thank you."

"I'm not expecting you to play like Jimmy Page, or Eric Clapton."

Jaune sat upright.

"What are you expecting?"

"For you to have a good time, Jaune. Play something that makes you have a good time."

He smiled. A genuine one this time.

"If you insist."

"I do."

He nodded.

"We could do Slow Dancing In A Burning Room, but I don't know any of the lyrics."

"I know that one. Let's play it anyways."

So they did, tone knobs turned down for a clean tone. Their only audience was Oscar, so it didn't matter if they messed up a few times throughout. John Mayer wasn't a prominent feature in Weiss's collection after all. She did her best to play the glissandos of the lead, even though it hurt her fingers. She had to admit that the callouses on her fingers had smoothed out since she had last played. After they had finished, Oscar gave them a quiet clap. Weiss grinned at her musical partner.

"We seem to play well together."

Jaune nodded in agreement, returning the glowing smile.

"That we do. This is a nice change."

"Would you like me to play you something, Jaune?"

"Oh? Some kind of crazy lead guitar solo? Please!"

Weiss leaned back in her chair and grabbed a capo from a shelf behind her.

"No, no. Something a little more normal. I can't play this without a capo, it's in the wrong key for my voice when it's played open." She slotted the capo up to the fourth fret. "There, that's better."

"It's interesting that you play right handed. I thought you were a leftie."

Weiss shrugged.

"Just how I learned. Alright. See if I remember how this song goes."

After turning all the effects off and switching to her bridge pickup, she counted herself in in her head. The song started with a slow strum of D major, A suspended, and E minor. Weiss bit her tongue and prepared to sing.

"~Oh, you delicate heart… sometimes it feels hard to live~"

She rarely had difficulty singing. This was one of those times, for some reason. She steeled herself and kept going, bringing the chords back around to the D major.

"~When the rain keeps on falling so hard… I forgot that I had some to give~"

She played the E minor an extra bar, before pulling back up to the D.

"~Oh you delicate heart… remind all the guards on your hill~"

She opened her voice a little bit more, grabbing a bit more power out of it.

"~That a love that comes by might be true… as true as the mountains are still~"

She dropped back to the A suspended.

"~And I'm sure~"

Down to the E minor. She let her vibrato ring out.

"~The darkness defines where the light is… and takes all our prayers, oh but~"

Unlike the original artist, Weiss didn't need to resort to falsetto to reach the high notes. She barred a B minor.

"~You-ouuu….You-oo-ouuuu… You-ouuuu will still be… True-ooooh~"

She let the G ring out, before ending on a D major. She glanced up at Jaune and Oscar, who both quietly clapped appreciatively.

"That was very nice."

Weiss pulled off the capo and clamped it to the headstock of the Jaguar.

"You should hear me in concert."

Jaune smiled.

"I don't think I need to, now. Don't see how it could get better than this."

She smiled down at the floor and turned her volume knob down.

"Oh, please Jaune. You don't have to flatter me."

"I was being genuine, but alright."

Weiss chuffed and rolled her eyes. It was all she could do to suppress a blush. She hoped her attempt at changing the subject would distract him.

"So, are you feeling better now, Jaune? Relaxed?"

He nodded with a smile.

"Very much so. What about you? Less irritated with Yang and Blake?"

She sighed, deeply.

"I haven't been this relaxed in a long time, Jaune. Sure, after Beacon when I was sequestered away in the Manor I played a bit, but I never felt this good about it."

"Well, I'm glad I got to share this experience with you."

"Me too, Jaune."

They sat for a moment in silence. Another awkward one. Something poked at Weiss's mind. She frowned for a moment.

"Jaune, may I ask you a personal question?"

"Uh, sure. Hopefully not something incriminating."

She shook her head.

"No, nothing like that, I promise.

"Then yeah, ask away."

Her heart pounded loudly a few times.

"Did you ever… play for Pyrrha?"

Jaune stayed silent, and looked away. Maybe the question had been a step too far. She regretted asking as soon as the words had left her mouth. He shook his head and looked at his shoes.

"No."

"Oh. Sorry if–"

"She used to ask me too. I don't know why I never did."

Weiss didn't know what she was supposed to do in this situation. Jaune seemed like he needed a few moments of silence. Or a hug. Or anything else. They boy seemed lost in his thoughts, and she hoped the solution that came to her in the moment would serve as more than a bandaid.

"Why not play for her now?"

He glanced up at her through his bangs.

"Now?"

She nodded, sheepishly.

"Yeah. Play something for her. Something she would have liked. And if not for her, for yourself."

Jaune pondered, glancing at the body of the big Epiphone. He sighed through his nose, and straightened his posture.

"Alright."

Jaune started playing, his volume all the way down. The hollow-body ES had a sweet natural ring to it without amplification or effects, and the sound carried much better than she would have imagined in the cramped music store. She recognized the song immediately as he played a simple progression, going from C to A Minor to C to G in a slow but pronounced tempo. He sighed just before he started to sing.

"~It's been seven hours and fifteen day-ays…. Since you took your love away~"

Despite his usually raspy speaking voice, Jaune's singing voice had much broader depth to it. Weiss had never noticed before. It was full, and it was rich, with a hint of bite at the top. And she kind of liked it.

"~I go out all night and sleep all day-ay… since you took your love away~"

She thought it inappropriate to play along for this, so she just listened.

"~Since you been gone I can do whatever I want… I can see whoever I choose~"

He had his eyes closed to the world, playing solely by feel and by passion.

"~I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant… but nothing… nothing can take away these blues~"

As he pulled up to the B-flat, his sound came out a little bit muddled, but she understood that bar chords tended to end up like that if you hadn't played in a while.

"~'Cause No-thing compares… nothing compares…~"

He dropped to the G, the fullness of the guitar ringing out again.

"~To you…~"

He played on, the break in his voice nearly imperceptible, except to her.

"~It's been so lonely without you here… like a bird without a song~"

She remembered once hearing the original version of this song, by Prince, and not really liking the musical structure.

"~Nothing can stop these lonely tears from fallin… tell me baby… where did I go wrong~"

But Jaune's acoustic and unplugged version seemed to properly bring out the intended emotion.

"~I could put my arms around any girl I choose… but it just reminds me of you~"

In fact, she wasn't sure she'd ever put this much emotion into any of her songs.

"~I went to the doctor, guess what he told me… he said 'boy you better learn to have fun no matter what you do'… but he's a fool, 'cause~"

He pulled up to the B-flat again and let his voice go.

"~NOthing compares… NOthing compares…~"

The carefully controlled power in his voice was wonderful, and she had to physically restrain herself from making a satisfied noise from her enjoyment lest she ruin the moment.

"~...To you~"

He played the G a few more times, before resolving the progression on the C and letting it hang. Weiss waited for the sound to fully dissipate before giving a gentle and polite applause. Jaune nodded solemnly and lifted the guitar out of his lap and placed it into the nearby stand.

"Jaune, that was amazing."

"Thank you."

"I'm serious. I know you'll argue with me, but you're a good guitarist."

He smiled gently down at his feet.

"I know when you're being genuine. I appreciate it."

Weiss smiled back.

"Thank you for trusting me."

Jaune nodded and stood up slowly.

"This was a good experience."

She stood up across from him, meeting his gaze. With a swift hand, she picked up her utility belt from where Oscar had stashed it and buckled it back together. She tucked her jacket under her arm and picked up her gloves.

"Maybe if we have time to visit the manor, we could break out a few of my guitars and do this again?"

Jaune's face softened into a genuine grin.

"I'd like that."

"Okay," she said, pleased. "C'mon. Don't want to be late for our movie."

Fin